Critique Week 13

Over the last week I worked on three things: my Web site, my mini-portfolio and Global Journalist. 

I managed to learn the basic knowledge of creating rollover graphics in Flash, so I was able to convert my Web site from tables to flash. It still needs tweaking, but is in much better shape than it was before. Click here to view in browser. 

My mini-portfolio is coming along nicely. A couple weeks ago I bought six-inch by six inch photo albums at Hobby Lobby so I just have to cut out my clips and place them into the plastic sleeves on each page. I have decided on all of my clips and I just finished my redesign, so it is all set and ready to go. I just have to cut the clips to fit in the pages accordingly. As for the process so far I am very pleased with it. 

Finally I have been working over the past couple of days on the upcoming issue of Global Journalist. I was assigned a fascinating story on the ethics of photoshopping news photos. I won't spoil the story here, so you will just have to go and read it for yourself. At first I struggled with the three-page design, but going off the advice of Aimee I have finished my first draft and eagerly look forward to hearing from the editors on Friday before the first round of revisions. I will put up the final pages once all corrections are done, but I have also added my first draft here.

Response to class and such

Boy has it been an interesting semester so far. I have been fortunate to get my hands into a lot of things over the last couple of weeks and months, and have been given the opportunity to work with some pretty amazing people. I believe some of the most interesting work I have gotten to do was the Global Journalist design and the trends assignment. I really liked the Global Journalist because it is an international news magazine focusing on international journalism, and the topics, especially my article on photoshopping, was really interesting. I knew that Global Journalist was on campus as I was here over the last couple of years, but I never really paid too much attention to it until now. And I wish I had. I think it's the political science minor in me that attracts me to this type of publication. 

I also liked the trends assignment because it was interesting to see how different individuals within the industry had vastly different looks on the future of the journalism industry. While some urged us to stay in school, others didn't talk about grad school but rather wished us luck on finding jobs. Overall it was a grim outlook, but interesting to learn about, nonetheless. 

You can't miss... chalk animation!

So I couldn't get the video to load onto here, but I wanted to share a video I saw posted on Desiree Perry's blog on Visual Editors. She showed a really cool chalk animation video from Lucinda Schreiber called "Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation." In the comments on Schreiber's Vimeo.com page, Schreiber writes that she shot nearly 1,900 frames for the video. It's pretty amazing stuff. What I want to know is if they really drew the figures every single time on the chalkboards. Check it out here.  

This week on UnBeige... the new creative director of Maxim

Well the news specifically pertaining to magazine and magazine design has been a little sparse lately on UnBeige, so I went with this UnBeige news blurb published today, April 29: Dirk Barnett Named Creative Director of Maxim. UnBeige reports that Barnett is known for redesigning Blender Magazine before it recently folded, and it was announced today that he had been hired by the Alpha Media Group to be Maxim's new creative director. Before Blender, Barnett worked for the spin-offs of New York Times Magazine - Key and Play - where UnBeige reports that he oversaw art direction and design. Finally, Barnett has won 9 medals and 93 merits from the Society of Publication Designers, so it will be interesting to see if Barnett brings any type of redesign to Maxim.  

Response: Week 12

Week 12? Really? Where has time gone? Even though I didn't do a lot of design work over this past weekend, I did get the opportunity to interview for two jobs: one of which happened today and one that will occur on Wednesday. Today's interview went very well, and I hope Wednesday's interview goes as well as today. But as I seem to write every week on here in this section of my blog, it was another stark reminder of how the real world is now only a step away. And for anyone that has trouble or feels nervous in interviews, I would highly recommend going to the MU Student Success Center and scheduling a mock interview. I did that today and boy did it make me feel more confident for my interview on Wednesday. 

Critique: Week 12

Man, I can't believe it's week 12 already. Another four weeks and I will be walking across the stage at graduation. Slight shudder. But I still have a ton of classes, papers, tests, projects and job interviews before the end is finally in sight. Which brings me to my weekly critique.

So this week I didn't do as much as last week, and it's hard to show what I've done on here. I worked on getting my mini-portfolio ready, and put together the pages for one of them to see how it would look. I like it. I can't really show that on here, but that was one of the main things I did this weekend.

Last week I also added elements onto the pages of CountryHome.com, the Meredith Corp. commissioned project I am a part of. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that on here yet as it is in the final tweaking stages. Hopefully I will have pictures of that up here soon.

I also worked on my website, http://web.missouri.edu/~emsc37/index.html. I incorporated many of the suggestions made by my classmates and professor, and I like how it turned out. Once I get time after graduation to learn Adobe Flash, I plan on redesigning it completely using flash. But that is a goal right now. What I can show besides this link to my website is the picture of my newly redesigned logo, seen above. It's still a work in progress now that we have an extra week to work on it, but this is what I have now.

On deck for next week:

1) Mini portfolio

2) Website

You can't miss... the NYT's Brian Stelter on the future of journalism

So as the class of 2009 inches ever closer to graduation (now only four weeks away, counting finals), I thought this was an appropriate find. In "J-Schools Play Catchup," Stelter takes a pretty good look at the future of journalism, now dubbed the "new journalism." It talks about how journalism schools across the country are changing their courses to anticipate the changes to a mostly web format for journalism. It attempts to answer the question of what the "new journalism" will look like, but appropriately ends on the answer of we don't know. It seems fitting as every senior I know in the journalism school is stressing out about graduation and the future of journalism. Stelter's article is definitely a must-read. 

This week on UnBeige... small type!

The following news post surfaced on UnBeige last Friday, April 17, and caught my eye tonight: For New York's Adam Moss, Good Things Come in Small Point Sizes. According to the post, New York magazine has started printing really small headlines on its cover. They cite this week's New York Observer, in which John Koblin comments that the type is so tiny, "The letters weigh in somewhere between the size of a grain of sugar and a grain of kosher salt."  The cover, seen here, features a red starburst where this tiny type is located. It is currently under a magnifying glass in this picture. One of the reasons for this unique conceptual design, says its editor-in-chief, Adam Moss, is that most of their magazines are sold by subscription  - only 4 percent are sold on newsstands - so it allows the magazine, Moss believes, to experiment like this. After the cover line, everything else is considered "garnish," Moss adds. 

“There’s a certain texturing,” Moss said in an interview with Koblin. “Texturing? Is that a word? A texture object that has to do with the design of the cover. We have very large type and very small type. It’s impossible to describe graphic design, but you want to create a visual tension on the cover. We want you to see a big word that excites you. And then it’s like someone who speaks very softly and you lean in to hear them.”

Now I could not see all the tiny type Koblin describes in his article. But it really makes me want to go find this on the newsstand and see for myself. UnBeige claims this is the secret to survive "in the rapidly shrinking world of print media." 

Just some food for thought. It's pretty fascinating stuff.

Critique: Week 11

This week I had two major assignments to work on: the CountryHome.com designs for my Meredith Corp. project and the design (and subsequent redesign) of covers for the Criminal Justice Issue of Vox Magazine. 

The CountryHome.com project is slowly coming along, as we are working as a design team to make the pages look similar to each other. It's a lot of work, but I believe I will be much more knowledgeable about web design in the end than I would if I had chosen one of the print projects for Meredith Corp. My inspiration for my department pages was NYTimes.com. However, I am a very methodical, straightforward designer, learning to expand my creative box. It has shown in my print work for this class and Vox Magazine, and that struggle has unfortunately made its way over to the web design work as well with this Meredith Corp. project. But in the end, like everything else, it will be a good learning experience for me. Unfortunately I can't post screenshots of my pages since they are on the server and I don't have access to them right now.

But I will post my covers for Vox Magazine's Criminal Justice Issue. I will briefly explain each one. The one with the caution tape and body outline in chalk was trying to recreate a crime scene where each of the three individuals profiled in the story would have a hand in figuring out the crime. The black cover with the three picture boxes was modeled after a t-shirt I have which depicts three different aspects of the organization. So since there are three profiles, I decided to make each profile have its own picture box. And the font for the words "Criminal Justice" was modeled after Law & Order. Finally, the cover with the arm in a chain was my least favorite. I kind of ran out of ideas at this point, but I was trying to show in this cover a "criminal" being locked up awaiting "justice."

After I presented these three ideas to the class this past Thursday, they suggested I redesign the cover with the picture boxes, which is shown here. I changed the picture for the medical examiner and tried to make each box look like it had a brass nameplate attached to it. I'll see how the class reacts to it on Thursday.

On deck:

1) Continuing working on CountryHome.com

2) Multimedia for Vox

3) Present the redesigned cover at Thursday's lab

4) Work on mini-portfolio and Web site if I have time

Response: Week 11

This week in Magazine Editing, one of our homework assignments is to plan a theme issue for the August issue of Esquire. It was easy for me to come up with a theme but way harder to come up with 8-12 feature ideas and four department ideas based off of that theme. Even though this assignment is much easier for me to complete than proofreading or copyediting, it showed just how much I need to work on thinking like an editor. Because in the second round of presentations in Advanced Magazine Design, as students presented their findings from interviews with various art directors from across the country, the suggestion of being a designer and thinking like an editor at the same time came up. It's definitely helpful to be strong in both areas simultaneously because I believe a designer is more marketable if he or she possesses both traits and can use them at the same time. Again it was another week of identifying my weak points and now I have just over 30 days to work and polish them before I graduate from MU.

You can't miss... Stephen Colbert's interview with Biz Stone!

This hilarious interview was posted by Robb Montgomery, CEO of the blog Visual Editors, a blog which I follow regularly. In it, Colbert is interviewing the co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone. For me, the seven minute interview was actually informational because I've heard so much about Twitter yet I still don't know much about it. And Stephen's funny, yet informational interview gave me just enough of a glimpse into the world of Twitter for me to understand its intentions. And for the record, I still do not Tweet on Twitter. Maybe that explains my ignorance on the subject. See the video on Montgomery's blog by clicking here.

This week on UnBeige... Damien Hirst!

UnBeige is reporting that beginning on April 25, Kiev, Ukraine's PinchukArtCentre will be hosting "Requiem," an exhibition of about 100 works by the artist Damien Hirst. I was introduced to Damien's work during my art class two years ago as my professor showed a photo of his diamond incrusted human skull entitled "For the Love of God." Another cool piece of his, one that will be on display in Kiev, is "Death Explained," a dissected shark suspended in formaldehyde. As a designer, I am inspired by Hirst because he always seems to be testing the limits of what is acceptable in the art industry. His works are new, innovative and exciting. That's what I want my designs to be, while also contributing to the journalism first and foremost. 

Critique: Week 10

This week has been very busy for me in terms of all of my classes. My latest round of testing has come and gone, and now I have more time to work on my design stuff. I don't have much to show today other than my CountryHome.com redesigns for the Meredith Corp. project. My covers will be added tomorrow after I get a chance to sit down and work on them. 

Anyways, the redesigns are a result of the meeting I had last week with the publishers. It's been a struggle to learn Dreamweaver and it's intricacies, but I feel I will be way more knowledgeable about the subject of web design after this project is over in less than one month. I based my redesigns off of NYTimes.com, which has a very structured Web site in terms of design for both departments as well as features. 

On deck:

1) Working on the CountryHome.com pages with the art director as well as the publishers

2) My covers for the 4.23 issue of VOX, otherwise known as the Criminal Justice Issue

3) Design the front-of-book department, Short Talk, in VOX this weekend, including a multimedia piece (which should help with my jitters about Flash).

4) Work on my website and mini-portfolio assignments if time allows. 

Whew, another busy week! Have a great day!

Response: Week 10

Today in class several people presented their findings from an interview with an art director at a magazine of his or her choice. Many of the interviews had job advice for the students, which ranged from how to make your portfolio stand out to advice to stay in school and not graduate. Ironically, when I came home this evening to catch the end of NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams and company showed a short piece entitled, "Hard times facing class of '09." It's an interesting, but sobering piece of news for the 1.5 million to-be graduates like us. One line that stood out to me the most was the fact that graduates will be making less money than their peers before them because of the current economic crisis, and history shows that the wages will never catch up. And in case you aren't counting, graduation for MU is t-minus 38 days from now. 

You can't miss... front pages from select newspapers covering the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship Game

So last night the University of North Carolina Tar Heels destroyed Michigan State in the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship Game en route to their fifth NCAA title. Being the sports junkie, I couldn't resist posting this link to Charles Apple's blog on VisualEditors, which highlights A1 design choices for select newspapers in Michigan and North Carolina for this morning's edition. 

My favorite is The Sanford Herald, a small North Carolina newspaper with a circulation of just under 11,000. They decided to go with the poster treatment, and an interview with the Herald's editor, Billy Liggett, who designed the page in question, reveals that he created this page, minus the picture, seven hours before tip-off. It was sent to the printer 45 minutes before the game had ended. Luckily for them, Liggett says, the game was won by the Tar Heels. He says he did this poster format in order to give his readers a "keep-sake front." 

I know in the newspaper world the use of poster fronts is sometimes overdone, but in this case I think it fits. It's not gaudy or overdone, but actually quite classy. 

This week on UnBeige: American Design!

A short, but interesting news blurb appeared on UnBeige yesterday, April 6. Next week on Tax Day, April 15, UnBeige and D-Crit will be celebrating the publication of American Design by Russell Flinchum. Flinchum's book traces the development of American design from the early American machinists to the present day. Interested in getting a signed copy of the book and visiting NYC at the same time? Then you can join UnBeige at Highbar in Manhattan on the night of April 15. 

It might be a good graduation gift, because like Carolyn Preul, creative director of Inside Columbia, said in an e-mail interview, "inspiration is everywhere." 

Critique Week #9

Last week I worked on the designs of the Living and Decorating department pages for the CountryHome.com prototype, which I presented this morning along with the rest of the website. Like I said in my response for this week, it was an uncomfortable hour as we were grilled constantly on our choices. Here are some screenshots of parts of the pages I presented this morning. But after our second meeting with the publishers earlier this afternoon, I am set and ready to go with the changes to be made to my pages. I designed these department pages with a modern feel in mind by trying to be simplistic and compartmental. The pages were pretty bare in terms of content because I did not have much direction from the two publishers in charge of my two pages. But my redesigns should look a lot better than this. Stay tuned! 

On deck:

-Working on CountryHome.com redesigns

-My trends assignment

-gathering art for Short Talk in VOX for the 4.16 issue

Response to the CountryHome.com meeting

This morning I was part of the team of three designers working on the CountyHome.com prototype who met with our publishing team and the two professors overseeing the project. We presented our prototype and were grilled on our choices for our designs. It was an uncomfortable hour, but I would rather be grilled by them than the representatives of Meredith Corp. The experience was a real eye-opener for me by serving as an example of how fast the industry is changing from print to online, and how I need to keep up with this change in the industry. In terms of web design I am a novice compared to print design, and I need to learn a lot about web design in the coming weeks.  

You can't miss... Graphic Design Forum!

In light that most of the members of the advanced magazine design class are graduating in a little over a month from now, I decided to share a post on Graphic Design Forum that is geared toward future graduates. I found this blog in the list of large list of sites of interest on UnBeige. Graphic Design Forum does not have an About Us tab, but it looks very similar to other visual journalism blog sites I have visited such as Visual Editors. 

Anyways, this article on Graphic Deisgn is by Bob Nicholl, titled, "The Business Side of Design Part 1, Starting Out." For the many of us who are graduating soon, he attempts to answer the question of "Now What?" In this article, Nicholl looks at the route of working as a freelancer, and offers some helpful tips. Check it out.  

This week on UnBeige... a YouTube redesign?

So out of yesterday's UnBeige newsfeed came an interesting news blurb about the planned redesign of YouTube (which I didn't know about). This blurb was linked to an article from ClickZ titled, "YouTube Plans Redesign to Highlight Premium Content." 

The article explains that the first part of the new design will clearly separate the "premium and long-form programming" from the "user-posted videos" and "will offer four tabs: Movies, Music, Shows, and Videos." The first three tabs will feature the premium content, while the fourth tab will house the user-generated content. According to the executive interviewed in the ClickZ article, the move is generated to separate the content that YouTube's advertisers would rather not be associated with from the content they don't mind having placed next to their ads. 

The second part of the redesign will be a redesigned video player that closely resembles the one on Hulu that will allow users to "dim the lights," or reduce the brightness of the browser window outside the video. 

The scheduled launch of this redesign is April 16. 

I find this article particularly fascinating in that even with the rise of user-generated content on the Internet, YouTube in particular, that advertisers look like they are shying away from potentially questionable user-generated content in the hopes that their image will not be tarnished by the content on the screen. YouTube seems to be taking the first step and responding to that concern.