April 2016 – COMD1167 Type & Media, SP2016

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.

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/

3 Good Websites for Fonts!

Dafont (dafont.com)

Dafont.com, even though it looks shady or very untrusted, it actually has a variety of fonts that you can choose from. They show you fonts that are created by different artists and these fonts are all fonts for fun, meaning if you are going to need a font for some sort of theme that is not really that serious, this is it, this is the website you are looking for. My favorite font from the website is Zenzai Itacha.

/r/Typography (reddit.com/r/typography)

Reddit for Typography exists! Reddit is known very well because it is a blog kind of website where there is Reddit for everything, literally everything. In this Reddit I see people posting their own created fonts, you can also look for guides and videos related to typography, and people can help you by giving you ideas on the font, corrections, and even help you on your designs on some sort of project.

Psych & Psych (psychnpsych.com)

This website is really eye catching, it is inspiring for me. I really like how typography is used to give information and adding those little gif images there makes it more interesting. Since I like things related to psychology this makes it really interesting for me, typography plus psychology makes a pretty good combination apparently. This website although it has a lot of design, it is not focused on design elements but on psychology and mental health.

Research Homework Assignment – FINAL REMINDER

Due Monday, 4/11/16 — Each student is to research for three (3) websites that make good resources for graphic design students. The website can be about typography, graphic design, fonts, color or related information. For each site you are to write 1-2 paragraphs describing what the site is about and why it would serve as a useful resource for the students. This is to be posted to this website. Everyone should not use the same title, but it should be something interesting.

Remember, all homework assignments count.

Project No. 2: Chap Book

Now that the Type Book is finished, we are ready to begin the next project. We will began this project in class, but here are the details so that you can make certain you stay on track.

Your Chap Book project will be a 12-page booklet, including the cover.
It can be autobiographical or on a topic of your choice that your interested in. Please have your topic cleared by me.
All of the content will be your own. You will do the writing and the photos or illustrations or graphic elements. Any content you find elsewhere must be properly created, otherwise that would be copyright infringement.
When you set up your pages in InDesign, the measurements are 5.5″x8.5″ (or 33picas x 51picas).
You will determine the number of columns for your grid system.
We will begin learning the anatomy of magazine pages, so you are expected to use these elements in your Chap Book design.
When the design is complete, you will assemble the layout for printing, then staple down the center of the spine to create saddle-stitching.
You may print in black and white to save money, but your design will be in color.
After the print version, you will be taking your design and adding interactive elements (video, music, etc) and producing the Chap Book that can be viewed on tablets as well as web browsers.

The project is on a tight deadline and I will try to keep you on track as much as possible. It may at times seem like I am rushing you. The print version of this project should be complete by the time we have our spring break.

Due Monday, 4/11/16: You should be finished with your cover design even though you may not have any idea about your coverlines yet—they can come later. The important thing is to have the cover design be finished with the suggested revisions from the critique. You should also begin layout for your interior pages. This means over the weekend, set up your master pages, paragraph and character styles. If you need help with these things, make use of the videos that I have already posted on this site. This also means that you have already begun to collect the content for your project. In class on Monday we will continue to work on the interior pages.

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Month: April 2016