First wedding invite

I have been doing an awful job keeping up with my blog since I graduated. I'm going to start back up, and my goal is to post at least once a week. Here is my first wedding invitation that I designed. The bride wanted a tree look with her colors incorporated. She suggested printing the RSVPs in the size of business cards, which turned out well! I'm looking forward to designing more.

Last Days as a Tiger

Critique: Feature

This week I’ve been working on my draft of the Green Fakers secondary feature for Vox. The story is about sustainable construction and just how “green” buildings are in Columbia. The illustration I designed represents the different levels of greenness a building has, or can have. 

Response: End of the Semester

It’s hard to believe that my last semester as a tiger is coming to an end. As cliché as it is, I didn’t expect college to fly by quite this fast. I remember thinking this time last year that I have plenty of time to figure out where I would like to work and apply for jobs. And now it’s here. It’s scary to think I’ll be in the real world soon. I’m excited to graduate and be done with schoolwork, but I might be wishing to be back in school when I have a full-time job. I hope I find a job I'm passionate about and love going to each day. That is extremely important to me, and when, or if, it does happen I'll be very thankful. As of right now, I have part-time freelance work lined up. I will be designing each month for a magazine in Springfield. I’m excited to get some real-world experience. It should be a good starting point for me.

You Can’t Miss This

On designverb this week, there is a post of a designer’s enlightening notes. It’s pretty clever. Here is one page, but you can check out the rest on the blog!

I found two blogs that have some great DIY ideas. Even though I probably won’t do most of the projects, it’s really fun to look at them. The Shanty 2 Chic blog has a post on making a Mason jar key hook. I think it’s adorable, and it seems pretty easy to do. I’d love to make one for my house. On Ruffled, there is a post on how to make string chandeliers. I’m thinking about making these for my wedding next summer. I was planning on having paper lanterns, but it might be neat to make my own.  

Final Work

Critique: Shindig iPad App

We’ve been working on iPad app pages for our magazine. The one I’m designing is a cooking guide that has a list of the evening’s menu. It includes the cooking time of each item, when it should be taken out of the oven, for example, and a timer that shows what temperature it should be cooked. There is also a shopping list that provides what food will be needed for the party. Here is what it looks like so far.

Response: Mini Portfolio

I’ve been finalizing my portfolio, and all I have left to put in it is Shindig designs. I’m planning to send it to the printer this weekend to get a proof before we present them to the class. Here is what I have for my front and back cover, a preview of what my labels and page setup will look like, and my resume, which is on the last pages.

You Can’t Miss This

On designverb this week, there is a post about emoticon rings. Chao and Eero Jewel from Finland designed these with inspiration that email and phone messages are used so frequently. Using emoticons to express emotion is probably a daily activity for most people, so I bet many think this is a clever idea. I think they're pretty funny.

I love looking at packaging design, and I found some pretty neat ones on a site called Lovely Package. Much of the designs featured are of beverage labels, but there is a wide variety of categories, such as athletics and home. Here are some of my favorites.

Finalizing Shindig

Critique: Shindig 
Well, Shindig designing is officially almost complete. We’ve come a long way from our first draft, and it has turned out great. I’m so excited to see the finished product. It will be rewarding to see our work in print. Here are my pretty-much-final designs. Some online teases and high-res photos need to be placed, but other than that everything is complete. I was in charge of four departments and two features.

Also, here is my music department design for the 4/21 issue.

Response: Mini Portfolio

I worked on my portfolio this past weekend, and I realized it’s harder to come up with a layout than I expected. I’m having trouble deciding if I want to put designs strictly on the right pages or if I should include designs on the left pages as well. As of right now I have single-page designs on the right pages, and if there is a multiple-page design, I put it on both sides. This strategy might be too inconsistent, but I will decide after I figure out where I’m going to place the section labels. 

You Can’t Miss This:

Designverb hasn't posted much these past two weeks, but there was a post about puppeteers Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones. Their latest creation is of a life-like horse who trots and gallops. Check out the video. It's pretty amazing what they can build.

I came across this neat website of Mathieu Badimon, a French web designer. Check out one of his pages.

Home Stretch

One moth left until graduation! It's scary that I'll be off to the real world soon and exciting as well. For my capstone, I only have two more projects, a few designs for Vox and Shindig finishing touches to do. Four weeks will go by super fast.

Critique: 30 Under 30

Last Thursday I turned in my design for the 30 Under 30 feature. I didn’t spend as much time on it as I would have liked because I was so busy and caught up with Shindig designing. Looking at it now, I wish I would’ve given more typographic treatment to the title. I had a neat idea for it, but I didn’t execute it well. I like the set up of the words, but I could’ve chosen a different font. I also like the dotted lines that connect each photo to the text. I think it has good potential, and with some redesigning it will be a great piece to include in my portfolio. Here is the opening spread.

Response: Mini Portfolio

I’m excited to make my mini portfolio for potential employers. I decided to go with EBM’s printing. I want to use glossy paper and the 7 x 81/2 size. For my front cover, I’m going to have a solid color for the background with my name. For the back cover, I’m going to list my contact information. Finding a great font for my name will be a key part because it will most likely be all that the front includes. I might create a design element to put with my name, but we’ll see how it looks without one first. I’m leaning toward having my designs only on the right-hand side of the pages, and then placing labels in the middle of the left pages. In terms of organization, I think it will be best to have my designs in this order: Shindig, Vox, magazine design class, Cerner and outside design work.

You Can’t Miss This:

Designverb hasn't posted anything on its blog all week, but I will include one as soon as they do.

I found a neat site called creattica. It has a collection of designs for inspiration, such as business cards, logos and HTML/CSS. I thought it’d be a good idea to share some of the website designs I came across. Hopefully they’ll provide everyone with ideas as we start designing our websites. Here is one of my favorites.

Let April Begin

Critique: Shindig Department Pages

This week I’ve been working on second drafts of the Chris Nease feature, and designing the remaining three department pages and feature that I was assigned. Tova did a great job designing the templates. I think everything is looking even more cohesive, and our brand/personality really shines through. I can’t believe that it’s already getting down to the last few weeks before the magazine goes to the printer! We have a lot to do until then, but it's all coming 

together nicely. I’m excited to finish our second drafts later this week. Here is one department and a rough draft of my other feature I’ve designed so far.

Response: Letter Art & Inspiration

I really enjoyed creating the letter art for the spring break project. I’ve always wanted a professional one from Hallmark, and now I can just frame my own work. I decided that I’m going to create more and give as gifts. I’m starting to photograph letters so I can have a variety to pick from. I think this will be a fun hobby and craft for me to have. Taking a photo a day was fun too. I'd love to do it for an entire year, but I know it would be tough to keep up with. Doing it for a week was a good amount of time, especially because I had extra time on my hands. Here is the letter art I designed for class and my four favorite photos I took.

Week Before Break

Critique: Magazine Draft

This week I’ve been working on drafts for Shindig. It really hit me last week that there is less than two months of the semester left. We have a lot to do in a short amount of time to complete our final prototype. We're on a great start though, and I know our magazine will turn out great. I am designing the feature about Chris Nease, an event designer who specializes in throwing smaller celebrations. She has a blog that is a great resource for entertaining, which I could spend hours on. She has amazing ideas and is a wonderful designer. It’s been fun learning about her and checking out her work. Here is my first draft of the feature! 

(The photos are placeholders. The one of Chris is from blog.catchmyparty.com and the others are from Chris's blog, http://www.celebrationsathomeblog.com/)

Response: Classmates’ Drafts

We previewed each magazine group’s draft today in class. Nosh is clean cut and well organized. The logo and the sell lines on the cover look really nice. Theresa did a great job. The departments and features look great so far too. The photo shoot for Christina’s feature turned out good. It looks very professional, along with the rest of the magazine. The Plaid Dad magazine is on a great start. The logo turned out good. I like the final decision. I bet it’s been challenging finding photos that fit the target audience, but it sounds like you all have specific ideas of what you’ll need. Everything is well organized, and the silver plate on the department pages fits well. I really like Cupboard’s logo that Aaron designed. Everything looks good. The “Can It” feature that Chen made really caught my eye. Modern Midwest is on a great start as well. Michelle’s illustration for the seafood feature is great. The spread has nice design elements. Erica’s “Date Night” is also appealing. I like the use of colors and the boxy layout. Great job everyone!

You Can’t Miss This:

Looking through Chris Nease’s blog this week, I came across a lot of awesome designs. Here is one of my favorite themed luncheons that I saw. You have to check out her blog if you haven’t already!