Good Design?! Monkey Business?!

Above is the cover for the Black Eyed Peas album "Monkey Business". While it's one of my favorites in my collection, I particularly love the design of the cover. None of the members is competing for space or attention, yet there is a clear hierarchical scale and I am able to recognize Will.I.Am as the leader of the group.

The lighter color of the text on top of the deep red background makes for easy readability even though there is texture in it. The combination of complimentary colors in general is also attractive.

I also get a sense of depth, which separates the members of the group from the background.

Creating a Newsletter ?!

Designers can use InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator to create a dynamic newsletter.

For images, you would use photoshop to edit and create artistic photos to put into the newsletter. For example, if there is a specific theme for the letter (like Fall), a designer could use photoshop to change the season of a photo or add a color filter to give it a certain mood.

Perhaps a nice border or graphic you've sketched on paper would go well with the flow of the newsletter. Use Illustrator to turn it into a unique, one of a kind graphic to incorporate into the overall theme of the letter.

Then finally, to bring it altogether, incorporate both the photoshop and illustrator elements into an InDesign layout created for the newsletter. Here, a designer will be able to figure out the placement of all the elements and the most effective and design savvy way to feature everything, while getting the point of the newsletter across to the target audience.

We Must Protect This House?!

Now of course it's always a GREAT decision to place a RAVEN in ANY advertisement. But it's even better given the fact that Baltimore is the home of Under Armour. 

We Must Protect This House?!

Under Armour is branded as a very rugged yet quality choice for performance gear given their endorsements by professional athletes. In their ads, they also include no-name models posed as athletes to represent the masses. 

Color Me Badd (and Good)?!

First is my example of GOOD color.

I really enjoyed the monochromatic aspect of this Vaseline lotion ad.

The skin tone of the model matches the labeling of the bottles in a non-overwhelming way.

And the vividness of the brown really pops out on the strip of black used for the background.

 Now for the bad...

Let's play the...."find the text game"

Again,

another monochromatic ad....

There isn't enough contrast here between the image of the ad and

the text at the very top of it. I think that the opacity of the

soap and silk(?) could be taken down more and it would work a lot better for me.

Age 50 years in 15 minutes? (Photoshop)

In class, we did a little work with taking blemishes and acne away from a photo, and whitening teeth. A tutorial that I found does the opposite and ages a photo of Katie Holmes, increasing wrinkles in her face and marks.

This is the image we're starting with. In order to add years to her, the author suggest using a candid shot versus one that's been touched up in a studio.

Reference materials (photos of older women) are used for the agign process.
Next, is to play with her face?! Subtle touches are best!

The best tools for the job are the Clone Stamp (from your reference material that we used in class) and the Brush Tool.

Use different layers to sketch out wrinkles



Here is a photo of Katie in the aging process.

Remember to zoom in and out to get a full grasp of your project?!

Don't forget about the hair?!

As we learned in class, use the saturation and hue tools to add gray to her hair. Take advantage of contrast and brightness too?!

Next, use the brush tool to add details like a receding hairline.

Our Final Product (drum roll please...)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Grid Example

When I was looking for a good grid layout, everything started to look the same, but I began to understand why they worked. I found this layout from Playstation Magazine, which is spread across two pages.

The C in CRAP is really what attracted me, but the grid helps with readability because there is no wall of text, yet the images don't distract from the flow of the article.

..and the day was saved by Type Man!!

I usually fly SouthWest #justsaying

Anyway, This SOUTHWEST airlines ad uses text only in a very informative, to the point ad. 

Instead of images, they decide to use a contrasting black and white color scheme (which is a one color job-two points for me) and a bit of humor to promote their service.

Quick head nod to my FAVORITE designer, Mr. Calvin Klein!

Ok, this ad is basically the Calvin Klein logo with the brand name spelled out in front of the initials in the background.

It solely relies on brand recognition being that if you don't know that Calvin Klein is a fashion brand, they could really be selling high priced tires. It's basically a reminder that, hey, don't forget to shop Calvin Klein. We carry, well...a lot of different products.

(Dos) Creative Concepts

Ok, i dig the Puma "stick stick stick" ad. I thought it was a cool use of graphics to show what sport the shoe is for.

 Its colorful and complex but sorta simple at the same time with the white background and placement of the words and images.

The flow of the stick transitioning into the shoe leads you right to the logo of the product (puma) in the corner of the page.

(Uno) Creative Concepts

For the record, it is hard to take pictures of glossy magazines!!

Anywho, I thought this was a creative twist for an advertisement. The caption underneath the bottle says "The Stuff Inside Matters Most".

Usually, the label is the most important, because you want the product to be recognizable, but in this case, they diverted from that and threw it to the side in order to rest of the quality of the product.

I can dig!

Dig-InDesign

I was first introduced to InDesign in undergrad. For our final project, we designed a company newsletter from a template.

I thought it was GREAT! and I still do. It's fun to use and simple to figure out.

I learned InDesign with CS3 and I dig the changes in CS5, including the Gap Tool and the Smart Guide makes life a lot easier for alignment. 

The R in CRAP

This Nissan ad is a great example of REPITITION?!

 On the two page spread, the ad feature's the red X's in several different locations as a means of tying each idea they are presenting back to the attributes of the Nissan. These particular elements stand out in the ad because of the boldness of the color and the number of times they appear. CRAP?!

Figure in the Background....or vice versa?!

I just couldn't CHOOSE! Here are two interesting and different examples of figure and ground. The first is a painting I found of a man, shaded and blending into the black background. It's actually the white highlights that allow us to see that there is indeed a naked man there.

The second photo, a Forbes magazine advertisement, shows a gentlemen whose face actually becomes the cover of the magazine. I recognize it as background because he is a man, a part of the scene on the subway and at the point when his face becomes the cover of the magazine, he is figure.

Design Knows...or No's?!

This is the page in magazine's that everyone skips.

Lyrica is another libido fixer upper right? Nope, it relieves neuropathic pain. Who'd a THUNK it right?!

Anywho, the reason we skip this page is because there isn't anything DYNAMIC about it. Sure it says important facts, but the randomly (?!) arranged boxes of text make me sleepy.

This is Boring.

circa 1993 ...ish

Don't beat me up for this one?!

It took so much eye squinting effort to read this text. I certainly respect the desire to retain that scholastic, classical feel, but when people struggle to read it.....

While everything is balanced nicely, anchored by the institution's seal, they found another way to advertise, being that the school's name is MUCH bigger than the graduate's. 

p.s. thanks for letting me use your degree Mom

Design Does....or Do's?!

Check...Miss?!

Oh, to be clever.

 I respond positively to this design.

We understand that these chess pieces are the KING and QUEEN, with the latter checking her mate...and sporting the TACORI diamonds to prove it, hunteee!

Simple white background makes the important images POP. Even the small print that only I nobody reads.

No H8TE Ad

This looks familiar...

People will recognize this slogan and color scheme from President Obama's HOPE campaign. The Audacity!!

Using a recognizable image is a good (?!) tool to peak the audience's interests. Plus it's been slightly tweaked to include a rainbow, the iconic symbol of the gay community and their allies.  

Lastly, but not leastly, the advertisers use humor* to make their point. 

 A design Do?!

*stay tuned for Design Know No's....

What's First?!

Before I can get to What's Next?! let's establish, What's First?! This is my design blog-shout outs to UB!

First Assignments coming soon...