Assignment: magazine layout

For this assignment we had to design a front and back cover of a magazine. In this blog post the order of photos is reversed, so my back cover is pictured before my front cover. The front cover had to have a few articles with blurbs, a title design, and some other necessary magazine features. I once again used a stock image so as not to commit plagiarism. I came up with several different article titles and included brief blurbs. I tried to structure the magazine cover so that negative and positive space were well balanced and it was aesthetically pleasing to look at. I tried to keep a consistent color theme to make the cover feel more cohesive. For the back page, we had to design an ad. I used an original shot featuring shoes from a store I actually work at, so I essentially created a mini advertisement for them, free of charge. I should get a promotion. Anyway, I kept the ad short but sweet as I've noticed in most magazines, the ads primarily allow the photo to do most of the talking, typically accompanied by the company's name and a quick blurb. I used outlines to ensure the text was readable over the vivid colors in the photo.

Assignment: Beverage Labels

For this assignment, we had to design beverage labels in the style of Art Noveu. I chose to incorporate this style into my piece by using lots of intricate curls to garnish most parts of the piece. I also chose an Art-noveu style font and altered the letters to further fit with this style. I noticed that most of the Art-noveu examples I viewed had darker colors, so I chose not incorporate bright shades into this piece, instead opting for darker and more faded looking choices. My main struggle in doing this project was finding inspiration without outright copying anything as I was not at all familiar with this artistic style. However, I prevailed and came up with a concept that was original, so I would say this assignment was a success.

Assignment: Multiplicity

This assignment consisted of taking a series of photos in one location and merging them together to create the illusion of one subject being in multiple places in the photo. For my photos, I chose a spot with dimension and facets of the environment that could be interacted with, e.g. touching the tree or sitting in the grass. This assignment came most naturally to me, and I even discovered an alternate method to create the same effect. I ended up learning two new separate skills from this assignment, and I feel fairly confident that I have mastered the art of the quick mask.

Assignment: Restoration

For this assignment, we had to restore an old destroyed photo. I think I did extremely well with this piece. Using the newly acquired skills such as the dodge tool, stamp tool, and patch tool, I was able to fully restore this photo from its destroyed state. My biggest struggle with this project was fixing the girl's foot. It was next to impossible to cleanly restore her ankle while keeping the back of her shoe. That is probably the "sloppiest" aspect of this piece. Other than that, the restoration is pretty clean and complete.

Pictured here is the original photo prior to restoration.

Assignment: Propaganda

For this assignment we had to create a piece of propaganda. This assignment was kind of a struggle for me because I had difficulty grasping the design concepts we were intended to use in the piece. I did what I could and utilized bold text and bold colors. I exclusively used stock images so as to avoid plagiarism in my piece. I also came up with a slogan to help drive the point of the piece home. My propaganda is intended to show the contrast between Nestle's impact in America vs. its impact in other countries. On our home soil, people often perceive Nestle simply as a company that makes delicious cookie dough. However, in juxtaposition, Nestle has actually caused devastation in third world countries- my second image is intended to depict mothers crying over the loss of their young children as a result of Nestle's unethical business practices.

Assignment: Logos

This assignment consisted of designing logos for 3 different businesses. For this assignment, I used a lot of tracing and experimented with different brushes. My designs are all mostly in neutrals with a pop of color because of personal preference. I think I was pretty successful with my tracing using the pen tool. I was able to capture the essence of designs I liked without plagiarizing the original image. My biggest struggle was probably finding the most visually appealing placements for each of the components of the pieces. For example, in my first logo, I had trouble finding a good spot to place the dog tracing, so it feels a little cramped.