Final Portfolio: Typesetting

For my typesetting example I chose 

my redone Magazine Spread.  I had to type in the copy myself then I had to find a similar size and font to fit everything into the layout.  Setting margins and tabs while controlling leading made for a very interesting job. For some reason my tabs were acting oddly when I started the formatting but in the end they decided to cooperate with me.  I tried to get the paragraph

form and text to line up as close as I could with the original and in the end it didn't turn out too bad.  Luckily there wasn't too much in the lines of text wrapping around photographs.  There was a small issue with size though.  It took me a while to adjust the point size and leadding so that the text would fit but would also look similar in size and style.  

My favorite part of the typesetting was probably going in and adding the extra text throughout the layout.  Anything from the super easy page numbers to the picture caption and title heading, it was fun because it was fairly simple, usually just messing with colors and type faces, and it really helped add resemblance to the original piece.

This piece in my portfolio was a tough choice.  I had a few other projects to choose from that had a lot of text flow but because this one gave me the most trouble I decided to choose it because overall I was just as pleased with the result when I was finished and that means something to you when your finished.

Final Portfolio: Structure

I thought that my best example of structure came from the Chili Cook-Off poster.  The simplicity of black and white really helps you focus on the layout and structure because you aren't distracted by color and other details.  I really liked this layout because of its simplicity but also because of its not entirely symmetrical feel.  It looks very clean and organized but there is enough asymmetrical kinks thrown in to offset it and make it interesting.  Also I thought the chili pepper illustrations and the font went very well together.  When I look at this poster it just seems as good as it can get layout wise.  I can't really think of anyway to improve it in the slightest which is better than I can say about some of my other projects.  There's almost always some little thing I could tweak if given the chance but not on this one.

Final Portfolio: Copyfitting

My best example of traditional copy fitting has to be from Marceline dummy layout.  We didn't start copy fitting till fairly late in the semester so this was one of our first projects where we actually did this.  Copy fitting, for those of you who don't know, is the process of speccing out how large a given block of text will be on paper when it is finished.  You need to know what font you will use and what point size it will be beforehand.  I'm not a big fan of copy fitting, especially after this project as it required quite a bit.  Math and I don't mix very well and although the math is fairly simple multiplication and addition there was enough of it to make me start to resent it a little.  

In my pamphlet I specced it to 9 point verdana with a 12 point leading.  I was afraid for awhile that I wouldn't be able to fit the massive amount of copy that we had but after sizing down the last page's local attractions to 8 point verdana with 9 point leading I barely fit it all on in there.  Having a pamphlet design can really limit your space as each fold creates another margin which uses up some more of your space.  For the most part my dummy layout came out fairly close to my final production.  I did end up changing the layout a bit but the copy fit the same none the less.

Final Portfolio: Marker Comp

This was actually our first marker comp that we did in class this year.  I chose to put it my portfolio because I spent a lot of time on it and for being my first real marker comp I think it turned out pretty well despite some color overlapping issues.  I'm still not sure that I really enjoy doing colored marker comps but I'd have to say they do have this certain style to them that I like.  While I enjoyed the end result the process itself involved with these markers comps can get a little messy.  I'm used to using pencils and fine ink pens so a bleeding markers was a little too bold for me but if you take your time it's nothing you can't handle.  

Final Portfolio: Colored Thumbnails

These are the thumbnail comps from the Social Dancing magazine spread.  I chose to put this in my portfolio because I had a lot of fun come up with the different designs.  I really appreciated this set of comps because it helped me identify some problems with some of the ideas that I had and helped me choose the one that in the end turned out better than expected.   All the pictures in square frames had been previously picked out while most of those that were stand alones were just created on the spot, I would either had to have found a similar picture or done an illustration.  Overall have the color in their helps to bring a little more life and style to what your design is going to look and even if you change most of the colors like I did it helps to give a sense of what the design is going to feel like when it is completed. When viewing these take note that they are rough sketches and not too detailed up close.

Final Portfolio Incoming

The rest of this week will be spent touching up our old projects and refining our processes in order to gather together a digital portfolio similar to the one I presented at Midterm.  I'm not entirely sure of what I'm going to present.  I believe most of my greatest Illustrator and Photoshop work was from earlier in the semester due to the second half being mostly magazine and pamphlet spreads.  I'll have to go searching through my library of files that I've amassed and see what I can pull up.

Social Dancing Final Production

We were instructed to finish our opposite sex magazine spreads over the weekend.  I finished mine up in the lab before leaving for home and came back to a nicely printed project Sunday afternoon.  The only unexpected result was that the background color on the print is slightly darker than intended but it still looks fine.   Overall I am quite content with how this project went.  No major hitches along the way and it looks nice and clean.   The only OCD thing I can comment on his the position of the women on the second spread.  I would have liked to have had her leaning more into the text.