Response: Websites

I just loved looking at my classmates' websites this past week. Since they are all being made through CMS available online for free, such as Cargo Collective, 4ormat and Wix, I was surprised to see how individual they were able to make each of their sites through their logos. I had never really considered using one of these sites before because I bought my own domain in 2008, and I have been using a website I had created through iMac and Dreamweaver. But I really am loving how all of these looks.

Some of my classmates have used slideshows to showcase their work, others pop-out windows and some just scroll-style. I think I prefer the slide show formate because it feels like it is using the web capabilities and making it easier to look through quickly. I love websites with lists and slideshows. And when they are together - total perfection.

I will give kudos to my classmate Blair because I love her logo and the overall look of her website, although I think she should take my green ribbon idea!

Here is her logo:

The logo design is both fun and classy, which is definitely how I would describer Blair. I like how she was able to take her initials and play with them without using a funky font or outrageous colors. She said in class that she often sees people as having a color, and I think she is spot-on with hers. Feminine without being pink, classic without being a standard black and white.


About my website. ... Ugh.

That's really all I have to say about it right.

I am going to build mine in a template online because I just can't get my Dreamweaver site to do what I want.

You can't miss this: Steamy book (covers)

Book covers seem to be a theme this week for my blogging because when I was perusing imprint I came across an article about romance novels and an interview with an art director who has been creating these guilty pleasure covers for 13 years.

Naturally, I clicked to read more.

Here are some examples created by Claire Brown.

Notice anything about them other than, ahem, their seductive poses and titles?

They all use wispy/calligraphy/Victorian typefaces. I think this goes back to that idea (a la Midnight in Paris) of nostalgia, where everyone thinks living in another era would make them happier. Romance does seem more romantic in the Victorian age, possibly because of those corset pushing up your you-know-whats. I mean, look at "Treasure Me."

It's a short article, but I thought it was interesting that Brown says the office is filled with classical art books, contemporary high fashion, architecture and interior design. She also said it helps to have a knowledge of history, classical art, architecture and furnishings.

Some of the challenges that come with designing these books is their small size.

Like any other publication, you really have to know your audience and keep them in mind when designing. These readers like kilts and, of course, chiseled abs.

Critique: Book covers

Final book cover (maybe?):

Well, I have been working on my cover design this week, and I decided to incorporate some old features. This type design should look familiar. You all ranked it as one of your top 3 designs I did from the original designs. (Remember: it was orange with this type) I was really glad that the university press employees liked my type cover, but I was not sure how I was going to attack the redo when they said they didn't want the state of Missouri. I agree that it was too obvious and limited, so I tried to get a little more imaginative without being to "atypical," since that is not really my style or the press', in my opinion.

I decided to start small with changes. The first was that I placed the title inside of the words from the book that describes the brothers since the brothers are at the center of those descriptors. I also took the map idea from one of my first designs and decided to apply it in a non-traditional way. I created a river like design, but I also put in the lines from the typographic map to add some texture. I am a little worry if the blue lines look like a river. I would appreciate any feedback. Of course, I wanted to leave my mark by using my favorite color one last time for the semester - so this is an ode to tangerine, which, luckily, has kind of an earthy look to it.

While I still don't think it is SO exciting. It's no red, white and blue lips at least. I am pleased with how it has progressed since the first designs. This is not at all how I imagined it at all, but I think it is less safe than what I would have designed it at the the beginning semester. I probably would have used the one that kind of looked like a textbook definition of literary/history book. I think this one will jump out on a shelf more than the brown color that I created during the first round.

You can't miss this: Reportage

Through my blog of the semester, Imprint Magazine, I came across this cool new project/website through the University of the Best of England. It is designed to report through visual journalism, including documentary drawing and illustration. It even includes emerging technologies. It is called Reportager.

Right now the website tells mostly what it will do in the future, but go ahead and check it out. This is something really innovative and interesting. It reminds me of an earlier post I made about a graduate student in California who created a poster for the top headline of the day. Words say a lot, but as we know, so can images.

Here are a few from the website as it stands now:

Dave Sparshott’s South East Asia sketches
"Dave Sparshott has recently returned from travelling for six weeks through South east Asia, documenting his experiences through location drawing. His primary focus has been upon documenting the places, people, and journeys he experienced whilst backpacking through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

The images here are a small example of his sketchbook work made on location and which he intends to use as material for an extensive, self-published illustrated travel journal or guide with drawn maps and annotations.

Find out about and see more of Dave Sparshott's work on his member's page, or by visiting his previous travel documentary work in his Visual Journal in the projects section of Reportager."

Matthias Beckman: Artists Studios in Berlin
"On June 15, 2012, Matthias Beckman's series "Artists Studios in Berlin" will be exhibited at Columbus Art Foundation in Ravensburg (Southern Germany).

The Columbus Art Foundation intend to publish a catalogue with text by Andreas Schalhorn, curator of the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (Collection of drawings and prints).

In November 2012 the exhibition will be shown at Fruehsorge Contemporary Drawings in Berlin. Other venues to be announced.

Matthias Beckman's series about Vietnamese Life will be exhibited at the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin in 2013. There already exists a booklet of drawings published by the artists residency programme "Lichtenberg Studios", curated by Uwe Jonas."

Seven Thirty Eight
"Steven Wilkin, Course leader in Illustration at UCLAN has been drawing his fellow commuters on his daily journey between Hebden Bridge and Preston over the last ten years. It has become a fundamental part of his drawing practice over the last five years. He has collected over twenty sketchbooks of drawings.

Last week Steven published a newspaper called ‘seventhirtyeight’ a tabloid that records over seventy of these commuter drawings.

“It is effectively a travelling exhibition. I handed out the paper on my commute to my fellow passengers”. The newspaper also made an appearance at the International Drawing Project"

Review: Book covers

Today we had three employees from the University of Missouri Press come to our class to look at some book cover designs for some upcoming books they will be publishing.

I will probably most my designs at a later date, but I thought I would share some of the interesting information the publishers shared with my class because I didn't really know much about book publishing world.

The most interesting thing we learned was that books get returned - AFTER people read them because they can be returned until it stops being published. One of our guests says that means sometimes a book will be published for 20 years, so people can keep bringing it back.

Because of this return rate, publishers stray away from really dark book covers because they show the wear more than lighter ones. For example, they get finger prints on them, but the biggest problem is that the dark colors show scuffing more than the lighter ones. I find this surprising because I feel like white cars always look dirtier than black cars. I thought the same logic would apply here - wrong.

As with everything else, the Internet is changing even the world of book publishing. Because of uploading covers to sites, such as Barnes and Nobles and Amazon, they don't like white covers because you can't tell it's a book cover. If it is white, they would like some kind of border somewhere on the cover, so that it shows up better online.

Those are just three highlights and just about the cover of the book.

I found these 8 tips on The Book Designer's website for creating a killer book cover, so I thought I would share (Number 3 should look familiar):


Top 8 Cover Design Tips for Self-Publishers

1. Establish a principal focus for the cover—Nothing is more important. Your book is about something, and the cover ought to reflect that one idea clearly.
2. Make everything count—If you are going to introduce a graphic element, make sure it helps you communicate with the reader.
3. Use the background—Avoid white backgrounds, which will disappear on retailer’s white screens. Use a color, a texture, or a background illustration instead.
4. Make your title large—Reduce your cover design on screen to the size of a thumbnail on Amazon and see if you can read it. Can you make out what it’s about? If not, simplify.
5. Use a font that’s easy to read—See above. There’s no sense using a font that’s unreadable when it’s radically reduced. Particularly watch out for script typefaces, the kind that look lacy and elegant at full size. They often disappear when small.
6. Find images that clarify—Try not to be too literal. Look for something that expresses the mood, historical period, or overall tone of the book; provide a context.
7. Stay with a few colors—If you don’t feel comfortable picking colors, look at some of the color palettes available online to get a selection of colors that will work well together.
8. Look at lots of great book covers—You may not be able to mimic all their techniques, but the best book covers are tremendous sources of inspiration and fresh ideas.

Critique: M-word revisited

After this weekend, I am pretty sure my group mate/creative director for our class assignment where we make a prototype magazine has another letter to put in front of -word. I don't think it takes too much imagination to come up with the letter/word combination, but the good news is we're almost done.

We met Monday with our publishing group members and the teachers from both the classes. I think it went really well. LeeAnn did a great job getting us organized. I think we each designed 12-14 pages for the magazine. I had one feature, which was 4.5 pages, 4 departments and the TOC.

Since we are done designing, I wanted to show my final designs (note: we made a few changes, but I don't have them in my files) with a brief explanation.

Feature:

I had the garden feature, which I was really happy about (the other feature was about fish - yuck). I had a lot of fun designing this spread. I wanted to try and break out of my usual style, and I think I did that by using the arrows going from the skill to the place in the recipe where it wants you to use the skill. Although we used a set color palette for this issue, I liked it because these are not colors I would have picked. They would have been more pastel, but I love how they really pop. They feel very summery and fun, which is what we wanted for this summer issue. I also liked breaking up the intro into the two pages. I think it worked well. 

Departments:

I started with the "In my fridge" spread, but this final one is way better than the first two drafts. However, the one I think shows the most improvement is the first page in this group - Sweet treats. Originally, I was thinking very simply. I was given one image, so I was going to put it in the top right-hand side of the page because that was what we were told to do, and I am excellent at following directions. I wasn't thinking very creatively - although you could argue that the final version isn't that creative but trust me, it is so much better than the first draft, which I might have already posted. I was glad I broke the image up. Now it looks like the icing is being piped on the baseball brownie. Again the curved arrow was used to add playfulness.

I think the one that needed the least improve was either the Meals by the Minute or the 3 ways Ice Cream. The former one because I initially proposed a very similar design, and I just added the elements that went with our style sheet - colors, fonts, etc. The latter because I think I was in the groove of the magazine by the time I designed it. It just fell into place. If I had started with that, I don't think that would have been the case.

Last but not least: TOC

I was honored to get to do the TOC page and that the publishers specifically requested my design. You all have seen this before. The only changes was the organization of where each story went and the fonts. Looks pretty good!

Response: M-word presentations

Our big M-word project is in its final weeks. I realize those of you outside of my classmates have no idea what this all means. But, basically, my advanced magazine design class has been broken up into four teams that work with a publishing class at the university to create four magazine prototypes for a company. In just over two weeks, we will be heading up/down/over there present these.

This week, we did a small presentation for our professor, the publishing class professor and the TA for our class. We presented the table of contents and all the department pages. Although we still have some work to do, I was glad to get some feedback on what we have done and the changes we have made. The comments were very constructive, which is what we needed.

I have been working on a chart this week, so I thought I would post it on here for you:

You can't miss this: Make-up

I'm a traditionalist when it comes to make-up. I have been getting Clinque since my mom gave me my first green lipstick tube in third grade. I remember this remarkable moment for two reasons - I have always been a girly-girl and I wrote about it in my childhood journal, which I reread recently while I was visiting my parents' house. It felt like a momentous occasion in my young life. Make-up was so fun.

Now, when I go to the Clinque counter, it is always just to pick up the one thing I need: powder, foundation. Always the same type, always the same color and always the same packaging: green or clear and silver. When I am done with the tube or compact, I just throw it away. It never seems like there is anything remarkable about it. And maybe, with Clinque, there isn't anything particularly remarkable about its design. But that is not true of all make-up packaging or packaging in general.

An article on Imprint's website this week reminded me of the fun that make-up can be and what we as designers have an opportunity to create even on something as mundane as a piece of cardboard. It was like experiencing a written Sephora. Joan Renner was being interviewed and the conversation dovetailed into a discussion about her more than 500-piece collection of commercial face powder boxes, hair net packages, bobby pin cards, and print ads that she has from the years of 1900-1950.

They are stunning.

See!!

I think this is a great article to give you all inspiration for future projects - maybe your personal logos or even your book covers if you are doing the one about girls, beer and war.

So, CHECK IT OUT!

My extensive collection of over 500 pieces includes commercial face powder boxes, hair net packages, bobby pin cards, and print ads circa 1900-1950.

Read more: Black Dahlia Murder, Part 2: The Victim’s Makeup — Imprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers
For great design products, visit our online store: MyDesignShop.com

Critique: 20/10 assignment

I am not ashamed to admit it. I have always been one to pick a book by its cover.

Over winter break, I went to Barnes and Noble and picked my holiday reading just by looking at the covers and the titles. Not good sounding or looking - Next! I don't even bother flipping it over just to "see" if the plot might be more impressive than the cover leads me to believe. The method worked. I ended up with two great bookstore finds (Sarah's Key and The Future of Us) through this method and choosing a book from a friend (Bringing Home the Hermes is so funny and excellent. I couldn't tell by the cover design or the writing that it was actually a non-fiction book, which I typically hate).

My mom, who is a librarian at a high school, says she always keeps the book jackets on her books because she knows that is what "sells" them to the readers/students at her school.

Why am I talking about book covers? Well, they are designed by graphic designers/editorial designers, obviously, but it was one of my assignments for the week.

My magazine design class was challenged to come up with 20 different cover designs for a series of books being published by the University of Missouri Press. We were given five book options, and we were to pick one.

I went with a Lewis and Clark type book about six brothers involved in the fur trade along the Missouri River, who were also pioneers heading west. Although I liked several of the other book ideas a little bit better (there was one about Girls, Beer and War and another about Mary Louise Smith), I decided to go with what I thought was a more challenging cover.

It was a challenge to come up with 20 ideas, but here they are:

These are not in the order that I did the designs except for the first "page." While I was skimming the book, there was a quote about seeing the red, white and blue being raised above St. Louis. Not being from Missouri, I had to get the whole "arch-thing" out of my system. I recognize that the arch wasn't even built until the 1960s, but it was the jumping off point.

The next three images on that page are some of my favorites because I felt like they look like real book covers. My favorite of all my designs was the one with the map of the Missouri river faded in the background with the cutout from the image provided. I thought it looked like a "real" book cover while still being design-y and more than just an image. The other two that use the whole picture reminded me of a book about the Melungeons, a group of tri-racial indians from Appalachia - pronounces App-a-latch-a, people, that I got when I went to the Governor's School for Tennessee History.

The next set of four are probably some of my least favorite. I was trying to work with the idea of fitting the six brothers in and trying to create something from, basically, not enough information on my part.

The third set of four has another one of my favorites. I wanted to do more with the fur trade, but all my ideas were kind of gross. There is just something unappealing about fur when its not already in coat format (although I am not a fan of real fur for clothing, so don't call PETA on me). I plan to do more with the trap, which I think could make a really nice cover.

In the next set, I was surprised how many of my classmates liked this map image over the one on the first page. I think I am going to work to combine the ideas a little for the final showing of these to the printing professionals, alliteration intended.

This last page has one of my other favorite covers, which was the orange, black and white type image. Although I don't know if it would work in a book store to draw your attention, I like the graphic element of this one with the different font weights. Also because I wasn't given and image of all the brothers, I thought this was a good way to get around that and tell more about who the brothers were through words.

I welcome more thoughts. Look for the final designs in the next week or so!

Critique: Website time

I am glad we are getting ready to embark on a website development project. I have been anxiously awaiting and fearing this portion of the course because it is a skill I am interested in developing further, but it also seems like a large mountain to climb. I have been playing around with some basic PHP-type coding; however, it has been slow and constantly interrupted by other projects/life/school/etc.

So, I think I am going to use a plug-in for Wordpress; however, I also will be making one in Cargo, too. Because I have been told the plug-in will take a while to learn because of having to use the coding language Ruby, which I am not familiar. This just gives me an excuse not to put it off any longer.

I have been scouring the web looking for other website inspiration.

Here is what I have found so far:

This is photographer Ed Ou's website. While it displays his beautiful photos, I think how you just slide through his photos could be used for layouts. I also like how clean and unassuming it is, which is a perfect backdrop for photos.

http://www.edouphoto.com/index.php?/ongoing/singles/

Another photographer, Allison Smith's website is described as having "more whimsy." It looks similar to some of the ones we saw on Thursday through Cargo and Carbon Made.

This one is kind of fun! It is an editorial design website for Bradley R. Hughes. It is very simple, but it looks nice and is easy to read.

Apparently infographic people are more apt to create portfolio websites. Here is one from David Foster.

I am still looking for more that I like. I will most them as I find them!

Can't Miss this: Typodermicfonts

Ah, Twitter has done it again. Amidst the hundreds of thousands of posts about everything from today's news to new regulations for the EPA about coal power, one of my followers has pointed me in the direction of another font-focused website/blog. I was first intrigued by the post because it was tweeted by a non-designer. An engineer, to be more exact. He posted that he got "lost" in Typodermicfonts, so I figured if an engineer was that fascinated by the fonts and this website (I think he chose the wrong career, except his chances of getting are probably a lot better than others) this was something that you all might be interested in as well.

I wandered over there to check it out first. Basically, it's a website/blog that lists different typefaces and includes descriptions of downloadable typefaces/fonts. It also features an image of each of the typefaces used in sentences and in different colors. While some of the descriptions seem repetitive or unnecessary because you can look at the font in the example, such as Pyrite being described as "angular, heavy metal display font," which would be easy to infer, but it also talks about how this font has been recently updated to include fractions and numeric ordinals as well as that "ligatures have been included for LL and OO pairs." The descriptions also include more fun information, such as that Crystal Radio Kit was the typeface used for the old Radio Shack logo.

See:

Oh, I just love to learn things like this!

I have on several occasion had friends ask me if I know what typefaces stores or brands use. Typically, I just guess Helvetica now that I have seen the documentary, but now we all know that Radio Shack used to use this wild font.

I know most people don't like "cheesy" font, hello Comic Sans haters, but I think all fonts have their time and place. However, I am glad that Radio Shack has updated its look to what we now know and love as its logo:

Critique: Magazine editing assignment

This past week in one of my non-design classes, we got to be creative. So, I thought I would post my design. We were given a story about medicine cabinets and told to give it a title, external blurb and three internal blurbs. I decided to make my pages into a department style set of pages with a department title on the top left-hand side page and a full-page, user-frield graphic on its coordinating page since this is a popular design for service-oriented journalism in consumer magazines. The design also gave me a chance to keep working with cutouts, which is something I think every designer strives for because it is a common skill needed in many designs. This was also a conservative sounding magazine - FDA Consumer - so I didn't want anything too wild. Just useful and to the point.

Here is my layout:

The title is “Storage Wars,” which gets to the idea of both where should you keep your medicine and how to keep it up-to-date. The external blurb, “Keep your family safe and battle your medicine cabinet this weekend,” further explains the title, so that it isn’t too cryptic. The three design elements I used were subheds in the body of the story, a reference box that could be cut out of the magazine for emergency phone number sand a picture/info graphic with the “Top 8” items readers should have in their medicine cabinet. I picked these three techniques because I wanted an element that would break up the text and made it easier to read (subheds), an element that was useful (phone list) and an element that was visual. I think each of these pieces served their purpose and work well together because they allow for reader interaction and provide information not included in the body of the text but that goes along with the text. I really wanted the dichotomy between the text heavy left-hand side page and the visual element on the right-hand page because it provides readers and opportunity to sit down with the story or just quickly get some information. This variety is important for consumer magazines, and I think this article provides both groups something they can enjoy. It is also a design that could be used in each issue that would provide consistency for the readers.

Can't miss this: Naming

I think naming something, whether a person, blog, or nail polish color seems like so much pressure. I don't know much about naming any of those other than blogs; I do dream of creating my own nail polish color and ponder baby names every once in a while (Evelyn and Harrison, fyi). Every time I attempt to start a blog, it is the name that I spend days, even weeks, thinking about. It always feels so permanent. Not as much with a blog but definitely with a person's name. I think we all have meet that person with an awful name - Stribling, seriously, people. It sound like dribbling - that you can't help but think "why?".

This week, I bring you a short article from Imprint about naming the typeface Empire, which I think you will agree is appropriately named. It is not a long-winded discussion but rare reasoned through images. Enjoy!

Critique: The M-word, part deux

Better Cook is really coming along these days.

I was really glad to show-off our designs in class this week because it allowed me to a) see what all the other magazines were doing with their designs and b) give me some inspiration and change ideas.

During break, I worked on "In my fridge," which I think is a great idea. When I was in late middle school/early high school, I used to read this website (I wish I could remember the name of it) with tips on how to do your hair and make-up based on the looks of popular stars. It also had an "In my make-up" section, which I just loved because I was just in the beginning my foray into make-up. I think this will be well-received. The design is preliminary as we wait on the actual pictures, but I like where it is going.

Now that I have seen my other group member's pages, I want to funk up my sweet treats page. It feels very bland right now. Suggestions welcome.

I really like the way the "Meals by the Minute" is shaping up. I feel like it still needs some tweaking and the actual picture of the burger, but I think it is heading in the right direction.

Response: Class presentations

I know this feels like forever ago, but I really enjoyed all the presentations my classmates did about the history of consumer magazines before 1970. We each had to present on a a decade from a magazine of our choice. Presentations included Vogue (pretty much every year), Popular Mechanics, Good Housekeeping, Time (multiple decades).

I did my presentation on McCall's (1953-1963) because I felt like it most represented the types of magazines I currently read (Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple). I also just love 1950s/60s period movies because of the clothes and I also figured these would fulfill that personal interest. I was right, which to any feminists out there is probably pretty sad; the magazine was choked full of a-line skirts and tips on how to take care of a family. I will admit the topics were more housewife driven than most of today's women's magazine; however, there were many similarities. They all impress the importance doing it all and looking good while doing it.

I will admit that I was surprised by how modern the designs were, albeit being considered basic and sometimes funny because of how literal the designs are sometimes (font was often the biggest offender). I can imagine how much harder designing was before computers when everything was cropped/designed by hand, so I really admired all of the creativity.

One of my favorite designs was a chart of dinner meals. It wasn't just that it told the reader what to eat but also how much. And if she was married, which of course she probably was or was at least thinking about being married, how much her husband should be eating. I could definitely see it running in Real Simple.

I also enjoyed learning about Vogue throughout the years. I didn't realize how many different styles of the Vogue masthead they went through during the years. McCall's never changes; however, the title (McCall's) was pretty useless.

Response: Invasive Species

I already talked a bit about "the haps" in my class with watching Helvetica and reading "Just My Type," so there isn't too much to say about the course itself.

On Thursday, we did the usual review and critique with the Vox staff. I always like this part of the week because I enjoy seeing everyone's creative ideas. Once you are out working, you don't spend all this time coming up with idea after idea and you certainly don't have a whole bunch of people spending all of there time on just one or two designs. It is funny to see the similarities and differences.

This week, I think all of the cover designers used the same image for one of their covers, including myself. We pretty much all had the same explanation for it as well. However, when given free rein (I learned this was the correct spelling and usage of that word this week) away from the photos provided, the designs took an extremely different look.

However, I would like to take a minute to give a shout out to my classmate Brittany. I loved her designs for the feature portion of the Invasive Species story. I already explained this in a previous post, but the story is about this certain fish and hog species as well as a plant species that are taking over the U.S. after being brought here from other countries.

Her designs were so creative that I just wanted to throw in the towel. She turned the fish into a "Godzilla" fish with a whole bunch of other smaller fish huddled together in the corner of the page. I will post the image if possible.

She also did some really creative things with what I found to be a not-so-interesting story. I think it shows that she has worked as a park ranger, so this was the perfect story for her.

As I prepare to redesign my cover, I hope to channel Brittany's creative and come up with something as fun and attention grabbing for the front.

Can't Miss This: How to choose a font

That pretty much sums up how I feel about typography.

I am constantly looking for resources to help me become better at picking fonts that accentuate my designs or provide their own personality. This past week when I was working on my covers, I was stumped. So I went to our old friend Helvetica since we had just watched a movie, where we learned how it is able to adopt the feel of many different emotions, brands, etc. However, I just wasn't pleased. It was kind of boring with little to no personality.

Last week, I was also busy grading projects for the regular design class, where some of my students type choices had just the opposite problems. They're fonts had way too much personality. And they were all competing with each other.

So, this morning (I know, what a nerd), I was scanning the WWW for some advice when I came across a 2010 article on Smashing Magazine called, "What Font Should I Use." I think the article is very interesting, so I will give you some of the highlights. (Click the link to read the whole story for yourself.)

1. Dress for the occasion

This is the idea I was referring to above when my student choose too expressive and "stylish" fonts that tend to scream at the reader rather can complement the design. The idea is to have a few outlandish ones but also a few workhorse typefaces.

2. Know Your Families:

I think this is a section best read thoroughly on the website.

3. The principle of decisive contrast

The idea of mixing and matching is something I used for the first time on my "type" cover for the the vignettes edition of Vox thanks to Nick suggesting it. I think it turned out well. This section basically tells designers not to be wimps about changing the weight and contrast a lot because if you just do it a little it will look like a mistake. However, mixing and matching doesn't always guarantee typographic harmony.

4. A little can go a long way

I loved the example used in this section. First, there is yet another fashion reference that totally makes sense, but the real is a restaurant menu for a Thai restaurant. The basic idea that that every once and a while you have a design that oozes the need for a font with personality and that's fine. However, it needs to be used as an accent. The first Thai restaurant menu shows a "asia-fied" font being used all over the menu right down to the prices. The second example uses only the "fun" font on the topic for the restaurant name and then a more traditional typeface for the rest of the menu. HUGE difference.

5. There are no rules

DON'T TELL ME THAT! This is the rule that makes designing so difficult. It's not a math problem, it's an art.

Can't Miss this: Making an Imprint in your coffee

I think we have all seen this, but I found a brief little article about coffee designers on the blog Imprint, which I read each week. This was from early this week, but what I really liked was the writers explanation of the art form. However, I found it odd that she had never really found this talent particularly interesting, especially being a designer, albeit her attitude changes as she looks over her husband's shoulder while he judges a latte design contest. I found it fascinating but that may be because I don't drink coffee, so I have no idea how the barista creates these days.

She writes:

"Over time, I began to be able to tell whose was who at different coffee shops around Boston. There was one staff member in particular who had a very whimsical line quality I grew to love, similar to the initial cap at the beginning of a book of Aesop's Fables I remember reading as a child. Yes, there are technical reasons for variations from barista to barista like how quickly they pour the milk through the espresso or the size of the cup; but in the end, it's the rhythm of their hand, just like any artist's hand, that makes the difference. No two are alike and personal style can be your best friend or something you fight in the quest for perfection."

My friend Neil recently tried his hand at a little latte art. I think it turned out pretty well. (Yes, another Viking reference. I have a tote and a T-shirt, so be on the lookout for those in your future.)

Since I don't drink coffee, I will have to start exploring design options with my addiction of choice - orange juice.

Critique: Covers, again

I feel like I am stuck in a cover designer's Groundhog's Day. Every time I turn around, I am designing another cover for Vox. Despite all that practice, this week I did not feel confident about my covers. I am, however, feeling more confident about revising because I feel like I have a better sense of where to go now that I have spent a little more time thinking over the story.

Briefly, this is a double feature week, but the cover will represent the main story about invasive species, which includes carpe, hogs and a plant.

I went with two picture covers this week because I was having a hard time coming up with a typography cover that conveyed the three different part of the story and could make them into one cover. I didn't realize that the photos we were given are most likely not being used. So look at these with an open mind since they will definitely be changing.

I went with the multi-fish photo because it looks like the men are catching the fish, which fits with the story because that is essentially what is happening to help control their numbers in this region and throughout the U.S. I also stuck with the proposed headline because, while not super exciting, it does paint an image in your head. I decided to go with the tall "i" to "invade" the space of species without being too obvious.

For the second photo image, I went with the bloody fish/happy man image because I thought it had a certain amount of shock value without feeling cruel to animals. I think bloody anything automatically attracts a reader, and I thought it was something different for Vox. With the typography of the headline, I wanted to mirror the feel of the image, so I turned species sideways to be parallel with the fish. I also made the dec sideways as well because while readers had their heads turned they could go ahead and finish that portion of the front. However, I did keep invasive the right way to ground the cover.

For the final cover, you will have to use your imagination. I was going for a fun plant-inspired "logo" of sorts, which would future the title and then like cartoon-like leaves and branches would be growing out of it. Then I wanted it to be partially covered with plants. It just wasn't going as well as I wanted to, and I gave up. However, I am going to keep working on the concept and, hopefully, wow everyone at the next critique.

Coming up, I will be doing my Vox 5 cover and continuing work on the M-word magazine.

Response: Just My Type and the font formerly know as Neue Haas Grotesk documentary

This book is, Just My Time.

Ha! Shameless, I know. But with a title like that, I couldn't resist.

But it's true. I really enjoyed this book, although I did skip over a few of the font history lessons. I was also glad that I finally read the book because my mom gave it to me last semester.

I started from the beginning (such a traditionalist), and I am glad I did because I really liked the personal essay at the beginning. Not only did it introduce us to Chip Kidd, but I find two things interesting about it: 1) unlike writers/authors graphic designers and editors are rarely known unless they are the cream of the crop even though they really pull the publication together and b) we get inspiration from everyone.

I bring up my first point because I can't name how many times I have seen the "All the Pretty Horses" book cover or the designer, but if I had been on Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire, I could have come up with Cormac McCarthy as the author. Shame.

I also thought it was funny that a reporter/interviewer was able to see Kidd's design influences. I am not sure if that says more about the interviewer's preparation for the interview or Kidd's lack of introspection about his own art. Whatever, the case, I thought it was funny, especially because I think I see a lot of the publications I read come through in my design. I like clean lines and abundant white space so does Real Simple and Martha Stewart Living, which are both magazines I read. I just started subscribing to Esquire, so we will see if that changes my design. I also thought it was interesting that Kidd was so influenced by comic books.

This leads me to chapter 1: Comic Sans.

This wouldn't be a typography book without a few pages dedicated to the font everyone loves to hate. I am just going to throw it out there that I don't hate. I wouldn't use it on a wedding invitation, but a children's magazine? Sure. I was glad to get so sort-of love for comic sans from Kidd. However, I really enjoyed learning why it was developed. Hearing the story about the dog reminded me of when Microsoft Office tried using that friendly paperclip to help you. I wish I knew what font his little messages were in because I remember them being a less rigid and traditional font.

I really liked the intros to each of the chapters because they really connect you with the subject matter, especially chapter 2: Capital Offense. I hate when people use all capital letters. When I worked in Mississippi, our website was originally open for anyone to comment on. I would guess that about 80 percent of those comments in all caps, and it did seem like the people were yelling each other. It never seemed polite. However the most interesting part of this chapter was learning where the expression, "mind your p's and q's" came from as well as the idea of uppercase letters being called that because of their shelf letter. Definitely cocktail conversation! (Along with the Keep Calm and Carry On poster video)

Another chapter I enjoyed was "Can a font make me popular?" I really liked the part where they talked about designers having a hard time watching historical movies (which was one of many of the same references made in Helvetica) because of incorrect fonts being used. I thought this was intriguing because when "The Help" was filmed in Greenwood, Miss., the crew took a lot of care in finding fabrics and props from the appropriate eras, including a man in town who remade a whole street worth of signs. They brought in images of what they wanted, and he even hand-painted many of the window signs, such as the "whites only" on the taxis cabs. So now I wonder how accurate the fonts that they used for the signs really are. It was also funny to learn about the impact of the IKEA type change. I had no idea!

As I already mentioned there was a lot of overlap between the documentary and the book. However, the movie focused more on the "service" that fonts provide and there use for brands. I think the funnest part was the man who talked about Drink Coca Cola. Period. Helvetica. Period. Can't argue with him! I also loved the man who just pointed at all of the Helvetica signs. I think you could consider Helvetica a chameleon font. It seems to conform to so many different brands and feelings.

You can't miss this: Keep Calm and ...

Watch this video about the 1939 propaganda poster, "Keep Calm and Carry On," which has been reproduced, parodied and even become an icon of the 21st century despite never being used the time of the poster's creation.

I hope you all enjoyed this video. I think it is really well done, and very interesting. What I like about the poster is how simple and clean it is without looking boring. However, I never really thought about how much the choice of typography really played into its effect. I found it interesting that they described the font as "special and handsome." And that it was chosen because they thought it couldn't be reproduced by the enemy. I agree with Steven Heller, the blogger who pointed me the in the direction of this video, why couldn't the Germans recreate this font? But, alas, they didn't, so I guess it worked out.

I came across this on Imprint, which is one of the design blogs I read and the one I picked for my class. I just love it! It has pointed me in the direction of so many interesting designs, but I think this is one of the best videos.

Response: Portfolio time

In class last week, we were asked to bring a collection of pieces we might want to include in our portfolio. I was both looking forward to doing this and fearing doing this. First, I like to think that I take criticism pretty well. However, showing off a design isn't like completing a math problem/test. In general, there is no right or wrong answer, but designing is much more personal, and often it means putting at least a little bit of yourself, your heart and your imagination into each assignment.

For my portfolio, I decided to include work from both my time in grad school in the advanced design class and some clips from my time working at a newspaper in Mississippi.

I pretty much knew what I wanted to include from Mississippi because in the fall I attended the portfolio review for students at the Society for News Designs.

The pieces I included from there were: 4 Lifestyles front pages, a department page from the daily paper, the wedding magazine I designed in Winter of 2011 and my resume. (See examples of some of these below.)

I chose 4 Lifestyles fronts that demonstrate good use of grid, typography and creating a package with images, sidebars and the stories. I also did a department page because (although its not really called that) to demonstrate my ability to organize a page based on hierarchy of stories and to follow a template (the community calendar).

So, I brought those plus a couple of extra Mississippi pieces, just to see how people felt about them.

The pieces from my magazine class I have already shown on here, but I pretty much brought everything I've posted on my blog since it is one of those that I will be more likely to redesign for inclusion in my portfolio, especially since everything from Mississippi is designed in Quark, which I don't have on my home computer.

After reading the feedback, I was surprised by how tough everyone was on the "1 to 10" scale. Even at the professional critique I went to at the SND conference the reviewers were a little bit more gentle! The funniest part of reading the critiques (which I did enjoy) was how back and forth they were. It was like reading a tennis match. Some people said, I needed to improve my use of typography (I agree) and others said they really liked my use of typography. Some thought my creativity was a 9 and others a 6. The range was not super wide but there definitely was one.

I think this just goes to show that it is good to get feedback on your work because it helps you see areas where you need improvement and areas where you are doing a good job, but in the end, designing is different for everyone and what some people love, other people don't and what some people hate or people really like - within reason, of course.

So, whether you are reeling over someone giving you a 6 or excited about a set of perfect 10s, there is not right or wrong design. We each have to work hard, keep adding to our skills and find a job that fits our designs. Thanks for everyone's feedback!

(Well, that got a little "after-school" special, didn't it?)

Critique: Vignettes Covers

Me and the University of Tennessee basketball team have a lot in common this season. Both of us have good coaches, we have been taught the skills to play (or design) well, but when it comes to game time, we just can pull out a W.

OK. Mostly the Tennessee basketball team (I am still recovering from out bball loss to Ole Miss last. OLE MISS, of all teams. If this means nothing to you now, it will one MU starts in the SEC.), but this week I was in my own little competition for designing the cover competition and just couldn't grab that title of cover designer.

Oh, well. I was pretty pleased with the covers I presented, but I will let you be the judge.

The cover was not for a feature story per se. It was for a series of 7 vignettes. They were originally supposed to discuss subcultures in Columbia, however, they turned out more as 7 stories about hobbies, such as knitting, owning chickens, wrestling/cage fighting and the like. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

However, the stories didn't really fit together except under the idea of "hobbies," and since we weren't given a title, I decided to run with that idea and call the series, "What's your hobby?" I realize that isn't the most creative title, but we weren't given much to go on and some of my teammates didn't even get the text, so they were really flying blind.

When I initially approached the covers, I decided to do one that highlighted one particular group of hobbyist with an image (a little robot), one that used only typography because I felt like that could get the idea of all the stories across without putting an emphasis on one and then doing kind of a college (not in that high school year book way) with people and detail shots from the stories.

So, here they are:

My favorite was the typography one, despite my constant fear of using it. That was the one that the editors also liked the best, so I wanted to keep playing with that one. Some of the changes I wanted to make were to make it look less muddy and brighten it up by changing the colors. I also wanted to change the fonts to make them more uniform. The biggest challenge and where I think I didn't quite get to where I wanted to was to incorporate more of the feel of the story. Although, the background words on the page were lifted straight from the story, I don't think it really told readers what they were going to get when they looked inside. From that point of view, I don't think the cover below worked.

However, it should be noted when our group started making revisions to each of our designs, we still didn't have a title. That's how well these stories didn't fit together. During a brainstorming session, the words/phrases that we came up with included: past times, community-created, social circles, finding your niche, shared interests, creating your own family, interest groups, family portraits, building, crafting, collecting, gathering, supporting, sharing, coming together, pack, fitting in, sharing interest, common place community, clicking together, common threads, something for everyone, ties that bind, camaraderie, unit, team, where everybody knows your name, pieces of a portrait and on the side. As you can see, there were a lot of ideas. A

s of right now, less than a week before print, there has been no decision on the title at least that I know of.

Here is one of the final two I revised:

I also decided to throw in one extra idea because why not? I had thought of it while working on the first revision. The title came to me in a dream: The Story of Us. I liked it because it made the cover feel inclusive because almost everyone has some kind of hobby that they enjoy and, in reality, could be featured in a story like this one. We all do activities that bring us closer to other people and that get our minds and our hands working and help create one community of doers.

So, I decided to play with the typography on this one as well, and create the "U" in "Us" out of the words and activities from the story. I really liked how this turned out because it is something different for me and my style of designing. Since I didn't present this one the first time, I would love to know what anyone thinks. Does it work or not? I would like to make some changes to this one for my portfolio and would love if you see that something is missing or maybe it just doesn't work at all.

Here it is: