IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWNNNNNNN

Process

Best Thumbnails

I think my thumbnails from the Chili Cook Off project are the best. Even though they're not in color or whatever, these are the most thumbnails we had to do! And I think the styles are pretty varied.

Best Marker Comp

The design for my Vespa poster is the marker comp I am most satisfied with. I think it stayed the most true to the final design-- just a couple of tweaks were made like aligning the bottom text to the left and having the Vespa overlap into the sidebar a bit. The only thing I'm disappointed with is that the marker still bled through my tape, so that looks kind of messy. At least the Vespa looks pretty sweet in marker, and I managed to get the white Helvetica font down as accurately as possible.

Best Traditional Copyfitting

The Marceline pamphlet is my pride and joy of copyfitting! I was really concerned about making the pamphlet as organized as possible because I guess I was putting myself in the consumer's / client's shoes. It's easy to get frustrated when you're looking for a specific piece of information and then when you find it, it's not somewhere you would expect. So I kept that in mind while designing this pamphlet and which parts of the copy would go where. I placed most of the attraction-related items on the front and left the back for more "vital information" for when the reader was drawn in by the header and all of the cool things Marceline has to offer. The front was much easier to copyfit than the back, which required some changes to font size here and there.

Best Design & Best Use of Typography / Typesetting

The final production of my Vespa poster is my best design overall. In general, I feel like it's aesthetically pleasing to the viewer's eyes. The design organized in thirds (via three column layout) and has a good use of hierarchy. The headline is the largest and boldest text element, then there's the location, and finally there are the details. I was definitely going for a more modern look, so I guess it has a simplistic feel. But I think the Vespa and map more than make up for that. It has a good balance of those elements (more complex vs. simple).

Actually, as I was writing this and looking at the poster I realized how I can fix the little problem with the store times at the bottom (you can still see it in this entry). So yeah, I went ahead and made the text line up. I like how the text works with the design (and vice-versa). The map is bordered by the sidebar and some of the text. So that's why I also deem this my best use of typography and typesetting. I was able to fix that minor problem, and besides that, I like how the text works in my poster. Everything lines up where it's supposed to, and like I mentioned before, the text has a sense of hierarchy. I like the letter spacing, especially the contrast between how "Delmar Loop Grand Opening" and "VESPA" are spaced.

Best Creative Concept

I think that my best creative concept would have to be the Chili Cook Off poster. I think it was pretty creative to use the image as a background. And I was even able to use it for the entire background despite the "no bleed" rule. The concept definitely looked the best in the final stage of production, since I didn't have any grey markers for the comp. I decided to lighten the background up a little bit from my original submission, and I think it makes the headline text stand out a lot more.

Software Proficiency

InDesign

Dang, look at how well I copied that magazine spread from Rolling Stone Magazine! If that's not software proficiency, I don't know what is. And that is a fact.

Photoshop

Does this even count?? Anyway, I like this too much to not submit it as something. I know this isn't some clipping path / retouch / image mask terror from Heck but! I had to get the resolutions of all nine images I used to 300 dpi, work with transparency, erase around the images so they wouldn't show on the outside edges of the text, etc. And I had to deal with a bunch of different layers! And adjusting the brightness / contrast of some of the images! And look at how cute it is! I also had to use Illustrator a little bit because I had to copy the original font (Jim Dandy) from scratch.

Illustrator

Ok, this is the last time you'll see this Vespa posted here I hope! I hate submitting it as my best example from Illustrator, but it is. Sad, but true. Well it's not really all that sad because it is pretty impressive, not gonna lie. I mean, look at that gradient mesh!

CLEAR WATER FISHING ALRIGHT!

So this is the last project for DSP.  And of course, I thought this was due on Friday...  my bad.  I had different ideas for this originally (in the thumbnail stage).  I wanted it to be manly / hardcore to the EXTREME but then...  I couldn't find any extreme pictures of fishing.  Just some bros grinning with a huge bass they caught.  That was pretty disappointing, so I went with a more "traditional" look instead, with the headline font as an exception.  It has a lot of movement, which isn't expected from a fishing magazine.  Hopefully that's a good thing.

Obviously this is a lot more rushed than my other projects since it's already late anyway, but I think it gets the job done.  Also, I had a different color scheme (green and brown) in mind while I was doing thumbnails.  But then I found the image of the boat and wanted the color scheme to center around that, so I switched it to blue and red.

The original inspiration for this spread...  unfortunately I couldn't find any pictures of people fishing on a boat.  But uh, maybe that's for the best.

Marceline Pamphlet

So this is the final product of the Marceline Pamphlet, it pretty much matches the marker comp.  I kind of wish I came up with a more creative solution for the back since there's a lot of extra space in the middle.  But at least the front looks good.  I added the dividers inbetween columns for visual interest as well as organization.

It printed out all faded!  I mean I guess it's not that bad since I was going for a postcard look anyway (like this), but I would have liked the header to look vibrant since that's what's supposed to pull the viewer in.  At least I got it printed at all, though.  I realized I didn't have my printing receipt so I had to truck it back to my dorm to get it.  Then when I filled out the printing form and attached the receipt and went back to my dorm and thought everything was good gravy, I realized that I hadn't put my name on the list.  oh lordddddd half an hour of my life gone.

There are three clipping paths and I made that Mickey Mouse and map with my bare hands!  What!

Final Production of Vespa Poster

So this is how my Vespa poster turned out.  It looks pretty boss, too bad it printed out kind of wonky.  I took the critique I got in class into consideration; I made the Vespa come out into the headline and sidebar a little, which makes it look more visually interesting.

I really like how my map turned out!  And I get to make another one for the Marceline pamphlet, alrightttt...!

Vespa Marker Comp

So this is the half-size Vespa marker comp poster. Many things need to be changed. But at least they are small changes, mainly just how the text is justified and not making it so confining. And fixing that jank map.

Fun fact: That Vespa store on Delmar actually exists. It is a place filled with my dreams that I fear will eventually get crushed.

Chili Cookoff, y'all!

My final artwork for the Chili Cookoff poster.  After going through the process of thumbnail sketches and the marker comp, I can safely say that this pattern was so much easier to pull off in Illustrator than by hand.  Even though it would probably look cooler with the pattern taking up the entire page, the 1 in. border all around still works.  I was going to use Arial / Arial Black, but after watching the movie in class I was inspired to use Helvetica, good grief.  I think my next design is going to use Helvetica too?  Guess I just like sans serif fonts.

Chili Cookoff

My personal favorite would have to be the third from the left. I like the juxtaposition of the bowl and spoon and how it divides the layout into two parts.  I also like the slogan you came up with (Bring Some, Eat Some).  The black background for part of the headline adds interest, but maybe the headline would be better suited at the top of your layout and have it switch places with the sponsor of the event.  Also, the empty bowl looks kind of awkward, so maybe you should include some chili in there.  I'm not sure if I like the spoon acting as a dash in "Cook-Off," I think a regular dash would suffice.  But all in all, I think this is a good layout!  Hooray!

ART 201 Midterm Portfolio

Here is the stuff that I made during ART 201 this semester~  I realize that I've posted most of these before, but I made some slight adjustments.

Photoshop

This is the earliest piece that I've included in my portfolio and the only one I didn't make any adjustments to.  I really like it as it is, but that's only probably because I think this is already perfect since I'm in all the pictures.  But I like the gridded composition and the contrast of the grey background to the vibrant pictures.

This is the second piece I have chosen from Photoshop, one of the clipping-path assignments that was integrated with InDesign.  This is another piece where I like the composition I chose.  I made some changes from the original, I tightened the text in the headline and put the second block of text on a white background instead of black (like the first block).  This assignment was particularly interesting because I could relate to bad poster design for musicians very well, since I studied guitar for a number of years and whenever I'd go for lessons, I'd have to look at those godawful posters.  Still, I think the strips for contact information are clever, so I incorporated those into my design to make it useful as well as eye-catching.  

InDesign

The 2-page magazine spread project is what I chose from InDesign.  I made some slight adjustments from my original submission.  The biggest change is that I figured out how to justify the text, so I did that under the headlines of each comedian.  Now it perfectly matches the Rolling Stone article (or at least as close as it's gonna get)!  Hooray!  I know it's the least creative of the InDesign assignments, but I still like the results too much to pick a different assignment to submit.  I think I did a pretty good job of matching the fonts to the original article.

Illustrator

I liked how I rendered the sunglasses in Illustrator, so I also chose this piece for my midterm portfolio.  I didn't make many adjustments, just some shadows and highlights I missed and making sure everything matched up.

And last but not least...  the Vespa.  I spent an obscene amount of time on this, so of course I'm going to include it in my midterm portfolio.  I missed some elements the first time I submitted it, so I reluctantly included the shadows beneath the tires, the decal, and some shadows on the Vespa that probably aren't even noticeable but you know, it's the thought that counts.

2-Page Magazine Spread

The original:

MINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!:

This layout was a serious pain in the butt! It took way longer than I thought it would, and trying to align everything perfectly, but hey, I CONQUERED THIS MESS. Anyway, I took an article from Rolling Stone and reworked it in Indesign. It was pretty easy to tell that each page used 5 columns, and I measured the pages to be about 10.5in. x 11.5in. with a .25in. margin. I had actually forgotten about border around the article, so I had to copy and paste everything in a new document to make it work.

Illustrator: Stunna Shades and Vespa

Yeahhhh I don't think I want a Vespa anymore.  :<

the post to end all posts

Ok so this is going to be my blog for DSP. HELLO WORLD. HELLO CLASSMATES. HELLO PROFESSOR.

I am too mad that laurenjonas was taken. AND YOU KNOW WHAT'S EVEN WORSE? It's a Jonas Brothers blog. There is a Lauren out there who thinks that she is cool enough to have the last name Jonas. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE. I think I should stop typing how I talk.

For your time:

I guess that was a waste of your time too... Oh well!

TUNE IN NEXT TIME...!