Critique: Roll On

I'm here and blogging which lets you all know I survived my first week of this capstone course.  I was feeling super confident before receiving the syllabus, but after seven double-sided pages of assignments and expectations I was brought down a notch.  Not for long!  

I know each one of us has commitments outside of this course and it has certainly been hard for me to get back to waking up early, taking 15 credits and working.  Did I mention my roommate decided we were going to run the St. Louis (Half) Marathon in April?  The last time I seriously ran was on my high school soccer team, so I've got some work to do.  Thanks, Kelsey!

After a week of meetings and sharing my confusion with all the other 'zine kids, I've finally passed that stage from dread to excitement.  Note that my excitement starts now, after the first assignment.

Our first assignment was to design a five page photo essay and VOX cover.  The story centered around a local store in Columbia where customers roll their own cigarettes.  Photo stories typically leave less room for creative thinking because the photographs are the main focus.  I'm not a huge fan of photo covers so I thought of ways I could make the cover interesting without them.  This is what I came up with:

Initially I wanted to find a rollie pouch of loose-leaf tobacco and alter it so the name of the tobacco was the title of the story, but couldn't make it look like I imagined.  I thought of photographing my own pack of tobacco and then manipulating the design, but that plan didn't work either. (No, Ma. I don't smoke.  It's for school!)  Under the pressure of time, I went with the Marlboro design.  In the story, Renwick distinguished between "smokes" and "cigarettes."  There are no extra additives or fillers in the tobacco that Roll On Premium Smokes offers.   I came up with the title "Cigarette Break" because of that separation.   The story isn't about a break from smoking.  It's a call for the community to come gather, socialize and enjoy a healthier alternative to packaged cigarettes.

In hindsight I would have gone with a photo for my cover.  I strayed from using one because I knew everyone else would, but realized I should have kept the photography element throughout and forgone the illustration to keep the theme consistant.  Class critiques are coming, so I'll have more to say on this later. 

For the next two spreads I chose photos that I felt were the most visually appealing and also captured the essence of the story.  

I like the opening photograph but would have made it less text heavy next time and played more with the fonts.

[[Splash page/Opening Spread]]

 [[Second Spread]]

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Again, not my best work. I'm still getting a feel for the course and learning how to manage my time so I not only get everything I need to finished, but done well.  I expect the nerves and confusion to last another week or two, but it's getting easier each day.  

I have another competition design due Friday, which is a mock up of the Spring Preview issue for VOX.   After that, hopefully two days sleep. But, really.

I'm also thinking of ideas for the February 9 issue.  It will be my first published design [two days after my birthday!] and a chance for me to see how the whole process works for VOX each week.  The content isn't concrete yet, but I'll be designing the music department of that issue.  

Now, off for creative dreaming! 

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