Small Group Critique

Message:

1. Is the message clear? What is it, why is it clear or what is getting in the way from it being clear? The message is strong and clear because it uses a comparison of number of voters with football fans. It uses numbers to emphaise the power in numbers the 18-24 year olds have in voting. 

2. Is the message memorable? why or why not?

The use of the bright color is memorable and cheerful/playful also evokes a positive feeling in the viewer. The graphics, such as the little people, are fun and inviting. Though the piece compares to football fans, and targets the 18-24 year old range it is inspiring to all ages of people, especially those whom enjoy football! Also the comparison is much different than most comparisons seen in getting people to vote.

3. How could it be more clear or dynamic?

In the opening screen have it fade in so the words don't just start off on the screen. Do the same for the last frame. Make sure the pages with lots of words stay on longer. Change the color blue to something else brighter (making it easier to read). 

Technical:

1. Visual language supports message? Compelling, dynamic, appropriate {how could it be better}?

Yes visual language supports cheerful message~tweek some areas....If I want to keep the big house screen make sure to make it more dynamic... possibly have it come on earlier so it almost overlaps withe the forward progress screen. 

2. Tranistions: consistant, dynamic, smooth...what is awkward? 

Slow in some spots..speed up a bit where the circled 50 moves across screen then gets bigger...speed up moving [ ] on the field. The 50 also bounces... fix it. Have the between screen stay on longer and turn into either a -- mark or have it fade...try something fun

3. Type and color {legible, appropriate}

Color good but change blue to yellow..or brown...

4. Sound

make sure it goes the length of the motion graphic :)

Michael Vanderbyl

Michael Vanderbyl was another designer at the AGI conference. He owns the design company Vanderbyl Design and is a pretty incredible designer. One thing I especially enjoyed was his design philosophy. He believes great design and great designers should remember the following ISMs and they will continue to be great!

1. Design is Hard (especially great design)

2. Design is Art

3. ALWAYS talk to an audience....meaning let the piece inspire the audience to talk to the audience

4. No one throws books away... so make they beautiful and timeless

5. SMALL moves can lead to BIG shifts

6. BIG always works... if its big and not working make it bigger

7. Doll House Model Train Syndrome... be able to communicate with your clients

8. No idea is too stupid... in fact most of the times the most insane, illogical ideas are the best

9. Find beauty in ugliness...this will keep you from trying to look to much like one desinger's beautiful work and will inspire you to make something wonderful of your own

10. The client IS your friend

11. Work with the negative...negative space...

12. Stripes are awesome

13. Let the problem solve its self

14. Boundaries--push them---FAR...we deal with communication and this can mean anything from print to motion to places spaces and people...get crazy

15. The work is what get work...doing good work will get you good work

16. Its ONLY graphic design=remember to go out and have fun...but remember we give the gift of communication to people

17. Robin Hood Theory of design: volunteer...always help when you can...give the gift of great design

18. NEVER get comfortable...always challenge yourself by switching up your style!

19. There are no answers

20. Whats IN will be OUT and whats OUT will be in...don't get stuck in the mud!

21. ALWAYS ALWAYS make time to reinvent yourself! 

AGI Conference: Chicago

Paul Sahre was the first presenter at the AGI graphic design conference in Chicago. Paul is the owner of The Office of Paul design incorporated, based in New York City. He attended Kent State University in Ohio. He is known for his innovative and often times sassy book covers and silkscreen posters. One thing that I took away from his presentation is his concept of “problems.” As graphic designers we have a very different concept/ connotation attached with the word “problem;” making something positive and drawing a conclusion out of a given statement. He brought up the very important idea that problems never end, and neither do solutions. For instance, he very strangely used the example of his brother’s death as an inspiration in his life. His brother was a free-spirit who worked in for the circus and had a love for elephants, so much so that he had one tattooed on his leg (on its hind legs with a monoical in its hand and a top hat. Well, Paul loved this about his brother, and as a final good-bye, and as a means for his own healing, he painted the elephant on his brothers casket. Though this is a little strange, it demonstrates the power of art and design in our lives, as both a means for expression and for healing.

 

more inspiration

THe shoe store habitat is a fantastic little shop located in Leawood at the new 119 center. And their website is really fun to explore as it epitomizes the owners personalities: playful meets classy meets funky. They are also great about updating it frequently! Oh and also Bierstein Rein created their website and posters for them! :)

I love how graphic design can be seen in all aspects of art! these photographs were taken for the main pages of a company called Miss Sixty's online store, and I think they are just beautiful. Though there are a lot of things going on in the photographs, they are incredibly ellegent, and it is almost like the model is emerging from the background, full of life and spirit, which encapsulates the essence of this brand! 

Reading 03

"There are an infinite number of journeys to take through the design of understanding." Richard Saul Wurman

Creating a creative brief is essential to the success of a project, because it not only allows the designer themselves to see, on paper their ideas, thus creating oppertunities to correct holes in their arguments/ideas, but it also provides the other designers you are working with, and most importantly your client, with a solid visual map of the project. In the real world it is also good so that you can establish a timeline, so you do not unnecessarily waste time or money. They are also a great way to further establish the concept, goals and requirements, colors and moods the designer wants to portray. This is also a great opportunity to create a persona, which will help key in on the audience the designer wants to communicate to.  It is also a great way to show all the research (the most important parts of it) and the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to get to the final product! 

illustrations are awesome

I've been really interested in illustration lately and I love photography so here the two worlds combine :) beautiful!

T26....inspiration :)

Type doesn't have to be dull to be classy or simple to be beautiful and this website t26 is a prime example! the website is full of gorgeous type (and some crazy and some really bad...) that has inspired me to push the limits of graphic design :)

To suggest

To suggest list for my animated graphic :)

1.comprehension of just how BIG/ 50 million people are/is

2. energy, excitement and reconsideration of what it means to participate in voting

3. comprehension of just how Big 50 million people is 

4. optimism: each person can make a positive impact 

5. simplicity in form but displaying a big, important message

6. Reconsider. Respond. Reshape. (Reconsider the statistics/numbers. Respond in large numbers. Reshape the way others view our voting habits).

7. Alone we are one, together we are many....or more complexly as one, we are many (there are many of us all voting or not voting) and as many we are one (all of us together make up one big stat!) 

full data visualization

if you go to this link, you can scroll your mouse over the different colors to see more indepth information about the movies and the box office. 

Data visualization

Still searching for the perfect typeface for my posters I emailed a friend who told me to go to typography.com where to my surprise they have data visualizations of the day...and todays is gorgeous. Its vivid colors and rhymithic movements create a harmonious balance between the wild world of chaos and the beautiful world of sophisticated design. 

compare:contrast

After giving myself a while to think about the similarities and differences between Holmes, Wurman and Tufte, I have come to realize that though their clients and the information they use are quite different, they are all trying to do something that sounds so simple; present information. However, each has his own spin on this idea, proving that each person and each situation require different levels of understanding, so that you can see where each person is coming from and why they create things the way they do. Though holmes's work is probably my least favorite of the three, it is not to say that his work is not incredible. I think I am personally drawn to the bold creatively situated typefaces Wurman and Tufe use, as well as their slightly more intricate, yet immediately recognizable, illustrations and designs. This just shows that each every audience that views a designers work is going to interpert it differently and different things are going to jump out and catch varying people, because of things like the way they were raised, their cultures their religions and their believes as well as their own design manifestos!  

ops :)

I just realized I forgot to have an example of Wurmans work :) so here are a couple  

Design Police

So as I continue to research information for type I looked up the featured website andrea has on her resources page notcot.com and it just cracked me up. The front page of the website has all sorts of stickers which read "illegible" "please reduce line length immediately" and "sever lack of creativity" and I was just thinking about how ridiculous it would be if we actually used stickers like this in class~it would be kind of brutal but kind of interesting. So then I got to thinking that its really not that bad of an idea, because it might be a great way for us to all get more actively involved with our pieces (it may work better for a type class because of the nature of the work being printed) but it could be a good idea..check it out and let me know what you guys and gals think because  I would totally print some out and see if it works :) 

Type :)

Hey guys :)

So I was sitting here finishing up my typographic solutions for patrick'c class and I was looking for a great sans serif typeface and I kept getting stuck on Univers and a couple of other faces, so I went to Andreas website and under resources I checked out this link to the font feed. It shows a lot of great alternatives, to the ever loved by students (for reasons unknown to me...because I'm not a huge fan) Helvetica. My top five favorites are as follows:

1. FF Bau

2. Paralucent

3. Neuzeits

4. Venus

 5. Folio--this typeface is a great alternative because the roman version is has a much thinner stroke than the original roman helvetica. also its a bit more rounded over all and the "k" is really beautiful. Also the "A" has a swooping stroke on the bowl which makes it more interesting for the eye to read. It was created, according to the webstie by Konrad F Bauer and Walter Baum and was released by the Bauer Type Foundry from 1956-1963 in several variations. 

My new design motto :)

after exploring even deeper into the LeoBurnett website I found something, that to me, sums up my ideas my role as a graphic designer...

"We are enternal students of human behavior. We look through a human lens in everything we do, including who we partner with. We strive to understand people and the purpose brands play in people's lives. We seek meaningful ways to communicate with people to build long-lasting human connections." --Leo 

Awesome Graphic Design Co's

Here are is a graphic design company I'm really inspired by and would love to work for/with someday! 

LeoBurnett.com  (based in chicago)

My graphic design teacher from TCUs son created their website and it took him and a team several years to get the whole thing up and operating! Big ideas come out of big black pencils! Also a reoccuring theme on their website and in their company is the green/granny smith apple because the owner got his start selling apples on the street corner.  Now with every client they get they give a crate of apples :) check it out!

also if you click on the approach section there are some pretty neat animated info graphics! Its pretty incredible actually because its all interactive (which is unbelievable!) and easy to read, yet incredibly complex! Also they do audience personas which are awesome because they actually create their target audiences story!

Also if you go back to the main page and click on company there is a very interesting innovative use of text mixed with sound (music and a man speaking) which would be really interesting to channel into our project :)

Things that Inspire me

Alphonse Mucha's illustrations/paintings are some of my very favorite pieces of art and in a sense graphic design. It seems every time I need to find inspiration I turn to his pieces. The line quality and the rhythmic movement he creates is like no other artists. Art Nouvea is my favorite period in "fine art" and graphic design, as it feels alive, organic and free spirited. 

I'm in love!

Julia Rothman

After reviewing Krista's blog I went the julia rothman link and oh my goodness i'm completely in love with her work. I wish I could draw/doodle/make prints like these! They remind me of information graphics because they are so simple yet they have an energetic line quality not seen in many info graphics, which really draws me to them. They are youthful yet have an air of sophistociation to them! Thanks Krista for sharing this with us, its totally renewed my design spirit!

Edward Tufte

Edward Tufte

Edward Tufte, like Richard Saul Wurman and Nigel Holmes, is a Explaination Graphics/Information Graphics specialist. He is interested in and also gives presentations on color and information, concepts like complexity and clarity, and ways to present statistical data in creative tables, graphics and semi-graphics. He is the author of the new book Beautiful Evidence, which Business Week raves as "A Brilliant Masterpiece, the Galileo of Graphics has done it again!" To me that is just one sign that Tufte is incredible! His designs are alive and vivid, yet clear and simple. His pieces are energetic and eye catching. He also uses humor in his work which is a nice spin on this branch of graphics. 

Story board 2

Mood Board

Updated Story

I've decided to take the approach we used last year in GD One to create my story (illustrate the audience I am talking to and show them what needs to happen)

General Audience: 18-24 Year-Olds

Created persona (to make idea more real): Gabe is 21 year old college student at the University of Kansas. He is a charming guy and is a major in Biology but bounces back and forth on what he wants to do after graduation. He generally votes liberal, but has some independent political party ideals. Gabe, like many college students, enjoys talking about politics and having passionate convos about what he believes in, however, when it comes to voting, he sometimes has trouble actually making it to the polls on election day! However, Gabe is a very smart kid. And after doing research, he has discovered that though he is just one person, one silly college boy, he actually could make quite a bit of difference in the up coming election. In Gabe's research he has found that the generation he is a part of, is the biggest the USA has ever seen, yet so many kids/students/young adults are not getting out and voting. So he sees this awesome information graphic which really makes the topic of getting out and voting seem even more important. Gabe realizes that if he goes out to vote, and makes sure that every person, around his age, in his group of friends and classes and college in general, goes out to vote he is well on the way to making a HUGE change in our country. Instead of sitting on his bottom and complaining about the way the government works, he has actually contributed his ideas by voicing himself on his ballot!! Esentially, Gabe realizes that if all of the 50 million 18-24 year olds vote, they would account for 1/4th of the electorate which ='s lots and lots of changes!! 

Updated Stat

Ok so after further review on my two topics I decided that I needed to completely start over. I was trying to make this project way too complicated (go figure) and so I went back to my research and found some much simpler, yet highly intreging information/statistics which I can compare to other stats and make visually beautiful :)

A. There are 50 Million potential voters in the 18-24 age range, which is slightly less than 25% of the electorate. 

B. Of these 50 million, in 2000 only only 36.1% actually cast a vote, as compared to 52.1% in 1972. HOWEVER...we are making a huge come back, because in the 2004 election 46.7% voted!

With our generation being the largest the United States has ever seen, we have the potential to make hugely significant changes in our country if all of us actually went to the polls!

Questions about Reading :)

Why is information overload a real problem?

How can human factors specialists apply what they know to graphic design? How are graphic designers like human factor specialists for each project we do?