Project 4 | classification - final

Here's my final draft for project 4.








Keywords:
publication design, feature writing, illustration

Show & tell - process

I brought in this book:












It's filled with tons of processes.

Sunday exhaustion

Dear Santa:

I know it's not Christmas, but I really want-
my social life back
several nights in a row with 8 hours of sleep
the semester to be over right now.

Thanks,
Christie

Printing project 6

Now that I've really started to think about project 6, I'm wondering how everyone else is planning on printing their booklets. Are you going to take it to a printer or try to deal with it yourself? The idea of messing with this thing myself kind of seems like a nightmare. Thoughts?

Project 6 revisited

It's Friday morning and I have yet to type a single word or draw a single line for project six. I did, however, manage to finish my classification so it's reasonable acceptable. I'm not completely happy with it, but it's fine for the comp phase. Unfortunately, I had to work through LOST last night to finish it because my computer froze and couldn't recover over an hour's worth of illustrating (which I thought I had saved, but apparently not).

However, since I'm staring down the barrel (a loooooooong barrel) of project 5, I'm not sure if I want to take on my initial idea for project six, even though I really like it. So, I might do my fallback idea of "How to watch LOST," but I'm not sure if I'll be able to stretch that out to eight pages. Of course, using lots of images would work, too. So, we'll see what happens tonight when I start working on this. This might be a pot 'o joe night, which sucks, because I woke up exhausted. At least it's Friday.

Project 6 (finally)

I think I'm going to do jewelry making for my how-to/process project. I'll do a step by step guide to making a specific necklace and possibly, earrings. I'll also include the basic tools, basic techniques and bead stores in the Baltimore area. I'll have to do my own photography for this, which should prove interesting. And I'll also need to design the necklace and make it twice, once for the initial design and once for the actual project. Fun. This also means digging my jewelry design stuff out of storage. Double fun. I don't think I'll actually have time to do all of this between now and Saturday, unless I don't bother to sleep, so my rough draft will be sort of designed, but pictureless (perhaps, I'll substitute colored pencil sketches). At least I've nailed down an idea for this project. Not that I could have started working on it any earlier than tomorrow night anyway.

Speaking of projects and workload, I'll agree with others who've said the pace of this semester is a little off. Okay, a lot off. In a real world situation, a flash project takes more time than, say, a sign or a magazine spread. However, we didn't get any more time for the flash project than any other project. It would have been uber helpful if the flash project had been introduced pre-spring break. Other than that, the other projects have been fine. It's this flash project that's throwing the whole pace of the class off.

I need another word for project. I've used it far too much in this post.

Midweek ramblings

It's Wednesday (I think) and I'm halfway finished with my illustrations for project 4. I'm not sure why I decided to illustrate all of these projects. It's kind of making me crazy and increasing the workload tri-fold. But, I'm halfway through and I'm liking the results, so no sense in backtracking now.

And project 5 is officially on hold until Saturday night. It's the only way I feel that I can get these projects done and do them right.

Project 6. Yeah. I've barely given it any thought. And the thought I have given it has been, I've got nothing. Well, not nothing, but nothing that I want to pursue. All of the ideas I've come up with are on the snarky side, but I'm using snarkiness for project 4 and I would rather avoid using it again for project 6. But, if I don't come up with anything that's not snarky (and not boring), then I guess snarkiness will rule.

Snarky. I like that word. Before we were dating, my boyfriend and I got into a debate about whether or not it was actually a word. I thought it was, he thought it wasn't. So, to prove I was right, and in true snarky form, I printed out the definition of snarky from dictionary.com and left it on his desk (we were coworkers at the time).

In between all the craziness, I managed to complete one creativity challenge project this week. It's actually from Sunday, so sadly, the past few days have been void of any creativity other than work and school. But, the school assignments are stretching and improving my skills as an illustrator, so I say they count. Hey, it's my challenge, I can make up and change the rules whenever I feel like it.

Saturday thoughts

I intended to come home tonight and work on my projects, but my brain is burning and there is no way that any good ideas are going to come out of it tonight. So, I gave myself a break and continued on my creativity challenge. Here's the result-it's colored pencil, not a medium I'm all that used to, but I'd like to learn more about it (and get better quality pencils).


I'm feeling (slightly) better about the flash project. I have to finish my illustrations and I think I'm going to change my song to Dave Matthews "The Space Between." I find it more appropriate for my story. Speaking of my story, I know my storyboard was a little cryptic, so here's the gist-
Girl needs a dress for her fiance's birthday, which is one day away. She finds the dress in the store window, buys the dress, puts on the dress and goes to visit her fiance's grave. It is the first birthday he's had since his death and it's her way of celebrating and remembering him. Morbid, I know, but I'm making it work.

Project six doesn't seem too scary. Pretty easy actually. It's just going to be a matter of finding time to actually do the work and also, you know, sleep and eat. I may be forced to regress to my undergrad tactics of putting on a pot of coffee at midnight and plowing through my work until 5 am. I'm not sure I could handle that anymore. I guess I should probably just focus on my time management skills.

Today's creativity

So, here's a sketch I did really fast (actually did it last night, but I'm counting it for today). I might actually end up using this in my flash project. Please excuse the crappy quality. I ordered a scanner, but didn't get it yet. This is a snapshot.

Something creative every day

I'm taking a self-imposed creativity challenge. The goal is to do something, anything artistic/creative at least once a day that does not have anything to do with work or school. I might let the school projects slip in there once in a while, but work, even though it's creative, definitely does not count. Whether it's sketching, painting, making a new necklace, singing, dancing or playing the piano, it's time to get back into the creativity habit. If I produce something tangible (a drawing, jewelry, etc) from these daily challenges, I'll try to post them on the blog (although, that might be a different kind of challenge in itself). While I'm taking this challenge, I'll also be attempting to invent the 36-hour day because I'm not quite sure how this will fit into my schedule. We shall see.

Midweek ramblings

I'm pretty sure my illustrations for this Flash project will not be completed for the rough draft round on Saturday. Since I'm doing them by hand, I'll probably get halfway through and the rest will have to be thumbnails for my storyboard. But, I'd rather do thumbnails anyway because in my opinion (and my professional experience), that's what a rough draft is. I hate to do too much for my rough drafts and then have to go back and change a bunch of stuff that wasn't working. I'd rather do some sketches and mock it up that way than draw and paint tons of stuff that I ultimately won't use. For me, this is the most efficient approach.

Coincidentally, I decided to take the Flash workshop at UB that's offered this semester. I had signed up before I even knew we were going to have a Flash assignment for this class. But, the workshop couldn't be at a more timely moment in the semester for me. I've used Flash a little before, but I figured I'll learn even more from the workshop.

I changed my mind (again) about next semester's classes. I decided against taking Editorial Style, mostly because it starts 8:15 pm and I don't think I'd survive a semester of driving home from Baltimore at 11 pm. I also think that it's a bit redundant from what I did in undergrad and I'd rather take Writing for the Marketplace or Scriptwriting for grad school. So, instead of Monday night Editorial Style, I'm taking Thursday night Typography (and I should still be home in time to watch LOST). I'll still be taking Media Design. I'm pretty set on that one, but it was a toss-up initially between that and the special topics motion graphics class.

A hint

Here's a rough image of the potential title screen for the flash story.

Good article

I found this article on the Baltimore AIGA website and I couldn't agree more. This is one of my soapboxes. Knowing how to use graphic design software doesn't make someone a designer (or an artist) any more than knowing how to use Microsoft Word makes someone a writer. But it's still a constant struggle that designers face because of the wide availability of design software. A designer is an artist, a communicator and a problem solver. These skills are not found in software knowledge alone, but rather are innate, finely tuned and constantly developing skills.

On a similar note, I also find that I run into the problem of "anybody can write." Sure, anyone can write. But not just anyone can write well and do it creatively. This problem is ubiquitous both inside and outside of the design world and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Here's the article.

Creative unblock

I have to admit this week was the first week I walked out of class without at least 5 possible ideas for the next assignment. I didn't even walk out with one idea. And it was terrifying. By this evening, when I still didn't have a story, I was really starting to panic since I feel a major time crunch with this particular project.

But then, the elusive creative lightning struck. I've got a story! And I love my story. The hard part is going to be illustrating it. I want to use pencil drawings and possibly watercolors mixed with computer art, but this is going to be time consuming. I'll probably have to devote this entire week to illustrating and put my comps for project 4 on hold until next Sunday. Unfortunately, I'm illustrating that project, too, but not in the same manner, so it's (marginally) less time consuming.

For every other project, I've posted pre-class about my chosen topic. I'm keeping this one under wraps. It's movie after all. There has to be some element of surprise. Maybe I'll post my title screen once I have that finished. A preview of sorts.

Classification- Anthropologie Style (humor me)

I was perusing the anthropologie site (again) and discovered a classification example. There's not much text and it's not a magazine article, but it's a nice example of classification on fashion/retail website.

Obsession confession

I love Anthropologie. Not anthropology, as in the study of human beings and their cultures, but Anthropologie, as in the store. The wonderful, artsy, creative store. Not only do I love their clothes and home decor products, but I love their graphic design and writing. Maybe I love their branding even more than I love their products. Their products further support my (emphatic) belief that fashion (and the design and the style resulting from it) is art. But either way, it's a fabulous example of excellent branding that carries throughout their print, multimedia, environmental and product design/merchandising. I also love how they incorporate collage and handmade items. This is the look that I'm hoping to use for my flash project.

Here are a few e-mail and website screenshots (I cropped out the part of the image that says "Shopping cart- 9 items"). *Sigh* My name is Christie and I'm addicted to Anthropologie.

Digital Storytelling

I've been meaning to post about The Painted Bride for a while and with our project 5 flash story looming, I thought now was a good time to do so.

I interned at this place when I was an undergrad and it was one of the most fascinating places I've ever worked. If it hadn't been just an internship, it would have been my dream job. They support both emerging and established avant-garde artists- visual, spoken word, instrumental, dance, theatre, vocal and now, digital storytelling. If you're ever in Philadelphia, stop by. It's truly a unique place

Here's a link to their digital storytelling page.

Project 4 - ideas

I think I'm going to do two rough drafts of two different concepts for this one. I'm walking the line between doing one of the following:

1. 4 neighbors you hope never move to your neighborhood (and what to do if they do)
This one is a funny/obnoxious concept and I think I'll use illustrations for it as opposed to photos.

2. 4 types of jeans every women should own (and how to wear them)

I've done fashion articles before and I love doing them, but I'm not sure if I want to do this for this project. I'd almost rather do one that shows my twisted sense of humor (the first one). Either way, this is another fun project.

get linkedin

I highly recommend this professional networking site. It's myspace for the working professional and it's great whether you're job hunting, reconnecting with old coworkers or just want to have an online resume.

Here's the site url: www.linkedin.com
And here's my linkedin page

Project 3

Postcard(top two images), ad (middle) and the poster (bottom).
Keywords: advertising, copywriting, graphic design, illustration