Is it Spring yet?

Texture + Color: Beautiful.

This is one of the featured items on Veer right now. It's a series of gorgeous spring photographs that make me yearn for the warmer weather. One of my favorites is a portrait of a family with their faces pressed up against the glass. It's a clever way to reinvent the standard portrait photograph. Take a look through the slideshow as a source of inspiration, nothing like the fresh colors and shapes of spring.

Graffiti: Day 1

grafitti1a, originally uploaded by vmillner.

graffiti1b, originally uploaded by vmillner.

This week was all about texture for me. There's so much in nature and in everything we see, touch, taste, etc... Here are a few interesting places I found it.

You can't miss: Have you ever wanted to know how to make balsamic reduction?

Okay, maybe that's just me.

But if you haven't been to Rouxbe (pronounced 'ruby', I assume), you should take a look. It is a beautiful, yet practical guide to everything you ever wanted to know about cooking. Here's how to make a Balsamic Reduction. Interested in learning about wheat? You can even take a quiz!

I found this website recently and was wondering how I'd missed it all this time. It's free, you have to sign up, but there's no charge. There is a wealth of information organized really well. It's a lesson for me in terms of managing content and the benefits of multimedia. Especially with cooking, sometimes reading a recipe doesn't quite clear up the confusion. It can be helpful to have a video for one thing and text for something else. Rouxbe is a great example of how to serve the consumer.

Response to CRMA Judging

After reading the little blurb about the judging on the syllabus, I wasn't sure what to expect. The magazines were all of a very high level, one I wouldn't have thought many city magazines would be at.

Speaking as someone that's never wanted to live in New York, I was glad to see so many outstanding regional magazines.

As for the judging, it's always harder than you expect. Especially with overall excellence, there are so many variables in determining the 'best'. Some had phenomenal features, but I wasn't crazy about their departments. Others, which didn't stay in the running too long, had exceptional covers, but the inside never lived up to what the design sold on the front.

I worked at the SSND competition last year and was able to see judges critique a lot of my work. Of course you hope they'll have nothing but glowing reviews, but either way it's always (well usually) constructive.

As Jan said Tuesday, we'll all be entering VOX stuff this year. If you want to get an idea of what it's like, you can check out the liveblog from last year. There are some judge tips and links to winning pages, etc... Check it out here.

The Weekly Critique

This was my attempt at the cover for the alternative music marketing story. The concept is unique, but maybe doesn't quite hit the nail on the head. There are some conflicting images, ie: the iPod earbuds and the 50's style TVs in the background. More consistency in executing the idea would have helped.
I really like the colors chosen though, they are nice complements and really make the white pop out.



Here's the spread for the economy story I created. The headline given was "face of the economy." I chose not to go that direction, maybe a bad idea. Instead, I took out a concept that the story focused on and also that might be more appealing to an everyday consumer. Both economists talked about how the economy isn't based off the decisions made in congress, instead it's affected by the consumers and every single transaction they complete. So I played off the phrase "Don't sweat the small stuff."
The art I created was a few little icons to represent the small purchases we make that can really add up. The icons also served as a way to set up a color palette for the page.

In this coming week, I'll be designing Short Talk for the Feb. 5th issue, as well as working on cover concepts for the issue on the 12th. Oh yeah, and going to Iowa Friday for the Meredith visit. Can't wait.