In the Smoke

CMYK winter 2013-1014

 

This piece appeals to me because of the innovative idea of placing the text in the smokes negative space.

Making A Connection

How January 2013

This appeals to me as it uses human experiences.   Using the design to connect these experiences with the phone is brilliant.

Innovative?

How May 2013

These designs are praised for their innovation but I do not see it.  Some of them seem traditional.   The image of the woman and man on the last one seems to be something from the 50's and 60's.  The color shades are not vibrant enough.  I favor minimalism and many of these are anything but minimalistic.

Hidden Message?

This image is from no.55 CMYK 2013 and reveals how choice of colors can emphasize the message.  Darker shades of green and a red-orange swath urge the reader to eat locally within the definition of locavour.

Poor Poster Design

I obtained this poorly designed poster image from moviepostershop.com.

The color choices are inferior as the type is hard to read.  Blue on red and on violet is not enough contrast.  Red on black is better but still questionable.  The multiple drop shadow looks like a mess.

The photo should not overlap the woman as she is in front of the red rectangle with an orange stroke while the photo is behind it.   

Jazz Festival Posters

These designs were published in the 2012 v53 of CMYK magazine.

The atmosphere of the designs it nostalgia and the color scheme is warm. The design is traditional though the words are rebellious.

A Billboard Message Design

The graphic design featured in this post was obtained from the November-December 2013 issue of Communication Arts. 

This design has centered the message in an encirclement of a multitude of female style swimming suits to emphasize the content of the message.  It is clearly unified and speaks to the intended audience of Dove while showing a solidarity with that same audience.   I went to the Facebook page they advertise and the audience seems clearly to be women though the design of the billboard would appeal to some men who supported the cause.

A Brand Idenity

This design was recognized by the How crew as an inspiration to hire Might and Main to design an award winning magazine cover.  I obtained the image from might-main.com after hearing of it from howdesign.com a few days ago.  There are 5 horizontal lines of content with the image in the top line being sliced in half by the horizon at the same time it is overlapped by the text in the next line.  The image of the oyster between sea and sky has the organization's name written over it to reveal unification of theme.  

Quantum Typeface

Today's images are from the July 2013 issue of Computer Arts and feature the typeface Quantum.  The design of Quantum uses contrasts to catch the eye and is best employed as a larger font size as both its light qualities will make the letters hard to discern at smaller sizes.

A poster of contrasts

This weeks design is from Computer Design, August 2013 issue.

I am attracted to the idea of a human within a beast idea that is the part of this design.   I miss some of the aspects of this design as I am unfamiliar with the fashion world but the layout of the cool colored juxtaposed images against the predominately warm background of a luxurious setting give me a brought idea of the message of "bestial instinct vs fashion instinct".

Graphic Design of a Property Developer's Literture

This week's featured Graphic Design piece is a work done for property developer Mileeu Property that redesign their literature. It is from Computer Arts September 2013 issue.

The designer made decision to break away from the pack of those designing literature for property developers and reduce the elements in order to clarify the message as well as to stand out.  The designer studio used the placement of designs and negative space as part of the message to invoke infer images in property development.  With this choice of minimalism the reason each element is placed in the whole has to be considered and its effect maximized.

A look at Harvard Medicine magazine

Harvard Medicine Winter 2013 Magazine cover and interior page designs featured in the Communication Arts Design Annual 54 September/October 2013.

These designs are interesting in that the flag design is present in both. 

The flag on the cover is designed with many lines already and the designer utilized this characteristics to add naturalistic images of medical images to link it to the healthcare theme of the magazine.  The intense naturalistic color combined with the lack of negative space makes it seem energetic.  The repetitiveness gives it a sense of professionalism.

The inside page goes for a different type of balance with the large fonts and font images on the left balancing the text a small medical imaged flag on the right.  The font images are abstract and keep in line with the theme to insert medical imagery into image or in this case what looks like pseudo logo.  The colors are toned down to what is a greyscale image with only the flag in color.  The large scale of the pseudo logo and the the abstract of the medical imagery within will pull the eye of those whose primary intent is to read the text.  The same things plus the words are designed to effect the context of the person reading the text to reflect its relationship to the magazine and perhaps other things.  The pages theme is completely unified and the connection to the cover is maintained by the small flag and medical imagery in the pseudo logo.

Biblion:Frankenstein critique

These views of Biblion: Frankenstein, an iPad app from New York Public Library is showcased in the March/April 2013 issue of Communication Arts Interactive Annual 19.

The logo of Biblion is only on a few of the pages while a balance between imagery and type is achieved in the main content by either placing the image to one side of the text or above and in one case centered with text in both the upper right and lower left corners.   One view choose not to use type but instead uses a apparently endless spiral of indistinct whose specific identity is left up to the user but whose context is the images from the various stories that are in Biblion: Frankenstein.

The same spiral is used to link this view with the last one that has the spiral minus the images but with writing in the corners.  Through its images it is linked to the other views tying all the views together in a group unity that reveals the theme of a library full of stories.

The black background of the views gives Biblion: Frankenstein a elegant classical feeling which also goes with the choice of images in the various views.

Graphics of Records

The graphic design on these records was of quality refined enough to be published by the Graphics Design Annual which is may or may not have been since I seemed to have conflicting information.  I also have a note for New Packaging Design 2009. I did obtain it from the Parkland Library but I did not check to see if I was given the book I was asking for.

Both record covers are definitely internally unified as well as having a certain unity between them.  They have a simple color palate and are both innovative, trendy, and somewhat remind me of the Beetles Yellow Submarine movie of 1968.   Contrast is maintained by using darker shades or somewhat lighter backgrounds as different sizes of similar objects. 

Website Graphics

I obtained this image of the Architectural Woodwork Industries website from Graphics 100 Best in Design 2012.   It stops the motion in order to reveal this energetic but orderly environment in still motion.   Pictured in this work are five page views from the website that show a unity of design that concentrates on showing of the product of AWI

The top right and middle view rely on one image to make their point and each has a fairly high degree of contrast.   The bottom left also uses a single image and skylines the building though the trees in front seem somewhat distracting.  The top left view is a mixture of text and an image that seems to emphasize the image over the text as if espousing the adage that a single image is worth a thousand words.  The last view uses several more ordinary images as the emphases is given to the text.  The headers are repeated on each view with different links active and the background is a darker translucent or completely transparent depending on the content of the page being viewed.  The footers when they are shown follow the same general pattern.   This achieves the goal of unifying them with the content and connecting the logo to the product and information displayed.

Ad Graphics

This graphics design image is from the Art Directors' Club Annual 90.  It is a 2012 published design work done to appeal to a certain customer base.  It uses design to evoke humor as well as to emphasize the effectiveness of the Tip-ex product.

The design of elements is simple relying on its chosen audiences familiarity with YouTube to make the overall design successful.  It overlapped images, using the video's dominating presence and the product's ad placement to introduce Tip-ex into the whole and making the story about it instead of about the angry bear and the hunter. 

The actual add is interactive and is still available.

Web Typography

My name is Kerwin Brown and this blog is about my efforts to learn from graphic design artwork that has been recognized by various graphic design resources. I obtained this image of the Red Bull Academy website from The Manual of Typography 33, the 2012 volume.   My number two reason for choosing it is that it is an example of well done web design and my goal is to to craft websites that would be recognized in a similar way. 

Red Bull Music Academy used bold and aggressive FF Clan text type to get their message across.  The font size is large enough it almost competes with the sites images but is in union with them giving a caption of their contents.

Set up with a header row of page links and two main rows of content on both pages the website is uniform in design.  The images is the same row are of the same height displaying the sound structure of the site.  The colors shout out but the words "Young Guru" on the second page seem to blend with the red in the image.