Interior Design (Steven & Chris)

http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/home-decor.html Steven and chris is a talk show by 2 men named steven and chris. They are both interior designers and they take letters and pictures from viewers that are asking for help in designing a room. Then on the show they layout the design they have come up with and talk about there decisions. They like to combine modern styles along with more vintage or old styled looks. This is the perfect show to watch if you need some inspiration on designing your home, or anything for that matter.

The movie Parental Guidance

This movie doesn't exactly relate to design or art in general. However, part of the movie reminded me of how up to date we as graphic designers have to be with technology. Since, in one part of the movie the main character got fired as a baseball annoucer because his boss thought he was too old and they wanted someone who was up to date with the trends. Such as, twitter, blogs etc.. This just reminded me of how our professors are always telling us to do research on the new trends and such.

Sharing something I am good at

I find a lot of people ask me how I colour with pencil crayons, and make it look realistic and almost like paint. The best way is to pick a colour you want to use and another shade of that colour. For example, if you pick a dark blue.. pick a lighter blue but in the same tone range. So think monochromatic. Next you will need a dark grey, black and a white pencil crayons. Use the white to colour out the highlights in your illustration. Then use the grey to define the shadows in the illustrations. Then take your dark blue and colour hard over the grey and blend it out lightly towards the white highlight. Then take you lighter blue and blend it with the fade out go the dark colour and over the white pencil crayon. This should blend the pencil crayon colours smoothly together. To make it for defined go over the white again and had black to the shadows where you feel its needed since the blending washes them out a bit. Tips: * Prima colour pencil crayons are the best for blending * Colour in tight circles to avoid streeks * practice! It takes time to get the hang of it and find your own techniques * Remember you can take these into photoshop and touch them up Here is some examples of some stuff I have done in pencil crayon.

E-waste impact

I found this great article and video that talks about electronic waste. Since, a lot of people are so concerned about recycling paper, and think if they buy e-books and such they are helping the environment. However, they forget about what electronics do to the environment. Since, technology keeps advancing, therefore people throughout the old and buy the new. Meaning, even though you are helping cut down on paper waste... you're increasing e-waste. Which would you rather? Landfills full of plastics, wires and glass or to buy a book that can be constantly recycled and reused? http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/01/5across-environmental-impact-of-newspapers-books-e-waste022.html

Springs Fashion Trends

I actually found it very difficult to just find an article that just flat out told me whats in and out. Therefore, I went through a couple articles and made a simple list for what spring fashion will look like this year. - Less floral more stripes - Black and white - Leather Jackets - Structured Skirts - Tailored shorts - Deep V-necks - Lace - Light/ 2 tone hand bags - Beachy Jewellery - Ruffles Sources: http://www.elle.com/fashion/spring-2013-fashion-trends http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/trends/2013-spring-summer/trends-a-z http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/fashion/new-trends/spring-summer-2013-fashion-trend-guide http://www.thefashionspot.com/runway-news/news/176653-top-10-fashion-trends-for-spring-2013/?slide=1

Summer Job

Last summer and most likely this summer. I work at Wendy's the fast food. Like all students, you have to work where you can find it.. However, I would like to talk about the changes Wendy's has made. It started when Dave Thomas the founder of Wendy's past away and left the chain to his daughter Wendy. She has given a successful uplift to the menu by making it for health friendly, such as adding sea salt to the fries. Yet, in my opinion and some others she has gone a stray with her new packaging of burgers.. we understand she is trying to make the packages for old style by putting the burger in a wrap in a half box. As shown below... However, many complain of the food becoming cold before they get to enjoy it. Also, the latest change is the well known logo. The logo itself is part of a complete rebranding campaign for the company, which will roll out along with new stores, uniforms, menu boards, and packaging in 2013. Her is an article I found about the process... http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670993/wendys-gets-a-new-logo-will-the-pigtails-survive?partner=newsletter This here is the updated logo... In my opinion.. the new logo does not have the same feel and values as the old Wendy's and as my packaging teach as told our class many times.. people depend on what they know. They don't like change on brands that they know so well .. Considering, what happened to coca cola and there new packaging design to support the polar bears. Even though it was redesigned for a good cause there sales went way down because people buy things based on what they recognize.

Organic Package Design

Pure Organic is targeted to tea lovers who look for pure quality in the products they buy. Usually, tea is targeted and stereotyped towards older woman. Yet, tea lovers are of all ages and genders. Therefore, I designed the package to be simple and clean to catch the eye of all consumers. With it’s simple logo with a leaf acting as steam from a modern styled tea cup, and type that matched the illustrative components. I also kept it simple by only using one organic inspired colour, that is colour coded with the type of tea (orange pekoe - orange label). Since Pure Organic’s thought process was that the consumer would be buying purely what the product is the package was designed to be minimal, environmentally friendly as well as reusable and recycled. Yet, also classy enough to be left on the counter and not be an eye sore and refreshing the view on organic products/packages. Pure organic would also be supported by Tata global beverages, which is a global business on a mission to lead the world in ‘good for you’ beverages.

Class mates Critique

Since I critiqued my classmates wine labels in my last post, I got her to do the same for the beer poster. This is what she said. "For an alcoholic beverage poster or advertisement I think this concept works really well. It gets the target audience excited and puts a lot of emphasis on the authenticity and unique qualities the beer possesses. From what I know the beer has a lot of history behind it, the tops popping off the bottles coupled with the tagline “go ahead, loose your head” are what gets people interested in the history of this beer. The texture of the table the beer is placed upon grabs to the eye, as it is different from a typical black or matte colour. It also draws attention to the tagline. The smoke coming out of the bottles is what draws your eyes upwards after you have looked at the label on the beer. I like the subtle use of “sweat” on the bottles, it makes the bottle seem refreshing and clean, something beer drinkers look for. It makes the audience want to “grab a cold one.” The tagline of course is incredibly clever and couples very well with the history of the beer. The black background really makes the gold in the label pop out and grabs your attention immediately. Over all I think this advertisement is very successful as a poster as it does its job perfectly!" Thankfully, I dont have any criticism to respond too. Therefore, I haven't changed anything on the poster accept for putting on some legal information.

Wine Label Critque

Since, I have been talking a lot about the alcoholic beverage assignment, I thought it would be appropriate to show case a different approach to the assignment. By showing and critiquing a classmates assignment. Her labels are for 2 wine bottles. It is called Uncaged and refers to letting birds out of the cage. As wine labels I think the concept is appropriate and neat. It's a strong concept that can have several different approaches, and a good foundation for the other steps such as the poster and packaging. The concept could be taken to extreme measures but I like the simple and elegant approach. It's fitting for wine since the target market would mostly be woman, and what woman wouldn't want to buy something with class? It's some what hard to critique the label without it being on the bottle but I have seen it it on the bottles before so I will be doing it from memory. The white label, which is also known as the "evil" bottle would have high contrast against a black bottle. However, it would have been nice to really punch the black so that it almost looks like the type and feather were the same colour as the glass. Which, I would have liked to see on the other bottle which was the more "good" bottle, the colour could have been really punched to match what I previously said. The symbolism is nice and different then just putting a bird on the front. I also, think the font choice was perfect since it is thin enough to go along with the concept of the bars of a cage but not to thin that it gets lost in the rest of the composition. Since, the label was so simple it might be nice to scrap the back label with all the information and put it on a little tag that could be tied to the bottle of the neck. Considering, there is so little to the label on the back and it is the same size as the front label it just takes up a lot of the glass. With that being said maybe trying different label shapes could benefit the design. Maybe as simple as rounding the corners or making the label the shape of the feather symbol and and place the type over top, giving the entire label texture and having the words pop out. Yet, I know how much my classmate pushed her concept and tried different approaches so overall I think it is a very successful design, and can see it being on shelves and selling.