Latdaw2007's Weblog

Progression of class

latdaw2007 — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:21:28 +0000

I must say that class is coming along great since the beginning of this semester. I appreciate Professor Lin giving us time to do our projects in class. I think it’s getting more competitive because the students in the class are getting more creative and stronger in their design and concepts. So, it’s getting harder to up the ante with my own designs. I also think getting in groups to come up with ideas has also helped with my project design. You feed off of other’s energy and ideas. Sharing in this creative process has helped me with this upcoming project and the last project. I like the way the class is flowing through class critiques. The critiques especially help me because you hear other’s opinions and reasons, and you can also compare your work with theirs. I’m really glad I decided to go out on a limb and take this course because it’s been beneficial to me in my everyday life and with my career choice.

Project #5

latdaw2007 — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:10:33 +0000

I knew Project #5 would be difficult to execute because it’s hard to make something creative when it’s already been done. Choosing a a popular book’s front cover design was hard. I wanted to choose something that represented me, my interest, and something that would be creative to design. I went with The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisenberg. It was hard choosing an image because I wanted to stick with the feeling and emotion of the original cover, but adding my own twist to it. I had to choose an image that wasn’t provocative or costume-like but that represented fashion and sassiness. I tried to choose text/font that was clear and legible, but at the same time that had an artistic flair. I didn’t want to be too over-the-top yet not simple either. I was pleased with the overall design and execution of the text, but I felt like the overall book design was too cliche and simple. With the last two projects, I’ve had a creative drain, but now I’m excited about the new project and I’ve had a jolt of creative energy.

Project #4

latdaw2007 — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:51:32 +0000

I initially went into project #4 very excited because I thought it would be great to illustrate oxymorons through type and image. I had all these ideas about ways to show “Barely Dressed.” I thought my image was appropriate and the font I chose was appropriate, but it was hard to incorporate both and text in Photoshop. I thought I did a good job with it though considering my limited experience with the software. I think through my picture and text that people got the point of the oxymoron and the contradiction in the meaning. That was ultimately the point whether or not it was visually appealing or not, I don’t know. At the time, I did what worked and I hope my classmates liked it.

Update to Assignment #3

latdaw2007 — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:52:49 +0000

A last minute spark of creativity caused me to change my entire design. I decided to go with a more collage type of layout because I could play around with different fonts and directions. I tried to use the typefaces that represent the meaning of the word. I decided to stick with InDesign because I’m getting use to the program, and it had some pretty interesting typefaces and effects. My final design is more plain than my original design, but I think the message is conveyed and I still stayed within the constraints of the project. This idea literally came at the last minute, but I feel good about the project. It gave me a chace to play around with some of the tools in InDesign, and it forced me to look at typefaces in a diffrent way considering we had to pick the appropriate font to either compare with the meaning of the text or contrast with the text chosen. I think all the words describe how diffrent and complex my personality is on a day-to-day basis. I hope that my peers and professor appreciate how I executed my ideas.

Project #3

latdaw2007 — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:50:22 +0000

This project has been the best thus far. It allows for more creativity and self-expression. Some say a picture is a worth a thousand words, but I think it’s the other way around. I’m going to focus on using words to paint a picture of “LaTonya.” I hope that my classmates can learn about me through this project. It’s hard to pick words from a list to describe myself because I am so quirky and different. There’s not ten words to describe me or a billion. I’m just me. However, I am going to throw myself into this project because it’s just one of those that allows you to be artistic, carefree, and creative. It’s going to be interesting to see how others perceive themselves, and how they choose to arrange their words. As I progress in this class, I’m learning how influential and important type is to everyday life. It simply can make or break a business venture, whether someone reads something or not, advertisemens, or even a term paper. Like I stated before, I am going to use the words to form a picture since images cannot be used. I am going to arrange my words in one of the most prominent and favorable images of mine, the Eiffel Tower. Paris means a lot to me because fashion is my life, and it’s also a beautiful city or so I’ve been told. I also think the shape of the Eiffel tower is perfect for word arrangement, weights, and sizes without getting too complex. It is with hope that everyone will not only grasp the concept of this image, but see beyond the picture into the text.

Project #2

latdaw2007 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 20:40:20 +0000

This project is actually more difficult than the first one, although I’ve been led to believe that the first one would be our hardest. The content of the assignment makes perfect sense, but since I have no experience in using InDesign, I have a major problem. I have chosen to expand on the typeface known as Garamond. One, because there were so many variations of the family, and secondly, because the type is so standard. I’ve learned a lot about the typeface through internet searching. InDesign seems like a daunting program to work with, but I’m up for the challenge and I think I can pull through for Thursday’s class. In addition to getting this project together, I have to present information on Herbert Bayer. Initially, I just picked the artist because he was next on the list. I’ve learned a lot about him though in the last couple of days of researching his background and works. One interesting tidbit: He was the artistic director for Vogue. Being my area of interest, I no longer felt obligated to learn more about him. I wanted to learn more about him. I hope that my classmates after hearing my brief presentation will look into his career and his works and become just as excited as I am about him. It’s only been a few weeks since the class began, but I feel really good about it. I’ve opened up to things I never desired to know or felt like I needed to know. Again, typography is exceeding my expectations in terms of enriching my own personal life and professional life.

Class Critiques

latdaw2007 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 20:32:58 +0000

I was very amazed at how well my classmates took such a creativity-limited project and made it their own. Overall, I thought everyone did a great job on project one, and being next to the last I almost didn’t want mine to be shown with the other beautiful works. I think everyone was constructive during the critique session, and gave useful advice as well as honest admiration. I think having seen what everyone can do on a creative and artistic level made me want to work that much harder on my projects just to up the ante. I’m not as graphic design and art oriented so this class presents a major challenge for me. I know what not to do next time and what my classmates encouraged me to do on future projects through the class critiques. I’m always weary of the word “critique” because you never know what place a person’s comment comes from. I’ve always wondered if people say they like or don’t like your work is it based on whether they like you or don’t like you. But I have to say based on Tuesday’s class, I don’t think this was the case for any student. It seemed like everyone had a sincere respect for each other’s pieces. The other positive thing that came out of the critique was getting to know some of my classmates personalities through art. I learned a lot about people without even talking to them, just by viewing their project. Overall, I thought the critique was a useful learning tool and I welcome all the others both for our work as well as the professional artists that have designed or created typefaces.

Feelings about Project 1 in Typography

latdaw2007 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:03:40 +0000

I’ve never experienced confusion, anxiety, and creativity all at one time until I was given my first project assignment. I wanted to be creative, but I had to follow certain guidelines that readily didn’t make sense to me. How would I express my identity andpersonality in one word or image? How could I relay that image to my classmates to get them to see how I perceive myself? Not to mention that I don’t know anything about Photosphop, InDesign, or Illustrator. How was I even going to juxtaposed these two elements in one composition that simply said: This is LaTonya. It was tricky, but I think I did a good job. I wanted to go for a font that would describe one part of my personality/identity, and an image that would characterize the other part of me. When choosing fonts, I went with the Flood Style STD because it was rough around the edges, not quite curvy or straight, and it was different. That’s how I look at myself. As far as my image, it came the day before my project was due. I thought about the other side of me that loves fashion, beauty, and all things feminine. I decided to draw this side profile of a woman with long flowing hair. It said little, but did much. Combined, both the font and the image are bold but not overly dramatic. They both stand out Last but not least the word choice. Everyone else in class used their names. I wanted to be different, creative so I went with the perfect adjective that could describe me. I know that I’m defined by my name, but that’s not all LaTonya is about. I picked “Versatile” because it’s always been the name I wanted to use for my fashion line or magazine one day. I also picked it because it describes totally. I am versatile when it comes to music, fashion, art, entertainment, my lifestyle, etc. I can adapt to anything. I also chose this word because it contains my mother’s name, Versie. I love to write, especially poetry. Poetry consists of verses and thus, Versatile was born. I tried my best to master the object of this design, even using my black nail polish to design the font.

Expectations of Typography & Layout

latdaw2007 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:52:11 +0000

Initially, I signed up for this class last semester because I thought it would be an easy A. However, the more and more I thought about my career choice this summer, the more I thought about how helpful this course would be for my future endeavors. I knew that it had to involve computers, typing, and some sort of graphic element. It appeared that I would have my cake and eat it too. Upon my first day of class, I quickly realized that this wouldn’t be the average elective, and that I wouldn’t be able to shoot the breeze. But at the same time, I didn’t want to either. I really wanted to learn about typefaces and layout. We type things everyday as college students without ever focusing on the script or the layout of our paragraphs or text, I wanted to learn more about why we choose certain fonts, alignment, enhancements, styles, etc. I feel that this course will help me in the magazine/publishing industry. Not only through my four year matriculation here at Clark have I come to appreciate more art forms, different fashion styles, but I now can appreciate why I chose to type my paper in Times New Roman rather than Baskerville.

Hello world!

latdaw2007 — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:31:20 +0000

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