Critique: The Favorties

Here's my first draft of the opening spread for "The Favorites." I came up with two different concepts for this story, and this is what was chosen after last Thursday's critique. First of all, I'm really pleased with how the color palette works with this design. It's sophisticated and yet has some spunk and punch at the same time. My only worry is that the photos we get for the story won't have the same color scheme (as could be planned for in a Martha Stewart-esque magazine style), but I can adapt.

My favorite thing about the spread is the unusual placement of the title. It's unexpected and fun, and I think it really entices the reader in. I've got to tweak the chef a bit more, but I really like the way he looks against that dark burgundy background. I've also got to tweak the opening copy block so that it's more readable.

What do you all think? Since we didn't get to talk about my designs at last week's 1:30 meeting, I'd love to get any feedback!

You Can't Miss: Design Your Own Purse and Digital Graffitti

In honor of my turning 22...which happens in approximately one hour (woo hoo) I wanted to share my awesome designer-friendly birthday present. This weekend, I went home to Kansas City to celebrate with my family. We went to the plaza and as a gift from my mom, I got to make a custom-made purse at 1154 Lill.

It's a beautiful little shop that started in Chicago and now has a few other boutiques in the US. You go in and get to pick out the style of bag as well as the fabrics. After about an hour and a half I finally settled on an adorable pink paisley brink with a brown strap and pink interior. It was such a fun designer-ish place. My bag will be ready in about three weeks and I'll have to show it off to you all! For more info, you can go to 1154LILL.com



designverb.com finally had something really cool...and it was perfect for this week because it was all about digital graffiti! It involved a user, a green laser pointer, a projector and some code. There's also a really cool YouTube video that goes along with it...check it out!

Response: Prototypes

It was great today seeing everyone's designs today. I think it's really interesting that four people can be designing for the same general concept and come up with visual voices and attitudes that are so distinct. It was also comforting to see that I wasn't the only one struggling with creating a protoype based on very limited feature and department ideas. But I guess that's good in a way...I liked having some creative freedom to play around with the magazine's content and voice. I may be a designer but there's definitely an opinionated editor side to me, too.

Something that I thought was difficult today though, was attempting to be a "hard-ass" when critiquing. I'm definitely opinionated when it comes to magazine design. There are things I like and things I strongly dislike. But this field is sooooooo subjective. Something I might think is hideous, someone else might think is brilliant...and there were times that I saw that today. It's just so difficult to be critical when a big part comes down to taste. But at the same time, I'm really excited to get my designs critiqued...I like when people are nice and give flowery comments, but in the end that doesn't really make me a better designer. I can't wait to see everyone else's designs on Thursday, too

You Can't Miss: Mowing Kiwi and Fortune Covers

kiwi
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

This week on designverb.com, there wasn't a whole lot new to discuss, so I found this post in one of the archives. I thought it was really fun, especially since I'm working on food with the restaurant issue this week. You can see more of these fun images at minimiam.com

fortune
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

I found a great cover gallery at http://nmca.boico.net/index.html. There is a selected gallery of cover images from mainstays such as Esquire and Harper's Baazar, but there are also images from more obscure mags such as Grafik and Vogue Paris. I found these images in the Fortune photo gallery. It was neat to see the creativity of these covers from the 50s, 60s and 70s, especially in light of the history projects we've been working on over the past few weeks

Response: Theme Issue Brainstorming

Restaurant fonts
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

This afternoon Kristin, Melissa and I sat down and did some brainstorming for the Restaurant Design theme issue for the 8th. I've never worked on an issue like this, so I'm pretty excited about the challenge. Out main goal for our meeting today was coming up with a selection of fonts and a color palette that will tie the issue together. From there, Melissa will be working on a cover design, and we'll also need to come up with some sort of iconic element to further tie the pages together.

Selecting the fonts and colors for this issue was more of a challenge than I'd anticipated. For the fonts, we knew we wanted something kitchy and modern....something a little bit more fun and playful than what you see in the typical "foodie' magazine. We picked a serif and sans serif font that we thought expressed this pretty well...and we also played with different pairings for a while to make sure they'd work together. For the color palette, we went through and picked out shades for each of the basic colors. After our initial selection, we felt like the colors were way too "Crayola" and boring, so we played with the saturation a bit and tweaked them to make them a little more interesting.

We'll still need to come up with a sort of "one-time style guide" for the issue, so that everything has a cohesive look to it. Let us know what you think of what we have so far...Kristin is playing with it some more in the next day or two.

Critique: Screen Design Number Two

screen. 2.22
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

Here's what I ended up with for my screen design for this week. I'm pretty happy about how it turned out. I think I did a good job of balancing the pages with more horizontal elements on the left page and more vertical ones on the right. I also think I did a good job of varying the headlines so that there is a sense of variety.

If I'd had another week, I probably would have worked on improving the oscar illustration. I spent a lot of time on it and went through several drafts, but after tweaking and retweaking, I ended up sticking with one of my earliest attempts. I'm still learning on illustrator...and I'm finally starting to get a grasp on that pesky pen tool! I'm also pretty happy about the way the envelope turned out. It was a last minute addition, but I think I did a good job of keeping with the style of the other illustration, which is good.

You Can't Miss: Colorful Crayons and Mideast Magazine

pete.goldlust.crayons
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

I found this on an archived blog entry from designverb.com, and I thought it was appropriate seeing as we've been reading about color. I think it's really cool when people take really simple, ordinary objects and do unexpected things with them.

Mideast_opener
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

I also found an interesting article at Print Magazine's website: http://printmag.com/design_articles/found_in_translation/tabid/186/Default.aspx

It talks about three magazines that are focused on Middle East identities. Two are based in New York and one in tne Netherlands. I thought it was interesting to see a magazine with such a unique, cultural perspective, not to mention they seem to be doing some really cool things in terms of design.

Critique: Oscar Illustration

oscarillustration
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

This is the illustration I've been working on for screen this week. The anchor story is about Oscar acceptance speeches. I've gone through several versions of it and I'm relatively happy about the way this looks. I originally wanted to do something with putting different faces on several statuettes, but my execution wasn't looking so good. I'm definitely a novice at Illustrator, so I'm trying to improve my skills.

Response: Communicating with Color

I've really enjoyed reading through the Pantone Color book. Sometimes when I'm designing I'll add color just to add color. I think it's important to remember that color is a universal language, and if you don't choose your colors to be compatible with the story and the design, you could communicate a message that perhaps you didn't intend.

I've also really found the color combinations section really helpful. I've been experimenting with some of these color combinations as I start to put together my Meredith prototype.

Critiqe: Resume

I designed calendar for VOX this week (which took up more time than I would have liked and I have little to show for it), so here are a few copies of my resume that I've been updating for another class (and myself, as I'm always updating and refining my resume). I've also been playing around with the design. I'm playing it pretty conservatively in terms of design, but I feel like the resume isn't the place to be innovative so much as it's the place to be readable. Thoughts? Here are a few versions I've been toying with:

new resume
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

new resume11
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

new resume
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

You Can't Miss: Whimsey Press and Super Bowl Ads

This week on the blog that I'm following, designverb.com, there was a post about the Super Bowl ads with a great link so that if you missed any or all of the Super Bowl, you can still catch the ads! I always love watching the Super Bowl commercials. I feel like there's a lot we as magazine designers can take away from the advertising world, both in terms of design and conceptual ideas. My favorite commercial of the night was the Budweiser Clydsdale commercial with the dog wanting to be a dalmation (those always seem to be my favorite).

And if you haven't seen the Doritos car commerical, check it out online at http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/postseason/superads. The ad was user-produced, and it has some pretty cool design elements to it.

Doritos Super Bowl Commercial
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

Another cool site to check out is whimseypress.com. Not only is it a great place to get cute wrapping paper and notecards, they have some really cool paterns and color combinations in their designs.

Valentine's Paper from Whimsey Press
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

Notecards from Whimsey Press
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

Response: Magazine History

Saturday Evening Post
Originally uploaded by maggiemeyer.

I've always been a big history buff, so I found working on the historical perspectives paper quite interesting. I had initially wanted to look at Vanity Fair for my project, but after trekking up to 4 West at good ole Ellis, I found that they did not in fact have archives of the magazine. So I look around and instead chose The Saturday Evening Post, a weekly magazine that is incredibly iconic in this country, and yet one I knew very little about.

The most interesting part of the project for me was doing research on Norman Rockwell. His ability to bring life to the seemingly ordinary is fascinating to study, and is what made him so famous in America. As a painter and a magazine designer, I find Rockwell incredibly inspiring. His use of color, humor and distinct style is full of life. I feel like sometimes as designers, we must give life to mundane, ordinary stories. It is our job as visual storytellers to make the stories register with readers and show them a glimpse into their own lives.