Cant Miss 9 Amazing Info Graphs

It is amazing what you can come across when you are on design websites. I don't know if it is just the fact that I am a designer (not sure if I can really call me self that yet but what what the heck) and I just the art I find on their websites or if everyone who sees them would love them.

I came across this article that talks about the amazing info graphs and a book called Information Graphics by Taschen that will come out next month. The book will contain some of the best info graphics of all time in its massive 480 page volume. 

The website gives a preview of some of there favorite graphics they have featured on their website.

My Favs:

The one about how much your body parts are worth is by far my favorite but the other two are pretty amazing as well. 

Here is the link to the website, so you all can get on and see the rest of the them and maybe get some info on the book coming out next month.

Response: Just My Type and Helvatica

Just a small town boy LIVINNNG  in a Helvatica World.....
I know that the reference is slightly off but didn't want to confuse anyone by putting just a small town girl. I mean I am one of the only boys in the class so I have to make sure to represent that tiny demography.

Enjoyable Read:

(I actually prefer this cover to the one at the book store)

I really enjoyed Just My Type by Simon Garfield for a number of reasons. One the way the book uses humor and just sort of flows makes it an incredibly easy read. I was kind of dreading reading the book not because I wasn't interested just for the sake that I didn't know when I would have time to read it.
I am glad that Jan made it a mandatory read though so I actually had to sit down and read it. I really enjoyed the chapters that talked about the worst fonts. I thought it was really funny because they are considered at least be Garfield to be the worst fonts and you see the used all the time.
In case you didn't make it all the way to this chapter (21 I think) here are some examples: Papyrus, Comic Sans and Neuland Incline. I am sure you have all see Comic Sans because it is the laughing stock of the font world and used primarily by 5th graders and people to point out how awful something else is with the font. I also but you have seen Papyrus if you have ever done a 7th grade report on Egypt.
I didn't recognize the name of Neuland Incline, but you have seen it all over the place.

Some examples:

It actually became a pretty basic font when people were designing with Africa in mind. It like Papyrus got pin holed into once category.

Now lets talk about the movie that we watched in class. Usually documents are pretty hit or miss with me. They are usually amazing and I am sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time of they are really slow to start and I turn them off int he first 15 min.

Helvatica was definitely the first of these two reactions. I think what I enjoyed so much about the movie was the fact that the people they interviewed were some of the bigger names in the font world, but also just how passionate everyone was about fonts in the movie. I found it hard to not get sucked into the movie when the people were talking with such enthusiasm about this font that half a century ago sweep the commercial  world and became the new "It" girl of the font world. 

Also not only did they find people that were passionate about fonts and type, but they did a really good job of finding people who either really loved and praised the use of Helvatica or saw it as not that great of a font. 

Anthony Cahalan did a study in 2007 where he sent a questionnaire to over 100 of the top designers in the world and asked them to give there most used and least favorite fonts.  Helvatica was on both of those list it actually ranked second on both of those list. It is just interesting to see a font the is used so widely and so revered to be so disliked at the same time. 

I would recommend this movie to anyone not just type lovers but anyone. It is interesting to see how this one font is used so widely throughout the world. You probably couldn't go a day if you wanted to without seeing Helvatica somewhere. 

I know that after I saw the movie I went out and got this:

Well maybe I didn't like the movie that much or the typeface that much, but still a great movie and font.

Critique: iPad

So finally it was my turn to do the iPad Vox app. Luckily for me it was all the the same week that I had to redesign a feature and redesign a cover. I just recently finished my iPad work so that is why this is getting on here a little late. I still have to do revisions on my cover and feature.
It has been a pretty bust week for me so far but I have an easy week next week—only two test. It is funny how my freshmen year two test in a week was not terrible but something I was not excited for and now I love week where I only have a test or two. Test only take an hour where as you can spend hours upon hours in the design lab if you aren't really focused on getting something done.
I actually didn't mind working on the iPad App it was really time consuming but other than that it wasn't to terrible. You just moved things around and made them fit. It kind of reminded me of working on a department. You do get more creative freedom with the iPad app than you do with the departments, but it is structured and you have some guidance.
I am happy that it is over, but now that I have to move on to free thinking design I wish I could just do more iPad work. My brain is a little to worn out to work on stuff like this now. I guess I just have to think that spring break is a week away.

Some pages from the app:

As you can see we made a few small changes to the cover and splash page of the issue. We wanted to use the icons from the cover to allow users to jump to certain sections of the feature story. I think that it turned out nice.
I enjoyed the design of the print edition, but we decided to make a few little tweaks to just make the iPad version slightly different.
This is what has consumed the majority of my week, so I hope you all at least slightly enjoy it.

Cant Miss

Even though we didn't get to experience much of a winter here in Missouri there was plenty of snow in other parts of the country. I found these pictures and a video on my designated blog swissmiss. They are temporary art created by Sonja Hinrichsen and five other volunteers. I think the thing the most interesting things about them are how huge they are and how good they look. I also think it is kinda amazing to think that one random snowmobile or skier could come through this area and ruin its symmetry and simplistic beauty.

I know that I would never have the patience to do something like this, but it is pretty impressive.

Here is a video of them making it.

Response: Portfolio Reviews

I have really enjoyed the portfolio reviews so far. I have only been looking at other peoples work, but it is nice to see all the work your classmates have done and how they have improved of the year. I am slightly nervous for my review since a lot of work isn't completely revised and print ready. The few things that I really enjoy are pieces that have been done completely and went to print. 

I also have seen all the different skins people are using in their work and realize I need to expand my skill level. It is not so much that I need to go and learn specific things, but I just need to spend more time on the computer designing. A really good exercise when and if I ever get free time and can make myself sit down and work would be to practice my skill by revising my older works. I could kill two birds with one stone. 

I feel that after the summer where I hope to intern and have more free time to focus on putting my portfolio together I could have a decent portfolio to show potential employers. This who situation has also made me realize that I graduate very soon and will be out in the real world trying to make a living with the skill I have learned here at Mizzou. It is an exciting thing to think about but also a pretty nerve racking experience. 

The semester is already halfway over and I know I still have plenty to learn.

Critique: Cover March 8

As you all know by now I was selected to create the March 8th Cover. It was an interesting process getting here though for one with all the feature stories being rearranged we didn't always know what story was going to be on the cover. Once we were assigned the softball story Timmy wanted to a special photo shoot with Chelsea for the cover. I think it worked out for the best because us designers got some great action photos to work with on this cover. The photo shoot was not until Friday so we only had 4 days to design the cover compared to the regular 14. I was out of town all weekend so I actually did my entire concept design in about 4 hours before they were due.
I did run into a few technical problems with moving the file, fonts and printing, but after I talked to Jan, Jen and Teresa I think they had a basic idea of how I wanted the final project to look.
I wanted to use the Mizzou colors as the pallet and then I just used a great photo by Timmy.

Original Concept:

The redesign was relatively painless. We decided to move the sell lies to the bottom of the page and put them in a gold box so they wouldn't blend into the background words. Also we added a swosh to the title font. The font in the original is not what was on the turned in copy—tech problems. Also we decided to lighten the background words so she would pop more. There were other editorial changes, but for the most part it was pretty smooth and easy.

Redesigned Cover:

This is what it looks like after we fiddled with it and made some changes. I liked the concept and design the whole way through, but it is nice to see what a design can look like after it has been edited and redesigned with others help. It makes such big difference to get a fresh pair of eyes to loo at something.

There are actually a few other small things that were changed for the final cover, but I want everyone to go and grab a copy tomorrow so I don't feel I can share all facts. This is my first complete cover design and I hope any in the future go as smooth and pain free. Heck I just hope there are more in the future.

I am currently working on the first draft for the March 22 issue. I am still not sure on the direction that it will take, but it is the design I will be giving all my attention for the next few days.