You can't miss: inspiration

This week I don't have a cool design to share from the internet (although I will put something cool on here to keep it visual). Since it is the end of the semester and many of us are going off to find summer work or graduating and looking for real jobs, I wanted to leave you all with some great quotes about design. Therefore I am offering this list of design quotes. I hope all of my classmates' design work takes them to great places and can't wait to hear about all the things they accomplish. And now for some cool design work:

Response: Prototype presentation

This week we finally went to Des Moines to present our magazine prototypes. While Home Canvas had some constructive criticism, we were told that we "hit a home run with our magazine." I almost cried I was so happy. Overall I was really interested in the types of criticisms they gave to groups in general. Since I was on the design side and not the publishing side, I was shocked by some of the questions they asked about publishing such as how they would get people to add them on Facebook and how Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are not actually free media when you need to hire someone to run them 24/7. It's one of those things that I overlook when thinking about what goes in to making a magazine because I have gotten so caught up in making sure it looks good. I definitely need to take those kinds of things into consideration when I'm thinking about the costs of magazine in the future.

Critique: Vox 5 cover

After a long time without having to think about iPad applications at all, it was finally my turn to do a Vox 5 cover. I was pretty nervous going into it. Everyone has made some pretty sick covers and I was worried I wouldn't live up to the standards. In reality, I am obsessed with the cover I produced. Throughout the duration of this class, I didn't push myself to do enough work with photoshop and super crazy typography. I made up for it by making this cover:

I used The Polyphonic Spree as my cover inspiration. While I am not totally familiar with the band, I did my background research and found all their cover art. They use crazy 3D letters and crazy background art. Therefore, I wanted to go all out and make a Vox 5 cover that I could picture as theirs. I am very happy with the final product, although I know that some of the smaller white text is a bit tough to read. It's a small price to pay for this end result I suppose.

You can't miss: Logo chart

This week on LogoDesignLove I found a chart that showed logos broken down by their corporation. Since I am applying for a few jobs at advertising agencies, this chart was very interesting for me. It shows the branding of corporations from the large brand name to it's smaller brands. Here's what it looks like:

It's crazy to think about all the branding that trickles down from one giant corporation. I never realized how much of a relationship there is between the logos and their larger corporation. What do you guys think?

Response: Online Portfolio Critiques

On Tuesday, I showed my online portfolio website to the class. I got some really good feedback with it. For one, I am working on looking for a new layout. I just don't think that I picked the best possible layout for the work I had to present. I've already started looking for new layouts. I also need to go bad and put a stroke around my pages. The pages that are white just bleed off the page and into the background, which does not highlight the use of white space on the pages. I also want to play with text. I tried messing with it a bit, but I want to get my layout set before I edit any coding. Overall, I think sharing my portfolio was a good experience. I got a lot of feedback that I would not have even thought about on my own. Since I'm so familiar with my work, it's nice to get a pair of fresh eyes to look at it and give me their opinions. If you want to check my site out again feel free! (It will probably be changing around quite a bit in the next week, so keep checking to watch it evolve!)

Critique: David Lile Cover

Tomorrow in class I will be presenting a second draft of my David Lile radio host cover. Here's how it looks now:

I went with the image that showed his hands with the soundboard. While I know we tend to run photos of people when we have essays about them as the feature, but I wanted to mix it up. This still shows him and his profession without showing his face. I want the audience to be enticed to go inside to see who he really is after seeing the cover. I'm still not 100% sure about the typography. I tried to do an homage to Saturday Night Live but use a bit of a different font. I thought that would be something that the audience could relate to. However, the typography might change before I present in class tomorrow, although I still have Bookstore covers to do for tomorrow and some more touch-up work for my book cover. I also have an exam in another class tomorrow, eek! But hopefully it all comes together. I definitely like the Lile photo choice, so I'm really hoping everyone else does too.

You can't miss: Sharing Coke logo

This week on logodesignlove I found a logo that struck me as very interesting, probably because I am addicted to drinking diet Coke. This logo, called "Sharing a Coke" was created by a 19-year-old designer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The logo is an adaptation of the Coke logo. Here it is:

I am obsessed with this logo. I love it because it is so recognizable with the Coke white, wavy line in front of the red background, but the designer has turned it into two hands holding a Coke bottle together. It's so simple, yet says a lot. I wish I'd thought of it. What do you guys think?

Response: Book Covers

So I know my critique this week is also about book covers, but I found the in class critique yesterday interesting so I want to respond to it as well. It was definitely interesting hearing design things from book publishers. For instance, I was surprised by their reaction to white covers and how they were not desirable. When they first said how dark books get scuffed up easily I thought they would definitely want lighter and even white books. While they wanted lighter books, they absolutely did not want white (unless it had a border). This was because when the sleeve is uploaded to Amazon and other online sites they do not put a border around the image. Therefore, a white cover looks like awkward floating text. I would have never even thought twice about that. Overall the experience was really cool. I definitely never though it would be that hard or time consuming for book covers to be selected. There was a lot of debate over some sets of designs while others (like mine) were unanymously voted on and selected easily. I'm glad that's how mine went, because I definitely liked their choice.

Critique: Book Covers

This week I finally got my book covers together. As beautiful as my hand drawn covers were (not!), I finally put them together on the computer. Of the three covers that I made this one definitely has to be my favorite, not to mention the one that took the most time:

I had a lot of fun getting to draw the pinup girl. I haven't had much work with illustrating people, and I really wanted to try it out for this. I definitely want to go back and fix up her facial features for next week. I also need to fix a bit of the type placement and will probably choose another typeface. Overall, I think this is a solid start. For tomorrow, I will also have potential radio show covers. I have chosen the photos I want to use but will be putting the covers together today. I also will add more to my online portfolio so that it can be critiqued next week.

Critique: Prototype Q&A spread

This week my biggest accomplishment was figuring out a way to make my Home Canvas Q&A spread work. I think I finally nailed it down, although I have a few more tweaks and touches to add. Here's how the spread looks now:

I am really liking how the two images look on the right page of the spread. I think it really helps contrast all the text in the Q&A. It also helps draw the focus instead of the headshot. While I want to showcase the woman who the Q&A is with, that image is so paling and boring. I wanted to use the two images on the right to really bring color into the spread. I also like how the inset photo looks. I was worried it might look disjointed, but I think the two images pair well together and make it work.
What do you guys think? Hopefully I'm headed on the right track!

You can't miss: Zebra inspired logo

Who would have guessed that of all animals the zebra could inspire a logo? Not this girl, but I was wrong.
This week on logodesignlove I found a post about a logo inspired by a zebra. How freaking cool right?
Here it is:

To see how it came about check out this full post. What do you think? Are there any animals that you want to see inspiring a logo? Personally, I'd love to see someone try to make a kangaroo inspired logo, but I also just love kangaroos. I think it's safe to say LeeAnn would like to see a cat inspired logo but that's just a guess.

Response: Prototype critiques

This week we showed our M-word prototypes again. I was pretty pleased with the response to my pages. The Q&A is especially coming along nicely. I'll talk about that in my critique for the week.
Through this process I am definitely learning about how I design. While I have good initial ideas, when I have the chance to sit back, look at something again and then have an even more brilliant idea then I started with. This is really helpful since I tend to multitask while working on projects. I can do a draft of one project, then a draft of another and so on and so on. And then after finishing all my first drafts I can move back through to look at how I can make each draft better. I really hope I am able to implement this process more in the next few weeks.

You can't miss: a classic design combo

This week on LogoDesignLove they posted about the classic design idea: the hand-dove idea. They showed a ton of different ways to use it. While simple, it shows us how we can take strange pairs of things (hands and doves) to create something unexpected.
This is my favorite one. The shadow looks so cool:


Which ones do you guys like?

Response: Book covers

This week we had to do our 20/10 assignment of 20 books covers. Unfortunately I don't have an image for this, but for the class just re-visualize my fantastic drawings from class on Tuesday.
Overall, I learned that I am definitely one of those people who has two good ideas, hits a few just so-so designs, then achieves greatness. I definitely need to brainstorm a lot of ideas in order to come across a final product.
This is reflective in the classes votes for my designs. I am going to be redesigning things from all different ideas. Some on the more patriotic designs were chosen, but at the same time a lot of people liked some of my pin-up girl ideas. I'm really happy with this because I want to be able to come in with a lot of different possibilities for the publishers. I feel like with more variety I will bring more potential covers for the publishers. I just hope I am able to execute all of my ideas on Illustrator. This will definitely give me a lot of practice with illustrations.

Critique: Spring Preview Cover redone and Tiger Hotel feature

Hey all! I have some exciting news. I have a job interview on Monday! I'm really stoked, and I also am freaking out trying to perfect the portfolio I am going to bring. In order to do so, I redid my Spring Preview cover. Incase you don't remember, there was a teaser to the (then) upcoming Eli Young Band concert. So I took a media photo from their website, as suggested by Jan and Theresa during my portfolio review before break, to create a new cover. Here's how it looks:

I'm pretty satisfied with it, although I would like to play with the typography a bit more. If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know!
I also have a second draft of my Tiger Hotel feature for tomorrow. Last time they suggest adding more photos, especially of the inside of rooms. They also gave me another page to work with which is greatly needed and appreciated. I am still loving my huge photo spread to open the feature, although I know it was a concern last time since it took up so much space for other potential photos. I'm hoping that with the amount of photos I added and the addition of the extra page I will be able to keep this spread intact. Let me know what you think!

You can't Miss: this sweet typography

Hey all. As you may have noticed, I love sharing cool typography. I just happened to stumble across this site that I thought I'd share.
This is my favorite design, although I am in a bit of a Star Wars nerd kind of mood:

I love how in this, as well as the other designs on the website, they are able to create entire images just using letters and numbers. It's crazy! Which is your favorite?

Response: Portfolio review

The week before break we had a portfolio reviews. It was pretty interesting. I was a little nervous going into the reviews because I didn't know what to expect. Overall, I think that the review went well. I definitely need to do more work with illustrations and photoshop. I also want to redo my Spring Preview cover.
I think that I'm in good shape for consumer magazines which is what I want to work in when I graduate. Overall this is how portfolio reviews made me feel:

Critique: Home Canvas Prototype

This week I worked a lot on my Home Canvas department prototypes. I think they're coming along really well now. I want to play a bit more with some of the color choices and maybe adding a few more visuals, but I definitely think they make more sense and are more cohesive now. Here's how they look:






My biggest issue so far is just playing with the Q&A. I really want a different photo (preferably an environmental shot) but I don't think that is going to be possible. The photo just does not work well with the Q&A. I also am still working on the organization of the page. I'm hoping that my publishing group tomorrow will have some suggestions.

For tomorrow I am also creating a masthead/editor's letter page for Home Canvas. I also am creating a first draft of the Tiger Hotel feature for Vox and a potential cover for the ROTC and Fire feature issue on 4/12. I should probably get off the blog and get back to work. Wish me luck!

Critique: Simplicity Cover for print

This past week I won my first cover design competition! My Simplicity (Now "Keeping it real simple") cover will be published for the 3/29 issue. I'm so excited for my first cover!
Here's what the new version looks like. Unfortunately I only have the .indd document on my computer, so the font for the story title and blurb is changed. When I get on a Vox computer next I'll fix this...

I definitely like the color scheme more now than on the version I showed on the blog last week. I also like the fading of the handwritten text. I didn't want to fade it too much or the last few words become completely lost, but I thought this was enough to give it a nice feel. What do you guys think? (minus the font problem os course).

Response: Double production

Due to meeting this week, I do not have much to respond to. My portfolio review is tomorrow and therefore have nothing to talk about from class Tuesday. Instead I would like to talk about double production week(end).
This weekend I was working on two issues. First, I had the departments from the 3/22 issue. That was a whole mess in itself seeing as a story that was supposed to be a secondary was written as an anchor, but I'll spare you the details. At the same time, I had to produce the cover for the 3/29 issue. It was definitely interesting to keep track of everything. I must admit that I got lost in PlanJob a few times because I was under the wrong issue. I can't even begin to imagine how the editors felt this past week. I must say though, I really did enjoy it.

You Can't Miss: these awesome logos

This week I went and looked at more logos. I found this interesting collection of logos. It contains 40 logos that the site found to be interesting and creative. My favorite happened to be this one:

I absolutely fell in love with this logo. I love how the bottle turns into a peeling apple. It's such a simple touch that really elevates the feel of not only the logo, but also the company. And the color choice goes great with the company as well. Overall, I think it was a great job.
What's you favorite logo?

Critique: Simplicity cover

Tomorrow in class I will be presenting my final Simplicity cover. I'm finishing it up in the morning (I need a break just to work on some other things) but I'm happy with how it is going. All that's left is figuring out how to fit the title onto the page.
I took my original idea of using the handwritten piece from the woman on the cover and pairing it with her image. For this draft, however, I cut out the woman and placed the text beside her. This really gave me a chance to play with cutouts and photos a bit more. It also took me a while to literally trace every single letter with the pen tool to extract the text and be able to manipulate it. I think had to place everything word by word to make it fit onto the page. It was a tedious process, but I'm happy with the results so far. Now I just need to figure out the title placement and font. Wish me luck! Can't wait for you to see it tomorrow.

Response: Helvetica and Just My Type

Helvetica...

Where do I begin? I didn't hate the documentary. I found it to be interesting and enlightening. I never actually paid attention to how often this typeface is used. I mean yes, I have noticed many uses for it, but it wasn't until they had one man point out different places where Helvetica was used on the streets until I actually realized that the font was all over. It has definitely given me a new appreciation for Helvetica and, at the same time, made me want to avoid using it whenever possible to avoid becoming just another overlooked designer with boring, basic type choices.

Just My Type...

I have actually found this book to be quite enjoyable. At first I thought I would be bored while reading it, but I found it to be a quick read with some interesting ideas. As requested, I will be talking about three chapters that I particularly found interesting.
12: What the font? I found this chapter interesting for its mention of an iPhone application that can identify fonts. While this chapter also admits that the app has its issues, I still had no idea it even existed. Needless to say I put the book down and picked up my phone the second i saw this and downloaded the application instantly. I still have yet to try it out, but when I do I will let you know how it goes.
2: Capital Offence I didn't necessarily learn much from this chapter seeing as I already understood the connotation of capital letters, but I found the chapter to be very entertaining. It is also refreshing to hear someone else speak of (or write about) type etiquette. As designers we must evaluate our type choices and use fonts that are relevant to the message we are trying to convey. Therefore, this chapter is a very important lesson for us.
3: Legibility vs. Readability This is an important concept for all designers. We have to make sure it is possible to read what we create. It doesn't matter how great something looks if no one can understand what it says. This also relates to a post I made a few weeks ago in a "You Can't Miss" section where the bottom of a logo was cut off and the entire meaning was lost. One problem I run into is that I know what I mean for something to say so I'll assume everyone can read it. It is important for us to let a fresh pair of eyes see our work so that we know it is legible.

You can't miss: Logos in maps

This week on the blog I'm following I found an interesting article about the use of logos on online maps. The article talks about how CityMaps now uses logos within their maps to show where certain places are. It is only like this for a few cities so far, but it's still very interesting. Here's what it looks like:

I think it's interesting that logos have become so recognizable and distinct that they can be used on a map and (mostly) everyone will know what they are. I think it's even easier to read than a regular map.
I hope they come out with a version for Chicago soon!

You can't miss: Pelogo

As we all know, I chose to look at the website "Logo Design Love" this semester. This week on the site I found a very interesting logo. It's made of.... hair.... Check this out:

I'm all for adding a personal touch to your logo, but I never thought anyone would take that as adding their own hair to their logo. I have to commend them, it looks pretty cool. I just don't think I could chop of some of my hair for the sake of a logo. What do you guys think... genius? or purely insane?

Response: In class critique

This week we looked at one another's work to give feedback. I received feedback that was pretty much what I expected. Nothing too spectacular (I'm still learning after all) but still marks above just a standard "good."
One comment that many designers had about my portfolio was that a lot of the pieces seemed very clean, but at the same time very safe. I do agree that I need to push my boundaries a little more, especially with typography. I want to start branching out and exploring what more I can do with page layouts. But at the same time I was glad to hear these comments that my work was simple (while still impactful).
My current dream jobs are at a magazine like Real Simple or Martha Stewart Living. In these magazine the goal is to be simple, yet with an impact. I mean let's face it, that's pretty much the whole reason behind the magazine Real Simple's title.
So while I do agree that I need to touch up some work and play with bigger, bolder choices, I'm glad to see I'm at least on the right track for these kinds of magazines.

Critique: Softball Covers

This week I worked on potential covers for the softball issue of Vox. I presented three covers, each using a different one of our photo choices. Here were the three options I gave:



This week I started showing my work with cut outs. I did a cutout of the girls arm and leg on two of the covers so that I could put her over the text. The leg cutout turned out successful, but I had some difficulty with the arm. Since she was pitching at the time the image was taken her arm and the ball were extremely blurry. If I choose to put these covers in my portfolio I definitely need to clean up the cut outs. That's what happens when you try to do a cutout with little to no time... They don't look up to your personal standards.
I hope to do more work with cutouts in the future, however, and then come back to deal with the more difficult, blurry image.

Critique: iPad take 2

This week I was back on the iPad. In fact, I am sitting in the Vox office finishing it up right now. I'm just going to give you a preview of the spread I like best from the issue. Next week I'll show the whole thing.




This week I was assigned to do departments, and these images are from the arts section. I ended up doing arts, scene, endnotes and the TOC.
I liked the secondary where I was able to play with text placement a little more than with some of the straight stories we publish. It was more fun from a design perspective. I also just really like the image from the splash page, mostly because I love coffee and she's holding a coffee mug.
I think that I could have found a better way to break up the two stories, although I am not upset with how it turned out. If I had some more space I would have tried to play with some other things, but I did not have that liberty. Maybe even just playing with the color of the line break would work. Maybe I'll run that by Dayne, I don't know.
I think this week went much better with the iPad. Since I knew what I was doing and what to expect I was able to plan my time better. I also had correct templates to use so I didn't spend 3 hours designing the wrong way. That was definitely a plus.
After doing both departments and features, I think that I prefer the features. There was a lot more liberty to play with design which I really enjoyed. I think when I go back to do the iPad again I'll ask to do the feature.

Response: History presentations

This week we each did a short presentation on a magazine before the '70s. I ended up with Vogue from 1910-1919.
This project was very interesting for me. I had never looked at such an old magazine, in fact I had no clue Vogue had been around for so long. The biggest thing I found was how they used illustration covers and hired different artists to do different covers. This is very similar to how a magazine would hire a photographer to do a specific cover shoot for them. It was also interesting to see how they did not have a "branded" logo yet. On many covers, the title of the magazine was drawn differently. In current times, magazines would never do that. They have a specific typeface that they use on each cover so that they have a recognizable identity. This was not the case for Vogue at the time, and it was not the case for many other magazines that my fellow designers studied. It goes to show that a magazine can be successful even if they do not want to keep one typeface for their name. As long as the title is legible, a reader will know what they are buying and still want to read the magazine. In fact, I would probably be more drawn to a cover with a clever, integrated title that showed a lot of thought went into how to write the title. But that could just be because I love typography and am a designer.
Anyways, here are some covers for you to check out:

You can't miss: should we edit photos

I was checking out Glamour's website the other day when I stumbled across an article about photo editing.It shows these before and after images and asks the readers what they think about the editing that has been done.


Since this will inevitably be part of some of our jobs, I wanted to see how you guys felt on the issue. I think some photo retouching is necessary, but these don't even look like the same people. I think this is a bit too much. What about you?

You Can't Miss: Typography videos

Well, originally I was planning on posting the Cats as Fonts, but Will beat me to it. I'm just glad someone showed it to y'all because when I saw it I practically died of laughter and then immediately thought of LeeAnn.
Anyways, instead I have these two Youtube videos that I had found a while back that play with typography. Incase you haven't noticed by now, I'm obsessed with typography. One is hooked up with audio from the movie "The Dark Knight" and the other is an I love NY typography deal. Both are really fun and show off some great typography skills. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Critique: Wilderness Feature

Let me begin by saying, sorry designers. I am writing this post from my apartment and due to getting a new computer I can't get my laptop to connect to mofiles right now, so I will not be able to upload photos of the feature until tomorrow. But I promise to get online and add them as soon as I have access to the server!

I really do like how this feature turned out. It looks much different than the original feature that Andrea and I created. We found better typefaces to use and a more "wilderness" style color palette. We also made it look less "girly" as the editors had described it. With the help of Timmy, we also came up with a better photo edit. The sidebars also work a lot better now.
The experience of working on the feature with another designer was great. Andrea and I worked very well together and were able to work fast and efficiently. We also had similar ideas on how to design, what photos to use and what typography and colors we liked, making it easy to collaborate. I'm really excited to see how the story turns out in print.

I have a lot of work coming up this next week. Once again I am back on the iPad app. I also have to bring in an updated Simplicity cover for Thursday. Not to mention working on the history project. Wish me luck! With iPad work around the corner I'll need it.

Response: Magazine Prototype Presentations

This week we presented our magazine prototypes to our publishing teams. I was extremely nervous. You remember the prototype I posted last week? Well, my laptop's logic board crashed on Wednesday evening and I had no laptop until Monday morning. This meant that I lost my entire prototype, and due to other obligations I could not start to remake it until Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, minus the cover, I liked everything about this new version better than the original. My publishing group changed their feature for the publication, causing my cover concept to change, and while I am not upset with the way it came out I do prefer the cover from last week a bit better. I had some trouble placing my sell lines on the new cover. Here is my new prototype:






I ended up choosing to use the canvas box on all of my pages. I made this decision based on feedback from my fellow designers. I realized that it would be a good way to brand the magazine. I also kept the same concept for the department page, although I tweaked it by finding a better image.
My main focus was making everything "user-friendly" so that someone could skim it for quick information or read it thoroughly if they chose to do so. That's why the feature had many pull out info sections along with space for real body copy. I also tried to keep things consistent with how I pulled out information in the department and the feature. I thought this would make it more efficient for a reader. Despite not being chosen as creative director for the project I am still very happy with the work I produced. I am going to tweak the cover and play with the sell lines a bit though. And after seeing Krista's work I am excited to work on the project.

I think the toughest thing for me was having to present this to the publishing group. It was tough to have to explain every single decision I made. While I just explained a few of my decisions on here, it's hard to think of everything as you're going and make sure you explain everything so that the publishers, some of whom have no design experience, can understand the concepts. For example, they wanted a bright color palette. This sounds great in theory, but bright to a designer can be a lot different than bright to a non-designer because we know that too bright will look cheesy. They were also worried about over-using photos, which I think are great to use.

All in all this was a great experience and has me a little bit less nervous for our final magazine presentations in May. Now it's just time to get to work!

Critique: iPad 02/09/12

Sorry in advance but these feature images are in reverse order, so please bare with me.
Last week I was in the first group of iPad app designers. The app is a weekly version of Vox that is transformed into a iPad application. I was in charge of the cover, TOC and afterlife feature package. Between creating the landscape and portrait versions of each of these I designed a total of 32 pages in 2 days. While we hit a few bumps in the process due to being the first group and some of the templates being wrong, it was a great experience. I really enjoyed the process and that you have a bit more freedom with designing. I have included my features in both landscape and portrait versions on here.
PORTRAIT:















LANDSCAPE















Overall I am pleased with the feature. It was nice because I was able to use the print version as a building block, for example I kept the splash page from print, but I was able to add my own touches. I used dotted lines with new story titles rather than the parenthesis that they used in print. I wish I had done a little bit more with the artwork. On a few pages all I had to use was a pull quote which wasn't ideal for my design. I wish I had time to create an illustration or find more photos.
I am pleased with my sidebars, however. I really like how the clouds turned out behind the text.
While I was extremely frustrated while working on the iPad, I really like the final product. I'm really excited to do my second issue in about two weeks.