For my redo, I worked hard to implement the changes suggested by Professor Harper. As for the grid, I aligned my spread so that it was perfectly even on both sides of the page. I noticed that the columns don’t really do this, so I moved the type slightly outside the column so that it would fit perfectly between the page. I knew that the type on my image could not be read very well, so I took the hardest type to read and I cut it out, this way it looks like my article just has one, simple to read paragraph to start it off. I also got rid of the gradient I used over the type because I thought that it actually made the text harder to read. On the second spread, I changed my paragraphs so that they were the same size, I did this by changing the 4th page back to 2 columns, and rearranging my pull out quote. For my tour dates, I made them stand out better by choosing a bigger and bolder typeface. I then shortened the title and made my tour dates bigger so they would stand out more. I aligned all of it with the type in the article and put the dates and title to the left so they weren’t inside the bright tan smoke, which made them much easier to read. I underlined the title for neatness. I then rearranged my text so they would be the same amount away from both images on the second spread. I moved the text box down, to give the type more room away from each image, and I thought this ended up looking a lot cleaner.
For my web design project I decided to focus on the website thehungerproject.org. I thought this was a great website for it because it’s a non profit that helps to end world hunger, especially focusing on children. I started off with some darker colors because I knew this would have to be a serious website. The main colors that I used were grey, blue, white and black. I decided to have a big picture on each page, like a lot of the example websites had. To keep it cohesive, I made each of those pictures black and white, and played with the hue and saturation to get them to look darker and more somber. I used fonts that I thought were serious and simple to get my message across. I also added some color pictures in so the website wasn’t too dull, and I thought that they added a nice touch. My donate now box is big and red to get the point across, and I put it on every page, and even added a donate page just to really drive the point home that people need to donate; a good consistent call to action was what I was going for. I put facts on the front page, because I thought it looked really cool when other sites, like charity-water had mind blowing facts to start off the website. I also put a sentence type call to action on the first few parts next to the main picture, because I thought it fit in really well with those pictures and with the website. I tried to keep each box aligned to the grid so that it was a nice neat, clean website. All in all, I think it looks clean and appealing.
Although the CS5 software really upsets me sometimes, because it always seems extra complicated and hard to get used to, it’s still not as bad as having to do graphic design the way it used to be done. Read this article on the way graphic designers used to work before this type of software was invented, and it may make you think twice about getting pissed at photoshop or indesign. I have to say, I would much rather be worried about the software acting up than actually have to do all of these things by hand. Graphic design used to be so time consuming!
Music is a huge inspiration for me. I love listening to it, whenever I’m feeling stressed, down, up, excited, or really any feeling. It can convey so many emotions that an image just can’t. Harmonies and melodies just hit me so much harder than images, and that’s just one reason I love turning to music. If you’re a fan of indie or acoustic music, I highly recommend this youtube channel, watchlistentell. It has really great live performances, and I’ve found some amazing bands just by checking it out. It seems to be based in London, which for me is where all great music has been coming from recently. Enjoy!
As an advertising major, it interests me to see some good ads. These ones are pretty hilarious, and if you’re looking for a stress reliever, you should check these out for fun. What I noticed about all these ads, is they are all of high quality. None of them are sloppy, they really seem clean and pop right out at you. That is what a good image does, it pops out because it is clean and has great quality. None of these images look pixelated or blurry and they all have a very real feel to them. Check out these hilarious ads when you get the chance.
Any fan of the muppet show will recognize the muppets that are displayed in this picture. This is a really cool minimalist approach to drawing the muppets and I thought it was so interesting that you can recognize them just based on a few shapes. It’s a testament to how popular the show is, and how talented this artist is that we can tell who these muppets are just by looking at a very small amount of simple images. I thought this was a cool graphic and needed to be shared on the blog. Check out the original post by clicking on the picture!
I found this blog where there are 15 videos of dialogue from movies displayed as motion typography. It is really cool. The typography along with the colors and movements match perfectly with the dialogue. Every one of them is interesting to watch. As a film lover I found this to be a really cool way to link typography with film and movement. It just seems like an awesome concept, and it comes out looking really great and enjoyable to watch.
This is just one of the many websites that has a terrible design. This article tells of the 30 worst looking websites you could possibly go to. They are all over the place with no dominating images and confusing colors. The worst part about them is that they really don’t use a grid system or any type of alignment at all. These sites are prime examples of what not to do, and they really show you how important alignment and grids are to websites and to your web design project.
This article shows the 16 most loved fonts to use for websites. As professor Harper said before, only a certain amount of fonts work and are recognizable for web design, so this is a good article to use to explore what fonts may work with your website. They are all relatively simple fonts but they get the point across and can really help accent your website. This seems like a great article to use to figure out what fonts will work for you.
This website won the Reader’s Choice Award for best use of images in web design. It shows that a dominant image is really the most important part of a great website. This website uses a great dominating image of a car speeding down the road to get their point across and attract readers. To view the other nominees, click here.
