Description: Using the information design principles, design a document (loosely defined) to incorporate your graphic representation. Write a 1-2 page paper explaining how your design project fits the parameters of a particular textual genre and to individualize the design without alienating the audience and illustrates format, layout, and balance using InDesign.
Goal: To design portfolio that fits the parameters of a particular textual genre and to individualize the design without alienating the audience.
Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to recognize format, layout, and balance in large project layout and design.
Audience and Context: Your instructor and peers at Michigan Tech in your Graphic and Information Design course.
Due Date: Beginning of week 13
12/02/2008 at 9:07 pm
http://s100.photobucket.com/albums/m23/jrc_18/?action=view¤t=BBshirtgray.jpg
The ability to combine textual and visual elements in a piece of artwork can lead to a very impressive design, but if the combination is poor or sloppy, there can also be great confusion. The ability to create a sophisticated design that is clean and simple is very difficult to achieve. By using elements from Illustrator and InDesign, I have tried to create an intricate design that is very clean as well.
I decided to create a T-Shirt design for my fraternity. This can be a very effective promotional advertisement if I can get current members to wear the shirt. I decided to incorporate my original Beta Bomber logo with text to explain the logo. The logo was not very easy to transfer from Illustrator into InDesign because as the logo was increased in size, the Gaussian blurs would not enlarge the same as the vector shapes. After finagling with the drawing in a larger size, I transferred the image to InDesign. I created both a front and back to the shirt with the main logo on the back and the Greek letters/organization name on the front. The text was designed to match front and back. KDY and BETA BOMBERS use the same exact gradient, stroke, and font to create unity between the front and back of the shirt. I did the same with KAPPA DELTA PSI and EST. 1921. I also used the same colors in the text as used in the logo to create cohesion between the elements.
I put the design on three different shirts to see how the design preformed on each type of shirt. Between gray, white, and black, gray performed the best. The black shirt made the beveled text hard to see and the white shirt was too bright. The gray shirt proved to be the best choice.
I also tried to conscious of the format, layout, and balance of the project. Knowing the medium would be a T-shirt, I placed the front text over the left breast knowing that this is a common placement for a logo or text. I placed the text on top of each other to limit the spread across the front of the shirt because a shirt is taller than wide. On the back of the shirt I placed the logo and text on the upper part of the shirt to have the design closer to eye level. The logo is a very heavy element on the shirt, so I balanced the shirt. The left side of the logo is the heavier side, so I put a majority of the text on the right side of the logo to balance the shirt.
Overall, I am pleased with the overall design of the T-shirt. I hope to possibly take the design to a screen printing shop to make the final product.
12/02/2008 at 11:55 pm
Portfolio cover design 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31800014@N07/3078381073/ .
Design 2:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31800014@N07/3078381145/in/photostream/ .
The links above of two versions of a design I’m playing around with for my portfolio cover. The theme I’m focusing incorporates using earth tones and portraying the world as though it is connected through communication, the idea is that my work will connect the world. I don’t want to have too much text on the front, but rather eye-catching images that intrigue the viewer to open the book of my work. The primary audience are professors, while students and employers are the secondary audience.
Also, the main three colors (blue, orange, grey) will be the main colors of my entire portfolio so I chose these colors because it is easy to create contrast and a low-energy, simplistic feel of my work.
I’m happy with how it is thus far, but I won’t be able to completely finish this cover until I put the rest of my portfolio together. So, this cover will be a work-in-progress for quite a few more months.
12/03/2008 at 12:32 am
http://phuzion.mirror.waffleimages.com/files/6e/6e6535f8687de4337e6cd8698df365b6d0664944.jpg
With this document I intended to showcase some of my personal photography with a theme of dilapidation, weathered and left behind structures and the memories associated with that. All the photography is in black and white and very simplistic and I made a point of keeping this simple idea with the design I created for this assignment. Beyond the assignment though, I was able to focus on what my intent really was in this photography, something I hadn’t done to a strong degree when shooting.
In the design the first thing I see is the text “…weathered… desolate… left behind.” I have the ellipsis here to make it seem that the text is continued from the border, possibly continued from some prior text that may have been to the left of this actual layout. I feel this text conveys the feelings behind a lot of these shots as well as the memories that may be left behind here. Particularly the piano shot and the memories that a family may associate with that image are the strongest here.
Following that text your eye trails to the two sharp photos of the piano and the old building. I feel that a viewer may wonder what these buildings may have been in their prime, what memories may be encased here among a number of other thoughts. This is emphasized by the black and white photography and the text below the piano photo that reads “those that were…are now gone.”
After this the eye leads to the final text of “what once was…will be again”. I want to emphasize that the lack of period after this final text is intentional. I want this final piece of text to be something that does not end. The lack of period emphasizes this. I want the viewer to take that final statement and realize that it’s not something that stops. This is contrasted by the other blocks of text which do contain periods which ends each thought. I also made the final text larger to emphasize that this is the final or most important message in contrast with the other text on the document.
I recognize that the background image is pixilated. Initially I was frustrated with this, but I feel the drop in quality increases the focus on the front two photos which are the ones that I want the viewer to pay the most attention to. In the end this plays to my benefit. I also made the rear image slightly opaque. This really contrasts the two photos from the background, and with the borders around those two photos they really stand out, but in my opinion not in a negative fashion. They need to have contrast because each image is something that needs to be addressed individually and having all of them blend together would take away from that significantly. The repetition of the piano in the sharp photo on the right and the fact that the background image also contains this piano emphasizes the importance of the piano in the document as well.
The repetition of lost ideals initially makes the outcome to be bleak from this image, but I feel the statement “will be again” shows that I feel that these memories may be lost to many, but there will always be new memories and new people to experience those.
12/03/2008 at 1:32 am
http://s371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/zabrre/?action=view¤t=gfbms.jpg
My design was really a revision of a poster that I had done last year for Keweenaw Pride. Every year KP hands out T-shirts to promote GLBT awareness as well as let straight people know that you do not have to be gay or otherwise to show support. Last year as it turns out I was one of two who had been elected for Public Relations work. I took on the ‘Gay? Fine by me!’ event as both a way to fulfill my PR duties, and as part of a visual project we had to do in Revisions.
The first design was done with no knowledge of any of the Adobe Creative Suites programs, which meant that I was doing it all in Microsoft word. As a result of this, the final project that I had to turn in was not really want I had in mind. With this class though I have gained a basic understanding of the Creative suite, and decided to use this assignment as a way to update what I had started last year.
The two main colors that I used for this poster are black and gold. The shirts, with the exception of a few added colors last year have always been black and gold to represent Tech colors, as well as Michigan Tech’s support of Keweenaw Pride. Since most people have come to recognize the shirts by these colors, I decided to keep them. Pictures were used sparingly, due to the amount of information that had to be included text wise. I used a photo-shopped picture of one of the shirts, and a group shot near the bottom to highlight the two main points of this event.
At the very bottom are the logos of our sponsors. Keweenaw Pride’s logo was altered, to have a black background and white text, while the IRHC and WHSA were left alone. I had wanted to invert the colored on the WHSA logo to make it blend better, but being unable to find a copy of the logo on the web…or saved anywhere other then the word document, I decided to leave it alone for the most part save for some feathering and noise addition.
I had tried at first to use another picture as the main background. The first one had different gray and gold sized boxes against a black back drop. The boxes were faded out, but even then it was still to hard to focus on the information. Another idea I had tossed around was light gray question marks as a back drop. This to though detracted from what I needed to get across, and I ended up staying with a solid color in the back.
While I would still like to try a couple of different things advertising wise I feel at lest that my current design in a step up from the plain box pictures and uniformed text that I had used before.
12/03/2008 at 1:58 am
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31378529@N04/3079423526/
I created a dvd cover for jewel cases to send my son’s football highlights to coaches. I used a tutorial on Layers Magazine to give me tips on how to create it. Originally, I attempted to use the template in the Indesign program but that was not working out for me. I ended up downloading a template after searching many sites that googled as “free dvd template”. I like the final product. The bright yellow is very attention getting. The colors of my son’s uniform are represented in the primary colors shown in the design. The front cover is one of the logos I designed. It gives information on “who, what, when”. I tried using the 3D logo but I didn’t like the way it looked. The other side, which could be the back cover or preferably the inside of the cover, provides more information that further defines the “who”. I used the white to set off the picture of James and his awards. I am pretty content with my design considering this is my first real attempt at using this program. I feel that that information provided is pertinent and valuable.
12/03/2008 at 2:22 am
PDF of poster
http://www.geocities.com/calvinl11/basketballcamp.pdf
JPEG of poster
http://www.geocities.com/calvinl11/basketballcamp.jpg
When I originally created my logo I had mentioned that it could be used for a poster for a basketball camp that I coached. I decided to make a poster that I could use my logo in. I did a little research online to take a look at what other basketball camp posters looked like. Most of the posters I came across seemed very jumbled. I wanted mine to look clean and professional.
For the heading I used the same font I had in the logo I created. I wanted this to tie the name and logo together. I also used to same colors red, white and blue throughout. I thought this turned out great. I was able to incorporate a few pictures that had the red, white and blue also. I think these pictures add a little of an emotional appeal with the determination on my face. These pictures also put into the audiences mind an image of who I am and what I look like. I would be the person running the camp so they could recognize me. I added a small black border to the pictures to make them look more professional.
The balance of the whole document is good. I was able to center the heading, images, logos and bottom text. I think the fact that the picture on the right is longer fits perfectly with the body text. I was able to wrap the text around the image and didn’t waste any space. I am very happy that there isn’t any wasted space. I repeated the logo at the bottom. I wanted color at the bottom to be consistent with the top that’s why I added the logos at the bottom and made the text box red. This is also important information about the camp that is stressed in the red. I left the background white to keep the poster simple. The body text is in a memo format. I don’t wasn’t sure if the order was proper I think it looks and worked great with the pictures.
I am very happy with my poster. One thing I still can’t decide if I like is the heading. I played around with it for a long time and this is the best I came up with.
12/03/2008 at 2:31 am
http://s477.photobucket.com/albums/rr137/calvinl11/?action=view¤t=basketballcamp.jpg” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr137/calvinl11/basketballcamp.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Poster for Class
12/03/2008 at 9:26 am
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qj1oyj
A portfolio is one of the most important designs that a designer will ever create. After all, to create an effective portfolio of one’s work, you have to be able to condense your own personal style into a limited number of pages with a limited amount of space. It’s a challenge, to put it lightly, especially when you’re not fully sure what you want. That’s the case with me, at the moment, so I decided to take an experimental route with my information design project.
So I came up with this. The entire concept behind the design was to use a single running line to draw the viewer’s eye along the path I set out, which would have them read the little blurb about the item being shown to them, and then show them the item in question. Aside from the boxed in text and graphics, I didn’t want anything else cluttering up the pages. After all, it wouldn’t do for my viewer to be distracted.
After I had the line motif picked out, everything else fell into place. Using an all black background really makes everything stand out, which places emphasis on my works that are placed in there. The line itself also had to be a color that stood out against the darkness, but wasn’t completely overpowering. I wanted the reader to be able to follow the line all the way to the end, but I didn’t want the line to become too strong as compared to the work. I decided on the red color seen here because red really stands out on black, unlike blue, while not remaining overpowering, like yellow. The text would have to be white for readability purposes, and while this font is a placeholder (I intend to design my own by the time that I’m finalizing this), I really like the typeface I chose. It has a sharp look, and I think it works well for small blurbs that tend towards a larger size.
I’m not entirely pleased with how this turned out though. For one, I’m not sure about using white transparency boxes to make darker graphics stand out, as seen on Page 2. First, I don’t believe that the transparency would really switch over to a print media well. Second, well, it just doesn’t look good in my opinion. It stands out too much. I suppose I’ll have to find another way to make the darker colors more visible. And while the small blurbs and graphics stand out fine, I don’t imagine that reading larger excerpts would be difficult. I may have to rethink that as well.
That being said, though, I am incredibly pleased with how everything’s turned out.
12/03/2008 at 9:49 am
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31647715@N07/3079271545/
I made a calendar of events page which incorporated my design from Illustrator and finished it in InDesign.
I have a big family, largely consisting of elderly people who are not computer savvy. These family members like to know what is going on each month with my children so I created a calendar of events to send to them…yes via snail mail, so they can have printouts of events they may want to attend.
I noticed, however, that when I uploaded the photo, the font changed a little in the ‘calendar of events’ section. It gave me a warning box about the font not being available, but with help, we uploaded it anyway. I think it still turned out okay.
I realize that the calendar of events is text heavy, but that’s indicative of my schedule.
I tried to work with feathering and other elements of InDesign to create this document.
12/03/2008 at 10:00 am
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Kusanagi/Haircut.jpg?t=1228312211
I decided to make a picture out of my last hair cut, which used a few things I’ve learned in this class to make a simple, stylish image.
I decided to move away from weird 3D images and abstract concepts, and used two pictures from my path, along with feathering and creative image boundaries to tell a short story.
I feel that by combining pictures, text, texture effects and movement, my work is much stronger and probably a little more telling about me and my style than the Jumpstar was.
I tried to create a balance in the center of my document, which resulted in splicing the images together along a diagonal and adding a bit more text to both sides, and along the line, but I think the effect works.
12/03/2008 at 10:01 am
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/8521/portfoliocover2lj0.jpg
Designing a functional layout for a large project is tricky—but I think I pulled a sleight of hand with InDesign for my information design project. InDesign is the best program for planning large-scale layouts, and I believe my current design, a cover page for my senior portfolio, unifies the design components present throughout the other sections of my portfolio. I will describe my design decisions in detail in a subsequent paragraph. Now I’ll begin with an analysis of the audiences for my senior portfolio and transition into its contexts.
Audiences
There are two primary audiences for my senior portfolio: 1) potential employers and 2) members of the humanities department, namely faculty. A secondary audience is students in the STC/A programs. I find it useful to break down audience analysis into needs, attitudes and knowledge level of my audience(s). I will only discuss the needs and attitudes of my audiences (and leave out knowledge level) because these two aspects of audience directly apply to this assignment (my cover sheet only). The only knowledge needed to interpret my cover sheet is gained by opening the cover of my portfolio to recognize the design unity I employed.
Each audience has different needs for exit portfolios. The STC/A director needs evidence of graduates’ design proficiency before graduating them, so she needs to be persuaded, and she needs evidence the curriculum is reaching its goals. Underclassmen in STC/A need examples of well-designed portfolios to inspire them and inform them visually of portfolio requirements and design methods. Potential employers need to be persuaded to hire you based on your communication capabilities, demonstrated partly by your portfolio. All audiences need to be able to read the text, and the portfolio needs to be visually literate, meaning an audience needs to be able to comprehend your design choices.
Analyzing the attitude of an audience is making design choices that do not alienate them. For example, the STC/A director has certain expectations of a proficient exit portfolio. For example, there are requirements posted on the humanities website (portfolio “norms”), such as a student cannot submit a scrapbook. Also, the portfolio design should be professional and backed-up by the designer’s rhetorical argument. In our department, creativity is fostered, and faculty come from diverse backgrounds; thus, I know that my design will not be labeled as excessive or over the top for incorporating a colorful pattern in my portfolio cover sheet. There are also portfolio norms for employers. For example, if a candidate for a graphic design job brought in a portfolio that displayed pixilated images, I doubt they would be hired, unless the pixilation were intentional and had a specific purpose. Depending on a firm’s culture, a level of creativity is welcomed and expected; however, overdesigning a portfolio to the point of being busy is alienating. There is white space visible behind the “paint strokes” in the cover page to give the design room to breath. I believe my portfolio conveys my work style well based on the choices I made for color, pattern, font and layout—without creating too much design “noise”—and directing the movement and contrasting font weights well. There is also equal white space above my name and the top margin and below my name and the text “Scientific & Technical Communication,” which also creates balance.
Unfortunately, at this point, I do not yet know how I will specifically use my portfolio after graduation, so I need to keep the design somewhat general—meaning I will not design a portfolio based on just one employer or industry. I would like to keep my options open for careers in marketing, graphic design, writing or editing, so I based the design and content of my portfolio on the above skill sets.
Contexts
So, as I mentioned above, the context for my cover sheet is my senior exit portfolio. It will be presented to the director of the STC/A program and a small audience during the spring semester, before I graduate. This page needs to give a good first impression because it’s the first design a potential employer will see. I think my design achieves this because it’s visually interesting and laid out well.
Since I would like to carry my portfolio to interviews, and easily display my work, I chose the standard page size, 8-1/2 inches by 11 inches.
Here’s an example of a divider page that will appear in my portfolio: http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7421/graphicdesignlettercopymq6.jpg. I use a different color “painted” to represent each section—currently I have writing, editing and graphic design—which is then incorporated into my cover page. I chose different cool, monochromatic color schemes to convey intelligence, communication, efficiency and stability for blues and balance for greens. The cover sheet is a culmination of the colors displayed for each section inside the portfolio—it’s meant to portray the merging of the different aspects that compose myself as a communicator (writing, editing, graphic design, etc.)—to represent my professional identity. I chose white as my font color to create contrast. From my first design, I enlarged my name and centered it on the cover sheet to emphasize it as the main attraction, and just to make sure it won’t be overlooked, I “painted” a line beneath it in white. Instead of using the stencil font for my name, which detracted from the most important component of my portfolio, I used the inside cutout of the font for my name and the stencil for my major, Scientific & Technical Communication. I had originally wanted to use the stencil font for my name so the colors could be interpreted as the composition of my professional identity, but the feedback I received encouraged my latter design decision. I also shrunk the text “Scientific and Technical Communication” and right aligned it to my name. The design is now better balanced because my name is now the point, and the audience begins “reading” the design here and follows it down the page to my major.
I will continue to develop my portfolio based on the ebbs and flows of my professional identity. I think it currently portrays my individuality without alienating my audiences.
12/03/2008 at 10:03 am
http://www.polyseme.net/ID-MISI.pdf
For this project I’ve taken a chapter from a user manual I wrote/designed back in May and reset it using InDesign. My goals here were to make reading the document easier, increase the readers ability to find the information their looking for quickly, and provide a more elegant display of the graphics than in the file we actually packaged with our product (was in Word – *shiver*).
Key design choices to note are the large offset of the body text from the header text. This was done to increase visibility of the headers and increase information searching speed. Text is wrapped around images, decreasing the number of pages and bringing figures closer to the text that refers to them, increasing usability of the document. Finally, note the captions nested between the images and the text. This decreases the time lost breaking from a reading gait to find and interpret the captions.
The nature of this document, being a help text and focusing on the content therein, I determined it was inappropriate to include busy or distracting designs or backgrounds. The goal is increased speed, which I think this document does well.
There’s a saying in the coder community which goes, “You’ve failed the moment a user has to open the user manual.” I like to add to that, “If the user manual does need to be opened, it had better not need to stay open for too long.”
12/03/2008 at 10:04 am
http://viradioshow.googlepages.com/eucher.pdf
I used this assignment to organize a pocket sized booklet for my Rhetoric and Technical Communication class on how to play Euchre. I made good use of the master pages, so that instead of having to put the Jack borders in every page, it did it for me automatically. I also added in the page numbers. The design is relatively simple, but its meant to be a simple guide on how to play euchre so I didn’t want the design to distract from the instructions. I will definitely be fiddling with the fonts as time goes on.
This is supposed to be for an international Tech audience, preferably players who have a rudimentary skill in cards. This booklet is meant to be something experienced players can pull out to give to their non-initiated friends.
Once I got used to the formating of inDesign, it definitely got a lot easier to use. I got a hang of using the frames to fit the images in and I knew how to transfer words into the page by use of text boxes and knowing whether the text was outside of the box or not (the nifty red x). I might do a bit more design wise, but for the assignment at hand (in the other class this is for) this works.
12/03/2008 at 10:11 am
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~tjkuehl/zpmanual.pdf
Board games have always been a hobby for me. When I got into the STC program last year, I realized that it could be a potential career path for me. On my way home for Thanksgiving break with one of my gaming buddies, we came up with an awesome idea for a boardgame. My friend and I want to make a game based on classic zombie horror films like Dawn of the Dead.
Recently I have been brainstorming a rule set for the game (which my friend Dave and I have dubbed Zompocalypse). I had the idea of designing a basic mockup manual cover and a sample page to get myself familiar with Indesign.
I was successful in designing a basic mockup using a few stock fonts and photos that I found on the internet. The main header I made myself using a cool tutorial that I found on how to make bloodshot text.
I used text that had a classic bold, but creepy horror movie feel and went with a white color scheme overlaid on a black background to maximize readability. I used Red text for headings to go along with the horror theme and also for readability. The text layout is a classic left to right manual read style. I will have a table of contents in my final version and there will be a more logical rule layout structure.
12/03/2008 at 10:21 am
Whoops, the link should actually be http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~mdlutze/MISI/ID-MISI.pdf
12/03/2008 at 4:12 pm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31948917@N03/3080805684/sizes/l/
I really want to create some kind of professional identity, and a resume is a huge part of that. I will not be using my logo in my actual resume until I actually establish a self-start business or something that is an actual identity of mine. This logo can give me a good start.
I included it in my resume, because it helped create a design scheme. With my current resume, I use the color scheme of the company I am applying for.
I would really like to know if this is successful and what changes anyone would suggest to the document as a whole. The header would be used with a cover letter and a list of references.
I really like personalizing my resume with colors, but I would also like a critique of how the resume works as a whole (wordiness, content importance, etc.). I think that the layout is professional and balanced. I think there is a good hierarchy of content with main headings, differentiating the content well. I would love to know if you see it the same way. I look forward to the feedback!
12/03/2008 at 4:19 pm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33090192@N08/
I used this project to play around with possible designs for the front page of my portfolio. I thought that given the past assignments, the graphic representation in particular, we had been focusing a lot on ways to better represent ourselves and so I continued with that theme.
I tried to use some of the design elements that we discussed in class as well. The color scheme is a complementary one. The blues in the picture are muted and dark and so I used blue and black for the less important information at the bottom. I chose a complementary color scheme with the blue and the red because there is just a hint of red in the picture itself and by using the red for my name i would be able to set that apart more while still retaining a relaxing design. The image is also supposed to give an illusion of space as well. The mountain seems to be set further in the background because of the shadows behind the words. I was hoping this would make the design feel wide open which would match the theme of the picture–the montain set against the opening in the sky where the sun is streaming through.
I used my snowflake next to my name because that is a design that I would then be able to use throughout the portfolio. Overall I like the way that it turned out but i am not sure if i will use it for my portfolio because I may need something that is more relevant to a communication and cultural studies major. The picuture is one that I took while i was studying abroad but i don’t think that is immediately apparent.
12/04/2008 at 12:21 pm
Here is my design…
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~igmaino/wed.pdf
This is a contract for my wedding customers. I used my old logo because that is what I am currently using and at this point in time I would like to keep things consistent until I can come up with a complete redesign.
Other than that it is a typical document. Hopefully others find that it flows from question to question well and that the information at the bottom isn’t too hard to read.
12/04/2008 at 1:08 pm
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~igmaino/wed.pdf
12/08/2008 at 2:24 pm
I just noticed my post isn’t on here, so in an attempt to try this again…
http://emergentfuture.com/misc_stuff/portfoliotest.pdf
This is the design I created for my portfolio, using this class as a nice way of porting the design into InDesign and learning the tools better. It is designed to be simple, clean, and professional above all. I had hoped the design would focus more on the content and less on the design, but that the design would help to facilitate that, while still looking attractive. Over all, I believe that was successful, more so when looking at the completed project with my work included in it.
I believe the use of my logo in this is quite important in that it provides unity throughout the document — and again, with work between each section, it flows much better. It also allows me to tie the paper portfolio to my digital one nicely as well.
The audience for this is largely the STC department for my exit interview, but it could theoretically be used for interviews with future employers as well.
I spent quite a bit of time on this design and, over all, I am quite pleased with it.