Final Work

I would like to start off by saying that I learned so much this semester. It taught me something valuable.

When I get frustrated or stressed I normally want to give up. It normally isn't really that important to me, but Viscom is different. I don't want to give up because I really care about the artwork and as much as we all complain on a regular basis, I really do enjoy graphic design. I also learned that I have a high tolerance of rejection, minimum sleep, and starting over- all which play a pretty important part in the art world. I really enjoyed this class not only because I learned a lot, but because I am really proud of the work I accomplished and I am satisfied knowing that I worked my hardest to meet the demands given to us. Below I have attached the final pieces of artwork and I will talk about my process, method, problems, concept and execution

Rapala

 

This first piece was fun for me to do. I liked the copy and the idea of it which made it a lot easier to accomplish. I came up with the title composition pretty quickly, but struggled at first with really pushing the lures as the main focus of the piece. After shooting some photography, I was able to use large images of the lures I had photographed which made the point of this piece a lot clearer. The color scheme just fell into place with the atmosphere of the water background and the rest was just technical logistics. Time Spent: 5 hours

Rapala POP

This next piece is my Rapala POP. It is two sided and stands up like a card would. On the outside it just says RAPALA in big letter. When thinking of what to put on the inside I thought about the audience. Who is the audience? What do they want from a lure? Affordable and good quality came to mind. They also want something that will work- something that will attract fish. I went with the idea that people were attracted to Rapala because it is affordable and great quality and that fish are physically attracted to the lure. I also added that the lure was effective, referring to it hooking the fish. I think the concept is pretty strong. I wanted to keep the design clean cut so the concept would come through, maybe even a but humorous or ironic.Time spent: 1 hour

Beverage Label

This is my beverage label for Little Moja, an orange soda drink. I wanted it to be a fun design and I accomplished that. It is clean and organized but also has enough presence to hold the audiences interest. I like the logo I made and the slogan to go with it. The crush bottles I used had a very distinct shape to them. The glass was out farther in the front where their sticker was originally and it made it difficult to attach the labels evenly. The orange colors matched well and the product looked clean and put together well. Time spent: 4 hours

Beverage Container- Four Pack

This is my beverage container. When I spotted the template at HyVee it was like a dream come true. I had previous purchased a different container template and it was not put together in a very good way and it was just way too much trouble. I went to the store to look for some different bottles and ended up finding that AND a great template. I was really excited about this project once I got the materials I wanted to use. Time Spent: 6 hours

Dust Jacket

This is my dust jacket for Pride and Prejudice. I think this project turned out very well. I like the use of my own personal photography. I also liked doing this project in Photoshop. I normally try to avoid using photoshop at all costs, but I knew I needed to use it if I wanted to accomplish my idea. I extended the sky and grass of my original image so that it would be continuous across the book. It ended up looking flawless as if the image was originally shot that way. I was particularly intersted in this project because I have interest in the book. Being familiar with the story really helps get an idea of what to do. I wonder if I will have to read certain books, watch movies and listen to music before design if I get a job in one of those fields? Time Spent: 5 hours

Audio CD Case

This is my audio 2 disc CD case for Pride and Prejudice. This was pretty simple to do. I repeat the same concept I had from the dust jacket on the book and the rest fell into place. I added a photography on grass and dandelions which is kind of like zooming in on the front page of the tree and grass from a distance. This was a great template to use and everything went very smoothly with this project. Time spent: 6 hours

Society of Illustrators

One thing I have learned is that the piece I dread doing the very most normally ends up being my favorite. I DID NOT want to do the herpetology poster or the native american series or this self-mailer, but I think those three pieces are some of my best work. I absolutely love how my self mailer turned out. I am really proud of it and I want to hang it on my wall! Everything is perfectly laid out but it is especially exciting because of the size! Mark Rothco said he likes to make his painting so big because he wants his audience to feel like they are inside the painting, not just on the outside looking at it. I think that is applicable to this self-mailer. It really brings the illustration to life. I spent 4 hours on this self-mailer.

Wick Fowler Chili Label

Here is my chili label for Wick Fowler. This was more difficult for me to design. i originally had a large bar at the to that grabbed the attention of the entire label- in a bad way. Then I messed around for a long time with adding in a texas looking start to support where Wick Fowler is founded but it ended up looking awkward and out of place. I finally came to this conclusion- a very light bar with two darker bars horizontally. This  looks great wrapped around the can and it really unifies the entire piece. I spent about 4 hours on this label.

Wick Fowler Poster

This poster was the easiest thing I did all semester. I got the idea, the imagery and everything just fell into place. It was really simple. It has a great presence when printed and it really just looks good. It gets the point across as well and it has that bold look I wanted. I spent about 30 minutes on this poster.

Total Time spent: about 38.5 hours

Portfolio

How safe

The projects with less text seem to always be more of a challenge for me. It has to do with having more of a problem to resolve. Balancing space, controlling text and imagery can be difficult with so little content. This composition is supported by the large full page photography. It consists of great colors and balance. I struggled with how high or how low to start the body copy on the right. I originally had it higher, as well as the image, which made the entire spread top heavy. I originally had the text on the left farther out to the left. It appeared to be unattached from the rest of the content and was just floating alone. After tucking in that text and finding the appropriate balance, the composition of the spread came together nicely. I started this design one other time with a completely different design. I used multiple photographs, attempting to use more of the space. The spread looked cluttered. I learned that simplicity (although it may not feel simply) looks better to the viewer. Clean and clear is effective.
Total Time: 2.5 hours

Native American Heritage Month

 

My original idea for this poster failed miserably. I tried and tried to make those darn arrowheads work one way or another and it just wasn't happening. My problem was that my first arrowhead poster was so good. I really liked it, but this particular project is a series and if one is bad, they are all bad. They need to be uniform yet hold their own importance and my arrowhead series wasn't doing that. After finding these drawings, i began rearranging text and layout. I ended up with the above poster without the texturized background. The poster looked empty and borrow. Solid brown. Solid black/white. The texture really livens up the series and gives it that Native America feel. I learned to really work outside of my desired ideas. I would never choose to do a Native America poster, so this assignment really got me out of my comfort zone and better prepared me for future projects I may be assigned.

Total Time: 7.5 hours

Stress

 

This layout was a pain in the butt. I started with the stressed out title going vertical down the left side of the left page. It created some awkward negative space. If I put the header at the top of the first page, it left too much text together. The compromise was to put it in the middle where it is. It still lacked attention and the fist coming through the paper really made it pop. I originally had the guy in the chair much smaller, but as suggested by Rusty I bumped it quite a bit, giving the spread some flare, some color and some scale. I really learned a lot about proper packaging and assembling from this assignment. 

Total Time: 8 hours

Smokey

This concept came to me one morning as I was waking up and starting to get ready for school. I really wanted a concept that REQUIRED you to see all three ads. Since these three ads would be together in a magazine I didn't want them to be redundant. The idea of One day it's here, the next's its not really works for this particular assignment. It is a bit of a shock factor and causes people to think. The third poster was the problem poster. Getting the right photo was diffifult, especially since we have limited access to professional, high resolution phoography. Although this image is a bit cheesy, it gets the point across. It's a group of people together looking positively on the idea of preventing forest fires. I would have liked to use a more serious/solemn photograph but they were hard to come by unless the people were dressed in business attire which I feel like wasn't appropriate.

Total Time: 7 hours

This is my favorite piece from this semester. I really like my concept. I also like it because I didn't have to fight with it much. The only change made from the original was moving the text in a little closer to the turtles and aligning the p to the h a little better. I combined them to make one path so that would appear to a unit. The thought of doing a herpetology poster was daunting at first, but once I realized I got to play around with Valentine's Day as well, my concept really started to come together. From this project, and this class so far, I have learned a lot about photography and how much weight it can carry. It is a great tool to use without appearing messy or cluttered. 

Total Time: 4 hours

Smokey the Bear Ads Series

Native American Poster

Really Obnoxious Stuff that made me laugh...

Comic Sans walks into a bar and the bartender says.."sorry we don't serve your type here."

Native American Heritage Month Poster Series

I wanted my series to be simple. I also wanted the series to clear look like a series. I think it went well. I feel like I do need some guidance how to make these "pop" a little more. 

The Secret of Feeling Full

Here is my Feeling Full spread:

This one was a little difficult for me to design. I like the idea of having a side bar but I don't have much experience with working with it. This one took a lot of massaging and fixing.

How Safe

Here is my 'How Safe" Spread.

I like the large, crisp image that jumps the gutter. Since there wasn't much text I needed to find a way to utilize the space in an effect and eye-catching way. The colors are great and even the article is pretty good. I like how this spread turned out.

Herpetology Poster!

I had so much fun doing this poster. I really liked the topic and what we had to work with. I think that makes a big difference in how well I perform. The more interested I am in the topic, the better I do!

Stress Layout

So incredibly glad we are done with this spread! I do like reworking my designs because they always look better by the end, but I also like the initial excitement of starting a new design. Not that I can say Rusty has ever left us without a new assignment to start! I have learned more in the past 2 months about design then I feel like I have in the last three years. There are so many things I don't know!!!

Here is my stress layout.

I originally had the title on the left side of the left page vertically. I really like the new placement of the title and the fist punching through the paper. I like this final layout quite a bit.

Jazz Combo Concert

Alright, I haven't updated in far too long.

This was my final jazz poster. The graphic went really well and i enjoyed making it. It was a little more difficult coming up with a catchy title and displaying the text and information on the poster as well. I really like the way the poster turned out.

KAA Poster

I really have enjoyed working with just black and white and making compositions. I like kerning text and rearranging it until it pleases my eye. After looking at this class, it was pointed out that this composition seems very divided between the text and the image, so it was suggested that I make it one composition together. I did this in my redo. It was also mentioned that my concept was a little unclear because I am trying to reach two very different audiences. 1. The students who might not think their work is good enough to submit and 2. The students who have an emotional attachment to their art and don't want to risk it getting sold. 

This was my redo of the original. 

The class as a whole liked this composition and concept much better than the first. I did a COB for the picture of the pot and I think that was really effective. 

Third Design:

This is my third design for the KAA poster. I changed the arrow to make it look more professional. I also align some of my text to make it a little more neat.

New Newsletter!

 

This is my revised newsletter. Since I made this design, I have done TWO MORE redos! Rusty wants us to design faster than we can type and think! :) I am learning loads from this experience. I also think that tracking the time is helpful because once we are out there in the real world eating mac and cheese trying to just stay afloat, we will have a better idea on how much to charge people for designs because we will know about how long such a project could take.

MAE Posters

All three of my MAE posters went pretty well. The class seemed to like my both my concepts and my designs. 1 poster was only text, one was with an image and one was with a vector drawing. All three were allowed one color: black.

For this first poster (vector only) I chose to have a more fun light-hearted concept. I got the idea from a teacher's quote page. After getting the quote, I thought of doing something cute and fun to tie it in. The birds were effective for giving off the summer feel that I wanted. Making things looks summery are pretty easy when you have color and can use all sorts of reds oranges and pinks but being limited on color, I wanted to make sure my graphic could hold it's own. The only problem with this poster was that the tree bleeds off the page and weren't allowed a bleed.

This was my second poster (photo only). I used a photo from thousand hills form last year. I also wanted to the concept to clear. the "blossom" goes along with the blossoming tree. I am not sure what this tree looks like to someone who hasn't seen the color version, but the tree is normally a gorgeous light pink beginning to blossom. Rusty said the transparent boxed worked well and that he liked the concept! Yay :)

This is the third poster (type only). My classmates and Rusty likes the composition and my use of a grid on this poster. I made a point to highlight the most important facts such as the date and time. The date is bolded and the time is pretty big. I was really happy with all three of my designs. All were approved by Rusty with a few tweaks of course.