Show and Tell 8

A website on tools (http://toolemera.com/Books%26Booklets/booksplans.html) offers a page with antique booklets, one of which is titled, How to Make Woodwork Tools http://toolemera.com/bkpdf/haywardhowtobk.pdf.

This 52-page book, from around 1945, has strong illustrations outlining the various processes. True to form it has an initial illustration of the completed item and then multiple images showing the stages of the creation of the tools. The fact that this book is more than 60 years old proves that good design is timeless.

Show & Tell 7

I shop regularly on the Internet but don’t necessarily visit non-store websites. One place I do go, however, is to dc.gov. This site’s strong navigation system makes it work well. The main divisions at the top allow you to choose where to go based on your point of view as a resident, a business, or even a visitor. Additional navigation menus allow you to click on what you are interested in finding. And the very best feature, of any website, is the search feature.

I think the sight has so much information to provide that it is not necessarily visually appealing but it is not unappealing either. They do a good job of using rules to divide the pages.

Endangered Species Chocolate Bars

Chocolatebar.com

Stroll down the organic food aisles of your grocery store and you are likely to find Endangered Species Chocolate Bars. True to the name of the chocolate, each bar type represents a different animal that is an endangered species. Aptly named and simply designed, the outer wrapper pictures an endangered species. The inner wrapper educates about the species. 

Their website, chocolatebar.com, states the following regarding the All-Natural Dark Chocolate with Raspberries bar which features a grizzly bear:

"Increase your knowledge of hibernating giants by reading the inside of the wrapper, filled with insightful knowledge about grizzly bears, an at-risk species. Your chocolate purchase tastes all the more sweet knowing that it is supporting conservation efforts."

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Electronic Postcard

It has taken me a lot of work to find a postcard (without visiting the same websites as my classmates). At last I have found one, albeit an electronic postcard. This one is invitation to participate in a fundraising walk for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The design is fairly simply but direct and straight to the point. What would be the mailer side is standardized text that the sender has the ability to edit.

Folgers: Classic and Gourmet

Classic and Gourmet Folgers Coffee

Classic Folgers comes in a very sturdy, reusable container designed to be your go-to, on a daily basis, coffee. It has hand grips and a snap on lid. It’s packaged in primary (Christmas) colors, a can’t-miss on the grocery shelf. And the ability to reuse the container means it’s in your house as a constant reminder of your day to day coffee.

The packaging for Gourmet Folgers is a reclose-able bag. Its daintiness implies something to be treasured. Though it has the same sunshine image (in both the traditional image and implied in the color band at the top of the bag) the design is very different than the Classic bag and is streamlined. The smaller quantity and different packaging implies gourmet.

Show & Tell 5

Here is a campaign from onepercentfortheplanet.org. They describe themselves as "a growing global movement of 1402 companies that donate 1% of their sales to a network of 2,414 environmental organizations worldwide." 

In this particular example there is only one image. I think the lack of images reflects on the goal of the organization: supporting the environment. Thus the one image is an example of only using what you need to use. The image directly matches the title of the advertisement. The only contact information listed here is a web address; a presumed attempt to lead you to a source that the organization must feel has all the answers to any questions you may have.

I like this particular ad because though the title references dolphins, we recognize (before reading the copy) that they are referring to the human race.

Get Up. Go Volunteer.

This campaign for volunteering shows that volunteering is a simple activity that anyone can do. The plain white shirt that the man is wearing is the sign that volunteering is an uncomplicated act. The designer also used a modified word cloud design to get the point across. And the word cloud tells us exactly what we can do. This advertisement succinctly gets the point across.

Source: the Ad Council http://www.adcouncil.org/

Travel Writing

The Affluent Traveler

I couldn’t resist purchasing this magazine upon seeing its title. I really wanted to know who the publishers envision as being affluent. Is the affluence the money the traveler has or the style of travel taken? It seems both things are applicable.

If you travel to these locations you will be treated as royalty, hence the financial affluence. And if you travel to these locations you are expecting a certain level of attention, hence the style.

What entertained me most is that each location listed extends an exclusive offer (discount) to the readers of The Affluent Traveler. If you are financially affluent, why do you need these offers?

View of a 1-page spread

View of a 2-page spread

Show and Tell 1 - More than Just a Recipe

Cook’s Illustrated

This magazine serves as my example of good food writing. The magazine takes a complete approach of educating the reader, not simply providing a recipe. In preparing their article, the writer/cook:

·         conducts research of the main ingredient

·         prepares multiple versions of their recipe

·         shares the results of the research with the reader

·         lets the reader know what went wrong with early versions of the recipe

Usually sidebars contain information such as

·         How taste testers rated varieties of an ingredient

·         The science behind a preparation method or ingredient

·         Preparation steps

In addition, as the title implies, illustrations are the norm in this periodical versus photographs.

Tea Bags

A simplistic design (used by many) but highly functional is this container by Stash Tea. This package can be used two different ways. You can allow it to stand up tall and dispense bags one at a time or let it sit on its side. Stash has a very simplistic logo. A serif font with a starburst around the center letter.

Adobe Design Software

One of the great things of knowing how to use inDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop programs properly is being able to merge them into a good design. Perhaps the newsletter I designed required graphic work, sharp photos and a good layout. I could have used the appropriate program for its strength. Not only that, I would have been able to prepare my final output correctly for the printer.

I now not only know why inDesign is telling me that there is an error in my print job because the photographs are RGB, I know why it is a problem and, most importantly, I know how to fix it. I know that I can go to Photoshop and correct the mode of my photographs. (Hopefully this knowledge will save my office some money for time the print shop doesn't spend correcting this for me!) And I know that if I create anything that needs to retain its definition when increased or decreased in size that Illustrator is the software to turn to.

Logo Design

Logo Design

Well-Designed

I think the logo that Oprah uses for her magazine and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s logo are well designed.

Oprah—who has unique name to begin with—has simply taken the first initial of her name and it is recognized as her. Very simplistic and a clean font lead to instant recognition.

I think the NMSS logo is well designed. It too is simplistic—simply the letters MS (multiple sclerosis) with a black line swooping through it. The black line indicates eradication of the disease.

Poorly-Designed

A very well known logo and one not too popular are deemed by me to be poorly designed.

Boys and Girls Clubs of America—this logo is a set of clasped hands. The hands seem to promote unity and cohesion. However, the really don’t seem to have anything to do with boys or girls.

Magic Johnson Enterprises—I feel that this logo is so abstract that it doesn’t hit the mark. If I force myself to, I can make the letter ‘m’ from the yellow and blue image (but it is a real stretch). I will say that the size of the image does indicate strength.

For Chocolate Lovers

Here is my image of a positive use of color. I love the use of brown in this advertisement. It makes the page look as if it can be eaten.

It Probably Looks Better Printed on Coated Stock

In this piece the use of yellow ink allows the difference of environmental lighting in which the advertisement is viewed to have great importance. If the light setting is shadowed it is difficult to read or see the words printed in yellow. The fact that it is printed on newsprint doesn't help. I think if it were printed on coated paper stock it may not matter as much.

The logo for Adoption Expo is a good use of type as image.The "t" and "it" look like an adult and a child in a hugging pose.

Finest Feature of Photoshop

For me one of the best features of Photoshop is the Magic Wand. There have been multiple times when I want to use a portion of an image and leave out the background or change the background. In the images below I have replaced the background. I used the following steps.

1. Cropped the original image to include a portion of the canvas.
2. Added text to the canvas portion using the Vertical Type Tool
3. Double clicked the Background layer to create a new layer
4. Selected the MagicWand, Contiguous and made the Tolerance 50
5. Placed the Magic Wand over a portion of the sky and using the Shift key, highlighted all of the sky portions of the image
6. Clicked Delete to remove the sky
7. Added a new color background (using inDesign--I'm sure there is probably a way to do this in Photoshop).

Folded Invitation

Again this was an assignment that I struggled with; no folded self-mailers in my house. [Yeah! Trashing mail as it comes is paying off—or is it now stopping me from easily doing my homework? I digress.] Then I stumbled across this invitation at work.

This is a bit more complicated than our homework is. It has a die cut and an inside pocket. Of course, a lovely ribbon adds class to it. The complimentary colors of this piece keep it unified. The outer flaps, invitation, response card and sealing sticker all are printed on the same paper. There is also continuity with the scroll design printing in brown on the beige piece and printing beige on the brown piece.

Folded Envelope with Sealer

Flaps Unfolded

Invitation in Ribbon; Response Card in Pocket

The Invitation and Response Card

Cooking Uses a Recipe, Layout Uses a Grid

This example of a 4-column, 3-row grid comes from one of my favorite magazines, Cook's Illustrated. (I love the illustrations!) This particular page puts the grid to fantastic use. There is a great deal of subdivision that flows well. Your eye is easily led from left to right and then top to bottom.

Reminds Me of Our First Two Assignments

Massanutten Resort is having a Halloween party. Their invitation is quite inviting. The font used for Thrill on the Hill is glowing and looks slightly thrilling.

Time Saving Lessons from InDesign CS5

Though I have used InDesign for at least three years now, the skills learned for CS5 in PBDS 501 are already paying off. Each fall I am responsible for the layout of a program book (I look forward to going electronic with this next year) and an additional 120+-page book. I am enjoying the ability to visualize the speakers' pictures in the frames without having to resize them. Another thing I learned that is a time saver is the Character Style feature. I was always identifying the font family for each time I applied a character style--what an aha moment it was to learn that I was defeating the purpose of this feature by doing so.

Classic Clean Lines

The use of color and non-justified text draw this particular layout to my eye. The font used, point size and leading make it easy to read. Pull quotes are used nicely to entice the reader. And of course, because the subject matter is designing rooms in a house, there are ample photographs.