all the work is FINALLY paying off.

Critique: DIY Covers
This week our cover group is creating covers for the Do It Yourself issue about how to be an adult. I'm struggling a little bit with being creative because it is a package with such a wide-range of stories. However, here is the first cover I came up with. 

I like working with typography, and I think using typography is a good way to address the package as a whole. It will be interesting to see what else I can create for the DIY covers in terms of existing art (which is non-existent) and a studio shoot idea. 


Response: Real life
Well, graduation is in 10 days. 10 days until life changes a LOT, and I get some new roommates (my parents). But, I'm excited to start my newest adventures. This summer I'll be interning at St. Louis Magazine and working in an art/design position. I am SO excited to start, but a little unhappy that real life starts two days after graduation.
My capstone class has taught me so much this semester. I've loved the people, the instructors and as much as it pains me to say it, the projects. I definitely feel more ready to face reality after this semester, and I'm grateful to everyone who has helped me get there. 


Check it Out: PUPPIES
Well, YOUTHEDESIGNER made my night tonight. So, in the interest of time and the 12-page paper that is due in less that 12 hours, here is their latest post. It is dog wallpapers, and THEY ARE SO CUTE. My roommates want to kill me because I talk about how much I want a puppy every day. When talking to my dad on the phone today, I asked him if I could get a puppy for graduation. His response was: "when you move out and sign a lease on your own place." So I guess I'll just have to look at adorable pictures instead. Here's my favorite little wallpaper. 

You can see the rest of the dogs that will make your day here.


Sorry for the lameness of this post. I promise I'll elaborate later. Adios.

i literally cannot think of a title.

This week we've been working on iPad apps and website wireframes for Plaid Dad. I've also been working on my mini-portfolio and am supposed to be working on my portfolio website. However, I have had zero time to even think about a personal website because we present our prototype and all of it's parts in Iowa next Friday. I'm very excited and will be happy to see the project and presentation complete. That's all I have to say about that.


Critique: Plaid Dad website
The next part of our prototype is creating the website and iPad app for our magazine. Here are two wireframes for the homepage and the recipes page of the site. We're still ironing out some of the details such as ads and the logo, but all-in-all it's looking pretty good. We definitely stuck with the color palette for our magazine (maybe to a fault). It's definitely different working to create web content rather than print content. It's an interesting challenge, and I definitely have a lot to learn in terms of web design. 

Response: Mag+ and working with the iPad

In order to create our iPad apps, we are working with a program called Mag+. Basically we are creating the app layouts in InDesign and then transferring it to the iPad. It's not very complicated but there are definitely a few glitches in the design and program functions. Our plan isn't to just transfer our print spreads to the iPad. Instead, we're trying to create some different content and then use some of the same, but there has to be a lot of redesign because the space is very constricting. 
I do like Mag+ for the most part. It makes app creation extremely easy and fun, but at times it seems like the easy way out. There are some issues with changing orientation. Instead of creating two different layouts, they stay the same and have to be adaptable to that. It definitely adds some difficulty to making the apps look good.
It's an interesting challenge, and I'm excited to see what we come up with. 


Check it out: Some minimalist web designs

Well I'm attempting to create my portfolio website and struggling. I'm not as skilled in Dreamweaver as i'd like to be yet, but I'm working on it! This week on YOUTHEDESIGNER I found some cool minimalist web pages, and it has encouraged me. So far I've seen some really amazing portfolio sites--most of which I can never imagine being able to create. But these were simple but also very accessible and aesthetically pleasing. 

Above are two of my favorite. They seem much more within my abilities to create. To see the rest of the featured pages, check them out here.

no creative titles left.

Well last night was a crisis. At 8 p.m. just when we thought we'd be putting very few finishing touches onto our master document of our prototype, the file corrupted. Not the type of corrupt that can be recovered from either. DONE. Never to be opened again. After a few minutes (around 34) of panicking, we opted to create an entirely new master document--all 44 of them. We also had to update to all of the new design changes as the most recent ones had been saved on the master. Partly our fault....mostly InDesigns. Thanks, Adobe. But we recovered and Friday can't come sooner. We will FINALLY be finished with this huge project--minus the part where we drive to Iowa at 4:30 in the morning to present them. It'll be worth it....that's what I keep telling myself. 


Critique: Plaid Dad--REVISED
I am so happy with the way that our prototype has turned out. We had a few roadblocks along the way, but we've almost made it. So here are a few of my revised features and departments. 

One of the difficulties we faced was designing in a way that would appeal to our target audience--dads. But I think for the most part we pulled it off. 


Response: Blog re-design
We did critiques of our blogs in lab yesterday and out of that came my re-design. I hadn't even thought about it before, but there were definite legibility issues with my posts. So, I recreated my blog to fit my design style and designed the banner head in InDesign. I chose more muted colors but I gave my blog some life. I went from black to a much more fun palette. 


Check it Out: "If logos were honest" and beautiful photography from YOUTHEDESIGNER
I stumbled upon this hilarious blog post on My Modern Met today. These are not your normal logos, but rather spoofs of what some famous logos should actually say. I laughed out loud looking at these. Here are a few of my favorites below. 

Check out the rest of the logos here.

The other cool thing I found this week is from YOUTHEDESIGNER. They feature some really beautiful flower photography. Often I find nature pictures to be cheesy, but the color and angles of these make them original and inspiring.

To see even more, check out the full post here.

the light at the end of the tunnel.

Slowly but surely, the semester is coming to a close. This isn't necessarily something I'm pleased about, but it does mean that our prototype will finally be published. I am beyond excited to see it go to print. Our team has put in countless hours in the design lab, and we will finally be rewarded for it. I don't want to speak too soon, but I'm excited for the finished product. Tomorrow we have a review with our publishers and some of the professors. Hope it goes well. 


Critique: 30 under 30
Last week we had a cover and feature competition for Vox's '30 under 30' story. It features Columbians of all ages who are basically achieving really cool things. I was at a loss on how to address such a HUGE feature, but here's what I came up with. 

It's definitely not my favorite work of the semester, but I wanted to try something different. I'm trying to mix it up a little in terms of typography, color, etc. I have a few very favorite fonts that I'm always inclined to use because I feel that they can work for lots of different topics. HOWEVER, this graffiti font was not one of the. I wanted  to give the feature a younger feel. It could definitely turn out repetitive if it were designed with 30 vignettes that all looked the same. 

The cover was difficult. There were photos of every person featured, but I definitely couldn't figure out a way to include all 30 without the cover looking like a complete mess. Since the photos were all taken on a white backdrop and all of the subjects were dressed appropriately for their topic, I thought it would be funny to do sort of a mix and match of the subjects. It can definitely use some refining, but that's my initial attempt. 

Response: Mini-portfolios

This week we started discussing creating our mini-portfolios. The discussion freaked me out mainly because that means my college career is in fact coming to an abrupt end. AHHH, real world. I'm excited and nervous, but it has flown by. I am really amped to create my mini-portfolio. We looked at tons in class, and when done well, they can be really beautiful and successfully executed. Now all I have to do is find the time to make mine into a masterpiece. 

Check it out: Really awesome web design portfolios

In starting to think about my mini-portfolio and also my portfolio website, I was researching for some inspiration. One site I found that featured 40 really impressive web portfolios is wellmedicated. I was SO impressed by the 40 they featured, and I only hope that mine can be 1/4 as good when it is completed. Obviously I have a long way to go, but it's always good to be ambitious. Check them out here.

As always, I checked out YOUTHEDESIGNER and found more awesome creative posts. A favorite was of 70+ business cards. I guess I have to think about creating one of those eventually, too. Being a grownup is definitely going to be different. Here is one of my favorites. I think it's so creative, maybe because it's designer humor. 

(Orginially from creattica. )

Click here to see the rest of the very clever and well-designed business cards. That's all for now. Enjoy the week!

crunch time at its finest.

Yes, spring break is most definitely over. And leave it to the j-school to inform us of that fact as quickly and alarmingly as possible. With no time to spare before graduation on May 13/14 (?), these next six weeks will be a test of my time-management skills as well as my ability to maintain sanity. 


Critique: 'Strange Addictions' cover
This week I finalized my cover for the addictions story in Vox which will be running tomorrow. The cover had some changes from the very first draft including adding a television illustration behind the headline and changing the handwriting font. There were some minor bumps in the road, including finding a suitable and high enough resolution photo of a television anywhere on the internet that didn't cost $50. Other than that, I am very pleased with the final product and really excited for it to go to print tomorrow. 

Above is the second draft, and I will post the final product once it is published. 


Yay! Below is the official final draft of my cover.

Response: Spring Break photo assignments
We were assigned two projects over spring break. The first was to create a photo journal of sorts and take one picture a day. Because my break was at home and full of job applications, projects and sleeping, I found inspiration from my family and places around my house. Below are my three favorite photos I took. 

They're obviously not the highest quality photos or the most interesting, but they're all meaningful to me. At first, I was skeptical about the assignment and a little bit forgetful, but now having the pictures from the week makes me appreciate the project. Ideally, I would take a picture everyday to document life, but I'm not even going to attempt it at this point in my life/schedule. 

The second project was to create our names or another word out of found and combined typography off of other signs, posters, etc. I found the letters of my name in signs around my hometown or in my house. It definitely does not mesh as well as I hoped, but it has character and makes me laugh. 

Check it Out: YOUTHEDESIGNER logos and CSS/HTML help

Ever since our capstone class began, I have been so inspired by logos. YOUTHEDESIGNER has helped in the inspiration department without a doubt. This is one blog that is really on top of things. They find the coolest illustrations, photoshop techniques and other tips. This week, they featured some really awesome animal logos that I fell in love with. Here is one of my favorites. I think it's beautiful and clever and so clean. 

(original via logopond)

They feature a huge collection from lots of really amazing other sites. So I would absolutely recommend that you CHECK THEM OUT.

The second thing I found this week was a very helpful website in my quest to teach myself CSS and XHTML. I'm really starting to like learning about it even though I've always thought of myself as strictly a print designer. I'm not saying that I'm looking to go into web design, but at least I'll be prepared. So HTML Dog is simple and straight to the point, and if you're looking for help in the web design department, it's a good place to start. (Thanks, @ashleycummins) It has tutorials for all levels of experience, too!


Back to the lab for more design work! Until next time, enjoy!

things are getting crazy.

Thank GOODNESS spring break is on the horizon (Friday to be exact), because I am feeling the pressssure of being in my last semester. I am SO jealous that I won't be heading to Jamaica or Mexico or Vegas with my friends/roommates/etc. However, because of recent lack of sleep, I am indeed excited to head back to Kirkwood to get some much needed R&R. I'm hoping that it will involve some job hunting and catching up on other classes, but from past experience, I won't count on being super productive while I'm home. 


Critique: Lethal Injections Feature
This week I finished my feature. It made many transformations throughout the designing process. It went from black and white to color photos. I had to make some changes in terms of whitespace in order to fit content, but I really am happy with the final product. 

I wanted to leave as much whitespace as possible and run the photos huge. The photos are all very similar since they were taken in the same visiting room, so I used typography and whitespace to make the very text-heavy spread more interesting. There was some debate on whether to keep the photos in color or change them to black and white. I initially felt very strongly that they should be black and white. It gave the spreads a certain mood. However, now that they are finished, I understand Hayley's thinking that the color shows how stark the prison surroundings are. 

There are still a few changes being made (i.e. the headline may be changing, the online blurb needs to be completed), but overall, this is how it turned out....and I'm happy. 

Response: Prototype draft presentations

Today all of our mag groups made introductory presentations of our prototype progress before Thursday's critique. While most of us seem to be at different points in our progress, I think that everyones' prototypes have a lot of potential. 

Nosh: I was very impressed with Theresa and the rest of the group's progress. They have a very cohesive style and a lot of attention to detail. They have done a lot of good things in terms of typography and organization of their content. There were a few design elements that seem to be overused but that can easily be fixed. 

Modern Midwest: I think that this prototype has a lot of potential. It is the most unconventional of all four prototypes. There are definitely more off-the-wall stories, and it has a very young, fresh feel. It isn't as developed as Nosh, but then again, none of the them are yet. I think there wasn't enough cohesion of the design between the departments as well as the features, but I'm sure that will come with time. 

Cupboard: I loved the cover of this prototype. I think the typography and photos were well thought out, and I think there needs to be more of that throughout the rest of the designs. 

Shindig: I think this team has done a really great job in figuring out typography so far. Like Nosh, it felt like a cohesive package. Some of the spreads still need developing, and something that ties them together, but I think there is so much potential. 

Check It Out: Typographic poetry and typographic designs

This week a friend from home posted this really awesome video from VIMEO. The sound is of poet Taylor Mali reciting one of his beautiful, thought-provoking and witty poems. The typographic work is done by Ronnie Bruce. While Mali says that Bruce did not ask for permission to do this, he basically says he can't even be mad because the result is so good. Enjoy.

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

The other gem I found this week is from YOUTHEDESIGNER. The post is '40 Typography Designs that will Tickle Your Imagination' and let me tell you, they did. This one is my favorite. 

This one entitled 'Fast Asleep' comes from a Spanish blog that also features some beautiful photographs. There are others that are solely created in illustrator, but overall, they're all pretty wonderful. 

Take a look.

Hoping to find more inspiration on this long-awaited break. Until next time, be happy.

ups and downs.

This week our final SJI logos were due, my second draft of my lethal injections feature is due, and we've been doing lots of work on our prototype project. It's been busy, but we've been getting a lot of constructive feedback which is helpful and appreciated. 


Critique: SJI Logos and Lethal Injections
We had to revise our five best logos. I posted the first drafts of my final five and here are the revised logos to turn in. 

The final two logos I am submitting are #3 and #5. I tried to use color to encompass the mission of SJI which is to bring diversity to newsrooms (gender and race). Instead of using a blatantly obvious representation of diversity, so I, like many of my classmates, attempted to incorporate color into the design. 

The other main project I've been working on this week is my second draft of the lethal injections feature. The actual pictures finally came in so I kept a lot the same from the first draft, but made more room for copy. The copy is SO long, so that will definitely be my biggest challenge. 

With lethal injections being such a serious topic, I wanted the design to match the feeling of the story. I tried to leave whitespace wherever possible and include the most striking pictures I could find. 

Response: Portfolio presentation

Last week and this week, we all printed the materials that we have compiled so far for our portfolios. I presented mine on Thursday and realized several things. First, my portfolio is very incomplete. I hope by the end of the semester it will be where I want it to be. Second, it was pretty nerve-wracking putting my work out there for everyone to critique. Makes me nervous for real life. I hope that as the semester goes on my skills will developed and reach a level at which I am excited to present all of my work. 

Check It Out: Pop-Culture Referencing Illustrations and Typography Portraits

So this week in my search for inspiration for logos and developing my portfolio, I found lots of really amazing typographic illustrations. That is definitely one area of design that I want to improve on. There are so many amazing and creative typographic creations out there that it definitely motivates me to improve. 

Here is just one example of a pop-culture illustration from My Modern Metropolis. 

This one, titled 'Tiger Blood,' is very obviously a reference to Charlie Sheen's recent meltdown. It's a very original way to create a clever play-on-words.

The second cool site that I found features 25 typography portraits from Designers Revolution. There are some reallllllllly amazing ones. Looking at them right now, I can't imagine being able to create something so polished solely out of typography. Below is one of my favorites. It is a portrait of Thom Yorke of Radiohead. The illustration is even better because all of the typography used includes lyrics and song titles and other Radiohead references. Enjoy. 

 

Well that's all I have for now, folks. Until next time, happy designing. 

challenges.

The past week or so has been a litttttle hectic. Okay, a lot hectic. Tests, a feature, department pages, logos, blogs, prototype work. Just a lot to do. I apologize if this post is a little scatterbrained. Enjoy. 


Critique: SJI Logos


We have been commissioned by the Sports Journalism Institute to make them a new logo like I mentioned earlier. Yesterday, we all had 20 logos due to be critiqued. From there, with the help of Jan, Erica and the rest of the class, we narrowed it down to our top five. Next Tuesday, we have to turn in our new and improved top five. Below are my top five (in no particular order). 

The biggest challenge I faced was trying to encompass the entire mission of SJI: bringing diversity to the newsroom. The program strives to bring women and minorities into sports journalism. Encompassing all aspects of the motto into a logo that still looks professional is definitely not as easy as it seems. With the second round of logos, I'm definitely going to have to work on bringing the minority/women aspect into the logo in a way that isn't cliche or tacky. It's definitely going to be a challenge. New logos to come next week. 

Response:MU iPad Conference

Monday was the MU iPad Conference and let me tell you, it was very impressive (and pretty exciting). There were editors, art directors, writers, etc from magazines from ESPN The Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Popular Science and Wired. They talked about the industry, the future of their magazines in terms of technology and the rapid changes going on everywhere. 

We're going to be creating an iPad app for our prototype, and while I'm nervous because I literally know nothing about Mag+ at this point, it will be really great experience. As a lot of us get ready to graduate, it's a little scary how much the industry is changing. I consider myself a print designer mainly because it is what I enjoy doing the most. However, as the industry continues to change, I guess becoming knowledgeable about all things technology is the best idea. 

For me, listening to ESPN's Rob King was the most inspirational. He was not only funny but very encouraging. One of my favorite things that he said was:

"It's gonna work out; you just don't know how yet."

It was great to hear that kind of encouragement from someone who has been so successful in the magazine industry. I am personally terrified to enter the job market, but the conference definitely showed me that many people in the industry understand our worries. 

Check it Out: YOUTHEDESIGNER &


This week on YOUTHEDESIGNER, I found some really cool vector patterns that can be created in Illustrator. I was thinking about doing ANOTHER redesign to my blog and maybe creating one for my background. Hope you like. 

awesome vector patterns

Also, I found this really cool video on YouTube. I'm not going to give it away. But seriously, watch it. It is beautiful and unbelievable and makes me happy. 

tall painting

Happy Wednesday!

gearing up for a design-filled weekend.

In true j-school fashion, instead of spending my weekend at home in STL for Mardi Gras (like most of my roommates and most normal college students), my weekend will be spent in good old Lee Hills, and I'll get to dabble in True/False. Lots to do this weekend that I'm very excited about. 
The pictures will finally be in for my Vox lethal injections features, so I'll be creating my final draft (photos to come). I'm also designing my second set of department pages this weekend and am creating a charticle (?) for Insight. That should be an adventure. AND I'll hopefully finally find the time to start/finish my 20/10 SJI logos (being too busy is no longer an option).

Critique: Lots of miscellaneous
Seeing as this week has been spent doing little bits of work on lots of projects, I don't have any real completions to post. The first draft of my lethal injections spread gave me a little bit of difficulty because the copy was in the very beginning stages (I'm talking 200 words with much to come) and the photos were non-existent when the draft was due. But I threw together a four page spread using previously published Missourian photos and got the initial concept together. 


In thinking about how I wanted the spreads to turn out, I decided that I wanted a lot of white space and very little color. Death (and especially the death penalty) is a somber thing and needs no celebration. Even without the pictures, I think the story is going to be very driven by the photography. So I ran the photos big and left a lot of white space. I'm super excited for the real pictures from the penitentiary to be taken tomorrow and to be able to make some real progress on this feature. 


One thing that I've really come to appreciate through designing for Vox is that I get to learn a LOT while I'm designing about the stories that I'm designing about. For instance, reading the Dirty Jobs vignettes for my cover and now reading the lethal injection copy for my feature has taught me a lot about subjects that I probably otherwise wouldn't have learned about (or would have avoided learning about). 


Response: Charlie Sheen (are you surprised?)


Normally I would respond to some event/design/creation of some intellectual value, but with any good celebrity breakdown, some internet and designer humor has come of Charlie Sheen's recent....deterioration. Not sure what's really going on with this self-proclaimed 'rockstar,' but his very epic quotes are providing material for many creative outlets. 


Here is a wordpress page that features kittens alongside some of the 'Sheen-isms.' 

not-so-nice kittens

And yet another site that has actually garnered some media attention is titled 'Live the Sheen Dream.' It is a random quote generator that includes only a picture of Sheen's angry face. 

the Sheen 'dream'

I don't condone Sheen's actions or his completely off-the-wall beliefs, but he is definitely providing some much needed comedic relief through his insanity.

Check it out: Some Smashing desktop calendars and YOUTHEDESIGNER web design

I LOVE calendars. I especially love the kind that you tear off each day individually and they give you some fact, quote, photo, mindless joke. However, I also love monthly calendars, and these are NEAT. Every month, Smashing Magazine allows designers to enter their own desktop calendar designs, and they feature some of the best. This one is currently on my desktop because I love the design, and this is one of my favorite quotes. 

But there are lots of other cool, funky and really unexpected ones as well. Take a gander.

The other cool thing I found this week was from YOUTHEDESIGNER. They really like the number 40, and this week they have '40 Cool Website Design Ideas You Should Check." And they really are cool. Websites can easily just be boring templates. That doesn't make people want to explore, use, discover a site. So here are some very different, very fun web designs for everything from Sony Ericsson to web designers like Gunjan Bhutani. But those are only two of the cool ones. 

Here are the rest.

Okay well for some reason, I am having very much difficulty focusing on this blog whether it's due to the sunshine or the full page to-do list sitting next to me. That's all for now.