You Can't Miss...Tips I Wish I Knew, But Already Know

In the last year I have spent more time using Creative Suite programs than anyone other program I've used in my lifetime. This week on Smashing Magazine they had a post about tips on InDesign that designers wished they knew -- what I loved about it was the fact that I knew how to do all but a few of the tips. There's nothing like knowing that you've chosen the right career path -- and the idea that I knew how to do a lot of what others find to be "new" is great!


My favorite that I already knew...saving color swatches and loading new ones.

For a designer with a color-centered personality, I knew all about this tip about 30 seconds into opening InDesign for the first time. Maybe they should name the next color library after me ;)


A new one for me...master pages.

I knew that InDesign had a master page capability -- but, to be honest, I had no idea what the purpose was in the slightest. Now I know that if all my pages need to have a number of elements that are the same all I have to do is save them to the master page!


Check out all the other tips in the post and see how many you know -- but like they close with, know that as designers the best way to learn the "tips" of InDesign is to open the program and just start trying to make it work!

Critique...Vox Departments So Far

My first weekend designing for Vox Magazine was rather stressful -- as if not knowing what I was doing wasn't enough, I spent 48 hours freaking out about an illustration that I was supposed to make for the online version of the story I had to design. I didn't know the game in the story and the reporter was refusing to speak to me. I finished the following flash graphic (below is a photo, not the graphic) for the story and the page design, to come to find out there was an ethical issue -- the story wasn't printed and neither was my graphic. I still plan to use it in my portfolio.

Second round of Scene designing went a lot smoother -- though having my feature the same weekend did make it a bit crazy. It was fun, though, I enjoyed getting through all the stories and piecing it all together. 

Third round of Vox designing was another splash of change with the travel issue -- which was definitely a good time -- but when were told to stick with the personality of Vox in our designs it's hard to keep consistent when we only design every three weeks. Over all, this third week was my favorite because it was my type of content. I love to travel and it made me think of the idea that some day I could be designing for a travel publication's department pages.

Response...Prototype Drafts

Here's my thoughts...


Nosh
Talk about some great work! This team has really got it together for Tuesday; which has definitely motived us at Shindig to put out some great work for Thursday. I agree with their publishers on the red/green cover; though I see what you mean on the rust color -- I just the green needs a little adjusting though.

Plaid Dad
Just keep in mind that it is ultimate your design -- I know the logo you went with was the publisher favorite, but some of your other options I felt were significantly better. Overall, you've got a great start. I hope something gets worked out on the crazy gadget pages, though!


Modern Midwest
I definitely think taking a stab at your own photography is the only way to go. It'll take a bit of extra work, but if you really take the time to plan it out and frame the photos well then I think it could turn out wonderful.


Cupboard
The style of you chose for your nameplate was great -- but I have to agree with Jan's comment about the "C" being rotated slightly. I know that you did that you make the name plate different, but it looks more out of place and than meaningful.


Shindig
Here's where your comments come into place...we'd love the feedback. 

You Can't Miss...The User Experience

Yesterday's post on Smashing Magazine starts by saying: "A lot of designers seem to be talking about user experience (UX) these days. We’re supposed to delight our users, even provide them with magic, so that they love our websites, apps and start-ups. User experience is a very blurry concept. Consequently, many people use the term incorrectly."

What's crazy about this model that they discuss is that I see both sides of the spectrum. Growing up I was the user -- so I chose my magazines based on what I saw on the cover as it related to me because that made me like the product and it had the special appeal. But now that I'm at Mizzou I have been taught to focus on those first four product features as a designer: content (always content...that has been drilled into my head over the last four years), presentation, functionality and interaction. And as far as the center section is concerned -- both the designers and the users manipulate, stimulate and identify each other, which is why I believe both parties take part in that step of the model.


What's most important in this post however, was the final section -- telling us that we can not design the user experience because we can not design the use. However, we can design for the user -- and that was the plan all along.

Response...Potential Portfolio Pieces

We've all taken basic design -- so seeing the projects from that course was familiar. We've also all taken part in Vox department pages and designing logos. What I most loved about showing off my own work and seeing the work of other was to see what everyone has done outside the realm of required Magazine Design courses.


I was able to show my designs for my work with Relay For Life at Mizzou...

In addition to the infographics I did for the Missourian...

And the wireframes I created on behalf of the Museum of Art & Archaeology in my application development class...

Each of us as an idea of what our lives and careers are going to be like after we graduate. For most of us, that time will come in under two months. Many, including myself, see ourselves in New York City -- others plan to stick around for grad school among other reasons. And those differences are what our designs show. We can take the idea from a brainstorming session or be inspired by a part in the stories we design, but we each carry our own personality throughout our designs. Not only was this critique session beneficial to our portfolios, but they gave us a chance to get to know each other through our designs.

Critique...Logos Through the Drafts

The number 20 didn't seem that big when it was my age or when it was the number of miles I'd driven on my 432-mile drive home, but designing 20 logos is a lot harder than I expected. In hours I spent on designing my first drafts I came up with a handful right off the bat; I thought I was home-free -- I still had 14 more to design. I stuck with the color red in my first drafts because I've grown up visualizing black and red as a combination of colors that were bold...strong...unbreakable. And when I think of the women and minorities that the Sports Journalism Institute support, I can only imagine how tough they've got to be to make their careers happen. So here's what I started with:

Round two we were told to narrow the field to five logos. The following were my top five and how they changed from the original drafts to the final five. Note: the ORIGINAL is on the far left of each.


Choice 1: Received 2 votes during the in-class selection.

Choice 2: Received 5 votes during the in-class selection.

Choice 3: Received 9 votes during the in-class selection.

Choice 4: Received 4 votes during the in-class selection. As you can see, I opted for a brand new logo -- I now think they look like baby rattles. 

Choice 5: Received 3 votes during the in-class selection.

And in the final drafts our five selections were brought to two choices with the help of Greg Bowers.

Choice 1: For this logo I wanted to take on the image of designing a seal for the institute, because when I think of an institute I think they must have a seal of some sort -- University of Missouri has one, it's displayed in the Student Center as a remembrance of Brady Commons.

Choice 2: Sports are all about motion -- there's constant movement, even when athletes take a moment to breathe. I designed this logo around that motion and took into effect the way the motion encircles the team; hence, the motion is encircling the name plate. As for color (in both logos), I was told that symbolism was not as powerful as color -- so I chose colors that were vibrantly different, dark with contrast, and lastly a resemblance of skin colors.

You Can't Miss...Design Cliches

This week on Smashing Magazine I wasn't interested on many of their posts...so I went back a couple of weeks to a post about cliches in our designs. I can see where they're coming from because we all know what already works -- and so, we turn them into cliches for having been so overused. But I have to say -- sometimes the old cliches make perfect sense when it comes to design, because it draws a reader into something that is familiar to them.