Here’s a few great design moments from your magazine spread assignments:

Anneliese

Connie

Brianne

Virginia

Bede

Chelsea

Jennifer

Noelle

Patrick

Here’s the new timeline for the remainder of our class sessions:

7/28 - Next Week

6:30 Critique Helvetica Poster progress - bring in at least two different designs - printed out full size

7:30 Introduce CD project

8:30 Critique logo development - bring in at least 10 (really!!!) variations on your logo with type

8/4

Helvetica Poster due (no critique)
Critique logo development
Critique CD project development

8/11

optional attendance - extra class to make up for lost week
(if you cannot attend, you may turn in final projects to CE department)

Helvetica Screening

CD project due
Logo project due

What makes a good dropcap? If you take a close look at the dropcaps in any well-designed publication, you’ll notice that there is a distinct difference between what they are doing and the look that results when you use the default dropcap feature in InDesign. Please download this Dropcap PDF and print it out. Notice the differences between the “default” InDesign dropcaps (left column) and the stylized, modern dropcaps (right column) created by just taking a few more minutes to refine, finesse and design this detail.

Examine the left column or “default” dropcaps for a moment. What is the visual language that they are speaking? Think about the instances where you have seen dropcaps like this used before. Old books, manuscripts and even children’s books have used dropcaps in this style for hundreds of years to define a starting point for a story or paragraph. Everyone has seen this design treatment used over and over throughout their lives and it carries a whole lot of baggage. It’s uptight! It’s boring! It has nothing new to say. Would you want to spend an afternoon any of these dropcaps? No way! Think about the content of your article. How can you take an old design element and make it modern, unexpected and fresh? Certainly not by using the “default” option that comes with a computer program. These dropcaps need an extreme makeover.

If you are using a dropcap in your magazine spread, we challenge you to treat this element with the same care and attention to detail that you would every other element of your design. The principles of contrast and scale can work wonders to bring new life to an old-fashioned dropcap. Should your dropcap line up perfectly with the top of your body text? Use the baseline shift feature to adjust this spacing. How much space should there be after your dropcap and the body text? Make sure to finesse this area by placing your cursor between the dropcap and the body text and adjusting the kerning. What about the size (scale), weight and typeface (contrast) of your dropcap? Experiment with the dropcaps and nested styles options in InDesign to adjust the number of lines and other advanced dropcap features.

Some magazines with dynamic, exciting dropcaps:

Mix Magazine

Blueprint

New York Times Magazine

Wired

Bon Apetit

Instructions:

Please print your spreads to size. This means that they should be at 100% resolution with no margins, and all bleeds should be visible to the edge of the sheet. To achieve this you may have to print each page out individually on a slightly larger sheet of paper and trim to size. If you aren’t able to do this at home you may have to bring your file to FedEx/Kinkos and have it printed there.

Mount your spreads as facing pages on black illustration board (museum board) with a 2 inch margin on all sides.

Craft counts! Make sure that the edges of your board are cut neat & clean and measured precisely. The best way to do this is with a very sharp new xacto blade & a ruler, making several light cuts the length of your entire board at the same angle until your board is cut all the way through. This is also a good way to cut your fingers so please be careful!

Your spreads should be adhered to your boards completely without bubbles or any loose edges. We suggest Super 77 adhesive or xyron adhesive.

Turn your presentation in with your name written clearly on the back and your original sketches taped to the back with white 3M removable drafting/artists tape.

All these supplies should be available at Utrecht or any art supply store. Please post a comment to this posting if you have any questions.

Good Luck!

Hello everyone-

Here are the text and photos for your magazine spread. As you bring your sketches to the computer, we have a few tips for you:

- Body text copy in magazines and periodicals is rarely above 10pt or below 8pt.

- When you place the images, don’t accidentally stretch them. Hold the shift key as you resize to maintain the correct proportions

- Stick to only two typefaces for this project, any of the ones we have supplied you with would be appropriate. You may use the variations within the type families (i.e: bold, italic, smallcaps) for emphasis & hierarchy.

- Remember to utilize the principals of hierarchy and design that we have been practicing. Particularly pay close attention to contrast and scale.

If you have not already downloaded the class typefaces you can find them here. Also, if you are new to InDesign you may want to consider signing up for some Lynda.com tutorials.

Please have a printout of your magazine spread to pin up for critique next Monday. Good Luck!

Hello Everyone-

For week 6 please have all the items posted for week 5 ready to show. Also, please take a moment to review the “grids” section on the Thinking with Type website.

Also, if you have not completed the letterspacing and  type is art online exercises, please do so!

We’re looking forward to seeing the great work you started with Jessica and beginning our Grids assignment. See you Monday.

J & S

Hello Everyone-

We hope you enjoyed working on your logo project with Jessica on Monday. We will continue working on this logo assignment for the rest of our session and the final project will be due on the last day of class. Each week you will work on your logo project a little and bring your progress into class. Next week we will be learning about grids and starting our magazine spread project.

Here is what you will need to bring to class on Monday for week 5:

1. Your logo development sheet, sketches, and research on your business.
2. Refinements of your 2 best logos on computer or by hand.
3. 5 different typefaces/typeface combinations for the name of your business.
4. 2 or more magazines that you really like the design of for inspiration on our grids/magazine project.
5. Tracing paper and a pencil.

See you Monday!

J & S

As you know, we will be in Tennessee for Monday’s class. Jessica Davis, a senior designer at Cinco Design Office will be our guest instructor. Jessica will be working with you to develop your logos for your business on Mississippi ave.

Hi Everyone-

The letterspacing exercise is now back up. Please login as a guest and complete assignment 1 before week 5. Once you have completed the exercise, post a comment about how you did  in the comments section below.

J & S