Week 14

CRITIQUE:


This week I am participating in my final cover competition. The 5/12 issue will have a large feature well about the history and information of murders in the Boone County area. It's really difficult coming up with ideas intense and depressing to reflect murders. A few of us agreed it is not a topic we could design for frequently (and hopefully would never have to). I knew I needed to get in at least one gory cover, hence the knife. It has a shock factor that readers would not be able to ignore, that's for sure. It might be too much though for people who cannot handle blood. Then I did a more light-hearted illustration and a simple photo cover.

RESPONSE:


I can't even count how many times I have been asked "What are you doing after graduation?" I am just as guilty for spitting this question at every senior I converse with. It's the only thing anyone can think or talk about at this time of year, at this time in our lives! So. Scary.

My current life plan is this: I have to complete 6 credits of any topic, any level this summer due to some miscommunication with my advisor over class schedules this year. So when the opportunity arose to go to Tokyo, Japan for two-and-a-half months of course I jumped on it! I will be completing one class for 3 credits the week after graduation and then starting an online one in June. The rest of my summer was going to revolve around pool days, summer nights and occasional babysitting. Now I will be a camp counselor for the 3-5 year-old class at the U.S. Embassy preschool in Tokyo, Japan. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am thrilled to have a new adventure! I have never been abroad and this trip not only allows international travel, a salary and amazing pictures, but humanitarian opportunities to help with the tsunami disaster relief. So keep tabs on my Facebook and Twitter this summer because I will be uploading my adventures like crazy!

And then when I return I will be madly looking for a job. Or going to graduate school.




YOU CAN'T MISS...


A blog post about "70 New And Interesting Fonts For Your Design Projects." Some of the fonts we used for Plaid Dad are actually featured! It's always fun downloading new, free typefaces so when you have a new project you have a variety already in your Font Book to select from.

Yes, I downloaded them all but here are a few of my favorites. If you can't tell I am a huge fan of clean, simple, almost/sans serif fonts.

Week 13

CRITIQUE:


This week I am working on one of the features for the VOX magazine careers issue. It is a psychological profile about people and the place they are currently at with their careers in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 60s. I wanted to utilize some kind of illustration that represented a path. Each person is in a completely different state of their life, so they're all on the same journey but at different places. This is what I came up with. The colors are somewhat retro, so I might play the ages up more with some typography changes.

RESPONSE:


IT IS DONE!!!!! Our commissioned prototype magazine Plaid Dad has finally been completed and is going to press at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning! I have spent the last month with my team and other designers working in the design lab until literally the sun rises. I hope all of our hard work, lots of energy and creativity receive a good response. Designing a magazine for males is a challenge in itself, but designing for males who are fathers and like to cook? That's a whole other level. I'm very happy with how far we have come from the original designs and I think we collectively pulled it all together and gave it our best effort! Next step, creating "iDad", a supplemental application for the iPad, and presenting it all in Des Moines. Woo! Here are two features I designed...

YOU CAN'T MISS...


This is so true

Week 11

Yes, I skipped week 10 because it was spring break; and unfortunately I was on a cruise in Mexico without internet; and unfortunately I have returned with a nice tan. Sorry 'boutcha :)


CRITIQUE:


Not much has gone on in the last two weeks. We had an in-class critique of our prototype Plaid Dad. That was pretty harsh, but very much needed. Our team has since discussed all of the criticism and suggestions, developed a new plan and we are moving forward. Those changes will be posted next week.

Upon returning from my long vacation, I headed straight to the magazine office to design departments. It was a pretty standard layout, but I am very happy with the turn out. There were no real challenges except working with spacing (as always). I was called back for a last-minute switch of stories in the recurring section. The art director felt the Cage the Elephants story was more important than the album review. I thought it would just be a quick copy/paste, but I had to do some re-working because the photo switch went from vertical to horizontal.

All in a day's work.


RESPONSE:


For our photo assignment over break, I took pictures every day of lovely things I saw while on vacation. Here are a few of my favorites in terms of inspiration...

Depth and dimension

Repeating elements

Color

Simplistic yet beautiful

Typography can be found everywhere!

YOU CAN'T MISS...

I stumbled upon these pictures on the "All that inspires me" blog. They are from a post by Terry Border:

"I always knew that my weird point of view was my gift or perhaps curse, so I'm glad I finally found a use for it," Terry says. "As far as getting ideas, I simply try to amuse myself. I look at objects and wonder what they remind me of and then I create a sort of story about that. I have a good sense of humor. I like to laugh but I can't tell a joke to save my life."