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‘infodesign’ Category

  1. PowerPoint Final Project

    December 4, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    Assignment Description:

    It is recommended that the Powerpoint presentation topic be the Prototype shell of the students’ Winter term professional ePortfolio website they will produce. Students have the option to choose a different presentation topic. Examples and specifications of both are shown. The Powerpoint piece is one of three presented at Finals. Note: Students choosing to do the Showcase/Professional ePortfolio website prototype must include the following PRIMARY navigation links/categories. Please reference the following flow chart PDF for the sample. Secondary navigation links/categories may vary depending on individual experience.

    Info Design PowerPoint Final PDF Format

    Info Design PowerPoint Final PPT Format

    For the final PowerPoint project for Advanced Info Design and Presentation (one of two finals–the other can be found here), I made a fully navigable prototype of my WordPress site, bestshowevereugene.wordpress.com. This site was my Transmedia Field Guide for another class, Art in Society. The prototype looks more amatuer-ish than the actual site. But that’s to be expected, because for the site I used a pre-made, professional-looking WordPress template (although I did use my Photoshop skills, gained from this class, to make the banner!). I like aspects of the prototype though (which is set up almost identically to the real site, which itself was based off the SmartArt flow chart I made for this class). In particular, I like the yellow star that indicates which page you’re on, and fonts I used –Popstars for the title “Best Show Ever,” and Richard Murray for the headings. I got both of these at dafont.com, my new favorite website. For the background image, I screened a stock photo of a disco ball way back in Illustrator. I was planning on making the background similar to the banner for my site, adding a photo from one of the concerts I attended, but it was way too busy-looking.  This project was an exercise in self-control–I kept it simple this time. I also became much more comfortable with PowerPoint as a result of this project.

     


  2. PowerPoint Topic and Flow Chart

    November 13, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    Assignment Description: Students will use Microsoft  Word SmartArt Graphics option too create a flow chart of their Powerpoint presentation. The purpose is to introduce and work with Information Architecture and create a hierarchy of flow of content to be contained in the Powerpoint presentation. It is recommended that the Powerpoint presentation topic be the Prototype shell of the students’ Winter term professional ePortfolio website they will produce. Students have the option to choose a different presentation topic. Examples and specifications of both are shown. The Powerpoint piece is one of three presented at Finals.

    Reflection: I am going to do my PPT on my Transmedia Field Guide for Art In Society. The Field Guide will be a WordPress blog that looks at Eugene’s music venues and the ways a venue can encourage or hinder a participatory and/or meaningful concert-going experience. The flow chart below shows eleven sections of information which will be the eleven pages of my Field Guide, and will also be slides in my final PPT presentation. It’s a bit odd to have drop-downs for only one page, but it suits my purpose and should be easily navigable.

    Flow Chart PDF

     

     


  3. Event Poster

    November 8, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    Assignment Description:

    Students are introduced to poster history, and the utility and design of posters in the arts, politics, social agenda, and other genres. Students will create an event poster for their midterm. One of the primary challenges in Event Poster design is working with applying content in a larger space/format. The expectation is to work with a common poster design size of 11×17. Issues of working with images, artwork, typography, and other design elements will be addressed. Use the Diigo and blog resources to look at samples, case studies to attend to these design considerations.

    I had a couple bothersome issues in making my poster, so it’s not perfectly, exactly as I wanted it. But it’s pretty close. I free transformed the background watercolor-looking picture to make it cover the whole 11″ x 17″ page, but initially the colors were so bright and inconsistent that it was really difficult to read all the type. So, I lightened up the background using the good old transparency option, which went a long way towards making it more readable. I also experimented with the placement of the text and pictures quite a bit, and I think I managed to create a fairly good balance of info and great, bold colors and images. The one thing that did end up eluding me was how to add the logo in without a white box. I couldn’t figure it out, so for now, I’ve just used the name “the Venue” in the correct typeface, and will add the brush later when I get some help.

    Event Poster


  4. Collateral Drafts

    November 6, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    Assignment Description:

    Students will apply their logo in common collateral materials that will be included in their Graphic Standards assignment. Along with lecture, handouts and resource links describing and modeling organization graphic standards are provided. Past cohort examples are made available for reference to clarify both collateral material development, specifications and production, as well as specific criteria for producing the graphic standards assignment.

    I found that it was difficult to pick one theme and stick with it, because one large, graphic element does not necessarily translate to all three pieces of envelope, letterhead, and business card. So, I chose to use the brush tip from my logo for the card, and the 15% transparent treble clef for the other two pieces. I think there are still enough repeating elements to make the pieces look like they belong together…at least that’s my hope! The most difficult thing was creating the brush stroke line between the byline “Events and Creative Collaborations” and the address and other info. The stroke isn’t identical between the three, but I kind of like that. Here are the jpgs, with PDF links as well.

    Business Card:

    Business Card PDF

    Letterhead:

    Letterhead PDF

    Envelope:

    Envelope PDF


  5. Display Ad

    November 1, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    Here is a call for volunteers for Springfield’s new community music and art center, the Venue!

    Note: the first image is the original, how I intended it to look. The second was a mistake–I tried to save from a .tif into a .jpg, and something about doing that altered the color. While it was an accident, I kinda like it. Which do you like best?

     


  6. Logo Design

    October 30, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    Assignment Description – Students create an original logo representing an organization or agency. This can be for a real or fictitious organization, and include a makeover of the organization brand. This piece will be used to create collateral materials which become the basis for the Graphics Standards assignment.

    Here is my logo for the Venue,  my fictitious music and art venue for Cultural Administration. I like the purple,  and the little treble clef in the paintbrush. I also spent a good deal of time picking the font, Halo Handletter. I wanted it to look like the brush that underlines the name wrote the name. The way that I created the brush was making it in Photoshop, importing the image into Illustrator as a .bmp, then live tracing it to turn it into vector art.

    the Venue Logo PDF


  7. Photoplay!

    October 22, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    Assignment Description – As a means to introduce basic image manipulation and artwork creation using a bitmap program, students will makeover an image provided to them.

    Here is my Photoshop Photoplay assignment for Advanced Info Design and Presentation. I learned a lot about how to merge two landscapes. My favorite part is the horse walking through the pool on the bottom of the page. I used transparency to create this effect. Other tools I used: clone stamp, blur effect, and color adjuster.

     


  8. Logo/Branding Awareness

    October 16, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    Two of the companies I picked for logo/branding analysis (Rose City Rollers and Feel the Music!) are smaller organizations that have nonprofit status. Feel the Music! requires professional look, as it is an organization that works primarily with children and relies on philanthropic donation and grant money to sustain its programming. While Rose City Rollers, Portland’s roller derby league, is also a nonprofit, it relies mostly on member dues, ticket sales, and advertising partnerships for its support. Therefore, they are more able to showcase their slightly wild, rock and rock attitude in their branding. I chose also to look at Billboard magazine, which is a huge company. Although rooted in the artistic (musical) realm, Billboard is definitively corporate. Their logo represents their gravitas in the music business while maintaining a sense of fun.

    #1 Feel the Music!

    The actual name of this organization based in NYC has an exclamation point, and I am curious as to why they didn’t include it in the logo. I have always heard that exclamation points feel to the reader like shouting and are to be avoided. If the exclamation point in the organization’s title is meant to convey excitement and inclusion, I feel like both of those sentiments are more or less expressed in this logo. The way the stems on the letters “f,” “l,” and “c” extend to the circle evokes musical notes on a staff. The manner in which the eye must follow around the twists and turns in the words “feel” and “music” creates a playfulness that engages the reader. Another reason this logo succeeds: the extension of letters to meet the circle creates a shape, almost turning the logo into a symbol rather than merely a name in a circle. If the same font had been used but the letters didn’t meet the edge of the circle, this logo would not be very captivating. I am also interested in the choice of using a font that is reminiscent of neon tubing in a sign, or the pathways of a Pac-man game. I don’t think either of these references was intentional, but it creates a great maze-like feel of continuity. The choice of using the one color is wise, I think, as there is enough going on in the image without adding the complication of multiple colors. This logo is just about perfect for all applications- web or print. Even if the resolution is low, it’s still going to look great, and would be fine in black and white.

    #2 Rose City Rollers

    I absolutely love this logo. It’s more complex than most logos though, so I could see the amount of detail and number of elements working against it in smaller printed pieces, like business cards or a letterhead.  This version would also not work well in black and white, as the rose would look like a blob. That said, it works great on the web and on merchandise. I have a t-shirt with this logo, and it always invites questions from strangers. What I appreciate about it are the strategic pops of red, the idea of motion in the fists and the wheel in “Rollers,” and the juxtaposition of cursive script and tattoo-style font. Black and red are colors that, when used together, often connote political radicalism. While Rose City Rollers is not politically affiliated, the use of the arresting color combination was wise for a tough, nonconformist sport. Also, in some of the league’s promotional material, the red is echoed (repetition!) in blood splatters. The use of a roller skate wheel for the “o” in “Rollers,” as well as the swoosh of wind behind the wheel is ingenious. It’s an efficient use of space, reminding me of the arrow in the FedEx logo. Of course, in FedEx’s logo the arrow was more or less subliminal and here the wheel figures prominently. I like the contradiction of cursive script with tattoo font because it alludes to a sort of subversive cheekiness, which is a pretty prevalent theme in the world of roller derby.

    #3 Billboard

    This is an established company, founded in 1894. They publish a trade magazine and two websites—one for the consumer/music fan, and a “B2B” site for music business professionals. All three outlets use the above logo primarily, but the company uses another logo (below) for Twitter, Google +, Facebook, and other social-media outlets. I don’t know if this is common practice, but I think it’s really smart for a company to brand itself differently for social media usage. I’m not going to discuss the below logo here, but just wanted to include it for comparison’s sake.

    The primary logo with the full name of the company is very simple, the main defining feature being the filled-in body of the letters “b,” “o,” “a,” and “d.” I think it’s interesting that the designer did not choose to fill in the first letter of the word with a color as well. I imagine that was actually tried before this version was settled on. Perhaps if the first letter was filled in, it would look too cutesy. As it is, it is verging on cutesy, but I think escapes that due to the graphic, thick, sans serif font. The kerning of the characters is worth noting, too. I don’t know how or to what extent the character spacing was manipulated, but it seems significant that the “b,” “o,” and “a” are touching, and none of the rest of the letters are. This is also where the color is concentrated in the logo. This increases the readability of the word, which might otherwise jolt the eye too much, with the tall “i” and “l”s. I think the choice to use primary colors all in a row is a good one, but to decrease the risk of calling to mind a children’s toy (maybe that’s why I think this logo verges on cutesy), the unexpected lime green is used in the outlier “d.” Overall, this is the most sophisticated and bold of the three logos.

     

     

     

     

     


  9. Info Design Syndication

    October 5, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu

    I would like to be syndicated please!


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