Flash Final

Please let me know if what is this page is incorrect. The link is going out to the world next week.

Happy Holiday

I know many of you get restless during the holiday so here are some tips.

You can do what the seniors have to do and that will start to get you prepared for your senior year here is their class blog. Great blogs are listed on the right, you can just look, read, blog. Here is their to do list over break.

When you are looking at great work such as on this site (graphic exchange), really examine why you think it is great. Also start noticing how things are photographed and presented.

In GD3 you will be redesigning a book that is not well designed so collect a few poorly designed book options so you are ready to go. In the redesign you can add content, images, illustrations. (my opinion is to avoid the already well designed and to avoid cookbooks: too many really nice cookbooks out there). Also you will be designing a magazine so start buying some research (buy magazine that you think are well designed). Also Surprise Me is a good reference book for the class, so buy it now and absorb it. You also may like Experimental Formats 1 or 2 for your reference library. or How to Make Books is another great one.

If you are motion/flash happy. Take your Typographic ID and translate it into flash or aftereffects.

If you want to get your resume together here is what you need on your resume and on the portfolio class site there are many tips about resumes, coverletters, interviewing, etc.

Vector Art

a great collection for you to download and use.
smashing mag is a great resource to bookmark.

Flash Results Page

Here is the link to project results page as it stands now, your last round I had is in there. Please check your links. If your website link doesn't work that is because i don't have it (so send it to me). Also if your images is black i need one to put there. Not due until Thursday. Just a reminder...

the best

great design work is featured here
http://www.graphic-exchange.com/home.html

Hallmark Internship

Hallmark has posted their Internship information. If you are at all interested APPLY. Please work with me on getting your cover letter and resume together. http://www.hallmarkcreativecareers.com
http://b-cre8ive.blogspot.com

free sounds

you will need sound and you should start using them from the beginning of your flash movies EVEN if it isn't the exact "perfect" one. Get something in there and then switch out the sound when you find the "perfect" one. To find sounds, besides what is on the server you can google free sounds or try these
a1freesoundeffects.com/
simplythebest.net/sounds/
freesound.org
partnersinrhyme.com/pir/PIRsfx.shtml
soundsnap.com/

NOTE: we have quicktime pro in the lab, if the sound is a quicktime movie just click on the arrow and save the file onto the desktop/yourfiles/your media device...

concept statements

some of you had one for project 2 some of you didn't. but none of you nailed a concept. for the next project lets start back at the beginning a concept statement is...a memorable statement that tries to capture the "essence" your project, particularly its uniqueness. It can be regarded as a global goal or motto that provides the reader with an orientation point during the whole design process, just as a lighthouse serves as an orientation point for ships during the night. the concept statement is a short, descriptive, and easy-to-remember phrase that tries to capture the intention or purpose of your project.

concept statements please start of with
1) a comparison
making fake blood is like
or scaring someone with fake blood is like
building a tree swing is like
or swinging on your tree swing is like

0r
2) a quote/motto, phase...

start with one of those 2 ways and you will be in better shape concept wise.

first frames

http://www.gettheglass.com
http://www.brainpop.com/
sooo weird: http://sf.mcdonalds.co.jp/

Why Man Creates

Thought you guys may want something look at while you are taking a break from putting together your type books. 

Go to my blog and click on the link to watch a clip for Saul Bass movie Why Man Creates.

Click Here

when i grow up

check out my sweet new post on my design blog...its what i want to be when i grow up!

click here!

retro type

some really great type examples of retro, just something to think about when you are fine tuning your photo books AND when you are thinking of different styles for GD project 3. Mark it and keep it for your reference. each link on the page links to even more.

Paper School by Clampitt Paper.

Friday Nov 13 from 11:30 to 1:00
please let andrea know in class if you are planning to attend. Clampitt paper needs a rough count so they can have enough packets for everyone.

Several KU students saw the presentation at DSCV and asked if we could get him to come to KU. He is coming from DALLAS and wants to give the students each a "packet" so I need to know if you are attending. (we are working on getting pizza)

Clampitt Paper gave us a great tutorial on the different paper materials that are available and some of the more specific guidelines to consider. Paper choice can create a dramatic difference in the quality and concept of a project. It would help in future projects, and not to mention it's great to have a connection with someone that you could call or email if you had questions. This is a great opportunity and something that isn't always available. Don't miss it. (amy)

"Learning the styles and weights of paper stock was enlightening, considering I knew nothing about it before. I feel that I can be more confident and knowledgeable in my choices, especially for my future job when I will most likely have to work with printers and such." (lesley)

flash examples

more
http://www.gettheglass.com
http://www.brainpop.com/
sooo weird: http://sf.mcdonalds.co.jp/

flash projects from last year. look at both classes mine are more graphic and jeremy's photographic -- just so you know i "like" both. my class and jeremy's class

best of web (step inside design mag), website examples are all flash heavy, since we are moving onto flash next take a look... i will be adding to the list...
http://www.anode.com/
http://www.antics.com/
http://www.buildaforest.com/
http://www.eyeballnyc.com/
http://www.bakemaniacakes.com/
http://www.hzdg.com/

others
http://www.timburtoncollective.com
http://www.carbonstudio.co.uk/

Tuesday

We will go over the final project in class. It is online so you can read through it all before class.

Refine all photoshop files so they are perfect.
Save them all as jpgs.
(ideally: update clickthrough: on your own)
Make your homepage work and click to all paths.

Tuesday we will go at this again but you need to have worked on it this weekend.
Most important! PHOTOSHOP files are finished, the correct size, all type is legible
COMPLETELY legible, not at all "messy"

Click through
each pages has an HTML file, on each HTML file is your jpg, use image make to link to all pages.

Tutorials for Thursday

Thursday we will go through some tutorials creating web graphic and building an HTML page in dreamweaver. It get a head start here are some tutorials on lynda.com to watch.

Photoshop CS3 for the Web
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=330
watch 14 Rollover Graphics
also watching 11: creating animation and 12: slicing would be helpful

Dreamweaver
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=410
watch 11: Rollovers
also watch 5. Linking

If you don't know a user name and pass email me and I can send them to you.

more than (5) F I V E

FIVE PER PERSON not per GROUP. Now i feel like I needed to say that the 5 homepage explorations for Tuesday need to be considered and refined not hacked together. To get 5 good ones you are going to have to do MORE than 5 designs (i am serious here). Refine them before you present them in class on Tuesday. This round in the project is a very important round -- E X P L O R E different ideas, techniques, hierarchies, type, color...

missing stuff...and more

reading...
if you haven't done it post your "considered" question on your blog. asap
go through your classmates blogs and answer at least 3 different questions.

website research
10 sites that you consider good and why
3 that relate to your topic

PROCESS pdf(s) on server...
site map
personas
user paths
to suggest
wireframes

label the pdfs clearly. they can be all in one pdf or separate pdfs.

building a wireframe

wireframe: website reference

Movie Posters

If any one is interested in movie posters I have found a site that has them all. http://impawards.com/ has them categorized by very way and they have some that didn't even get published. I like the new Dark Knight posters.

fasinated by

old anatomy posters. I found this site and couldn't resist to post: Chinese Public Health posters

collage lover?

for those who love collages this is for you.
an oldie but a goody: misprinted type
and one more the antigirl

my top ten sites and why

shopcomposition.com: why: great innovation/thinking of how the user can navigate and interact... when i saw it i said wow
fork.de why: beautiful use of flash and html on one page
factor design: why: because i worked there but most importantly the navigation (name of the buckets) is innovative and very smart: what do they do they launch | renew | envison. they launch, renew or envision new brands/ideas/products. and each section has its own look and feel.
ted.com why: you know it, it is cool how it works, sorts, categorizes
uic: why: it is a bit crazy but i works
cbs: why: of the tv sites this one is typographically sophisticated
good.is why: is good postage stamps defining areas, clean, beautiful quality
typography.com: sophisticated, elegant, good use of pull downs
octavo.com: dito beautiful, sophisticated, good use of ugly pull downs
chrisglass.com why: good use of tabs/icons/color in the nav
method.com why: easy navigation, clean, interactive
veer.com why: good way to navigate and sort/search
trollback: why: showing all the things they do while show what relates with what
reformschoolrules why: great example of mood and tone matching

runner up
design21sdn: ok design, content is good, some interesting navigation on the right
youworkforthem.com great use of rollover images
aiga.org: can't say it is my favorite but it does a good job on organizing a lot of information and making it visually interesting

sitemps: tips

Sitemaps are common deliverables, desired by clients who want a visual representation of a site. Article about sitemaps and ways to make them The Lazy IA's Guide to Making Sitemaps

i use illustrator to make my sitemaps but you may use what works for you. to help you make your site map real here is a program that could be useful, www.conceptdraw.com

studio tour and open house

October 1 {Blacktop Creative: studio tour and open house

info graphic posters

if the world were 100 people

love it.

...when you are finished

sometime next week. post your final videos on the AIGA youtube page

Last Check: check yourself

Please post your group feedback if you have not already done so. I will need it as part of the grading process. Also make sure you have all your process on the server (there is space). As a final check this weekend... ask yourself the following questions about your project...

Concept
Is there a clear visual pov that drives all design choices? Do you think you articulated it well? Think anybody will see/feel/get it?

Craft
Have you scrutinized every choice? Are all the parts reproduced the way you want them to be: image quality, resolution, color and alignments. Spell check?

Type
Are your choices driven by Expressiveness or Functionality? If it is supposed to be read can it be...is it on the screen long enough? Is the viewer sprinting, walking or daydreaming? Is it more appropriate for the type connote the "other" meaning through motion/movement or by the typeface choice or by both? Or is both too much?

Image
Is it interesting? Could it point to what it is representing rather than just show it? Does the image read what you want it to? Does it point somewhere else too..is it appropriate?

Time
Duration. Is it too long or too short? Could it be quicker to keep the ball rolling? Do you ever pause? Sequence. What is the story? Have you explored different "order of the shots"? Is it too predictable? or should it be? Am I on the edge of my seat? or should I be comfortable right before you punch me in the mouth?

Long hello and short goodbye or short hello and long goodbye. Where is the big "reveal"? Why?

Transition
Planned? Flow or make a statement? Float like a butterfly or sting like a bee?

Motion
What does it feel like? Mechanical or Organic? Sexy or Goofy? Should it play by the laws of physics? Do the different actors/parts behave differently? Do they have a personality? Tigger or Pooh?

Sound
Background music or "communication through the audio channel"? Too literal or Too obvious? Choreographed? Parallel or Counterpoint? Does the visual and the audio have a conversation, play together or should they argue and fight?

Communication
When the dust settles.....What does the audience remember? Were you successful?

Funny Video

good.is

good magazine has changed to good.is
there are several videos that are interesting but too awkward to place in the blog
transparency section: lord of the rings
and vampire energy by nigel homes et all

fun and funny

perspective : stoytelling : memory

Objectify Me

can designed by the master Paul Rand

Objectify Me is a weekly series of guest columns in which people we like discuss designed objects that inspire them.

Objectified: new documentary by Helvetica director Gary Hustwit coming this season to AIGA KC.
It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Prototype + Hammerpress + Design Ranch

Just a reminder that ProtoType (AIGA student group) will have its first meeting monday at 6pm. If you want to be a member but can't make the meeting talk to me on Tuesday. ProtoType link

Also...

AIGA KC celebrates and embraces this thriving creative community by inviting diverse "homegrown" talent to share their hard-earned stories of success. This is an opportunity for other aspiring creatives and other professionals to meet and learn from these local creatives by asking the hard questions.

This is a new event format for AIGA KC check out and hear what they have to say. If you sign up now it is only $5 and $7 at the door. here is the link.

b e a u t i f u l :: exception

you have heard me... no type on a curve, no type in a shape, no manipulating type __ but there is always the exception. Chinese artist Tsang Kin-wah


















and another but not by the same person

why i skippled class

on thursday i was on my way to the Walter De Maria: Lightning Field. On a barren, isolated plain in west-central New Mexico, one of the most remarkable artistic creations of all time has quietly taken shape. Called the Lightning Field, it is a precise geometric collection of 400 gleaming metal poles rising from the earth over an area one mile long and one kilometer wide. more images

Artist Lecture: Laurie Anderson on HOMELAND

9.11 (end of Thursday's class)
you are excused from class if you would like to go to... Artist Lecture: Laurie Anderson on HOMELAND | bio |

Co-sponsored with the Lied Center of Kansas / Anderson, who will perform HOMELAND at the Lied Center on Friday, Sept. 12, will speak about her reasons behind the work, which is a response to her own thoughts and reactions to how the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks affected New York City and the United States at large. HOMELAND uses the synthetic language of technology and the sensuous language of songwriting and poetry to capture Anderson’s compound reply. SMA Auditorium / 4:30 PM

Change in Homework for Thursday

no animatic for Thursday's class. We need to step back and get the imagery/graphics, type, color palettes set. And you need to finalize your concept and what you want people to "take away" after they see your motion graphic. what do you want them to remember? do? how do you want them to feel? ie: empowered. what is your information/stat... how will you show it in a graphic, dynamic manor?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1. refine your storyboards, make the "frames" in the proportion of 640x480 pixels (points) not inches. refine images, type, color, information, and ADD at the bottom of the frame how you want the transitions to work.

2. Project Brief/Process Book a doc (indesign or illustrator) that follows this (will be handed in as a pdf at the end of the project)
-- cover
-- title page: your name, project name, semester
-- project description
-- your fact/stat/piece of information
-- associated word list
-- key words (defined)
-- define: emotional qualities on the content and the context of a message. For example, if the content of a message is optimistic, the motion’s emotion must convey a behavior that people can identity as being positive. Yet, the behavior would ‘remind us’ rather than ‘tell us’ in a literal sense.
-- define: personality: attributes such as color (literal and figurative), size, type of imagery and typeface…
-- define: rhythm: where should you pause for dramatic effect, which words do you stress, what voice quality do you use, etc.
-- to suggest list (design objectives)
-- to suggest (mood/feelings, actions, reactions...)
-- color palette
-- image palette: images/graphics that you are going to use
-- moodboard (as it was today)
-- storyboard 1
-- storyboard 2
-- refined storyboard

inclass
show your refined storyboard to at least 3 fellow classmates (capture feedback) and after effects demo

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
DUE next Tuesday
-- Questions and Answers: Visit your classmates blogs and answer 3 questions about the reading. (try and be insightful if someone has answered the question before you, you need to add something more to the answer or move onto another question by another classmate. If there are already 3 responses to a question you must move onto another question. In the end all questions should have 3 comments.

-- Blog: Who are: Richard Saul Wurman, Nigel Holmes, Edward Tufte post an entry on any research, compare and contrast the 3, post links to more information and post at least 1 example from each of the information designers. (use your own words)

-- Blog: please add a design objectives in the form of a To Suggest List.

-- Animated Storyboard first round of putting your storyboard into AfterEffects. Get sound in even if it is placeholder.

Inclass on Tuesday we will be working in class so bring your files and i will come around talk to you one on one...

we can solve it

No single person will stop global warming, but by working together, we can make it a priority for government and business. We'll succeed because when people unite and call for action, change is inevitable. Together we can solve the climate crisis.
http://www.wecansolveit.org/

I O U S A

I finally remembered to look up the movie I have been talking about in class...I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions. Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes.
| trailer | website |

By Richard Saul Wurman

Anie posted this to her blog by Richard Saul Wurman and it is well done so here it is... http://192021.org