Information Design Poster

The past month or so has been an audacious dive into the unknown waters of information design. I found that its importance not only in the design world but in social communication can't be ignored. There are designers and in fact certain companies that spend all their time arranging complex data into appropriate and effective visual representations. The key word there is effective. In my own trials I found that aesthetically pleasing, and effectively communicated information are a tough marriage. The message or data must always be the top priority but if the design is boring, the message is moot.

I undertook a design challenge from the website informationisbeautiful.net. It's a great site for inspiration, design competitions and awards. The challenge was to visualize the data on Earth's non-renewable resources. The data shows the years it will take for certain resources to run out and what we use those resources for. I was inspired by many organic and geometric organizations of data. The result is a 24x36''  massive poster of swirling data.

One of the concepts I struggled most with was outliers. I watched a webinar by Angela Shen-Hsieh, the founder of GroupVisual.io, and she touched on the importance of outliers to the information. There was such a disparity with some of the numbers I worked with that it was a real challenge to fit them into the design concept.

It was a great learning experience and challenge and something that I hope to explore further.

Typography Poster Series

Along with another member of my school's AIGA chapter, we created a series of 10 posters highlighting common errors and misconceptions about typography. We followed a template with the theme of a ribbon flowing across the top. We wanted our content to be witty and humorous to draw the reader in and make the information more lasting. They were really fun to make and put up throughout the art building. Sadly I've never really done anything like an awareness campaign so it was new and exciting for me.

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Potential Goldmine??? Fantasy Football Logos

Every great invention or idea generally capitalizes on some human obsession. Pepsi and Coke captured our love of sugar. Facebook captured our love of socializing and self-promotion. I am going to capitalize on the craze of fantasy sports. Over 19 million people play in some form of fantasy football league every year. Thats not counting the three other major sports that attract fans as well. The NFL and other leagues have realized the potential of this new way of following the sport and made millions on advertising and other promotions. This is how I'm going to get a piece of the pie. Every online fantasy team has a team decal. You can upload your own image or choose from the 5 options they provide you. Most people's team names are too creative to be captured by a colored football helmet and an initial. Here's where the designer and business opportunity comes in. The designer provides a logo for the team owner to upload instead. This is the first of many services possible. T-shirts, trophy's, jerseys, and anything else marketable can follow.

The only issues with this business plan is that the designs have to be simple enough so they don't take weeks to create in order to do as many as possible and keep prices low. Another issue is copyrighting. You are basically giving your files to someone else and after that you have no control of where they go. This would have to be dealt with by someone smarter than me.

I have created my own logo and have gotten requests from others in my league. I believe this is a potentially viable way to create a small business or on the side interest. If you are interested in a logo feel free to contact me or if you have any ideas please comment!

Dirty Book Covers!

The project was to create a series of book covers. I chose the genre adventure which included the titles Treasure Island, From Russia With Love, and Iliad. My concept for the project was to break away from my crutch of white space and simplicity. I used grunge design aesthetics as inspiration and designers such as David Carson. I am really pleased how they turned out and I learned a lot by using new techniques and ideas. My favorite aspect is the texture. It is realistic and adds a new level of interaction with the pieces.[gallery columns="1"]

How to be a Designaholic?

I went to Jamie Koval's presentation last thursday of the work  done by him and his company, VSA. It was inspiring as always but one of the things I remember most was his self-proclamation, " I am a designaholic." I understand to an extent that to reach the level he is at, design is more than a profession or hobby. It's a love and a passion and a lifestyle. He said he stayed at the office until 10 o'clock some nights just because there were so many fun things to do. He talked about doing the Chicago Olympic bid and how it had been an ultimate goal for him to produce an event like that. It was very obvious that he loved what he was doing. Being a young designer I know that is something that can't be taught. Neither can work ethic or discipline but that is what will help you succeed and get you wherever you may want to go with your career.[gallery]

Working in Seies

One thing I have learned over a culmination of my few years at Stritch and learning about the art world is the fact that to be respected or "legitmate' or to even be considered a professional artist you have to be able to show your work and the amount of time you put into it. I was overhearing Tim talk to another student about one particular photo they made and he was saying it was great. Now just go take a lot more pictures of the same subject and just like that you have a gallery show. A series is more a culmination of one idea rather than one solo idea executed perfectly, which is not to say that nothing will be perfect. I noticed when Keilan was talking about doing more work that he really emphasized doing more work outside of classwork and working with more and more series. It displays your passion for your creative career and It's a tremendous learning experience. I have experienced this anytime I had to do something multiple times. Its something that I am really going to focus on in the next year of my designs. I want to just do work and get it out there so I can learn from it.

How I think... about design

I'm surprised you're reading this after that title, but I hope you're not expecting some great manifesto. I have been thinking a bit lately about my artist process recently and I'm trying to figure out how I think things through so I can better understand how to solve a problem. For some projects as soon as I hear the brief I have an image in my head of what it is going to look like. I tend to jump into a project following this vague vision only to hit a brick wall later realizing I don't have a fully developed concept. But this habit is usually very helpful down the road because it lets me experiment and brainstorm ideas before solidifying a concept. Sometimes I can box myself in with too many boundaries and I am trapped in a design, sensibility, or concept I don't want. Other times however, I need to plan how everything is going to look and the message that I want to be obvious. I can get detailed and meticulous but I still allow for creative spontaneity. This can be great for planning but it sometimes holds me back. I can spend too much time deliberating about what I'm going to do instead of just letting it flow and follow my own esthetics and design sense.

I also been more aware lately, even though Sarah has tried to engrain it into our heads already, that looking at and researching outside work is extremely helpful and extremely important. Its not a bad thing to look at your experience objectively and say, hey Im just a rookie, I haven't yet developed my own revolutionary style that I should use to permeate everything I do but instead, I need to be soaking in everything I can learn about design, aesthetics, color, techniques, problem-solving, etc. so I can be a better designer. I want to focus more on creating a process that will help me to create successful design.

Mr. Max Huber

Researching a bit lately on Max Huber, I was really impressed with his work. He mixes vector graphic well with photographic images. That' sone thing I've noticed in my work lately is that it is either one or the other. I am trying more to balance them and I need to challenge myself to work on combining them more. Mr. Huber's work is always bright, and sharp, and has a very energizing layout. He also experiments with typography http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Max-Huber/[slideshow]

http://www.maxmuseo.ch/

New Inspiration

http://www.hitherehammy.com/category/things-i-like/gig-posters/ This website has so many awesome designs using typography. I was very inspired and its a great resource for ideas.

Sweet website

I found this website on the New York Times website. Its one of the coolest most creative I have seen. And its all typography! until you click on something that is. Check it out! http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/19/magazine/ideas2010.html#-1

Got to the museum

So I finally got to the Milwaukee Art Museum for the first time ever and now I’m wishing I had gone sooner. I took advantage of the free admission on Thursday. No one else wanted to go with me but I had an excellent time with myself regardless. Having been to galleries but never actually having been to any art museum, a minor felony for an art student I am sure, I didn’t know what to expect. What I found was that the real thing was ten times better than the internet pictures. My goal was to look for uses of typography in the museum but that got lost, as I was too involved in examining everything else around me. One of the featured shows in the main walkway was the work of Chakaia Booker. She uses old tires, rubber, pipes, scrap material and arranges them in astonishing compositions. They have great energy and movement. From a distance they look soft, smooth, and flowing but up close you can see the rigid texture and reality of the substance. I liked looking at the few old artifacts they had there: the suits of armor, the helmets, and the keys. I especially was attracted to the old key because of their ornate shape. They are almost a work themselves.

I was never interested in paintings from the renaissance and surrounding years but I made myself walk through those exhibits anyway. I must say they are much more beautiful in real life and much richer. I got really close to them and began looking for a visible brush stroke because I could hardly believe the quality of gradient they achieved. They were few and far between. I may have underestimated the skill of those artisans; or perhaps assumed everyone painted like me.

Of course I had to see Monet’s painting, Waterloo Bridge, because he was the biggest name there. When I walked up to it I was not overwhelmed. It was nice, nothing special. I loved the brushstrokes and color. Those were much better in real life. Luckily I didn’t give up on it because, it took me a few minutes, I finally saw the bridge. It was so nondescript that it blended right in with the background. I thought about the times in class when we talked about “eye candy” and rewarding the viewer for being perceptive. I was in no means being perceptive, I had just finally seen what I had supposed to in the first place but it made it that much better.

did find one typographic piece by Christopher Wool that I really liked. I was a large canvas with FO covering the top half and OL covering the bottom, similar to the t-shirts that say love or I “heart” NY. It is in blocky black and white letters. I liked what he said in a description that he likes to keep his work simple and let the viewer bring in the story to it. Standing in front of the piece it’s as if you’re being accused as a fool. You’re left to stand there and wonder why. What have I done? Why would the artist want me to feeling this way? Why is it broken up instead of one full word?

I had a really great experience and now I know where to go if I’m desperate for inspiration.

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Invitation Inspiration

Looking ahead to our invitation project that we have to do next semester I found this link that was really interesting as far as presentation. http://www.commarts.com/exhibit/em-lost-explorer-film.html. I love the idea of using a birdcage, something physical beyond the paper.

I found Michelle's poster in the real world!!!!!

I was driving around this weekend and I parked in front of a strip mall and the company in front of me was Forward Dental. I'd heard of it before but when I looked at the logo I was so surprised... there was Michelle's type and rhythm poster from our GD class. I was so excited. Just goes to show that people really do use text as image in the real world.

The perfect font

Branching off of my previous post, I remembered we had gone over in our history of typography the mathematically perfect font so I did a little more research into it. Finished in 1745 for the French king, Romain du Roi was designed by the French Academy of Sciences. It was based on a grid of 2,304 squares and was created with precise mathematical analysis and consistency. It came across to some as cold, probably because of its conformity to calculations rather than appealing aesthetics. The drawing of it are very interesting and ill attach a few. They remind me of Da Vinci's "Proportional Study of Man in the Manner of Vitruvius.[gallery] "

Typographers are Mathematicians.

I have loved the typography project so far. I am in my element breaking down and dissecting every letter form. I have learned a lot and nothing more surprising than the amount of math a typeface may require. It seems math is particularly essential to "stricter typefaces" such as the roman fonts, but I am sure it can be found in all. To some extent every font has some numerical boundries. I think almost everyone was working with in a grid or some similar structure on the computer. But the consistency of angles and curves has proven to be a challenge for me in creating my font, but mastering them does wonders for unity. I believe the most mathematically intricate and challenging letters are "S" and "M." I knew "S" would be a pain because it demands perfect symmetry and precise arcs. "M" was more of a surprise to me. I didn't realize how exact the angles inside would have to be to harmonize the thick and thin strokes together and simultaneously not become too wide or too skinny. I apologize for a boring post but I commend you for reading through the whole thing. Ill look for something more interesting to make up for it.

Nerd

Does it make me a nerd if everytime I walk into my room I notice the handle of the door looks like the beaked serif of the roman capital letter E?

Less is More

As I was looking at logos and company names for my initial typeface idea I was surprised by how simple some of the compositions were. Many used "boring" fonts. One of the problems I ran into was if I took the character or first letter away from the rest of the world or the visual it became meaningless. For example, the red Target logo is very recognizable. The lettering is simply red helvetica, so when I isolated the "T" it was worthless and unrecognizable. This is common in many of the major companies I was looking to use. It just shows that in the design the main objective was clarity and readability because of how much exposure it would have. I also found this sweet website that helps identify fonts from any file and they abbreviate it WTF (what the font). I thought it was clever.    http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

Red, white, blue, and...?

Noticing the political advertisements recently I was pondering why Ron Johnson would use green as his color scheme. I thought it was odd to break away from the traditional patriotic colors of red white and blue. Its an obvious intentional choice but one I am trying to understand why. Green is usually associated with environmental ideas which don't always align with Johnson's political party. He may be trying to reach out to others or portray himself as someone who is concerned with the environment despite his parties views. If this is not the case, however, it is a poor choice of color because the average voter will probably not put any more thought into his posters and advertisements than I did.

_______________ Centered_______________

I have noticed a tendency in my own work. That is, to make my titles and other text centered. It's the default in my brain and its obvious in my music poster design. I struggle breaking away from that but i have a bit in the changes I made to my poster. When I made the "A" in battle really big it automatically "de-centered" the word adrenaline. Consequently I had to move my quote and quote author to fit accordingly and I think the composition is a lot stronger than it would be centered. I think centering things is a great way to keep balance but, for me at least, its good to break away from that sometimes and create an interesting composition with other tools.

Type on the web

I found it coincidental that in my web design class there is a whole chapter on typography.  The teacher spent a class lecturing on the importance of it. It is a curious topic, especially with all the predictions that newspaper and print will all be digital at some point, a sad thought that I hope never comes true. I was thinking about how that on the computer there are just that many more variables to consider when choosing fonts. Just like design consistency helps for an overall unity of a page of work. It seems san serif fonts are used more liberally for text, however when readability is the main objective, online newpapers for instance, serif fonts are still considered optimal. You have to choose fonts that are portable, or can be seen in multiple browsers. All of the these create new challenges and will probably have an impact on the fonts created in the future to better utilize technology and outlets.