Stanislaus - Wrap Up (Week 15)

Before entering GRA 217, I had heard how difficult the course was. A lot of people would say it is a very time consuming course and they were right. This class is extremely time confusing however, I attained skills that have benefited me. I was able to learn how to use Adobe Suite which is something I have always wanted to do. There were a lot of times when I could not stand the course and was just so annoyed, I'm not going to lie and there were also plenty of times I questioned why I was taking the course, especially during the Magazine project. That project was definitely the hardest project. Although this is how I felt, I can understand why this class would be a requirement for most majors, it is always good to see and respect how people of other fields work. I also appreciate the skills I have attained from taking this course, I know I will definitely use them in my lifetime. Overall, this course was honestly not my favorite however, I can appreciate the skills I did attain from it.

Stanislaus - Week 14 (Part 1)

Stanislaus - Week 13 (Hierarchy)

Perezhilton.com is a great example of hierarchy. He has numerous navigation bars to get where you need to go on the site. Also, the colors are very appealing and are in unison. The visitors of this site are able to view the latest celebrity gossip with ease.

Week 13-Stanislaus

Decision for Story:

For my magazine project, I decided to choose Michael Jackson. My reasoning behind my choice is because I really like Michael Jackson and his music and I felt that it would be a good selection to do a magazine spread about him. Not only was he a wonderful musician but wonderful person. I also felt that any story I chose to do on him would have a lot of vibrant images to choose from for my spread.

Choice of Typeface:

For the cover, I decided to use the font ITC Isadora Std. My reasoning behind this was I felt that it cosigned well with the title of the magazine, Royalty. I felt that it had a very regal, majestic look to it and Michael Jackson is the King of Pop so why not use such a font. I also chose to make it all caps because I feel like upper case lettering gives a sense of power and dominance. For the headline, I chose to use Berling LT Std. The reason why I chose to use this font is because I feel it was a very docile font that coordinated well with the picture on the 1^st spread. For the deck head and the alternative copy, I chose to use the font Caxton Std. I chose this font because I feel it coordinate well with the headline and the font. For the body text, I chose ITC Berkeley Old Style because I felt it looked like the font used in magazines.

Images:

The sources and sizes of the images I chose are:

http://pasembur.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/michael_jackson_-_number_ones.jpg

This is the cover photo. It is 1600x1200 pixels.

http://celebrityastrologyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/michael_jackson_white_bird_1975.jpg

This is the picture for the first spread. It is 5025x3339 pixels.

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7800000/Liberian-Girl-michael-jackson-7848255-1638-2560.jpg

This is the photo within the article. It Is 1638x2560 pixels.

http://www.michaeljackson.ch/thisisitmovie.jpg

This is the photo for the back cover. It is 2017x3000 pixels.

Color:

For the cover, the pull quote and the drop letter, I took the red from Michael Jackson’s pants on the cover, which are R209, G31 and B21. For the headline and deckhead on the first spread I took the green from the background, which is R47, G63 and B50. For the alternative copy I used a gold color which is R235, R167 and B45.

Stanislaus- Ed Kashi

This past Thursday, photojournalist Ed Kashi was a guest speaker at Newhouse. In his presentation he discussed many of his projects which include Iraqi Kurdistan, Aging in America: The Years Ahead and Niger Delta. Each of the pieces were extremely powerful pieces. Kashi discussed how he looks for things often left unnoticed and he wants to give a voice for people who don't have a voice. One of Kashi's statements was, "I feel it better to focus than drill down deep." From this statement, I felt that he was saying it is better to focus on what is right in front of you rather than looking to deep into things to find something that is not there. This is true for photography because as a photographer you have seconds to capture a shot and you can't stand there overanalyzing what you want to capture.

Kashi's piece Niger Delta was about Nigeria and its oil. He captured the corrupt government and the poor lives that the people of Nigeria live. One of his photos was of a boy working and carrying a goat. The reason why I'm mentioning this photo is because after a woman saw this photo in the National Geographic she discovered the boys name and his information and began to pay for his education and he no longer works there anymore. This just proves how much a picture can capture and change someones life. I feel that Kashi message was that if you are going to capture a shot, capture its dimensions and its emotion. The simplest photo can speak a million words.

Week 9 - Stanislaus

Week 11-Stanislaus

Theybf.com is an example of a good designed website. The website it very organized and has numerous pictures to back up what is said. There is also a "read the rest" section for every story which includes more information, pictures and commentary from followers of the website. The pictures are always clear and explain the headline it is for very well. It is a very informative website for entertainment news.

Week Ten | Stanislaus

A calender is a good example of a grid. It breaks space or time into regular units through its use of blocks for the days in a week. It is a simple, specific grid. One is able to put there information for each day in specific spot for a specific week. I feel that a calender is a pretty vivid example of a grid.

The Playstation logo is an example of the gestalt principle of closure. The principle of closure has to do with our wanting to close shapes however, by not closing the shape, our imaginations run wild. In this logo, one cannot tell where the "P" ends because it runs into the "S" and the "S" proceeds to run into the P. The lack of closure leaves the viewer the ability to keep viewing the logo in a different way.

Week 7-Stanislaus

This well known sign of school crossing is a good example of a silhouette. The two figures and lines are all black however, you can see that they are two people crossing a street. The use of the yellow background is a very effective color because it pops out at the driver so they can notice the sign. The sign is very effective in saying caution, people are crossing.

Week Six - Stanislaus

Design Strategy and client information:
The non-profit organization I chose to use was the Make a Wish Foundation. The demographic of the organization is mostly geared towards children who have life-threatening conditions. The mission of the Make a Wish Foundation is "we grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy." From this mission statement you can see that the goal of Make a Wish it to give children with severe diseases the wishes they have always wanted. I chose this organization because of its mission and its want of helping children. When I first saw the event being hosted by the Make a Wish Foundation, Dishes for Wishes, what originally came to mind were the dishes from the movie, Beauty and the Beast however, I had to alter my idea as a result of not being able to use images from Google. However, I came to another solution and was able to still develop a poster for the organization. From this poster, I am trying to grasp the attention of the viewer and have them want to come out and support the event. I didn't want the poster to make people feel bad for these children with these diseases, I instead wanted to create something fun yet still able to get the point across. I believe I have accomplished that.

Choice of Typefaces:
I chose to use Americana Std. for the "When you wish upon a star..." beacuse I felt that the font had a dreamy look to it. It is easy to read from a viewer's point and I believe that this serif font was able to enhance the dreamy, starry effect portrayed in the poster. I decided to use Cantoria MT Std. for the information because I felt that it complemented well with the Americana Std. and it pops out at the viewer.

Visuals:
I created the plates, star and teapot in Adobe Illustrator. I used the shape tool in Illustrator to create the plates and the star. For the teapot, I used the pen tool within Illustrator and traced an image of a kettle off of Goofle and onto Illustrator. I curved the words for "When tou wish upon a star..." by going to Object, Enevelope and Arch tab in Illustrator. I chose to make the dishes a cream color; it isn't to bright yet it stands out. I used c1m0y19k0 for the plates and teapot and for the star I used Pantone 109C. I decided to make the font white so it stands out from the background and I proceeded to put the Make a Wish logo in the star because I felt that the placement there emphasizes the idea that a star symbolizes a wish. For the background I decided to use c100m100y25k25 for the sky and for the ground I decided to use c90m30y95k30. Overall, I believe the colors mesh well together and I am very happy with the overall project.

Week Four-Stanislaus

Design Strategy
For my project, I was trying to accomplish a clean, easy to read resume while at the same time have it be creative. My intended audience is whoever is hiring me for a position, most likely it would be a manager. I also wanted to reflect my skills attained from learning how to use Adobe InDesign. With this resume, I am trying to display my past and present work experience and skills in a clean yet artistic way.

I think that from my resume I can be perceived as professional yet imaginative. The periodic use of purple in the bullets, dashes and line breakers show a splash of color yet not over the top. I feel that the resume is fun however, presentable and enjoyable to the eyes.

Choice of Typeface
For my wordmark, I decided to use for most of my name, Gills Sans. The reason why I chose this font is it coordinates really well with the capital "N" used in my name. For the "N" I chose to use Bickham Script Standard. The reason why I chose this font is because I like the way both my first name and last name fit in with the "N". Overall, I feel that fonts coordinate well together, Gills Sans is an extremely readable font and very versatile.

Week Three-Stanislaus

In Lupton's chapter "Text", she discusses the use of hierarchy as a tool to "express an organizational system for content, emphasizing some data and diminishing others." She continues to say that hierarchy enables a reader to look over text easier and gives them a sense of direction as to where look and go next. In this example to the left, hierarchy is used. With the use of lines and pictures, the reader clearly sees the direction their eyes are being guided to. Also the use of pictures gives a better visual. This is just one of many uses of hierarchy.

Week Two - Stanislaus

As said in Lupton's Thinking With Type, "the cursive form was used by the cheaper writing shops, where it could be written more rapidly than the carefully formed lettera antica." As seen in this advertisement for Elliman's Embrocation, a medical lotion used for muscles, created in 1847, there is cursive handwriting. This cursive was used to save money because it also saved space. Money probably needed to be saved since it was a growing brand. However, this also takes away from the advertisement because the cursive handwriting slows the reader down while they try to read it.