CRASH PRINTING: final prints

For the crash printing assignment, I wanted to typeset a cover for my portfolio. I used a couple different fonts and different sizes to make an interesting and dynamic image using type. I found it really hard to set type backwards and try to figure out what it would look like after it had been printed, but it actually turned out readable! Unfortunately, some of the letters were not type high, so they did not print as smoothly or as completely as the others, but this just added to the handmade, typeset aesthetic. I hope to use these prints as a cover for a portfolio of my work!

POLYMER PLATE: final prints

Here are my final prints of my polymer plate designs! I can't believe they turned out so well, just how I wanted them to! The registration on most of them was almost right on. The transparent inks also worked out, I was really pleased with the final prints. The image above shows the actual prints from the press and the polymer plates on the right hand side. Some of the prints were really interesting because the pink did not print fully, so when the green was printed on top, it created a gradient of the pink, green and overlapped color (the dull purple). Printing these was so fun, and seeing the final prints actually turn out how I wanted them to was amazing! Printing these was a great way to learn about the printing process, because sometimes its difficult for me to relate my digital designs to how they will be printed so they can turn out as close to the digital file as possible. A lot of work goes in to turning a digital design into a printed piece!!!

WEBSITE: Updated for GD1

My website has been updated with all of my GD1 projects and descriptions!!! I still need to add to the other categories, but the GD1 section is complete. I tried to keep each page unified with one another and allow for easy navigation with "prev" and "next" buttons, and a home button on each page. Each page has images of the projects and one of the images on each page displays the project description and explanation when the mouse rolls over it. I had to keep the image sizes small so it would fit on the University of Minnesota webspace that we are provided, because I have many more images to add!!!

POLYMER PLATE

For the last assignment we were given a word that ended with MADE. My word was HOMEMADE, so I thought of homemade food, like cookies and pies. My design was based on the retro-style aesthetic to portray my word homemade. It resembles the signs from the 50's while emphasizing the homemade component with the fresh pie. The top image shows both of my plates and the colors I want to use for each plate. When the plates are printed it should turn out like the bottom image, with the purple color being the mix of the pink and green. I hope they turn out!!!

SERIES personal critique

These are the final versions of my three campaign pieces. The top one is an interior bus ad, the second is a newspaper ad and the last one is a direct mail piece. The direct mail piece folds into a square. The top one is the outside of the mailer and the two white panels fold in to make the image. The bottom one is the inside image when you open the mailer. I created all of the images for the pieces in Adobe Illustrator and each piece is designed using one color and black. The figures and thought bubbles are in black and white so they really stick out from the colored backgrounds and create a visual hierarchy. I added statistics to each piece to develop more of a directed focus and credibility. All of the pieces turned out well and I think they really get the message across in an interesting way. They were designed to reach college students/young adults and get the serious message across through fun illustrations that don't talk down or try to persuade through depressing imagery like many other alcohol abuse ads. To develop this campaign, I created a unified appearance with repeated images that appear in each piece (the dots in the background and figures, the Drink Smart logo, the lamp and the thought/speech bubbles). Overall, I really like all of the pieces, and I'm happy to see that all of my hard work payed off!!!

GREENWAY personal critique

Here is my final design for the cover of the Greenway Coalition mailer. The actual size is 8.5 x 5.5 inches. I illustrated the flowers from reference photographs of native Minnesota plants. I think the flowers are more integrated into the photograph in comparison to my rough draft and the line quality of the flowers is working a lot better here, too. Overall, I think that the bright colors and integration of the people in the photograph, to show the community involvement aspect, makes the design interesting and eye-catching. There are still some things that I would like to change. The design of the top could be improved and I think a different photograph would also help the design.

GREENWAY in process

Our assignment is to design a promotional piece for the Midtown Greenway Coalition, which is a non-profit organization that develops and maintains gardens and nature along the Greenway path. The promotional piece must inform about the Greenway and explain how to get involved. Because the Coalition is non-profit, they do not want a formal "corporate" feel in the promotional piece. It must also be easily reproduced. This is the ROUGH draft of the cover. I wanted to create a bright cover that would grab someone's attention amongst a pile of white, bland envelopes in the mail. This mailer is going to be an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper printed on both sides, folded in half and sealed with a sticker. The flowers are "drawn" in to represent how the community can make the Greenway more beautiful. It contrasts with the photographic quality of the image in the background to distinguish the present (planting and gardening) from the future (the flowers that will grow from the help of volunteers). Still a rough draft, just to get the concept on paper.

SERIES in process

 

These two designs are rough drafts of my series campaign Drink Smart. The top one is an interior bus sign and the second is a newspaper ad. These are really rough drafts right now, the figures need a lot of work obviously and the overall layout of both designs could be more balanced. I am trying out different ways to incorporate a single color effectively. I am also designing another piece for this series—I think it is going to be a poster that would be put up in restroom stalls (in bars and/or campus restrooms). The next step is to design the third piece, then I will be able to REVISE and REFINE!

PERSUASIVE POSTER personal critique

This is my final persuasive poster design. I think the design and style of the poster is working well. The text bubble at the top gets the attention and then draws the eye down to the figures and then to the DRINK SMART logo. I think additional copy at the bottom supporting the logo would help get the point across that "bad" or "unwanted" events can occur because of irresponsible drinking. I think the dots in the background give the image more depth and the changes to the bed, pillow and monkey are working a lot better. The pillows look more like pillows and the figures contrast more with the background.

SERIES inspiration

          

Here are a series of print ads from the Above the Influence campaign. The campaign is to influence youth to refrain from using drugs and alcohol. The website also has all of their television ads too. I like how they are all really different but have similarities, like the text and logo, that unify them. Here's the website: www.abovetheinfluence.com I also think the website itself is doing a good job of appealing to a younger crowd. It has engaging graphics and the colors are inviting.

SERIES alcohol facts

Since my poster is geared towards college students, I wanted to find information and statistics based on college drinking and alcohol abuse. I found one website that had tons of that had tons of statistics on alcohol drinking and sex: http://hcs.calpoly.edu/peerhealth/alcohol/info_students_stats.html
Here are a few:

• As many as 70% of college students admit to having engaged in sexual activity primarily as a result of being under the influence of alcohol, or to having sex they wouldn't have had if they had been sober.
• 90% of all campus rapes occur when alcohol has been used by either the assailant or the victim.
• At least one out of five college students abandons safe sex practices when they're drunk, even if they do protect themselves when they're sober.
• One in twelve college males admit to having committed acts that meet the legal definition of rape or acquaintance rape.
• 55% of female students and 75% of male students involved in acquaintance rape admit to having been drinking or using drugs when the incident occurred.
• 60% of college women who are infected with STDs, including genital herpes and AIDS, report that they were under the influence of alcohol at the time they had intercourse with the infected person.

I found another good site with college drinking stats which I could use in my series. "The consequences of excessive and underage drinking affect virtually all college campuses, college communities, and college students, whether they choose to drink or not." http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/StatsSummaries/snapshot.aspx These two websites have really good statistics that actually relate to my concept and audience!!

PERSUASIVE POSTER in process

This is my rough draft for my persuasive poster. The target audience is college students, trying to persuade them to drink responsibly. The illustrations and type were created in Adobe Illustrator. I will probably use an actual typeface, that looks similar, on the final poster so the letters can be more unified. I'm still working on minor details on the girl and monkey, and trying to differentiate figure and ground so it has more dimension. Still a work in progress!

PERSUASIVE POSTER brainstorm

The second assignment is to design a persuasive poster about a problem in society. Inspiration came from an article in WIRED, "Why Things Suck." After looking at all of the things that suck and why, I chose Alcohol "Booze" as the subject of my poster. There are a lot of directions to go with the subject of alcohol: alcohol abuse, drinking and driving, underage drinking, etc. Brainstorm ideas and notes from article included:

• "biological havoc"
  
• hangovers
• collage of events from night of drinking
• before and after (the stuff you don't remember from being drunk, and the stuff you do remember the next day, the hangover)
• serotonin (you love everyone)
• dialates blood vessels in brain (headaches)
• dehydration
• fatigue and hunger

I want the target audience to be college students and have a message that hopefully would persuade them to drink in moderation, or drink responsibly. And, one thing I did not want to do was make a super dramatic poster about the effects of alcohol, because they are everywhere and everyone has already seen that (it's obvious and predictable). I want to create something different.

  

BOOK REVIEW personal critique

These are the slides from my final presentation of the Advertising Design and Typography book. I ended up scanning the title page for the background of my slides and deleting the ugly white bar. The final slide turned out exactly how I wanted them to, except the typeface could have been bolder and had more significance in the slides. The slides after the first page are less saturated than the title page so focus would be on the images and text and not the background. I did not put much text on the slides because they don't get read much, and I tried to explain everything during the presentation so that I didn't need to have a lot of words on the slides. I think the book page on the Weaknesses slide could have been smaller because it draws too much attention being so large and of to the side. I also included enlarged images on separate slides with black backgrounds so the image could be seen clearly. I think the enlarged images worked well in the presentation, but I probably could have explained them better during the presentation. But, overall I'm happy with the presentation.

BOOK REVIEW in process

As I was working on the book review presentation, I looked for ways to incorporate elements of the book into the presentation slides. I wanted to make a template based on the title page of the book. I also wanted to use 4 columns for the text on my slides, like the 4 columns for the captions that are in the book.

         

  

The slide on the bottom was composed in Photoshop using images from the page on top. The background has shades of red like the title page of the book and a white horizontal bar in the center to put the text and images. Right now the slides are not working well visually, the white space is not active and does not integrate well with the red background. It still needs more work.

BOOK REVIEW brainstorm

The first assignment is a book review of a design book of our choice. Since the class is Graphic Design Text and Image, I chose Adverting Design and Typography by Alex White. The book focuses on design in advertisements, typography and the integration of text within the advertisement designs. I was initially drawn to the images and the wide variety of designs within the book, but as I read more, I realized that it was full of really good design principles and explanations of why certain designs work. The book has really references on color, layout, design and text hierarchy, and how to integrate design principles like; unity, balance, space, alignment, and scale.

So, the assignment is to create a 5-7 minute PowerPoint presentation that includes a general overview, the strengths, weaknesses and points of interest. The first step I took was to make a list that covers each of the requirements. My notes:

1. General Overview

images/visuals

-text/type

-text/image relationships

2. Strengths/Weaknesses

-Strengths

examples illustrating ideas

quick reference/design rules

typography rules

text/image relationships

-Weaknesses

limited subjects

mainly print ads

busy layout pages

3. Points of Interest

-typography pages

-contemporary examples

I want to portray the elements of the book in my presentation with a similar layout and appearance as the book itself. I plan on using many images in my presentation from the book itself so that the content is apparent. I'm still working on the background template for the presentation itself, something that unifies with the book of course. These are my ideas so far, I still have a ways to go, though!