The End

“I’m so glad we had this time together…”

We’ve finally come to the end and I hope you each are looking forward to continuing your studies in Communication Design and here at City Tech. I also hope that this class created in you a love for type and design, and challenged you enough to explore on your own.

Final grades will be posted by May 31, 2016, and any outstanding projects should have been submitted today. You have until mid-night to add any outstanding items to folder LATE OR RESUBMITTED ASSIGNMENTS.

Stay in touch. I like to see how my students progress. If you want to keep up with me on social media, I can be on found on Twitter and Instagram.

Have a great summer and the best of luck in the rest of your studies.

Guest Speaker Shayne Alexander

On May 16th we welcomed former City Tech student, Shayne Alexander to our class. He spoke to us about life as an art director at the prestigious advertising agency of BBDO.

Along with sharing samples of projects that he has worked on, Shayne also shared with the class the path that lead to his current position and took questions from the class. Hopefully it was an encouraging hour for everyone in class.

A Brief Video Excerpt – It’s a bit shaky but it will give you an idea of the discussion.

 

Final Exam Reminder and Final Project

This is a reminder, but everyone should know by now that we are having our final exam on Monday, May 23. The topics will include everything we have covered this semester—including all reading assignments, all class discussions and whatever is here on our website, where many resources were made available throughout the semester.

Also, be sure to submit your final digital Chap Book. And remember:

  • Please name your files correctly: COMD1167_FirstInitialLastName_ChapBook2 (example: COMD1167_MBrown_ChapBook2) Do not use your full name. It will make the file name too long and it’s not necessary.
  • If you need to submit different versions to show all the functionality, create a FOLDER with your name and place your project files (corrected named as above) in the folder. If you have a SWF file that has video and/or audio files, you need to place all those items in a resource folder. Place this folder inside the folder with your final project. If these files are not added, I will not be able to correctly view your final SWF file.

Reminder: Chap Book Interactive Edition

I’ve been reviewing the printed Chap Books  and you have done a pretty nice job with the project. Now we have to convert the printed content into an interactive document for use on an iPad or other tablet device or web browser.

Homework Reminder – Due Monday, May 2, 2016

  • As a first step, set up an interactive document in InDesign.  You will find this option when you create a NEW DOCUMENT. In that option window under intent, select DIGITAL PUBLISHING. In the area for PAGE SIZE, select IPAD. See the image above.
  • Layout out your Chap Book to fit this new page shape. You can cut and paste the elements from your first Chap Book in this new layout.
  • For Monday, May 2nd class you should have your cover and one other page prepared for us to review.
  • By Wednesday, May 3rd we will begin completing the layout for all 12 pages.

 

 

Websites with beautiful designs

http://gentlemen-barberclubs.de/

Even though this website is a German website I love the way everything is set up. The typography and the choice of colors are amazing. The pictures speaks to the audience. Nothing it over crowded. It’s not basic like other website. This company decided to take the risk of trying something new and it’s working.

http://jh-behne.de/

i simply love this website. Everything is working together. They have little animations on their website which looks very cool. The creator of the website is a 27-years-old Designer/Animator from Hamburg, Germany. The work looks very sophisticated and simple. Even though the website has very little information you would still want to keep looking at it.

http://12musketeers.com/

I picked this website because Didot is one of my favorite font. I love the way everything is set. The background pictures and the articles matches with each other. Everything is very organized.

INTERESTING WEBSITES FOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

http://logo-archive.org/

The logo archive is a very interesting website for graphic designers. One this site it shows designers ideas of many different kinds of logo design. I personally like how the website is designed in black in white because it is appealing to the eye. Being that the design is in black and white it’s very easy on the eyes to look at the design better. But one thing that I do not like about this website is that there are no categories so basically you just keep scrolling down at the millions of logo designs.

 

http://www.sweetmagnoliagelato.com/

What’s interesting about sweet magnolia gelato is that it’s not your average designer website. It’s actually a website for gelatos. But what makes it a perfect website for graphic designers is that is the further you click on its content the more graphic elements you see. It has an amazing layout and can give great inspiration if you’re having trouble coming up with a design. Is has amazing typography and it’s also well balanced in color.

 

http://www.nationalposterretrospecticus.com/

The national poster retro is a great website because it shows a whole gallery of poster design created by designers all over the nation. This is also another resourceful website if you’re looking for poster design inspiration as well. Another downfall again is that they aren’t many selections. But once again if your just looking for some fresh ideas for a poster design. This is the perfect website that can do just about that.

Three Graphic Design Websites

http://www.aiga.org/what-is-design/

This website gives the viewer an idea of what graphic design is and what is is used for. It talks about the responsibility of a designer as well as describing the design field that an individual may take. It talks about the design jobs within the different job titles and the different medium there is for a graphic designer.

 

http://wegraphics.net/blog/articles/how-to-become-a-self-made-graphic-designer-getting-started/

This is a good website because it guides you into a self-made graphic designer. It provides a list of books to give you ideas for the design field and what may be advertised or designed. It gives you tips and free vectors that you may want to try out. It provides high quality products to help you in the design field.

 

http://graphicdesignjunction.com/2015/12/100-greatest-free-fonts-for-2016/

This website provides many fonts that you can use in your layout. It shows inspiration and gives tutorials. It also shows examples of logos you can get ideas from and create your own.

3 Graphic Design Websites

http://designshack.net/articles/graphics/5-ways-to-boost-contrast-in-your-web-design/

This article focuses on 5 different ways to boost contrast in your web design. These particular ways involve making certain objects or text bigger or smaller, to add a little texture, changing the shape, adding color, and doing something unexpected (innovative). Symmetry and order can cause your design to lose some form of hierarchy/contrast. By adding texture to a design it tends to create some type of visual focus. Changing shape or orientation of an element in a design can also add immediate impact. Last but not least, the final way to create high contrast in this article is adding an innovative and random shape or detail.

 

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/vital-tips-for-effective-logo-design/

This article by Jacob Cass is about “Vital Tips For Effective Logo Design”. A logo should be recognizable, inspiring trust, admiration, loyalty and an implied superiority. Logos are mainly used to identify. When creating a Logo you must take into account the history about the company. You also can conduct a questionnaire or interview with the client you are designing for to get a design brief. The key to creating a Logo overall is lots of research, creative thinking, and reflection.

 

http://www.amberddesign.com/articles/

This article involves some graphic design tips for beginners. First off typography is one of the most important elements of any design that helps to create contrast. The grid approach also is an important aspect of graphic design in order to create outstanding visuals. Also another very important rule of thumb for graphic designers is to keep it simple. By making a design chaotic you will lose your audiences interest. My favorite tip overall is knowing the principles, a few of them are: alignment, balance, contrast, repetition, consistency, gestalt, white space and other basic elements.

Graphic Design Websites

http://www.typographyserved.com/search

The above link is a good website to gain knowledge about typography. The website includes a gallery where people get to upload their works. It allows designers to see other people’s works and use new ideas learned in their own works of art, and also to give feedback to others. Also included in the website is a “jobs” section which shows jobs available for graphic designers.

 

https://collegegrad.com/careers/graphic-designers

The website Collegegrad is a good website to help with all careers. If you scroll to graphic designing it will show you all the requirements and everything you need to know about your graphic design career. It shows things such as duties, work environment, schedule, education, and pay. All these things can be helpful on deciding if this is the right career choice for you.

 

http://www.learnhowtobecome.org/graphic-designer/

This is also another website that is helpful in achieving your goal of becoming a graphic designer. Like the link before this, this too includes helpful information about what it takes to be a graphic designer. The website includes step by step directions on how to become a graphic designer.

Great Resources for Future Designers

Typophile: If you’re like me, you probably have a hard time remembering all the thousands of existing typefaces and fonts by name, and it’s always frustrating knowing exactly that perfect font to use, but not being able to find it simply because you do not remember what it is called. Typophile allows you to identify any specific fonts with online experts to help you out, simply by uploading the image of the typeface you want to identify. Now it won’t be a hassle trying to guess that name at the tip of your tongue.

www.typophile.com

2. Awwwards: This website is like the instagram of the design world. With over a thousand users, awwwards allows you to share all your personal work with other designers online, and receive constructive criticism based around a grade system. (design, usability, creativity, content). Helpful not only to receive feedback, but to be inspired for your own work upon the thousands of designs shared on the site.

www.awwwards.com

3: Adobe Kuler: One of the most popular and used sites by designers, Adobe, being the all powerful number 1 when it comes to design software, created Kuler. Kuler is an online digital color wheel tool that offers way beyond what a traditional color wheel can. Featuring thousands of available codes for that exact color for use in all your adobe programs, and other tools like  a theme creator, for pallets on ll your projects.

https://color.adobe.com/