Critique

This feature story is interesting and unique from anything we have done before. I wanted to make this cover have a unique angle and I thought this couple would represent this and I went with the red color because in the Bible whenever the Word of God is spoken it's in red. I wanted to keep with the simplicity of the photo and not have to take anything away from the point of this photo and the message. [Well, this is the last blog for this class- peace out!]
-AMA

Photo Inspiration

So I didn't take this photo. And it's actually an old photo. So I'm kind of breaking all of the rules, but I just wanted to use this photo to show that as time changes, we need to keep in mind what is important to us. To me, it's my family, so I know that come graduation, I will be taking another photo with my parents representing me in this new phase of my life.

You Can't Miss: Quote

This is important for us as designers to remember because we sometimes we get a little to focused on perfection. This quote helps us to understand that sometimes craziness is accepted and needed in our profession. I don't know, but this is just something that I think is important for us to remember and I wanted to share with y'all. 

Reflection: Advanced Design

This class has been a crazy experience and I'm glad for every minute of it. I wish that I had taken this class sooner, but it's been great learning about all of the new techniques. Throughout this capstone I think I have advanced my knowledge and techniques drastically- it's awesome. I feel that this class will definitely be help my chances in our industry because the J-School wants its students to have the best opportunities possible in the journalism field. I wish the school would let us enter our emphasis classes sooner because I think it would help us to get a better advancement on our knowledge of how we are supposed to do correct things. You can see that my strength I think would be thinking of concepts for covers and executing them.

You Can't Miss the new card trend

More and more designers are moving in to the card industry. For example Hallmark is a big part of this new hiring industry. I'm sure everybody has seen the internships out there and possibilities designing new fun things that can brighten somebody's special day. If you haven't been to stores lately, you may not have seen the new trend of things also becoming more cartoonish and whimsical. Just the other day, I saw some thank you cards with illustrations looking similar to the ones that Libby does. Many designers think about going into the PR industry, but lately, with all this emphasis being placed on getting better Illustrator and illustration skills it helps to think of different possible roads. 

Photo Inspiration

The Kansas City River Market is my favorite place to be on Sunday mornings after church during the summer months. It's a farmer's market located down by the river, right outside Steamboat Arabia and I really like the atmosphere because of all the different food vendors and people at the market.

Critique: Portfolios

AMA! Like I said the other day, I fell in love with my initials and I know they may be boring, but I think it's fun. I love the color I chose for the website. However, I do completely agree that my opening screen needs some work because there are several heads cut off. It would work well aesthetically if everything was just completely perfect, which I will tweak this weekend before portfolio sessions. I like my projects section because I have my iPad feature separated from the print feature so that it could be in an iPad frame. I also included some of my photography, so employers could see that I'm well-rounded for any job they could want. On my last page I included a contact page and have downloadable pdfs of my resume and mini portfolio. Both go along with my color scheme to keep the similarity amongst the different platforms.

Response: J-School and Meredith

Meredith Publishing helped us all this semester. It's amazing how far we have all grown through this project. Seeing REVIVE Magazine printed the other day during class, I was really excited to see what our hard work does. Yes, it's not my magazine, but the same concept applies to my magazine. With this semester coming to an end and Des Moines being only 10 days away, my nerves are getting a little high. Plus, with the stress from all of our other homework, all of us are close to the end and these projects are the rainbow at the end of the storm.
The J-school has been one of the best and worst experiences of my life. It's a constant drive and constant headache, but it's also a constant excitement seeing the projects, stories and designs we've created printed.

Response: New design idea for ads

Cosmopolitan


Thank you Alex for getting me stuck on the Cosmopolitan website. This new ad design that she showed me today is awesome, I like the ingenuity of it and I think it's unique. The ad falls into the site and a box type thing. With all of the advertisements lately, it's important for an ad to stand out and this Aussie ad is a great representation for this idea. To the right is the main page of Cosmo and below is what the ad looks like and you can see the homepage that falls into the website for the advertisement to display. 
-AMA

Online Portfolio Critique

My logo is just the "ama" in the center, but I like it. 

I can't believe it's been three months and bam, this semester is gone it's time for our online portfolios to be completed. Below are some snapshots of my website. Obviously, I'm changing the color scheme, but I also have decided on my logo, which is pretty basic, but I like it.

The homepage will feature a smaller picture and a different color scheme. I'm going to keep the "About Me" section and the interesting little blurbs about my favorite things. This is just something fun that I think would help people get to know me better. 

This is my projects page and it's
really interesting because it has a
slider tool to go through my work.
It also brings the images up to a
bigger screen when clicked on. 

Photo Inspiration: Thanks to Ashleigh

The photos to the left are all from a photo shoot that I did with my cousin Chase. These are some of my photos that turned out perfect in my opinion since the shoot was entertaining and fun. This is what all photo shoots should be, yes, they do need to be professional, but why not both. 

Can't Miss: CALENDAR GALORE

Just a little something...

     I don't know about anybody else in the world, except my good friend Ashleigh, but I like making lists. Something vital to making lists is that you need to know dates and times of when things are happening and when things are due. An interesting something I found, would be a calendar stamp. I don't mean the normal calendar stamps from the library with due dates, but it's a little month calendar.
     For designers, we always have things due and recently I've started making notes on flash cards with when things are due. This is the perfect addition to my note cards, one side with the calendar and a red mark circling the date. Just something nice I though y'all might want to see.

One Martini, Two Martini, 3 MARTINI Critique

The "Three Martini" covers were interesting to work with. I decided that I wanted to use the silhouette photo illustration because it had the Mad Men feel completely and I furthered that with the colors (black, red & white). I think this cover would have worked really well; however, I think it would have been better if I put the Vox Magazine logo behind the head of the silhouette. Andrea, that's a great idea. The sell lines are at the top and in bar form because I think they don't actually affect the the photo illustration or take away from the photo. Since they are red and white it enhanced the cover. The fonts don't actually do anything for the cover, but I put them on there because I thought they worked well as Mad Men fonts.

Photo Inspiration: Ft. Pickens comes to life

To the left is a staircase at Ft. Pickens on Pensacola Beach in Florida. This picture was one I liked because it just has a rustic feel and everything about it shouts, old to me. However, I also really like history, so going to this fort was awesome.

You Can't Miss: Apple Design Tips

We all design on Apple computers, so I figured, why not let y'all check out some design tips from apple.

My favorites:

• Keep it Simple
• This is so true, sometimes we just overdue our designs. Sometimes we just think we should keep going and going and going. We want to make everything so intricate and when we have a design in mind we can get a little carried away. This helps us remember, we gotta KEEP IT SIMPLE!
• Sweat the Small Stuff
• Oh boy, oh boy. Keeping in mind that being a perfectionist isn't a bad thing. Sometimes we have to SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF to make everything look the best it can. 
• Make it Friendly 
• Erica and Andrea always remind us of this one, but we need to keep our readers in mind and making it user friendly is very important. 
• Be Consistent
• Wow, this is definitely something we have had to learn working on the Meredith Project with so many different designers. I am interning at Anthem Publishing this summer and having different designers it's going to be important to be consistent and try and make our designs co-mingle. 
• Create Beautiful Custom Icons
• Illustrations aren't my strong-suit, but I decided that I was going to put illustrations on my list of "things to get better at."

That's all for now, but I didn't think y'all should miss this.

Response: Quick to judge

The New Yorker wrote an article called "The Saudi Marathon Man" and this article I really thinks makes journalists think twice. We are always thinking, "be the first," "get the story out there," but something journalists had to think about after this story broke, is what if the story isn't the right story.
A young man, marathon runner, and Saudi Arabia native was harassed and his reputation torn to shreds when police destroyed his house and image, accusing him of the bombing. Why did they do this? I mean, it's quite obvious to me and The New Yorker, it's because of his race, his beliefs, and his culture. As Americans, we should be accepting of all foreigners, our country was founded my immigrants, but as journalists we have to be knowledgable and understanding of different backgrounds. I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I think journalists forget we have to step back and analyze the situation.

Response

Art Director. Creative Director. Designer. I don't care what I get, I just want a job and I think everybody feels the same. It was crazy hearing about all the different magazine and the ages of the art directors. It's good to see the advances at different magazines and the industry overall. Wired magazine has definitely changed over the years, and of course, seeing these presentations, is hopeful. These different magazines helped me see that even within one certain industry there are many trends different magazines choose to follow. Paper. Colors. Typography. Covers. The list can go on, and on, and on, but I'm ready for next week to see the rest of the presentations. 

Photo Inspiration

It's getting warmer outside and, I love a good spring rain. What is crazy is last summer I started my interest in shooting firework photography. This was one of my first shots of a fountain going off. Persistence and determination, that's the key.

Critique

Mini Portfolio

We all have to make one for class, but I had to accelerate my production for an internship interview. This made me thrilled, yet anxious at the same time. While making it, I wanted it to represent myself in the pages. The cover went through many different revisions, but the main body of my portfolio is organized with identification bars to the sides and then I have introduction pages with quotes. I chose my favorite quotes and decided to place them on section pages, so Sara Steffens (AD at Anthem) could get a little sense of my personality. 

I think I chose nice colors throughout, but I think when I get the bound version I'm definitely going to adjust the layout and make things a little more uniform. Below is a little "taste" of my portfolio. 

You Can't Miss: Swiss-Miss

Ok. Okay. I don't know how much easier things can get for kids these days. Yes, I'm aware I sound like an 80-year-old grandparent. But when I was young if we were going to have a bake sale, lemonade stand, or any other way to increase our piggy bank's weight we had to make posters for "advertisement." It was real "homemade" looking, but it was my childhood.

That being said, I will now step off my soap box.

Ikea thinks of everything and now they've done it again. While this cardboard stand is meant for play, it is definitely a way for kids to have a business with a professional look. It's wonderful to see the different items that appear on Swiss-Miss. This is what I posted from my blog this week because when I first saw this, I thought, "wow, how things have changed." If even a lemonade stand business is changing this much, it only makes sense our field can and will drastically change over the next 15+ years.

Wired's most recent cover, April 2013. 

Wired's first cover, 1993.

Hannah was talking yesterday in class about how Wired has developed and changed so much over the years. And before that, I talked with Sara Steffens about Anthem Media and KC Magazine doing a redesign this summer and how she things digital magazines are becoming bigger, I just keep seeing change everywhere in this industry. I had another interview with Steffens and she kept stressing all the different programs we use constantly developing and it'd be really hard to ever know everything about them.
-AMA

Response

I could respond to many things, but my main response would have to involve our Meredith presentations. First, I don't want to sound mean, but working with a group of people who don't seem as interested in getting things done as you can be a little frustrating. When we were working on our designs we didn't have over half of our content and the only thing I can say is sometimes we have to realize people think our jobs are easy. Talking with somebody outside of school and telling them what I am majoring in, they think it's a joke. I take offense to that and you designers out there should too. I think sometimes we do such a great job (yes, our class has some pretty talented people) that people begin to think it's the easiest thing in the world and it only takes minutes. Well, we all know that's not true; while we can bust out good designs in hours, I know I prefer at least a day to prepare. I don't know, just something quick I thought I would respond to.

• What do y'all think? 
• Are you having problems with you Meredith groups?

-AMA

Photo Inspirations

FLORIDA...

When I was on spring break, I actually did a lot of homework, but also wanted to boost my photography skills. I took this "artsy" type photo of the bridge crossing over the Missouri River in STL. I like the old-timey bridges Missouri has and I think the rust along with the colors help to add an old kind of feeling.

So this photo is to remind us all [journalists] that sometimes we deserve to 

be apart of actual life. We should some times, step back and remember we

should capture ourselves in the moment. That's why I took this photo, it's

my trip too and I wanted at least one picture of me on Spring Break, even

if it's a picture of me in the car through the side car mirrors. 

You Can't Miss

Farmers Markets Friends

As journalists we are turning more and more to digital ways to provide the news and keep our readers updated on what's new. With spring here and farmers markets about to be in full swing this new app called Farmstand is a great way for shoppers to help other shoppers at. I think this is genius seeing that we as journalists are wanting to give our readers the best ways to get local food for great prices and the best product isn't always easy and timely. This is going to be great for the new going "green" trends. Check out the link above.

Floating Vases

As you may very well know, I am working on Debut magazine for our Meredith prototypes, I'm very excited to say that I have found something I think would be perfect in our magazines. Floating vases look really cool in my opinion and would definitely be an interesting decorating element for any outdoor party somebody may be hosting. I think these vases would make something so simple as displaying flowers, elegant and interesting to your guests. 

What the vase looks like out of water, 

this would work perfectly in pools and 

other bodies of water near the parties

you are going to host.

Critique

While I did have some time to relax on spring break, I spent a lot of time working and designing. Over break my men of Stephens feature design was published. Overall, I don't really have anything to critique on this feature seeing as we revised it 3-4 times before it was sent off to print. My only critique was on myself and like I said patience is a virtue. I received everything for the story the night before the first draft was due. While this has happened before with the covers, it was a little more nerve wrecking for a feature. 
 

The Friday of break I found out that I was designing the "On the Map" feature, it was interesting working on that considering it was several vignettes. I wanted to include an element throughout each of the vignettes that could tie them all together, so I added a sliver of the map behind each title. I was really interested reading the stories and wanted to have a cool way to display all of the stories on one page and draw the reader in. I'm not sure if Hayley's cover was chosen, but I kind of played with her idea of having the collage. I thought if hers was chosen it would be the best way to have a correlation between the print and digital versions. Also I liked the leads of most of the stories and thought that would be a great way to draw the reader in, so I paired them with pictures and made them into the table of contents. I really like Abadi (font) right now for it's clean, thin look so I paired that with Baskerville on the pages. I'm gonna save my 3 Martini Lunch covers until next week, as well as my department pages for 04.04.13. That's all for now. Hope you had a great break and Easter holiday.
-AMA

Swiss-Miss: My list obsession

     So I was looking on my Swiss-Miss blog and immediately spotted: TeuxDeux. If anybody knows me, you know my list obsession is out of control. I love making lists and I'm very OCD about how my lists should look. It's interesting because I have to start over completely if they aren't done right. But for all of us journalists who need to keep our busy schedules organized, check out this link: TeuxDeux.
     Are any of you as obsessed with lists like me?
-AMA

Photo Inspiration: Wine Style

     This is a photo of a winery in Missouri. I decided to kick it old school on the photo because it's the first day of spring and freezing cold. I decided to post something warm and rustic. Have a great day and hopefully the weather will get warm soon.
-AMA

Response

The September Issue

I think my main response in regards to The September Issue would be when they she was talking about the photo editing. Grace said that some people need to be imperfect for the world to go round. Grace was talking about the cameraman and I think this is something important that we as journalists need to remember. Photographers and designers are always trying to get our designs perfect, but we need to remember that imperfection is sometimes perfection.
-AMA

Critique

Covers: This week I have a lot to critique. I'll start with my Route 66 covers, which was the photo essay feature. 

I chose the photo of the diner with the Route 66 painted on the outside wall because the colors struck me as a road trip. The red tint and bright neon signs shouted, fun, old diner. I went with the cover lines along the bottom because I think it works best with the photo. I made the feature hed and dek yellow and white to play with the colors in the photo. It helps them stand out more, while also tying into the theme of the photo. 

My other favorite cover was the open road sunset photograph going into California. This photo, again, feels like a road trip on a back road highway and the photo really had an old-timey feel. I chose to do a burnt orange color for the hed after talking with Erica, but I think the placement was too low into the photo. 

Men of Stephens feature:

My first draft was lacking, so I didn't post the look of that one. However, the draft posted is very picture heavy, which I have been critiqued for. I do think it looks cramped, but having to include a photo of all the guys getting their certificate is something I have been instructed to do. With it being a shorter story and the pictures of the men being kind of difficult to work with, this feature was a little tricky. This feature, in general, was tricky because everything was done so fast. Kate (writer) and Liz (photographer) did a great job of getting everything together so quickly on such short notice.

While working on this feature, the saying "patience is a virtue" was hammered in my brain. As designers we are always the last to finish because a lot of time we are the last factored in a decision. We have to remember to just have patience and not get, too, stressed.

Critique

I don't really have anything to critique this week because I'm going to post my covers next week when critiquing. However, I'm going to critique my portfolio, again, but with a twist. I've begun designing my mini portfolio. And by that, I mean that I think I know my colors and typography. 

My mini portfolio is something that I really want to nail and I think that it should be a great representation of me. Yesterday, when we saw the examples I especially liked the introduction pages to the sections that had a quote opposite it. I mean our portfolios should be a representation of us and I love quotes and I have favorite quotes that I think would be important for an employer to see to get an idea of the kind of person I am. One of my favorite quotes of all time is probably:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are younot to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Yes, I'm aware that I've told you all this before. However, I've been thinking wouldn't it be cool if I broke the quote up into sections throughout my portfolio. The quote starts off timid and then builds to the end and the person being "grown-up," if that makes sense, but that's something I've been considering. I also was considering choosing four or five quotes, but that would mean I would need that many sections and something I will say about my portfolio, is that it lacks work. I just don't have as much experience as some other designers in the class, but I'm hoping that will soon change. Also, I want to have a section of published work and I think in order for that to happen I need to have a cover, feature, department, and iPad work in that section. I just think that in order for my portfolio to be the way I want it, I need to step up my game and I think with my covers y'all will see tomorrow, you will see that I'm trying very hard to do that. I've been working on the revisions since last Thursday, so we shall see if you guys like them.
-AMA

Response

This week I scowered the web looking for something to respond about. I decided to respond to some different things I want to try out. For example, the other day in lab we [maybe just me] learned how to do some cool new tricks on Illustrator and seeing as I just learned this program last semester, it was very beneficial. I read a tutorial on how to do some textures just so I could be clear on how to do this. Here's the link to check out this tutorial: TEXTURE TUTORIAL.

You Can't Miss: The Diver

Oh, Swiss-Miss, you never cease to amaze me. The diver is a 49-second animated film. It made me excited about my illustrations and skills because I think the sharp look of the objects makes the art look awesome. If you check out his website you can see that all of his illustrations have a really quirky feel to them.

I think, that's something I have struggled with in the past when doing my own illustrations. I don't want people to judge them and think of them as poorly done. However, I'm beginning to realize that it's important to have my own signature style and it can be weird, and bad [to me] because what's one mans trash is another mans treasure. Check out some of Lancett's artwork and illustrations below.

Click for James Lancett's website. 

Illustration by James Lancett, taken from his awesome website.

Also, below is a video he posted about some of his works. It's really cool, I'd advise watching it for all you illustrators and illustrator wannabes out there.

Photo Inspiration.

Well, the drought is over. After the huge snowstorm, then rainstorm I would say the Missouri drought time is over. I thought the sun would never grace our eyes again. However, while at work, the sun was poking its joy through the clouds.

Photo Inspiration: True/False style

True/False Film Festival impressed me, in more ways than one. While the movie was amazing the decorations in the box office were even more impressive. The volunteers did an amazing job turning the box office in to a beautiful and intriguing place. Right when I walked in, I was impressed with all the different elements and I think they really went well together. 

-AMA