217.1a Introduction to the Graphic Arts

WEEK 7 | The Allur of Color Starter Post

2010-03-02T11:19:00.000-05:00

Color.

Life would be Pleasantville without it. Black and white can be dramatic, but life is so much more exciting with color.

Color really matters. When you select clothes or school supplies - your choices are guided by many concepts - personal preferences, how a color makes you feel, how our different cultures even assign meaning to colors.

Ya’ll have already tried your hand at designing with color – some in the resume project and all with the poster project – and can attest that it's easier said than done.

I found an article at the Color + Design blog that gives some basic info on color theory and designing. Read this post before beginning the below assignment.

Also, for fun check out this Fashion Color Report that Pantone (yes, Pantone) puts out every year with predictions for the season’s favorite colors. Read through the descriptions of what designers are saying about the colors they use.

Eventually you, too, should be able to say why you use a color and think about what kinds of color you should use to add that extra meaning and effect to your design. For that, you have to get into the head of your audience!

ASSIGNMENT

For this week, POST FOUR examples of color (image, poster, video – to use video, just copy and paste the embed code on the youtube page):

Subtle use of color (monochromatic or very little color)
Bold use of color (bright color, many colors, etc.)
Black and white only
Strong contrast in values other than black and white (light and dark areas using tints of the same color or different light and dark colors)

Things to think about: are they using one color (monochrome) or many colors, like this relaxing Sony Bravia commercial?

Offer brief analysis on why the color used is so effective. What does the color make you feel? Luxury? Aggression? Calm? Speak to whether analogous or complementary colors are used. For that, you may want to look at this Flash application that is really handy for learning those terms and what they mean. It’s also linked from the Color + Design post.

Remember, this is an introduction to each of the elements of color. We'll be taking an in-depth look at color in class soon.

Don't forget to title your post and put labels on it (your name, any elements of your post that would easily identify it - e.g. Tide ad or Wired Magazine layout).

Other color sites that are fun:
http://kuler.adobe.com/ - helps you find CMYK, RGB and Hex values for a wide range of colors and also helps you find color themes/palettes easily.

Project Posting- Website

2009-12-15T14:43:00.003-05:00

I didn't mean for my website to post in reverse order, sorry! Also, I don't actually have a saved copy of my rationale and I handed in my typed rationale under Taylor's door today so I can't retype it up. I could try to think back to what I said but what it comes down to is that I used grids, I thought of a creative way to represent the visual themes my poster used to make it all part of the same concept, and that I did what I did because I thought it looked good. That's all design is and should be, in the end.

Extra Credit- Ira Glass

2009-12-14T23:32:00.001-05:00

After attending his lecture, Ira Glass is my new favorite person. I was very impressed and just blown away by his performance at Hendricks Chapel back in the beginning of November. I use the word performance because he did more than just lecture the audience that evening: he told us stories, he played clips from past interviews, he even played background music. He was very funny and he mesmerized the audience with his great storytelling abilities.

He opened his performance with all the lights off and talked about how the radio is an excellent medium for storytelling because the lack of visuals forces the audience to listen. He then went on to talk about how archaic traditional journalism has become because it no longer tries to engage the audience. Glass also discussed his method for storytelling that gives action followed by another action and then a thought so that it keeps the audience intrigued with constant bait.

Overall I really enjoyed Glass’s presentation. He has an amazing knack for finding stories in the most pedestrian of places. And after becoming so accustomed to the banal, monotone voices of most broadcast journalists today, it was very refreshing to listen to someone just sound so human.

Tom Kennedy

2009-12-14T22:43:00.002-05:00

I went to the lecture given my Tom Kennedy, a photojournalist and now currently the head of the New York Post's multimedia department. He talked about how print journalism is in trouble and photography is being cut back significantly. He suggest that stories now must be riveting and connect with people. There must be power in the story and readers feel a connection personally are more likely to continue reading the story. Readers must be pulled in and the subject becomes more like a one on one connection. Photojournalists must step up their game, and find a way to compete in the digital age. Multimedia is a great outlet for photojournalists, and Kennedy suggests that finding new technology is important when competing with videos and audio. In order to find these new outlets him and his team use the site blue box to experiment with different forms of multimedia and eventually interactive media at some point. Right now photojournalism in in a discovery zone and they are figuring out what to do next.

By Kristen Jones

Grids

2009-12-14T22:10:00.004-05:00

The Tiffany&Co. website demonstrates two of the of the 6 grid based design strategies. The first strategy is about joining for variety. It suggests that that when using grids you should use a mixture of horizontal and vertical grids. Majority of the grids are horizontal but there are vertical grids Incorporated on the page that are not obviously sectioned off. It adds interesting layouts an breaks up the space. The information and drop down menu as are vertical grids to add variety. The second principle that the website incorporates is the illustrating areas strategy. The idea suggest that a design is incorporated adds something stimulating to a boxy design. The ribbon on the website breaks up the space but it does not cross over the grid lines. It is maintained with the grids but still crosses over to others, adding a interesting design. The Tiffany&Co. website is great example of using grids usefully.

By Kristen Jones

2009-12-14T18:07:00.002-05:00

I have enjoyed this class so much! This was the largest workload class I took this semester, and probably should have been worth 4 credits, but all of the hard work payed off. It's so funny when I look back on the word mark project, and how I thought that is was sooo difficult! As the semester progressed the projects became more and more time consuming and intricate, but the skills that I has accrued had also increased. Now, I can't even help noticing design flaws and strengths wherever I go. I am getting to be a bit of a design snob; almost to an obnoxious point.
I really enjoyed the critiques that we received from our peers. That may be one of the most useful forms of critique because our generation will be the receivers and creators of the design messages we transmit. I valued what my friends thought of my work, and was both stimulated and challenged while watching them advance in their projects as well.
This was one of my favorite Newhouse classes! I have learned valuable life skills in this course that I know will prove vital later on in my career.

Katlynn Brunkhorst Week Ten: Grids

2009-12-14T17:53:00.002-05:00

It dawned on me the other day that my own BUILDING, Booth Hall, is an excellent example of a grid that comes from real life. Each window grouping the ground and eight floors has a three window configuration, and then a cement divide. When you get to the second portion of the "L," where the suites are located, it moves to a four window configuration. There are a series of grid systems involved here that clearly took some thoughtful planning. You have the two large rectangles that form the front faces of the building, then the block of three and four window segments, then the horizontal rows, and vertical teal sections (which I must say look cool from the outside, but they serve no larger purpose except for blocking light from coming into my bedroom!). Also note the smaller black rectangles under many of the window groupings, and the odd add-on above the first floor.
The structure was built in 1963, and is a sister building to Dellplain next door. I'd say that the grid scheme and color choice was indicative of the era. Could it be that were are getting away from the even grid look when it comes to architecture and forms of design in general? It seems that when we dumped the Modernist Era in art design we did so in structural design, as well. Have you seen the oddly narrow and awkwardly angled/balanced windows of Ernie Davis Hall?!

Hannah Doolin: Interface Design

2009-12-14T17:40:00.006-05:00

Design Strategy:
Although I did my poster design for The Chair Affair, I chose to do an interface design for The Mutt March, a non-profit event put on by the Michigan Humane Society, because I felt that I could be more creative with my design. Also, the event was created in memory of Laura Lee Greer, who was my friend’s grandmother. The family is very involved in the event, so I was able to use some photos and information that they had.
I decided to use a textured background because I thought it would make the site visually appealing. I chose a stock photo of grass because paired with the bone-shaped buttons in the foreground, I thought that this gave the feeling of a dog playing in the backyard. The next idea was to use bone shapes for the navigation buttons on my site. I used Illustrator to trace a photo of a Milkbone to do this.
For the headline bar at the top and for the container on each page, I used a bright blue color because it contrasted well with the green grass, and added a bright, playful look to the page. I used a font from dafont.com called Mandingo and decided to make it white because it contrasted well on the bright blue. When the viewer navigates from one page to another, the text on the navigation button changes from white to blue so that it is clear which page they are currently viewing.
To make the headline bar more interesting, I created a doghouse in Illustrator and placed it in the upper left corner of the page as a navigation button that would take the viewer to the Michigan Humane Society website if they wanted any more information about the organization. I then created little paw prints and the image of a dog walking off the page. As well as adding cute detail to the page, it also acts as a way to draw the reader’s eye from the left side to the right side of the page.

Choice of Typeface:
I used a font called Mandingo from dafont.com for the headline type and typeface used for the navigation buttons. I chose this font because it looked young and playful, which is what comes to mind when I think of dogs.
I used Rockwell for the information in the containers on each page because I thought that it stood up well to the quirky Mandingo type and is easily readable.

Color:
The red color used for the bone navigation buttons (C=0 M=100 Y=100 K=0) contrasts well with the green background and works well with the Michigan Humane Society logo on the homepage because of the red heart. I used this same color to outline the headline bar, for accents in the doghouse image, and for the photo bowl.
The bright blue color used for the headline bar and containers (C=80 M=46 Y=0 K=0) also contrasts well with the green background and adds bright color to every page.
For text that would link the viewer to another site, I used a brighter blue color (C=50 M=0 Y=0 K=0) to show the viewer that this was something that should be clicked on.

Photos:
Some photos were taken from online sources and some were scanned because they were my own images.
On the event page I used a screenshot image from Mapquest.com, which would be clicked on by the viewer to navigate to the map and directions to the event location.
I created the photo bowl in Illustrator as a fun interactive image that the viewers can click on to view photos from Mutt Marches in the past.

FINAL PROJECT

2009-12-13T17:21:00.008-05:00

Though initially I was going to make a much more complex website, I remembered who my audience is supposed to be. This site is just going to be looked at by a small number of people from my town, likely from a link from the high school site. With that in mind, I kept my school colors as the two main colors for the site, blue (R: 12 G: 37 B: 146) and gold (R: 163 G: 174 B: 65). Though I thought of using more holiday colors, or even just more white, I decided to stay with what the school knew best, their own colors, especially since I thought the blue background worked well.

All the possible information is up on the website. I tried to stretch it out as much as I could, but when all was said and done, this was all the information needed for the toy drive. If I had added anything more it would have been useless and fictitious. By giving the readers contact information, informing them what the drive is about, and telling them how to donate and volunteer, a simple yet efficient website is created. Also included are links to a facebook group for the event and a way to download the poster.

On the header, “Roxbury High School” is in Joanna MT Std, a serif that complements well with the “Annual Toy Drive” in Ocean Sans Std, a sans serif. The navigation bar is in Helvetica as I just wanted a simple, clear typeface that did not draw much attention to it. For the body type on each page I used Verdana, which I thought fit well on the page since it is not very flashy and easy to read, and if the school chooses to use this site, can be shared by Macs and Windows.

When all is said and done, the intention of this website is simply to inform my high school about the toy drive. I want them to be able to go on the website, and feel like they are right at home, like it is part of the school. I also wanted them to walk away with no further questions. I believe I accomplished both of these goals.

Wrap-Up Post: Matt Colon

2009-12-13T11:00:00.002-05:00

As many have said on here, I wasn't sure what to expect when I took this class, but I was very excited to learn graphic design. Messing around with Photoshop is something I never really did, ever, so I wanted a chance to finally get to do that. And I certainly did, over the course of many all-nighters and absurd hours spent in the labs, but I got a strange sense of pride for what I made that I never really have felt for any essays I've written in the past or anything like that. And since I at least like to think I'm pretty creative, it seemed a great outlet to channel that creativity and approach things from a unique perspective.

Except that's when things went wrong. I really felt my creativity being stifled in this class. Anytime I tried to do things from a unique perspective, I'd be greeted with a C or B- grade on a respective project and nothing but comments from Taylor about how, essentially, it would be better if I did what she wanted. AKA standardize it. In my opinion, design is subjective and so there really is no such thing as a fair way to grade, but I really believe that everything should be given the benefit of the doubt and appreciated for what it is. Uniqueness is what makes the world an interesting place, or else everything would be the exact same.

And really when it comes down to it, Taylor's grading system literally makes no sense to me. I'm not doing badly in the class, but it's more the principle of it. If you tell me in one project NEVER to center-align things, but the next project how a stair-step alignment is weird and would be better center-aligned, where does that leave me? Confused and slightly annoyed by the hypocrisy. Being docked points for grammatical errors within the magazine article we did not have to write kind of makes me wonder if she's just out to get us for whatever she can, regardless of how much is actually wrong.

Great class, all in all, but severely ruined by Taylor.

Very late hierarchy post- Matt Colon

2009-12-13T10:48:00.002-05:00

Every time I sign in to the internet, my homepage is set to comcast.net so it's a site I see very very frequently. I definitely need to get around to changing it, but it clearly displays good examples of visual hierarchy at work. The entire thing is very clearly grid-based, with vertical bars leading the reader's eye down to similar pieces of information. It seems a bit crowded but in reality it works fine. The left column is gray and focuses on specific interests one might want to peruse. The middle column, in white, focuses on news items among of various types-- international, sports, etc. And then to the right is another gray column further divided into boxes, one of which has the email/phone-related stuff, ads, and media-related items.

The color scheme is simple yet effective. Titles of "containers" are colored and a larger font than the body type of whatever is in the section. Information is grouped very efficiently, so when you want one type of information you only need to really look at one particular section. All in all it's just a very effective, albeit busy and crowded, example of web design.

Katlynn Brunkhorst; Project Posting Website Design

2009-12-12T15:44:00.002-05:00

For my website, I chose to stick to my original non-profit and make a page for the “Build-a-Ballpark Fundraising Party” for Beautiful People, an organization that provides adaptive sports programs for kids under 18 with disabilities. I chose to re-create the visual look rather than basing it on my original poster, considering the name of the fundraiser was also changed right before the event on October 23rd. It was no longer "Field of Miracles,” so I wanted to focus more on the construction aspects of a ballpark.
I played with the idea of exposed wood boards for the lettering of the event title, but struggled with doing so in Photoshop. I chose to create everything in Indesign, instead. It was important to me that I create something original for my navigation bar. I didn’t just want a cliché bar across the top of the page, but I still wanted to include a graphic that functioned as a container. I decided to have each base on my mini baseball diamond navigate you to the other pages. When you scroll your mouse over each base, it will turn red and pop out. I also made the search button into a base to continue the visual hierarchy.
One suggestion Professor Taylor had made for my poster project was to focus more on Doc Gooden, the guest speaker at the event. My parents were able to get a signed photograph from the event this past October for me. I traced over his authentic signature and included it on the bottom of the page; partially covering a picture of him to allude to the fact that signed autographs would be available for purchase at the fundraiser.
I pulled all of the colors from aspects of the Beautiful People logo, and made sure that any images I included also featured the same brightly colored team T-shirts. I actually chose Caflisch Script Pro for the “Fundraising Party” title because it was similar to the look and stroke weight of Doc Gooden’s signature and it was similar to the font used on the team T-shirt. I also wanted to think of a creative way to provide a link to Anthony’s Pier 9, the classy restaurant where the event was held. I made a baseball that also looks similar to the one featured on the T-shirt. I wanted to use a font that was more playful and bold for the “build-a-ballpark title,” rather than the exposed wood. I picked Italia STD book because the serifs looked like the tops of baseball bats, and the counters in the “b’s” were rounded enough for me to draw the same little baseball inside as the Anthony’s Pier 9 link.
The tickets page was my favorite one to design, and it was by far the most time consuming. One again, I pulled the same colors from the Beautiful People logo to form the four boxes that would work as the ticket purchasing area. This gave people a choice to reserve their tickets online and receive them in the mail and pay with cash or check, or just buy them on-line with a credit card. You could also buy additional autograph photos or pre-order them for pick-up at the event itself. I also included an encouraging quote from Doc that persuades potential attendees that he has endorsed the cause and it is a worthwhile outlet for their donations. I had a bio page for both Doc and the auctioneer for the event, Billy Staples, who also is an author. If you click on the book, it will take you to his personal website to buy his book as well. I also included a photo gallery on this page of some of the recent activities that Beautiful People’s kids have been participating in during the off-season.
The info page provides a link for directions to the event itself, and a breakdown of just how much building the ballpark will actually cost. I may improve upon my design some more, but I was thinking of pitching it to my Mom to see if Beautiful People would be interested in making it go live for next year’s event. Too bad I don’t know the first thing about code writing! ☺

Web Design

2009-12-10T21:22:00.003-05:00

The purpose of project five was to create a web design for a non-profit event. I chose to “piggyback” off my poster design and create a web page for the annual Thanksgiving Night Celebrity Bowling event hosted by the Ryan Cameron Foundation. I based my website greatly off my poster design—using the same colors and concepts to create continuity between the two media. I wanted my website to be functional, simple, and modern. That, in combination with my goal of fluidity, is why I chose to minimize font differences and excessive color.
The background of my website is gray (R= 162, G= 167, B= 173); it is on the left and right side of the “red carpet” that is placed in the middle of the page (R= 236, G= 45, B= 47). I got the concept of the red carpet from my poster and from the location in which the event takes place, Red Carpet Lanes. Other than the entrance page, in addition to the background, the header “Walk It. Roll It. Give It” is on every page in a black header box. The white in the header, and on any page, is written in R=255, G=255, B=255 white. The yellow on the entrance page, and on the header is written in R=247, G=236, B=33. In the right hand corner, the quick search box can be used to find information on the website quickly by entering text in the box and clicking “quick search”. The navigation bar is white, and when a link is not being hovered or selected all text is black. The text on all pages is Futura. The header is written in size 48 PT, “quick search” is size 18 PT, body text is size 18 PT, navigational links are size 18 PT, the title of the event on the homepage (and entrance page) is size 21 PT, and the location/time information on the homepage is size 17 PT.
The entrance page is different from the homepage and pages that navigate away from the homepage. The entrance page is meant to be a cool prelude to all the important information from the event. I used the design for “Walk It. Roll It. Give It” from my poster design; the header is written in Jazz LET Std, size The idea is when one typed in the web address this page would come up, and to get to the homepage, they click on the “Thanksgiving Night Celebrity Bowling” link. I kept RCF’s logo throughout the website in the right hand corner; patrons visiting the website can simply click and return to the homepage. When a link on the navigation bar is hovered over it turns red. When it is selected, the navigation bar shifts, the selected link will be the furthest link left and it turns red. I decided to make them shift, so that when the bowling pin acted as an arrow pointing from the top navigation bar to navigational links specific to a section it would lay awkwardly across the screen. As displayed on the “support us” page, when a sub-link is not selected they are black, but when one is selected it turns white.

Interface Project

2009-12-10T15:34:00.003-05:00

I didn't save my rationale for this project, so here's an abbreviated version of it:

I wanted a simple, easy to navigate website for this event. The White Ribbon Campaign deals with raising awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault, so I didn't want anything too playful or distracting from the content. I used the blue in the background because it matched the logo well, and the only other color I really utilized was the light purple. I stuck to Georgia in terms of the font I used for the content, and Snell Roundhand for the headliner. I repeated the logo for the navigation links. I took two of the photos: the ones with the signs in them. The other images were found online and related to the event.

Week 13 | Hierarchy

2009-12-10T14:41:00.005-05:00

This is the Lucky Brand Jeans website. I find it very useful and easy to navigate, as well as being pleasing to look at visually. Right now their homepage is set to a holiday theme with appealing products as the first thing seen. From there, you can select either "shop for him" or "shop for her," which narrows down your options into mens and womens clothing. This can also be done by using the navigation links at the top of the page. This makes it very easy to find what you're looking for. After I selected women, I chose sweaters from the drop-down nav bars so that I could find what I'm looking for. After selecting a sweater I like, I can enlarge the image to see if I would like to order it. At this point, the price as well as different color options also appear. Overall, this website does a very good job of allowing the viewer (or potential customer) to find the items they are looking for in an easy way. The search button at the top of the website also helps the user find what they're looking for, making the website very easy to use.

Week 14 | Wrap Up

2009-12-10T14:13:00.003-05:00

I was really excited for this class because I am a graphics major, and this is the introductory class to graphics. I had friends who had taken the class before me, so I was already aware of what the projects were coming into the class. While this course did demand a lot of my time, I am really happy with what I have learned through taking it. While I had done design work in high school, this course taught me new concepts, and pushed me to try new things. I had never worked with Illustrator before, and while I'm still really shaky on this program, it was nice to be introduced to it.

Each of the projects presented challenges to me in different ways. The most difficult part of the resume was figuring out how I wanted to present myself on paper, and what design would allow me the most room for content. The logo project was really rewarding because while I had initially struggled with how I wanted to represent my name and future career, I'm really happy with the result. Physically gluing the business cards together, and mounting the project on the board was also pretty stressful and time consuming, but it ended up looking really nice. The magazine project was the one I was looking forward to the most, but this ended up being challenging for me. Because I was very set on using my own images throughout the magazine, it made completing the project a little bit more difficult because of the extra limitations I had put on myself. While it was nice looking through a magazine that contained all images I had shot, I think it would have been easier to complete had I chose not to do this. The website was a little boring in comparison to the other projects. My other main issue with this project was getting all the right layers to show at the right time..photoshop was a little difficult to work with at times.

All in all, I think this class prepared me very well for GRA 356 next semester, and I'm happy with the results the semester produced.

Website

2009-12-08T23:47:00.001-05:00

Entrance Page-I wanted my entrance page to look like an invitation you would get in the mail. I used the event as the seal that would be on the invitation to give an idea of what the site was about. I also used a piece of the border from the invite to frame the page and break up some of the white space.

Other Pages-I made my banner to mimic the poster that I used for the event in a more scaled down version. I included just one on the invited border as to not crowd the white space but lead the reader’s eye to the title. The banner for the links is the same pattern from the entrance page and they would turn black when active to match the color scheme. I incorporated the black and white pattern from the entrance page as a background like you suggested. I used the same invitation format with a bit of transparency as a container for all of the even information. I then included a link to the Dunbar site with their logo and slide show of the children. I wanted to include pictures of kids to give a face to the children the event was for, I also wanted to make the side donor and search friendly do I included a sidebar on every page with that option. For fonts I used Helvetica because the Dunbar logo used that font and I did not want a ton of different front, and it is a very functional font. I used Ruziicka as a script font to look like an invitation but also add readability. I also used the Zaphino font from my original poster. I did use a different font called Bickhan Script. I wanted to use the font throughout the site but it lacked readability; large and as a single line it functioned well.

Kirsten Jones

Web design

2009-12-08T23:34:00.003-05:00

Design Strategy:

I chose to use the same event for my web site that I used for my poster project. That event is the Kappa Karwash which benefits Reading Is Fundamental. In using the same event I wanted to play off of the soap bubble theme that I used in my poster. I used to soap bubbles ad the link on my navbar to add interest and creativity, but also because it makes the link stand out and they become more user friendly. To distinguish which page was being viewed I put sponges on either side of the soap bubble link to that page. I wanted my web site to be simple, user friendly and clutter free so I wanted to make sure I used white space and didn’t cover every inch of the page in color. On my directions page I overlaid a blue fleur di lis over the star on the directions page indicting Kappa Kappa Gamma because that is the symbol of the sorority. Overall I tired to keep the images, text, and layout as simple and minimal as possible as to not overwhelm the user.

Typeface:

To give my web site a simple, clean, and streamlines feel I chose to use sans serif fonts that were on the lighter side. The font used in my header is called Castorgate and was downloaded from dafont.com. Aside from the header it is used only one other place which is on the home page. I stacked the type next to Kappa Karwash in 18 pt. to effectively fit it in. The rest of the type on my five pages was all Helvetica Neue in either regular weight or LT Std 57 condensed. I chose to use Helvetica because it is such a perfect font that it would not distract attention away from the information on the web site or clutter it.

Color:

I chose to use a blue theme for my web site, since the soap bubbles that I used from my poster were blue but also because the colors of Kappa Kappa Gamma are light and dark blue. I also thought that blue would be a safe color choice and not too crazy or hard to work with. The other color that I chose to offset the blues was yellow because the sponges were yellow and the warm color contrasted well against the cool blues. The blue and yellow used throughout the five pages tied the whole web site together and really created the crisp, simple, and streamlined look I was going for. The shade of blue used on the stacked part of the header to the left of Kappa Karwash is RGB:152, 202, 241. The dark blue used throughout the five pages as the background container, navigation bar, and the header “Kappa Karwash” is RGB: 89,139,240. The stroke outlining the soap bubbles is RGB: 17, 191, 218. The color inside the soap bubbles and also used on the contact and about pages is RGB: 191,231, 247. The color used to emphasize that certain pieces of type are links is RGB: 10, 1, 128. The shade of yellow used throughout the five pages is RGB: 248. 213, 74. The sponges used on the navigation bar are made of two shades of yellow, a darker RGB: 249, 198,6, as well as a lighter RGB: 252, 198, 6.

Interface Design: Claire Bourque

2009-12-08T23:33:00.005-05:00

Design Strategy:

I went into this design process with my Theta Bowl poster plan and project in front of me. I thought that design was very effective for my target audience, college fraternity men. For this reason, I used an image of a football field, found at krylon.com, as my first layer to work on. For my repeating container space I made a "coach's clipboard." To help impress that idea onto my audience, I drew a football play with symbols, using the paint tool in Illustrator, and placed it on the "clipboard." These two visuals together speak strongly to my target audience.

For my side navigation bar I used a referee signaling a touchdown, found at fotosearch.com, to draw the viewer's eye up the left side. My navigation buttons are duplicates of the football I had traced in Illustrator for my poster project. I used my poster design plan to create the page titles and organize the needed information of the event. My goal for this design was to give the allusion of a fun, rough and athletic event, but to still keep my design clean and well executed.

Typefaces:

I chose to use Princetown as the typeface for my headline, because it is quickly identified with athletics. It is easy to read, but still helps to portray my event. I first used Handwriting-Dakota for the small phrase, "are you ready?" because I thought it made the design feel more personable and "rough around the edges." I liked the typeface so much, that I decided to continue it on my navigation bar. I think it creates a strong connection for the viewer and directs them where to go next. The last typeface, which is used in all of the containers, is Adobe Caslon Pro. I previously used this typeface for my magazine project's body text and found it very easy to read and clean. I think it creates a solid contrast against the other typefaces, so that the viewer can easily identify the different sections of the design.

Color:

I used a brown (R=51 G=51 B=0 at a fill of 74%) for the "clipboard" container to help aid that allusion. My second color was the lime green (R=204 G=255 B=51) used for the navigation bar and body text. I wanted to stay in the green and brown color scheme for this design, but I liked how the lime hue really popped out yet still stayed in synch with the design. It's also a great contrast from the white for the other navigation buttons.

Images:

The images I have not mentioned, such as the ones found on the "Photos" and "Sign Up" pages, were all taken by various members of Kappa Alpha Theta and sent to me by email.

WEB DESIGN

2009-12-08T20:07:00.007-05:00

I decided to change it up a bit and do a different event than the one I used on my poster. For this project I chose to use the 10^th Annual Holiday Dinner sponsored by the Smile Train. Smile Train is an organization that deals with cleft palates and it is a very successful charity world wide. In terms of design strategy, I thought about five different pages that would make someone want to attend the event. My first page was “home.” This page consisted of a holiday picture, a description of the organization, and then hyperlinks of how to purchase tickets for the dinner, how to sign up for emails, and how to find out more information about the organization and event. My next page was “upcoming events.” This page consisted of the details of the holiday dinner and ways to make donations to the organization. It also provided a hyperlink of a calendar for 2010 events so people would be able to mark their calendars for the future. I also recommended involving friends and families and in order to hold fundraisers to help these children born with cleft palates. My “smiles” page consisted of words that describe some goals of the Smile Train. I provided pictures of children who have this problem and each of their inspiration stories. The “directions” page consisted of a map of the address of the event. I provided hyperlinks for the viewer to click to find out directions from each of their locations. If their location was on listed, I provided a hyperlink from “other” locations. My last page is “contact us.” This page consists of pictures and names of the main people involved in the organization including the president, chairman, and vice president. I then provided hyperlinks with office locations, how to email us, questions and concerns, and all of the other faculty.

For my typefaces, I wanted something simple, but visually appealing. I didn’t want anything too curly and crazy. I chose to mix between Verdana, Arial, and Myriad Pro. All of these are similar, but have a little difference so I thought it was a good variation. Since the Smile Train logo consists of green, blue, and orange, I chose to keep those colors consistent throughout my website. Since my website had a background color and a different color for the navigation bar, I figured simple type faces would contrast well. I chose to use blue and orange also because they complement each other and really added to my web design.

website design

2009-12-08T14:16:00.003-05:00

For my web design project, I used a local walk called Our Little Hero. The Our Little Hero walk conjoins with the Buddy Walk, a walk to raise money for Down syndrome. Christine Pietrow started organizing this walk and it “Our Little Hero: C.O.P.” after her son, Christopher Owen Pietrow, who has Down syndrome, he is about 5 and a half now.
I used the main background color because it is the same color the Buddy Walk website uses. The box for the main information is a transparent white, which turned into a lighter blue, because of the background. I used the gold color because of the background in the logo and it is an accent color for the Buddy Walk website. I used the darker blue in the header because I wanted to resemble a cop uniform, which are navy blue and have bits of gold, like in the badge, for accents. I have a badge on the left side of the navigation bar. The grey for the navigation bar is to contrast with the blue colors. I tried white, but it was too much of a contrast. The background of the page that it active is darker so that the user can knows the page that is active. There is a picture of Chris in the header to make sure the visitors know how the Mount Holly walk started.
I used Bruno for the headers, both the header of the entire website and the header for each of the pages. I chose this font because it reminds me of children. The typeface reminds me of children and conveys a care-free ambiance. This website is about Christopher and I feel like the website should convey a childish mood, and I feel like this font is perfect for what I wanted to convey in the website. I only used this for the very important things, hierarchy, because it would not work in a small font size, so I brought in a contrasting typeface. I used Mercurius as my main type because it is easy to read and resembles a more cleaned up, but childish type. It also had a wide type family and allowed me to work with the hierarchy of the page and make some things bold to convey importance.

Wrap-up

2009-12-08T14:09:00.002-05:00

Since I am no where near a graphically-creative person, this class was one of the toughest so far that I have had to take. I learned a lot from this class, which is something that made me lik the class, but I realized very quickly that I am not as creative as I need to be to get a great grade in this class. I came into the class thinking that it would be a fun class and possibly my favorite, I am sad to say that I was wrong in my expectations. While this class was very fun and interesting and I learned a lot from it, it also was very stressful, a very tough class for me and was not a favorite class because of my lack of graphical-creativeness. I enjoyed the class for the sole purpose that I learned the basics of the adobe programs, which will help at some point in my pr career, but needless to say, I am in no way a graphics major. From this class, I have also gained an appreciation for graphics majors and the people who design magazines and such because I see how much work they put into the designs and how creative they are. I have been astonished by the amount of creative and wonderful designs that I have seen throughout this semester. This class definately allows me to appreciate the people I will be working with in the future.

Web Design- Andrew Tredinnick

2009-12-08T13:58:00.007-05:00

For my localized non-profit event I did the Wrobo Run, which is a walk/run that raises money to donate to hospitals for veteran’s medical services. I wanted to use a patriotic theme without it looking tacky so I chose to use darker shades of red and blue. I also continued the theme from my poster of the running stick figure and placed that in my background to truly get the point across. I also used the same typeface, Minion Pro Bold, throughout the web-pages on both my header and titles of each of the pages to provide succinctness to my website. I chose this particular serif typeface because it gives off a strong, defiant feeling with its large x-height that I feel encompasses the qualities of our armed forces. It is also has a uniqueness about it as the descender on the R is not completely standard.

For the rest of my interface design I used variations of the typeface Tahoma, in both bold and different sizes and colors to jump off the page on particular pages. I used this sans serif type because it is obviously has good readability. I also chose to use a proportional page that has the body text cover a wide region in the foreground because I wanted my design to be unique and not cover the entire page. The body text on my webpage covers 500 pixels, while the two sides of my background cover 300 pixels total when pieced together. For my navigation bar I wanted the sections to reverse color when scrolled over, so on my homepage I took an image of a mouse pointer and flip-flopped the colors of the word promote. I wanted my colors and typefaces to provide hierarchy for my web design and I did so by using two prominent colors and two demanding typefaces. Finally I used particular images to provide as support for the text. I used multiple pictures to simulate links and others to add a feeling of realism for my event.

Last Post! Interface Design Project Post

2009-12-08T10:16:00.002-05:00

The not-for-profit event that I did for my poster had a very extensive website so I wanted to pick a new event that had either had a very basic website or no website at all. In high school I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and participated in and helped plan my school’s alternative Spring Break trip with Habitat. I decided to design a website about the trip that included general information about HFH, this year’s trip, and past trips and photos. For inspiration, I went on to smashingmagazines.com and looked through their showcase of good designs using texture. I wanted a background that was reminiscent of construction, so I went with a plywood background that I downloaded from the website’s collection of free textures. For the header I just wanted something simple and clean, so I just made a white box and placed the HFH logo in it, which I downloaded off the website, and then underneath it put the event title using the same green as the rooftop in the logo. For the font of the header title, I used Myriad Pro Bold because it was a font that closely resembled the font in the official HFH logo. For the navigation bar I made the buttons post-its and made them look like they were nailed to the background. For the navigation bar font, I used Myriad Pro Semibold to maintain visual continuity with the header. For the page containers I encased any body copy in a white rectangle with rounded edges because I thought it made the page look lighter and not quite so serious. For the body font I went with Arial regular because I wanted a sans serif font to contrast against the light serifs of the Myriad Pro font of the header. For the individual webpage headlines, I traced an image of a yardstick and filled it in with the same yellow color as the post-its. For the font the used Myriad Pro Semibold in all caps and in the same green color as the font of the navigation buttons. The photos on the “Home” and “Photos” pages are my own pictures from the Spring Break trips that I went on in high school. The photo on the “Join Us” page I took from the Burlington County HFH website. The pictures of the forms on the “Forms” page I took using a screen shot from the HFH Collegiate Challenge website.

Website Project Post

2009-12-07T16:07:00.010-05:00

When designing my website, I wanted something that would fit with the theme of my event. Since my event is a rockoff for the Red Cross, I wanted to make sure the site incorporated music and also kept the colors of the Red Cross. I chose to do a red, white, and black color combination, because these colors are used a lot with music, and they are also the colors of the Red Cross. I did six pages, because I needed to include ticket information. The first page, the homepage, took me the longest, because I had to set up all my containers. I created the music staff on Illustrator, and I created the text for the music staff in Photoshop. The fonts I chose were Myriad Pro, because I used this in my poster, and I thought the sans serif was readable. I chose to download my other font, which is called “Rock It,” because I needed something that made one think of Rock N’ Roll. The image on the first page, the guitar, was chosen because the guitar is the main instrument one thinks of when thinking about rock music. I tilted the image in Illustrator, because I wanted the image to lead the reader to the text. I rotated every image on my pages, except for the drums, in order to direct the reader.

The second page, the about page, keeps the same pattern as the home page, but the image in the bottom left is now a drumset, and the information between the stars, and the text in the red container is changed. The information between the stars is meant to give additional information about the current page. In this page, the information simply gives the date and time of the event. If a reader wanted the information quickly, without having to read all of the container content, then they could simply look between the stars on every page.

The next page, the past winners page, includes a violin on the bottom left hand side. The violin was chosen, because CXtec Dinosaurs have a violin as one of their main instruments. I wanted to include a YouTube video, so a reader could see an example of the performance from the year prior. Also, I used the image of the band to create consistency on the page, as show a professional picture of the band.

On the directions page, I wanted to make the page as user friendly as possible. To do this, included a map of the Landmark Theatre. I also created a spot where one can put their home address in, and the site will tell them how to get to the Landmark Theatre. I created all the shapes and select bar in Illustrator, and then I placed them into Photoshop. The microphone picture once again creates direction.

On the contact page I used a flute to show direction, and I included all the contact info for both people who wanted to attend the show, and also for bands who wanted to perform in the show.

For the tickets page, I wanted to easily direct the user to a page that would let them purchase tickets. I created the purchase tickets shape in Illustrator, and then I carried it into Photoshop.

The color for the red font in the music staff is R=235. G=45, and B=45. The red of the container is R=222, G=0, B=0. The red of the bar beneath the staff is R=255, G=0, and B

-Briana Bartel

Change to Office hours

2009-12-07T13:56:00.002-05:00

I need to cancel my availability at the 8-10pm help session tonight, but I can be available from 1-5pm today instead of 1-3pm. I'll either be in the office or have a note there saying where I am in Newhouse.

Wrap Up Post

2009-12-06T21:35:00.002-05:00

Truth be told I was not excited when I found out I had to take this class and there were many times throughout the semester that I was less than thrilled with it. However I will say that this class has done an excellent job at forcing me to become knowledgeable and experienced in the Adobe design programs with which I had little to no previous experience. I now feel confident enough using the inDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop programs to execute basic designs.

This class has also opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of type. Before this class, when I looked at a poster or advertisement or anything using type for that I matter I had no regard for things such as visual hierarchy and visual-verbal communication, and when I chose a type I never considered things like readability or x-height. Now I am constantly noticing and critiquing the use of the Gestalt principles as well as keeping an eye out for new and exciting designs that take risks.

As much stress and as many freak-outs as this class has caused me overall I do not regret taking it. By being inundated with assignments, I have been fully immersed in the basic principles of design and basic functions of the Adobe programs.

Wrap-up

2009-12-06T15:30:00.002-05:00

As the semester is coming to an end, I can't ignore the fact that I've learned more than I ever expected to get out of this course. I don't think I'll ever again be able to look at a sign, poster or any form of type again without thinking about leading, kerning, serifs, sans serif, etc. or the use of type. At the beginning of the semester I thought that this course was going to be just about creativity and creating something visually pleasing. I never imagined the technical aspects that come along with graphic design.

What I will take away most from this class is an overall ability to asses and analyze design as good or bad. No longer will I just see words, colors and shapes, but I can also recognize, choice of typeface, layout, hierarchy, color choice, etc. Not to mention that I now have a basic overall understanding of how to use all of the indesign software and photoshop.

The hardest part of this class for me was the amount of time that must be spent in the labs to complete the projects. Sometimes I would be in the labs past midnight working on a project. When you're in the labs hours seem to go by like minutes. A problem I faced while working on the projects was that sometimes we weren't taught in lab how to use a certain program or tools necessary to complete a project until a few days before the project was due. For example, I wanted to start the website project the week it was assigned and hopefully have most of it done before Thanksgiving break, but wasn't taught in lab how to use photoshop until the thursday before it was due the next Tuesday.

Overall I learned a lot in this class, but I won't lie, I'm looking forward to turning in the last project and being relieved of all of the stress it brought me!

Logo Project

2009-12-06T15:15:00.002-05:00

In creating my logo I really had no idea what I wanted to do at first. I am a magazine major and wasn’t sure how in incorporate that into a logo. After a bit of thinking I decided that since I’m specifically interested in women’s fashion and beauty magazines that I would design my logo from that. A tube of red lipstick is the epitome of chic in the fashion and beauty world so I figured that was a great route to go. The whole idea of my logo is for it to appear as if my name has been written out in the lipstick, so I chose a font that was similar to my cursive handwriting. The lipstick tube I traced with the pen tool from a picture off of the internet.

The typeface I used is Spring Std LP in light and regular. I chose this font because it looked like cursive handwriting so went along with the idea that my name was written in the lipstick. On my business card and stationery, my name is written in Spring Std Regular 48 pt while my phone number and e-mail are Spring Std light 18 pt. On my envelope I made the logo smaller so my name is 36 pt and my address is 12 pt.

The only colors I used were black, red, and a goldish color to keep my design simple I used the red because I was going off of the idea of a tube of red lipstick, but the warmth of the color makes my name stand out. The black is pantone process black EC, the red is pantone 200 EC, and the gold is pantone 458 EC.

Hierarchy- Amazon

2009-12-06T15:09:00.003-05:00

The Amazon website is a great example of hierarchy in action. Users who frequent this site are either looking for a specific product or searching with nothing specific in mind. The hierarchy of this website makes it accessible to both types of users. The most basic way to navigate through the online shopping site is by department. There is a nav bar on the top left of the site that lists all of the departments making. The top center of the page there is a search bar where users can search for specific products. Both of these features are what most users are looking to do when visiting the site so putting these links on the top of the site and in a large bold font makes for great hierarchy. As you venture down the page there are feature products listed for the user who isn't sure what they want, as well as other information that one might find they need once they begin navigating the site. The layout of the site is very strategic and is a great example of hierarchy.

finally.

2009-12-05T17:11:00.002-05:00

So graphics has been an interesting course for the "results-oriented", perfectionist. I've never hated, yet secretly enjoyed a course as much as I have GRAPHICS 217. I had heard much about "Sherri Taylor" as many people call her behind closed doors; and, in my mind I knew I was going to have a hard time pleasing a woman who lived for something I could give a damn about. Although her priorities are still on the back burner in my mind, she has lit a small fire in me that may one day ignite to something big (doubtful--but it sounds good).

Tom Kennedy Lecture: Andrew Tredinnick

2009-12-05T16:51:00.002-05:00

Tom Kennedy. the director of photography for National Geographic, spoke in Newhouse 1 recently to discuss the recent struggle for journalists in the recent economy. Although the lecture seemed to be more geared towards photo journalists it definitely struck me as inspiring. He spoke moreso to deliver the message that the way journalists present their products should seek to escape from the print paradigm to create a new direction for multimedia. For me this is important because if I choose to go into the newspaper industry I am going to have to become more creative in getting my writing across to reader that wants to see something innovative. He showed examples of good and creative story-telling which provoked great responses from the audience which sought a website that was inventive. He expressed that students, like myself, have the best tools at our disposal to move journalism in an entirely new direction that will enable it so survive. Kennedy explained that he hasn't stopped learning new things within his craft and hopes that interest from new sources will lead to inspire people about the future of the multimedia industry.

Recap: Andrew Tredinnick

2009-12-05T16:35:00.003-05:00

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I was placed into this course at the beginning of the semester, and I can definitely admit that I did not know exactly all of the components that graphics encompassed. The projects were surely time-consuming, but unlike most classes I felt the projects actually aided in learning the course material. I really enjoyed both the poster project and magazine project even though they took the longest to accomplish. This being said I feel that despite innumerable hours in the computer labs I was able to feel that the projects I produced were worthwhile and I was proud to create them.

I must say that looking at a blank document was at times extremely menacing, but once my creative intuition took over some of the projects were actually fun to create because you did not have many restrictions. This class enabled its students to gain skills in design and software while allowing them to design for something they actually like. I was able to design for what I wish to become (a sports journalist) and create an magazine article for my love of sports. I must say that I had trouble being able to truly carry out my inspirations on specific aspects of the projects and especially the logo project. I just could not create a design that truly emulated or looked good at times, which was frustrating. All in all graphics was a class that I did not truly expect as I learned about typography along with leading and kerning, I will no longer to be able to look at the New York City street signs without recognizing Helvetica. This class has truly allowed me to brainstorm in a new way and be creative, when most class have a load of restrictions placed upon their students.

Wrap-Up

2009-12-04T23:58:00.000-05:00

This semester in one word is TUFF. I'm am not the creative type so a class based solely on creativity was not exactly my cup of tea. I really liked the projects and learning about type was very interesting. I found trying to apply good design was the hardest, but making the magazine was the most fun. I expected this class to be somewhat easier and not as time consuming but all in all it was great experience. Communicating visually i think is one of the most challenging things for me personally to do. I find writing to come naturally so it was cool to try out new ways of communicating.

Hierarcy

2009-12-04T23:27:00.002-05:00

I choose the iTunes store as a good example of hierarchy. I thin theta the dominate picture grabs your attention and directs you to the important ads that iTunes is trying to promote. The smaller visuals of the album art work in the middle of the page is the second most important in formation and the second most dominate information. The containers of information are grouped based on their importance and relevance. I think the website is easy to use and pleasing to the eye.

By Kristen Jones

Wrap Up Post

2009-12-04T10:34:00.002-05:00

When I signed up for this Graphics class, everyone told me how challenging of a course it was. I was told I would be spending many nights in the computer labs working on projects. Well, this was definitely true. The course was very challenging, and I spent hours upon hours in the computer lab, but I learned more in this course than I have in any other course. Not only did this class allow me to learn new software programs, I also enjoyed doing the projects. Someone said in the class one time that you work really hard on your project, but you are SO proud of your work. This is completely true. I was/am proud of every single project I turned in. The class lessons on color, hierarchy, type etc. really helped my understanding of graphics. Now, no matter where I am, I always notice the type around me. I will be walking down Marshall Street, and I will see an ad and understand why certain things were placed where they were. I learned X height, kerning, and leading are all very important factors of readability. I also learned that color is a huge part of drawing the reader to your page. Overall, I feel I will be using things that I learned in the course for my entire career. Being a pr major, it's important to know a lot of different software and skills, and I really feel this class was useful for my major.

Hierarchy--The North Face

2009-12-04T09:58:00.004-05:00

The North Face website is one I frequent because I'm always looking for more things to keep me warm. The homepage is fairly horizontal, with the navigation bar at the top. I like that when I scroll over the "women's" tab it gives me a selection of items to choose shopping from and they're in a logical order (probably in order of most purchased). The homepage, without scrolling over any of the navigation tabs, is very effective. The main picture takes up a good amount of space and is followed by three pictures below it that each take up 1/3 of the picture above it. Overall, the site has great hierarchy that makes it easy to shop and easy to search for anything I need, whether it be a store location or a specific coat!

Claire Bourque: Wrap Up

2009-12-02T20:37:00.003-05:00

This graphics class was full of surprises for me, because I really had no idea what to expect. All I thought was that I was going to enjoy it. I can't say I'm going to miss the constant stress of having one project on top of another, but I will miss the actual assignments. I loved doing all of the projects, but I could have spent so much more time on them. I didn't know much about any of the programs we worked with, so every time I really got into a project and learning all of the new ways to do things, it was time to move onto something new. I'd have to say my favorite project was definitely the magazine, because it's what I'm most interested in. I originally came into this school as a magazine major and I hoped to eventually work as a layout designer. That project was so much fun, because it gave me a chance to see if I had made a mistake in switching my major. As much as I enjoyed the project, I now know I made the right choice. I can't imagine designing a layout for an article that I don't have a passion for. My least favorite project was the logo, because honestly- mounting and cutting all of that was the death of me. And to top it off, I had to do it all again for my redo. It was miserable. Also, it was rough without some clever name play on words or a future career with an image to go with it. I really struggled with that. Aside from my complaining though, I enjoyed creating physical projects that I actually had use for. I have already sent my resume out to a potential employer.

Claire Bourque: Hierarchy

2009-12-02T20:15:00.004-05:00

Perez Hilton's celebrity gossip site keeps me on it for sometimes an hour, which is completely ridiculous. I love his word mark at the top of the website, because it mimics the Hollywood sign alluding to his topic of blogging. For each post, the picture is a lot larger than the text, which immediately draws me in. Visuals take just a second to capture a viewers attention. Once I decide if the image interests me, I scroll down to the blog text. This pattern continues, each time a large picture popping up to capture the audience's attention. Although this lay out may not seem very tech savvy, it somehow keeps my scrolling all the way to the bottom, where the page numbers sit, so I click to begin page 2. This pattern continues until I realize I've been reading nonsense for too long.

WRAP UP

2009-12-02T20:03:00.004-05:00

When I first found out taking graphics was a requirement, I was very nervous. I am not the most artistic person and I really did not know what to expect considering I never ever have taken a graphics class before. However, now that the semester is coming to an end, I am so grateful I took this class because I learned so many new things. I was not familiar with Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop before this class, and I now feel as if I am able to navigate it much better. Although, every project was time consuming and at some times there were difficulties here and there, I was happy with the outcome of each mostly. Reflecting back, my favorite project was definitely the magazine project. Although it was very frustrating in the beginning, I really enjoyed the end results and am very proud of my work. I really enjoyed this class and learned about my level of creativity and new programs on the MAC that I never would have learned without this class. Overall, I would have to say this was a great semester and I learned alot.

Hierarchy WEEK 13

2009-12-02T19:48:00.005-05:00

The weather.com website represents great visual hierarchy. It provides the viewers with a search box to type in a state, zipcode, or city. It then brings you to a page with the local weather and gives provides you with a chance to look at the hourly, 10 day, % of humidity, precipitation, and everything someone wants to know about weather in order to plan their day. I think it is a simple website and does not provide any confusion. It goes straight the point and informs the viewer quite easily. I like how it also shows a map to show what types of weather conditions are in certain areas.

Hierarchy- Andrew Tredinnick

2009-12-01T23:19:00.004-05:00

Hierarchy is an obvious component that web designers have to deal with to create a user-friendly product that attracts the audience to continue to come back to their site. I continue to go to the Sports Illustrated website because it is easy to find everything on the home page as well as providing a very readable site. I have found that some sports websites (i.e SportingNews.com) are cluttered with scores and articles with seemingly no succinctness. SI uses hierarchy very effectively to separate the scores, breaking news, stories and columns from each other while remaining crisp. The logo for the magazine remains on the top left no matter where you venture on the site. If you click on the logo you will be redirected to the home page despite the fact that you may have wandered onto the Canadian Football League section of the site. The search window displays hierarchy as it is placed in the top right which is expected on most sites. An enormous picture of the lead story immediately caught my eye as the picture cements the subject of the photo as possessing top priority on the site. There are no advertisements on the top third of the page, which may have otherwise disrupted the hierarchy that has been established. Different sports sections and other columns run parallel to one another, but are differentiated by color. The Sports Illustrated website provides a site for its audience that allows them to discover breaking news or the score of their favorite team without having to search endlessly for results, and this can be attributed to the website's hierarchy.

Wrap-Up

2009-12-01T22:51:00.002-05:00

I am not sure what I expected from this class, but what I got was not what I anticipated. Everyone told me that Graphics was going to be hard and a lot of work, and they were right. There are many Sundays and many unwatched football games that I wish I could have back. I will say though that aside from a few incredibly annoying and tedious things (cutting and gluing the magazine together for one) time really did fly while working and I would much rather spend time in the lab than studying for a test.

I found that more often than not I stumbled from project to project attempting to meet the criteria though I felt very little confidence or competence with the programs. After every assignment, after hours in the labs, I would hand in my project, amazed at myself that I managed to get it completed. That being said, looking back, I know a lot more than I did when I started. The resume and poster projects that I found so difficult and time consuming would probably take half the time now, and for this reason I would have to call this class a success. It was nerve-racking and difficult, but it was never boring, something that cannot be said for most classes.

Hierarchy

2009-12-01T22:37:00.002-05:00

For my magazine class I have to profile the magazine Entertainment Weekly, so I spend a lot of time on the website. This practice could have been quite tedious had there not have been a good visual hierarchy to guide me on the page.

The first thing one sees upon entering the page is the picture on the top left of the page. Here we see a rotating picture of 5 to 7 stories and news featured. Directly next to that is the News and Blogs section which features more of the days most relevant stories. To the right of that is a short highlight of what is on TV that night.

These sections alone usually fulfill all my needs, but that is far from the only things the site offers. Following the above sections my eye is drawn downward, where I can read blogs and the site's "picks of the day." Continuing to scroll down one finds reader feedback and pictures. To the left of that is the day's most popular pages on the site. Finally we reach the movies and music section (likely at the bottom because unlike TV, there is not a limited time to see them) and a profile on the issue currently on newsstands.

Rarely do I ever make it to the bottom of the site, as the hierarchy is set up quite well, which makes for a good, useful website.

Wrap Up: Hannah Doolin

2009-12-01T18:20:00.002-05:00

I really enjoyed this class this semester. I was very excited to take the class to start with, but was worried about the difficulty that I would have. I had heard that the projects take hours and hours to complete, and although this is true in many cases, I really had fun working in the lab, and hours went by before I even knew it. I had only used Photoshop very briefly in high school, so it was very exciting to learn more about photoshop as well as learning about programs such as InDesign and Illustrator. I'm very confident now that I could create an endless amount of projects with these programs which is very encouraging. I think that the projects in class were not only good in helping us to learn the programs, but will also be useful in the future. For instance, I ended up creating a resume that I am very happy with and that I believe will stand out next to others that my prospective employers will receive.
I think that I had the hardest time with the logo design project because I couldn't figure out what logo to create that would represent me as a person. I found the poster project to be very enjoyable. The magazine design was fun also, but took quite a bit of time to complete. Although I'm not pursuing a major in graphic design, I hope that I will be able to put my newly learned skills to work in the future either in class or in a career.

Hierarchy Post: Hannah Doolin

2009-12-01T18:09:00.002-05:00

Pandora internet radio is a great site that I use all the time. I find it extremely easy to navigate, which I believe is because of the visual hierarchy used. The title of the website is the largest element on the page, and is the first thing that I see because it is placed at the top of the page and is in a blue color that contrasts nicely with the white background. The button that says "Create a New Station" is what my eye is drawn to next, which is great since that's what immediately gets you started with using the site. If that button is clicked, you're able to type in the name of a song or artist that you like, and the site will automatically create a radio station with similar artists and songs.
Once the station is playing, each song appears with a picture of the album cover, the name of the song, the artist, and the album name. Below this are three very easy to use buttons: a thumbs down (clicked when you dont like the song playing) a thumbs up (clicked with you like the song playing) and menu button which brings up a few other choices. With one click of the mouse you can purchase a song that you like from Amazon or iTunes.
The radio stations that you create are saved on your account so that any time you return to the site, you can create a new one or listen to a previous one.
I love this website!

EXPANDED OFFICE HOURS

2009-12-01T15:38:00.001-05:00

Because you probably haven’t gotten enough of me already, here are some extra office hours for your entertainment.

Friday: 2-5pm
Sunday: 3-6pm
Monday: 1-3pm; 8-10

ALSO, don’t forget that Monday, December 14th by 5pm is the deadline to post any late posts for the semester. After that point you will not be able to post any late posts for credit.

E-mail me if you have any questions about your blog records, office hour appointments or to let me know you commented on projects (your two comment posts are due by this point too).

Cheers,
paul

WEEK 14 Starter Post: Wrap-up

2009-12-01T15:33:00.001-05:00

“Honest to Blog,” It’s really hard to believe how fast this semester has flown. For the last non-project post, I wanted to make it easy on ya’ll, or as I’ve learned it’s said here: yous guys.

This week the assignment is to write about the semester in general terms. This is totally open-ended. What did you find hardest? The most fun? What did you expect? Was the experience similar to that expectation? Talk about what you’ve learned about communicating visually - what you enjoyed/hated. Take any one of theses, or all of them on. There’s no limit.

And, if you so choose, you can even use this space to comment on the scores of bad jokes I’ve made here or in class this semester.

I’m actually really excited to read what you say here, so let it roll…

WEEK 13/14 STARTER POST: Hierarchy

2009-12-01T15:14:00.001-05:00

Establishing a strong visual hierarchy is just as important in web design as it is when designing for posters, magazines, etc. In fact, it’s almost more important. Your opportunity to snag a reader online is limited by attention span and how easy it is to find what users want.

For this assignment, look at some of the websites you frequent most often and find an example of hierarchy at work – either good or bad – and post a jpeg of the screen shot (Command + Shift + 4 on Macs; print screen key, or other method on PCs).

Talk about how you are led through the content to the stuff you find most useful. This ties in with the usability post, but focus on the structure when writing about why your chosen site works. Point out the dominant elements and how they guide you.

Hierarchy post

2009-12-01T09:37:00.003-05:00

MSNBC.com has great hierarchy. Many news sites have news spread all over the homepage, but the MSNBC website has a very simple, user friendly, website that has a great hierarchy. Any breaking news is at the top of the page, which makes sense because it is the most important information. When you scroll down the page, all the topics are on the left hand side, and the middle of the page usually contains a news clip. As you scroll down the page, you can find the main news stories of the page. The hierarchy contains down the page with more detailed paragraphs on each category. The scroll bar is on the right hand side of the page, and the bottom of the page has all the contact information. This site is very well organized, and it allows the user to easily understand where they need to go to find certain information. The grid is very organized, and the information is situated with the most urgent news on the top.

-B Bartel

Week Thirteen- Hierarchy

2009-11-30T14:20:00.003-05:00

Amazon.com is good example of a webpage with understandable hierarchy of information and visuals. The home page clearly displays the shopping departments on the left side, and when you scroll over each main headline a sidebar with more detailed options appears.

After you select your shopping department, in the screen shot I chose books, you move on to the main page of that department. On the left side of the main books page there is a side bar to browse different categories of books such as children's books, cook books, history books, and you can also search by what books are on sale or that are available on Kindle. At the top of the page there is a search tool bar where you can search all books or in a specific book category such as used books and textbooks. As you scroll down the page you can find containers on Books of the Month, Bestsellers, Books on a Budget, Best Books of 2009, etc.

At the bottom of the page you can find the links for Amazon Careers, Press Releases, and Help.

Overall I think the Amazon website is set up in an orderly and appropriate manner that allows for easy searching and browsing, especially considering the volume of products the website sells. Much of websites ease in searching can be contributed to its excellent hierarchy of information and search options.

Tom Kennedy

2009-11-27T00:30:00.002-05:00

It was interesting and exciting to be able to listen and converse with an "industry guru" such as Tom Kennedy. Honestly, as a public relations major, I had not heard much about him or what he has done; but, after hearing his views on the convergence of media and the future of multimedia it really made me think of my future as a public relations practitioner. I have thought little of the future potential of storytelling in a dynamic way (such as the Waterlife) until Mr. Kennedy demonstrated the "now" (Darfur on washingtonpost.com) vs the possibilities of "then" (sites such as Waterlife). Yet, his thoughts and our visual comparisons of the present and the future lead me to wonder--what happened to just good storytelling. When I watched the video clip on Darfur, I didn't need the "hoopla" and interactiveness of Waterlife to want to know more--the story itself, the visuals, the words of the people--that made me want to listen, and watch more. Although the possibilities of interactive media are exciting, they aren't necessary. If we as communicators, in whatever sense that may be (journalists, public relations practitioners, photojournalists, etc), tell our stories--their stories, in a compelling way, and do it consistently, yet fresh every time, there won't be a need for the over-glamorized and costly measures of sites like Waterlife.

Magazine Project

2009-11-27T00:23:00.003-05:00

The object of Project Four was to create a magazine—cover, jump spread, and feature spread. I chose to do an upscale fashion magazine called “Bourgeoisie”; the feature story is about the fashion trend, animal print.

Cover: I chose a vibrant background color page to draw attention to the magazine—it is a warm color, and people tend to respond positively to warm colors. With a color that bright, I wanted to keep the rest of the cover simple—my magazine is not meant to be on that is sold by cover lines; it is targeted to a specific audience, thus cover lines are not needed. The cover image I found via Google images, I used Photoshop to crop out the background. The magazine’s header is written in Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT, 83 PT; the sub-header is a simple Times, 14 PT; the story’s headline was written in a combination of two fonts—Bordeaux Roman LET, 55 PT (“the” and “issue”) and Mistral, 60 PT (“wild”). I chose to right the magazine’s date in the bottom right hand corner, because although it is small, Times 10 PT, it will also lead the reader to open the magazine. The sub-header, “wild” and the date are all written in a color taken from the model’s face, R=255, G=250, B=244.

Jump: I found the picture using Google images—it already came in this tinted color, so instead of making any changes, I decided to keep it as is, and make the title stand out. I wrote the story’s header in a combination of Edwardian Script, 72 PT and Cracked, 187.92 PT. The pink, which I used for “wild”, “real” and the period at the end of the header, is C,Y,K=0 and M=100. I wrote the deck head in Frutiger LT STD, 18 PT.

Feature: I wanted to make the introduction of my body text different than what I normally see, or than what anyone else would do (i.e. drop cap intro), so I chose to start the story on different levels. The beginning, “...leopard print, tiger...etc”, is written in Frutiger LT STD, 44.104 PT, bold. The second level paragraph is written in Garamond, 12.1 PT, the leading is 21 PT. I wrote the rest of the body text in Frutiger, 10 PT. The leading on the main body text is 14 PT, and the indents are set at 14 PT as well. The pull quote is written in Garamond, 23 PT; I chose to write it in Garamond to create contrast. I also chose to write the intro sentences and the second level paragraph and the main body text in different typefaces (Frutiger, Garamond, Frutiger)—for contrast. My sidebar is written in Garamond, 18 PT and 12 PT. The folio is in the bottom left corner; the page number is written in Garamond, 48 PT and the title is written in Mona Lisa Solid, 12 PT. All the images were found using Google.

magazine project

2009-11-25T00:42:00.003-05:00

I chose to graphically design a story about Taylor Swift and her night at the CMA Award Ceremony. Taylor Swift made history by being the youngest person to win the Entertainer of the Year CMA (Country Music Association) Award. Once I saw that she made history, I knew that there would be a ton of stories about her and that it would be great to design. I chose the headline of “Swiftly Making History” because it is a play on her last name, Swift. Also, “swiftly” means moving at a fast pace, which is exactly what she is doing: Taylor is 19-years-old and has already won so many awards for her talents, she also had a big night last night at the AMAs. Since the story features the CMA Award Ceremony, the visuals are limited to that night, where she is wearing the same dress. I tried to incorporate a little more than just the dress and found a picture of her performance to break up the same dress. I used the winners of the other awards to be the alternative story/sidebar for the spread.
I chose to use the colors because they all come from the CMA red carpet backdrop. The light cream color for the background of the spreads, is from the background of the CMA backdrop. The orange font colors I used for the “Swiftly Making History”, the byline, and the sidebar font color are all from the bottom of the CMA Award picture in the backdrop. The red fonts for the deck head and the body font is from the top of the CMA image. The background of the sidebar is the red font color at a tint of 25%. I tried to use the colors from the feature picture to incorporate it through the entire spread.
I used the Cantoria typeface because the sans-serif brings a sort-of country feel with a slight modern twist to help the magazine aspect of things. I chose to use Ex Ponto Pro for the headline because it is like calligraphy. I was looking for a script typeface that looked like it was hand-written, like she was writing a story about her music career. I also used this font in the deck head to emphasize the important words. It was also used in the pull quote to bring some attention to the important quote in the story. I chose to go with Bembo for the rest of the deck head and the body of the story because it is easily readable but a little stylish at the same time. I used Avenir for the captions because it is in the Sans typeface, contrasting the Sans-Serif Bembo. They are smaller fonts are to make the story more of a hierarchy than the captions. The sidebar is in Goudy Sans, which also contrasts Bembo, to bring attention to the alternative text. I used Snell for the header of the Sidebar because I thought the header should be something formal, like something for an award ceremony.
The pictures were limiting of which ones I could use for the spread and for the cover page. The ones for the story were easy because of all the pictures from the awards night. I used the feature image because Taylor was looking over and she looks like she is looking at the header. The other images were from the red carpet, stage, and Taylor’s performance. Also, there are some pictures of the other artists who won for the sidebar. I found my images on Bing Search Engine.
Cover page image: 2848 x 4288 (scaled down by about 50%)
Feature image: 2017 x 3000 (scaled down by 50%)
Kissing the award: 411 x 600 (scaled down by about 75%)
Stage with band: 400 x 307 (scaled down by about 75%)
Performance: 300 x 415
“Fearless” album cover: 170 x 170 (scaled down by 20%)
Darius Rucker: 170 x 170 (scaled down by 45%)
Keith Urban and Brad Paisley: 469 x 512 (scaled down by 80%)

Magazine Project!

2009-11-24T14:30:00.003-05:00

Design Strategy:

My intended audience was parents with young children. I entitled the magazine Simplicity in an attempt to bring back simple ideas into the busy lives of people that live in cities. Because of the title I gave the magazine, I did not want the spreads to be too busy. I chose simple photos of children playing outside, and only used a few typefaces.

Typefaces:

The flag is in Snell Roundhand Black, and the coverlines are variations of Adobe Caslon Pro, including Bold, Bold Italic, and Regular. The headlines in the magazine are in Idowild Regular. This is a fun playful type that looks like a child could have written it. The deckhead and article is written in Else NPL Std. I chose this font because it was easy to read.

Color:

I used mostly black, white, and two color swatches that were taken from the cover. The pink used throughout matches the girl’s dress, and is R = 192, G = 96, and B = 97. The light blue is taken from the sky, and is R=207, G=226, and B=97. The background on the jump spread is the same blue used throughout. I used these colors because they matched all of the photos well, and were light and summery which was perfect because this was intended to be the July issue.

Photos:

I took all of the photos I used in this project, with the exception of the ad on the back of the cover. The children photographed are children I babysit during the summer, and all of the photos were taken last summer.

Ira Glass Lecture

2009-11-24T14:17:00.002-05:00

I went to this lecture knowing little about Ira Glass. While I have listened to NPR before, (often in the car with parents) I had not heard of his show specifically. So, I wasn't entirely sure of what to expect during the lecture. I was very happily surprised when I found that the time passed very quickly as Glass was humorous and intelligent, and spoke very eloquently. Hendricks Chapel was packed past capacity, and people stood for the entire lecture just to hear him.

He began by entering with the lights off, and spoke for a couple of minutes in the pitch black. It was a different beginning to any lecture I had ever been to, and really got the audience in tune with the concept he was trying to demonstrate, which is that radio is all about the voice. It is different than TV or other mediums in that you can't see the person speaking. This makes it easier to relate to someone. He gave the example of seeing a punk girl versus just hearing her voice. By taking away the usual characteristics of how we go about judging people, you are only left with the raw voice, giving radio a more intimate and emotional appeal. The quote he gave here was "Not seeing has a power in itself."

He spoke about past stories he had broadcast, providing the audience with details we would have no idea of otherwise. He never failed to entertain, and his points always carried a positive message.

He gave advice to the journalism students present, saying,

"Look for stories with surprises. The world is a place where pleasure and discovery are possible, and it makes things seem hopeful."

Glass inspired the packed chapel, and many left laughing as they talked about the funny stories he had mentioned.

Hierarchy

2009-11-24T00:48:00.003-05:00

Yahoo! has done a redo on with their site. I think the new one is pretty good. The top is the Yahoo! logo and the search bar. Below the search bar, you see the feature news stories, there are thumbnails to rollover to see the other feature stories. Below that are the other, not-so-feature stories. On the side is the navigation bar, when you rollover the nav bar, you see the weather or the mail or whatever you are "pressing". The Yahoo! website shows hierarchy by making the feature stories in the middle and prominent and allowing the navigations bar to have rollover, where you get a look at what it is you may be pressing.

Magazine

2009-11-23T16:35:00.004-05:00

The magazine project was by far the most challenging assignment we’ve had yet. There were so many components and things to remember, both with design and with the technology and programs we needed to use. However, the easiest part for me was choosing my story. I love music, and I knew that I wanted to do a music themed spread, which is why I immediately searched Rolling Stone archives on the computer. I grew up listening to the Beatles and finding an article on them gave me the inspiration I needed to get started. I knew right away that I wanted to somehow incorporate their infamous font into the design and was able to download it off the Internet and apply it to Font Books on the computer. After I chose that font I wanted a cleaner sans serif typeface that didn’t compete with the Bootle (Beatles) typeface but added to it in a clean and simple way. That typeface is ITC Avant Garde Gothic std. My favorite style of that font was the extra light because it stood out while still giving a soft and clean aesthetic.

Once I had my two main font families I needed to come up with a theme and a title for the magazine itself. My searching through Internet archives for both the story and the photos led me to the idea of creating a magazine that is a music history, past and present archive magazine; one that brings the past classic music and molds it with the present design and technology of today. The font for the magazine cover is Americana std. It has a nice height and weight and I really liked the roundness and width of each letter. Lastly, I needed a font for the copy, and your lecture on magazine and book typefaces that worked for long stories was more helpful than I can describe. I went with Caslon because it is very accessible and readable and its tight fit and texture can withstand tight leading.

Dealing with online photographs was definitely one of the hardest parts of the project but when I saw the picture of the four Beatles peering behind the red door I immediately knew I wanted that for the cover. It is simple and not crowded and the red color really stood out. I also found great images of the Beatles with Ed Sullivan, which ties in directly with the story. The red is an important part of the design because I wanted to do a red, black and white color scheme, working with different opacities and shades of all three. I eye dropped the red from the door and used it throughout the spreads, highlighting and unifying the images and type. Also, the first spread I desaturated the image and left Ringo’s umbrella red in Photoshop to give that pop and contrast that is constant throughout.

My headlines and titles for everything all tie into the Beatles and into the story of their American debut on the Ed Sullivan show and how after 40 years they are still being celebrated and remembered with such vigor and love. The magazine title deals with history, the first spread title “In my life there are places I remember” is a line from one of their songs and correlates to the story by going along with the idea of four decades of time have passed in your life and their music is still prominent, as well as the place they remember being the Ed Sullivan show. The sidebar title is also the name of another Beatles song and goes along with the idea of each member’s favorite tune. I also had a lot of fun playing with drop caps and pull quotes.

The presentation and assemblage of this project is extremely important and I have to say that I had a lot of trouble with printing and mounting. My first problem came with the printers not being calibrated, causing my spreads to look completely different than they did on the screen. I changed opacities, colors and fonts to try and make the spreads print in a readable and attractive way, however I could not get it right. I’m handing in only half of the failed print outs to show you the trouble I had and my attempts to problem solve. When I finally did get the print to look somewhat how I wanted, I fudged the mounting. I tried over and over after that to print another copy that look right and I couldn’t, hence why my magazine is a little off on the edges. On my markup sheet you can see how all of the margins and cropping are supposed to look and I apologize for the poor mounting.

Photos:http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/+images

Story:http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/the_beatles_beatlemania

Ira Glass Response

2009-11-23T14:15:00.000-05:00

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Ira Glass speak about the power of storytelling. The way that he incorporates his own commentary with clips of interviews, ambient sound, and music is amazing to me. He stated that there is something so powerful about the human voice because you can hear when people are speaking from the heart. I think that this was very evident in the clips of people’s voices that he played for us, especially the voice of the female gang member.

His advice to improve our reporting by becoming involved and interacting with our interviewees is a very valuable tip. It is clear that Glass has perfected this skill because his stories always seem to get to the heart of others’ emotions. It was amazing to hear that during his 59-minute show, people who tune in listen to about 48 minutes on average. This is proof that the approach used in telling a story is key.

Although the stories that air on “This American Life” are not always interesting in themselves, the way in which they are told draws in the listener and makes it impossible for them to turn off the radio. Glass has an impeccable ability to build a story in a way that engages people and makes them want to know what’s going to happen next. I hope that in the future I am able to harness this ability and use it to gather valuable information as an interviewer and a journalist.

EXTRA CREDIT Opportunities

2009-11-23T01:34:00.001-05:00

:: Post about Tom Kennedy’s talk to the class last Tuesday
:: Post about IRA GLASS event on Wednesday if you went
:: Post about Thursday night’s event with Tom Kennedy if you went
:: Post about the MoMA Bauhaus exhibit currently up if you go over the break

ALSO, here’s the NYT article that Prof. Taylor mentioned in class. Thanks also to Elana Bodow for posting on the blog before we even got a chance to bring it up in class!

Don’t forget about your outstanding blog posts. E-mail me if you want an account of what your record looks like for the semester.

ALSO, e-mail if you are unable to make class this Tuesday before the holiday.

Project #4 Post

2009-11-22T15:05:00.008-05:00

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to art direct an article that had to do with celebrities. I sat down and began to think about my favorite celebrity. I have been passionate about Angelina Jolie for years so I figured it would be interesting to learn more about her. The article I chose focuses on how Angelina loves her children and wants to adopt more. Jolie claims her children are very special to her and make her feel like a woman.

However, finding pictures were quite difficult. Although there are numerous pictures of Angelina Jolie everywhere, I wanted a clear, clean picture for the cover that brought out all of Angelina’s beautiful features. After researching, I came across a great picture that really would be great for the cover because it would draw the reader’s attention right away. The background color that came with the picture also helped make the cover visually appealing. I chose the title “Craze” because it seemed like a title that would attract readers who love to learn about celebrities. For my first spread, I came across an image that I thought would make the reader want to read the article. The image is very intense and brings out Jolie’s eyes and makes it as if she is staring right at you. I chose “Into the Womb” as my title because Angelina loves adopting/having children. I made the “O” in womb huge and put the deck head inside of it because I thought it was a clever way of making it look like a womb. For the second spread, I wanted to make sure I included a picture of Angelina and some of her children. I could not find a picture that was visually appealing with all of her children so I just used the best image I could find. In terms of my sidebar, I decided to use an image of a map and show where each of Angelina’s kids are from. She loves having a diverse family so I thought that definitely was an interesting fact and a map was the best way to describe it.

I chose to use Garamond for my title. I thought it was simple, elegant, and visually appealing. For the cover line, I used Trajan Pro for Angelina Jolie because I wanted to emphasize that the article was about her and make it all capitalized. I then used Times for the rest of the cover line because it was simple and clear. For my title on the first spread, I used Bodoni SvtyTwo OS ITC TT because it was bold and clear. For the deck head, I used Helvetica because I wanted contrast. For my body text, I used Times as well. For the captions and sidebar, I used Helvetica. I chose all of these typefaces because I thought they all went well together and I did not want a typeface that was too crazy. I wanted typefaces that were clear and concise and visually appealing.

In terms of color, I chose to use white for the title. For the cover line, I wanted to change it up and bit and used white for Angelina Jolie, but then used the color of her lips for the rest of the cover line (R=237, G=212, and B=205). For the first spread, I used black to match her shirt. I thought using red for the deck head worked well with black. I continued to use black for the body text and then drop in red for an important quote and for the first letter of the article. For the sidebar I stuck with white because it went well with the background of the side bar. The background of my side bar was a sage green that matched the shirt of one of her children in the picture (R=141, G-150, B=133).

IMAGES:

COVER: fliiby.com/images/ _original/9b0ecbqugj.jpg-DPI=200

FIRST SPREAD: www.muskurahat.us/.../ angelina_jolie01.jpg DPI=150

SECOND SPREAD LEFT SIDE: www.babble.com/CS/blogs/ famecrawler/2007/09/1.. DPI=200

SECOND SPREAD RIGHT: pakalert.files.wordpress.com/ 2009/01/world-map= DPI 150

Magazine Project Post: Claire Bourque

2009-11-19T20:26:00.001-05:00

Claire Bourque

Rationale

Project #4: Magazine

November 17, 2009

Design Strategy:

I began this project by finding an article that I would be passionate about art directing. I have a strong interest in India, and more specifically the film industry there, which is commonly referred to as Bollywood. The article I chose focuses on the style of Bollywood films and also how it is rivaling Hollywood. The next step in my design process was to search for images that portrayed the intensity of Bollywood. I also knew that I wanted to find a nice picture of Mumbai to show people how far the city has come.

To begin with my cover, I chose the most intense picture to place here because I want the audience to be drawn to my magazine. The women's eye is staring right into the viewer's. Also, this picture is fascinating to someone passing by because of all the intricate jewelry she's covered in. It is not a typical face a person would encounter on a magazine. I used the title, "Discover," for my magazine because I thought it gave a little mystery as to what could be inside. I imagine my magazine to somewhat resemble a travel magazine, but more of the culture side of travel.

I chose the fountain dance seen for my first spread, because I thought it gave the best taste of what to expect from a Bollywood film. I also liked how heavily it contrasted with the orange background color. I wrote my deck head to not only connect to the image on that spread, but to also give a hint of what the article had to offer. For my title, I used a play on words with the song, "Hooray for Hollywood." I also played with letter placement to connect to the way the Hollywood sign looks on the hill.

For the second spread I wanted to make sure I was able to fit a lot of the article, because the story is very interesting and at this point my audience would be drawn in. I placed the outlined woman image on the top left, because I wanted to give the reader a place to start. I also wanted to use her facial expression to lead the viewer around the page. I used a long horizontal image of Mumbai along the bottom to balance my long vertical side bar on the right. I chose the picture placed on top in the center, because of its great color combinations and facial expressions.

Typefaces:

I chose Adobe Caslon for all of my body text, because I thought it was clean and readable, which is what the busyness of my design needed to pull it together. I liked Gill Sans Ultra Bold for my headline, because I thought it mimicked the Hollywood sign while giving it a unique twist. I used Antique Olive for my cover line and deck head, because I thought it contrasted nicely with the other typefaces, but was still very simple.

Color:

I chose 3 colors to work with for this project. I chose the warm orange color (pantone 123) for its beautiful contrast with the blue shades in pictures and also for the way it picked up with warm orange tones within pictures. I color used for the text (r= 182 g=41 b=34) because it played nicely with the other warm tone in the background and also picked up certain colors in photographs keeping with the Gestalt principals. Lastly, the color used for my sidebar (c=15 m=100 k=100 y=0) is similar to the text color, but I wanted to find something a little lighter and brighter to draw the reader's eye in that direction.

Images:

#1 resolution 300 pixels

1600 by 1200 pixels

http://bollywoodfoodclub.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/happy-ash-wednesday/

#2 resolution 72 pixels

1535 by 2185 pixels

http://mrsfilm.pib.ir/172318/زيرنويس+فارسی---۶۴.html

#3 resolution 300 pixels

3000 by 2913 pixels

http://todaysseniorsnetwork.com/'bombay_dreams'_entertains.htm

#4 resolution 96 pixels

1600 by 1200 pixels

http://www.wallpaperseek.com/aishwarya-rai-25-wallpapers_w4152.html

#5 resolution 72 pixels

2281 by 885 pixels

http://w1.siemens.com/en/megacities/mumbai.htm

#6 resolution 72 pixels

450 by 327 pixels

http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/nritya/bollywood.html

#7 resolution 300 pixels

2853 by 4500 pixels

http://blog.taragana.com/e/2009/07/30/vidya-balan-signed-up-for-yash-chopras-next-20686/

#8 resolution 96 pixels

1200 by 1844 pixels

http://blog.taragana.com/e/2009/05/09/hrithik-roshans-kites-to-be-showcased-at-cannes-3538/

#9 resolution 72 pixels

190 by 143 pixels

http://www.sami232.blogfa.com/86102.aspxoHo

Logo Re-Do

2009-11-18T17:34:00.002-05:00

Stationary- I made the boxes in the corner a lot smaller so to not compete with the shoe. I really liked the white space on the margins and I moved up my information from the base line a little further to the top of the boxes to create more space. At the bottom

Envelope- I adjusted the size of the envelope to be a standard size and also increased the font on the back flap to make it more legible.

Business Card- For my business car I changed the design somewhat. I removed all of the writing from the front of the card and increased the size of my logo somewhat. I think on the back did a clipping mask of the shape of the shoe from the front with my contact information. I did not want to make the reader search for my information however so I made a line with my complete information in white. I think decided to use the same font from my logo to write the purpose of my card. I did a sort of inverted variation of the color for the back with the white squares and red background for a nice contrast.

Kristen Jones

Kate Brunkhorst, Project Posting #4 Magazine Spread Cover and Rationale

2009-11-18T17:31:00.001-05:00

I started out with a few ideas for my magazine spread. I have a collection of old vintage records that I was initially going to photograph and do something with, but then I read a few articles in a Bridal magazine and received new inspiration: eco friendly weddings. You would be surprised how few articles there are about the topic, but I managed to find one that sparked my imagination to incorporate the various plays on the word “green.” Among the internships that I am applying for this summer are a few high-profile wedding /event planning firms in New York City, so I also wanted to use this opportunity to have something relevant in my portfolio. “Unique” wedding ideas have always appealed to me, and it’s kind of disappointing that there aren’t really any publications out there dedicated strictly to environmentally friendly or non-mainstream wedding ideas- so I “created” one!

My greatest inspiration stemmed from one of my favorite wedding photographers, Julie Harris, who actually only took the main photo of the husband and wife on my jump spread. The woman with the cowboy boots was a really funky picture choice that I thought fit well with my classy/quirky magazine theme. I wanted to emphasize that I didn’t want it to be a trashy or youthful publication, but that it still focused on a customer who was dedicated to their unique sense of self and to saving the planet in some form or fashion. I pulled the teal color of my headline from the stars in her boots.

As far as the article itself, it wasn’t very well written, but it had some neat ideas for green weddings. I came up with the headline: “Verdant Beginnings, Mindful Tomorrows,” which I then correlated for my idea to have a sapling on the first spread with the first half of the headline, and then a full grown tree on the second spread along with the second half of the headline. It suggests going from a humble beginning (in marriage) to a more established tomorrow through the idea of a visual family tree, in which I wanted to include picture frames where aspects from Jen and Barry’s “actual wedding” stemmed.

I also wanted to make the spreads look like a classy bride’s wedding planner/binder, so I created tabs on the side that made it look like the articles were elements from her scrapbook. This gave me the idea for some elements to look scrappy (the newspaper) and handwritten (see the re-used wedding rings). The article focuses on localized weddings, too, which plays back to the idea of family, roots, and establishing a new life on a green foundation.

Usability

2009-11-18T17:27:00.004-05:00

CNN. com homepage has good usability because it enables you to search for an article as well as give you the main event of that week. Each headline explains what the article is going to be about. Not only that, but the top of the homepage consists of all the various categories such as politics, health, sports, business, etc and it is very easy to find the type of article you are looking for. The page is very organized in terms of its usability and provides the viewer with clear content.

Kate Brunkhorst, Project Posting #4 Magazine Spread Images

2009-11-18T17:27:00.003-05:00

Project 4- Magazine Design Post- Matt Colon

2009-11-18T15:21:00.003-05:00

Story Decision: I immediately knew I wanted to design a ski magazine, since I thoroughly enjoy skiing, winter is coming up, and I have had lots of experience reading them since our family subscribes to one at a condo we use up in Vermont. When looking for ski articles, at first I just found a lot of very standard articles just describing mountains. But while browsing, I found the one I ended up using, and liked the old-timey focus of it and thought that could lend itself to interesting and more original art direction and use of pictures.

Typeface Choices: A lot of the typefaces I used came from your recommendations in class, and upon trying them, found they worked well. Though ski articles with a more modern focus might be better set in a sans serif, the antiquated focus of mine lent itself nicely to Corona, a serif font. To mix it up, I do use a sans serif, Frutiger, here and there, such as the sidebar. For the magazine title and folios, I was just browsing fonts and found a font perfect for its look and even for its name—Skia. The coincidence of that is too ridiculous to even reflect on. Also the magazine title, Traverse, allowed me to have a “traverse” built into the S by adding lines at both ends and setting the S a small bit lower than the rest of the word. I use a few more fonts here and there for more individual purposes—Edwardian Script for the “Holiday Edition” type, Graphite Std for the article title, and Centaur MT Std for the cover lines and deckhead.

Pictures Used:

Cover image (old photo of two people)
http://theinvisibleagent.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/ski11.jpg?w=460&h=604 (72 dpi)
Snowy scene (in goggles on back)
http://www.eddiebyrne.com/wordpress/site/images/BrainardLake_CMC.jpg (300 dpi)
Scott logo
http://snow.co.nz/media/uploads/2009/05/scott_title.jpg (72 dpi)
Opening spread (cabin interior)
http://photographybydon.com/blog/uploaded_images/_DSF2156CabinBedWindow-746495.JPG (96 dpi)
Fireplace
http://panchita.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/fire_in_fireplace.jpg (180 dpi)
Snowy nighttime cabin
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/112/300695226_83ebb30ac6_o.jpg (72 dpi)
Wooden skis
http://merriwood.com/_antiqueskis-store/images/IMG_045356.JPG (72 dpi)
Stew
http://www.thesunblog.com/gourmetgal/Stew.jpg (100 dpi)

Color Information: I chose colors based on what would convey the kind of mood my article was focusing on—a cozy, warm kind of atmosphere. As such, the image of a warmly glowing cabin on a nice ski mountain immediately popped into my head. As a result, I use a lot of warm browns and some darker blues for contrast and to be representative of the cold night outside the warm cabin. To do this I drew almost every color I used from the various photos that I had obtained and edited in Photoshop to give them a nicer glow. The gray background for the body type was drawn from snow in one of my pictures as well. As such, I use a very consistent color palette that helps keep my article consistent and connected.

(Note): When I clicked the “Print Grids” button for printing my grayscale images, they didn’t show up at all, no matter what I did. I tried about ten times or so. In the end I got a ruler and did the best I could to show the grids I used but I couldn’t do that for the baseline grid. However, I did utilize the baseline grid with 14p spacing (which is my leading value) and lined everything up accordingly to it.

Radar Magazine

2009-11-17T22:22:00.012-05:00

Design Strategy:

After choosing to use Jennifer Aniston for my magazine and having read the article I selected, I knew my design strategy. The article focuses on how even still at 40 years old and having been single for 4 years now, Jennifer Aniston is still just as beautiful and carefree as she was years ago. I wanted this to be reflected in all of my images. To do that, I decided to use only pictures of her smiling and seeming happy and comfortable with herself, nothing too serious or fashion magazine like. I also wanted the photos to show off her body and not have her completely covered up by clothing so that it visually verbalizes how the article emphasizes how great she looks at 40 years old. Since the pictures were all very natural looking and not so posed, I wanted to reflect that in a minimalist and simplistic layout. I didn’t want to weigh down my layout with too many pictures or pull quotes. I chose to title my magazine Radar as I wanted it to be a celebrity based magazine and have it emphasize how through the paparazzi and media, the personal lives of celebrities like Jennifer Aniston are always on the public radar. For my sidebar I made a time line of Jennifer Aniston over the years, showing how she has aged, but still looks beautiful. I even chose to feature an advertisement on the back cover of my magazine that Aniston did when she was the face of SmartWater.

Typeface Selection:

The typefaces that I used all throughout my magazine were all on the list of the 10 text faces you can rely on that you gave us in class. The title of my magazine on the front cover is Bembo Std regular 185 pt. I knew I wanted a serif font and I particularly like the way that the legs of the R’s had a curvature to them. For my cover lines I used both Century Expanded Italic 48pt. and a variety of weights and heights of Frutiger LT Std. The headline of my second spread is Garamond Bold 90 pt. My byline is ITC Berkeley Oldstyle Std book 22 pt and my deck head is ITC Berkeley Oldstyle Std italic 18 pt. I wanted all three of these texts to be different but yet still work together. The serifs of the two typefaces make them mix well. The body font of my article is Garamond Regular 12 pt, except for the 15 pt I used on the second spread to effectively lead into the story on the next page. My sidebar is all weights and heights of Frutiger LT Std because the sans serif provides a good contrast to all of the serifs I had in my layout.

Color:

I used three colors consistently throughout my layout that I felt worked well together. The blue and orange were the main colors I used and are harmonious because they are opposite each other on the color wheel. The blue is CMYK: 75.23, 15.17, 34.49, 0.11. The orange is CMYK: 8.37, 58.7, 51.25, 0.08. The third color brown was a nice complement to the two and I used that as the background color for my sidebar. The brown is CMYK: 50.91, 67.13, 57.21, 36.04.

Magazine Project Post

2009-11-17T22:22:00.007-05:00

Design Strategy:

When trying to decide on what story to use for this project, my first thought was to find one about Padma Lakshmi, the host of Top Chef, because it’s one of my favorite shows and I thought that I could make a nice food magazine. I had a very hard time finding pictures of Padma that were large enough for the layout, so I decided to change my subject. I then decided upon Ellen Page because she recently starred in a movie called “Whip It” that was directed by Drew Barrymore, which one of my best friends from elementary school is in also). I liked that the story I found from USA Today gave an overview of where Ellen stands with her career right now. She’s becoming more daring and independent, and I think that we will be seeing her in more movies in the future. My first step was finding the images I would use in my layout. I chose a large image of Ellen for the cover spread, and although the spread is pretty minimal, I think it complements the softness of the image. I then chose images of Ellen with Drew Barrymore, an image of Ellen’s character in “Whip It” and three small images from other movies for the jump spread and the sidebar. The image that I chose for the cover is a very compelling image because it appears that Ellen is looking directly at the reader. There was also a great amount of space around her in the picture where I could place cover lines.

Choice of Typeface

On the cover I chose to use ITC Quorum Std Black because I thought that it was an interesting typeface with the points on each of the letters. It also is very bold and draws the attention of the reader. I made this typeface white and the apple of the “I” red so that the magazine title as well as the special touch of the apple were sure to stand out. For the cover lines I chose to use Gill Sans Ultra Bold Regular. Because of the simplicity of the san serif type and the thick lines in the letters, this font is easy to read and draws the readers eye. I added touches of red (C=3 M=99 Y=100 K=0) throughout the cover to tie in with Ellen’s bright red lips and the red of her revealed underwear. The red also ties the cover lines to the apple in “BiTE”.

On the cover spread I chose to use ITC Kabel Std Bold and Book because I think that the quirky typeface is appealing and relates to the quirky characters which Ellen Page often plays in her movies.. I especially like the lowercase “G”s in this font. I used Scotch Roman MT Std for the folios on my pages because it is a discreet font that doesn’t draw attention away from the article, but still is visible and looks sophisticated.

On the jump spread, I used Janson Text LT Std 55 Roman for my body text. I chose this because I thought that it was easily readable and I liked the soft shapes of the letters because it gave the spread a feminine touch. I used Stone Sans Sem ITC TT Semi fir my sidebar because I wanted it to stand apart from the rest of the article. I still needed something that could be read easily, but I didn’t want it to blend it with everything else of the page.

Color:

On cover: red (C=3 M=99 Y=100 K=0)

Cover spread: red (C=30 M=100 Y=95 K=0)

Jump spread: red (C=0 M=98 Y=100 K=0) gray (C=66 M=59 Y=58 K=41)

The red colors on the cover, cover spread, and jump spread were used as small touches to draw the readers eye across the page and to tie the spreads together. Although the reds were different, It think that they were similar enough to create cohesion. I used different shades because I drew the red colors from images present of that particular spread. I sampled a dark gray from the image of Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore to use for the sidebar. I needed the sidebar to stand out on its own, but to not look randomly placed on the page.

Photos:

Cover:

72 pixels/in

photographer: Collier Schorr

Cover Spread:

72 pixels/in

Jump Spread:

1. 72 pixels/in

photographer: Peggy Sirota

2. 72 pixels/in

Magazine Project Post

2009-11-17T18:40:00.005-05:00

When deciding what story to do, I knew I had to do something with music. Music is a huge interest of mine, and I knew it would work better if I did something I was interested in. I found the Beatles breakup story on the Rolling Stone website. Going through the story, I used words that, to me, really represented the Beatles. Peace, Love, and the 60’s were all things I thought of. I wanted my magazine to be a music magazine, and I brainstormed idea of what I wanted the title. I used the name Revolution, because it represents the Beatles, and it has a music feel to it. The cover lines are on the left side, and the Beatles story is on the right, because I needed to separate it as a feature story of the article.

The title page has a purple color, because the picture has a purple tone, and I wanted to carry that over to the text. Not only did the purple tonality attract me to this picture, I also really liked how the picture is pulling the reader in. All of their arms are open, and the picture is very inviting. I knew peace was a huge part of the Beatle’s band and I wanted to represent that in my deckhead. I left the peace sign open, because peace was broken within the band. When setting up my text on the final spread, I used three columns, because I felt it made the text the most organized. In order to separate the pieces of the story even further, I decided to use the sunflowers to break up the text. I used the picture in the middle, because when I saw it, I was able to feel the real passion of peace that the Beatles always had. The Beatles affected the world with their music, and I really think this picture is a great representation of this spreading of peace as well as the end of the Beatles. The picture on the bottom left has a warm tonality, and it also was taken towards the end of the Beatle’s career. I also really liked how Ringo (2^nd from right) is looking up towards the text. I used the contrasts of yellow and purple in my sidebar. Overall, I wanted the magazine to have a vintage feel, and I felt the purple and yellow really achieved the look I was going for. The purple is C-41 M-81 Y-0 K-0, and the yellow, which was taken from the sunflowers, is C-0 M-0 Y-100 K-0. All the photos were scanned from John, Paul, George, & Ringo: The Definitive Illustrated Chronicle of the Beatles, 1960-1970: Rare Photographs, Ephemera, and Day-by-Day Timeline by Tim Hill. The page numbers are written on the marked up copy.

For typography, I wanted to keep the vintage feel of the magazine, so I looked up fonts online called Bellbottom Laser (cover) and Waukegan (Title). My main text font is Caslon, because I wanted to keep the readability and keep a nice contrast with the other fonts. I also used Clearface Gothic as the text of the deckhead, and the text of the sidebar. The sans serif fonts made me think of the 60’s, and I felt they had a nice readability to them as well.

-Briana Bartel

Magazine Project

2009-11-17T18:32:00.005-05:00

Page 2-3

Page two is just a simple movie advertisement that I selected to add on the back cover like a normal magazine. I choose that particular movie because it’s a documentary about a fashion magazine and that is what I made for this project. The second page, my front cover is supposed to have a holiday feel. I eve dropped the gold color from her sweater to use color reception and varying fonts. I used the fonts Britannic Bold, Bauer Bodoni Std 1, Futura, and ITC Avant Garde Gothic Std as my tag lines. I wante fonts that would not take away from the picture but would still grab you attention. I also used the same read throughout my entire project that was eye dropped form the 1^st spread. I used Didot as my Headline font because I felt it gave a fashion magazine look.

Page 4-5

For this spread I used the fonts Harabara Hand, Garamond 3 LT Std, and Armalite Rifle. I used the Armalite Rifle because I wanted a distressed army like font for the word armor. I think wanted a cute girly font for the word sexy so I used Harabara Hand; it also had a grainy look that the armor font had. I wanted a color contrast so I went to a photo editing website and made the dominate image black and white and left her dress the bright red. It set the tone for the entire spear and inspired the color scheme of the headline. I made the photo dominate and used her legs to draw you to the headline. I wanted a simple deck head that would not take away from the headline and picture so I used a very openly leaded Garamond font that would eventually match my body text.

Page 5-6

For this spread I continued the title repetition by using the army like font for hr name on the top of the page. I then continued to use black and white photos to have a continues look and then used the same red from the dress to highlight pull quotes, headlines in the text, and the side bar. I used the Garamond font for the body text and captions because I wanted a simple and still pretty font. I used a large leading for an easy read in the body and a tighter leading for the captions to have a variation. I wanted to incorporate the headline font Harabara so I used it to title my side bar and then the pull quote font Thonburi for an open and clean look. I also left the picture color because they were mostly black white and grey so they did not look out of place. I also added a flower icon at the bottom of the spread to indicate the end of the story.

For y folio I used the bold Britannic font for the number and then my original headline font for the “Runway” at the bottom to keep continuity. I also added a red slash to incorporate the red color through out.

Kristen Jones

Magazine

2009-11-17T15:12:00.005-05:00

I chose to art direct this story about Edward Norton because of its relevance and the multiple areas I was able to cover because of its variety. Instead of just talking about his movies (which I left for the sidebar), I was able to get pictures of him running the marathon, training in Africa, and at the premiere of his documentary. I titled my magazine “Pop Vulture” and had its goal be “scavenging the world for all things pop culture." I believe this story fits perfectly into that magazine.

The title of my magazine is in Utopia STD Light with a dark red that really makes it stand out against the gray background. The color of the text near the bottom left of the cover is taken from the white and blue of his eyes, adjusted slightly to be easier to read. The font for this is Optima. The title of the feature and the entire sidebar is in Minister STD Light, a font that I believe suits Edward Norton’s style: cool, slick and classy all at the same time which is done by the small but evident serifs. For my body I used ITC Stone Serf, which I believe is very easy to read.

I chose to blend a picture of Norton in a suit with the 2009 New York City marathon because it gave the impression of your typical Hollywood actor against a backdrop of what he is actually like. All the pictures of him running in the marathon were not large enough for the first page as I had hoped so I had to make due by blending the two pictures together, and putting the smaller pictures in the body. The sidebar showcases his highlights in films that have developed a cult following.

Magazine Project- Andrew Tredinnick

2009-11-17T14:03:00.006-05:00

Jump Spread

Feature Spread

Cover Page

I chose my particular story because I found it was interesting that the Saints reached the 8-0 mark for the first time in franchise history. Drew Brees, the quarterback, is rising the ranks as one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I use the song “When the saints go Marching in” as a play on the team’s name and their success. The word “saints” is in a Rockwell typeface and is 154 pt. The other words in the headline are size seventy-eight. I used the gold throughout the magazine and the values for this color are R=207 G= 170 B=117. I ultimately modeled my spread after a combination of “The Sporting News” and “Sports Illustrated”. I used various weights of the typeface Brioso Pro 64, 30 and 20 pts and specifically stroked the title of my magazine “Inside Football” with a 3pt white stroke. This font resembled the typeface used in the Saints logo that is in the end zone in the Superdome. I used the Trajan Pro font 45 pt with values of R=0 G=55 B=135 to match the color in the compass and Magellan logo.

My deckhead is in Adobe Garamond Bold as is a weight of 24 pt and I italicized the byline to make it stand out more. My body text is Janson Text Std., which is a size of 13 pt on my feature spread and 10 pt. on my jump spread. My pull quotes and caption headline are Rockwell as well, but they are a size of eighteen instead, so they still pop from the page. My caption is Tahoma 10 pt and I used this being a sans serif to create variation between it and my body text. My sidebar title is in Rockwell as well but the body in it is Eurostile 14 pt. Overall I feel that I created a magazine that emulates those that I tried to model my feature story towards, but it still possesses it own uniqueness. I used the saints logo to become the T in my headline which give my headline an identity. I used drop-caps in the same typeface as my headline to aid in succinctness of my article.

Feature Picture: 173.64 DPI http://images.townnews.com/gvnews.com/content/articles/2009/09/19/sports/04nfl092009.jpg

Cover Photo: 300 DPI http://nfldotcom.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/d_brees_081109_02.jpgCaption Photo: Caption Photo: 150 DPI http://photos.upi.com/slideshow/lbox/d7f6da69113763e5a012a9bb5e4ad081/NFL-Giants-Saints.jpg

Sidebar Photo: 200 DPI http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/oQtKEIFjTE9/New+York+Jets+v+New+Orleans+Saints/URiygMDiOyD

Compass: 150 DPI http://www.healthbenefitsmgt.com/Images/compass%20rose.jpg

Saints Logo: 150 DPI http://wendellwallace.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/saints-logo-fleur-de-lis-730028.jpg

I don’t know why, but I lowered the resolution in some of my photos. They were still most certainly high quality and most were originally above atleast 200.

New York Times article on typography

2009-11-17T01:51:00.001-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/arts/16iht-design16.html?_r=2&src=twt&twt=nytimes

This pertains perfectly to the class-take a look if you have a second!

Week Twelve- Magazine Project Posting

2009-11-16T20:39:00.003-05:00

I decided to do my magazine project on Perez Hilton because his celebrity gossip blog is one of my guilty pleasures. I used the LexisNexis database to find an article from the Los Angeles Times. I decided to call my magazine Noise because noise can mean random communication, which I think is what magazines are usually about.

For the magazine cover, I went with News Gothic because I wanted a sans-serif font that was very clean with no fuss. On the second spread, I went with SF Hollywood Hills for the article title. I wanted the font to mimic the Hollywood hills sign in Hollywood, CA so I searched on the internet for a font that I could download. I increased the size of the words hated and Hollywood in the headline to emphasize them. I used Minion Pro Semibold for the deckhead and to maintain visual continuity I increased the size of the words fat, gay, blunt, merciless, and not sorry so that they stand out from the rest of the deckhead. For the third spread, I used Minion Pro Regular for the body copy. To maintain the visual continuity from the second spread I used SF Hollywood Hills for the body headers, pull quotes, and in the sidebar.

The bright pink font color that I used comes from the pink of Perez’s hair in the image on the front cover and the light pink background color is the same background color as Perez Hilton’s blog, perezhilton.com.

The last page of my magazine spread wouldn't load but it was just a page the solid pale pink color.

usability

2009-11-14T17:42:00.003-05:00

Personally I think that the homepage for Youtube is good. I always go on this site to look up songs and I have uploaded a few videos myself. I like that the search field helps fill in the song or video name when you start to write the artist or the title. Also, on the homepage there are recommendations for videos for you to watch based on what you have already watched before or what you have uploaded before. It gives you your recent history and featured videos of the week or such. If you want, you can create a profile for yourself on youtube, you can just search videos, or you can just create an account and upload some videos if need be.

Usability---Twitter :)

2009-11-13T23:03:00.002-05:00

I don't visit too many websites--but Twitter is definitely a regular for me. My Twitter is always logged in, so when I go to twitter.com, the screen shot above is what shows up for me. The page is layered with a background of my choice. The front layer is centered, and separated into two sections. The "tweet" section takes up 3/4ths of the top layer, and the info/links section takes up the other fourth. The links in the info section are really easy--I can look at who's following me, who I'm following, I can check out today's trending topics, and search without going to another page. The top right corner has links that allow me to edit my page/settings and find people. The site is really easy to use, and I can click on any of the links (up top or in the "info" section) without scrolling down. I can also visit my friends page, tweet, or retweet with the click of my mouse and still without scrolling down! Twitter may not be the most sophisticated of websites, but it's definitely one of the easiest and most functional sites on the web!

WEBSITE BLOG week 11

2009-11-13T22:49:00.004-05:00

The most commonly used site and and easiest to use is the Google website. Its very straight forward and practically does everything for you. It you want pictures you hi the picture options, it you want maps you hit the maps button. Everything is in place is there isn't a lot of clutter to distract you from what you need to use the site. I like how the search bar is in the center and easy to find and not at the top like on most websites. Its clean and open and the white space makes it less intimidating.

Kristen Jones

Usability- The Apple Store

2009-11-13T21:45:00.004-05:00

The Apple Store website has great features that make it extremely easy and fast for it's users to navigate. The tool bar across the top of the page clearly displays all of the different products that Apple sells so users can immediately be directed to the page with information regarding the product they are interested in. Similarly, centered on the home page are pictures of every product that Apple offers so that users can visualize and more easily choose which product they want to purchase or learn more about. Right below this section of pictures is a red bar that advertises free shipping on orders of $50. Red is a warm color that comes forward off of the screen and leads the user's eye to the deal which is an incentive to make a purchase. Along the left side of the screen there is a vertical bar listing categories of products that can be viewed. This helps users who know which type of product they need, but aren't sure specifically which product they want. There is a similar bar on the right side of the screen which features specific select products to interest a user who is on the website just to browse all of the products and has no specific idea in mind. All of the type used on the site is very easy to read. All of these things combined create a very user friendly site that has great usability.

Usability- Andrew Tredinnick

2009-11-13T17:10:00.002-05:00

Amazon is a highly efficient website that is easy to use by people of any age group. Amazon has a search engine built in that enables users to search for products that they wish to purchase, since Amazon sells a wide variety of merchandise. The sidebar on the left allows users to just browse through particular entities. If one just chooses to shops without anything particular in mind they are able to see all the departments on the right side. When they scroll over any of these departments they can have their search even more narrowly focused as another listing of possibilities comes into focus. The website also cycles through five different conversations that may strike the viewer as interesting. Also, if you have searched for things in the past Amazon compiles a list that suggests products that may suit your needs. The site also has a row at the very top that allows a person to customize a wish list for Christmas or items they can get when the proper time comes. A person can also put multiple items into their cart and see if they truly wish to purchase those items later on. Overall Amazon is one of the most efficient and user-friendly shopping websites on the web.

Usability: Claire Bourque

2009-11-13T13:49:00.003-05:00

I think CampusFood.com has great usability because it quickly draws you in right away. Every time you log in, it saves the previously set location so you have your entire selection right in front of you. Also it gives you a notification on the side of coupons you have to use, so you're motivated to spend more money. All of the possibilities are listed on the page with their status of open or closed, which quickly helps you narrow down your selection. Once you chose your restaurant, it's easy to navigate the menu because each has a handy side bar with all of the categories of food. Checking out is also easy because you are able to save delivery locations and credit card accounts so that you don't need to enter it every time you order.

Website Usability (Matt Colon)

2009-11-13T12:35:00.003-05:00

Ultimate-guitar.com is an excellent site for finding tablature, reading album reviews, discussing in a forum, and any and all things music. I'm on this site all the time in my spare time, to do all that I mentioned previously. It has an extremely efficient layout. The line of tabs along the top allow for easy navigation if you know exactly what you want-- if you want guitar tabs, there's a link; album reviews, there's a link; online lessons, forums, etc. Further down the homepage are various headlines and recent news in music, so even if you aren't going to the site for a specific reason, you can find out interesting information about bands, concerts, interviews, albums, etc. Dark backgrounds may not generally work as well, but for U-G.com it works fine. It has a unique appearance and makes it pretty recognizable among musicians. The site has clean lines, a very easily identifiable grid layout, and all in all it's a well-designed site.

Week Eleven | Usability

2009-11-13T12:16:00.002-05:00

I chose to use the North Face website for usability. It is one of the easiest sites to navigate, and it still allows for fun design. The top bar of the website separates their product line into categories such as "men's, women's, kids', and footwear. These easy to find choices make it very simple for the reader to find exactly what they are looking for. Once you are in the category you need, there are further choices for the reader. These choices are represented both on a side column, as well as in big boxes with sample pictures of items. These two different visuals provide the reader with different ways to find what they're looking for. The large images are very easy to follow as you can just click the box that has a coat in it if that is what you're looking to buy. There are also two options below (I think they were cut off in the screenshot) that give the reader more choices. Here the reader has the option to either find a store near them by entering their zip code, or receive email updates by joining a listserv. Once you pick the option you want, the jackets are separated into further categories based on what type of coat you need. The website as a whole is very user friendly. All of the important information such as the price of items or the technical and functional aspects of each item are written in a very clear and easy to read format.

Hannah Doolin: Website Usability

2009-11-12T22:13:00.002-05:00

Mapquest is a site that I use often because it is so user-friendly. Whenever I need a map or directions to a location, I go directly to mapquest. It is very easily navigable and I never have a hard time finding the correct button. It has very useful links such as maps, directions, yellow pages, and gas prices. You are able to choose whether you want a route that includes highways, or if you want to avoid them altogether you need only to click one button to do so. The best aspect of the site is that it stores locations that you've previously entered, which makes it even easier to navigate the more that you use the site. Although the site isn't incredible appealing visually, I find that the information needed to get the job done is very accessible, which is the main point of the site anyway. People don't care what the site looks like, they just want to get directions as quickly as possible, and Mapquest accomplishes that very well.

Week Eleven-Usability

2009-11-12T21:37:00.002-05:00

The website for the New York Times is user friendly for every generation. There is a main picture in the middle of the page telling the reader the main story of the day. Surrounding the main pic, there are headlines from the current day's paper. The grid is set so that all the stories are surrounding the main picture. If you scroll down the page, the stories are posted by section. If someone simply wanted to look at the business section, all they would have to do is scroll down the page. To the left there are various categories you can pick from including: style, dining, etc. Across the top of the page you can choose from stories listed by date, or popularity, and you can also choose the global edition. All in all, this website is simple, even for the New York Time's older demographic. The pictures break up the text in order to force direction, and the columns express either news from today, or news by category.

-Briana Bartel

Website

2009-11-12T17:44:00.003-05:00

ESPN.com knows how to appeal to every kind of audience. For the fan that simply wants updates on sports scores, they can look right at the top of the screen. They can also click to a sport of their choice. Off to the left of the screen are the highlights of the day, and below are various pools and columns.

Where the website really shines though is its customizability. By creating a free account, one can pick the sports and teams that they are interested in and when they click to the website those scores will appear first, and to the left there will be article focused on what the reader is interested in.

The site is set up in order of importance. At the very top (first to load) is the scores, where the casual fan get get their info. Next to load, below, is the news of the day, where someone more interested can spend some time. Finally, the bottom of the home page contains the columns and polls for the true devoted fans.

Logo Design- Andrew Tredinnick

2009-11-12T14:03:00.005-05:00

Rationale Included on my Stationery

Week Eleven- Usability

2009-11-12T11:26:00.004-05:00

The Weather Channel's weather.com has great usability. I use this site almost every morning because let's face it the weather in Syracuse is not one of its most constant elements. The home site has the weather search bar clearly displayed in the top left corner with its directions "Enter Zip or US / world city" located in the search bar. After you enter your zip code, it takes you to the main weather page for that city with the current weather conditions front and center on the page. If you scroll down on the page you can find a more detailed forecast of today's, tonight's, and tomorrow's weather. The other weather forecast options run horizontally across the top of the page so you can easily access the hour-by-hour, weekend, 10-day, and monthly forecasts, and the radar maps.

Overall weather.com is a very easy site to navigate. It keeps its layouts consistent and simple making them easy to scan through to find what you are looking for. Its colors and typefaces are also consistent so the eye doesn't get distracted. The site uses visual hierarchy well so that the current weather conditions are displayed in the largest fonts, followed by the city name in a smaller font and then the more detailed weather information in an even smaller font.

WEEK 11: Starter Post on Usability

2009-11-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

Web design is about functionality. Lupton writes in her chapter “Text” that the internet has contributed to rise of the user, and also the incorporation of theories of user interaction into design. The big question becomes how is information used, not what the information is, and subsequently what can a designer do to make that process easier for the user.

Steve Krug famously penned Don’t Make Me Think, a book for web designers that argues for considering the user of a site when designing. Our evolving tech culture has resulted in shorter attention spans and impatience. If it’s complicated, we just move on...

Krug’s argument isn’t new, but it takes new significance in applying user interaction theories to realms where traditionally passive consumption in print/online was sufficient before, where the “audience” is now a “user” of a site - purchasing this here, looking up movie listings there.

Consider the popular movie website Fandango. Most people may claim they never spend any time on the home page because as soon as it loads, they press submit on the form which already has their zip code auto-filled in. Boom! They get moving listings in there area.

SO, for this week’s blog post, find a site that you use regularly and find easy to navigate and make a transaction on. Don’t use Facebook.com (and using mySlice would be far too IRONIC). Take a screen shot and explain how the site makes it easy for you to use it. What navigation placement or quick links help you get what you want from a site as fast as possible? Post your jpeg to the blog by 11:59 p.m. Friday.

Grids

2009-11-08T23:40:00.003-05:00

Facebook profiles utilize grids very cleanly. There are clearly defined columns, similar information is grouped together either horizontally or vertically, and as a result there is a great sense of cohesion among everything. Even the advertisements are skyscrapers or banners, working with the grid.

Without the grid, everything would be jumbled and mixed up. There would be no logical way for the reader to follow the page. The mind does not like to have to search around for things, it responds best to lines, and information grouped in lines and patterns. Consistency is key. It's what makes magazine title pages so interesting. Oftentimes, the type will be set against a standard grid. That's all well and good for those few instances, but if everything was like that, nothing would ever get done because people simply wouldn't be able to utilize information quickly enough.

Kate Brunkhorst ,The Allure of Color: Blog Post #6

2009-11-08T23:19:00.005-05:00

This was part of a six page spread featured in Oprah magazine about becoming the person that you are meant to be. It was clearly targeted to middle age women, and was quite frankly depressing. It was one of those articles about embracing change that just makes you feel worse after you read it, but I was a sucker largely because of the color appeal and the headline.

"But What If I'm Scared of Change?" is written in red, a warm color that jumps off the page. The woman under the umbrella (told you i'd be here foreva...sorry Paul, couldn't help myself) is colored in a bright green, the complement to the red headline. The neon blue is also appealing.

The theme of rain and new growth goes with the article's "oh-so-uplifting message" described in the pullquote: "Change is as inevitable as the spring. Some of us just put on raincoats and splash forward." How complacent. How lame. The graphics are drawn in a way that makes them look like pastels were used. The visual works well with the text in that it creates natural grid lines that demarcate where the articles begin and end, and they point to the text directly (flowers lead to the sidebar and overlap directly with the text). It's also ironic that the author's name is Amy Bloom, so they liked including this ironic graphic. :)

The article goes on to caution the reader that if you worry constantly about change and do absolutely nothing at all, that one day you'll just wake up and realize that you're old. This promted the idea to art direct an old woman sitting in her chair, but at least she's got that umbrella! This is a busy spread, but it is laid out well enough that your eye isn't confused about where to look next. The color choices were simple, and the font is still consistent with fonts used throughout the magazine. I ended up thinking that the article was crappy and not worth my time to read, but it was salvaged by the headline and bright, interesting graphics--the key components of Gestalt Theory.

Grid Post

2009-11-07T13:34:00.003-05:00

I think the most cutting edge technique is one that utilizes illustrations. It's very different so it stands out, but doesn't take away from the content. I think it's a great way to portray a certain fun style.

This image is a great example of "Escaping Boundaries." I think it makes the spread much more appealing because my eye was drawn to all of the important places. The 10 is out of the edge borders and cut off in some places, which makes it more interesting to look at. It is also using the angle technique to add to the visual appeal. I also like how all of the side numbered boxes are different sizes and positioned so that some overlap with the main visual in the center. It doesn't become too busy though, because the designed used a grid system of horizontal rows. This still allows the reader's eyes to flow left to right naturally.

Grid Post

2009-11-06T23:42:00.003-05:00

I think the escaping boundaries grid design is the most interesting because it brings fun to the article by displacing items in strategically placed areas. It breaks up the boxiness of the grids and allows for visual fun and flow of the page.

This article is an example of the illustrating areas and the escaping boundaries grid-designs. The article shows a little disorder with the sidebar pointing to different parts of the article and the article and illustrations are breaking out of the grids that were established with the slight angle of each illustration. Because of this, the article is also showing an example of illustrating areas. The stimulation of the boxes and images being at the top and slanted bring a little different visual rhythm to the otherwise boxiness of the articles and sidebars in the above page.

Week 10 | Grids

2009-11-06T22:38:00.003-05:00

The technique that spoke about illustrations was very interesting. It's a great way to differentiate a spread from a basic grid pattern. They make spreads appear more creative and diverse, breaking from the very strict grid structure on the rest of the page. The Jason Mraz website shown here is a great example of this. While it was clear that a grid structure was used to design the website, it is also very apparent that the designer took the time to make the website break out of the rigid boundaries created by boxes. Some of the boxes weren't aligned in a straight line, and there were also illustrations added to give the page a more fun feel. The picture of Jason, as well as the sun and clouds and the sign are all aspects of the website that separate it from being perfectly in line with a grid. However, the site is still easy to navigate, and the content does not become confusing with the addition of illustrations. The illustrations simply make the page more appealing to the readers eye.

Grid-Based Design Blog Post

2009-11-06T19:00:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately, I can't get my computer to take a screen shot of the website I want to use. Thus everyone can direct their browsers to the Bloomingdale's homepage:
www.bloomingdales.com.

The Bloomingdale's homepage is an example of joining for variety. Bloomingdale's (like many other department and clothing stores) uses a horizontal grid, that gives the site an open, easy feel. Although the site uses minimal pictures, each set of boots is in it's own distinct grid, but the larger picture does go into a different grid, but it's not really awkward. I also like the horizontal grid in combination with all the white space the web designer left. I do think that the right side ("The First Cut") is not as aesthetically pleasing; I don't know if the web designer was trying to give the site more dimension by angling the lines, but next time he/she should just try layering, because the way he did it just isn't cutting it (no pun intended).

Hannah Doolin: Grid Post

2009-11-06T18:13:00.003-05:00

I was very drawn to this webpage because of the interesting use of grids and columns. The page has a large amount of white space, and especially with the use of only black and white, it could have easily appeared to be boring and plain. The unconventional way in which the grids are used, however, makes the page very visually interesting. The page is very structured and the information is separated in an organized fashion, leading the reader's eye from the artist's name, to the information on the side, and then to the picture (a good example of gestalt). By doing something as simple as slanting the information and graphics on the page, a visually appealing aspect is added immediately. The extra tilt of the letter "L" in "BEN KWELLER" is dissonant to our eye, but makes the title of the page stand out even more. I really liked how the page was so simple, yet appeared to be complex by simply slanting the columns and blocks of information on the page. It intrigues us, but is not overwhelming.

Grid Post

2009-11-06T17:21:00.002-05:00

One of the techniques mentioned in the article was called "Energizing Space." This technique involves asymmetrical use of grids, shapes, and design. This imbalance, in the end, actually creates an equal weight among the page. The website I chose to do was a band website. Yellowcard's website uses this technique in order to create an edginess. Even though this technique has allowed for an edge, there is a still a consistent weight among the site, and the readability keeps the website organized. The asymmetry is achieved by have different sized boxes on the left and right side. The text doesn't line up exactly, which creates a more interesting site. Yellowcard was able to go out of the box and create a site that isn't boring, but is still clear to the reader. Along with the technique, the cool colors used enforce the "coolness" of the band. Overall, the site succeeds in creating a space that is user friendly, all while being faithful to the band's personality.

-Briana Bartel

Grid Design- Andrew Tredinnick

2009-11-06T17:00:00.007-05:00

The ESPN website definitely embraces grid based design and although it may appear cluttered it does master three of the specific creative column techniques. I think the most important strategy is the use of joining for variety because each area of interest appears to be in a horizontal grid. The scores, leagues, major columns and top stories are all arranged horizontally. I think it is interesting how ESPN uses four pictures from left to right to separate its breaking news points. On the right side however the headlines are broken down vertically, I suppose to add a perspective that allows the reader to assume that the top event happened most recently or is the most news-worthy.

ESPN.com also uses embracing disharmony and illustrating areas to catch the audience's eye and draw them in. The disharmony takes place as the graphic covers two-thirds of the page and the height of the various boxes differ exponentially. The ESPN website is by no means symmetric and the most important things on the page stick out extremely well. There's is no doubt that if you go on this website looking for something specifically sports-related it won't be hard to find. The background of the page adds depth as the red carries from bright down to the page as it fades to white. There are also some embellishments that are not apparent upon first take. The photos only add to the website and allow the best stories to be carried to the forefront.

Joining for Variety- grid design

2009-11-05T20:22:00.002-05:00

Urban Outfitters, a clothing company, uses the technique joining for variety on their homepage. I think this technique works for the homepage because the page is separated into categories and has all different pictures. The page is broken into rows and you are able to tell how each picture has a border and its own separate spot on the page. The top part of the page However, in order to make the design work a little better, the designer should add more dimension to the homepage. Even some layers might work out well also. I do like how each picture lines up together. It makes the homepage very clean and visually appealing.

Horizontal Grids

2009-11-05T15:55:00.003-05:00

The website for Carrot Creative, a media marketing and design firm in Brooklyn, uses the second technique of joining for variety. This web page is designed on a horizontal grid, lending a more creative and airy feel to the overall design. The page is broken down into rows, rather than columns, that emphasize each section and visually lead the reader through the page. Even the woodgrain of the background is on the horizontal which makes the page feel wider. I personally feel this is more aesthetically pleasing as you don't have to scroll down the page to read the information and nothing gets cut off. To break up the strict horizontal layout, this website emphasizes technique 3 as well by utilizing angles. The angled photographs behind the layout add creativity to the page and break up the horizontal grid to make it more visually interesting.