This week on the Daily Heller: design is everywhere

I don't have much to post this week, and not lot of TOO interesting things in the Daily Heller. But, this post just goes to show what design is everywhere, even in the most practical (or not so practical) items. The Best Made Company specializes handcrafted axes. Head over to their site...you can order one! Check out some of the names! Hehe!

The "last" week of blogs

I know this is our last week of blogging for advanced design, but I hope we all continue to keep these up and keep in touch with all things design.
This week in design is an exciting one...yes...it's finally here...Vox Unleashed!! I have had so much fun working on this special issue and with some fun, talented girls!! We all had some WONDERFUL ideas. We let ourselves get a little crazy, but there was room to pull back. I think the final product has turned out beautifully! I had the opportunity to design the photo essay for this issue with some adorable photos. I've posted the first page! I've also posted the cover that Chelsea did. It turned out great and it matches the look and feel we were trying to go for with the whole issue.
I also designed a photo essay for the Missourian to May 7th. This is always a challenge for me. I have trouble finding the right sizes, arrangements and combinations of the photos to keep the photographer's story in tact. Take a look a it tomorrow and let me know what you think. I'll post a photo of the pages as soon as I can get them.

I would also like to comment on how well everyone did yesterday with the Meredith presentations. I know that everyone has been working VERY hard, and it was awesome to see the final product. I know some of the designers (including me) and publishers were nervous to get up in front of everyone and speak. Everyone did such a great job, and It was nice to see the Meredith editors so receptive to all of our ideas.
The celebration afterwards made the whole process worthwhile. Everyone had such a great time together. I'm so thankful for each and every one of my fellow designers! We all come from different backgrounds and all have different styles, but we have developed relationships that will last us a lifetime. We been through so much together this semester (and throughout our college career) and we have become a family. I'm just sad that just as we're all getting so close, it's time to say goodbye. I love you all and I can't wait for more celebrating in the days to come!

This week on the Daily Heller: for all you sickies out ther

This isn't too design-centric, but I just thought it was appropriate in light of the recent news. I think we're all getting a little tired of seeing everything out there about the swine flu, but I thought these old posters were kind of interesting for this situation. Steven Heller makes a good point. "Without minimizing the real worry of this recent outbreak, it's helpful to remember that these things have happened in the past," as these posters represent. Influenza....tuberculosis....bird flu...etc.

The countdown begins....

This week…I finally had a published cover!! This was another interesting round of cover designs for group one for Vox. We again had a photo cover…and….we had to wait and see what type of photos we were dealing with. In the mean time, we were given the opportunity to design a concept cover in addition to “The art of the encore,” photo cover. I’ve posted both of those first draft covers. I’ll post the final cover after tomorrow!
I also got my website to a point where I think it is ready to be sent out to people. There are still some things I would like to work on/perfect like figuring out where to put my captions/descriptions of my work, and I also think I want to create rollovers for my thumbnails instead of having to click on them. Even though my site isn’t very complex, I was so proud of myself. At first, I hated Dreamweaver and Flash, and I still have my frustrations, but I’m getting better at it. And now that I’m getting better, It makes it so much more fun to do web design!
I have also been working on the May 7th issue of Vox. As most of you know, it has been decided to blow up the entire Vox Pets Unleashed issue for three other designers and I to design. It has been really fun! We’ve all been meeting for almost a month now coming up with ideas. There have been some pretty silly ones (like wanting to put pet butts somewhere in the issue…don’t ask…), but I think we needed to go there to get where we are now. We’ve been finishing up our template for the designers to have this Sunday, and I’m super excited to hear what they all think of it and to see what they do with it. It’s going to be so cool to see an ENTIRE PRINTED ISSUE that we got to design. I can’t wait!
I also designed a cover for the publishers’ prospectus for Mix Magazine. Check it out!

Among professionals - Vox redesign and the SSND contest

We are all so lucky to be surrounded by some really creative and talented people, and we get opportunities to witness new designs and talk about them and learn from them.
One of those opportunities is the Vox magazine redesign. The magazine is due for a face lift, and I think what Meredith Purcell has come up with is great step in the right direction. It has been cool to see the creative process of this redesign and to see how much work really goes into a redesign. And what’s even better is that we designers will get a chance to work in the redesigned Vox. I’m sure there are a lot of us looking forward to get out of the same old boxy Vox!!
Another great opportunity to witness great design this week was the SSND contest. (link to it) I was able to help out at the judging and it was really interesting to see what those outside out little j-school bubble have to say about our designs, and student designs from across the country. Congrats to everyone who won!

This week on the daily Heller: for all the design fans!!

It's novelty week this week on the Daily Heller, and there was one post that caught my eye for all of us!! Graphic design heroes t-shirts!!! "Loving interpretations and tributes to the professionals." Visit Skreened.com to see what other novelty items you can get printed on-demand! Who would you put on your tee?

work...work....work!!

This weekend was a busy and VERY productive weekend, as I suppose it was for everyone else. Our Meredith projects are all coming to a close, and I think we are all ready to see the final products. I’ve posted my “final” pages from Mix magazine. It’s possible they’ll go through another edit in the next couple of days, but at this point, it’s pretty much ready for the printer. I’m so excited to see the ACTUAL magazine. Not on the computer, not on pages printed from a color printer in a computer lab…but the whole magazine printed on pretty paper!! Check out Aimee's blog too and see it as a flip book!!
I also got a TON of work done on my website this week. After a few minor freak outs and a couple re-dos, I’m finally at a point where I can comfortably work in Dreamweaver!
Now it’s crunch time right? I’ve been finding harder and harder to keep motivated, but just a few more weeks!!