Photo Inspiration: earrings

I'm going through a huge mint phase so I had to share some earrings I saw today because jewelry is something that always has such a unique design.

You Can't Miss This: Instragram FX by Photoshop and illustrated magazine covers

A. This week, the blog I follow is celebrating six years of being on the web. On the blog there were mostly just highlighted archives from years past, so I found one that caught my eye. Chris Spooner posted a tutorial on how to do our favorite Instagram photo effects on Photoshop. I'm sure after playing around in the filter gallery we could eventually figure out a similar effect, but this is a quick guide on how to get them quickly. Here are some of the examples of photos that have been adjusted in photoshop but look like they've been on Instagram.
 

B. Going through our online portfolios today made me realize how many of us designers enjoy doing illustration work. I thought these magazine covers would be fun to talk about because they strictly feature illustrations and created images instead of photography or typography (like I've blogged about before). These were pretty great. Some were a lot more abstract than others, but I thought it showed the diversity that's allowed when publications decide to use illustrations or icons.

Critique: Online Portfolios

I thought it'd be easier to write a critique rather than a response of my online portfolio, mainly because I know many changes need to be made. I had a rough outline finished for today's class. I think I am going to make adjustments on my type size and color palette. Right now, I just have a templated color palette, but I am going to try and mimic my mini portfolio with a mint green and white typeface. I am ready to see the finished product! That being said, I am going to need to work hard this weekend on my site. I had trouble at first deciding what page to put my design clips on.

After looking at a few other design portfolios, I think it might be necessary to include some thumbnails on my initial page. That way employers or colleagues can have easy access to my designs without having to navigate through my site too much. I also will be adding a pdf clip of my resume, so I can get into detail about past work experiences. Abby is going to take my picture so I can finally replace my spring break '12 photo that is currently all I have. Here are a couple of screen shots of what I have right now. Like I said, the flower photo will be replaced with yours truly. Be ready to see my final website next Tuesday! I will hopefully have my domain back by then. For now you can find my site at
www.odf7c5.wix.com/oliviaframedesign

Response: Mini Portfolio Take 2

Today we went around class and shared what each of us have so far for our mini portfolios. I am happy with my feedback. I feel like all of the comments will help make my portfolio more successful. I also decided that I am going to keep the same color scheme for my website as well. I think it will help brand me a little better and make my work recognizable in the long run. I already critiqued my mini portfolio (either last week or the week before). But after some changes, here is what I had in class today:

I'll leave it at that. You get the point. But like I said, everyone's feedback has inspired me to make some changes. I might have a few cover additions in the next couple of weeks too. I can't believe graduation is almost here. Scary!!!

Photo Inspiration: Storm pic

This is some hail my friend had hit her house a couple of hours ago. Scary! Glad that stayed away from my car.

You Can't Miss This: Character Illustrations and Movie Posters

A. This week on the blog I follow, Chris Spooner posted some adorable and detailed character illustrations. I thought these are really cute for illustrations but also for people who sometimes like to have an icon for their logo or website. These are pretty detailed but I love how much the color stood out. Illustrations like these can really add personality to a design and lighten the mood of any story. I think it's important to keep illustration in mind over photos sometimes, espeically if the story doesn't offer much option with creative photography. Here are a few of the characters. The blog gives a tutorial (every week) and this week it's a tutorial is how to create these cute illustrations. The cool thing is that there are separate tutorials based on what character you're trying to recreate. These are my favorites:

B. I am often inspired by posters and promotional or  marketing materials when I design things. I think movie posters do a great job of capturing the readers attention in a bold way. When I was designing my burger cover with the ketchup and mustard text, I did a lot of googling to find fonts and what not (I eventually just did it myself and photoshopped it) but I came across a pic of the movie poster for "Waiting," that ridiculous and gross movie with Ryan Reynolds as a waiter...but it made me realize how design inspiration can literally be found EVERYWHERE. I thought I'd check out some other movie posters and see how they worked with photos combined with typography and illustration. Here were some top posters from www.moviepostershop.com

Response: Mini Portfolios

I recently started working on my mini portfolio for interviews and the job hunting process. I struggled with deciding what size to use and how many clips to run. I just tried to narrow it down to a few covers, features, departments, and my strongest work from my mag design course and ads from my internship with Inside Columbia.

Next I thought about color scheme. It was nice that I could focus on what color did the best job of branding myself. I went with a trendy mint green color. It's one of my favorites right now and it complimented a lot of designs that I included. I think going through previous students' portfolios helped see what layouts were successful. I liked having a divider page for each different category of design samples. Here is what I have started with. It is subject to change, and please give feedback. It's still in the works...

There is obviously more clips besides these, but this is a glimpse of what i have so far. Let me know feedback, please and thanks!