pixellation | a design blog

New Blog Address

2011-08-29T05:31:00.001-04:00

I started a new blog. The address can be found here: Sarah Adams | Graphic Design

DVD package progress

2011-04-06T15:44:00.005-04:00

I have chosen Darren Aronofsky films for my DVD box set design, showcasing Requiem for a Dream, Pi, and either The Fountain or Black Swan.

IMDb notes that Darren Aronofsky does a lot of the following in all of his movies:

"Frequently uses a technique known as the hip-hop montage, which is a sequence of images or actions shown in fast-motion with accompanying sound effects, usually shown to simulate a certain action, such as taking drugs.

"Fade to white for emphasis, a break in the story, or an end of an Act/Section in the story.

Characters with strong obsessions that drive them towards self-destruction."

I am mostly intrigued by the characters Aronofsky portrays, in which they begin each movie with ambitious goals and dreams, yet these dreams end up eating them alive until the characters are nothing but a shell of a person (or just dead entirely.) This duality of beginning good and ending bad will offer a lot of imagery for me to play with.

I began playing with the idea of ambigrams for Aronofsky's name on the cover. If I stick with thie idea, Darren's name will appear the same whether you are holding the box upside down or rightside up. Depending on which way you were holding the box set, either good imagery from the movies would be seen, or dark and morbid imagery would be seen.

Here's a screen shot of a (very) rough shape for my ambigram:

As you can tell it is still rather difficult to read, but I would like to go back in with my Wacom tablet and add thicks and thins for contrast and to make it a little more visually pleasing.

I like the way this ambigram is treated (taken from wikipedia):

more timeline inspiration

2011-03-31T13:21:00.004-04:00

neat timeline/infographic process

2011-03-31T13:13:00.005-04:00

Found this on Behance. Fun to look at and explore this person's design process for gathering data and subsequently laying it out visually.

37 Minute Bus Ride

kinetic typography

2011-03-21T08:24:00.001-04:00

I am changing my kinetic typography project to the tea party from Alice in Wonderland. Why IS a raven like a writing desk?

Collaborative Book Spread

2011-03-07T08:34:00.000-05:00

"billy, that sweater just doesn't fit you anymore"

Yeah!

2011-02-10T16:05:00.001-05:00

I joined AIGA today. :)

That is all.

Internshipables

2011-02-08T12:23:00.001-05:00

I want to intern for The Jones Group.

Immediately.

Beautiful poster in an annual series for the High Museum created by The Jones Group:

Beautiful Chalk Typography

2011-02-03T12:49:00.003-05:00

This girl does the most beautiful hand rendered typographical pieces with just chalk and a chalkboard.
See the full webpage here:
Dana Tanamachi

For Liz: Visuals of Atlanta's Snowpocalypse

2011-02-03T10:57:00.005-05:00

General article about the cold snap we felt in December.
December's Cold Snap

From CTECreative Blog:

From Creative Loafing:

For Liz: Climate Change Article

2011-02-01T13:26:00.003-05:00

Climate Science: An Erosion of Trust?

From Nature News magazine, found on the Climate Central webpage.

This article may help us understand the delicacy of speaking about climate change, whether we are speaking to the general public or to a weather spokesperson hearing about it every day.

designing with context

2011-02-01T13:16:00.003-05:00

This redesign was so unbelievably unnecessary.
The logo is halfway decent without any context (save for the upside down 'central'), but the old Comedy Central logo already had such a distinctive look and following behind it. How do you just throw all of that away?

on being carded

2011-02-01T12:30:00.002-05:00

How fancy do designers' business cards really need to be?
I found this article from Print Magazine on personal designers' business cards to be extremely helpful and interesting, as well.

Print Magazine

New WIRED page layout

2011-01-31T21:43:00.004-05:00

...with the changes to my graph (slimlined color schemes and the addition of information on the graph itself).

I found a few things while flipping through an issue of Wired that I tried to incorporate in this page layout; a few of which include:

-slab serif typeface for headers and body copy (I am using Serifa here.)
-bright colors in illustrations and imagery
-flat shapes and spaces

SERIFS! ...again.

2010-11-30T20:42:00.003-05:00

SERIFS!

2010-11-30T10:13:00.010-05:00

The title of my calendar is THE JOY OF THE SERIF, a calendar celebrating thirteen notable serif typefaces in the design world. Each month has a small paragraph describing the typeface's history and briefly describing its unique parts.

This idea came to me because I was looking back at my most recent projects and realized that I have been using nothing but serif typefaces for a while. I think they are extremely classic and beautiful, and there are so many different little nuances between each typeface that I felt the need to explore more with and highlight to others that may not see them either.

This calendar will be bound at the top and packaged in an easel kind of way, so it could sit on someone's desk and one could flip back and forth between the months as needed while learning more about the history of (serif) type. I also wanted to showcase the ampersand in each typeface because I feel like that is the most beautiful character in many typefaces.

THERE IS NO COLOR YET... I haven't even begun exploring that aspect, but I wanted to post the layout of a couple that I am fond of at this point in time.

I like where this is going but I know I have a long way to go before it is a finished product.

EDIT: After seeing these cropped the way they would be printed (ie- serifs getting cut off at the edges), i decided that i absolutely hate it with a passion....especially since I am cutting off the very thing this calendar is celebrating. So I will fix it (ie-make it smaller and not hang off the edge) and update the progress.

Favorite Album Art

2010-11-29T17:03:00.009-05:00

manchester orchestra - mean everything to nothing
I like how type is the design. You can't help but notice it on a shelf.

incubus - monuments and melodies
This drawing style is very unique to the members of the band that created it. It shows that line art mixed with a little color can be moving and tell a story.

the shins - so says i (single)
There's something about all the abstract color that is picasso-esque. It's quite beautiful. If this is what my art director wanted me to make, I'm not sure where I would begin.

bright eyes - LIFTED [or] the story is in the soil, keep your ear to the ground
I like how this cover feels like an old, antique book that has been handed down from family member to family member. Something about it feels classic and precious.

brand new - deja entendu
The epic background coloring is really beautiful and jumps off shelves.

radiohead - hail to the thief
I love all of the hand rendered type and its location in the cover.

MGMT - time to pretend EP
The illustrations and color are very playful. I enjoy looking at all the details.

the flaming lips - yoshimi battles the pink robots
If someone told me to draw a pink robot, I don't think I would have come up with one this dynamic and fun. It would be a fun project to see what people would create if you asked them to draw a pink robot.

can't find your phone?

2010-11-18T10:13:00.002-05:00

For those of us that don't have that fancy Droid service that calls our phone when it's lost...

I thought this was a beautiful webpage, in addition to its functionality.

http://www.icantfindmyphone.com/

absolutely beautiful.

2010-11-18T09:47:00.003-05:00

Blog #7

2010-11-17T18:12:00.003-05:00

Each week I feel as though I must check in with:

Twitter
Not just to see what other friends are doing, but I follow AIGA, Behance Network, GOOD Magazine, and many other design related organizations that are constantly posting links to very interesting sites and articles, as well as beautiful designs.

Behance Network
I love looking at the most recent works created by people in the field. It's a great browsing site for inspiration and beautiful traditional art mixed with computer arts.

Class Blogs
Seeing what other classmates are posting keeps me motivated to do my own design.

The Dieline
Package design is very inspirational to me and I enjoy looking at the most recently posted designs from this site.

NotCot.org
Another inspiration website. This encompasses basically anything artistic around the world, not necessarily just graphic design. There are interior design pieces, photos, package designs, and general creative beauties.

magazine photo shoot 1

2010-11-06T15:34:00.003-04:00

Here is a preview of what today's photo shoot with Dana looked like.

The theme of today's shoot was to bring in the essence of fall with the feeling of reading a good book. Nature meets writing. You know, that whole Whitman and Thoreau thing.

I changed the color.

2010-10-27T20:22:00.009-04:00

The crimson felt too expected, and the purple/silver combo felt too feminine.

by the way...

2010-10-26T21:24:00.001-04:00

which color scheme reads better?
I feel like the red helps the viewer to visualize "mad" more...but I really do like that silvery purple. (it's a metallic pantone)

new color and placement

2010-10-26T21:20:00.004-04:00

....but before the government warning.

altered type from before

2010-10-26T13:36:00.001-04:00

logo work in progress pt.2

2010-10-25T17:39:00.009-04:00

The concept behind the wine glass came from blind contour drawings with a brush pen. Basically the globe of the glass ended up being drawn twice, and they are slowly overlapped (one has wine in the glass and one doesn't). The main idea behind this bottle is the madness shared, so I wanted the glass to be drawn rather...not sane, and the number 2 is very important with the brand name (hence the two overlapped wine glasses).

After getting the opinion that the original bottle was too thick and bulky, I tried to scale the lines down a tad -- that is the result.

different color scheme?

wine bottle in progress?

2010-10-21T11:03:00.006-04:00

I'm not necessarily happy with this yet. In fact, the top photo is a menagerie of different thoughts coming together on one bottle so I am aware of the lack of flow.

Until I figure out my logo (sigh), I can't really decide which box shape I would like to go with.

THINGS I DO KNOW:
1. My wine brand is Folie a Deux, which means, "madness shared between two people," or "shared fantasies."
2. I want to take these meanings and create a feeling of loopy, drunk madness on my wine bottle.
3. There are going to be two 375mL bottles in my packaging, to represent the shared madness.
4. I am using a black board for my box with a brushed silver inner color, and using deep crimson and dark plum purple as my splashes of color. These colors represent not only the colors of red wine, but also give the feeling of dark, seductive elegance (mixed with slightly off type, I feel like I may be hitting the mark that I want.)
5. The madness that I am trying to achieve is not an insanity madness (ie- Ransom type) but more like Alice in Wonderland mad.

This is my bottle:

mad text test

2010-10-14T13:34:00.002-04:00

Does this type look effectively "mad," twisted and sideways, or does it just look retarded?
It will be placed on the back of my wine bottle and may even twist around the side of the bottle.

Table of Contents in progress?

2010-10-13T19:46:00.003-04:00

Your feedback is welcome!

Some Cool Table of Contents pages

2010-10-12T19:00:00.006-04:00

For anyone who needs the inspiration for Laura's class tomorrow.

Creative Brief - Wine Bottle

2010-10-12T11:10:00.002-04:00

Client:
Folie á Deux Winery

Objective:
Redesign logo, bottle design, and package presentation

Overview:
The Folie á Deux wine bottle as it is now is extremely plain for no reason. There is simply a line of type for the logo, a small icon below, and the type of wine listed at the bottom. The plain cream-colored label does not allow this wine to showcase itself on a shelf full of other brightly colored, intricately designed wine bottles.

Redesign:
For my redesign, I plan to take the literal meaning of Folie á Deux, which is “a madness shared between two people,” and twist the color scheme and focus of the label to a slightly darker and sideways place. I would like the information and graphics to be placed on the bottle via transfer, and areas of the glass will be frosted over for a different look and texture. For the packaging itself, I will further push the idea of having something shared between two people by packaging two half-sized bottles together and allowing the
graphics to flow back and forth between the two bottles as they sit beside one another. With this idea, not only do the bottles share the illustrations, but the consumers share the wine by having their own unique bottle out of the same gift package.

Visual Themes:
I plan on using bolder colors for this redesign, dipping into brighter and darker reds, greens, and purples. Lines will be not quite straight to feel a little mad, and where soft, organic lines may once have been, they will be replaced with pointy edges and off-centered focuses. The surface of the wine bottle will be a place in the mind where you go when you are mad, and maybe even slightly drunk from the tannens of red wine.

Personal Workspace

2010-10-10T13:41:00.005-04:00

This is my desk. There is no space for my computer because my printers take up all of the countertop and there are layers of nonsense on top of them.

This is my bookshelf. There are design books on the second row up.

This is my drawing table that I have since deemed as my cutting table. There are always scraps on the table from the last time I mounted a board, and there is always at least one of my cats in that window. I happened to catch my two kitties in the window at the same time, which is rare, since they hate each other.

And this is my dining room table. It is rarely used to actually eat on, since I am barely at home between work and school. Instead, it is my catch-all surface for bags, keys, school stuff, art products, and other random things. I usually have a vase with flowers on it, but on this day, my cats knocked over the vase and got water everywhere, so I had to move it to my kitchen. When I have a lot of projects to work on, I plug my laptop into the wall behind my chair and sit for hours working on the computer here. Sometimes I have a kitty in my lap, and when she gets tired of that, she will move to sit on my keyboard.

Block of Type - Holcomb Bridge Road

2010-10-10T13:29:00.013-04:00

type babies

2010-09-30T13:08:00.012-04:00

The marriage of American Typewriter and Apple Chancery.

The marriage of Curlz MT and Arial Narrow Italic.

The marriage of Century Gothic and Century Schoolbook.

The marriage of Hobo and Didot.

This is the marriage of Gill Sans and Georgia.

This is what happens if you combine Giddyup and Goudy Old Style:

black and white!

cover in progress

2010-09-29T20:06:00.001-04:00

This is the potential cover for my magazine redesign. It is obviously missing the photo (hence all the white space) but I think I like the text laid out this way.

Click to see larger!

masthead in progress

2010-09-28T19:22:00.003-04:00

This masthead is a redesign of poets and writers' old (and in my opinion, lackluster) logo. I am going for a hand-created, organically composed feel in this masthead.

wine redesign (my own photos this time)

2010-09-28T11:45:00.008-04:00

(I find it interesting how much the wine bottle label feels nothing like the fact sheet for the same wine.)

wine research part 2

2010-09-24T11:57:00.002-04:00

While looking online for reasonably priced empty wine bottles, I stumbled upon a 375ml size, the shape of which I fell in love with. However, my limited experience with this size is that you don't really find it in much more than ice wines or maybe champagnes. It is called a "demi" size (meaning "half" in french).

Much to my luck, though, if I do decide to design my bottle in this size, I found an article at www.gourmetgrrl.com that will help me back up my decision:

Less is More: Half-Bottles. Half-bottles of wine (375 ml) seem to be making a comeback, so before you think your date is just being cheap, read on.

In the States most of the half-bottle production goes right to restaurants although you can usually find a selection in a good wine shop. Bubbly is quite often bottled in half-bottles, called a split, as are dessert wines. You won’t find many French table wines in half-bottles; they produce very few due to retailer resistance. Pricing is where things aren't so even: production costs are higher for half-bottles so the prices tend to be a little more than half the price of the full, 750ml bottle.

And half-bottles aren’t just for the lesser wines; a half-bottle of Opus One anyone? Clos du Bois, J. Lohr, Qupe, Bonny Doon, and Niebaum-Coppola are a few California producers getting into the game, as are the Australians. (The Swanson Merlot and the Etude Pinot Noir are two little bottles we cherish.)

When should you go for the half?
*If you’re having a delicate fish soup and your friend is having a steak, you can each order your own bottle.
*If the by the glass selections just don’t cut it – tastewise or budgetwise.
*If it’s a schoolnight you can still drink up (and drink well) and not feel guilty.
*If one of you is abstaining. (Half-bottles contain 2 to 2 1/2 glasses of wine, depending on the pour.)

In California check out a good wine shop if you're shopping for half-bottles or try Cost Plus World Market; they stock a good variety. In New York City head straight for the half-bottle section at Astor Wines & Spirits and Union Square Wines.

The wine geek tip of the week: use half- bottles to preserve leftover wine. Just pour the wine into the 375ml bottle and cork it immediately and it will keep for up to a week. (A winemaker friend swears it's the best way to keep wine fresh.)

Wine Bottle picks

2010-09-21T19:44:00.004-04:00

I took photos of all of these at my house after spending like 30 bucks. But I still haven't uploaded them to my computer so I just took some screen shots of google images of these brands. I think these brands have promising futures because of their creative names, but their logos now just feel a little static and lackluster.

My two favorites are Charles Shaw ("two buck chuck" offers a lot of potential), and Menage a Trois. The last is Pinot Evil, which i felt could be fun with the idea of "hear no evil/speak no evil/see no evil" and the monkey idea they already have, but I am not as excited about it.

Bag Lunch Blues

2010-09-21T10:45:00.001-04:00

This is incredibly low-res, but you can get the idea of what's going on anyway.

Short film expressing one of the seven deadly sins, mine of which was envy.

Enjoy!

i prefer enterprise...

2010-09-17T15:09:00.007-04:00

Just curious what everyone thinks about the new logo for Hertz car rental company.

before:
after:

Personally the only thing I think improved was getting rid of that harsh dropshadow. I'm not a fan of that r.

EDIT: here's an article talking about the change that my friend found:
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/hertz_loses_its_shadow.php

cheers!

2010-09-17T14:49:00.002-04:00

click to see larger!

Blog #4 (GRD 4020)

2010-09-17T14:06:00.006-04:00

There are quite a few artists that really inspire me to push my work further. Though I believe that if I spent enough time and energy in any project, I could be just as good, but most of the time these artists just make me feel inadequate.

I think that MC Escher's intense shading and obvious prior planning in his visual puzzles are astounding. I would love to see his work in person to be able to see the actual marks in his works. His attention to every detail in this piece is inspiring to me as an artist.

brandon boyd, while also being one of my favorite lyricist, is also an amazing illustrator. I love how all of his line drawings feel like they started out as doodles and it inspires me to pick up my sketchbook and doodle more often.

Lastly, the wood paintings and drawings of Audrey Kawasaki have kept my attention for many years. I love how her painting style feels so wispy and delicate, yet her subject matter is usually devious and is painted on such a hard surface. Her coloring is absolutely beautiful, and it serves as a reminder that not all art has to be on a piece of paper or a canvas.

Blog #3 (GRD 4020)

2010-09-14T18:52:00.010-04:00

There are a few design trends that I have been noticing in logos as well as packaging that I feel are worth mentioning.

When it comes to packaging, there is a lot of heavy set type in different directions broken up with lines to organize the space:

Also, clean sans-serif type is placed on flat, bright backgrounds. This accentuates the beauty of the set type while also catching the eye because of the simplistic clean layout:

Lastly, in the package design category, the trend of recycling and going green translates to the design itself. This box for ebay exudes a natural feel:

For trends in logo design, I feel as though hand-rendered or imperfect type seems to be coming back. This gives logos a certain spunk and playfulness that they might have not had if typed in a serif font:

Laura-Best Magazine Ever!

2010-09-13T17:52:00.000-04:00

http://www.computerarts.co.uk/

Aura Board (Print&ed)

2010-09-09T19:27:00.002-04:00

For my magazine Poets and Writers, I plan to bring more creativity into the masthead and incorporate more imaginative visuals on the cover and spreads. Dynamic grid systems can be used to keep excitement about the contents for readers. I feel as though poetry and writing is built so much on creativity, and this magazine could just as easily be a science or travel magazine based on the standard type and photography used. Though it has relatively good structure on the cover and inside the magazine, I feel there is a lot of room for creative growth and more can be done to broaden the range of readers that the magazine currently has.

I plan on using some pencil drawn imagery for the masthead to charge the magazine with the bare and true feeling of writing. I want the entire magazine to be an inspiration piece for writers and poets alike. Not only will there be book reviews, but there will be articles on possibly bettering writing skills or getting one's manuscript published, and the imagery used for each article will exude imaginative processes from the brain to the pen to the paper.

As a writer, this magazine in its current state would not hold my interest for long. I plan to make it something that is not only visually appealing, but I prefer to have its content be something relative to a young writer's interest.

Bar Alphabet in Progress

2010-09-09T17:36:00.013-04:00

Blog #2 (GRD 4020)

2010-09-09T16:49:00.011-04:00

I think of all the types of design, I am most inspired by package design. Effective and poignant package design is difficult to produce, but it's very fun to look at. I frequently check www.thedieline.com just to see what is going on in the package design world and to find inspiration. It is by far one of my favorite inspiration websites.

These are a few packaging photos that I found especially lovely:

This was a rebranding done by a former student of SCAD. I like the hand-rendered type as a playful aspect and I love how the type creates an image above the labels. It is fun, but still believable as a real product.

This one doesn't really need a description. It's just a really awesome idea for a juice box.

I feel like this line of body care products feels very fresh and clean, which is fitting for the product inside of the box. I like the different colors used to distinguish the various products.

I promise I don't have a milk obsession. I love the illustrated elements to this, as well as the thickly cut out type. If I saw this in Target, I would jump to buy it instead of the regular brand.

In this packaging for a laptop computer, I love the fact that it is nothing but the type on the top. As a fan of copy writing, I love how witty the copy is, and how it becomes the design.

I love when package design carries on a design from one physical package to the other.

Ok, I suppose it's time for some bad design:

Why does Kroger Brand EVERYTHING have to be so ugly? Target and Publix goes out of their way to have amazing design all of the time. Why not Kroger too? I hate when people misspell things for no reason. Bitz? What was wrong with Bits? Why does marshmallow have to be all jumpy and lame? Why does everything on this package look straight from the 80s? At least the octopus is happy.

I can see what Nabisco was going for here, but why change what is already working for them? I know the whole clean, plain look was in for a while, but this just feels overdone. They do nothing for me or my childhood memories. I'm glad it wasn't permanent. If I was a professor and a student designed this packaging, I would not let them into the design program based on them. On a lighter note, I think the open tab for the new oreos is pretty awesome.

But really? A circle with the letter?
That's it?

There's just something about the one on the left that makes me want to buy them more. It makes me crave them. The one on the right is so...lackluster. That packaging doesn't really care whether I buy them or not.

Blog #1 (GRD4020)

2010-08-30T14:55:00.006-04:00

The stationery that I created for Botany Bay Florist in the spring of 2009 was one of my favorite pieces. The color scheme brought a spark of modernity and youth into the florist that had been in business for over 30 years, and I feel as though the logo's playfulness attracts a new type of crowd. I am happy to say that they also bought this stationery package along with other little bits of print that summer.

This set of three ads for Botany Bay Florist shows a whimsical side of the florist industry that invites viewers to "live in color" by purchasing flowers from them. I love these pieces because the creation of them was so impulsive. I splashed different watercolor pigments onto paper and drew on top of them with an ink pen to give an inviting, non-rigid way of business out to potential customers.

The stationery I created for Urban Cottage was another one of my favorites. I loved the natural color scheme that I created without feeling too "hippy-ish". It was important to me that the colors used felt classy and modern without feeling sloppy. I wanted the type to sit calmly on the paper with little to no hierarchy and all lowercase letters to imitate the casual, homemade comfort that Urban Cottage exudes when entering its doors. Lastly, it was important for me that the logo felt handmade and organic, and creating my own letter 'g' for the word 'cottage' was a new territory that I only dipped my toes in.

This t-shirt that I created for typography class in the spring of 2010 was exciting for me. We chose a famous quote from a celebrity and had to use only type to give the feeling of that celebrity. I also enjoyed writing my story of how the Univers typeface was the perfect choice for typesetting a Kermit the Frog quote.

This was a brochure project to send out to potential patrons for a fundraiser. My client was the Imagine It! Children's Museum. It was important to me that the "power of play" was illustrated in the brochure to make even the eldest of patrons feel young again while reading it. This screen capture shows the brochure lying flat, but it folds up into one of those paper fortunes that kids make in school all the time. Because so much type was needed on the brochure, it was important to establish a repetitive way of showcasing information for unification's sake, and hierarchy was needed to let the eye flow easily across the pages (which I used through color changes and type weights.)

menu!

2010-04-24T22:24:00.004-04:00

This is a project for typography where we had to design a menu based on a famous graphic designer's work. I chose Paula Scher for my designer, and one of her posters advertising a play as my inspiration. This is only two panels of the four that will make it up... it is still missing the drink menu, the desserts, and the front cover. Let me know what you think!

(click to see larger.)

p.s., this is the poster designed by Paula Scher that serves as the inspiration piece:

initial thoughts for specialty item

2010-04-12T17:04:00.006-04:00

For my specialty item, i am creating an herb growing kit that urban cottage can sell. the brand will be called "urban herbs / by urban cottage" and will include a set of three different herbs, the types of which have not been finalized yet. depending on how i treat the type, i may end up with cilantro, mint and basil, simply because there are no descenders in the names and would be easier to work with as a set. however, a part of me wants to use sage, rosemary and thyme just because there is a song about them. not relevant. i digress...

anyways, the kit would include a small 4 panel brochure (about 3" by 2.5") explaining the care and maintenance of that specific herb, a small tag for the plant once it is in a pot, and a seed packet containing all the seeds necessary to grow the herb.

essentially, the idea of the kit is to show that you can have an herb garden anywhere, even if you live in a 400 sq.ft studio apartment 20 stories from the ground. urban herbs can be grown anywhere, as long as you give them a little sun and a little attention. :)

here's a screen shot of the front of the brochure for now, which is still at a very beginning stage. it will mimic the sticker on the front of the kit pretty similarly once it is finished:

these are the three colors of green that will represent each herb that i choose:

and this is my general color scheme. the light tan isn't quite what it will look like printed, as i am printing on that tan-ish colored recycled paper that i used for my stationery.

for mackensy

2010-04-11T18:58:00.002-04:00

here is a screen shot of your business cards in progress. let me know what you think.

advertisin'

2010-04-08T19:55:00.001-04:00

this is what my ads looked like mounted on my board, before critique suggestions:
(click to see full size)

oops.

2010-04-08T19:53:00.001-04:00

realized i have not updated this in quite a while.

this is what my mailer for urban cottage looks like mounted on the board. as soon as i can get pictures of the mailer actually made, i will add those to this post.

work week vol. 3

2010-03-15T10:31:00.002-04:00

at the beginning of spring break, i had 1 piece in my "final portfolio pieces" folder on my desktop.

now i have 10.

i am extremely pleased with my progress the past week in reworking a lot of pieces and getting ideas for the pieces to come. :)

now it's time to get feedback on all of them and start all over again...

logo vol. 2

2010-03-13T09:46:00.001-05:00

i fixed the shape of the logo itself a little, as well as reorganizing the shape of the words.

i've also been working a lot on my mailer for GRD3200, but i don't think it's put together enough for pictures here yet. perhaps today? :)

work week, vol.1

2010-03-09T15:15:00.004-05:00

Each day of Spring Break, I am dedicated to working on a different piece for my portfolio. Yesterday was my personal logo. Here's what I've got thus far:

The type below the icon needs work but i am pretty happy with the mark itself. it is supposed to represent the letters S, A and D for sarah adams design. and of course it's purple because all of my logos are purple...and well, why change that now?

After having a total of 4 different personal logos since I took GRD3000 in the fall of 2008, I think I am finally happy with one.

Regardless....thoughts?

new stationery board

2010-03-01T08:28:00.003-05:00

changes to letterhead, envelope, and the back of the business card.

stationery board

2010-02-26T19:39:00.001-05:00

click to see larger. :)

eric!

2010-02-22T12:51:00.006-05:00

tshirt on the front...

paragraph on the back shoulder...

i think i'm okay with this.

2010-02-17T10:48:00.001-05:00

mums the word.
thoughts?

carded

2010-02-15T17:02:00.002-05:00

info broken up into two sides...

or just on one. this one feels a little topheavy. ok, a lot topheavy.

mums the word

2010-02-15T12:52:00.001-05:00

mums mums mums
i like this shape. i can't make it fit well with any of my type though.

blah.

2010-02-14T11:08:00.003-05:00

meh.
i still need an icon.

playing with icons

2010-01-30T15:20:00.005-05:00

I'm not really sold on any of these but it was fun to play around with them.

I like how the letters and the flourishes are wrapping around each other here.

a quick logo and possible color schemes

2010-01-28T15:49:00.009-05:00

Just so you can see the 'g' as it would sit with the rest of the words. This entire text formatting is still very much under construction, and the line is placed, if for no other reason, than for a sense of balance.

and color schemes that will show up differently on your computer:

I chose these colors because they are comfortable and relaxing, but still retain a sense of classy, boutique-like style that the urban cottage could fit nicely into.

while perusing a fabric store, I found a couple of beautiful fabrics and textures that I think I can work with when the time comes for stationery, ads, and specialty items. Here are a couple preliminary scans of them:

geeee

2010-01-28T15:42:00.003-05:00

After deciding that I wanted to open up the lowercase 'g' in the word 'cottage,' it was just a matter of drawing enough of them to find a composition within it that felt balanced and aesthetically successful to the eye. though there are plenty in the sketches above that don't meet those qualifications and are actually quite horrifying, there were a few that had potential. As I was drawing them, they began to not look like g's at all, and sort of became little abstract peacocks which was kind of distracting to my eye, but i'll keep it in mind regardless. Of all of them, I felt like the g furthest to the bottom of the page had the most balance and thus became the 'g' i ended up working with. After thickening parts of it and doing a quick (and i mean quick) vector rendering, this is what I came up with:

The lower tail and other random places could probably still use a little bit of refining, but you get the idea. thoughts?

sketchy

2010-01-28T15:36:00.006-05:00

a study of the lowercase g

2010-01-25T16:23:00.001-05:00

this is beautiful.
i am thinking of recreating the letter g for my logo in the word "cottage" to give the type treatment a little extra flair.

scans to come.

urban cottage

2010-01-18T18:32:00.004-05:00

A conglomeration of research after exploring Urban Cottage today.

BUZZWORDS
peaceful
handcrafted
comfortable
artistic
delicate

After visiting the store today, I did notice a logo design that they do carry throughout the store's interior. However, I don't think it fits them very well. Something about it feels too harsh. I think it's the pointy typeface they use. I will upload pictures and scan in a business card as soon as I get a chance.
I am also confused because the Urban Cottage website looks nothing like the store's logo or theme they seem to have going on in person. The look of everything in the store is black and white, yet the website seems to have a lot of delicate patterns and colors that seem to fit them better. I think I can successfully create a logo that balances the two out nicely.

Potential competition:
I see anthropologie in the same market as urban cottage simply because of the homey-ness and serene atmosphere that both of these stores hold. There is something extra about their home furnishings that feels artistic and delicate that something like Bed Bath and Beyond wouldn't have.

So This doesn't seem too bad at first glance. The typeface used in this identity is nice and refined. It seems to have a delicate and feminine feel about it. But the more that I look at it, the more I find squares. Black and white squares just layered on top of each other with no real flow or focus. It kind of drives me insane. And this needs to change.

wired and fired

2010-01-18T18:18:00.011-05:00

Here's a conglomeration of research after my day of exploring Wired and Fired's pottery studio.

BUZZWORDS
creative
playful
inspiring
relaxed
colorful

Possible competition, exploring pottery painting market on the web:

In short, the competition isn't really looking too fierce. None of the logos above really stand out to me as being something exceptional, which is helpful, because it allows me to break new ground with Wired and Fired's logo design.

ew.

2010-01-13T14:03:00.000-05:00

i take it back. Helmet's branding isn't all that bad compared to this.

rebranding ideas

2010-01-11T15:36:00.007-05:00

Though located in different places around atlanta, both Wired & Fired and All Fired Up are pottery painting shops where a customer buys an unglazed pottery piece and paints it to their liking. Though it is a popular place to bring children to have parties and make memories with kids, it is also a fun creative outlet for the artistic types. All Fired Up seems to need the most work, simply because it is using Comic Sans as its typeface...but I don't feel like Wired & Fired is all that great either.

This is a very cute little shop in the Virginia Highlands area that has an amazing atmosphere when you walk in. I feel like the logo and overall branding could be more unified, however, and possibly given a more delicate and boutique-like feel without losing its structure.

Rumi's Kitchen is a Persian restaurant in the Sandy Springs area. Not sure what is going on with these colors but it's really quite hideous. I don't need to say much more.

Lastly, Helmet hair salon in midtown's logo is just kind of...there. I feel like this all-type treatment works okay on their website, but i have a hard time picturing it on a business card or something similar. I feel like more could be done to it, especially considering this is an upscale and trendy hair salon located in one of the most artistic places in atlanta.

this little piggy

2009-06-21T21:28:00.002-04:00

best purchase ever.

Just Because

2009-05-29T21:32:00.004-04:00

it's the grammar nazi coming out of me.

i found this list on a random blog while searching the internet, and it made me happy. so i thought i would share. it's by a columnist from the New York Times named William Safire.

How to Write Real Good:

Always avoid alliteration.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Avoid cliches like the plague-they’re old hat.
Employ the vernacular.
Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
Parenthetical words however must be enclosed in commas.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
Contractions aren’t necessary.
Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
One should never generalize.
Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
Avoid archaeic spellings too.
Understatement is always best.
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
One-word sentences? Eliminate. Always!
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
The passive voice should not be used.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Don’t repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
Who needs rhetorical questions?
Don’t use commas, that, are not, necessary.
Do not use hyperbole; not one in a million can do it effectively.
Never use a big word when a diminutive alternative would suffice.
Subject and verb always has to agree.
Be more or less specific.
Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.
Use youre spell chekker to avoid mispeling and to catch typograhpical errers.
Don’t repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
Don’t be redundant.
Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
Don’t never use no double negatives.
Poofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Hopefully, you will use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
Eschew obfuscation.
No sentence fragments.
Don’t indulge in sesquipedalian lexicological constructions.
A writer must not shift your point of view.
Don’t overuse exclamation marks!!
Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
Always pick on the correct idiom.
The adverb always follows the verb.
Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
And always be sure to finish what

if you actually read this, good for you. if you understood at least half of it, even better for you.

fresh.

2009-05-08T17:17:00.005-04:00

I'm starting over on this blog. Not as a potential designer, but as a beginning creativist. I don't know if that is a word, but it should be.

I'm going to spend the summer writing, doodling, and taking photographs. I am going to go back to the beginning to try to remember why I consider myself a creative person and why I feel the need to continue my creative output. I'm not meant for math or science. I am meant for something else. If that is not graphic design, then I will figure out what it is this summer.

I'm going to do my best to see my failure to get into the design program as a sign that I should be trying other things, or using the free time to do something different. I'm going to take advantage of it to the best of my ability. Wish me luck!