See this: Graphic recording

So we want to be magazine designers?  What about graphic facilitators!

I saw this story featured on NBC and wanted to share.  People are getting hired to graphically guide company meetings and discussions.   The goal is to help bring conversation and maybe inspire new thinking in the process.

Here are some examples:

The story is on the merit of the technique.  Is it worth is to hire people as professional doodlers?

I say yes.  There are many people, not just us designers, who are visual learners.   Staring at a board with a bunch of text can be intimidating and discourage people.  Breaking down text into graphics is a great way to make information more accessible and will probably bring about more creative ideas.   I would much rather stare at those boards, than a Powerpoint of words.

Story from NBC
Photos from Maga Design Blog

Response: Website

For those of you who haven't been to my website, check it out

HERE!

It took me awhile to navigate Cargo Collective and see which template I would be using for my website. I tend to always use black and white in direct contrast, so I thought this "Amsterdam" template worked well and emphasized my bold designs.

The categories are not yet organized, as I mentioned Thursday, but I wanted to give some sort of idea what the final product would be.

I don't even know if I will stick with this template, but I do like how it compliments my logo.
There was a lot of discussion about my logo maybe being too bold in regards to the rest of the website.  I like that.  My designs aren't always polished, but I do have a lot of ideas and like to push boundaries.  I think if I were to put that logo on my resume, or a business card, then it would stand out and really capture my aesthetic without being seen with other design elements. To me, that's what a brand should do.  I don't want the logo to take over my website, but at the same time, I really don't think four colors in a black and white box is going to trip people out too much.  I may make it a bit smaller.

I also wanted to explain, in better words, why I like the white box in my logo.   I love the stark contrast.  You can't get colors more opposing than black and white, yet they compliment each other so well.  I think that no matter what, those colors paired together stand out to any eye.  The bright colors represent more of the funky side to me and my designs.  Being from Vegas, a place known for its neon and nightlife, I don't ever think there can be too many bright colors.  I am definitely a product of my city.  What I like about this design is that the colors meet and clash in the white box, where your eye is naturally drawn.  It makes you think and look a second longer.  It's always most interesting where two opposing forces meet, and that to me, is beautiful.  This ideology isn't something I insist on having in all of my designs, because I always first want to tell the story accurately and appropriately.  But when it comes to branding myself, this feels right.
So, while I know a lot of you disagreed with the white box, I think something would be seriously lost in the logo without it.  It's bold, it doesn't make perfect sense, but it's me.  I'm not changing it yet.

Next week I'll be adding my resume and trying to figure out how to categorize and describe each of my designs.  I am thinking about adding a description under each individual thumbnail on the homepage, and am also playing around with the idea of having my page open to a separate splash page that one has to click on to see this one first.

I don't know a lot about css, but hopefully a day at the coffee shop will at least produce me a solid, workable website to begin showing prospective employers.

Any more feedback is definitely encouraged!

Critique: Final book cover

The feedback I got from Missouri Press Association led me to change my final cover quite a bit.  From their critique of everyone's individual covers, I gathered that they really wanted to utilize color while still keeping the covers professional.  They had wanted me to make my white box less opaque to show more of Smith, but I decided to switch the white to blue to make her even more visible.  I also zoomed in on her and upped the contrast in Photoshop so she stood out more.

I also added an emboss to "Madam Chairman" and put the dek in white bars to mimic the flag and also make the words more legible.  

Overall, this cover wasn't what I had envisioned, but I do want to give the judges an option they think could work for their readers.  I hope this was a bit more on the mark.

Critique: Talk Show Covers

I don't want to go through my whole thought process on these before I present tomorrow, so I'll just give you the sneak preview now.  Here are my three awesome cover designs for the David Lile feature issue.

1.

2.

3.

I'm really excited about these because according to the schedule, they should come out the Thursday before graduation!!   It would be great to have my friends and family in town to see them on the stands.

=]

Response: 20/10 Presentation

I have to say, I was surprised with the informality of the book cover presentations.  The people from Missouri Press Association were very nice and the whole atmosphere was casual.

I'm not surprised by their comments on my designs.

Meh.

Nice, but too bold for the author.

Too dark, will scuff too easily.

We settled on this one.  Revisions to follow will be to enlarge the photo and make a tighter crop of MLS.  I want to make the dek and byline more prominent, as well as lightning the opacity of the white box just a tad.

Stay tuned!

See this! Motif Magazine

The flaws I find in most of my designs are related to typography.  I'm good at choosing bold, headline texts and even dek typefaces, but when it comes to the smaller body copy and other blurbs, I could use a little finesse.   The blog I've been following, Design Observer, has a whole category dedicated to typography.  Since there weren't any posts this week that interested me, I went back in the archives and found some great shots of Motif magazine, which of course, has beautiful typography.

Motif was only published between 1958 and 1967, with 13 issues.
It's subject was "visual culture" and so contained a lot of the fine arts, graphic arts, architecture, lettering and photography.  Even though Motif didn't survive through the '60s, I think it's so well executed and contains content many would still be interested in today.  If it was brought back, it may have a chance.
I know I'd subscribe.

Here are some pages I found particularly appealing:

Motif no. 11, Winter 1963/4. Cover: Eduardo Paolozzi

Motif no. 3, September 1959. Cover: John Griffiths

Typography no. 6, Summer 1938. Published by James Shand at the Shenval Press

& my personal favorite...

Motif no. 7, Summer 1961. Cover: Alan Davie. Publisher: The Shenval Press

“Sans on Buildings, or What Happened before Architects Started Using Type Books.” 

Photographs taken in Brighton, England by John Woodcock. Motif no. 6, Spring 1961

See this: Perfection in Imperfection

While flipping through HOW magazine, I came across this cookbook by Janice Wong.  It was her inspiration which combines food, design and the search for perfection in the imperfect.
The pages are gorgeous.  I've never seen food so beautiful and I want this book on my coffee-table ASAP.  Here's some of the images from the book:  

If you're interested you should really read more about it.  I'm not near my magazine, but if I remember correctly, some of the page tips were hand-dipped in black dye.  The cover treatment was fascinating as well.

This book served as my inspiration for the food-planning assignment.

MMMmmm

Response: Meredith meeting

After another round of Meredith revisions, I edited down the number of pages for my feature and took away the half-eaten icons.  I'm pretty sad that I had to cut those, but with less pages, they didn't really work.  I also changed some of the fonts on the recipe to Flama Condensed to match Nick's.

Overall, where I need most help is the splash page.   After discussing with my group, we don't think one picture will work that will be able to incorporate food, people and summer.   Meredith parties aren't all that exciting.  Try searching them.

We were thinking of cutouts in concentric circles, or just cutouts for one of each course.   Thoughts?

This is a possibility if no other splash pages work.  Where I have a problem here, is that only drinks are featured.  However, the photo does match the summer/party theme.

These two pages will be separated by ads.

VOILA!

Almost there, everyone!

Critique: 20/10 Revisions

After narrowing the choices for my book covers, I chose to execute four in the correct format and size.
We haven't presented yet, but here they are:

My inspiration from this cover came from the 1Q84 novel jacket.   It doesn't work exactly the same, but still conveys a sense of mystery that hangs about Smith.  

As I explained in class, I liked this concept because of the support Smith held from the gay community. The execution was the hardest after I checked the new text for the title and dek.   Because they are significantly longer, I don't think this cover works anymore.

I didn't want to use pink in my designs just because Mary Smith was the only woman to be chairman of the RNC.  However, with the bold font and silhouettes, the pink felt like a good fit.

This is my favorite cover.  I love the grunge flag with the cropping I chose.   To me, the typewriter font felt like an official document, and I put it in black bars because I wanted to convey a sense of controversy.

Critique: 20/10 book covers

My biggest obstacle during this assignment was coming up with 20 different covers for one book. I didn't feel very passionate or inspired by any of the options.

The book I ended up choosing was Mary Louise Smith: Republican Matriarch.  I felt a  stab of GIRL POWER after reading the description and felt as though it was the only possible choice for me.   For those of you who don't know, Mary Louise Smith is the only woman to be Chair(wo)man of the Republican National Committee.   The book is about her influence on the party and moderate views which included support for gay marriage and pro-choice for women.

Here is a sneak peak of some of my ROUGH ideas for the final book cover:

I hand drew a few others but you'll see those in class tomorrow!

Response: Meredith presentation

The Meredith presentation this week was a really fun experience.  It was the first time I had seen our magazine in full. 

In the beginning I was nervous that our designs didn't all flow well together.  However, after revisions, I'm really happy with "Eat Now."  Our biggest design challenges seemed to stem from miscommunication with the publishing group.  After those are sorted out I know we'll all have a project to be proud of and include in our portfolios.

My individual pages may change in content.  We are thinking of cutting a few drinks from the feature to keep the page lengths reasonable.  Also, I'm going to try to incorporate a food item onto the splash page.

The shrimp cocktail and steak icons have just been added.

Any ideas on how to incorporate some food images on this page?

See this: Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!

I was going through google images to find my favorite image of the Vegas welcome sign when I stumbled upon (not literally) this great compilation of photographs of it.

Studio d'Xavier

Pinky-Lee

RickyBarnard

In doing our 20/10 assignment, we've had to think of many ways to capture one idea.  I think these images are a great example of how many perspectives can be had on one subject.  There are hundreds on the website, if you're interested in seeing more.

I've been daydreaming of sunshine, neon and strip(walking) far too long.    Time to go home.  VIVA!

Check out more images here.

See this: Mental Disorder posters

I've always been drawn to illustrative posters and minimalism.  I think I'm a broken record over here, but hey, I know what I like! I love these designs by designer Patrick Smith that cover six mental disorders.

I especially love the Narcolepsy one.  Enjoy!

Response: Meredith Prototypes

My group is rad!

Eat Now had some problems looking cohesive on Tuesday, but after our meeting, we're pulling it all together.  The biggest problem was that one of our departments looked like a feature.  That's changed now.

It's really hard working on designing a food magazine, especially late at night because all I want to do is

EAT...

NOW!

But instead of banana split cupcakes and margaritas, my fridge only ever has yogurt and gatorade.

I really like the big blowout photos we used for the feature.  It looks very professional.  I added some quirky extras, such as the chef hat and moustache on the "Tip" pullout and the icons in the right corner that get eaten throughout the pages.  I know my first designs for the cover were a bit much, but this was my way of making the magazine fun and still something that came across as professional and sellable to the Meredith market.

Here is what I've come up with for the splash page of the feature (minus Nick's two icons for entrees and appetizers) and the desserts and drinks spreads.