Post 20

Being that this is my last blog post, and today will be our final critique, I thought this would be a good time to reflect on the semester over all. I started this class with absolutely zero background using indesign, illustrator, or photoshop. At first, I found these programs challenging, because of all the different things you can do on them were very new to me. Yes, I let myself get frustrated sometimes, but I have definitely seen an improvement in not only my work, but my ability to use these programs and try new things.

In the first project we did, the initials one, I found that I used very basic techniques on indesign. Infact, the only tools that I used was the rectangle tool, and text boxes. I found that as the semester progressed and I learned more and more techniques, my designs were coming out better and better. I now have confidence that I could use those programs to create practically anything. I've learned how to make a poster, magazine layout, brochure, or simply a creative design.

This course is definitely an important one that any communication major should take. You learn many skills that are going to be very helpful to know throughout our careers. I am happy with what I learned during this course, and I'm also quite impressed with my creations.

I should also add that in the beginning of the semester I thought blogging was going to be something I did not enjoy doing, but I must admit, 20 blogs in, it's a good way of taking everything we've learned and applying it to real life. I also enjoyed reading other people's blog posts, to see how they took in their com graphics experience as well.

I look forward to our last critique session today, and seeing everyones final brochures.

Post 19

So I'm sitting in the library... REALLY REALLY hungry. And all I can think about is food art. I have seen some of the most creatively designed foods. One of my favorite pieces of food art would have to be those deliciously beautiful Edible Arrangements. Not only does your fruit come in a perfectly arranged basket, but each piece of fruit is either perfectly dipped in chocolate, or put together with other fruits to make a new design. It's really incredible to see what these people can do with a basket and some fruit.

Now how amazing does that look? Don't you want to just bite into one of those pineapple flowers? I do!

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a serious sweet tooth. So maybe its just me who sees beauty in chocolate, but I truly believe I have seen some beautifully designed chocolates as well. On Valentine's Day last year, Russell and I went to this little chocolate shop on Elmwood, where they make their own chocolate on site. Not only do they make their own chocolate, but they make it into such beautiful artistic designs! They literally truffles in the shapes of different things. It was so cool! I really find it amazing when people can take something as simple as chocolate, and using the aspect of design, can turn it into something beautiful.

One of the main things I see as I scroll down my Instagram feed, are pictures of people's meals. Not only are companies turning their food into pieces of art, but everyday people that I follow on Instagram do too! Some people post the most amazing looking meals ever, so when I'm hungry, Instagram is not the place to be! One day I made the horrible mistake of searching #foodart. Oh my gosh, the number of amazing looking things that came up is unexplainable. Even when you search that in Google, the most beautiful delicious looking things come up. Here are a few of my favorites:

People usually say "don't play with your food" but I'm glad these people did!

Post 18

I just came from my com401 class, which is communication research. All semester long, we were working on doing different research projects, in order to come up with a final presentation, involving recommendations for a specific organization or client. I was sitting there for about two hours, and watched maybe seven presentations. Something I noticed that a few groups mentioned, was improving the logo for the company. This made me think a lot about the com322 class, and how important a well thought out and executed design is. It's not only important to have a good idea, but you need to make sure you execute your idea to its full potential. For example, one group was doing research for the Adam's Mark hotel. A recommendation that they came up with was to update their logo. When they showed us the logo that they currently use, I completely agree with them.

This is the logo that the Adam's Mark currently uses. It is literally a mark. Yes, it's literal, but does it make any sense? No. This logo does not serve much purpose to the hotel. It's not something recognizable, that if someone saw it, they would immediately know what its for.

When designing a logo, it's important to keep in mind that you want this logo to identify with the organization itself. Many companies like to use the letter that starts off their name. For example, Dunkin Donuts, has a very simple logo, that if seen driving by, you would immediately know what its for. In many cases, a simple two letter design is more effective then trying to recreate a mark.

Doesn't it make you want to go grab a coffee?

Post 17

After seeing the final brochure I created, I have to say I am quite pleased. The non-profit organization that I made a summer day camp brochure for, I actually went to as a camper, and counselor, for a large portion of my life. I have seen a ton of brochures, flyers, and posters to say the least. I must admit, mine is something that I believe would incline a parent or child to find out more. I used many fun pictures that would make any kid want to go to camp. The only thing I can think of that I might want to have done differently, would be to use even less text. However, I don't believe that text is a bad thing on a brochure, because after all, the point is to inform people on this summer camp. And if you read the text, you're likely to want to enroll! The whole point is to get someone to want to read it, and I believe the inviting colors, fonts, and pictures do so.

Creating this brochure opened my eyes to many more opportunities. I really enjoyed doing this for an organization that means a lot to me. I actually spoke with an old friend from the Sam Field Y, who works in PR, doing the advertising mainly through social media. He told me about all of the things he does for the Y, and all the job opportunities that are available. I don't know if that is necessarily what I want to do, but it's refreshing to see that there are options out there. Besides, it would be pretty cool to work for a place I practically grew up at.

Post 16

There have been many incidences, where Disney, has been accused of putting inappropriate messages in their designs. When I first heard about these, I wasn't convinced, but after doing some research I found that their are in fact some inappropriate images in many of their films. The most talked about, is the cover of The Little Mermaid. The controversy is that there is an oddly shaped structure on the castle, closely resembling a penis. Disney, and the designer of the cover, insist it was an accident, resulting from a rushed final product. Ironically, (or not), this was not the only instance where Disney did something like this.

As mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, I am always interested in hearing about conspiracies in the world. I read about the "Disney conspiracy". I found so many different accusations against the images that have been used throughout many of these children movies. It really makes you think, were the designers really that careless to make these "mistakes" so often, or were these inappropriate images placed there on purpose. Below I will show some of the most obvious "mistakes" I found.

This is from the children's movie, "The Rescuers". If this is a film rated PG, why are there a women's naked breasts in the window?

This is the cover to "The Little Mermaid", and as you can see, this outlined part of the castle, doesn't look so castle like.

Here is a scene from the Lion King, where the stars clearly say that word sex.

Here is the cover for the Lion King, and you can see that the shape of his head is resembling the back side of a woman.

Now, it's up to you to decide if these are people coming up with crazy conspiracies, or if this is really a poor design job on Disney's part. If it is, Disney definitely needs a new graphic designer!

Post 15

A great way of expressing yourself through art, are tattoos. This is a fun and beautiful way show people who you are. Ever since I was a little girl, I always knew wanted tattoos, I just didn't know what I wanted. After all, this is a piece of art that is going to be displayed on your skin, forever! Most people think long and hard about what they are going to get, before they actually go through with it. I made the mistake once, of getting a tattoo that wasn't thought out, and I covered it up. Trust me, I'll never make that mistake again!

However, the first tattoo I got, will always be my favorite. When I turned 18, I came up to Buffalo to visit my sister Rebecca who was already a student here. We went and got butterfly tattoos, for our grandma who passed away a few months prior to my 18th birthday. In my family, the butterfly symbolizes life. After my uncle died in the tragic attack on the World Trade Center, my family, especially my grandma, believed that whenever we saw a butterfly, it was him saying hello. Then, after my grandma passed, we found the butterfly even more meaningful. I got four butterflies going up my side, representing each person in my immediate family; myself, my sister, and my parents. My sister, got a butterfly on her foot, with my grandma's name, Evelyn, on the outline. My parents were never a fan of tattoos, and definitely didn't want their two daughters getting them, but they loved our butterfly tattoos, as they will always be a reminder of the loved ones we've lost.

Throughout my life, I've seen some great tattoos, and some not so great ones. Either way, tattoos are a fun way of expressing yourself. Whenever I see people who have them, I always stop and look. I like when they have meaning behind them, and tell a story. This is a great way to tell the world who you are, through images.      

Post 14

After learning how to use photoshop in class, I realized how many things are probably done with Photoshop that many people don't notice. For example, we all know many models are photo shopped for magazine spreads, etc. Before taking this class, I had no idea how to use photoshop at all. Now, I see how much can be done to a picture using this program. The exercise we did involving putting Emilia Airheart's face on someone else's body, really opened my eyes to this. It made me wonder if any of the recent pictures we've been showed involving the Boston bombings were photoshopped. I've always been interested in hearing about conspiracy theories, and my poetry class is always a place where people bring up crazy things. One day in class, my professor was talking about recent news he heard about the Boston bombings. He saw a video, regarding the backpack the alleged bomber was wearing. In one photo, the boy was wearing the backpack, and in another photo, there was no backpack! This could be easily done using photoshop. Now that I understand a little about how the program works, I wanted to do a search and see if I could tell if the backpack was photoshopped or not. I couldn't find this picture anywhere, but I did find something else interesting regarding that day. I found a bunch of copies of a photo of an injured woman. In some copies, the woman's leg was in tact, in other copies, the woman had a broken bone popping out of her leg.

Here you can see for yourself, this is the same exact image, just showing a different wound on the leg. Based on my knowledge of Photoshop, I believe that the image on the left was the one photoshopped. It is very simple to add something like that to any image, but I'll leave that for you to decide!

On a lighter note, I found some other funny photoshop fails, here they are

If you're gonna use photoshop to add muscles to yourself, don't forget to do both arms!

Post 13

While I was doing my brochure, which was for a summer camp that I used to work at, I was searching for the perfect typeface to use. I thought about using Comic Sans, but then I remembered Amy saying in class one day that she hates that font. Before taking this class, I had never heard anyone say they hate a typeface. This was interesting to me, so I googled it. I got 5,070,000 results. I couldn't believe how much was out there about a typeface.

As I am sitting here reading and blogging about Comic Sans, my friend Kristen told me that there is a poster hanging in her classroom that says, "Every time you use Comic Sans a baby gets punched". It's kind of funny to me, but there really is hatred out there for this font. One of the main reasons people didn't like it was because of its widespread usage, particularly dealing with serious or formal subjects. People's biggest complaint about it was that it portrays a childish and informal mood.

I started thinking about when I was in middle school and that was my favorite font to write in. I guess everyone is right, Comic Sans is a childish font. So maybe I was right too, and I could have used it for my brochure on the summer camp. I found another typeface called Rockwell, that I ended up really liking, so I used that one and I think it worked really well.

Something interesting I found while researching Comic Sans, was the "Ban Comic Sans" movement. Supposedly, it was started by Dave and Holly Crumbs, graphic designers from Indianapolis, after a job insisted they used the font in a children's museum exhibit. Their main point is that a professional designer would typically think about the overall impact a font would have on a project, and an amateur, would just pick something they like, disregarding the fonts impact on the final design. This is the main reason that people use Comic Sans, because they think its visually appealing to the eye.

Post 12

My Tuesday and Thursday's class schedules are by far my favorite. These days, I have a fine arts class, and then this graphic design class. I did not purposely make my schedule this way, but I love the way it turned out! I get a break from the 400 level classes, and horrid math class that I have on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. In the beginning of the semester, I had no idea I had any artistic ability at all, now I feel completely different.

Many things that I learned in my art class, have helped me in the design class as well. The first week in fine arts, we learned all about color. Primary colors, secondary colors, shades, and much more. I learned that yellow is opposite purple on the color wheel, blue contrasts orange, and red and green.

All of this information has been very helpful in creating powerful designs. When creating any sort of design, you have to think about the message you are sending, and to whom you are giving it to. All of this information is relevant to what you are going to put in your design. If you want something to POP, you would probably use two colors that go well together. Such as purple and yellow, or even the primary colors, red, blue and yellow.

We did two projects in fine arts using the element of color. The first, was a representation of a color wheel, including every color, and its shade and tint. Also, along with that assignment was to take the contrasting colors, and blend them together. The second project involved mixing all your basic red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, and white, to create new colors that go well together. After we had our new colors, we had to dot them on a square 5 inches by 4 inches. This project helped me realize which colors go well together, and which do not.

I find it ironic that unknowingly, I had two classes back to back on Tuesdays and Thursdays that would directly correlate with one another. Even more surprisingly, I found out I'm somewhat good at art and designing my own projects! This opens up a whole new group of career options for myself. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to take both of these classes this semester.

Post 11

After seeing everyone's poster designs in class, I have a much better understanding on what works, and what doesn't work. There are a few different ways to make a successful poster. You don't need alot of information, to get your message across. All you need is a simple slogan, or design, and your point will be more than clear. Some of the best posters in class didn't even have many words on them. I loved the one about the slut walk. That was a relatively simple design that was created using indesign itself. She showed four different images, and had very few words. I believe it said, "the size of the dress doesn't mean yes". Very simple, yet very effective message.

Another poster that I thought had a very strong message was the one about lung cancer in response to cigarette smoking. This one, used words, but in the shape, colors, and form of an actual cigarette. Getting a point across to people is simple. Use words or images that will catch the attention of your viewers. All of these powerful posters, had some things in common. Many posters were black, white, and red. These colors go well together to stand out and catch someones eye.

Something that I noticed that didn't work so well, was a lot of text that is difficult to read. Although it may make someone want to get up and read what your poster says, it is not powerful enough to hang up on a billboard and hope that someone driving by will be able to understand your message. If all you're going for is the effect of many words, then this might work. But if you have a message you want to convey, make sure it is big and bold enough for people to read from a distance. Since this project, I have been critiquing all of the posters I see hanging around. I find myself doing this with many aspects of communication.

Post 10

Growing up in Queens, I was exposed to the art of graffiti at a very young age. Yes, I called it art. I believe that graffiti is a beautiful form of art. I'm not talking about what people "tag" their names on walls, although, I have seen some very artistic tags up on buildings, but throughout my years, I have seen some truly beautiful murals.

I started noticing graffiti in an artistic way in middle school. One of my friends, who still does graffiti to this day, painted me my name on a canvas for my birthday. It was so creative and beautiful, that I wanted to see more. I started noticing all the street art that is all over my neighborhood. There is one piece in particular that I've always loved. It's nothing special, but for some reason, every time I drive down Bell Boulevard, it catches my eye. It is a simple reminder to me that the simple things in life are beautiful too.

Many people think that graffiti is just vandalizing trains and bus stations, but there is much more to it then that. One of my favorite graffiti artists, is Caine 1, who is actually also from Queens. His work was done almost exclusively on the 7 train which runs through Queens. He paints in a cartoon like way, which makes for interesting images. One night, Caine was responsible for painting ten whole cars, which is one out of the two entire train cars ever painted.

Below are some murals in NYC that i love, I hope you will too!

Post 9

After taking this class, I've come to look at all aspects of graphic design in a new light. I find myself critiquing different ads and posters I see around me. For example, some of the posters I see hanging around campus really bother me. They don't look like they were created by anyone who has taken this class. What I mean by that, is that often the color schemes are all over the place, fonts don't speak what the poster is trying to say, or even as obvious as a horrible kerning job.

In the beginning weeks of the semester, we watched the film "Helvetica". At this point in the course, I thought this was a huge exaggeration. Turns out, its not! Helvetica is used more often than any other font out there. Many companies use this font in their logo, or even as the awning of their store front. Once you are aware of something like this, you begin to see it over and over again. This gets a bit repetitive. I get that there are many properties of Helvetica that make it a good font to use in many situations, but sometimes I'd like to see something else.

Personally, I've used Helvetica in only one project this year. By using InDesign, I was able to test out many different fonts, and find the one that best fits my objective. The project in which I have chosen to use Helvetica for was the poster. The reason I thought Helvetica was a good choice here was because of the bold statement I was making. "DRINKING AND DRIVING ONLY LEADS TO A DEAD END". What better way is there to make this statement, other than the infamous...

Helvetica!

Post 8

I'd like to take this time to blog about some of my frustrations in this class. As much as I enjoy working in this class and coming up with my own designs, I sometimes get rather frustrated while working in the programs I've never used before. The biggest issue I have is some of the exercises, more especially, the Photoshop ones. I have never used the Photoshop program before I started taking this class, so this is all still very new to me. When we are shown the exercise for the first time, I usually start out trying to follow along with the professor. As the exercise goes past the first few steps, I find myself stuck ten steps back past where the rest of the class is. This sometimes gets discouraging for me because I feel like the rest of the class can do something that I cannot.

I understand that there is a professor that helps us for a reason, but when you're one of the only ones in class who constantly needs help with completing the exercises, you shy away from asking all the time. I also feel like how can I be the only one who is lost? I wonder if I am the only one who feels this way. I don't understand how everyone else can be photoshop and indesign professionals. Maybe it would be helpful for the whole class if the exercises were explained slowly, in a manner that would be easier for the class to follow along.

Its also difficult to master the use of these programs because the only time I have access to them is during the two hour time frame we have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is really hard to get used to new programs in such a short amount of time. Although I have been having some issues with the exercises, I really enjoy the projects where we get to use our own creative ability to come up with designs. Even if its only using a few tricks we've learned, I can still make a pretty cool looking design!

Post 7

I remember when I first saw this poster on a bus stop in Brooklyn, NY. I live in Queens, and over winter break I was driving to my friend's house in Brooklyn. My first reaction was to take a picture of it. Just driving by, I didn't get a chance to read everything that was on it. All I saw were the big bold words, "Stop being black". This caught my attention because without knowing what else the poster says, you would assume this poster is racist.

After reading the poster close up, you then realize it is stating the facts about the percentage of times black people have been stopped by the police and the amount of times the police were in the wrong. These posters are on bus stops and billboards all over Brooklyn. It is part of a larger group called RISE or Racism Still Exists, which is an anonymous group whose mission "is to illuminate some of the ways in which racism operates in this country".

I definitely think that this is an effective poster because it catches your attention, and makes you read the rest. The group that created this design makes these posters every month, and displays them on the streets of Brooklyn. This is a convenient way for them to get their message out to the community, and people can take the information and do with it what they want. The people of Brooklyn have definitely been talking about these posters.

Post 6

When we were first shown all the different pieces of information needed to begin working on project number two, I felt a bit over whelmed. There was so much to read on magazine layouts, grids, and much more, that I wasn't exactly sure where to begin. I am not going to lie, at the start of this project, I didn't read the article text. This made for an extremely uncomfortable feeling when I began to design the layout. After realizing that it was a bit challenging to create a design for something that I don't even know what its about, I went back and read the article. I actually found the article, The Psychology Of Color In Design, very interesting. Not only did I learn about what different colors stand for or what they mean in this world, I found it useful for this class, and my future career in the communication field.

After I had an understanding of the article, I found it much easier to create a design that would be useful for this magazine spread. I found an image of different colors changing from one to another. There was no object or image in the picture itself, it was just color. I then realized it would be cool to have this image as the background of the entire article, opposed to just a rectangular picture box in a random spot in my spread. I played around with the transparency of the background, to find the brightest possible way I could leave it, without making the words difficult to read when printed.

There was one other picture that I found while searching the web for colorful photos. Here it is

I wanted to use this picture in my magazine spread somewhere because I felt as if it shows all the different colors the article was talking about, and it spreads them out in a way that is visually appealing to the eye. Because the image is sort of "cut off" on the bottom, I tried putting it in the bottom right corner of the page. I found that it just didn't fit in with the rest of my layout, so I ended up taking it out and leaving the rest as is.

I am confident in my design, but I am interested in seeing what the rest of the class has to say!

Post 5

When first introduced to exercise one, I was both a little excited and a little nervous. Firstly, I was nervous because I have never used the Adobe Illustrator program before. I had just gotten sort of used to how InDesign worked, so starting a new design program got my nerves going. However, it seems as though illustrator and indesign have many of the same features and shortcuts.

The assignment seemed strange to me at first. Recreate an image using only rectangles? Hmm... How do I go about this? I began playing around with different sized rectangles and placing them in different angles and such. I found that there is not much variety I could show except for color, size, and placement. Using these three elements, how can I recreate this painting without distorting too far away from the original photo?

Something I found difficult while recreating the photograph was understanding the actual picture. How can you begin to redesign something without knowing what the artist was trying to say? When I look at the original photo, I see a body that was twisted and distorted looking. To recreate this, I'll start with the head and work my way down. Another challenge to this exercise, is the limited number of rectangles we're allowed. The first time I did the exercise, I had way over 20 rectangles. Now the really hard part will be eliminating rectangles but keeping the image that I have created.

I will post an updated blog with a picture when I am finished with this exercise!

Post 4

I've always enjoyed reading magazines, so when we received the assignment sheet for project number two, I was excited to see what ideas I could come up with. I started by picking up my favorite copy of People Fashion. When I'm flipping through the pages, I know almost immediately if there is something that I want to look further at or not. There are certain things that catch my eye as I flip through a magazine such as colors, pictures, word count/ size, and even the layout of the page. Like most others, if I see something that is visually appealing, I am more likely to stop and look at it. The first thing that caught my attention in the copy of People Fashion was a page titled "7 Spring Break Must Haves". Simple, and to the point. It was in bright big letters with pictures of beautiful models showing off whatever was being advertised.

In another one of my communication classes, I learned about effective advertisement, and ineffective advertisement. When it comes to magazines it's quite simple. Each magazine has a specific audience that they are targeting. Successful designers will place the correct ad in the correct magazine. For example, in a men's magazine, ads may have sexual images of women. And for that magazine, that would be an effective advertisement.

I haven't begun to design my magazine layout yet, but I have been brainstorming ideas. I want to do something that would attract a young woman around my age, because those are the types of magazines I have been reading and know the most about. I believe that in order to make my design successful, I just need to follow the criteria that I believe creates an eye catching advertisement. Big, bold, and beautiful!

Post 3

When project number one was introduced, I was excited to start working on the InDesign program. I had very little experience working with this type of program. In my public relations writing course last semester, one of the last assignments we did was making a brochure on InDesign. At first, I found it very confusing and frustrating to use. Luckily, my professor wasn't expecting professional designs from us. I got a feel for the program and was interested in learning more.

My first thought about the initials project was, "How will I incorporate words along with my initials?" I had brainstormed a few ideas, but had nothing set in my mind. When we got the collage assignment on the class blog to do over the weekend, I created a design based on love. I love love, so I figured why not find a bunch of words that I love, and form a heart around my initials.

It was then in class when I presented that collage to Professor Greenan, that she suggested basing my initials project on the collage I did. At first I was a little iffy about the idea, but as I began playing around with things that I love and my initials, I found that this was the best way to describe myself. It took a few tries of choosing the right font and colors, but when I came across my final project I said, "That's it! That's me!"

Post 2

Before taking this class, I didn't realize how important font types were. I always figured that Times New Roman was the typical font used, because that was what appeared in most newspapers and periodicals. Personally, I was never too fond of this font. I find it to be rather boring and unexciting. I used to select a font based on what I thought looked nice. For example, I was always fond of Arial, because I thought it looked simple yet elegant.

However, now I realize that so much more goes into creating and selecting fonts. After watching the film, Helvetica, I see the positives and the negatives that go along with a popular font type like that. It definitely has its uses. There is a time and a place for everything, even fonts like Comic Sans. The font you choose can make or break whatever you are trying to create. Sometimes, it is best to play around with the font and the words you are using.

Another thing about font type that I found to be particularly interesting were all the rules and proper uses we were shown in class on Thursday. There were some rules that I appreciated, and others that I found pointless. I was surprised to see all the different elements that go into creating a proper design.

Something that I never knew and find very cool is that you can change the kerning between letters. I've had the issue before when I write in all caps and the spacing between letters looks funny. How cool is it that now I know how to fix this! I look forward to learning much more interesting things I can do with my designs.

Post 1

After we met for the first time, I realized that this class is a combination of many different communication classes I've taken before. It takes the qualities of visual communication and advertisement, and combines it into something I look forward to creating on my own! It is very important for communication majors to study design because no matter what you do in the field, you need to be able to present something in a way that is appealing to others. Whether you're trying to sell a product, promote a company, or create some sort of message, you need to be able to attract the attention of whom ever your audience is. This is done by good design. A good design will automatically catch your eye, and make you want to know more. You can either make a positive image of a company, or a negative one, all dependent on the image you use to identify them.

I'm not going to call this my favorite design in any way, shape, or form, but a design that I can guarantee catches everyone's eyes, whether they notice or not, is the famous McDonald's arch. You can spot a McDonalds from miles down the road. A bright yellow M that is high in the sky is hard to miss. I consider this a good design. It stands out, and you will notice it right away. That must have been what whoever created it was aiming for. So when you're driving down the road and you see that huge arch, you'll stop in for a big mac. To me, that was a well thought out design, that works!