We cleaned up our color-keying and added some music. We also adjusted the zooming to make the details more legible.
The Union Station staff seemed to like our idea a lot! So that’s something to be proud of.
Filed under: KCAI, Narrative/Sound&Motion
Comments: Comments Off on Union Station Final Timeline
I’m thinking about my typeface, and I decided to relate it to something important in my life. I’m leaning towards something urban and dynamic, with a youthful feel. It’ll be my homage to MyARTS.
So, some keywords I have in mind:
Filed under: KCAI, Typography3
Comments: Comments Off on My Typeface
For my logo build animation, I’m doing Occupy KC. My ideas are based on the notion that we are all part of this city and it’s a part of us, and we should come together and stand up for what we believe in. My sketches all have a human element (or something representing the population) turning into the Liberty Memorial. It’s a pillar of strength, and so are we.
Filed under: KCAI, Narrative/Sound&Motion
Comments: Comments Off on Power to the People!
My model shows that different types of noise can create different audiences and different channels of communication, and those audiences can then transfer messages to each other and pass on information.
Filed under: KCAI, VisLang
Comments: Comments Off on Communication Model
My Koenig book focuses on the orthogonal qualities of Koenig’s architecture. Intersecting lines and right angles give everything a sturdy, strong, modern feel. These qualities are applied to the body text by stair-stepping paragraphs and smoothly transitioning from one block of text to the other, and by slicing photographs along the same lines that those paragraphs create. Letting these things happen organically but in a controlled manner reflects the way Koenig worked with his materials.
My main goal, above all else, was to make a Koenig book and not a Goering book. I didn’t want my own preferences and style get in the way of Koenig’s style and feel. I wanted to showcase his work; not turn it into my own. There were some ups and downs to get around, with figuring out how to make a nontraditional layout work. But after trying many things and finally finding a method that worked, I feel that I finally achieved that goal.
Filed under: KCAI, Typography3
Comments: Comments Off on Final Koenig Book
I’m so excited! I’m learning so much.
For the first time ever, I’m learning how use PHP includes! It’s pretty awesome to use them to their potential. Headers and footers are easier to deal with, page file sizes are a bit smaller, and everything’s WAY more organized than anything I’ve ever done before. Yay!
Yes, there’s PHP within PHP within PHP, but it’s so organized and clean… I’m so proud of it. It’s so easy to work with my code now. Super-organized.
I’ve also taken some advice on page construction and CSS organization. My CSS is easier to edit now that I know where everything is. Although it’s not as streamlined and clean as my PHP. I’m still working on that.
…But overall, I’ve discovered that this class is really whatever you want it to be. I want to get better at what I know, and learn how to do things I never would’ve had the time to learn otherwise, and that’s exactly what’s happening. I’m getting into HTML5 and PHP, which I never really had an opportunity to do before. And I’m also using this opportunity to create a visual identity for myself, which I never really thought much about before.
Here’s a screenshot of my new site so far:
At times, it’s been frustrating, but it’s coming along pretty well. I’m feeling pretty optimistic.
Filed under: KCAI, Online Presence for the Artist
Comments: Comments Off on Website Process: Organization, Hooray!
My concept:
I wanted to show the organic, pure qualities of the soap while giving the customer a sense of magic (there’s magic in the name!) and comfort. I achieved this through transparency of the label and using the soap itself as a design element. Both of those things together created what Jumper called a “kind of hologram” effect. I think that’s pretty awesome.
What I learned:
I learned that the shiny & expensive Konica Bizhub c451 can’t print color on transparencies. Poop. But my old, raggedy printer at MyARTS can. And I can use that for personal stuff if I ask really nicely. So that’s awesome. I also learned that doubling up on transparencies gives the print some opacity. So I don’t have to worry about having an impossible (for my price range) white undercoat. I also learned that you can’t read text through soap in a cylindrical bottle. Light doesn’t go directly through it, so it distorts it all over the place. So using a painterly image back there was the solution to that.
Aside from technical stuff, I learned about modes of appeal, and how changing which mode you’re using can change the meaning of the product and even the audience that you’re targeting. That’s a big deal for marketing. Targeting a specific audience through psychology is friggin’ MIND CONTROL.
I have the power!
Filed under: KCAI, VisLang
Comments: Comments Off on Final Packaging
Due to the ho-hum feedback I got, and my own general unhappiness with my book, I decided to completely redo this layout. It’s a lot better now. Yay, progress!
While playing around with my layout, I stumbled upon what I like to call a reverse indent, where I start a new paragraph column in the space in the last line of the previous paragraph. This creates a nice transition between paragraphs when you’re reading, while still establishing that a new paragraph has been started.
My concept is still the same: Koenig-style, angular, architectural qualities assigned to typography and layout structure. But I feel like this time around, it’s better executed. It feels like a Koenig book. Or at least it’s starting to.
One thing I’m a bit worried about is the stair-step pattern that’s starting to emerge from the nature of my paragraph alignment. I’m worried it’s become too much of a predictable thing. And that’s not how Koenig’s work is at all. It’s varied and diverse; not one-note and predictable.
Luckily, I’m playing around with the stair-step pattern, changing column width and height and using images and pullquotes as design elements.
I’m pretty excited about this book now. I wasn’t before, but now that I have a more engaging layout, I’ve got something to look forward to working on.
Filed under: KCAI, Typography3
Comments: Comments Off on Koenig: More Dynamic!
I learned a lot during this project.
In addition to becoming more familiar with After Effects, I also learned some video techniques such as how to use a green screen (which, looking back, should’ve been blue), and how to pass ideas and their accompanying After Effects files to and from a partner (and fix miscommunications along the way). I learned that low-tech methods of integrating videos can still produce some fairly impressive results.
I also learned that it’s very important to know exactly what your goals/objectives are before you start venturing off into Elaborate Idea Land. We got carried away very early in the project and had to tone it back quite a bit to get back on track. We even started completely over a few times. Although we both would’ve loved to create an elaborate project using all of our multitudes of research, we’re glad we had a relatively doable amount of work in the short amount of time that we had.
We made it work, though. And, along the way, I learned a lot about teamwork and how loyal classmates can be to each other. We’re not just classmates; we’re family. We’ll suffer through long nights and broken After Effects files together. And we’ll grow closer because of our shared experiences. It’s getting sappy, I know, but it’s important for me to finally understand that, as classmates, we’re not competing with each other; we’re in this together.
Filed under: KCAI, Narrative/Sound&Motion
Comments: Comments Off on Union Station: Centennial Celebration
Self-critique:
I definitely feel like it’s coming along. Yay, progress! It’s got the sturdy, architectural and modular qualities that I want to convey, but the layout in general is kind of boring and static. It needs that good old-fashioned Koenig dynamism. So that’s what we talked about in critique this morning. We discussed how to give it more personality and character by treating the type like an image, where it has depth and vibrance.
I almost wanted to completely start over halfway through and change my whole layout at the last minute. It feels that boring to me right now. So I’m making it my goal to bring some excitement to this book so not only the reader will enjoy reading it, but I will enjoy making it as well.
Some specific things that I’ll change: I’ll use my grid as more of guidelines than rules, and I’ll play around with column width too. I’ll also start thinking of my pullquotes as design elements, where I can do whatever I want to their placement and size, within the constraints of my grid. I’ll also include the footnotes in the Introduction section, which will add to my hierarchy. And I’m thinking about creating a “title page” of sorts for each section. And I’ll have some image-only pages/spreads for variety.
I think the main thing I need to play with is variety. Everything is so plain and default right now. I just need to spice it up.
Filed under: KCAI, Typography3
Comments: Comments Off on Spreads: Sturdy, But Static
