Response: Our Critique

Last week, we met to critique draft one of our prototype designs. PHEW. I'm glad that's over with. It was quite nerve wracking and frustrating when we met with our group of publishers. I think it's safe to say that our publishers' ideas and our designers' ideas don't exactly go hand in hand. However, I'm not sure that this is very representative of the magazine industry as a whole. I think, and I could be very wrong here, that a complete redesign (except for what magazines, such as what Glamour just went through), is not often necessary because there is already a style guide put into place. This makes it easier for the designers to design. However, when the content providers don't have a say in the style guide, or they think that they know what they want and what looks good after only taking intermediate design, it becomes much more difficult. There are certain magazine standards that we all know by now that people who are coming from the outside may not be aware of.

I do think that this is a good test to put us through for our capstone. Besides pumping up the content that we have for our portfolios, it's also going to be a good story to explain to publishers and will show that we know how to work as a team (without killing each other, at least).

You Can't Miss: Indie mags

Via//Eyeblog

I'm always surprised by the amount of magazines that there are, and this week Eye blog gives a little preview to a festival called Facing Pages, which features indie magazines. The event features showcases, work shops and a handful of other things...aka it's a designer's dream land. It focuses on the influence that magazines have on the visual aspect of our daily culture, which is a pretty important topic and one that we all think about daily. I think it's important that we have access to events such as these to further our design talents. We're in an ever-changing industry, so really, even after we graduate we will not be finished learning.

Also, check out these great graphic design posters, about design, that I stumbled upon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deapeajay/2265111389/ (Check it out here, they worded their copyright weird, so I didn't want to be sued! But they're appealing.)

Critique: Modify

Here are the designs that I have finished so far for Modify. I'm pleased with how they've turned out so far, and I think that it's definitely been a stretch for me to design under someone else's design scheme. Keeping in mind the way that Katie designs was difficult, but was also kind of fun. Since we had to go through things pretty quickly in class yesterday, let me know your thoughts!

You can't miss: travel posters for lazy people

Eye blog posted about "Travel Posters for Lazy People." Let's be serious, senioritis is in full swing, and some mornings I'm feeling pretty lazy. The posters are pretty comical and might offend you, make you laugh, or give you the strength it takes to get out of bed tomorrow.  Here are a few of my favorites that were presented via Visual News:

This could be just another thing to keep your design mind occupied while you're avoiding your not-so-fun classes (and no, I don't mean design - I actually enjoy that class!). But the use of graphics is so simple that I think any one of us could create something like this, given we come up with witty text to accompany the design.

Response: magazine presentations

Today, each group presented their magazine designs to the class. This was very interesting to see, especially because some of the magazines have similar content as another magazine (for example food or home) however they were designed very differently. It is important to note how much of an influence the art directors had on the design of the magazine. I know that for me, it was difficult for me to design while keeping someone else's style in mind, but it was a challenge that I liked. When we enter the world of consumer magazines, it is very likely that we will be designing under a certain set of rules. We have to do this in our Vox department pages, but it is much different when you are trying to design multiple pages and departments.

It was also pretty interesting to hear the publisher's feelings towards what our designs should and should not be. It makes me realize how very different the minds of designers are than the minds of writers (no wonder I struggled with all of my writing classes so much). Although many ideas were presented and developed, those ideas may not translate well into print. I can't help but think of Nick's group, and how they didn't want a "logo." I heard about this weeks ago, but it still doesn't sit well in my mind. Although the outside world may not realize it, nearly everything has a logo, even if it may look like simple type. It is somewhat of a challenge to pull away some design elements that we put our time and effort into and have our ideas shut down.

Overall, it's interesting to me to see the compilation of a small group of people's ideas come to one. We all have very different backgrounds and skills, so it's interesting to see how they will all come together to create one polished product.  I can't wait for our trip next month, and to see the finished designs!

Response: Portfolio meetings

So, as the rest of you all did, I met with Jan and Theresa to discuss how I should present my portfolio and what pieces should be included. One interesting thing that I loved was that Jan took the time to think about which pieces would fit well into a portfolio for the specific places that I plan to move (either Austin or Phoenix). It is interesting to think about the fact that each part of the country, and the world for that matter, has a specific design style. What would work for applying at a Mid-West magazine wouldn't work as well for a California magazine.

After looking over the large samples of work that I brought with me, I was surprised to find that I lacked photo stories. To me, photos have always been something that was easier for me (easier than typography or illustrations). But, I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised that my portfolio is now filled with a number of things that I used to consider myself horrible at. It's also astonishing to see the great change between my work from the beginning of the semester and my work now. I'm happy that I'm progressing and I'm super excited to put my portfolio together.

Katie Landis got her hands on some old design students' portfolios...SCORE. So now I have an idea in mind for what I want my portfolio to look like. Having them in an actual book printed in full color makes me so excited, and makes them look so professional and polished -- I just hope my future interviewers feel the same...

You Can't Miss: Graphic design books

At the beginning of this semester, I was so excited when I picked up my books! (Nerdy? Maybe.) All of the books were so colorfully and beautifully designed, so I was sure that I was going to enjoy them much more than my political science books from the past couple of years. As an avid Amazon buyer, I often buy books there because they're much cheaper than retail book stores. Much to my delight (and my wallet's dismay), there is a plethora of graphic design books just begging for my attention. But, with all of these books, how do I choose which ones to read and which ones to pass up? And how do our teachers select which books will be most beneficial to our learning?

Thankfully, Eye Blog addresses this issue in this week's post, and note that there has been a dramatic increase in graphic design publications, but much of this info can be found on the web now. "However, as Clifford Lynch reminds us, access to information and access to education do not necessarily equate to the same thing," says Eye Blog. Which is very true. Although Youtube video tutorials are very helpful when we want to learn a specific task very quickly, it's not the same as the information that you gather in class. Quite frankly, it's much easier to learn things in class than it is from online stuff (for me at least). So it's important that we take full advantage of the great opportunities that the J-School is filling our brains with.

A book that was once commonly used to educate graphic designers about the history of graphic design; via Eye Blog.

 

 

Here's a couple  of books that I found on Amazon that I intend to check out over the summer (while I'm taking a break from school [forever] and saving up some money to move out and find a big girl job):

Photo from Amazon

Photo from Amazon

Photo from Amazon