August 17th, 2010
When I started graduate school back in 2007, I moved out to Hays, Kansas to attend a stellar program. My fellow graduate colleagues were already hard at work on their own projects, while I began my own. Towards the end of my first semester, my friend Dominic Flask came up with a project that he wanted to work on. He loved typography (and who could blame him). He wanted to venture out on his own and start exploring! I have no doubt in my mind he could of completed this entire project on his own (he’s that talented), but instead, he approached our other friend Jennifer Higerd and me. I couldn’t have been more gracious at this opportunity, because I enjoyed typography as much as he did and looked at this as a chance to teach myself everything I could about type since I was deprived of a good type education during my undergraduate years. What developed after this initial conversation was excitement, exhaustion, blood, sweat and tears.
Not only were the three of us preparing for our Thesis shows and fulfilling all the requirements for our MFA degree, we were working on this monumental project. Dom kept us motivated to finish, and after two years of research and designing, we finished the book Typographeee. It is separated into three concise sections: Execution, Exploration, and Experimentation. We each took a 30 page section and crammed in as much as we could. Our goal was to create an abridged history of type without all of that extra information that weighs down what you really need to know. I could go on and on about this wonderful book, or you can click on this link Typographeee.com and check out the entire thing! Thanks to Dom for building the website. If you ‘d like a copy of the book, contact me and I’d be happy to send one your way.
December 9th, 2009
I came across this interview on the Print website about sustainability. Trevor Hacker is a designer at Lunar, which is a San Francisco based design company, and he talks about working as a designer in the city, and the challenge’s he faced when creating the “Designer’s Field Guide to Sustainability.” You can find this guide at http://www.lunar.com/fieldguide.html. I had a chance to read through it, and found it very helpful. It gives insightful information about sustainable product development and the product life cycle.
December 9th, 2009
by schmance | Posted in
Teaching,
Tutorials |
2 Comments » |
September 10th, 2009
The graphic designer and typographer use the grid for designing press advertisements, brochures, catalogues, books, periodicals, websites, etc. Grids are very helpful when organizing lots of material in limited spaces. This website, Grid and Design Philosophy, gives a history of the grid, it’s philosophy, and designers that were instrumental in its development. I’ve also attached a resources page for reference, and created some of my own grids to download.
August 18th, 2009
Color plays an important role in design. It sets the mood and feel of your design, and is powerful enough that when we think of companies, we immediately associate a color with them (examples: Coke=red, white, Pepsi=red, white, blue, McDonalds=yellow, red). Selecting color can be intimidating for some people, choosing the wrong color can spell disaster. I created this tutorial, Elements of Color, as a foundation for color theory. On it you will find definitions of key terms relating to color, a brief summary for the color wheel, color combinations, and suggested resources that I’ve used and have helped me on projects.
August 2nd, 2009
It is important that graphic designers know how to take nice photos of their work. However, taking photos can be intimidating, especially for students who have never set up lighting or have limited experience using a camera. I decided this would be a nice opportunity to conduct a workshop and demonstrate how simple it really is. During that workshop, I gave a quick camera tutorial, displayed examples for lighting, and offered some quick retouching suggestions. In the aftermath, I realized a web tutorial, Portfolio Photography Workshop, would be a more effective way of communicating this information. It’s simple, clean and very easy to navigate. My intention is that instructors will use it as a teaching aid, and students will use it as a reference.
