You can't miss: Icons, icons, icons

Apple (actually Linux...their icons are way cooler) has kind of changed the face of the desktop in many aspects. The icons that are the most popular and that are sort of the mainstream now all have that "aqua" feel to it - which is very distinctive of apple desktop icons. The newest Windows system - Vista (they need a better name, really) is also using that feel/design.

Check out this icons designer's website, he has done some really cool designs for some applications...and its kind of a flashback to our logo assignment where he shares about how he designs the icons from conceptualization to the actual product.

Response: Trends

It was interesting to hear about some of the presentations in class yesterday. I guess different magazines that cater to different markets have their own pros and cons. Talking to P*eter at Glamour was an interesting experience and I guess it was a really good insight into the world of commercial mass-market magazines. It was however very surprising that there is still that detachment between the online departments and print departments. I thought they would have started working together more cohesively to drive people to the website and also provide extra editorial content online and of course, coming up with a design that is a cohesive package for both print and online.

Critique: illustration

This is an illustration I did for a postscript story that will run sometime in the future. It is about a woman who is shorter than normal and how she manages her life around it. It's kind of cute but fun.

You can't miss: Words from the experts

W3Schools : the authority on everything web has some good suggestions about web design. It is definitely worth looking at to see if your website is compatiable with industry standards. Most websites now have their websites validated by the W3school HTML/CSS validators that check your code to make sure there isn't anything funky in there.

The most important thing mentioned is to Know Your Audience (under the Web Users section) Today we saw many designs that were kind of presented in a different way that can make navigation very hard for some users. Taking note of some of things below when designing can make users love your site and keep coming back. It doesn't matter how fancy your site is if users can't get to the information they need.

What Monitors Do They Have?

Remember that not everyone on the Web has the same monitor as you have. If you design your Web pages to be displayed on a monitor with a 1024x768 resolution, some of your visitors with lower resolution monitors (like 640x480) might have problems reading your pages.

Some users still have low resolution 640x480 monitors, but the trend is moving towards 800x600 as the low resolution standard. This Web site is designed to be best viewed on 800x600 or better resolution.

If you are one of those developers with a sophisticated monitor (1600x1200?), make sure you test the display of your Web pages on different monitors with lower resolutions.

One wise thing to do when designing the layout of Web pages is to let a section of each page be of variable size to fit the size of a large or small resolution monitor.

Take a look at our browser statistics to see the trends in monitor development.

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What Browsers Do They Use?

Both of the two major Internet browsers (Netscape and Microsoft) have their own specialties and quirks that you must consider when designing your Web pages.

If you are serious about your Web site, don't forget to test every page with different types of browsers.

The most popular browsers today are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

Additionally, some of your visitors might use text only browsers, such as Lynx, or they might visit your site from an online service like AOL, CompuServe or Prodigy. Some of these browsers might not display your Web pages as well as you think.

One wise thing to do when designing Web pages is to use strict, formal and correct HTML (or XHTML). Strict and correct coding will always help a browser to display your pages correctly.

Take a look at our browser statistics to see the trends in browser development.

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What Plug-Ins Do They Have?

Some elements in your Web pages, like sound and video clips or other multimedia content, might require the use of separate programs (helper applications or plug-ins).

Don't use such elements in your Web pages unless you are sure that your visitors have access to the software needed to view them.

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What About Disabilities?

Some people have serious viewing or hearing disabilities. These users might want to visit your Web site.

Some of them will try to read your pages with Braille or speech-based browsers. Remember that all of your visible content is lost if you don't provide them with some text based alternatives for pictures and other graphic elements.

Designing Web pages for people with disabilities is not an easy thing, but one small thing you can do - at least for people with poor eyesight - is to let your pages use a resizable font size.

(Have you ever tried to change the text size while browsing W3Schools?)

Critique: My website

Well, I'm ok with my website. Those of you who are interested in seeing how the background looks like can check out there, it should work better not on your computer screens. As Kristin S. said, it needs to be more cohesive, as the "flowers" in the background, my logo and my cutsy illustration doesn't really work too well together. I really like the cool blue/tiffany & co. color scheme though and I prefer white to back as white is just really much easier on the reader than having to read reverse type on black.

Refinements, I guess I need to incorporate some sort of multimedia thing in there, Amanda W. mentioned something about the hair of the girl flapping in the wind; Jan suggested sunglasses/ girl pulling her hair out...kate l. suggested her holding a balloon...hmmm..I guess I have many options, I will try to work that in there :D

Thanks for everyone's critique today...it is very helpful!!! :D

You can't miss: CSS Zen Garden

Check out these pages below from CSS Zen Garden, its a great place to look for inspiration and also marvel at the possibilities of CSS in web design...those are just some I found, they are not awesome, but its good to learn how they get some the things done and how to make pages look dynamic without it being too complicated!

1. Icicle Outback
2. The Original
3. Table Layout Assasination
4. Urban
5. Start Listening

Response: Logo design

It was a fun assignment to work on but I guess I'm just not the logo designing type. It really takes a lot of work but I enjoyed drawing out the logos on paper and making drafts. I hardly get to do that anymore since everything is now done on the computer. I like the thought process that goes into designing the logos and it was great to see everyone's in class. I especially love Kate L.'s, those were awesome - I like your train of thought. Maybe the the Main Squeeze one would be more fun to work on! I think all of us should enter!

Critique: End of Print

I kind of like how this feature turned out and it was fun to with black and white photos again. Haven't done that since my last project last spring. I enjoy the white space on the page but know it could be a problem printing it, especially on yucky paper but well in the end we didn't have to worry about that since it was cut. It's a pity but it was a really fun assignment to learn about the use of color and all.

Critique: no more celebrities for boomer?

So, I showed my designs to the boomer editorial team and there were several good constructive suggestions and they seem to like the designs overall but they really want to stay away from having celebrities on the cover. I don't know if the cover can be great all the time without celebrities. I think for the boomer generation, they identify themselves alot with the icons and events of the time and I'm not sure the magazine can totally survive without putting an interesting celebrity on the cover as they definitely help sell the magazine. I think I am ok with occassionally not having a celebrity on the cover but sometimes I think we need them. Maybe I'm just attached to my Teri Hatcher cover. :)

I don't know if I can come up with another brillant idea for the cover. Oh well, we'll see. :D

Response: True False Secret Screening

I went to the T/F secret screening of Nomadak TX about two Basque musicians that traveling to different parts of the world to showcase the traditional Basque instrument - txalaparta. It was a great film about people from different cultures coming together to share their love for music. The part that really touched me was the interviews with the different people they met from around the world asking what their wishes were and they all had very simple and concise wishes which makes me feel like in the grander scheme of things we are just ordinary people. The art direction was great, there was a scene when one of the musicians was playing music with native Mongolians in the misty mountains, they were laughing and enjoying the music - it was just beautiful. The traditional txalaparta is carved out of wood but when they went to the Arctic Circle, the carved one out in ice which was amazing. I guess this is kind of like designing, we always have to be creative and think outside the box. The film made me reflect on what I want to do in life and kind of what I want to achieve. Sometimes the best things are the simplest things.

Photos + illustrations

I came across this guy's (Martin Haake) work while browsing the illustrationmundo.com website. His illustrations are one of a kind and I thought the way he blended photos with illustrations is kind of cool, it has a very 50's relaxed feel. The colors he use are mostly subdued and neutral which is different from other illustrations which tend to be a bit more vibrant and bright.

Critique: Meredith prototypes

I'm ok with my Meredith covers but I think the insides are kind of crappy. Maybe that's because I didn't give much thought about them working together as a package. Kristin K. made a good point about the "toc", I think the reason I put it there is because I liked how it looked without giving much thought to what it would mean to people who don't do magazine publishing/production and that it doesn't work with the covers at all! I love my little "smell the roses" page but I think it needs to be further developed into a feature spread so that it will be consistent with the whole boomer feel. Kate L. also made a good point that the pages needing a style that will reflect a package and the covers. Elisa also made a good remark about how the covers are quite different from the insides. I think I really need to think of the magazine as a package when I design and its really helpful to hear all these comments!

I will continue to work on it!

Self-help guide to creating better logos

Where to start? Jan talked about coming up with at least 20 ideas for the logo thing we are suppose to create. It may sound daunting but here are six steps from a website I found that we should follow to create better logos...

1- Stay away from the computer
2- Fill pages/napkins with your ideas
3- Use vector drawings (instead of Photoshop)
4- Choose/use color wisely (how does your logo look in b/w) I think this is an extremely important point. I used to have a friend that will reject any logos I make that are more than 2 colors. More color means more cost!
5- Where is your logo going to be placed/used? Think about how complex you want to make it
6- Check out other logos that have been created (Big Book of Logos) and why they are successful

Here's more tips on creating better logos from Goodlogo!com:
Successful logos throughout the world have certain characteristics that make them popular and memorable.

Differentiation:
These logos are distinctive, they are different than the rest. Even the fonts of these logos are designed in a custom manner - it could be a completely new font created or tweaking provided to an existing font.

Timelessness:
Logos are the longest living corporate identity that an organization enjoys, sometimes more than the employees in the company. Successful logos stand the test of time - the shelf life of an average logo is considered to be around 20 years. Though there have been cases where logos change in lesser time than that, the changes are usually evolutionary than sudden in nature. An evolutionary change may be needed in bringing a logo more in tune with changing business conditions but a sudden and drastic change can more often than not affect the company adversely when consumers are not able to adapt to the change thus bringing the company to square one.
Coca-Cola is a classic case in this aspect. Designed in the late 19th century (1886) by the company's book keeper, the logo still looks fresh and attractive and denotes a distinctive feel to the company image.

Able to evoke emotions:
Successful logos are able to evoke desired images in the mind of the prospect. Logos facilitate carrying the desired corporate image to the consumer in the shortest possible time. Whether it is the font type that expresses this or the accompanying graphic and colors, the message that gets across to the audience.
For example, the Michelin man - the logo (cum mascot) of the French tire company Michelin develops an amiable feeling towards the company with the use of a human character.

Malleability:
A slightly technical point here, but important nevertheless. Good logos look good on huge billboards, on visiting cards, on black and white fax copies, on gold embossed door plates and if you must, mugs and t-shirts. The font and graphic designed should consider the media over which the logo appears while designing.

Simplicity:
Times are changing ... and so are the logos. Logos in earlier times used to be very elaborate and 'detailed'. Nowadays they more simpler, minimalistic yet elegant and attractive; somewhat a sign of people not having the time to look at detailed logos.
Needless to say there are certain logos that maintain their earlier look but quite a few companies changed their logo to reflect changing times and even changing cultures.
The AT&T logo for example experienced such changes making it more sleeker and less cluttered along the way.

Exposure:
Finally, a good logo like a good product has to be advertised and given due exposure. Some logos even though they are great images do not remain at the top of the mind because they are not advertised as much. Not many companies place a premium on their logos as companies like Nike and ATT&T.

Logos have been around since ancient times. Traders since the 13th century used to mark their wares with monograms to claim ownership and right to title of the goods. But it is only in the last century that the logo started generating more interest (and more so particularly after the concept of branding was introduced by the likes of Pavlov and David Ogilvy). Modern history of logo dictated companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors who had similar working products to sell.

Inspirations
Different and often weird situations have inspired and led to creation of the world's most famous logos. One thing these famous logos have in common is that they strive to be different and distinct. There have been changes to these logos but most of them have been evolutionary in nature than sudden. The logos that have changed over the years show a trend towards being simplistic and 'leaner' than their earlier versions - possibly a change to reflect changing (and faster) lifestyles. Below are some interesting examples (logo images shown below):

Nike:
Nike's swoosh was done by accounting class teacher cum freelancer at Nike called Caroline for only $35!

3M:
At the turn of the century, 3M was more concerned about its survival than it was about a logo. The young abrasives company was comfortable in its descriptor..."Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company.". The first logo was churned out in 1906 with the current logo designed as recently in 1978.

Fiat:
The current Fiat logo has the letters F-I-A-T written with a silver line between each of them. The lines were added by the company’s design chief when one day passing under the factory, he noticed the sky at the backdrop of the huge FIAT letters on the top of the building. The lines added are actually the spaces that he saw in the name over the building and decided to keep it.

Adidas:
Named after the founder Adolf (Adi) Dasler, the Adidas logo has a triangle cut into three pieces. The three pieces reportedly represent his three sons!

BMW:
The blue and white parts of a circle are present in the BMW’s logo that we see on its automobiles. The origin of this dates back to the 1st world war when, the fighter planes had their propellers painted by the company in blue and white so that the pilots could see through them. This inspired the design that we see on BMW’s cars.

Linux:
The competition to Windows and Mac OS, Linux also has a penguin as its logo (and mascot). Named 'Tux', the penguin was chosen from a list of sharks, foxes, eagles and hawks as the Linus Torvalds, the founder of Linux, had a liking for the bird and thought it to be unusual and different for a logo. While the other creatures were fierce and strong, Linus insisted on the penguin being “fat, cute and cuddly - instead of anything else. Incidentally the name 'Tux' was brought up from Torvalds UniX -TUX.

Response: Graffiti

I think I kind of misinterpreted this assignment but I had tons of fun doing it though. I just went around town photographing posters, signs and other interesting looking type stuff and put them all together on one page. I played with different effects in photoshop to get the final finish product. I was pleased with it in the end, it is some abstract thing that definitely didn't look like my name so I had a hard time trying to fit my name in it. But I guess I wasn't too unhappy with the final result. It was fun seeing other people's work today! So many creative ideas!

Response: Typography School

Check out this interesting YouTube video about "the principles of design, creative letterpress and why computers make students sloppy." Veteran graphic design/typography and letterpress teacher from the London College of Printing: David Dabner talks will about it in this short 5 minute interview. It is quite illuminating what the letterpress can do and how we are constrained by the computer or the available fonts that we have. Towards the end of the video, there are some really cool examples.

Critique: Books 3/1

This is my illustration for the 3/1 books department story about the closing of the 9th St. Bookstore due to lack of sales. Competition from bigger bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and online sellers such as eBay and Amazon have forced local bookstores to shut down. I just wanted to show that 9th St. Bookstore was being eaten up by something. In my preliminary design, the barnes & noble guy looked more like a building like the B&N at the mall. But it evolved into a more animated human like person. I got a lot of comments saying that this reminds people of something from South Park which I must say its kind of true although I didn't refer to South Park when I was drawing this, the eyes on the cookie is actually similar to how the eyes of the characters in South Park. I had a lot of fun putting this together. I think its funny and interesting with many different elements such as the milk with the amazon icon and the scarf with the $$ signs at the end. :D

I think I need to move away from cutsie illustrations next time I do illustrations!

Gwenda Kaczor illustrations

Check out Gwenda Kaczor's illustration portfolio. She is also a designer and animation artists. It is a good place to check out how she puts her portfolio together online. Her illustrations are similar to paper cutouts which gives it a kind of modern-retro feel. It is inspiring me to do something similar to my boomer cover.

Critique

This is not really a critque. I'm working on putting together an interactive map for the True/False online edition and I'm still torn between using the Google maps application or something like this (please click on links to see examples done by others) The second one was done in flash and slightly more complicated than writing codes for the google maps application but what do you all think is more user-friendly and presentable?

The purpose of the map is to let people know where the T/F venues are, where the restaurants/ATMS/parking structures are in the vicinity.

Please let me know what you all think!

The changing Times

I just had to add that image in there...we were just discussing about the Harry Potter guy being part of an explicit movie/show at staff meeting the other day... :D

Well, as much as I want this to be about Harry Potter, it's not. It's about the redesign of the The Times of London. After 221 years, the times are changing (literally). This is what they said: "The Times Modern introduced today allows a better shaped headline with extra characters per line. This allows for more articulation in the process of writing. The change is not reckless impulse, but reading conditions for many people have become less leisurely. Newspaper typography should evolve to meet technological innovations and The Times is once again at the sharp end."

The redesign was headed by Neville Brody - an important figure in the typographic world.I don't know much about the history of the newspaper, but the redesign was not as exciting as I thought it could have been. I believe a part of them are still holding on to what it has always been. Just like the supposed "redesigns" by Meredith, I think sometimes it really hard for big, established news products to really go through a real redesign where everything is blown up and built from scratch again.

Anyways, typographi, the blog I'm following has been closed for "clean up". I'm checking out typographer.org now.

Christopher Silas

Check out Christopher Silas's work. His illustrations are quite interesting - a free flow and kinda abstract style. The one above - titled: Food in the time of war - ran in Gourmet magazine.


A cute YouTube video about loving fonts, enjoy!

Critique

aacdev.missouri.edu

This is my redesign of the current Asian Affairs website. Comments appreciated. It's still very much under construction though. p.s. the links don't work yet.

Typographi

Once again, my Typographic site didn't have any new entries so I decided to revisit one the older entries that they have on their website. I stumbled upon a guy called Si Scott and he created all the fonts you see on the designs. I think the designs are really cool and contemporary. Although he makes use of a lot of swirly type things in his typographi (I'm not a big fan of swirlies), I think it still looks really wonderful! Check out his website


The site can be hard to navigate. I'm not sure I like the web design but I think some of the designs he has created are really nice.

My 2 cents on the Harper's covers

I had a great time looking at Harper's magazine while working on the paper and I must say I was delightfully surprised that at one point the magazine did attempt to do something more interesting and creative than what they have now. After looking at the some of the magazines that Kate, Kristin and Rob talked about today from the earlier eras, I am surprised that Harper's only decided to make use of color and bolder illustrations almost 10-20 years later. I thought it was really interesting that for a "serious" and "traditional" magazine like Harper's to experiment and try out a variety of designs in the 50's and for the ensuing 40 years or so. I think most of the magazines we talked about in class today have sort of developed an identity and style and became better at their designs. I am not sure I can say that for Harper's; while its really clean and formatted, I feel it lacks a punch. It's probably not something I'll ever pickup from the newstand unless there is a topic I need to do research on and they happen to have it.

My 2 cents on working as a team

My first week as Art Director has been quite a traumatic experience. I think nothing I've done prior to this have prepared me for the work at Vox as an AD and what it takes to be one. The learning curve is steep but the rest of the TA team have made it much better. I felt strongly about what Kristin said today in class about working as a team, as Vox Staff and not as separate group of editors, designers and so on. I think its an attitude we should have in every working environment but I think sometimes I find myself not doing that too, unfortunately - it's a comfort zone issue. I think we all have to get out of that zone at some point to stay on top of the game and feel like part of the team. Working with the designers this week has been a great experience and I think while people have been very patient with my nitty gritty requests for changes, I have learnt to be patient with them. It's unfortunate that there are so many changes and uncertainties this first week but I think we all made it!; the end result might not be the best work we have ever done but it was the best we could have done in the time/resources that we have. We all have a role in giving Vox the "voice." I hope the rest of the semester will go much smoother as it is also a great opportunity for us to help one another learn and grow in this process.

Kudos to Kate, Hannah, Libby, Rob, Maggie and Meera for their great work this week!

Critique: The President Wears Pucci

See Image Here
I worked on the books department page this week and it was quite fun I must say. Firstly, the story is hilarious - it is about books spin-offs and the writer really had a lot of fun coming up with spin-off titles. I made an illustration to go with the story based on the spin-off title - The President Wears Pucci (go to link above). I didn't spend a whole lot of time on it but I thought it turned out well. I think now that I have learnt more about the different style (modernist, bauhaus and etc.) I want to try out different graphic designs for stories I design for in the future. Putting the rest of the department page together was a breeze but I think the challenge still lies in making the page interesting and content-driven. It is not boring but I'm not sure it is as interesting as it can be. I think I am experiencing design fatigue (so early in the semester!), I think I need to reflect on the designs I have done so far, find motivation and be rejuvenated.

Stock photography and more

The Typographi site which I'm following haven't had any new posts since my last blog entry so I decided to check out some other sites. I visit iStockphoto.com a lot and actually make use of their services quite a bit too. Their stock photography/illustration is really quite comprehensive and I must add, very professional. If you haven't been there, do check out. It's not free unfortunately but I like to look at their images for conceptual ideas. They also feature print/web designers, graphic designers and good photography quite a bit and have a great community of photographers and designers that exchange ideas and talk about design trends. I was looking at one of their design spotlights (above) this week and it looks pretty cool. It's an interesting spin on the Valentine's Day concept, although I'm not sure I like the faces of the people in there. Do check out the website for more designs (done by designers like you and me).

Wandering Thoughts: Body Parts

It dawned upon me yesterday in the shower that for the past 3 weeks (including this week), the covers constitute a variety of human body parts - 1/11 was the bright orange hair of a playwright, 1/18 was the legs of the drummer of the "dead"-but-still-alive band and this week we will present a upper body of a woman. "We didn't realize it!" and the tight production schedules have contributed one way or another to the outcome. However, it is not to say they were bad, in fact all the designs are wonderful especially this week's work - Kristin really put a lot of effort into it and it looks AWESOME! - but I just couldn't help it but wonder about the thought processes that go into cover design. In the magazine world outside of Vox, I am sure there is more forethought into what goes into the cover every week since covers more or less determine the sale of the magazine but here, we fortunately (or unfortunately) have the luxury to detrack from the mainstream.

Well, 2/1 will be water and I'm sure aren't any body parts involved! :D

Typographi - What's new in the industry

Please pardon my lack of knowledge on writing about type - it is in fact, incredibly challenging for me since I have no clue what the right words to use are (something like wine-tasting). I will try my best nonetheless.
Typographi, in its latest post, introduced us to a new font that was released recently - Gotham Rounded. They equated the birth of this new font to Apple's release of the iPhone and as quoted in from the blog - "this release represents the merging of two white-hot trends in design: Gotham (hugely popular since its 2002 release) and rounded type (an unwritten requirement of Web 2.0 design)". Note about the original Gotham font(above): "

Gotham, the typeface chosen for the Freedom Tower cornerstone at the World Trade Center site, is distinguished by the uniformity in the width of its strokes and the absence of embellishments like serifs...

The typeface, Gotham, deliberately evokes the blocky, no-nonsense, unselfconscious architectural lettering that dominated the streetscape from the 1930's through the 1960's in building names, neon signs, hand-lettered advertisements and lithographed posters."

- NYTimes, 07/08/2004
- Read the article about the creation and use of the font!

Check out the new font (left)! I must say that I like it quite a bit, it's very modern but still preserves a certain "down-to-earth"yness (obviously not a word!) to it. Most of the time, rounded fonts (at least those that I know of) tend to convey a casual feel - Century Gothic? And this font, makes me feel the same way to a certain extent too - it kept reminding me of the salty fish-shaped biscuit (the name escapes me). It certainly evokes a different feel from its parent - the original Gotham.

Crisis Management: Breast Cancer & Race

Why crisis management? Because designing something is like managing a small disaster, putting unorganized thoughts and all sorts of stuff together and make it look good, understandable and fabulous.
I found the breast cancer story thought-provoking and had a hard time trying to think of a design that worked with the story. I worked on the cover first and it took me a really long time because I was striving to make it look like her. Tracing her facial features was challenging as there weren't any proper portraits of her so in the end it turned out to be part her and part imagination (I also had to look around and see how other people illustrated people - shadows, eyes - I learnt a lot but wished I knew more). I somehow couldn't quite capture that laughter part in her face - I think I just couldn't draw a proper laughing mouth so it ended bring somewhat a half-smile. I was semi-pleased with how the cover turned out in the end and I felt that the general feel of it (the color) was inline with the tone of the story. But the illustration certainly needs work!
The feature part of it, I wasn't too pleased with the outcome. I somehow was obsessed about making everything fit (when we didn't really have to) so in the end it looked very organized but there's definitely a significant lack of creativity and thought-process in the final design. I think I could have put in more effort into making sure the design reflects the content than pushing the envelope on making all the text fits.











Below are other two designs that I made in my other job/life outside of Vox: one for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday celebration and the other for a white privilege workshop. Race is always a touchy issue and I tried my best to be sensitive but bold here. I hope I succeeded and I am quite pleased with the outcome of both designs. I felt they said something important of what the content/issue was. Comments welcome.