PORTFOLIO: Stress Magazine Layout

For this project, I probably spent about 10 hours taking it to its final state. I still don't like the tie underneath the image, but I'm not sure what to do with the space. For revamping, I moved the drop shadow in the title and fixed the line at the bottom (it used to go straight across, which was kind of ugly).

For this project, I wanted it to have a more "corporate" look, since people usually associate stress with work or events going outside the house.

PORTFOLIO: Native American Heritage Month

For this poster, I have probably spent 8 hours or more. For revamping it for midterm, I added the background (something I found on morguefile.com and then converted to a duotone), made the Native American chief a COB, and edited the text. Although I feel it could maybe use a little more work, I am pleased with the fun color of the background

For my concept, I wanted the idea that the Native American has names of tribes in him, like the viewer might have in them. Also, I tried to make the background resemble a terrain like that the Native Americans might have lived on.

PORTFOLIO: How Safe Article

For this layout, I tried to incorporate different organic foods to bring color to the piece. For the sidebar, I decided to use a lighter color so to as not draw attention away from the pictures, but to still bring attention to the text itself. Overall, I have also probably spent 10-12 hours on this layout.

In redoing it for the midterm, I also added a drop shadow to the mushrooms, recut one of the mushrooms to make the COB more exact, and moved the type around to make the two paragraphs line up less. As usual, I used Arial for this layout.

PORTFOLIO: The Secret of Feeling Full Layout

For this layout, I honestly ran out of time. I decided to make the colored block a lighter color so to allow the text to be black instead of white, which I thought looked hideous. Since I redid my idea for this poster three times, I've probably spent at least 10-12 hours on it, which is frustrating because I'm not quite as pleased with the results.

In renovating it, I kerned the "The Hunger Hormones" on the side bar and moved my title around so it lined up better. Also, I moved a few pills around the title to try an make it more aesthetically pleasing. For this layout, I used arial in different forms (it's becoming my favorite). For my concept, I just wanted to make the reader think of different types of pills, as mentioned in the article.

PORTFOLIO: Greek Language Classes Poster

For this poster, I also spent about 4 hours. The reason why I spent so much time on these posters is the illustration, which usually takes longer than I initially expect. For this poster, I used Times, Arial, and a font called "Ancient Geek" (yes, it really is Geek and not Greek; I'm confused myself).

When I was over half way through remaking the poster for midterm, I began to think I would like to add a Greek pillar in the background by Apollo's right hand. I had hoped that the smaller text would then lay on that pillar. Unfortunately, I rode home from TSU to Saint Louis today and I ran out of time to finish my pillar, which was unfortunate.

Also, I'm realizing now that the headline text is a little difficult to read. I made the "Hidden" italicized to catch the reader's attention, but then made it a lighter color of gray to try and make it seem like it was "hidden".

For this poster, my concept was to make the reader think of Greek as a forgotten, or "hidden", language, which would mean it was something people might question. To reinforce the notion of "not knowing", I placed a question mark over Apollo's... well... you get the idea...

PORTFOLIO: Ceramics Classes Poster

Overall, I probably spent about 4-5 hours on this poster. This includes the initial layout as well as the revamping done for the midterm portfolio. Overall, I am please with the results.

I used Georgia and Arial fonts for this poster. For the illustration, I outlined two hands doing pottery in Illustrator. Also, I used a grid, which was originally 6 columns, but ended up being 24 columns so I could align the side text. In turn, that made things a bit confusing.

this needs WORK. and I need sleep.

So, this article is about umbrellas and how they are used for advertising. I'm wondering if I should incorporate advertising at all, like have an image with logos in the background, but my image is lame and doesn't get very big. I like my font, but it might be too fancy. idk. also i added color in photoshop to my image and now it looks trippy.

The "On Top of the World" article is about the himilayas, which complements the mountainous background in the photo. The mountains in the photo are actually from Bosnia, but the reader doesn't need to know that. I have an illustration of the world in the upper left-hand corner.

I feel like this ad seems elementary. Really, all these seem elementary. This poster is about studying abroad in Bosnia. The circle has the same look as the Bosnian flag.

So since when can you upload multiple pictures on one page?!

So here's my magazine article. It's about the Himalayas. I feel like it's kind of boring, so it would prlly belong in a magazine like the National Geographic or something. But I need to improve it somehow to make it less boring. Hmm...

This is the poster and it's advertising a study abroad program to Bosnia. The band with the white stars represents the Bosnian flag. I need more text in the circle and maybe make it more colorful.

So here's my 2-page ad for a magazine article. I like my display font, but it needs more umbrellas and MORE COLOR. I miss color. I don't dig this black and white thing. Too bland...

Well, this needs work too. But it's only the first round, so no worries.

Ohhhh Rapala...

DON'T like this layout. Yet, I'm not sure what to do with it, except that I want it to look like someone was tacking things up on a wall, like what might be at a fishing store in the country where they might have a "Bait Shop Wall". Anywho, I have an idea, it's just having problems coming together. Also, I've spent a lot of time on my other two layouts, so this one will need some work this weekend.

Pills, Pills, Pills

So, I think this is better than before, but I feel like it could use some form of jazzing up, I just don't know what. I do know one thing though: this layout has the most COBs I have done on any magazine layout... EVER. And I'm pretty sure that record will be broken again by the end of this semester. =/d

How Safe? - Final Round

Well, almost too tired to type, so sorry if any of this is incoherent, but here's the final. Truthfully, I'm satisfied with it. I'm sure there's some things I can work on, but really I think it turned out okay. The only thing that bugs me is that darn page number because I just sort of threw that in there without much thought, but the rest seems fine. yay.

One Fishy Article

Hmmm... so for this article I decided to make the background look like the wooden wall of like a rural pub to give it the sea look. Since this is an ad, I probably should incorporate an image of a man fishing and something having to do with Rapala. The body copy is size 12, so that's pretty big and leaves plenty of room for a picture, but I would like to try and make it look like a polaroid but make it big and stick it on the second page. Also, I'm not sure about the layout since the title goes across both pages. Will that work out okay technically?

Round II - Health Article.... HELP.

So I really don't like my layout for this one. Feel free to comment at will. I haven't made any drop caps or anything dividing the paragraphs because I'm not sure what I'm doing with this article.

Round II - How Safe Article

So far, I think I like my title page, but I'm not so sure about the text body. It seems kind of divided. Also, the negative space is driving me crazy, but I'm bad at adding too much so I'm trying to resist.

Also, is there too much imagery? And is my text for "Fresh Concerns" too large?

Finalized Stressed Out Layout

Here's my final for the Stressed Out magazine article... sorry it's so late. I guess I needed to have added something else besides the tie to the bottom left-hand corner because it kind of makes the left page stick out too much.

Also, my paragraphs aren't defined by much. Hmmmm... what to do, what to do....

Health Article

So I figured I would try and make this image a bit bigger than the last, although I know this layout has some serious issues. For one, I need to work more color in somehow. This is frustrating because I really don't want to color my illustration (it's of a girl with a stomach ache) but I'm not sure what else to do.

Also, the block of red on the side is kind of bulky and too eye-catching. I also used a grid on this one but , so far, I don't think it has been nearly as successful.

Well this is going to be out of order...

I'm saying this because I have yet to upload my final for the last magazine article, but I'll be sure to do that after class tomorrow so as not to make this blog confusing (which it might already be).

Anywho, here's my layout thus far for the "How Safe?" article. I know the second page needs some definite work, so on round II I might add another image to try and make it seem less open. Or do I just need to work with the text some more? I'm not sure. Also, the body copy on the left could use some work. But I used grids!!!! =)

Stress in the form of a Magazine Layout

Not sure if I like this layout or not. Actually, I'm pretty sure I don't, I just don't know what to do. I know the illustration of the tie could us some work and I still don't have the page and magazine title in the footer of the design yet. I bought the image of the businessman off of a stock photo site because I ran out of ideas. I really wanted to buy an image of a man with a clamp around his head, but the image costed 50 or so dollars. Fifty dollars, seriously?

So this is what I came up with and hopefully this will be improved upon in class and before Wednesday.

Stress goes Boring?

So here's my design for the magazine layout about stress. I tried to be a bit original by renaming the article, but it didn't help bring much enticement. Truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of magazine layouts and I sort of want to head back to the posters. In making this article design, the type messed with my ideas and I still can't seem to fit it all on two pages. Also, I don't know what color scheme to use. Originally I was thinking a blue and a yellow (blue makes a person calm and yellow bring excitement) to enable emotions that usually are overlooked when stressed, but the colors really aren't coming through.

Native American Poster - Round Three

Hmm... so I don't know exactly where to begin with this one, except that I'm late on uploading it (sorry about that), but I think I have improved the catch phrase a bit. Also, I need to align the bottom text more to the rest of the design. Basically, I'm getting kind of tired of this poster, but it's looking better than it did before, so that's a plus.

DDR Anyone?

So here's my concept for the TSODA poster: "why do DDR when you can watch real dancing?" or "See dancing done - Without the Arrows." Not quite sure where I'm going with this yet, and not sure if I like the pantone choice either. I think it's PMS 311 M? It's a little blue, and when I think of TSODA, I don't necessarily think of blue. It doesn't always pop, and for a poster about dancing, I feel like the colors should pop. Also, I need desperate help with the text. I guess I'll use a grid. Sheesh.

But for the colors I guess I might choose some sort of red because that will stick out more. Also, Huyen told me she feels like my image is a little flat, and I agree with her. Maybe I could add some drop shadows? Or a background of some sort?

Oh you dirty minds... and my lack thereof.

So, when I thought "oh, I use a play-of-words off of the Gatorade slogan", I didn't realize that it would have a hidden meaning. I guess that's either due to my ditziness or the fact that I was working on this late at night, but either way the outcome was an interesting one. Now my poster design is beginning to gross me out. Thanks Rusty, thanks.

Also, I know I need to change the color of the beginning of my catchphrase. Not completely sure about anything else though. Just no sexual innuendos. That's a no-go.

Fonts I would like to be stranded with

Truthfully, I don't know if there are any fonts I would really like to be stranded with, unless they're display fonts, which is not possible, so this might take some thinking. Oh well, here it goes:

1. Times New Roman because it has a lot of different characters, so I would be able to spell help in all sorts of languages in the sand.

2. Arial - both regular and black (so I guess this counts as two) because it's a nice sans-serif font and it has several variations so it won't get too boring. Plus Arial Black is pretty bulky, so it could probably provide some serious shade. (and question: can we write in text talk on these blogs? Because I really just wanted to type prlly... )

3. Impact. I'm not sure why, and the font would probably be a debby - downer since I'm sure I would be stranded on this island due to some sort of impact between a form of travel and a random object, but I still like the font nonetheless.

4. And Georgia, just because I feel like it's another versatile serif font. Also, the G's it makes are pretty cool.

Okie, there you have it. Five fonts to be stranded with.

Events performed by the German Language Department and students

So I made that big circle to look like the sun, and then I just thought it looked cool as is. Like a spotlight or something. While making this poster, I realized how big of an effect the font for the headline made on the project. If I used a font like Times New Roman or a sans-serif like Arial, it made the poster look really boring. Yet, if I used the font that I did in the final, it gave the poster I different feel. I wouldn't exactly call it exciting, just less-boring. Also, I think I made less mistakes with the body copy in this poster, although it could still use some work. For this poster, I felt that my concept was a bit different, even though the graphics and headline didn't necessarily stand out.

Join the Rock Climbing Club

For this poster, I liked the silhouette, but the sun in the background just doesn't seem to be working. Also, I liked the font I chose for the header, but I didn't like the font I chose for the body copy. The catchline is effective, but not original.

Pottery Classes at Kirksville Arts Association

For this poster, I had trouble with the body copy. I still think that the body copy has too much variation and is assembled in a weird way. Also, it was tough making the illustration in Illustrator because I wanted the sking to be a different color than the clay on the hands, but yet contrast from the clay on the actual pot, so that was problematic. And the right thumb looks funky.

Latin American Dancing Poster

So sorry if these are out of order... because I'm pretty sure they are. but here's my poster for the Latin American Dance:

Now looking at it, I kind of feel that my concept is cheesy - not that I wasn't thinking that at 3 in the morning, but still. I wish I would have used a different font for the body text because it seems very boring compared to the headline. Also, I wish I had my friend's full body in the image with some dancing clothes photoshopped in or something. Yet, I am satisfied with the positioning of the rose. I would also like to be able to see the eyes of the dancer. I had a lot of trouble with figuring out how to place the hat on the person because I found the hat on the internet but I shot the image of the guy with the rose myself. =/

Greek Poster- oh so overdue.

This is my poster for the Greek 100 language classes. I didn't really have a solid concept with the piece, except that I tried to make it funny (if that even counts as a concept). I took an image of a Greek statue of the god Apollo, traced it in Ilustrator, drew my hand in Illustrator giving a thumbs up, and combined the two. Also, I figured why not place the question mark over the nudity? It was an attempt to make the poster attract more attention.

If I could do this poster over again, I would probably try to come up with a catch phrase to go along with the Apollo image. Also, I would make the letting between the headline tighter because there is way too much space between lines. The font size for the information would be smaller because it takes up too much room and draws too much attention for being additional information.

Native American Poster - After First Presentation

Hey, here's my poster.

In the image of the Native American chief, I placed names of different tribes in 25% opacity of the pms 117 color. Also, I think I need a catch phrase having something to do about tribe recognition or which tribe to do belong to? I should maybe even have some statistics or something. Also, I was thinking about remaking this and having buffalo as my focus instead with a catch phrase like "fly like a bird, run like a buffalo" or some Native American quote that has something to do with buffalo. I tried painting the buffalo with watercolor but failed.

In my finished comp, I also feel that the text needs to be broken up more and that the headline is too bold and dark. The Native American chief is a sketch with regular pen, scanned into Photoshop and then InDesign.

Anywho, please comment at will.