Using one template for two designs was the primary focus for this assignment. I had difficulty establishing a template but once that was done, the rest of the design came together smoothly. Variable data is exactly what it states; data changes. My design was a study abroad organization promoting their programs to parents and students, the variable was parents and students. I had images and text change on the front to be more specific to the variable. This project was a completely different than any other assignment and thought it was a great learning experience.


Here are the final pieces:

This is the front design for parents.

This is the front design for students.

The backs are the same for both. The mailing address

would go to the right of the suitcase.

Four State Regional Technology Conference 2010

At the Four State Regional Technology Conference, I attended a session titled “Photography: Understanding and Respecting Copyrights”. The Speaker, Chauncey Rion Huffman owns his own photography business and has done much research on the subject. As a photography, I’ve been curious about copyright and thought it might be informational.

Huffman covered each of these areas:

• Defined what a copyright encompasses
• What rights you have as the owner of a copyright
• What a copyright notice should include
• What registering is
• Why and how you would register a copyright
• What fair use is
• Infringement

Even though this was a lot of information covered in one hour, it was presented at a good pace and all relevant information. The presentation was specifically geared towards photographers, but it was also mentioned that copyright applies to other forms of tangible mediums including music, video, design, illustrations, painting, etc. One of the more interesting parts of the presentation was when we discussed  ideas vs. expressions. It was explained that an idea is what we think about doing but an expression is how we do it. A copyright only applies to an original work, fixed in a tangible medium and not just an idea we have. I thought Huffman did a wonderful job and gained a lot of useful information. As it was stated at the beginning of the session, copyright is law and it’s imperative to know how to protect yourself and your work! I am grateful for the opportunity I had to attend.

Collegio Ad

For this assignment, we had to design an ad for the Collegio Student Newspaper. I chose to advertise for an event coming up called "Break the Chains" that will feature a speaker and a film.

thumbnails: ideas of placement

Roughs

my original drawing which I cleaned up in photoshop and flipped it

PDF of my final ad before critiques

The event: Rapha House Speaker and Film


Target Audience: My target audience for this piece are traditional college students since it’s being published in a college newspaper. More specifically; males and females who are 18-25 years old with a middle class to poor income level. Americans is just one part of that target, International students from all over Asia, South America and Europe.
Main words that come to mind about target market:

• texting - social media consumed
• black and white
• eye catching - fashion
• much energy - time oriented
• passionate - enthusiastic
• innovative - creative
• opinionated

Call to Action: For people to come to the event.


Budget: 2 ads to equal $96
    small ad: 3.79 x 2
    large ad: 7.71 x 5


Production Schedule:
10/10 Conception of idea and thumbs
10/14 Roughs and specifications
10/18 Client approval and revisions
10/22 Final approval
10/25 Submit to Collegio

Brendan Murphy: Leading Somewhere

Pittsburg State University alumni, Brendan Murphy is now a senior director at Lippincott, a global consultant for corporate identity, brand strategy, design, and management. Murphy came back to Pittstate to share his knowledge with students and the community. Even though he worked his way to a top position of a highly respected company, he was still personable and grounded. Murphy imparted a new understanding of design and brand identity.


Color is consistently a significant part of any design but Brendan Murphy was able to put color in a new perspective. I already have an understanding of printing restrictions concerning color but have never considered country restrictions. In China, red is used so often there are restrictions of how much red you can use in a corporate identity. A business not only considers the amount of color in a logo but also in a storefront. Understanding the significance of colors in another culture is also a very important factor to consider. A good example of this is red, in America, red represents emergency, danger and passion but in China red symbolizes happiness, prosperity and luck.


Corporate Identity encompasses much more than what meets the eye. Sensory branding is another topic that Murphy was able to expand upon. Working with corporate identity is a lot more than designing a single logo; it’s creating a specific atmosphere for a particular target market. The atmosphere does not end after an individual departs the company’s location but the atmosphere continues through print advertisement, commercials and products. Mnemonics is becoming more prevalent in sensory branding. A sound signature creates a more dynamic, all encompassing experience for a consumer. Samsung and Intel both use a mnemonic in their identity. In commercials mnemonics have been a recorded sound, played on various instruments and sung by people.


Brendan Murphy shared a wealth of information about the design industry, but he also inspired. During his lecture he made a statement “nowhere leads to somewhere”, simple and true. No matter the task, there is a process to follow leading to an end result; a good thing to remember when looking for a job!

Gap

image from:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/companies/gap_logo/index.htm

 

After having their existing logo for over twenty years, Gap launched a new logo on their website. The redesign was Gap’s attempt to make their brand more relevant to their customer base. They explained that their products have progressed throughout the company’s existence and felt a new logo was the next step. After one week, Gap changed their logo back to their original design since the modern face lift was not well received by consumers.

Gap explained the new logo would be “a more contemporary, modern expression”. The san serif font gave a bold, upbeat style, completely changing their brand. The blue colored box uncomfortably placed in the corner was not cohesive with the rest of the design. Consumers perceived the new design as cheap because modernism replaced the original sophistication.


The original, classic logo encompassed timeless elegance. The blue box gave the design a solid foundation as the serif font popped subtly from the surrounding color with a nice balance of contrast. An ageless quality existed because of the deep color and simplicity of the design.


Gap’s logo redesign involved minimal costs, since it only launched on the internet. The initial cost in any rebranding process is a new design, but many other costs are involved. Printing for advertising, product packaging and reordering products to show the correct logo are all essential. Gap launched the new design on their website. New packaging potentially ordered, but the immediacy of the consumer response allowed Gap to quickly revert back to the old design and printing orders could be canceled. Gap did pay to redesign and launch a new logo but social media ultimately helped save a lot of money overall.


Gap made the correct decision by reverting back to the prior design. Change in any business takes an adjustment period but social media negatively influence many people’s opinion and to keep the new logo regardless could have further hurt their business. The consumer outcry could have come from the desire of consistency during financial hardship or just that the classic elegance is far greater than modernism. Whatever the case, the old logo is back and Gap’s doors are still open.

recruitment Notepad

 The project was to design a recruitment notepad for high school students.

Brainstorming Word Matrix

thumbnail ideas

roughs: I still wasn't sure if I wanted it horizontal or vertical. 

But the main idea layout was there.

Final Comp

Synopsis:


The target audience for this piece was high school students. I wanted to aim my piece to both genders, giving an alternative look but not to an exclusive or specific audience. The main word that I based my design on was “alternative”. Also, I wanted to a contrast between clean and grunge. The contrast was a hard to establish as a cohesive design but overall the end product works well.

The central purpose of this notepad was to be used as a recruitment piece for the Graphics and Imaging Technology Department at PSU. I wanted to have an overall appeal for the department emphasizing good design. The notepad needed to be something that high school students would want and would then lead them to more information about the department through our website.
The main difficulty I had was over designing. It needed to be usable as a notepad and have the necessary white space.

The key design elements included are framing and visual hierarchy. Framing is used with the dark area on the outside, leading the eyes into the design. The ink splat establishes visual hierarchy within the piece, drawing the eye towards the areas of text.