The End of the Road

What do you do when you’ve reached the end of your rope design wise? Take a step back and take a nap. After completing my first freelance logo gig, I’ve definitely learned a few things. Make sure to ask for everything ( and I mean EVERYTHING) up front. I would have saved me many months of trouble and heartache. Not having everything that I needed from the client (due to working with a middle man) was a great learning curve for me.

 

Well . . . lesson learned for the next time.

5 second rule . . . or 10, but who’s counting?

As a young design student sometimes I feel quite like giving up on projects. They may not work out the way I envisioned at the beginning. Sometimes they may even physically fall on the floor. But it’s okay, because even it they’re dirty the “5 second rule” (or 10 second rule) states that you are allowed to use it again.

 

So pick it up, dust it off, and keep movin’ forward.

With life, with design, with whatever.

What every designer should know

Are you a young designer lookin’ to get your foot in the door? There are a few things that every designer should know: how to present your portfolio so that people will HIRE YOU !!!!!

Well, it’s easy: have a story to tell behind your projects and pieces. Also, leave on a high note, you want your potential boss to remember you.

But remember, that is NOT an invitation to go insane. Keep it cool!

http://www.howdesign.com/article/presentyourportfolio/

Type-tastic

Another neat blog that’s all about typography. Check it out. It’s Typetastic!

http://ilovetypography.com/2008/03/21/extreme-type-terminology/

Google’s Cruelest Joke Ever !

I couldn’t resist letting the world know what I thought about this year’s Google  April fools joke. I laughed when I saw what turned out to be my first April fools joke of the day. I would have cried and screamed at Google on any other day, for using such a horrible  font. But it’s April fools, so hell, I’ll play along.

For those of you who aren’t quite sure why the fires of hell get hotter whenever this particular font shows up, let me break it down for you.

Comic Sans screams (in a very loud voice) “do you want some not quite lemonade from our lemonade stand.  It’s luke warm and doesn’t taste like anything.” Instead of saying (in a reasonable,  soothing voice) “Hello valued customers, would you like to possibly invest in a mutual fund or purchase some stock from us.”

Since we may or may not see this it again, EVER. I decided to screen shot the fun (and slightly disturbing) Helvetica/Comic Sans Google search. See below:

Kinetic Typography

My latest assignment for my Interactive Design class is to come up with  and create a kinetic typography flash video. Well, as of right now, I don’t know anything about anything when it comes to flash. So I was  doing a little research and come across this kinetic typography video about Helvetica. . .  Enjoy !

jcp enney

Yes, it’s that time again. You knew it was eventually going to appear on this website as soon as you saw the title. The jcpenney is desperate to try and reinvent their logo for the “young people”.  So that it can be “fun and young”. But why would you fix something that isn’t broken?  Has the company Gap found out a recently, you can’t take away something that has been around FOREVER and replace it with something that is less than satisfactory. YOU JUST CAN’T! And as you can see this posts title, I don’t much care for the logo, especially the kerning.

Hopefully (like Gap) there will be such a riot and an uproar from not just the design community, but others as well, that JCPenney will rethink it’s choice and TAKE IT BACK !!!!!!!!!!

 

I still love you jcpenney.

i <3 typography

I just wanted to share with you one of my favorite typography sites  that I love to turn to when I’m in a designer’s hole  (a funk, a rut, whatever . . . !). www.ilovetypography.com is one of my favorite sites to visit to finish anything and everything. There’s links to other inspirational sites, articles for your fun side, FREE wallpaper, font suggestions, and more!

Starbucks Empire Strikes Back

Starbucks is a gold compass that points us from where we’ve been to where we long to be. The tasty drinks free us from this world if only for just a moment.

The new logo is simple, yet so iconic that we can still understand and know what the hell it is supposed to be portraying.

The Starbucks logo has indeed come a long way. From the words “coffee and tea” to just the word “coffee”, from haircuts for the Siren to different shades of green. No matter what we choose to do with the logo, it will forever be the Starbucks logo.

Compared to the original thoughts and drawing of the Siren. The Starbucks version of the Siren was desexualized for the everyday use of the company. The Siren represents power and prestige, which is probably what Starbucks was going for in the first place. Well done, Starbucks. Well done.

Okay, total side bar (or almost side bar, you choose). I also wanted to throw my thoughts out there about the new Starbucks cup size. Are they totally nuts, have they gone off the deep end, or are they really on to something with this one? The new cup size is called “Trenta” (which means “thirty” in Italian) and holds 31 oz. of  icy goodness (iced coffees and teas that is). The new size has only been released to 14 of the 50 states. The calorie count will be way up there, but this is Starbucks we’re talking about, right. Can there really be too much of a good thing?

Designing the Nike Swoosh

“The Nike swoosh was designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971, while she was a student at Portland State University. She was paid $35″ It blows me away how lucky she was to have designed the Nike Swish. If only she had known at the time how wealthy she could have been. I would have asked for more money , but then again it was during the 1970′s (whatever that means.).