For my website I decided to use “Project Rescue” as my non-for-profit. This organization helps women in India get out of the red light district and restore their lives. The logo for Project Rescue is a very industrial looking and I didn’t think that represented India very well. So I designed another butterfly and constructed it through henna designs, scanned it into Illustrator, and live traced, and imported it into Photoshop. I wanted the design of the website to reflect that of the new logo, so I didn’t want to use the typical boxes, they were too cold and rigid for what I wanted. So I decided to use a torn paper brush to create some texture in the background and in the background of the header. I thought this created a very interactive look for the public. To link the logo and the header I used a tape brush to make it even more rustic and interactive.
Originally I had pictures in the header, but I needed a dominate image and having a large image in the center of the page and a picture in the header was too much, so I changed it to just text, that went along with the logo. To make it look like the picture was a part of the torn paper I used the magic wand tool to select the background then subtracted spaces using the option and marquee tool. I think this is a very cool effect and not only brings the website together but also creates a space for the reader to focus.
I tried to use as little text as I could for the footer of the website and tried to be to the point so I could get my point across. That is why I used numbers and statistics to really show there is a problem and people need to help. The “take action” portion of the website gives clear simple instructions for people and the “locations’ portion shows where the donor’s time and money is going.
This web design was very challenging to me at first because I had not really used Photoshop at all, but in the end I think my website is clear, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to navigate through.
For my logo redo I wanted to make everything more simple. For the business card I had a box with a stroke around my name and it contrasted with the roundness of my logo. So I got rid of the box and made my name bigger and just added a simple line to break the information up a little. I kept the front of the business card the same. For the envelope I had a similar problem, I had boxes and squares, which completely threw off the circle pattern of my logo. So I got rid of the boxes and just simply put my logo with my information centered beneath it. I kept the back of the envelope the same. For the letter head I once again was trapping my logo inside a box. So I got rid of the box and just had the logo with a simple line underneath, and kept my information on the bottom of the page. I am happy with these changes, I made it a lot simpler and it looks a lot cleaner and neat. My logo is very intricate so I just put more emphases on that instead of having other elements deter from it.
For the redo I just had some minor things to change that I missed. For example alignment and some spacing and widows issues. I kept the same design and images because I feel that those are the most important part of the piece.
Thought this might be helpful with finding the right title/body fonts for the magazine project!
I wanted my logo to be professional enough for the government and law fields, but I still wanted to express my specialty, which is human rights. Most professional companies use only initials or words for their logo, so I wanted to incorporate my initials in some way. I mess around in Illustrator with my initials and got the lower case “a” and upper case “R” interlocked together. I am used the Georgia font, because of the serifs it was easier to interlock my initials. I then put it in a circle to symbolize my well roundedness, but this didn’t really show what my specialty was. I decided to use an intricate pattern to symbolize traditional Middle Eastern societies, the geographic location I want to specialize in. I chose a deep red and light orange because those are also colors associated with the Middle East. I didn’t use all of the elements of my logo in the business card and envelope because it was too much for the reader to look at. So I broke the logo down into separate entities to make it less busy for the reader to look at. I also have a complicated design so I wanted to make some things a little simpler for the reader as well. This is why I only used my initials on the back of the envelope to act as a stamp and used the brush stroke around the return address. The same applies to my business card. I think I accomplished what I wanted and showed my professionalism but also my creativity and specialty.
I was having a hard time trying to come up with a logo and I found this site, which was really helpful! It gives you a step by step thought process for designing a badass logo. Enjoy. 
Very good tutorial about how to put an image or design over your texts in Illustrator. Hope this is helpful!
For the redo of my poster project I changed a lot of things. First of all I got rid of a lot of objects that made up the solution. I just kept a ball of paper for the “o” and the light bulb for the “i”. Then I put the letters in different text boxes and arranged them differently so they flowed more easily. I even put some in capitals and some in lower case to make it more interesting. Then I played with the sizes of the other words until they fit just perfectly. I made the “u” out of cardboard and placed it in alignment with the rest of the words so everything acted as one element. I think this is better than my first poster because it is a lot more fluid and easier for the reader to read.
I found this tutorial very helpful for my project and it also led me to know how to make many other textures, shadows, ect. in Photoshop. Hope this helps!
