thoughts

I've found that this past summer has been one of obsessions. You can take that as a good ... or bad thing. I'm still unsure about it myself. I've come to start collecting design books, all sorts of disciplines in design. Very cool that I've composed this mini-library of sorts, which during the school year will act as a great resource for various projects. In some ways though, seems to be a bit excessive, especially when it comes to how much money I've spent on making this resource centre. Not being in school everyday and the lack of design projects has led me to become rather bored and "meh" with my everyday tasks. It's not the same without that creative environment that I've come to thrive on. Granted, it's my own fault. I need to maintain the student lifestyle with a job as a server and as a result, has taken up much of my time. I don't feel the desire to create or distract myself. Totally sad, I know. I've got a month left to do something with my summer. Let's hope I can get myself in gear and shape up.

A Few Tips ...

Came across this a few weeks ago and have since then ... have started making it into a poster for my apartment as a reminder. As a design student, it's important to keep perspective and these 'things' help us keep us grounded and not nit-pick at the small things.

Check it out,

http://www.jamiewieck.com/visual-essays/the-50-things-every-graphic-design-student-should-know/

Insane Ad

This video is ... very deserving of a creative award. From my understanding, it's already won a few and will continue to do so throughout this year. It was created by Y&R Chicago.

*Amazing*

I hate PAPYRUS more than life itself ... maybe even more than Comic Sans. This is a dirty card and would find myself struggling if I were given a card with it on it. Papyrus is SEVERELY overused and I'm SICK AND TIRED of seeing spas use it. Give me a break! It's called expanding your type horizons people! What mad me even more upset ... I realized that Avatar used Papyrus for its subheadings for the native people in the film. The film should have been tossed from the Academy Awards for the sole purpose of using that terrible font. Grrr.

What Grinds My Gears

Granted I'm not a big fan of the Fast and the Furious films, but this new poster that's supposed to encourage anticipation regarding the newest film (oh yes, there are now FIVE films in the series) ... SUCKS. I'm really not liking the drop cap F and find it a cheap and non-creative way of displaying the new title. That being said, I also don't like how the F merges with the A but not with the lower I. Clearly the I would get lost if it was joined with the larger F but still ... this seems overly cheesy and to me, sets up a film to fail.

Amazing Resources

This is a pretty cool site: www.goodfuckingdesignadvice.com

I can't remember how I came across this site but since then, it's been a great place to check out other great design sites. To add a little humour to the site, there is a 'Family Friendly' button that puts a strike through the word 'Fuck' to ensure appropriateness. Tying in design jokes and humour, the site becomes a great laugh. I've downloaded a few of their wallpapers for my own use.

Very Clever

I found these the other day and since then, have really appreciated the humour in them. This was a student created design for a condom company called INSTINCT. Seems like an adult version of balloon animals. But hey, it totally works. I *love* the type for these ads. I'm still trying to figure out what face it is. The simplicity of the animals work very well with the ad and make it central to the desired communication message. This is badass.

Cool Type

This layered type really works well and is something that I really, really want to learn how to do. I've seen some tutorials where the text is created in Illustrator and then brought into Photoshop to add the 3D effect. I think this is something that I'm going to learn how to do this summer considering we have about 4 months off. Kinetic type is also on the list of things to learn. Adding more life to text ... just makes it all the more interesting.

The above text works really well, especially with all the different layers. The colour scheme works really well too. I love the autumn tones. The colours seem to be used as layers to add depth and tone to the image. Cool.

Mad, I mean BAD Packaging

I'm a big Mad Men fan and so seeing this Season 4 DVD and Blu-Ray cover design really, really ticked me off. It seemed like it was just thrown together in Illustrator. The previous covers picked a significant object from the show and came in unique packaging. A lot of people from what I've read enjoy the clean and simple design of the cover, which to be honest ... upsets me. After doing the DVD series assignment, I've understood the significance of cohesion between all the covers. This one doesn't really seem to fit. Take a look ...






Again, It just seems to me that not as much effort went into the design itself. Considering it's a show about advertising, you'd think there would be more effort. I'm wondering if it's because the show has gone on hiatus till March 2012 that the design team got pushed back too?

Very cool packaging

This made me want to go back to elementary school again. Created by a design student, these juice boxes are a cleverly packaged to illustrate the juice that they are holding. Visually, these would be great for kids, especially at a young age and still developing various learning skills. Even the typeface, I love. It fits perfectly with the overall look of the packaging. The grunge look fits sooooo well with the design and looks as if a child sketched it in. Even the colouring ... works so well. The bright colours attract the eye and again, if designed for a child, these would be perfect