Crush on Color: February 2009

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

You can't miss: video tutorials! YES!

I'm always looking for good tutorials, either to just sharpen my skills or to frantically learn something on deadline. This one site could help you with both. Layers is as Adobe How-To magazine with lots of video segments on different techniques.

Don't know about ya'll, but I think it's a lot easier to learn from a video than from a list of steps. Check it out.

Here's an example of a lesson that teaches some neat illustrator stuff, such as gradient meshes and 3D rendering:

The Weekly Critique

Nothing publishing for Vox during this timeframe, but I had some other extraneous work to do. Spoon was the main thing going on. I posted one cover previously. Here's some other examples:

The publishers really wanted something super-edgy, bright and funky. I think I sort of (?) delivered.. I didn't give them neon. But I did try to incorporate their concepts and goals into something slightly more toned back. At least that's what I aimed for.

Response: Meredith presentations

As I'm sure was the case with everyone, I had no idea what to expect going into those meetings. My team (Spoon) has met briefly with the publishers, but mostly have communicated through email. It's interesting to see the publishing students' responses to our designs. At least with my group, we had all these concepts that 'theoretically' could be done. But the publishers were much more concerned with execution. We touched on this in class Tuesday; it was this dichotomy of 'we the designers have all these creative ideas' and 'we the publishers just want to know if you know how to do the tasks.'

It's should be a fun, but stressful project. Here's a sample of my work I presented:

This week in Veer: Wallpaper inspiration

Meet 'Full Bleed'. (A mythical design superhero)
I've never been a fan of default wallpaper, and I'm sure most of you, the designers that you are, are not either. Veer has a wonderful collection at your disposal here. They're even all resized for the iPhone as well.
Just thought this would be a fun resource for everyone to make sure their laptops are in full creative mode. Here's another one of my favorites:

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

This week in Veer: Rethinking Photography

Veer often does a photo slideshow with a specific topic, such as Spring or Money. This one is PDA. Yes, public displays of affection. Take a look through the slideshow, found here. They found a lot of clever, but appropriate, ways to show the concept. It's fun and cute, but it's also good inspiration for out-of-the-box photo opportunities.

Response: Henry Wolf

As I worked on the written part of the presentation, I really understood more about why Esquire changed dramatically between 1945-1955. Not only did technology give them more freedom, but also the introduction on a new art director that saw things very differently: Henry Wolf. He was an Austrian emigre and brought European modernism to the magazine.

He approached covers with a concept, not just saying, "Well, let's just do a cute painting." (Which is what the previous standard was.) Wolf brought wit and cleverness to his design and enforced more typographic style.

This is a really great site to look at all the covers of Esquire. The ones between 1952 and 1958 are Wolf's work.

He moved on to Harper's in 1958, so the work there is similar to these Esquire covers. It just fascinates me how much one person can revolutionize a magazine. He worked as a lowly junior promotions designer, and one day promoted to art director by the editor. (So there's hope for all of us.)

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

You can't miss: 40 great one-page sites

Lately, my design interest has steered toward online, mostly because I'm looking for inspiration for my portfolio. I came across this site that has 40 well-designed, creative portfolios/sites. The best part is that they're not some huge undertaking; they're just one page. The site owners, as you'll see, are creatives. The cool WeBleedDesign site I posted last week is included in this top 40. Take a look and find some inspiration.

The Weekly Critique

This week I didn't have any work for Vox, but I did design the contest brochure for SSND. I went through a bunch of ideas, and ended up with this poster-style cover. All the type is inside a, yes, helvetica, 'a'. But I thought that was sort of appropriate for a design contest. I'd love to hear critiques/comments on this! It was sort of a last minute thing.

This week in Veer: Lightboxing

Maybe you have heard of this before, I think it's gotten some coverage on VisualEditors and some other design blogs. If you haven't though, it's this design battle of sorts. Here's how they describe it:

"The rules are simple. Using only the images and type provided in a Veer lightbox, make something great. Crop. Cut. Paste. Fight dirty. Write copy. Make a knockout design. The voting public decides the winner. The prize? Bragging rights, and some sweet Veer swag."

This is a really interesting concept applicable to magazine and news design. Often, there is this confined set of tools, typefaces, images, etc... at our disposal and limitless ways to use them. This is a site for some inspiration and curiosity. Take a look.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Response: Esquire through the decades

One thing that really struck me this week, while doing the historical research, was the significant effect technology has on design, both good and bad. I looked at Esquire from 1945 to 1955 and was amazed by how much changed with the ability to have 4-color printing. Photography became much more common. Color, now that there could be more than one, became a navigational tool. All these things that were previously not possible were options for publishers.

On the other side of things, in today's techno-savvy world, technology has almost become a crutch for some designers. Good design doesn't come from a computer, it comes from a brain, and the computer is a catalyst. This idea often gets lost, but I think it's a really important concept. And of course Milton Glaser puts it best:

"Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking." -Milton Glaser

Here's a video of my slideshow from Tuesday:

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Weekly Critique

Here are the three covers I submitted for the Chocolate issue. Yum. As with most that were submitted, mine mostly revolved around the obvious use of chocolate imagery. I tried to make it interesting as well as tasty looking. The top image is the one I am reworking a bit to resubmit tomorrow. We'll see.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Response: Helvetica, a little like tofu.

History is important. Really important. To know where we've come from is a lesson I've been absorbing over the last couple weeks. The book we've been reading, Graphic Style, explains a great deal about the cultural influences that affect design and style. It's interesting to read about the cyclical nature of design and understand why it is the way it is. One thing I found particularly interesting was the simplicity that followed chaos. Again, the cyclical nature.

Helvetica is a great history lesson too. It is an example an idea born from the corporate culture of the 50s. Helvetica's longevity is due partly to its lack of a personality. One of the typographers interviewed stated that a novelty font says one emotion or idea really well, but only one. Whereas Helvetica takes on the emotion and feel of what it is being used for. American Airlines and American Apparel are two very different companies, but Helvetica works for both.

So, yea, it's sort of like tofu, right? Has no taste on its own, but picks up the flavor of the dish.

You can't miss: One CREATIVE web portfolio!

Bryan Katzel, drawer-designer extraordinaire, has a mind-boggling portfolio page. As we all think about ways to present our work online, here is one to take a look at:

BUT, before you do, remember to scroll down his page. There are lots of neat ideas and effects that happen, so don't just look at the top and then close the window. OK, ready? Go.

Creative, isn't it? I love the color palette he chose; the gray and black in the background work really well to make the graphics pop. If you have time, look at some of his work. His illustrations are really different and serve as a good source of inspiration. Here's one of my favorite:

This one is a great example of how simple type is often effective type. This design isn't too in-your-face, but it gets the message across with an attractive, cartoonish foreground illustration and nice background as well.

This week in Veer: Sims meets Photoshop

So if this semester is bogging you down and you want a break, check out this fun idea: a nifty tool to create faces. If you feel so inclined, which I hope you do, make a profile on Veer. Then you can make one of these oh-so-sexy creations and use it as your profile picture.

Here's a couple I whipped up just for you: