17 Ways to Make Graphic Designers Cringe

http://www.buzzfeed.com/sludgepunkslimeharpy/things-that-make-graphic-designers-cringe-82dk

 Taking everything I have learned not only in this class, but typography as well, I can certainly understand the majority of these. We had to do presentations on powerpoint for my photography class and it seriously bothered me that I couldn't kern the letters of my titles and the uneven spacing really really really bothered me. Before this semester, I would have never noticed. It's good to know that I am actually learning and retaining the information, but at the same time it's kind of annoying (in a good way) that I'm constantly noticing slight errors in designs and type now. #17 on the list resonates with me due to my experience during the Winona exercise. The lesson learned from that: SAVE SAVE SAVE SAVE SAVE.

~ Catherine

Quilled Paper Art

 

Recently, I've been finding more and more of this quilled paper art. Not sure what the history of this kind of art is, but it is very cool and I would imagine it would take a great deal of care and patience to get the curls right. It's amazing the intricate and complicated images you can make with essentially just lines. These are obviously of popular fictional icons, but there are plenty more online of pretty much everything. 

~ Catherine

Pepsi vs Coke

I meant to post this after Halloween, but I forgot about it until now. This ad made me laugh in that Coca-Cola only had to change the phrase on the image to make it fall in their favor, which goes to show how important context is when making an ad, especially if you're going to poke fun at your biggest competitor. When you take out the written phrase, the only thing that references Halloween was the fact that it was released close to the holiday. Perhaps if Pepsi added some more Halloween themes in the image, like a jack-o-lantern, skeleton, etc...they wouldn't find themselves in the awkward situation where their own ad was used against them. 

~ Catherine

Update: After googling for a bit, I found out that Cola cola's response was not official and it was probably made by a Coke fan. But still, it's a cleaver and witty response and I find it more embarrassing that a Coke fan did it on behalf of the company rather than the company itself.

Simple Fruits

http://www.christopherdina.com/Fruit%20Page%20Links/Fruit.html

I found this guy's poster designs and thought they were super cute and well done. I find myself being attracted to simplistic designs, ones that make a statement without the need of excessive ornamentation. My designs for all my graphic design courses also tend to be on the simplistic side. I don't know if it's because I'm lazy or something or if this is genuinely my style of design. Further exploration of my creativity is needed to me to find the answer...

~ Catherine

Colors

I am surprised that we are not required to take a color theory class for graphic design. For various projects thus far, I found it quite difficult to choose what colors to use. Which colors technically go together (and not just because I like them)? There literally an infinite number of color combinations you can do, so it would be nice to understand which colors would and would not work together just to narrow the options down. Here are some popular logos separated by their colors. It's very interesting to see them all laid out like this and to see their business missions compare to others and how it relates to their logo colors.

~ Catherine

Things you should never say to a designer

http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/things-you-should-never-say-to-a-designer

I just looked at this list and thought it was hilarious. Even though I have no experience dealing with clients, I can imagine that some demands from them will sound ridiculous and make me want to smack them. I also really like the different designs done for each one. Each of them is just so different from the others. It's a great range of different design styles.

~ Catherine

Happy Halloween!

I absolutely love this ad. It's very cute, simple, and suits the product to a tee. The contrasting colors of the caps to the sharpie color was most likely intentional. I would love to know what was the thinking process of the designer who created this just to get a sense of what it takes to create a great ad. 

~ Catherine