Society of Illustrators-Large Poster

For this project, we were asked to design a self mailer for the Society of Illustrators. The image portion of the poster is vector art I did in Illustrator. All the half-tone dot patters have been placed by hand to replace color. This was a fun experience having never worked with half-tone dot patterns before. It was also very mind numbing as well. Leave me some comments!
NB

P.S. Information panels to come shortly!

MO Fall Revised...

So for this project we had to take our own photography and incorporate it into an image that was related to an article on Thousand Hills State Park and the autumn season. It was relatively easy to revise this from the first portion because my first revision was very plain and simple. This one has gone from simple to a little simple but more complex. Let me know. I will put the first revision up later today!
NB

Midterm Portfolio Submission

For this portfolio submission, I have chosen six pieces that are a mixture of new and old. Some are pieces that I felt showcased how my early work began and how it has since advanced! Other work, showcases different attributes of how I work in different areas. I enjoy these pieces and the personality I have put into these different pieces. I have chosen a poster for Native American History Month, a magazine spread revision to The Secret to Feeling Full, a magazine spread revision to How Safe?, and the choose your own professional photograph, where one spread was a two page advertisement, one was a magazine spread, and one was a poster advertising an event.

Native American History Month:

Thoughts: One of the first poster redesigns we were assigned. In the beginning the poster was a little difficult to redesign. Anything that has already been published is very difficult to rethink in a new way. I tried to incorporate my own style of staying simple and mixing with how Native American's view themselves as being related to the spirit of an animal. Their spirit animals help them remain strong and feel empowered. I feel like the imagery being an original illustration was very appropriate and brings life to poster.

Production Information: 2 Color, 13 X 19", No Bleed

The Secret to Feeling Full:

Thoughts: This magazine spread was one of the more difficult to redesign. I never anticipated having so much trouble laying out a spread. It started with the colors I was planning to use. After the colors came the issue of how I wanted to lay out the text. The final product then came through. I used a stock photo which was purchased, and that was the easiest portion to the whole layout.

Production Information: 4 Color, 2 Page Spread, Full Bleed, 8 X 10.5" Trim Size

How Safe?:

Thoughts: How safe was a very fun and playful spread. With this spread the copy was very sparse. As you can see we were not provided with very much text. This was the biggest hurdle to overcome. I used colors that were drawn from the salad. This spread was revamped so many times, and originally had a skull overlaid on top of the salad. The two images competed and did not provide enough breathing room. I started by removing that image. Next, I downsized the amount of black I used in the spread. It was competing too much with the green shades I had chosen to use. In the end, I felt like this was very successful in portraying what message the article was trying to convey to the reader. In the end, this was the final product.

Production Information: 4 Color, 2 Page Spread, Full Bleed, 7 X 10" Trim Size

Three Different Photograph Layouts:

Advertisement:

Thoughts: The advertisement was the easiest of all three to design. I originally wanted to do something that just screamed at the top of its lungs to purchase that product. I used the four colors to my full advantage to play with the black. I am very pleased with how this turned out. I felt like it was very professional looking, and felt like it could be printed in magazines tomorrow if need be.

Production Information: 4 Color, 2 Page Spread, Full Bleed, 8.5 X 11" Trim Size

Two Page Magazine Spread:

Thoughts: The spread proved to be a little tougher than the other two pieces to this assignment. The photograph stayed the black and white that I scanned it in as, but was reversed. I found an article on how to purchase the right suit for you from GQ magazine. It was very appropriate as the model in the photograph was wearing a suit. It seemed like something you would see in a GQ magazine, or rather it's partner magazine Details which is where the photograph was originally from! The final piece I was very pleased with.

Production Information: 4 Color, 2 Page Spread, Full Bleed, 8.5 X 11" Trim Size

Poster Design:

Thoughts: This poster spread was very easy in regards to other posters we have redesigned. I made up a band, went with a very grunge feel, and ran with it. The concert date is made up, the band name is completely fictional, I had nothing to go off of, other than the way the majority of stereotypes are set forth towards bands and their members. I managed to take a spin on what the traditional stereotypes are, and played with the very non-traditional way they are viewed as well. In the end, I have shown this piece to lots of friends and they felt like they were actually looking at a poster for a band that had a gig that they did not know about. This was very pleasing as to it was actually a poster design to a band that no one had never heard of because they do not exist!

Production Information: 3 Color, 13 X 19", Full Bleed

Cheers to an entire first part of the semester being over with. Off to New York City to hopefully improve upon my designing skills! Until next week!

NB

So for this spread, I did a revision to the advertisement I created for Vivera Ink. For the revision all I felt that really needed changed was some leading and kerning issues in the text. I didn't really know what else needed changed and I felt pretty confident in this ad campaign. Let me know.

Glam Revision

Ok, so I went in and added a third color. I feel like this enhances the poster a little bit. It makes the letters pop out a bit more. I am really pleased with how I have kept this very image based in style. With this being a completely made up band and having nothing to go off of, I can basically do with it whatever I feel their image should be and that being said, enjoy and comment!

Suit Revision But NEED MORE COLOR

I revised the suit spread in a manner to fit more text on it. I am still having difficulty finding another color to go in this spread. I might need to change the purple text that I have. I basically stacked the title as you can see from this spread and then was able to start giving the guidelines to buying a suit on the second page this time. Let me know any suggestions on colors!

Ok, so page 1 is the one on the bottom, and page 2 is on the top therefore. I did an ad campaign for vivera ink. Basically, I just colored the black and white image and I burned the black hardcore. I was really pleased with the way it came out. I didn't really change up a whole lot between this layout and the second revision of this. I basically just did some leading and kerning of letters.

Genius Glam

This poster is the initial version of a made up band's PR work. This poster that is 13 x 19, was supposed to be a poster using the professional photograph we chose. This is what came out.

Need a zoot...how to buy a suit!

Hey all, so I know it's been a while since my last blog. I need to upload my how safe final spread, but in the meantime, here is a spread I did that went a little something like this. Also, all of these next images of the guy on the bench, came before the concept. Just f.y.i. But this new spread is from GQ and it's How to Buy a Suit. The Complete GQ Guide. It was actually a pretty fun spread. I am focusing more on image based spreads rather than text based because I spent a lot of time sewing the two pages together in Photoshop. That was the first step in this little adventure because I had about a quarter of an inch of white space separating the two halves. Next I placed the now one image in InDesign. This entire process was way better because, well I actually cared about the subject matter. In the meantime, check out the other spreads and poster that have the same image!
NB

Salad

So, we tossed the other salad aside and started a fresh layout. It was bad. According to Rusty, I had a few issues. So I think I resolved them with this one, but not sure yet. We shall find out in our crit this morning.
NB

Control the Full

This article basically sucked! As you can see from the layout it was very text heavy, as opposed to the last one. It is a four color job, but I couldn't figure out a color scheme. Check back and I will hopefully have an updated one over the weekend. The most difficult thing about this was finding an image that suited the material. Thanks to a stock photo purchase, I was able to find a cute little dude holding utensils from the kitchen! I felt it was very fitting. As far as the text, that was an issue yet again. When will I ever learn how to fit text correctly. Or will I?

How Safe-And It's Not Even About Sex

This new layout deals with food safety. This article was actually very easy to come up with a layout for, but was difficult to place the text. This layout only dealt with a minimal amount of text so that was the difficult portion to it all. I really had fun with this one, minus the text. I just let all I knew about magazines and their formats, and let it flow onto the page. Here is the final product!

Final Spread!

This was a pain in the butt! Nothing went right! I really struggled with this layout. Ideas kept coming to mind, but the execution in the end was well, you will see from the pictures. Enjoy!

NB

Spread Me Out Like a Magazine! Vol. 1

This assignment consisted of taking text from a pre-existing magazine article and putting it with our own layout and artwork/photography. The biggest challenge was fitting the amount of text that was provided in the article onto two 8.5X11" sheets of paper. In general, I did a watercolor illustration of a student at a desk looking frustrated and distraught. I then took some distressed text that looked like it fit the theme, and used that as a decorative font at the top to draw in the viewers attention. We shall see what the outcome of the next spread is soon! Until then,
NB

Native American History Month Stage 3-3

So, we have officially done three different rough drafts for the Native American History Month project. I didn't put the last one up, because it definitely was not even worthy. The work done on this was a marker composition. It is getting posted late because I have been ill today! I feel like I have worked some kinks out as far as layout goes. I managed to actually include some text blocking on this one as well. So we shall see! Look for the magazine layouts to come!

NB

Native American or American't

So this is our fourth project that is based on Native American History Month. Stage 1 was creating a simple layout and comping it up for our "Art Director!" This piece is 13X19 and I started off with a 13X19 marker comp to get a feel for the space that we would be utilizing during this project. As you can see in the file, I have gone with a theme of spirit animals. The Native American's beliefs included spirit animals, and so I went along with this theme. Also, I did some artwork on the title that would be traditional for that of the Native Americans. So what do you think? Native American or American't?

Until next time:

NB

Project 1

Visual Communications II: Project 1

So, we just finished with project 1. The assignment was to recreate some 8.5" X 11" fliers that were hanging on bulletin boards around campus. This project was relatively easy in comparison to others that will be headed our way this fall. For my posters, as described in class today, I basically vomited on to the pieces of paper. Idea vomit is sometimes an okay thing, but in this case it was almost to easy as I am looking to step up my game. It can be complicated at times though. After switching the old brain into creative off mode this summer, flipping that switch back on can sometimes in return be very difficult. I will be uploading these fliers here shortly, so stay tuned! Until next time!
NB

Yay for blogging!

Hello everyone. Today I decided to start up my own blog. I will currently be enrolled in a course at Truman State University that is requiring me to use a blog. For the longest time, I felt like blogs were just for narcissistic people with no life. But then I found that it could be used for more than just that. More importantly, you should look for uploads soon of my Visual Communications work in Graphic Design! I will be keeping and up to date portfolio of my most recent work. So come by check it out and tell me if you like what you see! Take care and talk soon!
NB