the year in review

Check out my behance portfolio for a look at all of the projects I have completed in my first year graphics and typography studios, including my final speech in motion. More photos of my projects will be up soon, so check it out!

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My first year as a graphics student is slowly, but surely, coming to a close. I have learned so much this year, and especially this semester, about both myself and myself as a designer. For one, I learned that I can push myself a lot farther than I had originally thought was possible. The late nights, the stress, and the procrastination of first semester taught me quite the lesson, and second semester I had only two all-nighters and did not wait until the last minute as I had previously, though the stress level only increased. However, I have learned to manage my stress and found ways to relax and calm down while I'm working. I also learned about my process and the way in which I go about accomplishing a project. Throughout the year I have been somewhat slow to get to the idea that will end up being the direction in which I choose to take my final piece. This is mostly because I often do not do enough process work and preliminary research as I should, though I do the required amount expected of me for each project, I feel like I could do much more and look at designers on my own time to search for more inspiration and therefore, more ideas. I think this would help my work improve faster so I have more time to improve upon a great idea, than spending time finding a good idea and making an okay final result.

With as much as I have learned and improved upon this year, I'm looking forward to further improvement and developing my design identity. I still feel as though my style could be more sophisticated, refined, and individualized, which are all things I hope to improve upon in my remaining years as a student. Finally, I hope to work on making connections with my peers as well as my professors so I have connections to other designers and feel comfortable asking for feedback and/or help.  Overall, this year has been so eye-opening and interesting, despite the stress and non-stop hard work. If anything, this year has only further confirmed my aspirations of becoming a graphic designer.

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What I found interesting about Larry Lessig's speech on laws that choke creativity was this push/pull that is created because of the new technology that is available to us. On one hand it could "choke" our creativity, because it is so helpful that it may eliminate certain methods and ways of creative process that we lose originality or take the easy way out, creatively. On the other hand, this technology could allow for new doors to be opened up that allow us to take some of our wildest ideas and realize them through the sophisticated technology. Finally, he says that we cannot kill the instinct technology produces, only criminalize it.

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Hillman Curtis Artist Series:

1. Paula Scher: I love the way Scher incorporates typography into the buildings she is hired to create signage for. Her use of typography is interesting and well reflects the atmosphere of the architecture and the designated business or area. What stood out most to me from her video were the ways in which she arranges type to make it more active or engaging, and though it may turn or flip several times, it never becomes too confusing or illegible.

2. David Carson: What I liked about David Carson was the way he overlaid typography onto images. There is a kind of balance, yet a hierarchy with his designs, and I find that fascinating and engaging. What I learned from Carson's video is that the starting point for his work is never the final outcome (pretty, ugly, etc.), but to be engaging and interesting.

3. Mark Romanek: The raw, emotional, and carnal aesthetic of Romanek's work is what I find to be so interesting and intriguing. I find it interesting that he makes his films very detailed when he films them, but when he cuts it together, he cuts out quite a bit because it doesn't work and then embraces accidents which can turn out to be very beautiful. I found his method of working so inspiring, don't plan, just embrace. I would ask Romanek what his favorite video he's ever shot was, as well as what musical artist he would most like to make a video for.

Speech in Motion: Draft 01

The following is a VERY basic and skeletal outline for my speech in motion with no animation applied to it, yet. This is just the first in what is sure to be a series of rough drafts, but I thought it would be interesting to show my progress as I continue on. The poem is "Totally, like, whatever, you know?" by Taylor Mali.

Kinetic Typography Animatics from emily austin on Vimeo.

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The Design Talk I chose to listen to was with Dave Eggers, an author who writes about art and music for magazines, though his design work has been featured in periodicals including Print and Eye, and in 2003, his design work forMcSweeney's was featured in the National Design Triennial at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, and in the California Design Biennial.

Debbie Millman is an extremely important and admirable figure in the design world. She is President of the design division at Sterling Brands, one of the leading branding firms in the country. In addition, Millman is President of AIGA, while also maintaining chair of the School of Visual Arts' master's program in Branding. She is a well-known author, an editor for Print magazine, and finally, hosts the podcast "Design Matters".

According to the Sterling Brands website, "Design Matters" is a design podcast hosted by Debbie Millman that is host to a stimulating point of view on graphic design, branding, and cultural anthropology. Millman and her guests explore challenging and compelling topics found within today's design world.

What I found most interesting about her interview with Dave Eggers was that he constantly felt like his work had fallen short and rarely liked anything he ever did. Considering what an amazingly talented person he is, I found this to be pretty fascinating. Though I hardly compare to his talent, I do find myself disliking a lot of what I create, as well. Regardless of how he feels about his work, Eggers still claims he has a strong sense of what is good and what is bad, also interesting.

Final Typography Workbook

This is a digital mockup of my final typography workbook entitled, "EMPHASIS: A Look at Typography". For this project, we used the information from a number of sources to create a workbook that was well-designed, informative, and easy to follow that outlined basic typography guidelines. This book will be a big help throughout the rest of my graphic design career, and I can tell I will be using it a lot already.

Open publication - Free publishing

I'm still awaiting the hard copy of my book from the printing company, but will upload photos onto my behance when it arrives! Don't be shy! If you like what you see, "appreciate" my work on behance. If you would like to download my workbook as a PDF for your own use, you may do so here.

Become Somebody Else Bookcovers

I love these book covers by Love Agency for Mint Vinetu Bookstore. So clever, so smart, and so awesome. Definitely distinguishes these from ordinary book covers.

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I love the Good website. As a whole, I think the website is well-designed, clear, and interesting. I also like the way that the viewer and their moue can interact with the website. One of my favorite sections is the infographics section. The information is very clear, but displayed in an interesting way. The way typography and graphics work together is really exquisite, and inspiring.


In terms of the videos, I think that there is a nice combination of factual information, humor, and interesting concepts. The pacing varies depending on the information needing to be conveyed and the purpose of the video as well as the overall tone. The majority of the videos have a clean style with a few graphics that help out the information and to create interest to keep the viewer involved. The transitions are interesting, as some text is rotated or enlarged to move off of the screen, while others somehow morphs into the next set of type or the next image. Overall, I think most of the videos are successful, the most interesting being those that covey factual information in an interesting way. 

in-class blog: print vs. screen

I think audience experience varies greatly from print to motion work. When working in print, I think the audience controls the pacing more, due to how quickly they read and how much information is on the page. I also think that the viewer won't necessarily have as strong an emotional reaction as they may if sound were included. In terms of motion, I think the designer controls the pacing, because the viewer only sees what's on screen. A lot of times, I think the effects used on the type in motion can also help to better convey the meaning of the words. In motion you can also add sound effects or music to help convey a message, which you can't do when working in print.

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After watching the SVA video lectures by Jakob Trollback, I picked up a few important pointers:

The first being what I thought was most important, you should never design to decorate or design just to design, but rather say something with your work. Design for a reason.

I also found it interesting that he suggested to look for inspiration outside of design books, because they won't help you. To an extent, I agree with his statement, plus I think it prevents you from looking too similar to another designer.

Trollback also says that participation is the best way to get someone to do something, which I thought was both true and interesting considering his other views on interactive design.

Finally, I thought his views on interactive design were quite interesting. He doesn't prefer it, as it gives the viewer freedom to disengage at their discretion, stopping potentially before the message he wishes to convey is completed. I had never thought about interactive design in this way, only in that the viewer is able to engage with the material however they wish and in their own unique way.

kinetic typography on youtube

After watching the examples of kinetic typography on youtube, I noticed that most of the videos used the same effects: zoom in, zoom out, and rotation. Though these effects work, when they are used repetitively it causes the words to all have the same amount of emphasis and relies on pacing to show importance rather than using pacing and effects to create a hierarchy. I also experimented with watching the video on mute and watching the video with sound. When watching with sound, the result is much more powerful because a lot of times, the text relies on sound cues for pacing and emphasis. If the video incorporated music, it also set the tone for the video. The following are a couple of examples of successful typography in motion.








Though this song was god awful, I stuck through it because I liked the visuals in the video and how typography interacted and emphasized the song lyrics. They also used symbols that everyone would recognize to emphasize certain song lyrics.





Though this example doesn't have as many visual elements and is also simple in its color palette, I think it is still successful in the way that type moves and enters and exits the screen. Everything flows together well and the pacing really accentuates the attitude of the character.

kinetic typography

The speech I chose is a spoken word poem entitled, "Totally Like Whatever, You Know?" by Taylor Mali. I chose to do a spoken word poem over the previous speech i had, Robert F. Kennedy's Presidential Campaign 
_ Who is speaking?
Taylor Mali
_ Why was/is the speech important to society?
Mali discusses the way in which Americans today interact and speak. He claims that there is no longer any conviction in the way people speak, rather apathy and a general sense of underwhelming.
_ Why do you feel it is important or interesting? 
I think this speech is interesting because it is a funny approach to considering an issue that really is prevalent in American culture. It is also interesting because I think it's something that people don't consider, but are faced with daily.
_ What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech?
The overall mood of the speech is light hearted, funny, and sarcastic.
_ What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft. Where are there pauses... 
The overall speech is very varied in regards to emphasis, as that is a large part of spoken word. He used pauses to accentuate certain things and to create humor.
_ What do you FEEL should be loud or soft, long pause or rushed?
I feel as though there could be more more pausing in the latter part of the speech because it feels a bit crammed.
_ Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words? 
The call to action is to be more assertive, to openly say what you feel. The emphasized words are "like" and "you know", the things that make speech casual and passive.
_ How does it make you feel? 
The speech makes me laugh and feel a little silly as I use the word "like" quite often..
_ How do imagine that the audience felt? 
I think the audience felt similarly, as the purpose of the speech is to be humorous and thought provoking.
_ Could there be another interpretation of the speech?
I don't think so, maybe condescending?
_ Write/find a short bio, of the person giving the speech. 

As a slam poetry performer, Taylor Mali has been on seven National Poetry Slam teams; six appeared on the finals stage and four won the competition (1996 with Team Providence; 1997, 2000 and 2002 with Team NYC-Urbana). Mali is the author of What Learning Leaves and the Last Time as We Are (Write Bloody Publishing), has recorded four CDs, and is included in various anthologies. Poets who have influenced him include Billy Collins, Saul Williams, Walt Whitman, Rives, Mary Oliver, and Naomi Shihab Nye. He is perhaps best known for the poem "What Teachers Make."

He appeared in Taylor Mali & Friends Live at the Bowery Poetry Club and the documentaries "SlamNation" (1997) and "Slam Planet" (2006). He was also in the HBO production, "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry," which won a Peabody Award in 2003. Taylor Mali is the former president of Poetry Slam Incorporated, and he has performed with such renowned poets as Billy Collins and Allen Ginsberg. Although he retired from the National Poetry Slam competition in 2005,^[6] he still helps curate NYC-Urbana Poetry Series, held weekly at the Bowery Poetry Club.

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Exploring the Design Observer website, I read two articles. Here are some thoughts.

"Type Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry"

    I think some similar, yet better alternatives to Futura are News Gothic (less pointy, and a little less aggressive, though similar x-heights), Avenir (geometric and same width, but switches the single-story "a" to a two-story), and Neutraface (just as quirky as Futura, pointy capital "A" with a low crossbar).

"Ten Graphic Design Paradoxes"
    This article by Adrian Shaughnessy explores ten paradoxes that can be found in graphic design. Some discuss weird ways that you could learn to be a better designer, and others break down the ego that every designer has at one point or another. My favorite paradox is "Ideas usually fail not because they're bad ideas, but because they're badly presented". As a student, I feel as though I can particularly relate to this one, as many of the others speak to a more professional level. I often feel discouraged when working on a project and the amazing design thoughts that are in my head do not translate to the paper well-enough to convince my professors that they are good ideas. I usually end up tossing out these ideas with the belief that they are impossible to convey, or just bad ideas. This article helped me to realize that in fact, I need to just stick with the idea, and show to the best of my ability at that time what the idea could develop into, rather than rely on verbal description, or imagination.
   I also found another paradox to be quite revealing of the world I will soon be a part of upon finishing school: "When a client says the words – "You have complete creative freedom," they never mean complete creative freedom". Schughnessy says it how it is, "Whatever you show them, they will have a problem with. Happens every time."

APRIL FOOL'S

For April Fool's Day, Google has pulled several tricks, but this one so far has been my favorite.

Searching 'Helvetica' on Google changes the font on the search page to everyone's favorite font: Comic Sans.

NOT OKAY, GOOGLE.

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Though I didn't venture far from the Kansas City and Lawrence areas over Spring Break, I did observe some interesting typography around the city. Here are a few examples of various signage and others that I observed while on a walk around town. Some of the photos are of graffiti, as I find it to be a unique, interesting form of typography that many people are exposed to, but neglect to acknowledge.

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Thirty Conversations on Design:
Thirty influential people were asked to answer these two questions: "What single example of design inspires you most?" and "What problem should design solve next?" There answers were documented via video responses.

Though most of the answers involved transportation, water, and education, I would say that I found Daniel Pink's and Jessica Hische's responses to be most inspiring. Both had very different answers, but as a student I was able to relate to both. Pink said the most inspirational example of design is the eraser. The ability to go back and change, in turn, allowing one the freedom to create. I also likes Hische's response, her students. I thought it was really interesting to hear how the work of students like me changes over the course of just a couple years after leaving school. In terms of what design should solve next, I think Tony Hawk had an interesting answer. It was strange to see the business side of him, but I think he was really onto something. Hawk said that the next problem for design to solve would be to take the existing technology and design it so it becomes more simple and more fun. This would make technology more accessible, allowing more creative minds to use it.

If I were to answer these questions, I would definitely have some trouble. I think the combination of being a young student and a relatively inexperienced designer make the questions a bit more challenging because I have not experimented with as much as maybe some of the others have. Regardless, I think I would say that I am inspired by too many things to choose just one. Or, perhaps I am inspired by things that don't seem to go together. I think handwritten and hand drawn things are really beautiful, but I also think that well-calculated, digital works can be equally stunning. In terms of what I think design should solve next, I think it should be getting young minds to continue to think creatively. From my experience, I found that elementary school was pretty creative, but as I moved into middle school and high school, I either did not have the opportunity for creativity, or I lacked time due to other commitments. I think using design to incorporate creativity into education could be really interesting and beneficial for young minds.

Summerfest Concerts, INC : Final Brand

I had a blast coming up with and carrying out my idea for Summerfest Concerts', a Kansas City-based chamber music group, new identity. After much trial and error, the end result is something fun, fresh, and appealing to several different audiences and age groups. Here is my final identity system and set of "wild cards". To see each piece in detail, check out MY BEHANCE. And a big thanks to Summerfest for allowing us students the chance to design for a real company!

The Lovely Bones: Final Book Jackets

better late than never, here are my final three book jackets. One is typography-based, one is image-based, and one achieves a sense of "nirvana" between the two. images of the end papers and the title and chapter pages can be seen on MY BEHANCE.

type-based jacket

"nirvana" jacket

image-based jacket

Not necessarily design oriented,

BUT it does have to do with inspiration in general, and I think a lot of this TED talk could be used when thinking about design, too. This little girl's name is Adora Svitak. Sure, she's cute, so she makes you want to listen, but I didn't expect her to be so smart, so charming, and so freaking inspiring! This girl's 12 years old and is already a seasoned author, blogger, and speaker.

Watch her TED talk, "What adults can learn from kids," HERE, and prepare to be awed.

typography definitions for project 02

_ What are the advantages of a multiple column grid? 
A more balanced composition, easier for the eye to read, can use different widths for text. More flexible, more room for experimenting.
_ How many characters is optimal for a line length?
40 to 50 characters (each letter, space, and punctuation)
_ Why is the baseline grid used in design?
Designs weighted to the bottom are more pleasing to look at. Helps the inner structure. Allows things to share the same baseline.
 _ What is a typographic river?
gaps appearing to run down a paragraph of text, due to a coincidental alignment of spaces, formed when justified.
_ From the readings what does clothesline or flow line mean?
a horizontal measure that divides the page into spatial divisions and creates additional alignment points for the placement of the visual elements.
_ How can you incorporate white space into your designs?
Connect your text and title together. Keep white space to the outside. Try ragging some columns.
_ What does type color/texture mean?
the weight or boldness of a character. Size, leading, and tracking also affect this.
_ What is x-height, how does it effect type color?

x-height is the height of the lowercase letters without ascenders and descenders. It effects type color by making it much visually thicker.

_ In justification or H&J terms what do the numbers: minimum, optimum, maximum mean?
 minimum amount of awkwardness, the optimum amount of readability, and the maximum amount of words on a line.
_ What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?

Some ways to indicate a new paragraph is by having a gap or space with no text, or an indent.

 RULES: 

The first paragraph is never indented, even if you are using indents in the rest of the text. Size of indent should not be the set amount, rather based on the leading. If you indent, do not add a space between paragraphs, must be either/or.

_ What are some things to look out for when hyphenating text.
Using the correct hyphen length in the correct situation. 

Never hyphenate a word in a headline, it must be at the right spot of a word for justifications, longer ones are for pauses in sentences. Avoid words 4 characters or less. Don't hyphenate proper nouns. When using multiple lines, "the", "of", "at", etc. should be on the next line, not left by themselves.

_ What is a ligature?
Mostly in serif fonts, the joining of "f" and "i", "f" "f" and "i", "f" "f" and "l", etc. The letters combine to form one character. Won't use if your type is tracked out.
_ What does CMYK and RGB mean?
cmyk: cyan, magenta, yellow, black. rgb: red, green, blue. CMYK is for print work, RGB is for screen work.
_ What does hanging punctuation mean?
it is a way of typesetting punctuation marks and bullet points, most commonly quotation marks and hyphens, so that they do not disrupt the 'flow' of a body of text.
_ What is the difference between a foot mark and an apostrophe?
Apostrophes are curved and footmarks are straight.
_ What is the difference between an inch mark and a quote mark (smart quote)?
Quotation marks are curved  and inch marks are straight.
_ What is a hyphen, en dash and em dashes, what are the differences and when are they used.
A hyphen is strictly for hyphenating words, en dash indicates a duration, such as hourly time, and an em dash often used in a manner similar to a colon or parentheses. You should never have three hyphens in a row in your text. Avoid hyphens in call-outs, if possible.

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Jonathan Harris AIGA Gain Conference

Summary:
Jonathan Harris is an artist and a computer scientist, meaning he creates his own art on the computer. Harris used to work by hand, sketching in sketchbooks that he carried around with him, but he was mugged and his sketchbook housing 8 months of drawings was stolen, prompting him to change the way he archived and worked. His work involves the exploration and understanding of humans, based on what they leave behind on the web. In this video, Jonathan talks about his recent projects as well as poses interesting questions about the web world and how it's shaping us.


Reflection:
After watching Jonathan Harris speak, I decided to explore some of his past works. One of my favorite of his is I Want You To Want Me, which was installed at the MOMA on Valentine's Day 2008. This interactive work explores the search for love and self in the world of online dating. It gathers new information from dating sites all over the world every few hours, adding to the already large compilation of data. According to the website, here is a small summary of how the work was displayed in the MOMA, "The data is presented as an interactive installation, displayed on a 56” high-resolution touch screen, hung vertically on a wall in a dark room.  On screen is an interactive sky, whose weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, etc.) can be controlled by the viewer.  Through the sky float hundreds of blue (male) and pink (female) balloons, each representing a single dating profile.  The brighter balloons are younger people; the darker balloons older.  Trapped inside each balloon is one of over 500 video silhouettes, showing a solitary person, engaged in any number of activities (yoga, jumping jacks, nose-picking, air guitar, etc.).  The viewer can touch any balloon to select it, causing its photo to dangle from a string and its sentence to appear in a thought bubble overhead.  Touching any balloon a second time pops it.  The balloons move through the sky along different paths and at different speeds, bumping up against each other, sometimes traveling together for a time, but only ever getting so close, as each silhouette is ultimately confined to its own balloon." Not only did I love the concept of this project, but I loved the overall look and feel of the project, too. I think Jonathan Harris is a very bright individual with very interesting and fresh takes on how technology shapes us and how we shape technology.

Article Choice: "Open Letter to Design Students Everywhere"

Author: Jessica Helfand

Who is Jessica Helfand?
   Jessica Helfand is an author, columnist, and lecturer on graphic design. In addition, she is the partner of William Drenttel of Winterhouse Studios. Helfand is also a critic of graphic design at Yale. Helfand is important to graphic design because she is a well-respected and knowledgeable critic who offers interesting and strong viewpoints in terms of graphic design.

Article Summary:
  Helfand gives advice to design students at all phases, those beginning their education, those amidst their education, and those who are done with school and looking for their place in the design world. Her article confronts the questions that face design students throughout their education, and she offers advice to become a more successful designer, and to get the most out of your education.

Six Main Points:

1. Keep a journal with you at all times for any thoughts you have throughout the day.
2. Draw at least one thing every day, it will make your pencil a better brainstorming tool.
3. Less is more.
4. Never stop thinking, asking questions, or experimenting; even after school is finished.
5. Have as many conversations as you can with as many people as you can.
6. Optimize the web for getting your name out there during school, and after.

Irina Werning: Back to the Future

I love these photographs by Irina Werning where she takes the photo's of people from the past, and stages them in the present. The result is a beautiful depiction of time travel and really sparks some interesting conversation about the past versus the present.

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MANTRA FOR THE WEEK:
Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
I chose this mantra because I have found that when it becomes time to do some initial sketching, I reach for the computer. I do my sketches by hand because I prefer the control of the pen in my hand on the paper, but I look for inspiration on the web rather than in my own head. I need to step away from the computer, and start being inspired by what's existing around me, what's tangible.

Who is Bruce Mau?
Bruce Mau is an award winning designer, author, and publisher, known for his ability to originate, innovate, and renovate businesses, brands, products, and experiences. He is the Chief Creative Officer for Bruce Mau design, and founded the Institute Without Boundaries, a studio-based postgraduate program.

Why is he interesting to us?
Mau is interesting to us because his views on creativity are so obvious they're forgotten until reminded. His "Incomplete Manifesto" is something designers should live by, in my opinion. He is an incredible thinker and an incredible designer, paving the way for different-thinking and young designers.

audience personas: the lovely bones

Breanna, 16yrs old:

 Breanna is a 16 year old high school student, ending her sophomore year at high school in colorado. She has to do a lot of reading for school, so when she has free time, she likes to read books of her own choosing, often picked by how interesting the cover is or suggestions from friends. Her favorite types of books are those she can relate to the main character, usually a girl her own age. Breanna prefers books with action and more mature subject matter, as she finds most teen novels to be redundant and uninteresting. Though she likes to read more adult books, Breanna has friends that are more interested in the teen novels. Breanna is just a typical sixteen year old girl, though she likes to read more than the normal teenager.

Janet, 47yrs old:

 Janet is a 47 year old mother of three, two sons and one daughter, her youngest at 13 years old. Janet loves to read in her spare time, which she has a decent amount of since her daughter is her only child still living at home. Janet chooses her books by picking off of the best seller’s list, and she is also in a local book club of stay at home moms. Janet is also active in her local church and enjoys books with religious undertones or uplifting messages. Because she has a young daughter, Janet also likes to read books that she thinks her daughter may like, or bring up things she could talk to her daughter about, including serious issues.

Shirley, 62yrs old:

 Shirley is a retired school teacher and grandmother. She is especially concerned about her grandchildrens’ well-being, as the world is very different for them than it was when she was growing up. Because of this, Shirley likes to stay up-to-date on the latest news and finds novels based on true accounts to be very interesting. Despite her interest in true accounts, Shirley tries to avoid memoirs that lack happy or hopeful endings. She also likes to use these novels as lessons for her children and grandchildren. Shirley is a very family-oriented woman and tries to do everything she can to be a helpful and happy grandmother, mother, and wife.

typography journal 03

TED conference videos:
Stefan Sagmeister:

• I liked how Stefan Sagmeister viewed design from both a consumer aspect and a designer aspect. Design can make consumers happy solely because the consumers are experiencing the design, maybe what the design does or how the design looks. He mentions that from a designer aspect, you can measure happiness by how happy they are during the design process. I would ask him if he thinks the consumer is able to tell how "happy" a designer was during their design process, and if this makes a different in the final outcome of the product. Another important point I think Sagmeiter made was that with the movie industry today, a designer must portray happiness with a more cynical twist to it in order to appear authentic. I think Sagmeister is so popular because he has original and realistic views on design and is able to think from both a designer's standpoint and a consumer's standpoint.

JJ Abrams:

• I loved listening to JJ Abrams speak. His views were kind of childlike, which I found refreshing because it inspired me to see the beauty in everything, even a Kleenex box. I think his ideas and the way he comes upon them are so revolutionary, and I would love to be able to borrow from his creative process and his stream of thinking. I also love his views on creation; if you want to do it, do it. If I could ask him any question, I would ask him him how his creative thinking process beigns.

Ken Robinson:

• After recently reading a study that said that healthy sleep habits leads to a wider range of creative thinking, I couldn't help but laugh at the lack of sleep school gives me, and the creativity it requires. This sparked quite a bit of interest in me, and I found it interesting that Ken Robinson's "schools kill creativity" speech was able to tie in to this in a couple broad ways. I love his reminder that children are the most fearless of us all. If they don't know something, they take a chance, they take a stab at it because they're not afraid of being wrong. I love how he challenges the public school system and questions who actually learns from the education process and what the purpose of it is. I found it interesting that he said the goal of public education is to produce University professors, which are often viewed as the highest of human success. I like that he challenges the ideas of what is successful and what is meant to be learned from schooling.

How Good is Good Article:

• Sagmeister points out that bad design can make the world tougher to live in, whether it be because of unnecessary junk mail or overproduced packaging, or typography and design that make understanding material difficult. He also questions what the designer should strive for to be considered "good"; design for the masses, or design for designers. Sagmeister encourages us as designers to remember that design can do more than promote and sell, it can unify, help us remember, simplify our lives, make someone feel better, make the world a safer place, help people rally behind a cause, inform and teach, make us more tolerant, and raise money, just to name a few areas.

simply beautiful.

hands down some of the most beautiful typography I have ever seen.
check out this Estonia-based design company.
sure they're expensive, but they sure are fun to look at.

typography journal 02

Dieter rams: ten principles for good design
What makes good design, you ask?: good design is innovative, makes a product useful, makes a product understandable, aesthetic, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough, environmentally friendly, and as little design as possible. I completely agree with Dieter rams and agree that successful design does follow these guidelines. To me, the most important of these guidelines is "Good design is as little design as possible". I think it's important to realize that the most successful and memorable designs are simple, and not weighed down and burdened with non-essentials. It is important that the design be simple and easy for a general audience to use and understand easily. Another important point is that "Good design is long-lasting." Successful designs are memorable and able to be used over a period of time without seeming dated. This is especially important when considering today's throwaway society.

Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy
According to Don Norman, good design makes the consumer happy by hitting three emotional cues caused by the object hitting three emotional cues, by being beautiful, functional, and reflective. He also references a study which proves that a boost of happiness can make people more creative thinkers, and can cause people to focus better than nerves and anxiety. Good design causes this kind of happiness by giving the consumer a sense of control while also evoking sensuality and beauty. Overall, emotion is a huge part of design, and good design in particular.

If I was able to ask Don Norman a question, I would probably ask him: If good design evokes emotion and causes the consumer happiness, is all design that evokes emotion and causes the consumer to be happy considered good design?


Twenty Rules for Making Good Design
The twenty rules for making good design are as follows:

1. Have a concept.
2. Communicate - don't decorate.
3. Speak with one visual voice.
4. Use two typeface families maximum. Sometimes three.
5. Use the one-two punch.
6. Pick colors on purpose.
7. If you can do it with less, then do it.
8. Negative space is magical - create it, don't just fill it up.
9. Treat the type as image, as though it's just as important.
10. Type is only type when it's friendly.
11. Be universal; remember that it's not about you.
12. Squish and separate.
13. Distribute light and dark like firecrackers and the rising sun.
14. Be decisive. Do it on purpose - or don't do it at all.
15. Measure with your eyes: design is visual.
16. Create images - don't scavenge.
17. Ignore fashion.
18. Static equals dull.
19. Look to history, but don't repeat it.
20. Symmetry is the ultimate evil.

The three rules I think are the most important are: if you can do it with less, then do it, be universal; remember that it's not about you, and look to history, but don't repeat it. I think many successful designs are minimalist and so I agree that it can be better to design with less. As a designer, I also think it's important to remember that you're designing for a client and an audience, not yourself. What you think may be the best design may not be the best design for the client. Finally, I think it's important to be familiar with and inspired by famous and successful designers of the past, but it's important to be original. You don't want to be remembered as a designer whose work looks like a new version of someone else's. Be original.

The three rules I think I could practice more are: negative space is magical, symmetry is the ultimate evil, and pick colors on purpose. Very rarely are my final designs heavy in negative space. I definitely want to experiment more with the way that negative space leads the viewer's eye around the page. I also struggle with asymmetry. Sometimes I find it to be too awkward looking if something is not symmetrical, and I would like to experiment more with placing things off balance. Finally, I need to focus more on picking colors on purpose. Though I do pick colors because they work well together, I think sometimes I pick an aesthetic palette, but forget how these colors should relate to the project. Other times I think I use the wrong combination of colors, or am too color heavy.

If I could ignore three of these rules, I would choose: have a concept, communicate - don't decorate, and ignore fashion. Sometimes, I think it can be beneficial to just start designing without any particular goals or concepts in mind and then work on forming a concept. I also wish I could ignore the communicate - don't decorate rule. Though it's important to communicate clearly to the consumer and the client, I don't think it's necessary to put decoration on the back burner. Something can be decorative and easy to understand. Finally, what's wrong with acknowledging fashion?! While I agree, sometimes following the trends can lead to boring, expected, trite, and tacky designs, I also think that if you're looking to grab a certain audience, following what's in fashion can lead to success.

random personal tidbit , typical .

Well, here I am designing some Summerfest logos for Tad's class tomorrow, and I think I may be on to something.

I THINK I'VE DECIDED I REALLY LOVE BRANDING AND WOULD LOVE TO DO THIS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

In conclusion, after a few weeks of being worried I wasn't sure what I was doing, and didn't quite know if I would find a place for myself in the design world, I feel.. alright.

typography journal: 01

After reading the Writer's Toolbox section of Writing for Visual Thinkers, I learned quite a few different ways to brainstorm for a project that I had never tried before. As the book says, it can be difficult for designers to brainstorm with writing because we are more visual than verbal. It is especially important to become a verbal thinker because it is more likely to lead to lateral thinking, which reveals less obvious, and often more successful, ideas. The writing exercises done during and before a project can also serve as reference to look back to once the project is done. Finally, writing exercises can also prove to a client that you can think in several different ways and can provide several types of research for the client to look over in regards to a project.

While reading this section of the book, I completed a few of the exercises in terms of the book I am re-designing, The Lovely Bones. Here are my results.

MIND MAP [click to enlarge]
Begin with a general concept word in the middle and branch out with words that relate to the concept word. Repeat, layer by layer.

FREE WRITE
Write for a period of time about your topic. Write anything and everything that comes to mind without erasing or taking then pen off of the paper, think about questions you have about your topic and your thought process.
The Lovely Bones is one of the most dreamy and lovely, delicate pieces of literature I have ever written. The sheer beauty and tragedy intertwined into the story line make this novel one that pulls at the reader's heart and causes them to cry out for a solution to the injustice done to Susie. When I began researching this novel I started to wonder what is the book's message? As I think further about this question during my free write, I realize it may have several messages, though none of them are too clear. My first message was that evil does not go unpunished. Upon thinking about this more, I realized that isn't true in this novel. Though Mr. Harvey does not kill another girl after Susie and dies, himself, Susie's family never finds out who Susie's killer is, nor do they ever find her body. Although Mr. Harvey is killed, he isn't necessarily punished, and justice was not served to Susie's family. I also have thought that the message may be one of hope or relationships. Hope because Susie's family continues to look for her, regardless of the lack of leads the police have. Relationships because once a tragedy.. actually, I think a better message than relationships might be the effects of tragedy on individuals. I guess that's not a message, rather a theme or concept. But, I think once Susie dies, her family changes drastically, as do their relationships with one another and the world. I also have thought about how the reader feels when they read this book for the first, second, or hundredth time. Every time, it seems to mimic the feelings of Susie's family, perhaps. The longing for a solution, the hope that Susie returns, or maybe the hope that Susie's message will get through to her family. Regardless, the story moves you, pulls you, and makes you believe in Susie and her story.


WORD LISTS [click to enlarge]
Begin with a general concept word, beneath it make a list of descriptive words, metaphoric words, or oppositional words, all relating back to the general concept word.

Life Lesson: branding by agencies every student should know.

1. CSA DESIGN

I love the way these business cards for French Paper Co. were resolved. The bright colors, and shape of the card are unusual, but not obnoxious. The icons and visual elements on the front of the card are fun and create a poppy, vintage feel. Finally, the way the type is treated on the back of the card is beautiful. The logo works well on the card, and the client not only receives the contact info of the company, but also a little backstory. Lovely, functional design.

2. HATCH SF

Hatch designed the corporate brochure for EMAW, and I think the end result is contemporary, sleek, and visually interesting. I love the limited color palette with natural colors. The typography is also well-treated and works well with the overall design of the brochure.

3. 160 OVER 90

The packaging designed for BOT drinks is so cute and so appealing. The characters for each flavor look friendly and can appeal to all ages. The ad campaign that went along with the drinks also had a feel-good attitude along with the bright colors and young consumers.

4. PENTAGRAM

This product line for Mothercare is contemporary and well-designed, though the overall tone of the products is soft and delicate, fitting since the products are for mothers to be and their infants. In addition the products look clean, again, fitting as many of the products include body washes and lotions.

5. WERNER WERKS

With this design for Integra Bank, both the simple and more typical bank brochure and a more contemporary, poppy design are featured. The design featuring icons represents "Bank Anytime" well, while also including a bright pop of blue-green to brighten up the space. Overall, a design that is appealing to younger bankers as well as older customers.

6. WILLOUGHBY DESIGN

These are gift certificates to SPIN! Neapolitan Pizza, located in Kansas City. I love the layering of this design. The patterns, vintage looking photos, and simple type work well with the restaurant's label logo. Overall, a well-designed and original concept for their "dough".