The End.

[Azealia Banks]

Overall, I really enjoyed this class. I was looking forward to learning new techniques and using programs I have never used before. Back then I used to use Photoshop CS3 (yikes!) and now experiencing 6, I was feeling like I was going to be set back. But I wasn't!

The one thing that kept me back were the blogs. I would forget sometimes, even if I wrote them in my planner. With those, as you can see I would do research on graphic designers I never heard of and learn more about graphic design as a whole. Some of the blogs were pretty fun and it was nice to read others from my classmates and others. 

I can really say I did like doing the projects, but I will stick with the brochure being my favorite. The poster was fun to do too, besides the challenge of finding an image. I had a good one too! This one I used for my poster did turn up a better though, just a tad bit small.

Graphic design is almost everywhere. Crammed into our homes, all over our cities and dotted around the countryside, its images, letters, colours and shapes are consciously put together to perform all sorts of functions.

I really enjoyed this course, thanks Amy! 

Jacqueline Casey

Jacqueline Casey did more in her position as a designer at MIT than most people do in a lifetime. She began working at MIT in 1955, brought on board through the suggestion of her friend and former classmate Muriel Cooper, and remained at the Institute until her death in 1992. Casey helped pioneer the institute’s Office of Design Services and acted as director for the office from 1972 until 1989. Her posters for MIT are iconic; they’re elegant and energetic, clean and creative. Casey had a real talent for depicting concepts through simple forms and type. Her posters are still an inspiration to designers.

Examples of her work have been acquired for permanent collection by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, the USIA, and the Library of Congress. Her work is also represented in many graphic design magazines and annuals and in books on the history of graphic design

She was the recipient of the William J. Gunn Award in 1988 given by the Creative Club of Boston. She received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1990. She was appointed by the late President Bartlett A. Giamatti of Yale to the Visiting Committee of the Yale School of Graphic Design. She was a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

Project 4

I really enjoyed this project, the brochure. I felt like I had enough time to get it done and implemented ideas I wanted to implement. As a few may know, back in August of 2010, I was apart of the Disney College Program and worked at Disney's Caribbean Beach. I chose to do this because I remember a lot about it and really wanted to have fun and to show that I did with it.

A challenge with this was images. Some images were too small, and some just did not work at all. So that took a while. Plus the font with the skulls was a royal pain. I displayed my brochure on my PC today and the skull turned into a giant "S". I am hoping that when I present that it does not show up again!

There were really no issues, except just hoping that it was too boring or too much for the eyes.

Caribbean Beach Resort is a really enjoyable place and I am hoping people will understand that from seeing the brochure in actual color! :D

Twitter.

“Starting today you’ll begin to notice a simplified Twitter bird. From now on, this bird will be the universally recognizable symbol of Twitter. (Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.) There’s no longer a need for text, bubbled typefaces, or a lowercase “t” to represent Twitter.”

It seems that Twitter has joined the ranks of Apple, Nike, Starbucks and Target in the club of companies that are so big that their brand is instantly recognizable without a single letter of text.

Interestingly enough, many of the illustrations that I can find of the original bird actually face to the left, though it seems Twitter played with facing him in either direction

The next step was to drop all that silly cartoon detail and revert to a silhouette look. During the process, the bird’s shape was streamlined. The feet were removed, the wings redrawn and the beak was made to be less awkwardly curved. Interestingly enough, in this step, the bird was made to look less like it was moving upwards, a step that would be reversed and taken to new heights in the next version.

Graphic Design

Graphic design is everywhere, touching everything we do, everything we see, everything we buy: we see it on billboards and in magazines. Over the door of your favorite stores,  websites, on mobile items and on gift certificates, on your favorite beverage and on your favorite books.

Graphic design to me is a combination of words and pictures,  photographs and illustrations that, in order to succeed, demands critical thinking from the artist who can execute the elements so they all add up to something distinctive or perhaps memorable.

Design based in this understanding of the intended audience is highly successful. Trying to design without it is like trying to communicate without knowing the language of the listener.

History of the Apple Logo

Apple logos are everywhere, iPods, iMacs, iPhones, iPads and many other ‘i’ devices. The Apple logo is one of the best and most relevant logo ever. But it was not the same as it is now.

Currently we have a simple small bitten silver/white Apple logo. But at the very beginning it was totally different. The first logo which was Issac Newton sitting under the Apple tree. On the tree a single apple shines to show that it was the one that helped Newton discover gravity.

This was the first Apple logo which had Issac Newton sitting under the gravity discovering apple tree.  The first Apple logo was designed by  Ron Wayne. But this logo was replaced by the Apple rainbow logo very fast. A shining about to fall apple lies directly above his head

This famous logo was designed by  Rob Janoff in 1976. He presented with a lot of similar logos from which Steve Jobs selected this one. According to Steve Jobs biography the other logo was simple looking apple which Steve didn’t like saying it looked like a cheery. After this logo was kept Apple kept it’s slogan as “Byte into an Apple”.

After Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 the rainbow Apple logo got replaced in 1998  by the blank, and the glass themed/white logo. Jonathan Ive is said to be the person who changed the logo to make it simple and clean. When the iMac was launched it came with the new logo.

Since then it used the new ones for advertising, packaging, products and replaced the rainbow totally. Monochrome logo were used from 1998 to 2003 while after that they finally used the glass themed version of the Apple logo which we see them in all the Apple devices.

David C a r s o n

David Carson,  born September 8, 1955 in Corpus Christi, Texas, is  American graphic designer, whose unconventional style revolutionized visual communication in the 1990s. Carson came to graphic design relatively late in life.

Carson started designing in the 80s with no formal schooling in the field and has since focused heavily on typography and photography. His work became well-known in the late 80s and early 90s through skateboarding and surfing magazines. Later, he started Ray Gun Magazine, a lifestyle and music magazine, and went on to start his own design firm, David Carson Design. Carson has written and co-authored a handful of books characterizing design trends. 

He continues to be active in the surfing community. Clients include Quiksilver, Suicide Girls, Samsung, Adidas, Nine Inch Nails, Pepsi, and Toyota.

In 1989 Carson became art director at the magazine Beach Culture. 

Although he produced only six issues before the journal folded, his work there earned him more than 150 design awards. By that time, Carson’s work had caught the eye of Marvin Scott Jarrett, publisher of the alternative-music magazine Ray Gun, and he hired Carson as art director in 1992. Over the next three years, with the help of Carson’s radical design vision, Ray Gun’s circulation tripled. Because Carson’s work clearly appealed to a youthful readership, corporations such as Nike and Levi Strauss & Co. commissioned him to design print ads, and he also began directing television commercials.

After leaving Ray Gun in 1995, Carson established David Carson Design, with offices in New York City and San Diego, California. The firm was instantly successful and attracted well-known, wealthy corporate clients. In 1995 Carson produced The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson (revised edition issued in 2000 as The End of Print: The Grafik Design of David Carson), the first comprehensive collection of his distinctive graphic imagery.

Project 4 - Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort!

Sooo, for the next and last project, I decided to do it on Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort (CBR). I was thinking about something I have a lot of knowledge on and experience with and why not? I worked for Disney back in August of 2011 and was lucky enough to work at the CBR as a Bell Service Dispatcher. For this post I decided to give some background information on the resort and some cool facts!

Opened on October 1, 1988, Caribbean Beach Resort was Disney World's first mid-priced ("moderate") resort. It's gone through several renovations over the years, and is just as beautiful and relaxing as it was back then. It's in Disney's Epcot Resort Area, meaning Epcot is just a short drive away. It is the largest resort on property and I was lucky enough to work there!

Caribbean Beach Resort has about 2,000+ guest rooms arranged into 6 villages, Trinidad North, Trinidad South, Martinique, Barbados, Aruba, and Jamaica. These villages all have different Caribbean colors at the shores of Barefoot Bay. The village has either 3 or 6 buildings housing guest rooms. There are plenty of little pathways, sitting areas, and little surprises! Trust me, I used to get lost half the time I would be sent out to complete a task I was given, but I am still alive! 

Each resort has a unique theme to it. From the fonts to the overall design of everything. CBR is an island themed resort. The font was very smooth and nothing extra. I believe the everything looked the way it did was because it was supposed to make you feel like you are on the islands and no worries, which it did.

Andrew Kim.

Designer Andrew Kim gained a ton of attention last year with "The Next Microsoft", in which he rebranded all of Microsoft's entire line of products: Windows 8, the Surface, Windows Phone, and even Microsoft Office.

It highlighted all issues that Microsoft is guilty of, along with a few sublets ones as well. Enough to make many wonder why the company doesn't just hire Kim, so he can help set things right.

Well, that's just what has happened. Kim has just announced that Microsoft is his new boss. "I can’t talk about the details of how things fell into place but the choice became obvious. I'll be designing for Microsoft as of summer. I promise that I’ll make the my greatest work ever while I'm there."

Kim is fairly sparse on the details, but as evidenced by the big bold letters that kicks off the announcement, it will be related to the Xbox.

This summer, Microsoft is expected to officially unveil their new home console, whatever it might be called. Everyone has been calling it the Xbox 720, but rumors point towards it just being called Xbox, and will represent a massive philosophical shift. Instead of being just a game system, it's expected to a machine that will completely take over one's living room and become the centerpiece of one's digital lifestyle. So anything that lofty will need some fairly impressive and bold branding. Which makes the hiring of Kim such a smart move.

Project 3 facts.

Of the more than 1 million people in the U.S. infected with HIV, nearly half are black men, women and children  even though blacks make up about 13 percent of the population. AIDS is the primary killer of African-Americans ages 19 to 44, and the mortality rate is 10 times higher for black Americans than for whites. For the project, I decided on doing my poster on HIV/AIDS awareness within the African American community. I grew inspiration from my job, The Mocha Center. 

At the MOCHA Center, we pride ourselves on our ability to effectively respond to the emerging needs of our communities through dynamic programming. All of our services are conducted in a culturally sensitive manner that is both confidential and non-judgmental. Additionally, services are provided in a manner that emphasizes wellness, individual responsibility, increased awareness; while promoting self-efficacy through the ongoing support of our professional staff and volunteers.

So for a blog post, I decided to post up a few facts for a post.

• Black men represent 31 percent of all new HIV infections in the United States. 
• In 2010 (14,700) and accounted for 70 percent of new HIV. 
• The rate of new infections among black men was the highest of any group by race and sex.
• The vast majority (72 percent) of infections among black men were among MSM (men who have sex with men).
• By age, the largest percentage (38 percent) of new HIV infections among black males in 2010 occurred in those aged 13–24 years, much higher than the proportion of new infections.

Salvador Dali

Spanish painter, sculptor, graphic artist and graphic designer, Salvador Dali was one of the most celebrated and influential figures in the twentieth century avant-garde art. Dali is best known for is surrealist art of the 1930's. 

Salvador Dali was born on May 11, 1904 in Figueras, Spain. He was born the third Salvador Dali after his father and brother, who died 9 months before Dali's own birth. Dali lived in the shadow of his brother all of his life. This had a great impact on his artwork.  

In 1928, Dali first obtained true international exposure when his oil painting, "Basket of Bread", was shown at Carnegie International Exposition in Pittsburgh, PA. This was one example of his mastery. Dali was determined to become one of the world's greatest painters. Salvador Dali died January 23, 1989 but will still remain one of the greatest artists and whose paintings will always remain.

Dali was the graphic designer behind Chupa Chups! Chupa Chups are sweet lollipops that are an eye catching rendition of a daisy. The name of the brand comes from the Spanish verb chupar, meaning "to suck".

Favorite Album Cover.

There are many different album covers, that strike the eye or pass. From the fonts, to the colors and overall design, many different elements. I have quite a few favorite album covers such as, Calvin Harris' 18 Months, Lana Del Rey's 'Born to Die: Paradise Edition and last Tegan and Sara's 'Heartthrob'.

But there is one that really caught my eye. As I said in the past, I am a big fan of different fonts. Also I love the edgy side of people, such as Rihanna herself and other women in the singing business. The album cover above is Rihanna's album Unapologetic. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 238,000 copies, becoming Rihanna's first number one album on the chart and best-selling debut week.

On this cover there has to be about two to three different fonts. The use of white space is well used, Rihanna is directly in the middle of the album cover. When I first looked at this cover, I was attracted to the album title behind the color black. The white on black lets you know that this is the album title. Other than that, I love the way everything is positioned. I do wish that maybe the album title would have been somewhat centered over the breast area, but that is about it. 

There are a few fonts that kind of model the font on the album cover here: DaFont

Project #2

Overall this project was something new for me. Never thought I would do something like this and how it turned out.

I had a bunch of ideas going in my head, but tried different things. BUT, the reason why nothing was working was because I kind of messed up in the beginning. I wanted to add more pictures and try to do a gradient effect.

After I got everything together, I told myself to just keep it simple at that point since the due date was coming up and I had a lot of other things to focus on. I wanted to make everything clean and make it a little different. I am a fan of three columns and different fonts. I like a font that will jump or make people say, "I like that font, what is the name of it?"

Next project I will try to pace myself and to actually express my ideas and able to feel more confident about it.

Initials Project

The Initials project was fun. I wish I would have planned it out just a little bit more. I had a couple ideas in my head but was not too sure. Improving a bit and just experimenting just to get used to Design. I have never used it before so it was really new to me. The gradient feather tool was my favorite to use in this project. Just the way the color flowed from one side to the other. I placed my initials at the corners to draw attention to them instead of placing them in the middle. I don't think they would have made sense in the middle anyway if I had done so. Next project I will take my time and try to do things neater and focus more on positioning and colors.

//TroLLing

Just the thought of internet trolling bothers me, barf. Why? What is the satisfaction behind it? I don't understand and would never want to get to that level to understand. They post hateful questions and answers just for the sake of pissing people off to making up lies about other people just to hurt their reputations. Trolls are fixated on the idea that people who disagree with them or use common sense that is incompatible with what they say about something in particular, are trying to force their ways on them. 

In the online article "Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the Web", by Adrian Chen goes into detail about the troll Michael Brustch (Violentacrez). Brutsch is a 49 year old military father and a lover of cats. He currently resides with his wife in Arlington, Texas.

Violentacrez is known for distributing images of scantily-clad underage girls, racism posts, porn, gore, misogyny, incest, and exotic abominations. In my opinion this is absolutely unacceptable. It is funny because further in the reading, Brustch is unapologetic about what he has done. He has received coverage about what he has done via CNN (Anderson Cooper). 

"My wife is disabled. I got a home and a mortgage, and if this hits the fan, I believe this will affect negatively on my employment," he said. "I do my job, go home watch TV, and go on the internet. I just like riling people up in my spare time." -Brustch

It is sick to even think people would do such a thing. The best thing we can do is just to ignore it, or as forum moderators, make sure to stay on your "toes" in case a situation pops up on a forum.  

//American Airlines Logo

As we observed in class, American Airlines has merged with United. With that they created a new logo.

The new logo has a more futuristic look to it. Now we are all used to the original America Airlines logo. When you see it, you definitely know which airline it is. I do, but I don't like it at the same time if that makes sense. The symbol looks like the tail of a plane, which is pretty interesting. Another thing is the colors and how they fade it from light to a darker shade.

Now I am not the kind of person to stay with the past, but the past logo was enough for me. It was simple and appealing. The eagle in the middle, with initials and the colors. Yes the colors are pretty dull, but you remembered. When you seen AA, you knew what it stood for. Nice and simple. Not too much, because, well in my opinion that too much can lose attention.

to

But who really judges an airline by its logo to fly?

//Michael Bierut

I was not as busy as I expected today, so I decided to do some research on graphics designers over the time. One that stood out to me was Michael Bierut. I have no clue why, but I decided to do some light research.  Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio (1957). He moved on to study at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. Michael Bierut's actual career as a designer for Massimo Vignelli started in the 1980s. 

For 10 years from there he ended up becoming a partner at Pentagram in 1990.

Bierut is also an advocate for writing books on design, and as a co-founder of Design Observer as well as a teacher and lecturer all over the world. 

According to his Pentagram online biography: Bierut "is responsible for leading a team of graphic designers who create identity design, environmental graphic design and editorial design solutions".

He prides himself not on being creative, but on being a problem solver and suggests to other designers to remember who and what they are creating their artwork for. The works of Bierut are in permanent collections of museums all over the world in several countries including: the United States, Germany and Switzerland. Some of his clients consists of: Walt Disney, United Airlines, Motorola, the New York Jets, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

//1st Post

I believe that it is very important for communication majors to study design. In order to communicate efficiently with others we should be able to try and discover the meaning behind an image. For me, I would love to go into social media and possibly advertising. Dealing with that, there will be plenty of images that are designed a certain way or a reason. Either for it to be simple, or just to wow a certain target crowd. Good design matters as well. Nobody (well, at least I don't) like something that doesn't grab your attention...better yet know as boring. A good design not only reflects on the artist, but the company the design is for. Gives the public a better understanding of the company itself. Nothing over the top, nothing too dull. 

One of my favorite designs has to be the album cover for electronic music artist Kaskade. The album is called Strobelite Seduction.

Sometimes I purposely play music from the album just to view the album cover. It is just something about the music, when you're listening and viewing it (the album cover) at the same time, you are put in a trance. Guess you can say you are "seduced" by the colors and details (regardless if Kaskade is in the middle or not) as the music plays and puts you in a small trance. There is nothing too over the top, though there could possibly be a little more than can be added. Such as maybe a sun or moon as a strobelite showing where the light is coming from. None the less, this album cover is one of my favorites. 

I am pretty interested in seeing how this class plays out.  I have used photoshop and other tools prior, but that was awhile ago, back when Photoshop was on CS3. From the blogging to the projects, ready to learn new skills that will hopefully benefit  in the future.