WEEK 5

CRITIQUE:
One of the main projects that I have been working on throughout the past week (completed on Sunday in order to present on Monday) has been the prototype for Meredith Corp's online version of Storage Magazine. This posed as a giant challenge, mainly because I had never designed a website before. Overall I felt like my presentation went very well and I was confident in my designs. I posted 5 pages below...all of which were used in my presentation. #1 is the home page. Each of the icons is an interactive door that, when clicked on, opens to a preview of the next site and then zooms through the door to view the whole page. #2 shows you what this door looks like when opened. #3 pictures what a typical department page would look like for Storage's online site. #4 shows what a general feature story would look like (when clicked on from the department page, for example). Finally, my last picture I posted is what the "community" page would look like. I really like the idea of having a place on the site that caters to all users; a place where they can both share their ideas and gain new insights about storage. Even though my design was not chosen I am beyond excited and ready to get started on this project. We have a great design team and a wonderful creative director (*wink wink Maggie).






After I presented my prototype for Storage on Monday, I immediately got to work on my spreads for the magazine Global Journalist. I was assigned to do the photo essay, which will run as the main feature in the upcoming issue. My first draft of the design was due by 10am on Wednesday. At 11am I sat in on the staff meeting for Global Journalist and gained feedback about my design. Overall I got very good feedback. I was just asked to paybe take a few photos out and play up a few of them a little more to create more impact. There was also come discussion about my headline treatment and whether or not to downplay the "chaotic lines" a bit. This is a part I am still working on, but I suppose I will give you a sneak peak into the issue.....This design is not finalized yet, keep in mind.




Tomorrow I will presenting all of my design work (ever?) and getting valuable feedback from my classmates about what pieces should go in my portfolio. I came across some oldies that I designed back in strategic design and visuals 1 (taken over a year ago). It is gratifying to see my progression from one of my first design classes until now. Here are some ads that I came up with as assignments for that class...

Future Plans: The next piece that I have to finish up tomorrow is my redesign for the Techie feature. I posted my initial rough draft of the design last week, so be on the lookout for (most likely major) changes to be posted soon!

RESPONSE:
As I mentioned above, this week in lab we have been going through everyone's design work (EVER) and made critiques based on our favorites. The goal of this is so that each person can get multiple perspectives about what he or she should include in his or her design portfolio (sidenote: can you tell magazine editing is kicking in? You will not find any sexist language in this blog...). That was meant to be humorous. I finished compiling all of my work earlier today and am excited to get feedback tomorrow. It is awesome to see everything that all 17 of us have done and it is apparent that we have progressed. Plus, when else are we going to get the chance to have almost 20 other designers look at our work as a whole and critique it?
Compiling all of my work has really made me think about what I would like my portfolio and miniportfolio to look like (which, will most likely be what I blog about next week! As well as my website).

YOU CAN'T MISS! BLOG.EYEMAGAZINE.COM
GIANT Steps by Michal Levy
This article offers a short Q&A with artist and designer Michal Levy. She says that designers have always been "on the same quest." Here is an abstract that sums up her arguments, "Back then and now, we try to deliver a message and hope to be as clear as possible. Using type, colours and composition – our basic tools were and remain the same. Colour has an effect on people today, the same way it had when we were ‘cavemen’. The sky is blue, so blue will always be a calming colour and project reliability. Red is the colour of our blood and / or mouth, so it will always deliver passion and a call for action."
She continues to say that just like some musicians, designers have to understand all that came before them in order to procede in designing and inventing.
Levy has a website worth checking out as well -->
http://michalevy.com/

END QUOTEs:


Have a great day!
~Christy