Final Thoughts

These last 10 weeks have really taught me a lot about publications from printed publications to web based applications. I thought I had a passion for publication design before this class, my feelings for this type of design has grown into something I can not explain with words. This was the most fun I have had at school in my 3 years here. I am very thankful that I was able to take this class so close to graduation because it will defiantly be a class I will remember for a life time.

Marketing Packet

This is the final cover for my magazine. It contains all the proper head lines for what content is going to be in the printed copy. I used Photoshop to create the final look here.

This is my table of contents and my cover letter for my magazine. The Table of contents has an easy to read directory for where you can find each assignment. The cover letter is more or less our mission statement for the company. This spread was created in both InDesign and Illustrator.

This spread was created in one of the previous weeks. I did not modify it because I fell in love with the simplicity of this layout. I also love the use of vector art because it is not something we see a whole bunch of.

This is also a spread from a previous assignment. I wanted to maintain a simple and clean look so I only used images and not other design elements.


I did modify this article. I used a photo in the background and changed the color for the bars to match the color in the photo.

I decided to create ads out of the banner assignment as well as the web design. I added little blurbs that directs the reader to visit the site to experience the awesomeness of the designs.

I did the same thing here with the assignments. I figure if I turned them into ads, it will make it appear that this is more of a magazine and not a marketing packet.

This are more along the lines of a short article and the blurbs contain information to get the reader to go to the website and subscribe to the magazine.

I also modified this back cover by putting a web address on the bottom to display that this article is related to the magazine.

Week 9

This week we were assigned the final project which consist of creating a sale packet for our work that we have completed through out the quarter. We had to pick a front cover and modify it to contain the assigned content of the packet. We also had to choose a back ad that was our favorite and modify a table of contents. We are to print a copy of our magazine and provide a digital file to class by week 10.

There's an App for that

This is the image of what the Eco World splash page would look like. You can see that the image is loading as it is trying to connect to the online subscription of the magazine.

This view is the photo gallery. It is much easier for a mobile app if there is a separate section for images. Not everyone is interested in the images which can take up a lot of space. This saves time for those people and provides a well organized and easy to use gallery.

This is an example of some body copy within an article. As you can see there are no graphics other than the logo in the upper right hand corner. The text would display at a 12 point Helvetica font to make it easy on the eyes.

This page is the About Us page, which has some general information about our company such as history and what we do. There is also a link to send us an e-mail or give us a call.

This is the Table of contents page which you can get to any article in the selected month's subscription. You can also touch the "Featured" button and get quick links to all the cover stories. This assignment was fun because it is something that I can see many people using. We all know someone with an iPhone or a smart phone of some sort. The demand for mobile apps is increasing everyday

.

Web Banner

This is an animated banner ad for the web site. There is only about .02 seconds between each frames so that the images appear to be animated smoothly. The image above is the first frame of the animation.

This image is about half way through the animation (I animated each swirl of green to appear on their own frame)

The word Reduce is presented to display the message that is tied along with the overall content of the magazine and website.

The word Reuse is presented to display the message that is tied along with the overall content of the magazine and website.


The word Recycle is presented to display the message that is tied along with the overall content of the magazine and website.

Week 8

This week was an easy going week. We reviewed our online newsletters and our website templtes in class and received some valuable feedback. We then started a new project which was fun. We had to design an App for the IPhone for our magazine publications. We also has to design a web banner for our ad space on our websites.

Online Newsletter

We were assigned to create an online newsletter for Expose. If you remember from a couple weeks ago, we created a brochure for Expose since they announced their initiative to go green. The newsletter need to consist of the same information as the brochure.

Week 7

I was absent from class this week. We were supposed to turn in 2 website templates this week. Due to only a couple students finding the time to complete this assignment, the class was given lab time to work on this assignment. The class then discussed online newsletters.

Online Publication

This template was designed with connection speed in mind. There are very little images or graphics here to maintain a quick download even to those with a slower internet speed. I also took into consideration the ad space with a couple ads I placed. From the view of this page, it is as if you have clicked on the "by month" section and selected "April".

This design was created as if connection speed did not matter. This view is as if you had the mouse over the "subscription" button and had selected "April". This template allows for more images and is more visually appealing. I have left ad space as I did on the first one. I also added an embedded video on gardening for my viewers to watch if there wish.

Week 6

This week was exciting because once again our instructor changed things up for us. The main focus of this week was to dig into some web publications. We had a brief discussion about the advantages and disadvantages about online publications. We then shifted our attention to designing a couple templates for our magazines website.

Redline-June

For the June issue, I decided to go "blue" and do a whole Yamaha series for this month. As stated before, I know very little about street bikes so I decided it was easiest to complete the assignment this way. I created this cover in illustrator and I had to use stock photography from the internet because I do not know anyone with a street bike.

I kept the same basic layout as the May issue, but since it is Yamaha month, I used blue elements instead of the red. I think that the lines are still as powerful as the red. I think this design is very clean with the proper use of positive and negative space.

I love the way this ad turned out! I used an image from the internet and had to play with it a little bit in Photoshop. There was a logo along the bottom portion that I cloned out. I think the angle of the image is strong and works well with the message.

Redline-May

This assignment required us to take a classmate's magazine and recreate it with our own style. I was lucky to have picked Fran's magazine. I kept the logo and the text the same as well as the color scheme. For this cover, I chose an image of a street bike and added some cover features. I do not know anything about street bikes so this was a great way to challenge my abilities.

For the table of contents, I used the red line element because it goes hand in hand with the name of the magazine. It also kind of resembles tire tracks, in my opinion. I kept the design very angular because this type of magazine seems more professional than my own.

I created this ad for Honda since the bike on the front cover was a Honda street bike. I actually had to download the font from the Honda logo. I used an open road to show that the sky is the limit to how much fun you could be having on a Honda bike.

Expose Brochure

This is my revised brochure for expose. The only difference between this one and the previous one is that I added the information of Fran and I's magazine.

High Impact Ad

Here is an ad I created with Photoshop and Illustrator. I feel the bright colors in the image really grabs your attention. I used very little text here because I feel that the image and logo along with the ad claim is enough information for the audience. I like to keep my work simple. I feel this ad could work in many different magazines such as Home & Garden and Parents.

Week 5

This week marked to half way point of the quarter! This week was a little different than the previous week, our instructor loves to keep us thinking quickly and loves to throw us curve balls. We got to create a high impact ad for a honey company and we were only given a little research and photos to work with. It was a great way to get us thinking and I can see how such an exercise can keep the creative juices flowing! We also were given lab time to work on our brochures, peer's magazine, and our social event spread. I think I am maintaining a great deal of consistency throughout my pieces.

Expose

I stuck with a very simple layout for this piece and use very little color. I think the cleanliness of the design goes hand in hand with the topic of being "green". I added our mission statement to the back of the brochure as well as some tips on how Expose stays "green".

Social Issue Spread

My topic was an article about global warming. I have to add some more elements to my simple layout once I get some feedback from my peers. I also need to add the page numbers and the title of the magazine logo. This is very much a work in progress, but I am slightly one step ahead of the game, since just the writing is due this week.

Week 4

This week we continued to work on our magazines, spreads, and design standards worksheets. The instructor threw us a curve ball this week and gave us a random assignment. We had to create 2 logos for our publication company which we decided to name "Expose". We posted all of our ideas and voted on a logo for the assignment. Since there were so many great choices, the instructor allowed us to pick the one we wanted to use. We then were required to create a brochure for our company and the topic was to discuss ways that Expose has gone "green". We also had to do our library assignment, which is a paper about a social issue that pertains to our magazines. The last thing we were required to do, was to get the file of the person from class we selected and create 2 covers, 2 backs, and 2 table of contents.

2 Page Spread #2

This is a spread I did for class for my special edition magazine. I was given the file with the text and was asked to create a quick layout for the text. Since the theme had nothing to do with my magazine, I did not include any photos and just used basic shapes as my elements.

Design Standards Work Sheet

My Design Standards Worksheet contains the proper color pallet for my publication. I have done an extended color study and provided myself with the RBG, CMYK, and PAN tone colors for my logo. I have also provided the correct typography information and how the type will be used. Along with this information, I also gave a brief description of my publication as well as defining my target market.

Publication Examples

The above example is a great example of proper grid ad layout usage. The lines are very clean and there is enough balance here to make it flow very nicely. The use of justified text helps make for very clean lines and it remains easy on the eyes. The color pallet is very subtle, therefore, it is not over the top. The images line up well with the text.

This article has an acceptable use of the grid, but the unjustified text makes it look more on the messy side, which is not always a bad thing. The major issue here is the lack of balance. It is hard to tell here, but the actual article's content is pushed way too close to the bottom. I think this spread would word better if there was more negative space along the bottom as well.

This article also lacks balance. While negative space can be a beautiful element, here this is not the case. It feels that something is missing in the lower right hand corner. For this piece, I would create a grid where there is one column of text on the right and the image on the left. This would display more unity in the article.

Now this is a prime example of an article that is too heavy in content. There is way too much text on this page. I feel that I would either get too bored or lose my place if I were actually reading this. I think this article is visually unappealing. If no images were going to be used, I would still suggest the usage of drop caps or indentation here. Our eyes need a break in between text.

2 Page Spread

This is the 2 page spread for my Special Edition issue of Eco World. All of the elements here are vector art created in Illustrator. I used InDesign to layout the grids and used the text wrap tool to make a text wrap around the branches of the trees. My concern here is that there is too much content for a spread this size.

Special Edition Cover

For this cover I used the same image but I moved some of the text around. I also added the banner "Special Edition" and placed it in the top right hand corner. I also added some text so I had to move some text to the lower right hand side. This special edition contains a story about Earth Day to help celebrate the special day

Week 3

By this point, I am feeling less overwhelmed with the assignments that are due. This week we focused on lab time, working on all of our work so far. This week I focused mainly on the 2 page spread that is due next week for the special edition magazine. I also focused on my design standards worksheet which is very critical for the class. Since I was unable to attend class last week, I was not able to gain any feedback on my assignments, therefore, was unable to make any revisions.

April Issue of Eco World

The April issue is done in full color to represent how the trees and flowers have bloomed in our own environments. I used my own stock image and took it into Photoshop to create the front cover. I kept the text very simple, because this month will also have a "special issue". I was able to keep all the display text one color since there was not too much contrast in the image.
The table of contents is not quite done here. I was playing with the idea of the butterfly for the table of contents as I used elements in the previous issues. I am waiting to get the feedback needed to proceed with this portion of the assignment. I did keep the logo and "in every issue" consistent as I did with the months before.
The back cover is another ad to help promote doing our part to keep our environment safe. I used an image I took myself and felt the tag line worked perfectly for this piece. Since we are unaware of what is ahead of us, we should all do our parts to keep our environment clean.

March Issue of Eco World

For the cover of the March issue, I used another personal photo and took it into Photoshop to manipulate. I did selective color for this image since spring time represents the rebirth of nature. I wanted to add some fresh color to bring us away from the black and white images used previously. I still used white, blue, and green for the display fonts. I kept the logo consistent with the other two issues as far as size and placement is concerned.
For the table of contents, I wanted to keep simple shapes and elements here. I decided to link the cover with the table of contents by making the text fit into simplistic flower pedals. I kept the logo and "in every issue" the same as the first 2 assignments. I think this look is fun and yet easy to read.
The back cover ad is a start of a new campaign. The purpose of the ads are witty little ways to say "reduce, reuse, and recycle". I used my own stock photography and took the images into Photoshop to ad. These ads are meant to be inspirational by showing the beauty of our environment.

Week 2

I was not able to attend class this week, but I still continued to work on my next assignments. During this week I was to create the cover, table of contents, and back cover for the March and April issues of my magazine. During this week, I gained more confidence in my ability to work at a much faster rate than the week before. I think once I had a base design layout figured out, the rest just fell into place.

Feb. issue of Eco World

Once again, I used my own image for this Issue. I found a photo that I took during the winter and decided it was perfect for this issue. After doing the first cover, this one seemed to fall into place much quicker. The challenge I was facing here, was trying to maintain the readability of the text on such a high contrasted background. For this cover, I decided that less text was the best for this design.
For the table of contents, I kept the placement of the logo and "in every issue" elements consistent with the previous issue. I also decided that I liked the element of the vertical colored bar on the right. Like I did with the previous issue, I decided to keep the background images simple while lowering the opacity. The circles are to represent snowballs for the cold winter month. Once again, I wanted nice, clean elements for this page.
The back cover is also a Rubik's Cube goes green campaign ad. I created this image in Photoshop by merging a few elements together to create the completed look. This is the last ad for this campaign, as the spring months will bring in a fresh new campaign.