Summer In Review

I needed a break from design. But now its been too long. And I don't know how to act. I miss design so much. But I am currently working as a bank teller at the moment. But everyday that I'm at work, all I want to do is design, design, DESIGN!!!

I want to do this for the rest of my life. I think that it would be fun. Right now, I am currently delving into the tutorials on psdtuts.com and vectortuts.com. I'm just taking it all in. And I'm trying to learn how to relax without it, but I've realized that maybe design is just in my blood. It's a seed that's buried deep inside and is yearning to grow, or something to that effect.

A Semester in Review

Okay so my semester as an official Vox designer is coming to a close. I thought that I would take this time to post all of my work from the past six months. I have to say that it's said I hate that I don't already have a job lined up and I will miss all of my classmates but I'm glad the semester is coming to a close. Here is all of the work
that I bled, sweat and lost a few meals over.
































Sadly since a few weeks ago my files were ate by and external hard drive and my flash drive broke a few days ago (I kid you not), many of my files were lost from my meredith project. But I am currently trying to retrieve them. In a few days, I will be posting some of my new guerilla designs from my independent study project. I will continue posting whatever I can get my design hungry little hands on.

Creative Zones

I agree with many of my classmates, my best time to work creatively is from about 1pm in the afternoon until 3 am. I know that three am is a weird time to actually stop being creative but for some reason it works like with me. That doesn't just go for being creative, that goes for anything.

And once I get in the zone, I hate when anyone bothers me. To begin the routine, I have listen to music artists that I consider to be creative. Then I go through all of the magazine that I consider creative like How Magazine, Esquire, Details, etc. From that point, I must wait and see when the mood will strike. Whenever anyone comes to bother me, I either continue to design and ignore them or I give a brain-dead answer like "Uh-huh." Funny though, that makes me scared that I won't be able to make it out in the field because you have to be able to deal with distractions. Does that not make me a true designer? I didn't know that you had to be organized to be a true designer. Isn't it all about being yourself and being true to who you are?

I wonder.

CIO: Hi Fructose

I think that magazine definitely shows why designers shouldn't go too far and go too artsy. Many times just using a little bit of illustration in a publication can look really nice. But when the line becomes blurred, that's when you know that you've pushed it too far. Hi Fructoseis that magazine that hasn't realized this rule yet.



Don't get met wrong. The cover looks very cool with the two separate layers on the cover of the girl and the monster/bug. I think that effect is cool and makes the reader feel like they are the girl because they are looking through her eyes. But from there slowly your appreciate for the magazine depreciates.



I liked this spread alot. I felt like it really illustrated the Victorian style of art but with a twist. The girl seems to have been created in the image of Chucky. Hm. Maybe she could be his sister or something. This spreads borderlines the darker side of life but I like it. I don't know the font is little unreaderable. That can be a problem. It's decorative but it goes bit too far.




I like how simple the background is but I think once it starts to interfere with the text, you've created a problem for the reader. The reader is going to be more distracted by what's going on in the background than what the article's about.



This spread is very mysterious but it leads to a problem of visual adjacency.

Can you figure out which photo is the ad and which is the opening photo for a story?

You literally have to look at the spread for a few minutes to figure out which is which. The one on the left is the ad; the one on the right is the beginning of a spread. I like the illustration but it makes the reader confused. Plus both are demanding equal attention. So you can't decide which you want to delve into first. As a designer, you're suppose to help a reader decide what's more relevant and what is actually apart of the publication and what isn't.




Typographical Master!

This week, just for font. Try to the font quiz. It's fun trying to guess what fonts are what. I got a few right and then there are some that I saw that I wanted to download just to study and use them. They looked really cool. Others, I've seen before but when it came down to trying to compare them to others that I hadn't seen in awhile, I was confused.

First time around, I got 19 out of 34. There are still many that I have to learn. But it's fun to try and see if you can get in the hall of fame.

Challenges with Meredith

This week I had to basically redo my whole magazine. But as the creative director I received the opportunity to do some of the features. But I realized that they weren't very easy feats. I mean one story is about a skateboard artist, dumpster diving and the knowledge earned in college. Plus I had to do a story about a dream kitchen. Basically with all of the spreads, I'm still working through the typography for many of the spreads.

I definitely have to say some of these were difficult to illustrate. Take a look. I did my best.

( I'm having technical difficulties with my browser so I will upload the photos later tonight.)

CIO: Miss Behave

Every time that I go to work at Mizzou Market, I always see this magazine. I think I picked up the previous issue and I liked the design of it. I thought that it was clean yet definitely stood out. Well the subject matter alone makes the publication stand out. I mean like Rothstein admits it definitely walks the line between Maxim and Cosmo. It seems to finally recognize the fact that there are girls out there that read male magazines for their content. Although, there were times while I was reading the text that I realized that it was little to manly. It went too far beyond the Esquire and GQ sarcasm and went totally too far.

There are also times where I though the photography and design were also funny but they were a little too weird. But they always made me laugh. It's definitely nothing like I'e seen before. Check for yourself.

SND Competition: Behind the Design

It was very informative but in the sens, I learned a lot. I never realized when looking at many of our covers for VOX that they do seem a little under done at times. I think that we could do more but at the same time, I realize that the judges are right; I guess we do need to work a little harder to make the printing work for us. But it was nice to hear from a outsider that the printing was horrible. So the students aren't the only ones that realize it.

I also realized that judging for competitions shouldn't be taken personally. They are totally subjective. It all depends on that particular judges tastes and how they feel that day. They might see your work that day and hate, but maybe seeing it again a few weeks or years even from that time, and they might love it. That really bursts my bubble when it came down to it. I guess for some reason I figured that judges have/had a definite reason for rejecting someone's work. But after watching them fumble through some of their reasons for rejecting a piece, I realize a design competition can be a little superficial.

I swear a little piece of my innocence dies everyday.

Congrats to all of my fellow classmates that won the competition. You deserved it.