Cant Miss Cats as Fonts and Dropmark

Seeing how cats have taken the title of rulers of the internet, I thought that I would share this site that I found the combines cats with fonts. You really don't get anything educational out of it, but it is pretty cute and I am sure that you all will love it. Here is the website with a more http://www.sadanduseless.com/2012/02/cats-as-fonts/

Here are some of my fav:

While checking out swissmiss this week I stumbled across this website they are promoting. It was designed Skylar Challand. It was a collaboration tool that allows you to easily share photos and files and videos while working on projects. The thing that it interesting and nice about this tool though is that it allows you to go and see where they photos were originally taken from. It allows you to look around on that site to see if there is other things you like. 

Seeing how we are getting ready to go out into the professional world this would be a great tool to use when working on new projects with people. It is just a beta as of right now but will officially launch on March 1. 

Screen Shots:

Critique: Meredith Project

While preparing my prototype for the Meredith project I was constantly struggling with my design because I wasn't exactly sure what my group wanted. I know that they wanted something young and fresh and would apple to a wide range of readers. This isn't the easiest task when you are creating a magazine about home remodeling. Most younger people don't have the skills or finances to remodel.

I went with a more modern and minimalist approach for my prototype. I felt that it was something that my publication team wanted. I tried to use very clean line and few little frill for my typography and such.

My Cover:

The logo is something I spent a little bit of time on. I used multiple different fonts and spacing and ended up using this one because it is clean and simple and has that modern minimalist look I was going for. I decided to capitalize the letters M Y so it would play well with the slogan of the magazine. My House My Passion. I also used the photo I did because I felt this is the style of housing and people we wanted to reach. After talking to the publication group I feel we will need so I can get a better idea of the target audience they want to reach.

Department Page and Feature:

I used the same minimalist and simple design for the feature and department page. I think that it was to simple and now that I have talked to my group slightly more I know that it will be a lot easier to design for what they want. 

My color pallet will maybe look familiar to some of you since it was inspired by the old Coach purse pattern. I was making the pallet and realized it was similar, so from there I just used it as inspiration.

Cant Miss 79 Short Essays on Design and Beautiful Illustrations

This week while reading through the post in the Swiss-Miss Blog I saw this book. I have not seen it at any local book stores, but I know that I will be looking for it the next time I am out shopping. It was written by Michael Bierut who is a designer himself. I think that any designer out there who is still looking for some guidance in this industry would learn at least one or two things that could help them.

Cover of the Book

I don't know about anyone else in my class, but I am obsessed with illustrations right now. I am not sure if it is the fact that I am not very good at them and would love to learn more or the fact that they can be gorgeous art. I found this article on smashingmagzine.com and it is just a large collection of great illustrations. This is really fun to look at and can give your idea on things to try when doing your next design. I hope that you all enjoy look at it as much as I did. Click here to see the whole article.

Here are some of my favs:

Raiders of the Lost Ark poster by Tom Whalen

Flow by Nick La

Response: Working on Meredith

I don't know if anyone else in the class is having a little trouble with their prototype magazines, but I am struggling on mine. First I have like always been fighting sickness these last few days, so no fun there. I also feel like the idea that I have for the magazine might be slightly different than the idea my publishing group has. I just feel there is almost a language barrier between us because they can't really explain exactly what they want the magazine to look like. It might be they just can't put it in terms of visual representation so I have a feeling of how it will actually look. I think the best way to get through this issue is just wait until we show them our designs and then we can actually talk about the things that they want to be done with the magazine to give off the feeling they want it to. Right now thought it is slightly frustrating, but what isn't frustrating about design. You can never get something to look exactly how you want it.

Critique: Cover Comp Simplicity

Here are my covers from the Simplicity competition. I didn't put them up last week when I was working on them, and figured I could put them up now. I hope I can get some more feedback on them since the second critique for them was pushed back a few weeks. I don't know which one I will try and redo since I didn't receive a ton of feedback on any single one.
I think the one the the editors and Jan liked the most was the cover with all the lines. They really liked the concept or idea of this cover, but since it is a photo feature they felt it wasn't complete enough to be the cover.
I really like the one with the wine glass because it is such a great picture and just looks really clean, crisp and simple, but the editors felt that it might confuse the readers and make then think that the story is about a restaurant or drinking. I can understand where the editors are coming from, but I just really like the picture.
The last cover is one where I edited the photograph heavily. I made the picture black and white and then used a paint brush to blur out the entire background. I wanted to show the woman separated from her environment. Since the story was about simplicity, I feel it expressed her separating herself from the chaotic and hectic life of today's society. She is surrounding herself with simplicity. That is what I was trying to convey with the cover at least. I feel like I might have slightly missed my mark or the editors were just not super thrilled to see the heavy photo edit.

Here are my original covers:

My art director suggested trying to incorporate the idea of the lines into the cover with the women but leave the photo in color. I am not sure how to combine these two photos and will most likely just have to spend this weekend messing around with ideas and hope that I hit a stroke of genius. I have time to work on it since the redesigns are not due for another week or two. 

I also have the choice of trying to design a complete new concept for a second feature we are running in this issue. It is about a pitcher for Mizzou's softball team. I think that I will at least try to come up with one idea so that the editors will have more than one option to chose from. 

I hope I can get a little feedback from all your designers I am open for ideas or critiques. I know you all have talent, so share a little with me.

I am also going need to redesign my magazine concept for the prototype magazine we are showing the publishing class next Wednesday.

Response: iPad and Meredith Project

I feel I have been been playing catch up since the beginning of this semester in advance magazine design. I don't know about all you other designers out there but I think after this week in class I feel I another full lap behind.
We finally got put into our groups for our Meredith projects this week and got to the students from the publishing class to discuss our magazine designs. I don't wanna give many details since this is a competition and everything needs to be kept under lock and key. I can say the group that I am part of is planning on creating a home remodeling magazine. That is all the detail you get at this time sorry peeps.
What this all means for me is that I have to design a pre-prototype magazine this weekend everything from the fonts we will regularly use to the over all color pallet for the magazine. I have tons of research to do and I don't foresee much other than this getting accomplished this weekend.
On top of this we also talked about the iPad Vox Magazine App we are in charge of this weekend. I am really excited to work on this because it is something not a lot of other design students are going to get the chance to do at journalism school. I am sure we are one of the first student magazine who are publishing an entire iPad based magazine.
It is really exciting and I am sure it will be a lot of work, but what would a capstone class be if it wasn't a lot of work. I know I am learning a ton from the creative designer, my art directors, and my professor already in this class. I just need to get caught up with all the work I have to do.
The pace is good though it always keeps my thinking and always keeps my on my toes when it comes to designing.

You Cant Miss 40 Creative Logos and V-Day Pixel Card

So since we are all working on our prototype magazines this weekend I thought I would share a section from designm.ag I came upon. It has 40 creative and interesting logo designs and since Jan has talked about how important a logo is to a magazine I thought it would be an fun educational break from all the work we are doing. I will just put up a few of my favorite, but make sure you take the time to look at the actual site and look at them all. Yes yes I know that last week my can't miss also was about logos.

Few of my favorite:

I also thought I would share this cute card that I found on the swiss-miss blog I am following. There are two reasons I thought it was relevant. One, I am currently obsessed with 8-bit and pixelated pictures. Two, Valentines Day is right around the corner and the website has a link on how to make your own. I know its not extremely design based but here it is all the same. 

Cant miss a five your old's interpretation of logos and

After looking at a couple of other people's blogs for this week I guess the "it" thing for this week is videos, so here is a video that I saw on the blog I am following for the semester. It was made by Adam Ladd who is an identity designer. He asked his five your old daughter to look at iconic brand marks from our generation and describe what they are or what company they are from. It is really interesting to see this fresh and innocent take on logos each one of us know so well.

You have to watch it to understand but I was completely blown away when he instantly new the GE logo.

I also was looking through a graphic design blog and came across the work of a 3-D graphic designer by the name of Chris Labrooy. Here is his website http://www.chrislabrooy.com/index.html. He made a bunch of typography for the New York Summer Streets festival. These are just a few of the things he has on his website but they are all amazing.

Response: The September Issue

I had seen The September Issue before we watched it in class because, I am from the semi-small group of men who love fashion. Also as a subscriber to Vogue I felt it would be an interesting to see how the years most important magazine actually comes to fruition. I was actually surprised how the whole operation took place. I think this movie really focuses on the creative aspect of creating the magazine though. You don't get to see a lot of the nitty gritty parts just the big overlaying themes put together. I do love the intimate scenes where Grace Coddington is working so closely with the girls at the photo shots and how each shoot becomes like her child she feels she has to protect. She really has a complete vision of these spreads and shoots and fights to see them stay whole.
I also didn't realize how much of Anne Wintour was in every page of the magazine. You might think that somethings would be decided on by higher ups, but she looks at every single page and approves everything single little detail. I think it was amazing to see how involved she is with the entire magazine. It is almost scary to think how much of your life would revolve around your magazine if you were the editor-n-chief. I think thought the sacrifices that she has made is what has given her the god like power that she has at Vogue and in the fashion industry. It reminds me of in the movie when the Neiman Marcus people are trying to get Wintour to push the designers to get there merchandise to the stores quicker. The best part is she could probably make that happen.
The movie if for nothing else shows you the passion someone can have for their work. Wintour and Coddington are two people who truly show what it means to love your job. It is real love though where you cannot be without it but at other times you wanna beat your head against the wall because of it. It's not that fake fairy tale love.

Critique: Spring Preview Comp

First off I will say this was a pretty interesting design session, because I actually designed the entire package while sick with the flu. Since I was sick I would work on the design for an hour or two, then sleep for an hour or two. The process went like that for pretty much the whole design.
I have considered doing this with all my future designs as well....not the whole getting sick and designing because that was just miserable, but making sure that I take time away from the design every few hours. Doing something else between design sessions can help me come back and look at the design from a different perspective. I know I might not always have time to use this design style, but I think it can be beneficial.
Okay now lets talk about spring preview, I was really excited to do spring preview because I was able to use bright colors in my design. When I think spring I think bright and sunny almost more then summer. For my cover I wanted to have a scene that was easy and light and had nice colors. I went with the font that I used because it reminded me of vines and vegetation growing. Since spring is when everything comes back to life I thought it worked perfectly. I used the yellow for the headline because it added some brightness to the cover. Since the color is so bright I had to run the cover headline large so you wouldn't have trouble reading it. Then of course what kind of spring would it be if there wasn't any rain. I think that by adding the rain it made the headline pop a little more and gave the whole cover a little bit of texture.

Spring Preview Cover:

I also added the umbrella as just something solid that wasn't bright and colorful and it is also another iconic image of the spring. 

For my splash page and spread I came up with the idea of "shredding layers for the spring." I basically got the idea from thinking about how as the spring starts and goes on you just take off layer after layer of clothes until summer is here and we are all wearing shorts, tank tops and sandals. I originally wanted to have a border that ran throughout the entire spread that had a guy and girl walking across the top of the pages leaving a trail of sweaters, jackets and pants. I didn't know if that would be considered to risky for Vox magazine and I couldn't figure out how to execute the idea.

I had a splash page the was a giant pile of sweaters and coats and then just stacked the headline, dek and things that would be featured in the spread on top of it. I also added the foil sticker to let people know that this was the Spring Preview since I renamed the spread.

Spring Preview Splash:

When it came to my actually spread I wanted to reflect the cover slightly and have the grass and the blue of the sky. I lost the rain, but added a tree that would become fuller as the months changed. It would represent the life coming back to the trees as spring went on. Eventually the last month headline would have a tree that was in full bloom.  

For the markers I used icons that had items of clothing that would be worn during spring. Now that I look at them they are more summer than spring, but I guess I was just excited for the warm weather. I also chose to in close them in circles of bright colors to just brighten the page as much as I could.

I think my spread is my favorite part of my spring preview package. I just like the color and the warm feeling that I get from it. 

There are things that I would change about me pages if I was to redo them, but isn't that the curse of a designer. We are never completely satisfied with our designs. I look at my splash page now a few days after I finished it and can't help but see a pile of trash and not a pile of sweaters and coats. 

Anyways this is my spring preview package and hope that if nothing else it makes to think of one thing you could use on your next spread.