A Designer Dossier

Well another semester of school is over. I feel good about it and I'm ready to take a break over the summer and go back refreshed in the Fall. In the mean time I still have some designs to post.

I realized that through out the semester I've posted several of the project that we did in Typography but nothing from my InDesign class. So today I'm going to post one of my 3 InDesign projects. Over the summer I'll try to get them all up here but for now I'm going to start at the end. Our final InDesign project was to do a Dossier for one of our fellow students. We were assigned a client (the student we were working for) at random and we needed to get to know them and put there work and the qualifications into a document that represented them. So it would basically be a resume but it would very visual representation of their skills.

This was hard at first because there is a very conventional format for a resume but for this kind of dossier just about anything goes. It is all about representing the client and their work the way they want to be represented. So Linh Ly was my client and that worked out really well. We didn't really know each other when we started but she was very easy to work with, she was open to my ideas, and she had a wide variety of really good work for me to use. The first big thing Linh told me about herself is that people usually think she's shy and she wanted me to do something that would show her fun side. I drew up a lot of ideas for her with that in mind but the one I really liked was the idea of making it look as if her she had set her images out on a sheet of notebook paper and then written some notes.

I was thrilled that Linh seemed to really like this idea as well. As soon as I pitched it to her she decided it was what she wanted to go with. From there it was just a mater of bring together the right elements to create that illusion. I started by creating the 'notebook paper' in Adobe Illustrator. It worked out pretty well although as both Bryan and Tom (my instructor) pointed out the 'holes' are a bit large. I meant to go back and fix that I just ran out of time. I placed the Illustrator document on the InDesign master page so it would appear on both pages of the dossier. Then I placed Linh's images in the InDesign document. I had them overlap each other and run off the page as if they had just been set down on the page. Also I made her two favorite pieces quite large to emphasize them. Then I added the text to the gaps between the pictures trying to make it look as if notes had been written in where they would fit. Part of creating this illusion was wrapping the text around the 'holes' and never letting the text run over a picture, although it does sometimes run into the shadows that I added later.

I rearrange the pictures and text a couple of times to give Linh some choices about how she wanted thing laid out. After she picked one I added some finishing details. I created an arrow in Illustrator to point from her Myspace address to the picture of her Myspace page. I scanned a paper clip and adjusted it's image in Photoshop. Then I imported that and made it look as if it was clipping the picture of Linh to the paper. Then finally I added a small drop shadow to each of the pictures to make it appear as if the pictures were sitting on the lined paper and not printed on the lined paper.

My biggest struggle with the whole process was sticking with just what was called for to create the impression that both Lihn and I were looking for. It was tempting to use a lot of fancy InDesign functions just to show that I could. However doing that would have detracted from the design rather that adding to it. I was extremely pleased with how it turned out and Linh and Tom both seemed to be as well. If I can brag just a little (not some thing I usually do) I think this was a great concept and it really highlighted Linh and her work. In his review of the project Tom said "The design is just so unified. I think it is your best piece in terms of design." I agree and I hope I can keep doing work that I feel this good about.

Linh Ly has given me her permission to use her work on this site. It is her copyrighted work and can not be reproduced for any other purpose with out her permission. If you are interested in Linh's work you can visit her Myspace Page @ www.myspace.com/linhypoo

Creating a Book

Yesterday we turned in our final projects for Typography. It was a challenging project but it was also very interesting. We were given text for a book about Giambattista Bodoni (a famous typographer) and we needed to layout the text into a 6 page book. We had to add pictures (some of which were provided), chose our fonts and use all the typographic conversions that we had learned through out the semester to make an interesting layout. We also needed to keep in mind the audience. A book about Bodoni is most likely to be read by designers and designers are more likely to be open to non-standard page layouts. This allowed us to be a little more bold in our designs then we might be other wise.

When I read the text one of the biggest things I got out of it was that Bodoni was more interested in the beauty of his pages than the readability of his type. Well I definitely wanted my type to be readable but with his philosophy in mind I set out to create pages that were attractive but modern. I also wanted to make use of at least a few of the ornaments Bodoni created. I used one very large on the front cover and then repeated it through out the pages. I also used one to separate the images. What I'm showing you are the front cover, the first page (which would start on the right), and a spread of the second and third page. The pages that followed were set up the same as pages 2 & 3, including page 6 which ended alone on the left.

We had to present it in the form of a book and getting the construction down was tricky. Over all it was a great project though. We got to show off a lot of the things we had learned over the course of the semester. I was pretty happy with the way my design turned out. I thought from the very beginning that this class was going to be hard and it was. I learned a ton of stuff though and I'm really glad to have taken it. I'm sure it will help me improve my work a immensely.

The Art Show

Well we are up to the end of the semester so things are completely crazy around here. That's why it's been weeks since my last post. I want to stop and take a minute to finally let you know what happened with the big art show.

I submitted the 4 pieces that I mentioned in my last post (the two 5 words designs mounted together, the Ocean Picture , the Halloween Poster, and my final photoshop project). I was hoping that if I submitted a bunch at least one would get in. I didn't need to worry the only one that didn't get in was the Halloween Poster. I was absolutely thrilled!! My instructors had a stack of stuff that didn't get in and I got in 3 it was totally amazing!!

On April 17th Bryan and I went to the reception at the show. It was an fantastic feeling to see my work displayed on the wall. It is one thing to have it hanging up on my wall and show it off to friends and family but it is totally different to see it displayed for everyone to see. I know I do that here. I put my work on the blog and anyone can look at it and people all over the world have but that's different too. In the gallery I guess I just felt more connected to it. Plus there is the added knowledge that your work was judge against your peers and chosen as some of the best. It was just really encouraging that people who don't know me think my work is good.

The designs from the continuing students are only half of the show. The other half is the graduating students showing there portfolios. That was really great to see. There work was far superior to mine and that was great because it really inspired me to want to learn more. I still have a lot of classes to take and although what I've already learned is very exciting the portfolios of my fellow students showed that the best stuff is yet to come. So now I'm really looking forward to some of those upper level classes even if they are a semester or two away!!

Over all the whole show was very inspiring and I was glad to be a part of it.

My Design on a Postcard!

This is a post card for the Arapahoe Community College Graphic Design art exhibit. I didn't design the postcard. If you look down the right side you can see the designers copyright info. If you read my blog regularly and you look closely the top puzzle piece should look familiar though. It's my 5 words typography project. It turns out that when the postcard was being designed someone came down and took pictures in the Graphic Design Department. My 5 words project was - and still is- hanging on the wall. It seems that it was in one of the pictures and made it to the postcard.

I didn't know anything about this until I told my instructor that I was thinking about mounting the black and the white note side-by-side and entering them. He said that would be cool since the one was on the postcard. I had no idea what he was talking about so we went down to his office and he gave me one. As a designer I suppose I should be upset that some one used my work without my permission. I have to say though that I am so thrilled that it spoke to someone enough that they want to use it this way that I just can't get upset. I think it is totally amazing !!! Plus since it's being used to promote the school that's totally cool.

I am also going to enter some of my work in the show. I'm going to enter the two 5 words designs mounted together ( 5 words 3/8/08), the Ocean Picture ( Colorizing the Ocean 1/29/08), the Halloween Poster (In Honor of The King of Horror 1/22/08), and my final photoshop project (Contest Entry 1/8/08). Hopefully at least one will get in. I don't think I'll know for a while what made the cut and what didn't. The entry deadline is April 14th and the show starts April 17th. Even if none of my pieces make it in I am over the moon about the postcard. I'll keep you posted (LOL).

Giant Vic

The other day my Mom was telling me that she really likes this image, so I'm posting it for her. It's the first project I ever did in Photoshop. I was for my Introduction to Computer Graphics class, I hadn't even made it to Photoshop 1 yet. Still it's a fun image and I was able to accomplish what I set out to do, which was to

make Victor look like a giant. However if you compare this to the some of the other Photoshop projects I've posted you can see that this was only the beginning.

As always I owe part of the success of this project to my husband and my son. They are both very supportive. Victor is always willing to be my subject. In this project I

used a picture of him that I already had but for others he has posed in very weird positions. When I know I'm going to use it for a project I take my own photos but Bryan is largely responsible for the huge number of older photos that I have to choose from. He also works very hard to make sure I have plenty of time to fuss over every project so It will turn out as good as I can make it.

My Mac

Today I posted a comment on my husband Bryan's blog http://bryus.vox.com and as he pointed out I didn't have an Avatar. Instead of a picture my comments just had the silhouette of a person with a ? in it's head. That's pretty lame. I've been wanting to get some thing else up there but I didn't know what. I knew I didn't want a photo of myself but that's as far as I had gotten. So today I revisited some of my older work and I found this simple picture of my Mac.

Creating the Mac picture was the second assignment I did when I started learning Adobe Illustrator. I actually still think it's pretty good. I also thought the mac would make a great Avatar for me it represents part of who I am, what I enjoy, and the new career I'm building. The picture did need a little tweaking because the width to height proportion was off and since the Mac is white I figured it would show up better on a black background particularly since it was going to be very small. So I used this slightly altered version as my new Avatar.

I'm pretty happy with it. I think it along with my comments will give people a sense of who I am. I'm also pleased to put up an image that I created myself since that is also part of who I am. I the future when I start thinking about doing freelance work I'll create a logo for myself and I'll use that to represent myself everywhere. For now though I think my little Mac will do just fine.

Losing Control

Well recently my relationship with JuJu Stx came to an end. Now that my internship has been over for awhile it seems the owner and I just couldn't agree on how to proceed with our business relationship. We seem to have parted on good terms though, with both of us agreeing that this just wasn't the right time for us to continue. I'm proud of the work I did for JuJu Stx. I think I developed a web site for that better represented there products and there brand identity. I'm glad I had the experience.

Tonight I visited the JuJu Stx site for the first time in several weeks. Quite frankly I wanted to see what changes had been made. I was particularly interested since I have the site listed on this blog as one I designed. I really wish I hadn't looked. I found that my design hadn't been changed (that might be easier on me) but that the work we did isn't being maintained.

One of the huge changes I made to the JuJu Stx site was to give it a cohesive color palette based on there product packaging. Already more colors are being added that just don't work. I know more and more changes will come with time. I also know it isn't really my concern anymore whether those changes are for the better or not. I just can't help cringing when I see it. My point is this, as a new designer it is so hard to let go. It is hard to let some one else take your creation and do whatever they want with it. After working so hard on something and painstakingly working out every detail it is hard to know that you no longer have any control, or even influence, over it.

I guess this is yet another thing we have to learn to deal with as designers. At some point our designs will be altered by others or we will be asked to alter them in ways we don't particularly agree with. I guess it pays to learn no to get so attached your work. However that's much easier said than done. I haven't found a way to detach yet. I hope in the future I'll be able to have passion for my work and still be able to let it go. I'll let you know.