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.