I’ve been on the lookout for fun packaging. When I’m out running errands or to my favorite coffee shop, I’m looking. Below is what I’ve found so far!
Boxed mac and cheese from Aldi
I thought the boxed mac packaging was soo cool! The bright, bold colors stood out and I noticed it right away. The names (cheddy mac and shella good) were also really fun and clever. The box that holds all of the mac is even a bright blue. Overall, it was a fun design that seemed trendy and modern.
The Breaks’ bulk bean bags! Perfect for a cuppa joe
The simplicity of this bag is top notch. I like the use of red for details and the logo. Also, the skeleton riding a bike is always gonna be a win in my book. The design is seamless with a dash of whimsy.
That’s all I’ve found for now! Once I get out and find more cool packaging designs I will report back to the masses. Enjoy the weather!
When you start mixed media animation, there are two ways to go about it. There’s a longer way, and a shorter way.
The more arduous way entails taking a video frame by frame, printing it out, adding the mixed media aspect, scanning it back in, and then lining up each frame in post. It’s very lengthy, but it’s more customizable than the shorter way.
The colored frames for the long mixed media animation pro
The easier way, is to take a video, import it in Photoshop as video frames to layers, make your edits in photoshop, and export, then arrange it in post.
I did both and have some videos and thoughts below!
The long process pros and cons
Pros
It was easier to customize the animations with crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc
More freedom
Cons
harder to line up scanned in images
took a long time to line up said scanned images (very frustrating)
The short process pros and cons
Pros
saved time
was easier to export (create frames, line up in post, etc)
Cons
not as much creative freedom
dependent on Photoshop brushes/photoshop manipulation for mixed media effect
Today in my Production Lab class, we got to engrave tree shaped leatherette ornaments. It was a bit scary, but I think that’s because I didn’t want to mess with the engraver. I made up my designs below in Adobe Illustrator.
The front (v1)The front (v2)The back design
I ended up going with the second front design.
The frontThe back
My takeaways
When printing on this type of leather, bold letters show up better
If I would do this again, I would thicken the stroke of “Ethel Cain”
I had to do this on the fly and engrave the back twice because I could barely see the engraving the first time
It was a lot easier to use the engraver than I thought! Now I’m not as hesitant to use it.
I’ll be the first to admit, I wish I could do all of my projects to 210% of my ability. But with multiple school projects, working twenty hours a week, and trying to adult, it gets to be a lot sometimes. Because of my busy school and work life, sometimes my projects aren’t to the caliber that I try to uphold. So with some extra time this week, I wanted to revise some past projects.
Victim number one, I mean project number one, was my packaging design from last semester. I love the idea of it, but it just felt a little flat to me. The back seemed too plain.
The original packaging design
I made some minor adjustments, by increasing the size of the tagline above the rainbow, and keeping the rectangle motif. I think that helped it feel a bit more streamlined and professional feeling.
slightly tweaked packaging designnew logo type w/tweaked packaging design
I wanted to play around with the logo design as well. It just felt a bit rushed. In the future, I’ll take my revised versions to my teacher to get some feedback. The new logo design is growing on me. What do you think?
Hopefully I’ll post some more revised projects. Until then!
After the exhausting saga of calling my local legislators, I wanted to draft up a quick library flyer design. I’m not looking to print them en mass from another site, so I want to print them on a 11 x 8.5″ sheet of paper.
The Process
I opened up InDesign and started with a 11 x 8.5” size file. I snapped guides to divide it into four even sections.
I looked at my original poster design. I wanted to take the elements of the big poster and condense it into a small flyer.
After looking at the previous poster, I decided I wanted: a headline, short summary, and a qr code with resources.
The Final Flyer Design
Side by Side Comparison
The Flyer The Original Poster
I can’t decide if I need the black outline or not. It might make the flyers easier to cut (or at least, that was the idea).
How do you design flyers? I’m off to finish some homework. Ciao!
I’ve been wanting to make an informative social media post about contacting reps for my library awareness campaign. So, the only way I could give a lot of helpful information was to do it myself.
I found my legislators and called the first one. There was only one number listed, so I called and got an intern. I was expecting a robot to direct me to my legislator’s phone (can you tell I’ve never contacted my reps before?!). I explained to the intern that I wanted to contact my legislator about library funding. I was given the option to either let the intern leave a message or to give my name and number so my legislator could call me back. I went with the latter. I didn’t get a call back from that legislator that day. (I plan to follow up with an email or call again if I don’t get a response in a few days)
I went on to call my next rep, but I called his personal phone. It went to voicemail, and I started reading off my script, but I got cut off after two minutes. I’d suggest keeping your messages concise and/or giving a summary with a request for a callback. My second rep called me a few hours later and left me a voicemail the same day. In his voicemail, he mentioned that he would try to restore some funding, but that cuts would have to be made and might make other people unhappy. I suggest maybe having some compromises in your back pocket (ex: I understand budget cuts need to be made. I suggest cutting the four million expenditure for private school vouchers to restore the SD library budget.)
For my third rep, I ended up emailing him. I found the email along with his phone number. I went back and edited my phone script before sending my email. I got a response later that night.
The Social Media Plan
I wanted to share my experience and tips on contacting my legislators on Instagram and Facebook. I used a Canva template. It’s a lot of information to share! I tried keeping my post simple and then linked a detailed experience in my linktree. I really hope this helps people contact their reps!
Have you ever contacted your local rep? Let me know below. Until next time!
Well guys, it’s been a busy break! I visited more family, worked on more projects, and am trying to stay in my software.
Adding the yarnAlmost done!Hung out with my family at Falls Park
After seeing my mom’s side of the family for Christmas, I used my days off of work to start an awareness campaign. Right now, the proposed South Dakota budget reduces the SD Library budget by 64%! Click here for the article. I’ve always loved the library and want to let South Dakotans know. Together we can let our voices be heard and retain our amazing library resources.
So as a start for my campaign, I wanted to create posters. I like my initial Lorax idea but upon second glance, the Lorax is a copyrighted icon. So he had to go.
The first poster idea
I decided to keep my poster simple. I really wanted to make it eye-catching and memorable, but time is of the essence in this moment. By going with a simple poster, I’m able to redirect my energy into the social media aspect.
The final form! (for now)
Now that I have a poster made, my plan is to print off copies and hang them up around town. Maybe even in surrounding towns. I also created a social media account (sdlibraryadvocates) on Facebook and Instagram. My goal is to highlight the many resources that our state library provides for us, as well as how to fight the proposed budget cut.
I’ll keep you posted on my library crusade! Until next time 🙂
I’ve been chipping away at my final projects! Right now, I’m finalizing my last article spread. I really want to have it nearly finished so I can get feedback and turn in my magazine before class ends tomorrow.
Here are my different iterations:
I think I’m leaning towards the last one. Maybe I’ll change the top bar color.
I’m also working on my perfume label. It’s come a long way since my last update.
When I got some pointers from my teacher, it was clear that he wanted imagery instead of illustration. I might switch the colors from green to orange because it is an orange scent. Not too sure right now.
That’s all she wrote! (for now) Wishing all students an easy finals week.
I’ve been steadily working on my perfume label in class. Initially, I wanted the perfume to have the scent of bleeding heart flowers, but since the bottle is an amber color, I decided on an orange scent.
I’m still playing around with font combinations for the brand. But I am happy with the body copy font (The Seasons).
The brand font in this early stage was GautreauxHere are my WIP font options… still not sold on any yet
Then I wanted to include orange blossoms on the label for some floral imagery. I found a reference online and digitized the flower for a sketch/illustration feel. I then resized it to better fit the label.
The current iteration of the perfume label, with a different brand font
I think I’m starting to get somewhere now. I need to play around with the borders (color, thickness, etc) as well as the color of the label itself. The brand font is better, but needs to be tampered with a bit. The orange blossom flowers need stems and perhaps leaves. This is far from its final form. Stay posted!!
Jessica Walsh is a graphic designer, creative director, author, illustrator, design teacher, and founder of the design agency &Walsh.
Her Career
Walsh was born in Rhode Island in 1986. Before even stepping foot in college, she coded and designed websites at 11 years old. She got her BFA at Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. Shortly after, she was off to New York City to pursue design. Walsh interned at Pentagram under designer Paula Scher. Her career continued to explode. She was at Sagmeister Inc. for two years, before becoming a partner. After years of working at Sagmeister & Walsh, Walsh split and formed her own agency (&Walsh). Walsh also teaches typography and design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She’s worked with Jay Z, the New York Times, Adobe, and Levi’s to name a few.
