Saks essentials

From posters for Obama to an entire Spring 2009 catalog for Saks Fifth Avenue, Shepard Fairey is hands-down an inspiration. Who would think of taking a Soviet spin onto a classic staple of American fashion? The Streets Online posted about Shepard Fairey and his recent ups and downs.

"The campaign titled 'I Want It' features the typical Shepard Fairey color scheme: red, white and black with big block letters, and Soviet-era graphics spirit of Constructivism art. The campaign posters feature various models wearing high-end brands and individual  products." -- an excerpt from the original post. Click here for the entire piece. 

If you haven't had time to run by Saks front windows, or pick up a copy of the latest catalog, I suggest you get on the ball. Being in New York last week I was pretty short on time, but I ran into Saks about 30 minutes before they closed to grab a new pair of RayBans, as well as the spring catalog -- and honestly I don't know which I am more excited about, the sunglasses or the book of inspiration! 

While some look to Fairey's creation as creative, cutting-edge, and a breath of fresh air, not all agree. Thumbelina Fashionista posted on her blog about the discomfort she experienced when flipping through the catalog. Read it -- straight from her post:

"It appears that this version of their recycled "Want It" campaign is an embarrassing attempt at reviving a dying megachain. Unfortunately, its marketing department has lost sight of its customer base in an almost bipolar frenzy. Women want to feel passionately about clothing, and any attempt at a thinly-veiled, ironic allusion to the 1930s and 40s only leaves the customer rebuffed and offended. After all, economists may talk of the Great Depression with legitimate alarm, but when its cruelest images merge with high fashion, the message may indeed cause the death of its messenger."

I do not have such strong negative associations with Fairey's design and that of the economy's current state. Maybe I'm taking it with less seriousness, but if we can't poke fun of ourselves then we're going to continually be upset. By taking the irony from the 1930s and 40s and presenting it today is a bold move, but one that should be respected. When I look at the era of our country's depression then, and our current situation, I see the positive side -- look how we came out of the Great Depression and look at how our country has evolved in the past 70 years. Just thinking about that, I have hope that good times are around the corner. Thoughts, opinions, please share?

Return to Reality

Getting away from Columbia for a few days was great. Being back in New York was great -- even though I always had GRE study cards, grammar notes, and my sketchbook with me, I was still able to relax, have fun and get away from the everyday stress that inevitably comes with the last six weeks of college. 

Most people imagine a vacation to be a getaway from reality, a time to be carefree and welcome laziness with open arms while practicing schedule-free days. On the contrary, I get bored... quickly when I take a "vacation" like that for more than... two to three days. For me, New York is a vacation. I don't have to be connected to my e-mail 24/7 because I can truthfully say, "I was on the subway and I didn't have a signal." It's so nice. Above all, I enjoy the fact that I can read more for pleasure when I am in the city opposed to any other time. Riding the subway is one of the best ways for me to de-stress and relax, it's a free opportunity for "me time." 

One of my New Year's resolutions was to read more, out side of school requirements that is. Last summer while I lived in the city I was finishing close to two books a week. I haven't been able to do that since I was in high school, if ever. When I am in Columbia, finding the time to read books leisurely is nearly impossible. I really think the subway is a big reason I like the city so much. I just have to get on, sit down, and ride -- not controlling a thing. I have no internet, no cell phone signal, nothing, and it's actually fantastic. Last week I was able to read a couple of books that I have been meaning to read for a while now. 

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was the first book I read and could not put down. I read it walking in the city, sitting in the subway, eating lunch, pretty much anywhere I could. If 

you don't have time to read the book, at least check out the video on YouTube. It was inspiring to read this book while I was job hunting and searching for apartments. One of my favorite comments from Randy is this, "We can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."

I suggest picking up the book. It is a quick read and has thought filled information that will benefit you at any age, time or place in your life. 

Now that I am back in Columbia, after driving through a snow globe -- literally, driving from Kansas City airport to Columbia was full of snow

... so much for Spring! With only 47 days left until graduation I can't begin to get "senioritis," I have to much to do, and too little time to finish it all. 

We met this morning to present updates of our website projects with faculty and the publishing team. It went well and the feedback we received was helpful. I keep thinking that "once we get more concrete, this is will become easier," but I'm pretty sure I'll graduate before that happens and we are scheduled to finish in about a month. Deep breath. We'll get it all done... always do. Here are some of the redesign elements we worked on. Let us know your opinion on which you like, what you would change, etc. 

The Original: 

The Redesign:

two worlds collide

While I try my hardest not to think solely on New York 24/7, I am finding any and every excuse to talk or write about it. Including my google searches. This past week while everyone in our class discussed their thought process and ideal design environment, I realized many of us do things the same, as well as completely different. I for one like to have the TV on when I'm designing, but I keep it on mute. I keep earbuds in my ear, but don't always have music on. Lately the music has been classical symphonic romanticism. But not matter what I come up with to "get the juices flowing," the creativity is not going to come until it comes. And then the hyper-focus sets in and nothing can distract me.  Tonight I was typing anything and everything into Google to see if I could find things to inspire me. 

Try searching "typography clothing." 83,300 results appeared. American Apparel, a store I will not leave NYC without visiting (at least once) has a perfect example of clothing and typography -- mixed with a little helvetica of course -- that might be the understatement of the year. The only problem --- WHAT LETTER DO I CHOOSE???  

MM for Margaret Miles??? GG for Gossip Girl??? --- okay not seriously but it is, sad to admit, the highlight of my Monday's. 

Other favorite typographical apparel that I found consisted of numbers and with the "pet issue" for vox streaming through the back of my mind on a constant basis, I also found a shirt that represents ---- dog lovers of America. 

ahhh da luck of dee irish!

I'm not Irish and I'm not Catholic... but a day devoted to GREEN is a holiday I will not leave off my calendar. Yesterday I woke up and threw on a t-shirt, and yes it was green, as is my computer, ipod, backpack and cereal bowls. Don't judge -- green just happens to be my favorite color, and might I add, my minor obsession with green began far before the "green movement" became the season's hottest trend. 

The sun was out, the weather was nice, spring has hopefully come to stay, but before I hold my breath for that dream, look how St.Patty can be translated in typography. Typographer.com posted a special deal from Porchez Typofonderie. Instead of spending endless dollars on coveted type families that I, as a college student can merely dream about, an alternative might be my dream come true. 

Single weights of selected fonts are now being offered -- seriously, compared to a whole family for $247, I would gladly pay $22.47 for a Central European character set -- regular, alt caps preferred. If you've got leprechaun's cruising down your creative highway, then Kelly Pro could be just the font face for you. 

Since every other industry seems to be diving into sales or low price promotions, it's about time the design world tap in. Kelly Pro might be used as often as you find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but the idea to sell individual character sets opposed to entire font families is appealing. Ahhhh, it must be da luck of dee irish! 

Response

For the past week I have not touched my logos. I have wanted to but I haven't. When I design things the first time, it's like a formality, I merely do it to get it over with to get on to my next idea. Last week I posted a few of the logos I have done for the mindfulness project, Eat for Life. Yes, that's right, the program is eat for life, not food for life as I suggested in each logo design I created. Where was my head? I know I don't do my best work during late hours of the night --- or in my perception early hours of the morning --- but somewhere between brainstorming, mind-mapping, sketching, discussing and executing, I changed food for life into eat for life. A problem that is easily fixable (which is taking place in my redesign) never caught my attention until two classmates mentioned it. Clearly I hid the flaw well, since my blog post contained samples of the logos, but then again, only a handful of blog followers knew what the actual title should have been. 

New York City! This time next week I'll be on the wonderful island of Manhattan. It feels like yesterday I was waking up in Stuy Town, walking three blocks to catch the train and reading countless books throughout the summer while commuting to Columbus Circle where I would walk up 52 stairs, stop by Starbucks for a chai and head into the Hearst Tower for to begin another dream filled day. 

Thinking about it, my adrenaline rushes and my heart skips a beat. I know I have mentioned it before, but it might be the quote think about most often -- "You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." - Wayne Gretzky

I've never played hockey nor been graceful on ice but the concept still applies and my dreams can only be as big as I can dream. Luckily, I have a giant imagination and the determination of a bull. 

As the economy slowly creeps up and the idea of getting a job becomes more and more real, I pose the question: Why settle? 

Think you know your fonts?

So ilovetypography.com remains one my favorite blogs, even though I am covering it for class. Think you know your Helvetica's from your Frutiger's? Try Deep Font Challenge and put your design knowledge to the test. And it's a great way to distract yourself for a while.

Check it out

For the past week or so bloggers have been responding to a post made on hellyeahdude.com and as a designer I completely agree with what he says. Art, no matter what the content, medium, or final product, there is always a deeper level within the design. Someone may not see the Appalachian mountains within a abstract mural of your mom, if you, as an artist see it, then it's real. Conquering the depth of design and impact level of art is arbitrary. Like the epiphany that I remind myself nearly every day - if I was designing to please every person, then I would be trying to do the impossible, thus never being satisfied, or happy. 

As designers if we listen to that voice ins

ide of us that says we can go beyond our wildest imagination and dream farther than the ends of the earth then we can achieve anything we want, as long as we please ourselves along the way. 

Check out hellyeahdude.com for more responses about this niche narrowing comment. 

Response

I'm giving this response a early because I have yet to present in class, but yesterday, as well as next Tuesday, everyone in class is presenting out creative process through sketches, execution as well as environment. 

For me I can really be anywhere, because once I start designing, I hyper-focus and tune everything else out. This applies to most anything that I highly engage myself in - whether it be running outside to the beat of my own feet hitting the pavement or sitting in a crowed coffee shop, I am able to zone out and concentrate only on what I want to be thinking about. This can be perceived as good or bad but most of the time I think it is a good thing. 

Lately I have been laying my yoga mat in the middle of the floor, turning the TV on mute, pulling out my computer, sketchbook, inspiration binders and magazines, etc. then sitting down and finding the right radio station at pandora.com. Lately it has been classical symphonic romance at a moderate volume level. The energy coming from classical music can influence an array of emotions while designing and have an impact on the finished product. 

My design process has changed somewhat over time, but in some regards it has remained the same. I still think revisions are always necessary, but how many revisions are enough? When is a finished product actually a finished product? When the deadline comes? When you're tired of looking at it? Or is it actually never completely finished and we all just turn in incomplete work? That is probably a stretch but hey, nothing is ever too far outside the box. 

I found this poster online and it made me laugh, and think of what I have to tell myself during my process of designing. 

Critique

This past weekend I worked on the department pages for tomorrow's issue of Vox. It was my second time to do the Short Talk section and I think it is going to look good. I had some difficulties with to m

uch text with one story and not enough for another and one story had a

n abundance of photos and the other did not, so it was a challenge to fit as much content as I could, while keeping the overall appearance of the department looking cohesive. I will post pictures of the short talk d

epartment tomorrow when I get the .pdf's. 

I was also working on a few logo projects this week. 

One is a campaign adve

rtising free testing for 

STDs to students at certain schools in the south (that's the summary of the project I got anyways). But once I got the slogan I was jotting things down left and right with ways to play with the typography and make it appealing both large and small.

 I used bold color to grab the attention of students as well as a recognizable font... Eurostile (the same, if not very close to the type family used by Trojan). It is a subtle but humorous spin that I took with the logo. Check it out. 

That must have been the theme of the week because I think I've been designing logos or at least thinking about logos all week. Another project I was working on was coming up with 20 different ideas with the intention of executing 10 of them. This posed both a helpful way of designing as well as a painful way to design. I started out assuming the obvious and was just putting ideas on paper, but then I started getting deeper and tried several different approaches for the logo and my ideas definitely evolved more as my brainstorming and execution process unfolded. The logo is for a mindfullness eating program for faculty and staff at Mizzou. It is to help relieve stress, help one enjoy 

eating and enjoy exercising. Promoting a healthy lifestyle is the overall goal of the program. I started by picking colors that are commonly seen in produce. Then I started playing with the letters and typefaces.  After working through this project and coming up with so many ideas on the front end I thought my execution process would be much quicker, which in reality it probably was considering I did ten different mockups. 

My conclusion after completing this 20/10 assignment is that developing logos is harder than it looks. Especially iconic logos that you know so well and are easily recognizable. Believe me, a lot of 

thought went into that target symbol for Target and the smiley face for Wal-mart. 

critique

Whew! True/False took it out of me. Three days of working on the feature spread two weeks ago followed by three days of nonstop film festival fun was exhausting but totally worth it. Last Thursday the feature that Lauren I did together was printed and I am really proud of the way it turned out. Here is the finished product. I am really happy with the way the package came together. Lauren and I worked together well and were able to compliment each other within our design styles. For example at the beginning of our design process we told each other we would brainstorm at home and bring ideas to the table the next day. We were both working on the splash page and knew we wanted to incorporate the theme of "flying high/rising above." Meeting together the next day we showed each other what we had worked on. I had been working on a plane illustration and Lauren had been working on a background/skyline illustration. Our two pieces worked great together, and from there we accomplished an entire package that I know we are both proud of. 

 

This past weekend I saw several films including No Impact Man, We Live in Public, Food Inc., Rough Aunties, and several others. It was relaxing, enjoyable as well as informative. I bought a glass gallon of milk which was produced at a local farm in Missouri when I was at the grocery yesterday. This decision, a 40 cent increase compared to the generic plastic brand of skim milk I usually buy was influenced by the film Food Inc., which encouraged 

audience members to know where their food is produced and its environment 

of origin. Although when I left I was a bit petrified, I decided I could do my 

part in hopes of regulating the FDA. So glass gallons of milk from Hermann, Mo. are looking even better now, and taste better as well. 

 

One of the best films I saw was Big River Man. The story of an endurance swimmer who weighs over 200 pounds, and not of pure muscle; who drinks like a fish, and chooses to be the first person to swim the Amazon River. Don't believe it? Google it; it's legit.