Lists for designers galore

The 50 things Every Graphic Designer Should Know
On Noisy Decent Graphics there was a link to a neat list of things that graphic designers should know. Each bit of advice has a fun illustration with it.

Jan would be happy to see this one. She has definitely prepared us to justify our decisions and not design just to decorate.

I've dealt with this one a lot. I have to learn not to pick too many battles with the words people.

Make sure to check out the full list. It's actually filled with great advice.

99 Sites All Designers Must Know About

On Just Creative Design I found a list of web resources for designers. I thought this might be useful for us to take with us as we enter the scary real world of design. It has everything from web design to video and even typography. And of course, it features sites we've all come to know well, such as colour lovers and dafont. Check it out!

Font songs & personal logos

Font Songs

 On Noisy Decent Graphics, I stumbled across a funny post on font songs. Essentially, people have taken song titles and somehow incorporated the name of a typeface. A few of my favorites include:

I shot the serif
Oops I Didot again
Wind beneath my Wingdings

I think they are so funny!



Personal Logos
One thing I've been struggling with is coming up with a personal logo to use for my online and mini portfolios. I wanted to try to somehow incorporate my name because I wanted potential employers to be able to remember it, but I haven't come up with a solution yet. This site definitely helps get the creative juices flowing. It's always fun to see what others have come up with. Here are a few of my favorites.

 

Penguin phone covers & Stress Tips

Penguin iPhone Case
My manager recently got the most adorable iPhone case I've ever seen. It turns her phone into a penguin!

I love it! It makes me wish I had an iPhone. If you do, and you love it as much as I do, you can get it on Amazon.

Stress Tips from Ben
I know we are in the home stretch, and with getting our print editions finalized, working on iPad designs and putting together our many portfolios, our lives can be pretty stressful. Ben from Noisy Decent Graphics has some pretty good advice on how to stay positive about your workload. Here are some highlights (directly from his post):

1. Work when you work best
I'm a morning person 100%. I could get up at 5am every day and be very happy. At the other end of the day by 10pm I'm ready for bed. I've fallen asleep in every pub and every house party I've ever been too.

So working late never works for me. Very quickly diminishing returns set in. If I have loads of work to do I go to bed early and set the alarm for 5am. And you know what? I get more done, at a quicker pace than I would have done in the evening. That's partly because of the ever approaching deadline of the day starting, but it's also because your brain is alert and you can make better decisions, faster.

3. Don't do everything on your to do list
A big moment came in my life about 5 years ago. I used to regularly write To Do lists for each day. I never managed to get to the bottom of the list. If there was 10 things to to I'd manage 7. But then I realised that was OK. Not everything gets done. That's life. And that was one of the most liberating experiences of my working life.

Now I write a To Do list with the most important at the top (note NOT the most urgent). They get done first. And if the stuff and the bottom doesn't get done. It doesn't get carried over. It doesn't get done. You soon find yourself putting all the silly 'nice to have' things in the bottom bit and that's like therapy, getting them all out of your head. But then you find yourself writing shorter and shorter to do lists. Which is kind of the goal.

Make sure to check out his blog for other tips!

Looking back & fun shipping graphic

Looking back
Lately I've had more fun rummaging through the archives of noisy decent graphics than just using the latest post, so I decide to stick with that for this week. I found a post about one of the first jobs Ben applied for as a graphic artist. Turns out it was a pornographic magazine. At the interview they made him design a page in an hour. These are some sketches he found of work he did to prepare before the interview:

"I didn't get the job and I was told that my layouts weren't, er, graphic enough (not the graphic you and I mean)," Ben wrote. Too funny!

Fragile!
On davidthedesigner I found this really neat post about a fragile shipping label. I think putting graphics like these on boxes that might travel different countries and be handled by people speaking different languages is much more effective than using words. I think that this image is much more universal and may even have more sway in convincing people to be more careful.

Found typography and tractors in the produce section

More Found Typography
Noisy Decent Graphics hasn't been updating as much lately, so I decided to go back to the archives. I actually found a posting that highlighted the found typography of Eric Tabuchi while traveling the highways from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. I thought this was a fun example of what we did. I wonder how long it took him to find all the letters? Was it just one trip?

What is that tractor doing in the produce section?
While I was in Springfield, IL, I went to County Market and was surprised to see a tractor sitting right in the middle of the produce section. I just had to climb up on it and have my picture taken...it wasn't until I climbed off that I noticed the sign that said "please don't ride the tractor." Oops! Anyways, I thought it was a neat way to display that they are selling local farm fresh foods. Once again, design pops up everywhere.

Trench signs and Inspiration

Trench Signs
On noisy decent graphics this week I found a posting about trench signs at the Imperial War Museum. This one's my favorite:

I know that the holes aren't part of the original design, but it adds to the design–and the sign's warning!

Concept Inspiration
I was flipping through a textbook back from my graphic design class, Graphic Design Solutions and I came across the 1980 Volkswagen ad that inspired me to become a designer many years ago. I don't even remember where I first saw the ad, but after I saw how creative and clever it was, I knew that I wanted to be a designer of some kind. The concept is just brilliant to me, so I wanted to share and maybe help inspire others to continue to create beautiful designs!

Large scale crossword puzzles and tsunami coverage

Larger than life crossword puzzle

This is a fun way to use design to encourage tourism! Noisy decent graphics posted a link to a story that The Telegraph posted on the world's largest crossword puzzle. It's home is the Ukraine in a city called Lvov. Clues for the 100 ft high puzzle are scattered around the city's major landmarks, and tourists are encouraged to see the city and collect clues as they go.

Once the clues are collected, they can begin to guess the answers to the puzzle and come back to the building where the answered are lit by fluorescent lights to see if they were correct. Not only does this puzzle look fun but it also encourages people to visit the city, or for those who already live there, it gives a fun reason to go exercise for the day to find the clues.

Coverage of Japanese Tsunami
I am so saddened by the devastation that this earthquake and Tsunami have caused over the last couple of days, and I can't imagine how I would feel if my loved ones were there when it happened.

Tsunamis are natural disasters that are hard for many people to understand. I am one of those people who were confused by what exactly causes Tsunamis to take place. CNN had a pretty neat animation on their site that illustrated what happens when a tsunami takes place. It is really simple, but I think it really helped me to understand the process from the earthquake to the tsunami. There's also a basic definition of a tsunami and an infographic showing where and when some of the worst recorded ones took place. I can't seem to figure out how to post the animation directly onto my blog, but make sure you check out the link!

Gross food labels and pirate bedrooms

Gross Food Labels

Noisy decent graphics finally had a new post this week. It's some really gross food with very interesting labels. I think the labels are simple, and the jars are clear, allowing what's inside to "do the talking." It sort of reminds me of the Harry Potter jelly beans. 

Pirate-themed bedroom design

I want this room! This is so fun, and I'm sure there's a lot of planning that went into it. I found it on Spot Cool Stuff, and it sure is cool. Everything from the sharks on the walls to the ship and the slide just make it a dream room for any kid. It looks like something that would be designed on Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Make sure to check out the link to see more photos.

Gum walls and... did she just get eaten by a bus?

Gum Walls
Once again I went digging through the archives on the blog I'm following, noisy decent graphics, and I found this fun wall of gum. I really hate when people don't properly dispose of their gum, but maybe if it's used as art it wouldn't be that bad. I wonder how long this took?

 

Did she just get eaten by a bus? 

So I found the funniest bus advertisement in the world (well I think so at least) on coolopticalillusions.com. It's an ad for National Geographic, and every time someone gets onto this bus it looks like they've just been eaten by a shark! I think this is a really creative ad. In a way it interacts with people, and I will definitely remember this. It takes a fresh idea to keep people interested; something they haven't seen before or in a while, which I think is as true for design as it is for advertising. History is important; we should never forget those who came before us and we should continue to be inspired by the things that people have done in the past, but it's also really important to make your own fresh statement.

Beatles graphic & black and white conceptual photography

Super fun Beatles Info Graphic
So the blog I'm following, noisy decent graphics, hasn't been updated in over a week. This actually made it a little more fun for me, because I shuffled through the archives and found one of the most clever visual representations of a song I've seen. It's a flow chart of the Beatles song Hey Jude!

I tested it out, and there is a part of the song that doesn't quite match up, but I am still in love with the concept. I think it would be a fun way to have art with music stories without doing the usual publicity photo or album cover.

Conceptual Black and White Photography 
Speaking of fun concepts, I found this really neat collection of black and white conceptual photos on graphicdesignblog.org. There are 35, but my favorite has got to be this one...

It's called Life is Life... I think it's an excellent play on the stress that the corporate world puts on people and how some of them feel when they get ready for work in the morning. Which one is your favorite?

Free typography and an interesting logo debate

Free typography
One thing I notice every week is how darn difficult it can be to pick the perfect font for a design project. I literally have spent hours upon hours wading through the sea that is typography, and I found a great resource I'd like to share. Free Typography is a magazine/blog that posts really awesome free fonts to add to your collection. There are links to download the free font files; I think it should be added to the dafont.com and 1001 free font sites as the go-to sites for fun fonts. (I'm saying font so much I'm getting tongue twisted!)

 

Here is a handwritten font I found. It's funny because we had debates last semester about which handwritten fonts were played out, so I think sites like these help you to find new, fresh fonts.

An interesting logo debate
Since we still have that logo project to work on (yes, bring it back to the front burner), I thought this was an interesting debate. Some people are in favor of retiring the black and white logo in favor for colored logos. Some arguments include...

Pro B&W

• Companies might still print items in black and white.
• If a logo works in black and white, it's bound to work in color.
• It's cheaper

Pro retiring B&W

• It's rare to see things printed in black and white these days; everything is in color.
• Many companies are online now, where color would flourish.
• It doesn't affect the quality.

Check out the link and more arguments, and let me know what you think!

(I think I'm in favor of keeping them around for a little for a little longer because they're classic, and logos don't always have to be wildly spruced up all the time.)

Website design and tips for creating iPad apps

Since we all are going to have to design websites and iPad apps, I thought these links might be helpful.

Website Design
First is a post I found on the blog I'm following, noisy descent graphics. There are a few websites' designs that he is liking at the moment. Here is my favorite from his list...

This 80/20 design studio website is a portfolio of their work. This is a design I will likely pull inspiration from when it comes to making my own online portfolio. I like how the black background allows for the design work to stand out. Also, I'm loving how things are black and white until you click on them, further highlighting the selected design. Make sure to check out the site!

iPad Apps
This link actually came from my editing class. It's a Q & A with Wired's creative director Scott Dadich about the process of launching an iPad app for Wired. It's a little bit dated (the interview took place before apple released the iPad), but I think it's still a good way to help us think about the many approaches we could take when designing apps for our prototypes. Check out these videos to experience the wide range of ideas circulating about what features would work best for these apps.

Typographic bike racks and crazy cool architecture

Typographic bike racks
I loved this post on Noisy Decent Graphics. These typographic bike racks made by Cylclehoop are such an interesting design solution to something that can be quite an eye sore. They actually have a whole slew of design solutions for bike racks, but because I love typography so much, these are my favorite. With all the bike traffic in Columbia, I think these bike racks would be a pretty cool addition. The only critique that I have of the racks is I'm not sure they could house as many bikes as a traditional bike rack...but they are prettier so maybe it doesn't matter.

Crazy cool architecture
I found this really innovative architecture on the nummy nims blog. This furniture company in Germany called vitra came out with a home collection, but didn't have anywhere to showcase it, so they commissioned architects Herzog & De Meuron to build a new home, called the "vitrahaus.' Here is what they came up with...

Photo by Ian Waan

Photo by Ian Waan

image © designboom

I like how it looks like a bunch of houses stacked on top of each other; it really does represent the home collection.

Brisbane floods coverage and chocolate billboards

Screen shot taken from ABC website

I'll be following http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/ this semester. A really interesting post I found was about how the Australian Broadcasting Corporation handled their coverage of the Brisbane floods. They used these really neat mouse over photos that showed the before and after stages of the flood. As a former information graphics geek at the Missourian, I thought this was a really efficient way to show the public the effects of the flood. I do think they should have included a little more information with the photos like how much time elapsed between the two and other damage statistics, but visually I think this was an excellent way to present the floods.

Photo via ibelieveinadv

Another interesting design I found was an instillation piece. This 'chocolate' billboard takes content driven design to a whole new level! As part of their roundup of 42 Unique billboards that push the advertising envelope, TREND HUNTER included this billboard in Toronto. I think whoever designed this did a great job at thinking outside the box. Instead of using a photo and the sense of sight to lure in potential consumers, Cadbury is sort of appealing to the sense of touch.

Allow me to introduce myself

Hello everyone!

My name is Tanya Ortiz, and this is my very first blog. I'm a Senior at the University of Missouri currently in my magazine design capstone class and ready to graduate! I was born and raised in Chicago and plan on moving back there and starting my life/career after graduation.

Here at the University of Missouri I've been a reporter, a graphic artist and a designer, and designing is my favorite. I hope to one day combine all of the skills I've learned here and be the creative director of a magazine.

I'll be using this blog as a way of sharing all of the neat typography, graphics, photography and other design news that I come across.

I hope everyone enjoys my posts!