CD Cover

Musique Concrete

Business Card

Resume Re-design

Memo

The one concept that I learned in Information Design this semester is repetition. Before even receiving this assignment, I noticed how I have grown from this course. I work in the mass communications design office, and my co-worker was working on his resume. He asked me to check over it.

I scanned the page and noticed inconsistencies throughout it. There was different type throughout the page as well as various formats. Some things that should have been put into the same group, such as job titles, were bolded and others were not. On the right side of the page, there was also different alignment.

I might have noticed this before the class, but I am not confident that I would have caught everything. After taking the class however, I could not ignore the disparities. I pointed out the difference in alignments and formats that he had not noticed.

I understand repetition throughout design will help me in my future career. If I design something, I can make the font, color, alignment or other items repeat throughout the page to bring together a concept. I can then create variety by purpose, instead of having multiple formats become a distraction to the viewer.

Repetition is in anything we create. Like Dr. Rice said, even if there is a design without repetition, there still is repetition by default. The fact that nothing is repeating consistently, means that it is repeating.

Repetition creates emphasis. If you repeat something, you are showing its relevance and importance. You show that you have a purpose for putting it on the page. Instead of looking like you randomly chose a color, alignment, or other format, repeating it shows you chose it for a reason.

Repetition will always be in our society. Throughout advertisements, and other media, repetition is used. (Even as I copy and paste this into a blog post I realize the repetition. Besides the first paragraph, the first three paragraphs start with I, and the last three with the word repetition. I did not even realize this was happening until I started to put spaces into between the paragraphs.) I noticed repetition before this class, but not as much after taking information design. One needs to be consistent when sending a message, as to not distract the viewer from the information being presented.
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Design #5

For my last design I decided that I wanted to make myself a business card. I’ve always wanted to get business cards, but I’ve never had the time to design one. When I went down to Austin for part of SXSW there were a bunch of designers and artists that handed out their business cards. I think that if I do any sort of freelancing work, it is important to have a business card to hand out that look professional.

For my business card design I decided that I wanted to have the card tie into my website and resume that I designed. I wanted to create a consistent brand throughout by using similar colors. I even took the background picture from my website to place on the card. I then erased part of the image to make it look as if the image was ripped and placed onto the card. After that I organized the text to fit inside the ripped spaced to create a new form of alignment.

The thought of the design behind my business card was that it would be printed on plastic. At first, I decided that I wanted to print it on a clear card, but later decided that my design would go better on a frosted plastic card. I felt like the picture fading and text would create a better contrast against a frosted card than just a clear one. I also wouldn’t want my card to fade too much into its surroundings, but rather blend with a frosted appearance while still standing out.

The reason I would want to print a business card on plastic would be to stand out from other freelancers or candidates for a job. When you hand someone a business card they automatically feel it before they even look at the card. As far as rhetoric goes, the card made of plastic makes a statement in itself. The card makes an impression of being able to last longer than an ordinary business card. If it were printed on plastic, it would be a sturdier card compared to others.

If my business card were to get coffee spilled on it, the hot java would be easily wiped off. No matter if the card were to land on an organized or unorganized desk, it would retain the same quality it contained when it was first handed to the potential client or employer.

Eventually, I want to redesign my website, resume, and business card, but at this point I want everything to be consistent and don’t have the time to redesign my website. I also want to be able to use it for a while, and get all the time and effort that I spent creating it out of it. I would actually like to design a horizontal scrolling flash website, and be able to pick new colors again. Then I would want to create a new resume, and business card to match. I think the second time around I might want to have a slightly bolder main color than pink.

Wine label

First off, you might want to click on the image, so you can see it against a white background instead of the green background of my blog. I made it transparent however to better explain my design.

For my redesign 4 I decided I would do my wine bottle labels. I first tried to think of what I wanted to call my wine. Since I was born in South Africa, I started looking up words in Zulu. Bheka means look in Zulu. I decided that I really liked the name, because for my audience, who most likely does not speak Zulu, it is a name that can be pronounced. I wanted something different, and this name fit to that requirement, without being so weird that no one would be able to grasp it.

I always knew I wanted 3 different bottles, but I came up with the idea that I wanted the labels on these bottles to fit into one another. I wanted to send a subconscious message to the consumer that the wines are meant to come as a package. I also wanted to be able to photograph the wine bottles together at the end of the project to show the packaged deal.

To further explain the images I have loaded one must understand that this one image is in fact the three labels. The first label is the blue on and will go onto a white zinfandel wine. The second label is the yellow. This label will be on a shiraz. The last label will be on a sauvignon blanc and is the pink label.

When I revise the labels and print them out, I will cut them with an x-acto knife. I will cut along the squiggly lines between the labels, and the “B” in Bheka. The B is meant to be negative space so that the viewer can see through to the bottle.

The audience that I would be targeting with these wines would be people in their 20’s. The wine would not be the most expensive wine, because it would need to be affordable, which is why I’ve also chosen clear wine bottles. Clear wine bottles are considered cheaper wine sometimes, which is ok in this circumstance, because of the audience. I would want the brand Bheka to appear trendy while still being affordable for a slightly younger audience.

When choosing the color scheme for these labels. I wanted something extremely different looking. When people walk down a wine aisle, I want Bheka to stand out. For returning customers I want it to be easy to find. The color scheme is not one that I have seen in many locations, if any. I certainly haven’t seen these colors while walking down any wine aisle lately.

I decided I would also keep the label very simple, because it went best with the design. If the customer is really interest in what vineyard the wine came from, they could simple look on the back label.

Overall, I hope that I have created an eye-catching design. Although the colors make one feel slightly uneasy, I hope they would draw attention for someone looking for a new wine. I would hope that because the labels and the colors fit together, it would make a consumer consider buying more than one type, or at least make there gaze last longer on my wine bottles.

Texas Tech Fonts

Texas Tech uses a few different fonts throughout their websites and publications. Charter is the main font used. It can be used for headlines or body text. Charter goes exceptionally well with Texas Tech, because it is classical like the traditional roman face as well as readable. It goes well with the architecture of Texas Tech University.

The university realizes however that Charter should be substituted in some instances. If one is going to distribute documents digitally, they should use times new roman, because every computer contains this font, as where some computers may not have Charter.

Helvetica Nue is the secondary type used for Texas Tech. After watching an entire movie of Helvetica, I can see why so many people use it, however Helvetica seems to be over used.

I feel like Texas Tech could find a font that is just as readable to use throughout their documents that would add more to their brand. However if the colors of red and black are more important to Texas Tech’s brand than anything else, then it does not matter that Helvetica is used, because it is certainly not a distracting font.

Edwardian script is also one of the fonts that Texas Tech uses. This should never be used in replace of Helvetica Nue or Charter, but rather just as a complementary font. I think that it is good that Texas Tech can also use this font; otherwise every publication by Tech would look rather bland. If there happened to need a more decorative font, there would also be people trying to use many different ones.

As far as making Texas Tech University fonts stronger, I am not sure what they could do. I feel as though the fonts they have chosen are very safe, but it is probably a good idea for an institution such as Tech. I feel like everything Tech puts out look professional and goes well with their brand, but sometimes might not catch anyone’s attention. If everything is red and black it blends together, but it needs to be this way to keep the brand true to Texas Tech.

Design #3

For this design I started out thinking I wanted to use positive and negative space. I tried thinking about what I could do to achieve this. I first started out with a comb, and tried drawing different objects into the comb. Then I decided I wanted to do buildings.

To look at my design from a different perspective, I literally took the piece of paper I was drawing on and turned it upside down. Then I came up with the idea of a piano, and thought that I could stick the buildings and piano together.

After knowing what the basic idea what for my design, I searched for skylines. I didn’t just want any skyline, like Chicago where I have never been, but rather something that had some substance to me. I’m going to London this summer, so I eventually decided on the London skyline.

Using Photoshop, I got rid of everything besides the buildings. Making sure everything was very crisp. I wanted to create contrast throughout my design. Using black and white helped with this greatly, but I wanted to make sure nothing blended together either. I wanted each line to be crisp with no grey looking areas.

Then I needed to take my design and make it into something that was actually useful. I thought a business card would be best for this. It would be eye catching and get attention from anyone who saw it. I needed to think of a company name for the business card. At first I had City Play.

Then I thought I could have a word that was actually spelt different, but sounded the same. “City Plae could be interesting,” I thought. Then I thought of another way I could spell music. That’s when I came up with Musique. I typed it into Google and found musique concrete. This went perfectly with my design of a piano and buildings. It was perfect for me design made of concrete buildings and a piano that could make music.

But what is Musique concrete? I found out it is experimental technique of music composition that uses recorded sounds as raw material. The recorded sounds do not have to be from instruments or voices. It could be any sounds from nature or otherwise used together to create new music. I immediately fell in love with this name and idea, so I decided that would be the business name for the card.

I really enjoyed creating this design, because it was completely from scratch. There were absolutely no premature or boxes I had to stay in the create it. It came from a simple idea of wanting to experiment with positive and negative space. I only wanted an image that was two images in one, and nothing else.

What I got was so much more. I designed a business card, for a business that does not exist, but in my mind should. There should be a recording studio, or music business located in a big city name Musique Concrete.

Vote to bring the world premiere of Your Highness to Texas Tech!

If we are #1 we get to have the world premiere and after party with James Franco and Danny McBride at Tech. 5 runner up schools will get to have a free sneak peak, just like Paul and The Adjustment Bureau, at their school.

What to do?
1. Vote at http://movies.eventful.com/campaigns/yourhighness2011
2. Post it to your facebook, twitter, or email friends to vote
3. Voting goes until March 20th, so tell your classes, clubs your in and anyone else you can think of that will vote for Tech!

Info: Right now we are #64 out of 847 schools, so we are doing great at the moment, but need more help. 121 people have voted so far. Texas A&M is #7 and UT is #9, so lets at least put the effort to beat them!

Go to the Universal Fans at Texas Tech for updates.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47907036513

Gutenberg Press

By looking at the Gutenberg press one can really understand how far we've traveled as a society. Information is so readily available that was not previous centuries. If someone wanted to send a message they could send a single hand written letter.

However, if someone wanted to disperse information to many people it would take much more. Instead of simply thumbing a text to 30 of your friends, or tweeting the news to thousands of people, information had to be put together piece by piece, or placed letter by letter like on the Gutenberg press.

Without the Gutenberg press we would not have mass literacy today. Books had to be hand written so they were very expensive, but once movable type was invented, many copies of books could be made, which lowered the price. Without the availability of books there was no need to learn to read.

If our society only had very few people who knew how to read, the Internet would have not taken off, or would at least be very different today. It would only be a place for wealthy people or scholars to exchange information. Instead the Internet is the common people's voice. A place where no matter who you are, how much money you have, where you are in the world, everyone is on the same level.

Weekend Pictures

My friends and I baked a red velvet cake from scratch. It was delicious. You can see the top piece is slowly sliding off the bottom piece because the homemade icing is very smooth.

The mushroom picture is from a pot plant of mine. I found the mushroom growing with my geraniums this weekend. It died now, but was there the most of the weekend.

Page Design

Page design defined by Kimball/Hawkins is "the process of placing design objects such as text, headings, and images consistently and effectively on the page, taking into account the actual visual field, the characteristics of the design objects, and the relationships implied among them by the principles of design."

I think it’s important to realize that negative space is also important when considering page design. The design needs to be balanced. This doesn’t mean that is needs to be symmetrical. In fact symmetry might actually be somewhat boring to the viewer.

My design is asymmetrical, but still balanced. The picture takes up 2/3 of the space of the CD, more or less. The text balances out the picture in the other 1/3 of the image. It doesn’t take up as much space as the picture does, but it doesn’t need to. There needs to be more negative space on that side of the image, while still tying in the positive space for balance.

This also works with the hierarchy because the eyes first go to the most prominent thing on the page, being the picture, and end with the words. The picture is what draws the viewer’s eyes to look at the design. The viewer’s looks at the girl, then the swirl on her jacket and end up at the text. This is important, because there is an attention getter, which eventually helps deliver the message that is the text.

The f then connects the text back to the image, so that there is a consistent rotation of the viewer’s eyes. This is achieved by the unity of the arches of the f and the face above. This also adds the meaning on the word after, because of its continuality. The viewer’s eyes continue to connect the image with the text while the word after is also continuous.

CD Cover

For my second design I decided to do a CD cover. First I took a picture of my friend, and then I photo shopped it. For the background I painted spray paint onto poster board, and then scanned it onto my computer. I combined the two photos to create the basics for the CD cover.
For the text I wanted the band name “The Here Afters” to stand out, so I chose a font that would draw the eye toward it. When I came across the font I eventually chose the “f” which fit exactly the shape of my friend’s nose on the CD cover. I thought that I might move the font more toward the left because the design element of proximity. Instead I decided that it took away from how well the nose and the “f” went together.
To contrast the band name, I chose a different font for “To Whom it May Concern.” It is a simpler font, as to not draw away the eye from the band name. I also chose a different color for the album title to make the band name contrast more with the background since it is the most important part of the CD cover. I also made sure to align the “To Whom it May Concern” with “The Here Afters” to make reading easier for the eyes. The “f” is obviously also aligned properly with nose.
I also started out with “To Whom it May Concern” in a much bigger font, but instead liked it in the smaller font it ended up in because it was understated. Emotionally, this choice gives the album gives a more solemn, melancholy feel.
The CD has depth to it, just as the CD cover does. There are layers for a reason. I put layers into the spray paint when I painted. There is green as a very base layer, then I put brown on top of that layer. There is gold on top of that. I then took a plastic bag and stuck it on top to bring forward some of the previous layers.
I used repetition by repeating the colors throughout the design. The color that I chose for “To Whom it May Concern” was eye dropped from the chin. The color used for the other font, black, is also repeated throughout the design.
Culturally speaking, this CD cover is for a young adult audience. I created it for a mixed CD that one of my friends made me. This CD has many indie bands, and a lot of music that is for a younger age group. The picture I took also goes well with the audience the CD is meant for. The girl on the cover is actually the one who made the CD. Older audiences probably would not like this CD cover, and therefore it should not be marketed to them.
Rhetorically, CD covers these days are not usually kept. Instead the digital version of that CD cover is. People do not walk through a store anymore, but instead shop online. There is still a need for the CD cover, but not a need to see it in person. There is implied texture, but no need to actually have textured paint on a CD cover that one could touch.

Three Concepts from Readings

One of the significant concepts I've learned from the reading is Rhetoric. When, where, and how something is used affects this. If you print fliers on an ordinary piece of paper, you are telling people to that they are disposable, and they are more likely to throw them away faster. If you stuck the same information onto a badge, you are indirectly telling them to keep the information and pin it to themselves to share with others.

When designing something you must always think of how it is going to be used. A stapler for example is straight so that we can evenly put pressure onto it when stapling something. Plugs in the wall are lower to the ground, because we know people would rather run wires behind a desk, or along the floor. No one would want to have a plug right next to where the light switch is. It is just way to messy. Doorknobs are the perfect height for the average sized human being to exert the most force to open the door efficiently.

I think another concept that has been brought up looking at how meaning changes throughout culture. Like colors. In China red is worn for a wedding and signifies love. In western society's red means danger or warning, like a stop sign. In western society white is worn for weddings. It symbolizes purity. In eastern societies however it is worn for funerals.

I think the concept of repetition is an interesting one. Like when there is no repetition, but then that is the repetition. You are repeating the fact that you are not repeating anything. However, I think in all designs, no matter when you create. You are repeating something. Whether it's color (even if it's black text) or something else on the page, I feel like most people will end up repeating some aspect of their design. It's not like one would write a paragraph with every word a different color in a different font in bold, italics, and regular.

Design Resume

When I start applying for jobs, I want to be remembered. I want my potential employer to stop and look at my resume. I want a design that stands out from all the others, a resume with intriguing qualities.

First, before I even started using InDesign, I made brief sketches of different variations of my resume. My first choice was to slant everything, but I did not know if it would be possible to fit everything I wanted into my resume by doing this. I also knew that I wanted my tarryn|lambert logo on the top portion, so my resume would match my website.

The two prominent colors are from my logo. I took those and repeated them throughout the piece to create a sense of unity and balance. Although my text may look like an ordinary black, it is actually specifically chosen from the picture on my website to add to the repetition and unity throughout different mediums that I’ve created to brand myself.

I used proximity to bring like concepts together. The label education is of course closest to my education, just as work experience is near all the jobs I have held. Within each of those categories there is also different spacing to show which things go together.

For example, I wrote Mass Communication College and Photography Intern in a group with know spacing, so the reader would know I am a photography intern for the College of Mass Communications. I then left a space before writing my next job, so that there would be no confusion.

Although the text is slanted on the page, I still followed the rules of alignment. All the body text on the left hand side is align left; just as all the body text on the right is aligned right. Education, Work Experience, and Involvement are all aligned with each other to show that they are all big categories that one must look for more detail in the body text. There is also the same distance between Education and Work Experience as there is between Work Experience and Involvement.

I used contrast comparing this resume to others, and within the resume itself. There are varying font sizes and colors, as well as text and graphics. Another item that contrasts is the body text. Most of it is left aligned, but there is quite a bit contrasting that is left aligned helping balance the page. There is also contrast between the white negative background and my name.

Logically, a viewer thinks of a resume as the text being straight up and down. At first my resume contradicts logic, but then it is brought back because of the strong alignment in my design.

I also kept in mind the emotional response of my audience. My audience will be potential future employers, so the message I’m sending is extremely important in this one piece of paper. I think my design shows spontaneity without chaos, which describes me well. I can be creative but organized, fun but a hard worker. I also think that this design doesn’t take away from all the activities and jobs I’ve had over the years. It also shows some of my skills, instead of listing them, such as InDesign.

Design Rethink

1. The first one as I mentioned in my previous blog will be redesigning my resume in InDesign. Nothing about that one has particularly changed. The audience will be advertising/ marketing and design agencies.

2. I think I'm going to make a logo or redesign the Outdoor Pursuits Center logo if they have one (which I cannot find), so that I can use it in my #3 ad campaign. The audience for this would be the Texas Tech student body.

3. This one will be involving photography, but instead turning it into an ad campaign. I will take photos of a door in the wilderness, then choose one. Then I will take that photo and on the bottom of it right something like "Mother nature is calling", where the nature part is a different color. Or "Come home to Momma." This will be an advertisement for the outdoor pursuits center. I will stick their logo that I've created on the bottom of the ad as well. The audience will be Tech students. I think this will also get attention of people who would not usually look at an outdoor ad because of the contrast of the ad.

4. I've kind of combined two that I previously had in this one. I will be doing the CD cover, but in order to create it, I will be doing the spray paint art and then scanning it. Then I'll overlay some other image, or photoshop it differently.

5. This is another Ad campaign, and will most likely be interchangeable with one of my other projects if it does not work. It will be an ad campaign for Teddy Grams. There will be two photos. The first one will have two Teddy Grams sitting on the edge of a cup of milk. The second photograph will have one Teddy Gram in the cup of milk and the other on the edge. At the bottom it'll read. Friend Fornever. I think this ad would be geared toward pre teen girls, because they are in the in between stage of child hood (the Teddy Grams) and their teen years (the type of story line).

6. This one will be the wine bottle labels which I talked about in class. I need to talk to a winery first before I know my audience. If no winery will help, I'll be making up my own audience.

5 artifacts proposal

1. Resume - I want to redo my resume in InDesign. I haven't used InDesign that much, so I think this would get me more familiar with it. I think this is also a practical project, because I can then use this resume instead of my current one in word to give to future employers. This would also fulfill one of the principles of design - Alignment.


2. Frame Photography - My vision for this project is to use repetition between images. I want to take picture of people with a frame in different environments. I could also use this project to fulfill proximity, because the frame will be a lot closer to the camera, then what it is framing.


3. Spray Paint - I've always had a liking for street art, especially spray paint graffiti. Obviously I can't graffiti a wall around Lubbock, so instead I would like to purchase poster board, wood, or some other non-pourus material and use spray paint to create a design. I think so much of what we do in design today is through a computer, and I want to be able to do a project that is not. I also think that what is really interesting about spray paint art is the layers, and how you can use different elements that you might find around your house to help create image in your design.


4. Magazine Ad - It hink creating a magazine ad using photoshop. I have yet to decide on what company I'll create this for. The last two projects I have on here are up in the air, because I cannot decide if I want to do this or switch it for what I mention as other options under 5. I could also use some of these concepts below, like the negative space, to put into a magazine ad, or the CD cover. If I do the magazine ad however, I think I would like to try an make it extremely simple. I think I need more practice in making a simple design. I recently created my mom a logo for her company. I think logo's are extremely hard, because of their simplicity. Here's an example a of a simple magazine ad.


5. CD Cover - I think I would like to make a CD cover as I said before. Maybe I could use contrast, or proximity in my design. I think I could also use photoshop for this one, although I might use Illustrator as well. If I don't do a CD cover other ideas to fulfill this last project would be a t-shirt design, photography project on perspectives, negative space project, or a type project.


6. I'm sticking a number six on here, even though I'll obviously be choosing five concepts. Better to have to much than not enough. I think my hardest project will be a wine bottle design. I'll need to think a bit more about this to design it. Maybe I'll talk to a winery in Lubbock.

TarrynLambert.com

Just a link to my website since it didn't work under a comment I made.

Projects for class

After looking at a few portfolios online for graphic design, or communication design, I’ve come up with a few ideas, or projects that we could do in class. I think it would be cool if we design a CD cover. Maybe we could even make mix CD’s with songs on them, and print out our designs for the covers.

Another idea involving design would be for us to make t-shirt designs. We could even do it where you just get a plain white t-shirt and a black sharpie, and you have to draw a design onto it and turn it in, or take a picture of it to turn in.

For one of our last projects we could have a company, or a few different companies come in and describe something they need. Then everyone could go about creating it in his or her own way. Then the company could pick one of the designs and actually use it.

Another project that would be neat would using negative space. If you’ve ever read http://www.27bslash6.com/missy.html, David uses irony to hide Missy in the negative space, because she is missing. These logos are also extremely clever.

Go to my new blog

Go to my new blog at http://tarrynlambert.tumblr.com/. I'll be using this one for a class.