oh, deer.

kopewell annual report

2012-02-25T11:54:00.000-08:00

In my Commercial Photography class, one of our current assignments is an annual report. For this assignment, we were told to create an annual report cover and president's message page.

The company we were creating the annual report for is a fictional educational institution called Kopewell Training Center.

All photos and copy included in the annual report cover and president's message were created by me.

Front Cover

President's Message

old photo correction

2012-02-24T14:12:00.001-08:00

On my Oh, Deer Facebook page, I recently ran a special for photo corrections. This is my first finished photo correction.

Before

After

collegio

2012-02-23T09:28:00.003-08:00

I was recently offered a position as a page layout designer for our campus newspaper, the Collegio. I eagerly accepted the position, and have jumped right in in the past five weeks. During my third week, I was assigned the front page design, which you can see below:

Additionally, this week I was assigned the front page, which will be posted at a later date.

senior project preview

2012-02-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

I have something very exciting to share! My senior project is coming along pretty quickly. For my project, I will be making a planner of sorts, although I like to think of it as more of a "lifestyle organizer" (cheesy, I know. I'm working on the wording). Here is a preview screenshot of my work so far.

Each month has a different color scheme, and each week the quotes, definitions, happy thoughts, and easy recipes change. Each day has a funny holiday such as Bubble Bath Day, as you can see below. About half of the planner will be what you see below, while the second half will provide room for notes, sketches, and ideas.

more stock

2012-01-31T19:16:00.000-08:00

This week in my Commercial Photography class, we took a field trip to find some good stock photography, especially textures. I'm really happy with what I found, especially the following four images, which I pulled from my haul for the day (about 320 photos).

The gray stone would serve as a great spot for text

Loving all the lines in this alley

This one feels almost 3D

And.. I saved the best for last.
This beautiful texture was created by a fountain that had been turned off for the winter.

pricing information

2012-01-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

I just finished typing up my price list for Oh, Deer Design freelance work. If you have any questions or would like to place an order, please email me at c.weaver@live.com.

wedding thank yous

2012-01-27T19:32:00.000-08:00

You may remember this wedding program I did late last year. I just finished up the design of the thank you cards for the same couple.

Front

Back

Photography Credit

stock photography | textures

2012-01-21T17:36:00.000-08:00

I am currently taking a class called Commercial Photography, and our first assignment is Stock Photography. This first week, we were encouraged to try to get some shots of textures and patterns. Here are a few of my photos from today.

I'm really not sure how these photos managed to color coordinate, but let's pretend it was on purpose. :)

oh, deer.. deer.

2012-01-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

I've needed a good Oh, Deer logo since the idea for the name first crossed my mind more than a year ago.

In my Portfolio class, one of our goals for the semester is to brand ourselves. I feel like any good brand needs a good logo, and here is mine (or at least the prototype of it).

Today is a catch-up day. I've been brainstorming this logo for a long time, and today I opened up Illustrator and made it happen. It's simple, which I think really goes well with my style. I will also be making an option with a fill so that the logo can be applied in a variety of ways.

Ideally, this logo will begin showing up on my photography as a sort of watermark, as well as on my posted design work.

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.

Spring 2012 Graphics Classes

2012-01-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

A new semester has begun. This semester's classes include:

Career Planning
Commercial Photography
Portfolio Presentation
Senior Project

..as well as support classes:

Consumer Behavior
Introduction to Microeconomics

Be on the lookout for posts regarding projects in these classes, especially Senior Project and Commercial Photography!

I will be graduating in May, so if you are looking for a hard-working, creative, responsible individual to come work for you, please visit my "About Me" section at the top of this page and email me at c.weaver@live.com.

jewelry photography

2011-11-29T08:54:00.001-08:00

I wanted to post some photos from my Studio Product Photography class.

This particular assignment was to shoot jewelry, which had to be a watch and a necklace.

photo show

2011-11-10T08:36:00.001-08:00

My show is up this week in the KTC library, but I wanted to post it here as well so that everyone can see it.

While this show is considered a "portrait" show, we were only required to have one half of our photos be portraits and the other half could be anything, so several of the photos are of objects that remind me of my family.
My idea for the show was to catch family members, for the most part, in their natural environment, doing things that spark a fond memory or capture their personality. While some photos are more traditional portraits, I did make an effort to take more true-to-life photos. However, I would not consider any of these photos to be "snapshots". A lot of thought went into each photo, including the photos I had taken previous to the show.

Ok, now that we're done with all that hoity-toity nonsense, onto the photos :) Enjoy!

annie leibovitz

2011-11-10T08:32:00.003-08:00

AnnieLeibovitz was born Anna-Lou Leibovitz on October 2, 1949 in Waterbury,Connecticut. She was one of six children. Her mother, Marilyn Leibovitz, was adance instructor, and her father, Sam Leibovitz, was a Lieutenant in the AirForce. Due to her father’s involvement in the Air Force, the family movedoften. During a posting in the Philippines during the Vietnam War, Leibovitzbecame interested in photography. The base where the family was stationed had adarkroom, which enabled Leibovitz’s interest to develop into a hobby.

Upon graduation from high school inthe late 1960’s, Leibovitz attended college at the San Francisco Art Institute,where she studied painting. However, while attending the San Francisco ArtInstitute, she took a class on photography because of her previous hobby. Afterher first photography class, Annie decided to change her major to photography.During the summer after her sophomore year of college, she left San Franciscoto travel with her mother to Japan, where she purchased her first camera. Afterreturning from Japan, Leibovitz enrolled in photography night classes,receiving her first formal training in photography. However, she has said thatin college, she was never taught anything about lighting or color photography.Her classes focused only on black and white film. After college, in 1970,Leibovitz briefly lived on an Israeli kibbutz, which is essentially a smallIsraeli agricultural community, where she further honed her skills. During hertime living at the kibbutz, she participated in an archaeological dig at thesite of King Solomon’s temple.

When Leibovitz returned to SanFrancisco in 1970, she approached the founding editor of then-start-up Rolling Stone magazine, Jann Wenner, andasked for a position. Wenner was impressed with Leibovitz’s portfolio and gaveLeibovitz a job as a staff photographer, along with her first assignment:photograph John Lennon. This photograph, a black-and-white portrait of Lennon, becamethe cover for the January 12, 1971 issue of RollingStone. Two year later, in 1973, 23-year-old Leibovitz was promoted to theposition of the Rolling Stone’s chiefphotographer. The next year, the magazine began printing in color. SinceLeibovitz had not been taught about lighting and color during her years at theSan Francisco Art Institute, she had to teach herself how to work with color.It is possible that her need to self-teach color photography led to hersignature use of bold, primary colors. Among her subjects from her time at Rolling Stone were Bob Dylan, BobMarley, Patti Smith, and other celebrities of the time.

In 1975, Leibovitz decided to go ontour with the band the Rolling Stones, becoming their official photographer. Rolling Stone magazine editor JannWenner encouraged Leibovitz to skip the trip, concerned that the environment oftraveling with a rock and roll band would lead Leibovtiz to a lifestyle ofpartying and drug use, which ended up being a correct prediction. Leibovitzeventually ended up in rehab for her drug use. However, through touring withthe band, Leibovitz captured iconic black-and-white photos of Keith Richardsand Mick Jagger, in all their 1970’s rock band glory.

By the time Leibovitz left Rolling Stone magazine ten years later,she had shot 142 covers for the magazine. She was credited with making several Rolling Stone covers collector’s items.

The 1980’s were arguably Leibovitz’s time of bestwork. In 1980, Leibovitz shot her best-known photograph. Rolling Stone magazine had sent her to photograph John Lennon andwife Yoko Ono. The couple had recently released their album entitled “DoubleFantasy” and Rolling Stone wanted aphoto of the duo for their cover. Leibovitz intended to photograph the couplenude. While Lennon agreed to disrobe, Ono agreed to remove her top, but refusedto remove her pants. Leibovitz was disappointed in the lack of cooperation fromOno and decided to have Ono leave her clothes on. The resulting portrait showsLennon, nude, curled around Ono’s fully clothed body. Just hours later thatday, Lennon was shot dead in front of his apartment in New York City. Thephotograph did run as a cover of RollingStone magazine, but not as a promotional cover for the album. Instead, themagazine devoted the issue as a commemorative issue to John Lennon. The coveris the most collectible cover in the history of Rolling Stone magazine and in 2005 the photo of Lennon and his wifewas named the best magazine cover from the past 40 years by the AmericanSociety of Magazine Editors.

Her first book, entitled Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, was published in 1983. She alsopublished several more books in the 1980’s. Also in 1983, she began working forVanity Fair magazine as themagazine’s first contributing photographer. She remains a contributingphotographer today. At Vanity Fair,Leibovitz became known for her strangely lit, staged, and often-provocativeportraits of celebrities. Most notable among these include a photo of a nakedWhoopi Goldberg submerged in a milk bath, a photo of Demi Moore, naked andholding her pregnant belly, and a photo of the late artist Keith Haring, whopainted his naked body into one of his canvases for a photo. The cover photo ofMoore was named the second best photo from the past 40 years, right after thephoto of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, by the American Society of Magazine Editors.Since starting at Vanity Fair, Leibovitz has photographed celebrities such asBrad Pitt, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ellen DeGeneres, the George W. Bush cabinet,Michael Moore, Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton, Scarlett Johannson, KeiraKnightley, Tom Ford, Nicole Kidman, Suri Cruise, and many, many more.

Annie Leibovitz’s portraits have appeared inpublications such as Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker. She has also worked onadvertising campaigns for companies such as American Express, the Gap, the MilkBoard’s “Got Milk?” campaign, and Disney. Leibovitz’s work for the AmericanExpress “Membership” campaign earned Leibovitz a Clio Award in 1987. Hercampaign for Disney incorporated several A-list celebrities posing ascharacters from popular Disney films. Additionally, she has worked with severalarts organizations, such as the American Ballet Theatre, the Brooklyn Academyof Music, and the Mark Morris Dance Group.

Leibovitz’s style of photography is fairly easy toidentify because it is very different from other photographers’. In herportrait photography, Leibovitz attempts to emphasize and aspect of eachsubject’s public persona. She generally incorporates the entire body of thesubject in her photos, often while the subject is in the midst of some sort ofphysical action. This effect is achieved without looking fake and often givesthe photo a feeling of outrageousness, effectively setting her apart fromphotographers who take less dramatic, more boring approaches to theirphotography. Another trademark technique of Leibovitz’s is the use of boldprimary colors and bizarre, surprising poses.

Leibovitz has had exhibitions throughout the UnitedStates and Europe, including at the National Portrait Gallery and the CorcoranGallery in Washington, D.C., the International Center of Photography in NewYork, the Brooklyn Museum, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the CentreNational de la Photographie in Paris, and the National Portrait Gallery inLondon. She was honored with a retrospective by the National Portrait Galleryin Washington, D.C. in 1991. This retrospective toured the United States,Europe, and Asia. She has received many awards in her years of work, includingthe American Society of Magazine Photographers Photographer of the Year Awardin 1984, the American Society of Magazine Photographers Innovation inPhotography Award in 1987, the Clio Award and the Campaign of the Decade Awardfrom Advertising Age magazine in 1987, and the Infinity Award for appliedphotography from the International Center for Photography in 1990. The Libraryof Congress has designated Annie Leibovitz a Living Legend. She was alsodecorated a Commander in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts andof Letters) by the French government, as recognition of her significantcontribution to the arts. These awards make it obvious that Annie Leibovitz isone of the most important and significant portrait photographers of our time.

There is a lot to be learned from someone as accomplishedas Annie Leibovitz. Among the most important things I have learned fromstudying her is to think outside the box. Through her bizarre, oftencontroversial photographs, she inspires amateur photographers to do thingsdifferently and set themselves apart.

photographing steam

2011-11-10T08:32:00.001-08:00

Thesuccessful photography of steam is a challenge faced in studio product photography,specifically food photography, which can be solved by a variety of strategies.These strategies include careful creation of heavy steam when photographing thefood and manipulation of food photos in Photoshop to create the illusion ofsteam. Both methods, when done correctly, can result in realistic, believablephotos of steaming food and drinks.

Ideally, photographing steam shouldtake place in a studio environment. The main reason for this (besides theobvious reasons, such as available additional lighting) is that steam needs tobe created in an environment in which there is no breeze. The air should beturned off and, if applicable, the windows should be closed. If there is anymovement of the air, the steam may move in an unwanted direction. In fact, themovement of the air in the room is so important that the photographer shouldask others in the room not to walk by product that is being shot or breathe inthe direction of the steam. If all of these precautions are followed, the steamwill rise naturally, and without unnecessary movement in any horizontaldirection.

Another important set-up step is tobe sure you are photographing on a dark background. In my trial, I wanted awhite background because the food I was photographing was breakfast food and Ithought a white background would be more appropriate for the morning. However,when we were finally able to get some photos with steam, the backgroundappeared gray, allowing the steam to show up. While it is acceptable tophotograph white foods, such as eggs, on a white background, it is not possibleto photograph steam. The difference between the two is that eggs have a definededge, allowing light to hit them in a manor that shows their shape throughshadowing, while steam does not have a defined edge and is semi-transparent.

The third set-up technique is theuse of a backlight. Without the backlight, you cannot successfully incorporatesteam into your photograph. The light from the backlight coming through thesteam lights the water particles, causing the steam to really pop. In fact, twobacklights can be used, one off to the left and the other to the right. One ofthese lights can be designated the main light while the other can be designatedthe steam light. The steam light should be at about the same height as the foodfrom which the steam is flowing. That way, the light doesn’t affect the food asmuch, but aims directly at the steam, affecting the lighting of the steamappropriately. The steam light should not hit the food or drink or thebackground. Only the main light should be used for lighting the food itself,but the main light must still come from behind the subject. As for theintensity of the light, you must work with the lighting on a trial and errorbasis. Shoot the steam and adjust the lighting and metering as you go.

One final set-up technique is to besure that the steam appears from behind the subject. If it appears in front ofthe subject, the subject will be in a haze. This is not ideal, especially ifyou are intending to sell the subject being photographed. The subject shouldappear clear and in focus and should not be covered by any distortion or fogfrom the steam.

After your set-up is complete, youmust create the steam to be photographed. There are a variety of ways ofaccomplishing this. Choose the method that works best for your budget,available tools, and convenience. It’s important to note that steam is notequal to heat or smoke. In terms of heat, the object you are photographing (inmy case coffee) does not need to be hot to create steam. The steam can, andprobably will, be created using an external source completely unrelated to thesubject you’re photographing. Also, be sure to remember that steam is not thesame as smoke. Smoke is a different color than steam and is made of differentparticles. While smoke is made up of small particles of ash, gases, and watervapor, steam is water vapor only. This causes smoke to appear a whitish color,while steam appears simply transparent. For this reason, smoke should not beused as a stand-in for steam for photographic purposes, because it makes thephoto less believable and unrealistic.

Several methods for creating steaminclude a steamer (often used for reducing wrinkles in clothing), a “smokecookie” (which can be purchased at a photography specialty store), a modifiedcappuccino machine, or a very hot, damp cloth. Any of these methods willproduce realistic, believable steam.

The solution I used when creatingsteam was to fill a container with very hot water, straight from the microwave.Then, I used a coffee pot with ice cubes to “pour” the cold air from the icecubes over the container of hot water. When the two temperatures of air met,this produced the steam, which was able to be captured. This method was foundafter quite a few trials, but did eventually create steam when the abovetechniques were followed.

One additional trick that can beused to make your shot look realistic is to spritz the food with water, becauseif the food truly was steaming, some condensation would form on the top. Smalldetail such as this really make your shot believable and make the steam appearto be coming directly from the product.

Don’t get discouraged whenattempting to photograph steam. It is a very unpredictable thing to photographand is very difficult to control. If you find that it is too complicated tophotograph steam, there are other ways to add steam to the photo digitally.Using Photoshop, the photographer can use a number of tools that will enablethem to create realistic illusions of steam.

To create steam in Photoshop isreally fairly easy. First, open the photo to which you want to add steam. Makesure the photo is in RGB color mode. Create a new layer and call it “steam”.Using the steam tool, creating a curvy shape that looks similar to the shapethe steam will make in the end. Make sure that use close your path. In thePaths palette options menu, choose the “Make Selection” command. Check the“anti-aliased” box and set the feathering to 5 pixels or more. Be sure that thesteam layer is selected and fill the now-feathered selection with white. Clickanywhere outside the path in the Paths palette to make the steam pathdisappear. Using the background eraser tool to paint holes at random in thecloud of steam you have just created. The more holes you create in your steamat this point, the more transparent it will be in the end. Make sure to use asmall-soft edged brush to create these holes. Now, apply the “Motion Blue”filter. Adjust the distance to simulate the amount of diffusion you want toapply to the steam. The more distance you use, the more diffusion will beapparent in your steam. Adjust the angle of the Motion Blur to change directionof diffusion. This should be in agreement with the movement of the steam(usually up). Set this layer’s blend mode to “Overlay”. This will cause thesteam to fade into the background. You will need to make adjustments to yoursteam that cannot be quantified in this paper. Use the “Free Transform” tool torotate and/or stretch the steam shape to look more realistic. Duplicate thelayer, if needed, to make adjustments to the blend mode. You may also reducethe opacity of any of the steam layers you create to make them less apparent.

In my case, I had a photograph ofsteam, but it needed to be added to my photo of my product as a composite. Inorder to do this, I added copy and pasted the photo of the steam into the photoof the coffee and used the techniques listed above to fine-tune the appearanceof the steam.

This may seem like a lot ofcomplicated steps just to get a simple thing like steam, but steam is really avery important part of food and drink photography. A steaming plate of foodmakes the mouth water more than a static plate of food. Steam provides adynamic movement to the photograph. A steaming cup of coffee makes the personthirsty. In terms of advertising, steam is the difference between an okayphoto, and a photo that produces results in the form of interest and purchase.

photography show poster

2011-10-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

This poster (size 11" x 17") was created to advertise my photography show, which will be in Room S221 (KTC Library) in the Kansas Technology Center from Sunday, November 6 until Sunday, November 13. Photos used in the show and photos of the show will be posted later. The six photos above are a sample of the photos that will be in the show.

wedding programs

2011-10-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

I recently designed a wedding program for a good friend from high school. You can see the finished product below. The program folds down the middle, making it 4" by 10".

These programs are pretty simple (yet elegant!) because a lot of information needed to be included.

Outside

Inside

portrait photography - couples

2011-10-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

In my Portrait Photography class, I've been working on our "Couples & Groups" assignment. Below, you can see some of my work with a couple.

center bethel church

2011-10-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

I made this business card (and the new logo) a couple weeks ago for my church.

children's church banners

2011-10-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

The following two banners were created for my church for check-in stations for Children's Church and Preschool.

The banners are four feet by two feet.

photo correction

2011-10-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did some photo correcting for a frame store I used to work at. This photo will serve as an example of a certain kind of framing the company does.

Provided photo

Completed correction

a weekend at the lake

2011-10-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

coffee & donuts

2011-09-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

I don't have as many "creative" classes this semester as I usually do, but I am taking two photography classes: Studio Product Photography and Portrait Photography. The following are a couple of photos from my Studio Product class, for the Food assignment.

Breakfast, anyone?

A more fun, retro version of the photo above.

I'm hungry just looking at this. Yum.

back to school

2011-08-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

The following is my class schedule for the Fall/Winter semester:

Advertising Management
Color Reproduction
Graphics Cost Analysis
Portrait Photography
Studio Product Photography

Additionally, I am taking Physical Science and Physical Science Lab (my last general education requirements). This adds up to a whopping 19 hour schedule.

I am definitely going to be busy this semester. Expect to start seeing some blog posts within the next couple weeks as I begin projects for my classes.

fabrication

2011-07-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you how cool my job is.

I have spent the past two hours of my work day creating two images of books from several sources.

In the photo below, you can see four distinct pieces:

The cover of the book
The back cover of the book
The pages inside the book
The coil binding

The cover:

This cover came to us as a flat piece of material. It was then photographed and placed in this Photoshop document for manipulation.

The back cover:

The back cover of the book is a duplicate layer of the front cover. I then placed the layer behind the front cover layer.

The pages inside the book:

I did not have a photograph of the inside pages, so I created a white square box, then added an Inner Shadow effect to provide a sense of depth.

The coil binding:

The coil binding was taken from another product. The client had requested that this product have the same plastic coil binding as the other product. The white you see is the original product. I am in the process now of very carefully removing the white of the original product to reveal the new product below (using the Eraser tool).

50th anniversary party invitation card

2011-07-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

This is a party invitation card I made at work.

front of invitation (folds above the artwork)

inside

front of calling card

back of calling card

50th anniversary collage

2011-07-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had the opportunity to design a surprise 50th Anniversary collage for a friend's grandparents. I worked on the collage on my hour long lunch break at work, which was really convenient. I'm really happy with the results. I used two textures in the background, a sort of simple gold brush stroke texture and a white bokeh texture.

summer internship | sun graphics

2011-07-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

One requirement for my Commercial Graphics degree is to complete an internship. The internship must include 320 hours of work in a graphics or printing setting. I have had the privilege this summer to work at Sun Graphics in Parsons, Kansas for my internship.

Right now, it's about halfway through the summer, meaning I'm about halfway through my internship. Today is an important day for another reason, though - this morning my very first professional job went through the press...with no errors! I feel like a proud mother!

The job is for Cornerstone Memorials in Independence, Kansas and includes a trifold brochure, bifold brochure, price list, business card, letterhead, and envelope. Last Friday, the final proofs were approved by the customer, so this week is press week!

I've included some photos in this post of the trifold and bifold brochures going through the press in a ganged, work and tumble layout. The other pieces of this job will be printed digitally because of the smaller quantities.

I will post again when all the pieces are all printed and folded.

paper going into the press

press sheets coming out of the press

checking for color and registration

Grounds Coffee Shop & Bakery Packaging

2011-05-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

Gum box, baked goods carry out box, coffee sleeve

Baked goods box side one

Bakd goods box back

Baked goods box side two

Related Posts
Layout & Design Packaging Final
Strum & Crumb

layout & design packaging final

2011-04-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

Our final for Layout & Design is to create a packaging set. I chose to base my packaging design on Grounds Coffee Shop and Bakery, which I did a newspaper advertisement for in Digital File Preparation last semester. I wanted to expand on the idea of Grounds Coffee Shop and Bakery, which is a fictional company I created for the purpose of my newspaper advertisement.
For this assignment, we will be printing on brown craft paper, so it was important to keep the colors to a minimum, keeping in mind that it is difficult to print lighter colors on brown paper and impossible to print white. I chose to keep my design very simple, using exclusively black ink, because the brown color will speak for itself in relation to giving the packaging a coffee shop/bakery feel.
The three products I chose to make packages for were a coffee cup sleeve, a baked goods travel box, and a chewing gum box.
The coffee cup sleeve and baked goods box were developed using templates I found online. The chewing gum box template was made by opening up and measuring an Orbit chewing gum package. I transferred my collected measurements to an Illustrator file, where I was able to duplicate the folds and cuts of the package.
This project has not yet been printed, but below you will find my roughs and digital file screenshots. A post will follow included photos of finished, printed, folded products.

Please excuse my iPod touch low-res photos.

This is the Orbit gum package I opened up and traced, then measured, to find correct layout, folds, and cuts for my Grounds Coffee Shop and Bakery remake.

These are roughs for the coffee sleeve and gum package.

Rough for bakery travel box.

In the process of working on the coffee sleeve; placing the logo.

Screenshot of coffee sleeve; keep in mind that the template lines won't print. These include the outline of the product and the dashed lines within the product.

Screenshot of gum package; keep in mind that the template outlines won't print.

Screenshot of the bakery goodie box. Keep in mind that the orange background won't print (this background helped to distinguish between different panels of the box).

Related Posts
Strum & Crumb

Typeface: Archer

2011-04-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

For my color blocking Layout and Design assignment, I chose to recreate a layout from Martha Stewart Living magazine. We were instructed to attempt to recreate the layout as accurately as possible. This accuracy included fonts.
For some people in my class, the layout they chose included a font that was readily available to them, such as Times. However, the font Martha Stewart Living uses almost exclusively in their magazine is called Archer, and is available by purchase only.
Archer is a beautiful font, and if it weren't so expensive I would definitely buy it. It is a stand-out slab serif and works wonderfully in Martha Stewart Living, and I can only imagine all the other applications possible.
For a look at Archer, a review of the font, and a more in-depth description of its uses and specifics, visit Typographica.
The font I ended up using for my project was AlexandriaFLF, a similar slab serif that worked well enough for my project, and cost me nothing.

wedding playlist cd packaging photos

2011-04-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today in my Layout and Design class, we cut out our CD packages. I'm really happy with how mine turned out.

Front cover

Inside

Back cover

Related Posts
Wedding Playlist CD Packaging
Wedding Paper Goods Suite

portfolio site - web based software final

2011-04-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

In the past couple weeks, I have been working on my final for Web Based Software. The assignment for our final was to create a site using WordPress. We were allowed to choose what the site would be about, so I chose to make my site a portfolio site, including photography, print design, and web design.

You can visit my final site here.

flash video

2011-04-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

In my Web Based Software class, we have touched on some basics of Flash. We were assigned to make a Flash video using only text. This text is a selection from the poem/children's book, I Like You, by Sandol Stoddard Warburg. This poem, in its entirety, will be a reading at my wedding in six weeks (!).

some photography

2011-04-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was playing with my camera, trying to get the perfect shot for my 365 blog, but ended up with a ton of good photos. I couldn't stand to not post them, so I decided to post the overflow on here. Enjoy!

a reminder

2011-04-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to check out my 365 photography project, Oh, Deer 365. After almost 40 days, it has absolutely been a challenge, but it's been very rewarding and I've learned a lot.

disney world brochure

2011-04-06T07:00:00.001-07:00

My Disney World brochure for my Preflight and File Analysis class is finally completely finished, has preflighted successfully, and has been printed! Here is a folded proof of the finished product!

Cover | Folded | Left panel hangs over 1/4" (the "e" in Disney actually does fold up correctly, the paper is just a little curly, so it looks like it's not matched up)

For size reference

Back

Opening up

Crossover 1 | Parade photo

Crossover 2 | Mickey and Minnie photo

Inside | Opened up

Left side | Opened up

Right side | Opened up

wedding playlist cd packaging

2011-04-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

For our wedding in May, I wanted to provide our "VIPs" (wedding party, immediate family, etc.) with a CD including a portion of our wedding playlist. This CD packaging assignment came up in my Layout and Design class, and it was the perfect opportunity to hit two birds with one stone. The pink-ish template (which won't be printed) was provided by my Layout and Design instructor.

web based software - live

2011-04-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

All my work so far for Web Based Software can be found live here.

Related posts:
Using Dreamweaver Starter Layouts
Web Based Software Home Page
Web Based Software Random Elements Page

Web Based Software Final

2011-04-04T03:12:00.000-07:00

This is a screen grab of the site map I will be using for my Web Based Software final site. For this site, we are able to choose what we want the site to be about. I chose to make my site a portfolio site.
This site will be created using WordPress. I started working on it today, and you can view my progress here.

Web Based Software Random Elements Page

2011-03-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this assignment was to become more familiar with Dreamweaver. The content is all random, as you can see from the sources listed above. To create this page, we were required to use an AP Div, which holds all the content in one area of the screen.

Web Based Software Homepage

2011-03-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

This website was created for my Web Based Software class as a landing page to link to pages we have created in class. These links are located in the links panel at the right. For this homepage, I wanted to keep it very simple, because the real content is found within the links.

using dreamweaver starter layouts

2011-03-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

In my Web-Based Software class, we have been using Dreamweaver's Starter Layouts to create websites. For this assignment, we were required to make a site with three different starter layouts and link them to each other. The content was our choice, and the header photo I chose happened to be iStockphoto's free photo download of the week. Since I chose to use this photo for the header, I tried to think of a web site that would relate to the photo. The photo is very earthy and the girl's clothing really stands out, so I decided to make this web site for a fictional company, "green clothing co.". From there, I decided to make my required two linked pages for clothing and accessories.

walt disney world

2011-03-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

In my Preflight and File Analysis class, our semester project is a brochure that folds down to 5" by 5.5". The right panel folds to center and the left panel folds just over center. There are several other requirements for this project. For example, it must include three crossovers. It's difficult to see what the finished piece will look like from the following flat previews, but try to visualize that the Walt Disney World banner will come together to form the front of the folded brochure and the mailing addresses will be on the opposite side. As the brochure opens, the photos on the "Parades" and "Resorts" flaps will crossover to the inside, which, when opened up, displays the majority of the information.

Please click the thumbnails below
to view the brochure previews full screen.

Outside

Inside

Today was the designated midterm check for this assignment, but I finished today and decided to turn the project in early to be preflighted.

Be on the lookout for my Departmental Academic Honors project for this class: I am in the process of designing a logo and stationary set for a local business.

Work in Progress

a quick update...

2011-03-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to make a post to introduce the new header, which includes a photo that was taken for my Photography 1 class. I just wanted to change things up from the old header to keep the blog fresh.

I also want to direct you to oh, deer 365, a personal challenge where I am attempting to post one photo every day for 365 days. This project has definitely been a true challenge so far, as I have found that I'm busier than I thought I would be this month. However, it's been rewarding to stick with it for the past ten days, and I'm excited to see where it will take me.

depth of field

2011-03-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

In my Photography 1 class, our current assignment has a section focusing on depth of field. The assignment is to take a picture of similar objects using a shallow depth of field. For whatever reason, the first "object" I thought of was lipstick tubes, because I thought the incorporation of bright colors would add some interest to the photo.
This is what I ended up with, after a little Photoshop tweaking.

And because everyone needs a laugh every now and then, I will say that I took this on the steps outside my apartment on a nice, sunny day when everyone was out. Which means lots of people thought I was crazy when I was setting it up. Also, it was a bit windy, so they eventually all fell down, tumbling down the steps and getting all crusty (which is fine because I don't wear lipstick - these are all samples I got in the mail when I ordered other products). Also, because I'm in the habit of locking my doors, I locked myself out of my apartment and had to awkwardly ask my neighbor to card the door for me. All in all, I would say a lot went to this very simple shoot.

SAE Mini Baja

2011-03-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I designed a logo for the 2011 Baja SAE Kansas competition which will take place here in Pittsburg. Graphics and Imaging Technology students were encouraged to enter a logo design for the event, so I decided to give it a shot.

movie poster

2011-03-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

In my layout and design class, we have been working on a project out of the textbook. For this project, we have been assigned to create a movie poster of a "classic" movie. This poster must include a quote from the movie of our choice and must be strictly typographical.

For this assignment, I chose a quote from Dead Poets Society, which was released in 1989. Since I wasn't alive in 1989, I'm considering it a classic movie.

professional portraits

2011-03-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

My future father in law needed some portraits taken for professional purposes, so this weekend we took a couple quick shots that turned out really well. In this post, I'm including a color and black and white version of the same photo.

diary of a cavewoman website

2011-02-28T08:09:00.000-08:00

My future mother in law has published a book (available tomorrow, March 1) and needed a web page to promote the book and provide a link to Amazon where copies can be purchased. This weekend, I developed www.diaryofacavewoman.com in Dreamweaver and got it up and running last night.

After you check out the page, you should definitely think about purchasing the book. I've read it and can definitely say it's one of the best, most enjoyable books I've read. And I'm not just saying that for brownie points!

revamped website

2011-02-21T11:53:00.000-08:00

In my Web Based Software class, we've been working on creating basic websites in Dreamweaver CS5. I previously had a website that used a BluDomain template, but wanted a more personalized website that I could customize to fit my needs. In class, I recreated my Cait's Photography website. I'm really excited with how it turned out, and I'm still working on adding more photos to the gallery.

ADDY Awards

2011-02-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I received an email notification telling me that I had won an ADDY award for my wedding invitation entry. Last night was the banquet/awards ceremony. I received a Gold ADDY for my entry, which I am really excited about!

For more information on the ADDY awards, visit the Wikipedia site.

color blocking assignment

2011-02-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

For this assignment, we were supposed to recreate a magazine advertisement or spread. I chose to recreate an article from Martha Stewart Living. The first image below is the original layout, without the pictures from the magazine. The second image is my spin on the original layout.

Photos from second layout were found on Creative Commons.
Top left photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariels_photos
Top right photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmogle
Bottom right photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmogle
Bottom left photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ummella

a work in progress

2011-02-15T20:46:00.000-08:00

In my Preflight & File Analysis class, our semester project is a brochure. We are allowed to choose what the subject for the brochure will be, so I chose Walt Disney World. For the cover, I'm making a banner that will eventually read "Walt Disney World." I got started on it today in class and I'm really happy with what I have so far, so I decided to post it.

new photography logo

2011-02-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

For a long time now, I've been wanting to develop a logo for my photography. In the past couple of weeks, I developed a logo for Cait's Photography:

blaine | senior (cont'd)

2011-02-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

I've done a little bit more editing for this shoot. I was really happy with a couple of the photos, so I thought I'd go ahead and post some additional images from this shoot.

blaine | senior

2011-02-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

Blaine is an auctioneer.

photography 1; assignment 1

2011-02-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

For our first assignment in my Photography class, we have four required shots:

Select a subject depicting interesting lines.
Select a subject illustrating the feeling of size and space.
Select a subject or subjects depicting an interesting pattern.
Select a subject depicting an interesting shape.

interesting lines

size and space

interesting pattern

interesting shape

starbucks logo redesign

2011-01-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a little late with this post, because apparently the information became available in early January, but I just learned that Starbucks is redesigning their logo.

Here is a link to their blog post explaining the change.

Personally, I think this new logo is great - it's simple and fresh. Besides, no one needs the text to know that this logo belongs to Starbucks. They were smart enough not to throw away the logo they've been known for for 40 years, they just made it more contemporary.

lawrence christmas card

2011-01-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. While school's not in session, I'm continuing to work on a few design projects, including my family's Christmas card. I'm finally able to post it, since they've all been mailed.

wedding paper goods suite

2010-12-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

For my final in Digital File Preparation, our class was given the opportunity to choose a project to work on. I have chosen to design all the paper goods that will be used in my wedding in May.

Invitation Thumbnails

Invitation Rough

Invitation

5.5" x 8.5"

Additional Information Thumbnails

Additional Information Rough

Additional Information to be Included with Invitation

3.5" x 2"

RSVP Card Thumbnails

RSVP Card Rough

RSVP Card

5.75" x 4"

Guest Card Information Tent Thumbnails

Guest Card Information Tent Roughs

Guest Card Information Tent

4" x 8"

Guest Card Thumbnails

Guest Card Roughs

Guest Card

4.5" x 6.5"

Candy Labels Thumbnails

Candy Labels Roughs

Candy Labels

4" x 2"

Cake Flags Thumbnails

Cake Flags Roughs

Cake Flags

1.5" x .75"

Drink Tents Thumbnails

Drink Tents Roughs

Drink Tent

4" x 8"

Coloring Tent Thumbnails

Coloring Tent Roughs

Coloring Tent for Tables

4" x 8"

Blog Information Tent Thumbnails

Blog Information Tent Roughs

Blog Information Tent for Tables

4" x 6"

Thank You Card Thumbnails

Thank You Card Roughs

Thank You Card

5.5" x 3.75"

Project Specifications
Purpose
I wanted the paper goods for my wedding to really fit with my personality and my fiance's personality. I also wanted the paper goods to look sophisticated, but most of all, fun. We're having a traditional wedding, but we're also incorporating a lot of nontraditional aspects, so the trendy, informal invitation really fit well.
Call to Action
When invitees receive their invitation, I want them to get a feel for the theme of the wedding. The informal style should encourage them to dress up, but not be too formal. The RSVP card included in the invitation should encourage a quick response.
The goods designed for the reception should provide direction as to where and what things are. For example, I wanted to make it clear that the paper on the tables is for drawing and coloring on.
Price Quote (quantities in parentheses)
Invitation (300), Guest Cards (300), Guest Card Info Tent (1), Drinks Tent (10), Table Drawing Tent (40), Candy Tent (30), Cake Tent (20), Blog Information Tent (40), Invitation Information Card (300), Thank You (300), RSVP card (300)
Total Price = 208.35

Copyright Information
The bicycle graphic used throughout this project was downloaded from the Wedding Chicks blog with permission for personal use.

publication advertisement

2010-11-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

Thumbs

Full page rough

1/3 page rough

Full page finished.
Bleed: 8 1/4" x 11 1/8"
Trim: 8" x 10 7/8"
Live: 7 1/2" x 10 3/8"

1/3 page finished.
Bleed: 2 7/8" x 11 1/8"
Trim: 2 5/8" x 10 7/8"
Live: 2 1/8" x 10 3/8"

As per requirements by Glamour magazine, minimum size for reverse type is 8 point, all fonts are embedded and no True Type fonts have been used, only CMYK colors have been used, and PMS colors have been converted to CMYK.

Project Specifications
When given the assignment to create a magazine advertisement, I chose to create an ad for Glamour magazine. I researched advertisement specifications and discovered Glamour's Mechanical Requirements web page. This provided me with all the information I needed to make an advertisement for the magazine.

I researched common product categories that often appear in Glamour magazine and found the following categories to be most predominant: clothing, makeup, perfume, and vehicles. These four categories appeal to twenty-something women who are concerned with their appearance. These women are likely to shop for more expensive luxury items. They make up my target audience.

Before deciding on what product I would be advertising, I wanted to be sure I would have a high quality photo to represent the product. I decided to use a stock photo I downloaded from istockphoto's weekly free files. The photo is of a beautiful young woman with simple, clean looking makeup. This photo will be used to advertise an imaginary brand of makeup.

Our assignment is to make a full page advertisement and a 1/3 page advertisement. For the full page, I plan to use a full bleed on the stock photo I found. For the 1/3 page, I will be making representations of the products in Illustrator. The full page will be heavy on image, while the 1/3 page will have slightly more information about the product.

The call to action for these advertisements will be to purchase the product.

Copyright Information
Large Advertisement
The woman photo was downloaded as a weekly free file from istockphoto.
The light texture background is from here and can be found here. This image was available for free use with credit.
Small Advertisement
I created the vector art in Illustrator.

The Impact of Emerging Media

2010-11-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday, at the Four States Regional Technology Conference, Joe Grigsby of VML spoke about "The Impact of Emerging Media."

He began the seminar with a history of VML, noting that education and marketing are similar in that they both require a connection to an audience to make an impact. He then introduced the concept of emerging media, which is determined by consumer behavior trends. These trends include how consumers connect to content, to each other, and to the broader society. He grouped the category of emerging media into two subcategories - social and mobile.

http://gregverdino.typepad.com/greg_verdinos_blog/2007/07/social-media-ho.html

When speaking of social media, form doesn't matter. In other words, it doesn't matter if you connect via your iPod, iPad, or laptop, what matters is the content and the response. Social media is certainly booming, and provides a way for businesses to link to consumers. It's no mystery why Facebook is overtaking Google as the "starting point" for the internet. Through Facebook, users are given the opportunity to react to information. Their input to any given conversation holds weight and value. Google provides an opportunity to consume a service only. As social media users react to information and provide input, they are participating in a sort of social media conversation. This conversation is very important to marketers, because it provides the reach and influence that all marketers are aiming for. In fact, consumers trust other consumers' recommendations two times more than they trust traditional advertising. If marketers can somehow harness this reach and influence and use it as a promotional tool, they will benefit enormously. Therefore, marketers must listen to and add to the social media conversation.

http://iabuksocial.co.uk/?tag=mobile-and-social-media

The second portion of emerging media pertains to mobile media. Our society is increasing becoming more mobile. It is predicted that by 2012, tablet sales will overtake netbooks sales. If a marketer can use messaging, mobile web, downloads, and apps successfully, they can influence a particular target market more effectively and efficiently.

Overall, this seminar was very helpful in shifting my views about social media. Social media is not only a way for people to connect to other people, it is an important marketing tool that can be used to influence a wide range of people in a very effective way.

variable data direct mail

2010-11-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

Thumbnails

Back of direct mail piece

Front of direct mail piece

Back of "child" version

Front of "child" version

Back of "senior" version

Front of "senior" version

Project Specifications
For my variable data direct mail piece, I have decided to design a postcard to be sent to customers of a fictional photography studio. I knew I wanted to use photography for this particular assignment and I wanted it to be high quality. I didn't want to mess with paying for stock images, so I've decided to use some of my personal photos for the postcard. This will enable me to differentiate my data according to photography needs such as maternity, wedding, and senior photos.

Part of this assignment is to include two data changes. I've decided that one piece of data change will be my photos, according to the client's needs. The second piece of data I'll be including is a name change. For example, "Dear Jane,". I will also be including a data change in the form of the client's address.

My target audience for this piece will be people with important events approaching, especially fictitious past clients who I know are, for example, pregnant. This makes my target audience fairly widespread as it will include high school juniors and seniors, young adults, 20-somethings, soon-to-be parents, new parents, families with older kids, and pretty much everything in between. It follows that I will need to be very careful with my design to make it appeal to both teenagers and older parents.

The call to action for this piece will be to encourage the client to get in contact with the photography studio via phone or email. Through the photography provided on the direct mail piece, they will be reminded of the quality of work of the studio, which will lead them to schedule a portrait session for the upcoming event in their life.

heidi elizabeth

2010-11-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, I find time in my ridiculously busy schedule to design something just for fun. I got caught up enough in my homework that I made time to make something for my roommate's sister, who just had a baby, Heidi. My roommate, Paige, has three sisters, so I had Paige message them to get five adjectives to describe Heidi. I took these fifteen adjectives (some were duplicates, that's why fifteen don't show up in the finished product) and combined them in an Illustrator file. I'm having this file printed and then plan to frame it for Paige's sister.

save the date

2010-11-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

As of last Tuesday, I'm engaged! I've decided to do the design for all my paper goods for the wedding, including save the dates, invitations, and thank you cards.

This weekend, I put together a save the date postcard:

Real Business Live!

2010-10-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

Today I attended a presentation put on by Xerox and EFI. Two topics discussed in this presentation were variable data printing and web to print/digital storefront.

The section about variable data printing was very helpful, because it helped me to develop ideas for my next Digital File Preparation assignment, which is a variable data project. It was stressed in this portion of the presentation that variable data is a very effective tool to promote a company. As a consumer, I have oftentimes thrown away junk mail or deleted emails that I felt didn't pertain to me. By using a database to organize customers for a business, the business is able to distinguish which customers are likely to respond to an advertisement, be it in print or in an email inbox. When using variable data, however, it is important to make sure you get your facts right so you're not wasting time and money on a piece that will not be responded to.

The second portion of the presentation was regarding web to print and digital storefront. This section didn't pertain as much to me currently, but will be helpful in the future. Web to print enables printers to set up a web site using a template provided by EFI. This web site allows customers to easily create their own business cards, flyers, etc. from templates provided for them. This process creates an easy revenue stream for the company and makes the creation of documents easy for customers.

Overall, the presentation was very helpful and provided information on cutting edge trends in the printing industry.

strum & crumb

2010-10-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

Original sketches and ideas.

Thumbnails

Rough One (large ad)

Rough Two (small ad)

Large Ad, Finished.

Small Ad, Finished.

Newspaper Advertisement Project Specifications
(written before starting on original sketches)

The newspaper advertisement I have chosen to design is for a fictional coffee shop – Grounds Coffee Shop and Bakery – having an event called Strum and Crumb, a night of acoustic music and discounted baked goods.

The target audience for this event includes 16-30 year olds – high school upperclassmen, college students, and twenty-somethings. It is targeted at both males and females. The socioeconomic status of the target audience is middle to middle-upper class people; these individuals are likely to have spare money to spend on entertainment. However, the baked goods for the night are discounted, so it also will appeal to college students struggling with money management. This event and the advertisements themselves are designed to appeal to local Pittsburg residents because it includes local music artists. The culture it will appeal to includes people who consider themselves trendy.

The call to action for this newspaper advertisement is first and foremost to attend the event. Secondarily, viewers are called to bring the coupon in for a discount, which will provide the business with a return on investment.

The budget for this advertisement is one hundred dollars. I have chosen to develop a campaign of two separate advertisements that will appear in the newspaper two weeks prior to the event and one week prior to the event. The first ad will be 3 column inches by 5 inches and the second will be 2 column inches by 5 inches. Together, the ads cost exactly one hundred dollars.

roasted tomatoes gourmet pizzeria

2010-10-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

This project is somewhat near and dear to my heart because the original assignment was for the class to come up with ideas for either real or fictional logo projects we could work on. One day, out of the blue, I thought of Roasted Tomatoes Gourmet Pizzeria, a fictional restaurant I envisioned as an upscale, trendy dining experience.

Out of the ideas the instructor received, one of the three chosen was Roasted Tomatoes, which was really exciting because I had a lot of ideas running around in my head for the logo design.

Here is the entire process:

Original thumbnails. Pretty rough at this point.

Finished thumbnails to be handed in in class.

Finished color thumbnails including votes from the class for which three color thumbnails should be taken to the next step: roughs.

Working on roughs.

Finished roughs.

Black tracing of finished rough of favorite logo design. This image was used as a template in Illustrator for creating a computer generated file.

One color, three color, and full color logo designs.
Finished product.

nowhere leads to somewhere

2010-10-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today, Pittsburg State University had a very special visitor. Brendan Murphy, senior partner and designer at Lippincott in New York City came to speak. Murphy is considered by the school and myself to be an "outstanding alum" and I was very happy to get to hear him speak about his experiences in the graphic design field.

I was inspired by Murphy because while I know I'm receiving a fantastic education in graphic design at Pitt State, I can imagine that people from NYC may not necessarily see it the same way. Murphy has proven himself through his abilities, (which he learned, or at least set a strong foundation for, at Pittsburg State University) not his diploma. I was also inspired by his thesis project for his Master's at Cincinnati University, where he redesigned the handicap symbol. While speaking today, he emphasized that the logo should represent "access" instead of "handicap." I felt that it was inspiring that such a seemingly small update to a symbol we see every day could make a difference to a mobility-impaired person.

I think of myself as a lifelong learner, and today was definitely a great opportunity to expand my knowledge of graphic design and "the industry." The most helpful portion of Murphy's presentation today was when he spoke in detail about all the steps in branding or rebranding a company. One very interesting thing I learned was that, in the development stage of creating a logo, anywhere from three hundred to three thousand ideas are sorted through to find only one logo that makes the cut.

Murphy was also full of helpful advice such as the following:
   • Have values
     •   Relate to people
     •   Nowhere leads to somewhere
     •   Anytime there's change, there will be opposition

old vs. new

2010-10-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

Google News lists 633 news articles related to the new Gap logo. The release of the new logo less than a week ago caused an uproar on the web, especially on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Gap smartly listened to the dissatisfaction of their target audience and scrapped the new logo within a few days. This is definitely to their benefit, because a target audience unhappy with the brand's image will be less likely to purchase goods from the Gap.

So why exactly did this rebranding cause such pandemonium on the web? First of all, the new Gap logo was awful. I believe they were shooting for a simple, clean, well-designed look. Instead, the logo is simply boring. Furthermore, it looks like something that could have been created in Microsoft Word by a middle schooler. Additionally, Gap is considered by the target market (including myself) to be a traditional brand. They sell traditional, simple, timeless, cool clothing. The original logo conveyed all of this. It was easily recognizable, as it has been for the past 20 years. To get rid of such a recognizable icon, Gap also got rid of quite a bit of brand equity that went along with the traditional logo.

I assume the reason for the new branding was to give Gap a new, fresh appeal in a market that is less than stellar. Surely they hoped that the new logo would lead new customers to their store, adding more profits. However, a new logo means new bags, store signage, etc., and these extra costs really defeat the purpose in this case.

After all this turmoil, I have to wonder if maybe, just maybe, Gap has some clever ploy hidden from the general public. Perhaps they did this all on purpose. It stirred up so much controversy that the Gap gained a lot of publicity. Maybe they purposefully designed a logo so awful that they had no choice but to take it back, while still enabling the logo to cause enough of a stir to catch the public eye.

recruitment notepad

2010-10-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

I began brainstorming for this design through a word matrix, focusing on my target audience, which is high school students.

After some very rough sketches, I refined my ideas into thumbnails.

When I had chosen the thumbnail I felt was the best option, I made a rough. This rough helped me to easily lay out my design in inDesign.

Just before going to print, here is my finished PDF.
At this point, I took my PDF to a print shop to receive my price quote. Each notepad was quoted at fifty cents, a very economical price.

Finished product

Finished product

Synopsis
The target audience for this piece was high school students. In the "Trends" category of my word matrix, I wrote "dorks/nerds." This was especially inspired by popular actors such as Michael Cera. Following this trend, popular accessories in stores like Claire's and Target include clear, black horn-rimmed glasses. I decided to use this trend in my recruitment notepad as well.

The purpose of this notepad is to lead high school students to think that the Graphics and Imaging Technologies Department at Pittsburg State University is trendy, which might make them want more information about the program. The notepad leads them to the Pittsburg State University web site, where they can find the information they're looking for.

Design elements used in this piece include visual hierarchy, continuation, white space, and balance. The eye is first drawn to the glasses and bulb graphic, providing visual hierarchy. The light bulb points up to the header text, which provides continuation. There is white space in the design in the area where the notepad will be written on. The balance in the design is achieved by placing the two largest objects diagonal from each other and smaller text also at a diagonal.

The glasses and light bulb graphic is mine. It was first drawn, then scanned in as a bitmap image that has been further edited in Photoshop for clarity.

roasted tomatoes gourmet pizzeria [a work in progress]

2010-10-13T14:01:00.003-07:00

grounds coffee shop & bakery

2010-10-13T14:01:00.001-07:00

Amanda&Blair&Heidi

2010-09-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

GIT T-Shirt Design Thumbnails

2010-09-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

To be given away at a Graphics Expo.
Our class is having T-Shirt design contest.