After what seems like actual AGES, I’m almost done with my ten-piece campaign for Layout 3.
I’ve finished
I only have the festival map left! Thank goodness. Here are some snippets of my finished products.
Currently, I’m working on an ultra top-secret (not really) chatbot design. I’ve been given the chance to determine a chatbot’s graphic and overall branding.
I started my process like any other project, with research. I wanted to get a feel for the chatbot graphic standard as well as fit into my criteria which are:
I spent a good amount of time drafting up potential graphics. When designing, I knew my graphic was going to be very small on a screen. I got a lot of good feedback from my manager and the lead graphic designer.
After the feedback, I went back and revised it. I am not an artist in the drawing sense, and I was a bit worried about my knack for digital art. But I played around and made edits. Hopefully, I’ll get another round of critiques soon.
Here’s where I’m at so far:
Thanks to a tour at JDS Industries, I am the new owner of a leatherette journal. I can etch into it with the school’s laser (like I did with the tree ornament).
I just had a new assignment: a laser/engraving portfolio design piece. Some classmates are buying keychains, pens, etc. I am just rolling with the neat journal. I knew I wanted my design to be lyric-based. After listening to one of my favorite songs (Sunbleached Flies) I knew I had some verses to pick from.
I ended up creating my file in Illustrator and going with an eye-catching cathedral window. Picking out fonts was really fun, I wanted the font to match the tone of the lyric. Script fonts are really fun to play around with and I’ve curated a collection of fun cursive fonts on Adobe Fonts.
With the complex window, I opted to keep the rest of the design simple. I can’t wait to fire up the laser and engrave my notebook. Stay tuned!
I’m still at a standstill with my poster. I think I need some time away from it so I can attack with a new perspective. Right now I’ve gotten the website mock up done (below)
The website mock up took ages! I had to make sure my colors were accessible. I used https://contrast-grid.eightshapes.com/. Something that challenged me was trying to place images into unorthodox shapes. To take my image to the arch shape, I had to turn the shape into a smart object and then place the image on top, before using a clipping mask. There has got to be an easier way lol.
I also finished my social media lineup post. This is an imaginary campaign, so I made sure to include my dream lineup.
I tried to make sure the artists matched the same vibe of music. I also hopped on spotify and made a playlist modeled after my lineup. That helped me find flow and before I knew it I had two pieces done!
Last time we left I had a rough wip poster. I resketched a guitar for the bottom right frame. Then I took it into illustrator, image traced the guitar, etc.
I liked the idea of it, but it just seemed off. The idea didn’t really look like what I had envisioned. I really like the tree, so I pivoted.
I like the second version, it still needs a finalized font for the dates. I want to experiment with some colors. Part of me wants to add more elements to the poster but I’m drawn to the simplicity.
What do you guys think?
As I wrote in my last post, I am designing a 10 piece campaign for a music festival. I have finished the logo and stage banner. The current work in progress is the poster. I wanted the poster to be artsy, and be able to be hung on a wall. There’s the easy route of including all of the head liners, but I wanted a more fun approach.
I started with a bunch of small sketches. Nothing really stood out to me. I really wanted to capture the atmosphere of the festival. It’s set in a small Iowa town with mainly indie and alternative artists. The past festival themes have been kinda folksy and hippie ish, or trendy. I wanted to have a ren faire adjacent theme. Something that felt homey, backroads, fun, and comforting.
After a bunch of sketching and scouring Pinterest, I came across a cool frame/medieval banner template.
After looking online for similar frames and borders, I had an idea. I wanted to include snapshots of the festival (the hinter tree, guitar, and a lineup) but in a framed way.
Right now, I’m in the process of editing the sketched snapshots, and finalizing color combos. The tree sketch isn’t my own work, it’s from the public domain. I found it on public.works. That’s a really cool site for images in the public domain.
Thoughts? Concerns? Questions? Until next time!
In Layout III we are doing a 10 piece campaign. Thank goodness for creative liberty and freedom in topic! I am doing a 10 piece campaign for Hinterland Music Festival.
Before I got into software I:
Right now I have a logo (yay!) only nine more pieces to go.
So now I need to design:
I’ve made progress on a stage banner. I’ve kept it simple (there’s not much real estate on a long narrow banner). I used the same font because I was worried to use the logo and have a unreadable banner. (The logo has a width that would be difficult to scale and fill up a majority of the banner)
I’m working on the poster next. I’ll update you soon!
Lately in Layout 3, we’ve been learning about trapping. It’s a printing technique. I’ve learned how to design, but it’s nice knowing the print side as well.
Here’s a great video that explains the basics.
This articles talks about trapping and different methods.
In class, we talked about different methods, and created our own samples in Illustrator.
It’s a lot to understand and wrap my head around. In class, we didn’t go over everything yet. There’s still more!
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.
I ended up going with the second front design.
My takeaways
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.
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.
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!