Response: Jack or Jack Knife?

Jack
Jack Knife.
Jacknife
Jack Knife

The possibilities seem endless. After showing the publishers our work on Monday, there was a little disagreement about the name of the proposed publication. The publishers thought the name "Jack" would get confused with a ladmag. The designers (overall) thought "Jack Knife" alluded to an outdoorsy meaning that we were not trying to go for.

So I did a little more research than I had before on the title.

1) Here is one Jack Magazine, a defunct literary journal that put out its last issue in 2010.

2) Here is another Jack Magazine. This one is a bilingual culture magazine based in Colombia.

3) The lad mag that the publishing group referred to has been out of print since 2004, according to its wikipedia entry.

4) There is also an Italian tech magazine called Jack.

I understand the desire to find a name that is original, but a lot of these past Jacks are out of print or foreign-based. I really like the simplicity and association with the name Jack, so it still has my vote.

You Can't Miss: post-apocalyptic art

This week, I picked an Eye Magazine blog post about artists and designers who worked together on an exhibit. The exhibit is centered around a story by Hari Kunzru. It takes place in a future London that has no infrastructure:

"The resulting social breakdown has led to a dark age, a world where writing and the very act of remembering is banned by those in charge. The central character is in prison, a member of an illegal group who practice the ‘art of memory’ to try and preserve as much of the past as they can."

As you can imagine, the art is strange and dark. Like most futuristic art, it tries to reveal something about the world as it exists in the present.

Check it out.

Inspiration: The Gentlewoman

The Gentlewoman usually gets fabulous, interesting people on its covers, so it was no surprise that Beyonce was featured in its most recent issue. The magazine's format is a good example of how clean, simple design can have a huge impact. They are selling the magazine 100% on Beyonce's celebrity. There's hardly any text; note the lack of cover lines.

Critique: Jack Designs

On Monday we presented our "Jack Knife" designs to the publishers. I shortened my nameplate to just "Jack," but otherwise stuck with the same direction and personality that the publishers wrote out. Here is the edited version of my design: 

This is the cover. I cut out the nameplate using Impact and some green wood texture I found. I thought the texture could change with every issue to keep it fresh. 

Here is a detail of some succulent-looking short ribs. I figure men as well as women like images that appeal to the senses.

Sean Connery used to promote Jim Beam, so I thought his presence would add to the manly factor.

Here's the feature. 3 x 3 grid on the left, and a simple head in Impact on the right.

The presentation with the publishers went well, I thought. Everyone in my group brought really appealing, though-out designs, and I'm sure the publishers will have a hard time making up their minds. Well done, everybody!

Response: Talking about Designs

Designing a cover, spread, and department page based on the publishing class's ideas was a challenge. Their ideas were fresh and exciting, but there is a lot of narrowing-down to be done.

That being said, the critique portion of the class was really useful so far. Getting feedback from everyone on paper will be invaluable for sure. One really helpful thing about doing critiques with Jan has been her specificity. In class, we often try to tell each other when something could be improved, which is great, but Jan seems to pinpoint what could change and offer a suggestion with it. I really like this method of critique because it is solution-based. Perhaps the whole class could adopt this method in our weekly critiques to make the sessions even more valuable.

You Can't Miss: Stunning Valentine's Cards

This week's favorite post from Eye Magazine's blog is about an artist's take on the Valentine. Canadian designer Marion Bantjes is famous for her laser-cut designs, hand-drawn scripts, and overall beautiful details.

Here's an excerpt from a past Eye Magazine interview with Bantjes:

"Design magazines don’t receive Valentine’s Day cards as a rule. Sure, we get plenty of Christmas cards. And even more New Year’s cards and fancy calendars, from all those design studios who didn’t quite hit their Christmas deadline. But 14 February always seemed too . . . arbitrary, too commercialised and/or too personal. Until Marian Bantjes came along."

One of Bantjes' 2013 Valentines. Credit: Eye Magazine's blog.

Photo Credit: Eye Magazine's blog (http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/whos-writing-this-script)

These cards even impress those at a design magazine who probably have a low threshold for the cliche and cheesy, so you know they have to be well-executed. Check out Bantjes' site for more.

Inpiration: Esquire typography cover

 

Here is Esquire's most recent cover about the man who killed Osama Bin Laden. Apparently, the feature article is 15, 000 words, so it's definitely a "lean back" piece. It's an account of the SEAL team, and a look at what comes next. I wanted to draw attention to the typeface and head-on quality of the cover. When I saw this cover at the bookstore, I stopped to get a closer look. You can't use this kind of in-you-face approach on every cover, but when you do, it gets a second look from viewers.

Critique: Cecil Estes covers

Here are my final three covers for the Cecil Estes cover. Before I had used photos that didn't include Cecil, so this time, I made sure to find ones where you could identify Cecil by his jersey. I really liked how these came out. The photo on the table was Erica's suggestion, and then I played around with different fonts and weights to see which would go best with for the tone of the story.

This critique was interesting because I think everyone's covers came out really differently. We all took specific directions with our tone, colors, fonts, and concepts. I think it's a really valuable thing when everyone can come together and look at the various concepts.

Critique: 10/5 Ads

Today we briefly looked at each other's ads for Vox Talk or the Vox calendar. All of the second drafts turned out really nice, especially in terms of graphics. It seemed like people really focused on images that were easily recognizable and colorful. Here are my second drafts:

I had a lot of fun with these. I made some textures on Illustrator, and creating the little icons was a blast. My favorites include the one with the scraps of paper and the ticket one. As we discussed in class, the "http://" should be taken off, and I could reduce the text on some of them. 

This exercise was important because I think employers expect designers to have a lot of transferrable, over-arching skills. They want to know you can do the work of a couple different people if necessary, and that you have a handle on advertising (because a magazine cover is basically a pretty, informative ad). 

I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone's final ads turn out.

Response: "Graphic Style"

For my example of a spread inspired by a historical style, I chose this Q and A from Details. I recognized the leaning "A" from page 204 in "Graphic Style." According to the text, "Avant Garde" magazine's logo was designed by Herb Lubalin, a famous designer from the 60s. The 60s were a time of consumerism awareness. There was no dominating style; rather, a general appreciation for the "electic" was popular in designs. Here is a cover from "Avant Garde" magazine. You might recognize it from the font ITC Avant Garde.

Inspiration: Garrett Hedlund for Details

Garrett Hedlund was featured on the cover of Details for their February issue. They used some variation in the types of photos (detail, profile, etc.), and they went with an "On the Road" theme. I like the vertical pull quotes and the Flashdance-esque pose on the last page. 

You Can't Miss: Designing with Data

This week, Eye Magazine's blog covered a conference on designing with data. The annual "Design of Understanding" conference in London hosts a bunch of speakers who talk about the newest trends and developments in presenting information. According to the article, the U.K. has been on the forefront of humanist design, especially their government and all of its official documents, sites, and signs. One quote from the article really sums up the approach of the government designers:

"The mantras are ‘remember, we are designing information for people, not pushing pixels around the screen’ and ‘putting in the work to make it simple’."

When people hear "keep it simple," I think most assume that there will be little work involved. As if the more work you put in, the busier and less natural it will look. I think that's a nice summation of the designer's role: putting in the work to make it simple, almost translating information into an easy-to-digest format. I can think of some examples of complex ideas made easier to comprehend by putting them into simple formats. Here are some cool examples.

Photo Inspiration

I really like the starburst on the Calhoun's sign, as well as the repeating colors in the title. The sign also communicates a hierarchy of importance in the text, which helps the reader to know what to look at first.

Response: Thinking with Type

When reading this book, I had to resist the urge to flip through it and just admire the pictures and typefaces. That being said, there is some great content. Some of the most informative parts were about things you might take for granted as a reader. Spacing, dropcaps, why some fonts exude a certain mood or authority, and grids were all topics that stood out to me.

I've heard you have to know the rules before you break them, and this book definitely sets you up for rule-breaking. As for inspiration, there are some drawn typefaces in the beginning of the book that I really enjoyed.

You Can't Miss: A Zine of Giant Proportions

Eye Magazine's blog features Upon Paper this week. Upon Paper is described as "biannual / bilingual print publication" in the post, and it's available online or in an exhibit in Berlin. Paul Hetherington, the director, talks about his zine in an interview with Eye.

Here is a photo of the actual publication.
Credit: Eye Magazine's Blog (http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/upon-paper)

Here is a photo from the Upon Paper exhibit in Berlin. This is one spread.
Credit: Eye Magazine's Blog (http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/upon-paper)

The magazine measures 49 x 69 cm (19 x 27 in). Its creators made it huge to draw attention to the form so people would have to find a place to sit down and read it. The magazine's format and subject (color) is clearly meant for a particular art-world audience. Instead of calling color the theme, the director calls the choice "curatorial," referencing his role as more of someone directing an art exhibit than a zine. Still, the images in the zine are very appealing, and I think anyone could appreciate them. The images in the zine are very high res and vary from photography to art from Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon.

I think this article shows the unique way that the art world and publications can come together. Sometimes the line between is blurred.

Do you think this publication is accessible to a more general audience? What do you think a publication needs to have mass appeal?

Critique: Spring Preview Designs

Today we discussed our Spring Preview designs, which I found really helpful. One important thing I try to keep in mind while designing is that it isn't about your intentions for the design but how people receive it. Class feedback today helped me realize that my cover and feature lacked unity, which wouldn't fly in a real work environment. Also, if you're going to use an idea, you should really commit to it. Going all out is better than hinting at a concept. It feels more thought-out and fully-hatched (forgive the egg/thought comparison).

 Here is my cover. I designed the illustration on Illustrator. I love layering, and I know I'll try to find a way to incorporate it into future designs.

First page of spread. "Picnic" was supposed to be the theme. Erica suggested the addition of ants across the spread or half-eaten food. I think those would be really cute additions. I would definitely read a publication that had ants marching across a page.

Here is the second page of the spread. It's kind of plain, but I like how it came out.

Critiques like today really help me in my process and in playing out my ideas to their best potential. I'm sure we will have multiple critiques for some projects, and those will probably come out the best.