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

Oracle Bones

My boyfriend was reading this book a while ago and mentioned that he really liked the cover of the book. I don't know what the book is about, so I'll just talk about the cover by itself from a design standpoint. For me, I mean immediately drawn the the boxes that the man is carrying. They are of a common rectangle shape but are at an angle and are therefore dynamic. There is also the pop of red next to them that is also very attracting. My eyes then travel to the hunched over man carrying his heavy burden. Then I am drawn the the lady pasted onto the side of the truck. Her eyes and the line that is created by her back leads me back to the man. A very well composed piece that draws the viewer in and keeps them in. I think the picture as a whole symbolizes the life style difference of people from different classes in China.

~ Catherine

More on Saul Bass

http://www.buzzfeed.com/saraboboltz/23-things-you-didnt-know-were-designed-by-one-man-af7c

I had no idea Saul Bass also designed a bunch of very popular logos. The ones that really caught me off by surprise were the Girl Scout logo, AT&T, Kleenex, the Quaker Man, United Airlines, Dixie, Exxon....ok so basically all the ones I know. It amazes me that one man could think of all these different ways to represent different companies/organizations and make them work. Especially since I need to redesign my logo for the typography I class. Ugh! What I wouldn't give to be in Saul Bass's head for this project.

~ Catherine

Round Tables at Starbucks

Ever wonder why Starbucks has round tables in their cafes? Me neither, but I'm going to tell you why anyways. Yes they do have square tables, but their decision to put round tables in as well was more than just for aesthetics. Did you ever go out to eat by yourself and find that you feel super awkward sitting all alone at a table? If you haven't, then I commend you on your self confidence, but for most of us, we have experienced that awkwardness. It's that awkwardness that Starbucks doesn't want their solo patrons to experience while in their cafes, so they put in round tables. Turns out sitting at a round table by yourself doesn't give a sense of loneliness as compared to a square table, after all, there are no defined sides to a circle. A simple concept that makes sense. For all we know, it's probably one of the reasons why people don't hesitate to go to Starbucks by themselves just to relax. So the next time you need to eat out by yourself, try to seat yourself at a round table, it just might make your experience that much better.

~ Catherine

Why shapes matter.

So after class today, I had some copies of my Saul Bass flyers that I didn't need. I obviously wanted to recycle them, so I walked around the printer since that's where paper recycling usually is. I did see this blue bin, which I associated it with recycling, however due to the circular hole, I automatically thought it was a bin for cans and bottles, despite there being no drinks allowed in the room. Completely ignoring the little sign on the bin, I proceeded to ask where the paper recycling was, and was led to very bin I was looking at. Turns out it was the recycling for paper, but why is the hole circular?? Having the hole be the shape it was completely threw off the purpose of the bin in my mind without a second thought. It amazed me how something as simple as a certain shape, can define what it is a part of so strongly. If it was a slot shaped hole, then I would have associated it with paper recycling. Perhaps it was originally for cans and bottles, but someone decided it would serve a more useful purpose in the computer lab. 

~ Catherine

Do you need a new t-shirt?

Did you spill wine on that t-shirt of yours? Did you accidentally put bleach in the washer and now t-shirt of yours looks like a depressing tie-dye project done by a kid at summer camp? Well look no further cause today is your lucky....week. That's right, I said week because this week on Woot! shirt the topic of the designs are "Text as Art". While you can't buy the shirt that you want now, you sure can vote on it, and hope that it makes it in the top three by Thursday evening so it'll get printed. So you should go now and check out the entries! 

....Ok, enough of this. But seriously, I think it is the perfect timing for Woot!shirt to be doing a text as art derby considering I am learning about this stuff at Parkland. I think I appreciate more the effort and creativity that has gone into the decent designs (some of them look like they were done on Microsoft Paint). Perhaps once I get more experience in design, I can submit an entry. You can make good money off of these shirts if your designs get picked. This one shirt (The Binge) has been on the selling list for over 3 years. 3 YEARS! and still counting. I think I calculated the money the guy made off of that one shirt, and I think it was over $100,000 or something like that. Anyways, I hope you at least take a look at the designs, they are worthy of at least a glance. Me personally, I hope the black cat that says "I don't care" gets printed. It was in the Fog of War yesterday, but now has fallen below that. Please vote on that one so I can buy it!!!

~Catherine

Do serif fonts get you better grades?

This is an interesting article I stumbled upon while searching for something to blog about. While we know that fonts do affected us consciously or subconsciously, does it affect us so much that our grades can be dependent on it? This guy seems to think so. Now, before you get overly excited about getting good grades based on what font you use, the "experiment" described has so many variables left in the air, like what classes the guy took, what his major was, and what was the selection of fonts he used. I can't find the original blog, the link sends me to a Japanese blog error page. Anyways, I think it would be very interesting to see this actually studied for a psychology lab or something. Follow a bunch of students from a university who are willing to put their grades on the line for a study to see if serif or sanserif fonts get you better grades.
http://blogs.library.duke.edu/blog/2008/01/15/do-serif-fonts-get-you-better-grades/

~Catherine

Re-awakening

What Mike Meyer from Sign Painters said, about how there is this re-awakening in interest of sign painting, is what inspired me to write this post just to get my thoughts out. 

I think it is wonderful that despite having all of this new technology and almost becoming a lost art, sign painting is starting to come back and believe this come back is a reflection on the trend that is going through society. I've noticed that over the past few years, the style for a variety of things reflects the style before technology took over our lives (something like the 60's or 70's). 

In fashion, "vintage" clothing is very popular nowadays where the clothing is of similar style to an era that has already passed. Vintage is also popular in online photo-sharing such as instagram. People take pictures with their modern phones, but then add what ever filter to them to make them look "vintage". Food has also taken on this trend I feel, but instead of "vintage" it's called "rustic". Many times while watching some sort of food related show, I hear them say how good the dish is and how wonderfully "rustic" it is. There is also this re-awakening for home made goods. Even though we have all this technology and can buy pretty much anything at stores, with sites such as Pinterest, there is an emphasis on homemade goods, from food, to clothing, to home accessories and everything else in between. There is just this interest and "coolness" to be able to make something with your own two hands. 

Perhaps we have gotten to the point where we are just so saturated by technology, that we as society subconsciously have this desire to go back to a more simple time. Instead of only admiring what technology can do, we are starting to look back again to what humans can do by themselves, such as the wonderful art of sign painting. Who knows what the next trend will be. They tend to repeat  over the course of time, but hopefully some of the good things are here to stay. 

~Catherine

Something about myself...

Something about myself that no body knows. Well, some people do know this but I'll write it anyways because it is one of the more interesting events in my life thus far. Two summers ago I went on a six week conservation program to South Africa and Mozambique. In South Africa, we lived on a game reserve for four weeks and in Mozambique we camped out on the beach for two weeks. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had. I remember the first morning on the reserve, we woke up to a herd of wildebeests outside the window. Everyday, a family of warthogs would crawl under the electric fence surround the campsite to drink water. I have seen enough of wild zebras, giraffes, and impalas to last a life time and developed a new fondness of elephants. Here is a somewhat gross tidbit I enjoy telling people. After the first week on the reserve, we ran out of running water (still had bottled water for drinking) because we were using too much between delivery times. After that incident, we all had to decide what was more important, showering or flushing the toilets. We decided flushing the toilet was more important so all of us only showered once a week. What would you have picked? At least it was winter at the time, so the weather was not hot. 

After South Africa, it was off to Mozambique for scuba diving. We literally camped out on the beach for 2 weeks (some people stayed 4 weeks) and fyi: sand is not soft when trying to sleep on it. Unfortunately when we were there, the weather was not very good. The waves on the Indian Ocean were very choppy and there were many cases of seasickness when traveling to our dive site and getting all of our gear on. I must admit, diving down the first time I had a panic attack. The sensation is frightening because it goes against all of your natural instincts, plus the first time I went down I was still motion sick from being on the surface. Motion sickness + staying underwater for a half hour = not fun. With each dive after that, it became easier and easier and I could finally enjoy the wonders of the coral reefs. As you swim over the reefs, it feels like you are flying , because you can freely move in all directions. Looking down, you can see all sorts of fish darting around, parrot fish, angel fish, surgeon fish, lion fish, etc... A potato bass even swam right into the middle of our group and if you don't know what a potato bass is, look it up, cause they're huge. During my last few dives, I didn't want to come back to the surface and wished I could have stayed underwater for like, 5 hours instead of 45 minutes. So by the end of the 2 weeks, I fulfilled all the requirements to get my license as an open water diver, although I haven't had the opportunity to use it since then. I guess that's expected when you decide to hang out in Illinois for a while.