Me and Bonnie Maclean....

I am a huge nerd for silk screened rock posters, and I am particularly in love with the art of the Fillmore (the legendary bi-coastal venue run by Bill Graham) My favorite poster Illustrator/designer is Bonnie Maclean. Here are a few of her most famous prints. If I could afford to "pick up" the originals of these, I would in a heartbeat. As it is, I had to settle for this book.

Posters from the Fillmore era continue to influence designers today (myself included). Although they are certainly "psychedelic" by definition, they also employ all the basic design elements we have studied this semester. They are balanced, vibrant, compelling, conceptually intricate, and (usually) readable. I especially love Bonnie's work because she uses pointillism to distinguish the three dimensional from the two dimensional (the flesh of the face from the patterned shirt, to use the above example). Her color palates are also very appealing to me. AND, she was the only female poster designer whose work regularly appeared in the Fillmore series. I love you, Bonnie!

The Adobe Trifecta....

Although I didn't get a chance to use Illustrator in the production of the newsletter for 502, I can see how useful it is to create graphics--logos, ornamental flourishes, or flat-out illustrations. If I hadn't had a Soundgarden logo already at my disposal, I would have created one with that program. Also (and though I had no trouble using simple, recognizable glyphs), it would have been fun to create some unique symbols of my own to use throughout the newsletter.

I have already used PhotoShop on numerous occasions to help unify the color palate, temperature, and mood of photos in a given set. I like my photographic images to have deep, rich hues, and I like them to have high contrast. Of course, this is a personal aesthetic and may not always be called for. Photoshop gives you the opportunity to go in the opposite direction as well and make things muted and monochromatic. Unity is the key, and that's where I find PS to be most useful. I look forward to expanding my skills in creating composite images as well, and learning how to re-touch images as necessary.

Finally, InDesign is a wonderful layout tool. I have been creating posters for many years, but my experience lies primarily in making positives for silkscreens that are too big to scan. I have always wanted to be able to create digital posters, and now I understand that endeavor is really not dissimilar to creating spreads and layouts in InDesign. It all pivots around making text and images interact in both a functional and aesthetically pleasing way.

The most valuable thing I'll take away from this class is also the thing that presents to greatest challenge: I had zero familiarity with Illustrator before this fall, and it's the program that both intrigues and intimidates me the most. I look forward to working with it in depth in the future!

Buy Our DVDs

I was always very struck by Cartoon Network's Adult Swim ad campaign, its billboards in particular. When they first began appearing around Baltimore, they featured a weird pixelated character and I had no idea what on earth it was all about. I became curious....

 

This is a fellow from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, one of dozens of cartoon shows geared toward grownups that air in the evening on CN. I love how the brand is both visually and literally parenthetical. This philosophy carries over into my favorite billboard, one which I could not find a picture of. It was up during the holiday season on the corner of Saint Paul and North Avenue: it featured a giant, ironically pleasant-looking paint-by-number picture of horses in a meadow. The only caption read, "BUY OUR DVDS" in white lettering at the bottom. The image, having nothing whatsoever to do with the product in question, both confuses and intrigues the viewer. Occasionally, the images are not only irrelevant but also mildly disturbing. Here's another example of that tactic:

 

And another:

The Adult Swim brand is interesting to me because it is text only. 

It's successful and appropriate because the cartoon characters and images should be able to speak for themselves, like they do in this over-the-top ad for the Tim and Eric show:

The Adult Swim billboard campaign has to be the most bizarre I've ever come across, which reflects the nature of the television they program. Awesome show, great job!

How LO can you GOs?

I had a hard time finding logos that were "bad" in the design sense and not amusingly inappropriate accidents. I chose these two, which are a little boring and/or confusing to me, but I have nothing to share that's aesthetically or morally offensive.

When Bell Atlantic morphed into Verizon, I just didn't get their logo (or their new name). I have only just found out that it's a "portmanteau" of veritas (truth) and horizon. Is it too grandiose for a communications company? Maybe not, but it still sounds more like an investment firm or an insurance provider to me. My main qualm is the red check mark graphic: I have never understood really why it's there. It must have some significance . . . can someone enlighten me?

The USDA Organic logo has always bothered me a little, as well. I'll admit, I just noticed the pale diagonal lines for the first time, and they are a nice agrarian touch and give the logo some depth. But . . . still! It's so blah! I don't like the shade of green they chose, and everything about the design is very institutional. Of course, you could argue for the appropriateness of that observation (it is the USDA after all) and say that it's a perfectly serviceable and practical governmental logo. Still, I always thinks it looks out of place on whatever beautifully packaged Whole Foods product it gets stamped on.

Indeed, I am a complete sucker for good looking packaging. Case in point: Skullcandy. Do their headphones display superior quality? No. I've gone through three pairs of "smokin' buds" and two pairs of "full metal jackets" in the past two years. Are they cost efficient? For me, yes, because I get them at wholesale prices through my job; for the rest of you suckers not so much. So what makes Skullcandy so awesome? Everything looks so pretty! All their various headphones are as much a fashion accessory as they are an audio accessory. Fantastic colors, always. Plus, I love little "skully" . . . they always manage to emboss him on the tiniest sets of earbuds. They usually put a sticker of "skully" (my name for him, not trademarked)  in the packaging, and then the company invites you to place said sticker someplace inventive, photograph it, and then send it in to their website. That's right, they have their own consumers do the campaigning. Nice! Oh Skully-candy . . . your product may not be reliable but I do love the way you look.

Finally, one of the most recognizable logos of our generation: Google. It just occurred to me that the colors might represent the marrying print media and digital media (CMY and RGB), and further research confirms this as a possibility. It would have been cool, then, if they had actually used Cyan and Magenta, no? Lets try it (since I don't have the proper tools handy) using paint!

Yeah! My way is totally better! Kidding. I hope I didn't just break a ton of copyright laws. But, hey, I shouldn't have to worry about it, right? The beauty of the Google logo is that it's probably the most altered logo in the history of logos. How many times have you pulled up the site and seen something cute and holiday-related in place of the norm? I think they sometimes even hold contests for kids to re-design it for them. Basically, the logo is in a constant state of flux but the basic principles stay the same. It's the US Constitution of logos. And that's not hyperbolic at all.

Color Me Happy (or not)

Here is a photo of 1/2 of the English post-punk band Wire in a spread for Mojo. I don't know why they took this grayed-out photo with terrible contrast and re-colored it with green, cyan, and magenta. Remember in the 1980s when there was that mercifully brief movement to colorize old black and white films? They always looked terrible, and that's what this reminds me of.

Now HERE is a photo of Siouxsie Sioux (another English contemporary of Wire) taken by Lynn Goldsmith in 1980. I love everything about this image, especially the repetition of hues. It was sheer luck that Goldsmith asked for the whole band, but only got Siouxsie: otherwise, we wouldn't have these RGB spectrum metal folding chairs to compliment and accent the subject's clothing, hair, and makeup. Nice!

It's Raining Cats, Hallelujah!: fun with color and the lasso tool

I enjoyed our last 501 assignment so much, I figured it might be fun to share how I went about doing it. Most of you will have already figured out your own ways of achieving similar results, but here's how I turned my friend's and my heads into landing pads for flying cats.

Step 1: Collect your images

Alas, I am not responsible for catasus (or pegacat, if you prefer), although I wish I could claim ownership over such impressive blending capabilities. In a perfect world, you will actually have the rights to all the photos you're working with. In this case, I did not actually take any of these pictures, and I only had the rights to the photo of myself and my bandmate, Andriana.

 

Step 2: Recolor 

This is important. Even if you're making the most ridiculous composite image imaginable, it will look more believable if everything is at the same temperature, vibrance, and saturation levels. Also, I think it's better to adjust each image individually rather than adjust the flattened composite--you have more control this way. Here are some before and after shots.

 

Step 3: Resize

An easy way to do this is keep a preview window open of you background image while you experiment in photoshop with different sizes for the images you're going to layer on top.

Step 4: Select

Although the quick selection tool is great, you have much more control with the lasso tool. It does require a steady hand, though, so make sure you have enough elbow room to move around wherever you need to! It's definitely a more painstaking process, but it does yield better results.

Step 5: Place

The combination of resizing objects and placing them in the right way can add depth to the composite. In this case, I made the flying kitten really small and put him in the upper right-hand corner so he looked like he was soaring in from farther away. 

  

Step 6: Text

When you know you'll be adding text to an image, it's always a good idea to find a space to put it that's mostly one hue. Use the eyedropper tool and find a color elsewhere in the image that's complimentary to the background. In this case, I used the yellowish hue from Andriana's face because I knew it would stand out against the bright blue sky. If possible and apprpriate, write an amusing caption.

Step 7: Crack up in the lab at the results of your handiwork

Step 8: Send it to everyone you know in an e-mail OR

Step 9: Make it your facebook avatar

Foldy-things

One time, I told a work colleague of mine that I had shopped at Ann Taylor Loft. At this he quipped, “Oh yeah? Did you see my mom there?” And I replied, “Bite me.”

So, this is Loft’s most recent mailer.  They have recently dropped “Ann Taylor” from their name, presumably to combat the stereotype—previously illustrated—that they cater only to middle-aged frumps in pantsuits.

I like the layout here because the whole front panel is taken up by a single image, unsullied by postage and address info.  It’s very simple (with half as many panels as we will be working with), and the color palette is real purdy. I used it this weekend and purchased a very nice, very YOUTHFUL pair of black corduroys, thank you very much.

 

I love the lasso tool . . . and flying cats also.

Sane or Not?

Just found this on the John Stewart Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear website. Is someone in our class responsible? Come on, you know one of you totally is....

A Very Long Layout

This layout came from a 2002 issue of National Geographic Traveler. The article, also the cover story, is devoted to the island of Bali in Indonesia, a colorful Hindu dot in a sea of other islands that comprise the region. Excepting the fact that I love Balinese culture and it's at the top of my list of places I want to travel, I also think it's a really well put together visual piece. All of the photographs are very large, and many spread across both pages. There is a chromatic unity to the piece, with green, orange, and red providing a nice split-complimentary palette, and I like the enormous burnt orange drop-cap letters that designate the various sections of the piece. The photographs are at once intimate, candid, and sublime. I don't know about you, but I want to go!!!

Indesign and 502

Other than some very rudimentary (and very auto-didactic) experiences with older versions of PhotoShop, this stint with InDesign was my very first introduction to any of the creative suite software. I felt immediately in over my head and overwhelmed with the complexities of the program. I do feel like it came together for me a little bit towards the end, however, and whatever knowledge I have managed to retain will probably inform the travel layout project a great deal. InDesign tools aid me in manipulating how text and images interact with each other in ways more precise than I've ever imagined possible.

Creative Drinking

I found out about this beer company while leafing through an old issue of MOJO magazine from 2006. The German brewery that makes Bitburger beer is apparently into quirky and creative ad campaigns. This one featured several different ads, each with a cropped off image for the viewer to attempt to comprehend. The above picture is a screen shot from their old website and features the same ad I saw in MOJO. The tagline isn't so much an invitation as it is a suggestion of exclusivity: Not Everyone Will Get It. OK, so this beer isn't for everyone BUT if you can figure this ad out then maybe you'll feel good enough about yourself to drink this (doubtless expensive) swill from Deutschland. The great irony of course is that the more beer you drink the less sense these ads will probably make to you. Despite the not-so-vague suggestion of elitism, I still like the campaign. The enlarged image, by the way, is a cropped off "I ♥ Beer" slogan. Yes, I figured it out by myself.

Symmetry and Asymmetry

Today's post brought to you by the letter B and, uh, the letter C (For Brian Lichtenberg and Chanel, respectively). This first image should please fans of haute couture, football, and symmetrical haberdashery. A view of the entire layout reveals some symmetrical--albeit risque--jock-strap play, as well (ooh, mama like!)

 
And here we have a little asymmetrical Chanel action. I chose this as a companion ad because both images incorporate their brand logo on the shoulder of the model (logos which are actually very similar . . . and symmetrical!). I like this photo because the model's profile breaks up the black negative space in a nice way. Plus, if I could afford Chanel, I would totally rock those frames.

Invitation

My first time with CS5 InDesign . . .

 . . . was gentle and tender. Just kidding. It was complicated and confusing, as most first times generally are. I appreciate how Alison pointed out that there are generally 6 different ways to accomplish the same command. This is good for me, as the most intuitive ones require the most clicking and the quickest ones are (for me) the most difficult to commit to memory. I jotted as many of the short cuts down as I could, but it's frustrating in class when (if you break concentration for even a micro second) you miss that one keystroke that's going to save you hours of aggravation later.

Assignment 2: Better Late Than Never

Who was so engrossed in creating her invitation that she completely forgot about all this other C.R.A.P? ME, that's who!

The images in this post were taken from this week's issue of Rolling Stone. I definitely had some trouble finding a figure/ground ad that fit the bill, so I settled for this ad for React chewing gum (admittedly, a compromise). On the page, the background gray is actually much darker. There are so many things going on here at once, and the tension between figure and ground lies not between the background and the "Rorschach" but within the "ink blot" itself. The very contour of the shape pulls your eye into the page, and the dog and panther inside give the image depth. There is this illusion of tunneling, as though the shape were recessed inside of the gray background. Whichever of these things first impresses upon the viewer may vary, and that's the point of the tagline.

I could give a hoot about Lauren Conrad (I had to look up who this person was. Aren't I supposed to have, like, the slightest idea?), but I think this ad has fabulous composition. I see alignment not in the cardinal sense but in the diagonal sense. The figure forms such a nice X, with Milk (the reality) and Milk? (the question) on opposing north westerly and south easterly corners, respectively. There is also a lot of repetition going on, especially in terms of hues: the mushroom gray of the background matches her dress, the gold of her shoes matches her hair, and then there's the text and the product in question. My favorite thing about this ad, though, is the way the splashing milk makes its signature in space and how that same fluidity is present in her flowing hair. What an awesome photo! I want to believe Photoshop did not have a role here, but . . . wishful thinking on my part, perhaps.

Hell-vetica, et al.

First Post: The Good, The Bad, and The Nauseating

This ad appears in the summer 2010 issue of Fashion Music Style, a very small British publication that focuses on music and clothing for the urban hipster set. I am not a fan of this particular arrangement of words and images, and my discontent exists on several levels. The script font is difficult to read, the back-lit effect on the copy and the product image (which I guess speaks to the "Born from a bar of Gold" tag line) looks cheap and cheesy to me, there are too many lettering styles going on at once, I don't really dig the haphazard composition of the foreground items vs. the background model (Why is she there? Is this a fragrance for women like her? Is this a fragrance for men so that they can get women like her?), and the branding/logo thumbnail in the upper left-hand corner is distracting and seems tacked-on. So ... why should I care about this product if they can't make an appealing- looking ad?

This image from the same publication heads off a short article about British pop artist Eliza Doolittle, whom I know nothing about and (judging from the description of her music as Lilly-Allen-esque) most likely never will know anything about. Despite my disinterest in the product she's selling, I really enjoy the way she is presented on the page here. The black and white graphic wallpaper behind her vibrates in an enthralling way and sets off her inky locks, and I like the primary color pallet--especially how the yellow of her bracelet is accentuated in the lettering and the seal in the lower right-hand corner. I love that font, round and fat like archetypal teenage-girl scrawl, and I like its tilted/off-balance presentation. I also like how the image is slightly over-exposed; everything on the page is very stark. Generally this page evokes youth and playfulness, with a little funky edge mixed in (all descriptors I'll bet her label rep uses when trying to push her music, as well).

 For the next two images, I go to the land of album art. There are probably hundreds of websites devoted to ridiculous record covers, but many of them are just silly (i.e., not necessarily poorly designed). This cover, however, featuring former Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Ferrel, is just atrocious all around. I hate it when people have money to spend on good graphic designers and still end up with something that looks like it's really badly photo-shopped. Hate the color pallet. Looks like someone threw up Pepto-Bismol on a smurf. I have no idea what is going on in this image. And who's the chick with the yellow hair? What's the point? Lame.

I love love love this album cover. I bought it, not just because of the personel involved with the project but because I just couldn't tear my eyes away from the way it's put together. I adore that font and the crispness of the geometric image underneath the text. The composition harkens back to the way jazz album art used to be dealt with (text on top, image beneath with a line demarcating a boundary between the two). I like the right justified text in the upper right-hand corner. In general, the austerity of the black and white image and letters is (for me) utterly eye-catching. I can only guess that, with a name like Zurich, the designers thought referencing Dada might be a cool thing to do. It's so severe and minimal, and it makes me happy to look at it!