Everyday Design Inspiration

This is my first example and it is a convenient store chain, but I do not like their design. I find it too simple and plain and boring. The colors are weird because they are two primary colors and lighter than the actual colors. The typography is not inventive at all and has a generic feel to it. I'm pretty sure this is their logo and its all just cramped together with random shapes thrown in, and as I said I don't like this design. The target audience is obviously the people getting gas but they are gearing it towards people who are out at all hours of the day and their purpose or call to action is let people know that they will be open when other stores won't be and to make them come in. I think that they had a designer create the image in a program and had it printed up on a sign and started a chain for this type of convenient store. But I think they could of done a little better.



  This is a cool advertising bit Long John Silver's did when we stopped to eat there. They were advertising their new fish meal that they had come up with. They colors were very unique and used well with their contrasting colors. The typography was very well incorporated in the design and added to the appeal of the design to look at it. The logo for Long John Silver's wasn't actually on the product but since it was inside the store, I guess it doesn't have to be. Their target audience is people who like fish and also targeting the people who eat at Long John Silver's a lot. Their call to action was this number on one of the back fins that you could text if you liked their fish. I also thought just the actual product itself was awesome. How it looks like a fish. They would of had to create a layout for the design and probably create a folding dummy for it to show where all the text would end up, then get the product printed, and had to do some cutting on the edges of the product where the tail fits together, and they would have shipped it back to the companies and had them distributed to all of the restaurants and the employees would of had to put them together themselves and set them up.

This is another cool little design I found in a hotel with a bunch of other brochures. Again I really like the color scheme they used. I feel it really works well with the design. The typography was well used and creative. I love how they put text on either side of the stick and on the lollipop to make it look like there is wrapping on it or something. And then having the logo design at the bottom just really brings the whole piece together I think. I like the logo. Its simple but bold, and I really like how they did that. Their target audience is I think kids who love candy. And its appealing to the adults because its free and you get to see the factory and make your own candy. It is just appealing to everyone who would like to see how candy is made and to anyone who likes candy. The call to action is their website, phone number, and address that are on the card to inform people how to get a hold of them, they also have a little map on the back of the card to show people how to get there. For this card, they would of designed it in a program like InDesign and make the graphics in Illustrator or some program like it, and have it printed up and then it would of had to had a die cut on the top to cut out the lollipop, and then packaged and send out to wherever they wanted to advertise around Colorado.

I took this picture as we were passing this little cafe on a street. I didn't like logo so I took a picture. The color is plain. Its white and even the overhang thing is a weird color so its all out of wack. The typography is script but its still boring and has no meaning for the cafe. So overall the logo design is not too good. All they have is a little graphic of a basket with a roll in it I think and not a good one at that. I guess their target audience is the local community, and people who like small little cafe's on the corner. And the only call to action I can think of is the logo itself on the side of the overhand thing. Someone just would of had to design the logo and give someone the file to have it printed or pained onto the overhang material.

So for my inspiration I  found two bad designs and two really good designs that I like. It does inspire me to try to be more creative in my designs and I hope I can get there.

Billboard Advertisement Project

 
These are my thumbnails and roughs for my billboard advertisement.



The content on the billboard differs from all of our other projects because there can't be much of it. You only have a few seconds to get your point across when someone is driving down the road. Therefore, you need to have minimal content that extends a message to the viewer.

Again, the purpose of my billboard is the same as my magazine ad because it is a campaign. I am fighting for all those kids out there who don't get to enjoy their summer break and be a kid. Most kids these days either have to go to summer school, or go to all these different sports camps, or they have to work because they think money is the only way to happiness. My target audience is to the parents, teachers, and coaches or these kids. My call to action will be a link to a website informing them about this movement.

Sources: all images and fonts came from server.

Here is my final image:

Magazine Ad Project

 

These are my thumbnails, and my two Roughs that I drew for my magazine project.

The magazine that I chose to advertise in is Reader's Digest. The specifications for the magazine ad are as follows:
          file format: PDF/X-1A
          size: 5.187" x 7.25"
          bleed: 5.437" x 7.5" or .25 all the way around
          live area: 4.687" . 6.75" or .5 margins all the way on the inside
          budget: For a full page black + 1 color is $165,900 or Cost Per Thousand(impressions) = $30.16
          how to submit: submit my PDF to the Reader's Digest Ad portal at: http://rda.adventcheck.com

The main people reading this magazine are parents or the older generation and some single individuals. More women read it than men, but still a fair amount of a male readers. I am aiming towards this generation, because they are the ones who are having kids or already have kids, or possibly coaches. I am more pleading with them, to let their kids be kids and have fun in summer instead of working, or taking up their summers practicing sports at various camps that is taking up their summer completely. They still need to have a childhood and play. My call to action will my a Microsoft Tag that I will incorporate into my design.

Here is my final image:

Adobe Tutorial 2

Start Image

For my second Adobe Tutorial, I decided to make a film strip. I used Photoshop for tutorial, and for my start image I just used a gradient background to put behind my filmstrip.

Here are the steps for the filmstrip tutorial:

1. Need a blank empty layer.
2. With custom shape tool selected, load in the new shape called film. Push append button and double click the last one twice and draw it on your layer.
3. To add pictures to the filmstrip you need to click on your background layer, open mini bridge and click on the images you need for the filmstrip. Then drag them onto the screen.
4. Place the images one at a time into the boxes of the filmstrip where you want them and click the check mark to place the next image.
5. Select all layers that make up film strip and merge them into one.
6. Duplicate the layer.
7. Drag top picture underneath the other one and do edit > Transform > Flip Vertically. 
8. Take your opacity down to 50% for that layer.
9. With eraser tool, take off the base of that image on that layer.
10. Flatten these two layers together again.
11. Go to Edit > Warp and change from custom to flag and click the check mark to apply the change
12. ALL DONE

I know have my filmstrip.

The tutorial I used was: http://vimeo.com/14250097  and it came from this website: http://creativefan.com/30-best-adobe-photoshop-cs5-video-tutorials/
All the images I used were ones that I have taken myself.
Overall I think my ending image turned out pretty good.