Final project/ HELP/Suggestions

Hey guys i finished my final project but i have a business card for one of my pieces and i seem to be missing something. It looks perfect in indesign but when i export it to a pdf the picture i have on the card gets very blurry and pixilated. I also printed out a trial and it was extremely tiny. If anyone knows what i am missing or has any suggestions/has done one please let me know!! Thanks!!!!
Other than this problem i am very happy with the outcomes of this project i believe my design of everything is good and i am proud of it i just need to now make sure when everything is printed and mounted it looks just as good!

Final project updated

After struggling with my first idea of doing advertisements for summer drinks for Starbucks i decided to focus on doing something for my work. I work at a hair salon and they remodeled not to long ago but they didn't change their price brochure and their business cards aren't the greatest. I also am thinking about incorporating a flier and designing a comment card for them. I got a good start and have finished most of the pieces. I feel like these designs fit the business better and plan on showing them to my boss for possible use in our salon. 

Final project topic

    I am very excited about the final project. Getting to choose exactly what you want to do is great and i am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. The creativity plus a semester of knowledge should create some interesting pieces. 

   For my final project i am going to be doing about three posters. The size will be about the same as our last poster. The topic will be advertisements for Starbucks coffee. I am very interested in advertising as a career and think i am ready for the challenge. A series of three ads, each debuting a new summer beverage for Starbucks. Being a huge Starbucks lover i have always wanted to do something like this and am intrigued of how it will turn out. Right now i am in the process of decided what the drinks are going to be called, if the series should be called something, what the colors should be of the ads and how i am going to tie all three together. 

project #4 and Good/Bad brochures

    So my project number four is finally done and i am please with the outcome. I feel as though i accomplished my goal of making the brochure age friendly but still appealing to the eye with a design flare. I feel like again my work is simple but informative. I didn't cram the brochure with too many pictures or wording but an equal amount that i feel balances the piece.
    Although prior to completing my brochure i looked at examples of other brochures. Here are some good and bad ones i came across. I feel like brochures are all around us, especially in offices such as the dentist, doctors, and many businesses. This means that there is added pressure for your brochure to stand out. 
   

    The floral business, Teleflora has made a brochure that is shown below.  On the website also listed below you can view each side and a larger size. I picked this brochure as a good example because i love the layout. It's different yet informative. The large photos of flowers are very attractive to on- lookers.

http://ericahorstmeyer.com/portfolio.php?media=brochures&projnum=6&imgnum=1

    The next good example i choose was from Altus which is a condo development company delivers a truly unique brochure.  Please check out the website below to take a look! I thought this brochure idea was a good one because of how unique it actually is. They even mention that because of the competitiveness in the business you have to stand out and they did a great job at that. Their use of color and pop outs is extremely eye catching.

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Altus/52980

    I then decided to look at some bad examples of brochures. The first one i found was a brochure about company bills being overdue i a business.

    This brochure has way to much text and almost looks cramped.  There is way to much information crammed onto a page and nothing to attract the reader. In addition their contact information is at the bottom in small text which makes the reader have to search for it.

    The last brochure i found that is a bad example is about self esteem with teens I'm guessing.

    This brochure is very plain but not in a good way.  The big smiley face at the bottom also doesn't help the design at all.  There is no flow of colors or design and it comes across very cheesy. Overall this brochure is very immature and not appealing to the eye whatsoever. 

Prep for project 4

For project 4: Tri-fold brochure i have decided to pick the organization Habitat for Humanity Buffalo.  I have always been interested in this non-profit and would some day like to volunteer for them.  Before starting this project i did a lot of background research about the organization.  I wanted the brochure to attract a wide range of ages so taking a look at what the organization stands for was important to me. By doing this i took a look at the organizations website, Facebook, and Twitter pages.  I got enough inspiration from these media outlets to begin my project. I wanted to combine wording such as background history about Habitat for Humanity Buffalo along with pictures.  I think brochures i see with a lot of writing are less appealing than those with photos and wording.  In addition i wanted to make sure the brochure was age friendly. Lastly having contact information about the organization was key to having somewhere on my brochure. I am almost done with this project and have only a few more things to tweak. Another post will be coming soon!

Project 3

I have just finished project 3 and really enjoyed designing my own poster.  It was nice to be able to use color again in this project.  For the second part of this project i choose to write about the poster below

When i first saw this poster i immediately loved it.  The design is simple but the message is very powerful.  I also love how there is a heart in the background 

which directly relates to the wording. 

The best posters and designs are simple but strong in my opinion,  Using different sizing of the words is also meaningful.  By having the words same and equals bigger the message becomes even more present.  This was a great choice for conveying such a relevant issue.  This poster was made in 2010 and i believe it fits its time well.  A modern simple design is key.  This poster was designed by Jess Sand.  The effectiveness of the poster is positive and is different from other posters i have seen that dealt with the same topic. 

By having the simplicity in the design the message is able to shine through easily.

Projects and instant books

Sorry i haven't posted in a while! I will start off by saying that i am really enjoying this class and am learning a lot about in design and photo shop.  I never really worked on a mac computer before so these programs were fairly new to me.  The first project we completed dealing with initials was really a cool start to the semester.  I like being creative and haven't really had a chance to do things like this is previous classes.  

The second project on instant books is also a really different idea.  I had never heard of these until we were assigned this project in class.  I wasn't sure of what these really were or how to even begin brainstorming ideas for my own.  The link Amy provided however was very helpful and i so began to write some ideas down for my own.  After a few days i came up with my idea and finished it in only a few days.  I did find some challenged with only using black and white.  I wasn't sure if my story would be as exciting or show the same meaning i wanted it to without color.  The finished product however turned out great and i do not miss the color at all.  I am very happy with what i ended up with and i feel like it has a part of me in it.

Blog #1

Blog #1


Why is it important for communication majors to study design? 


It's very important for communication majors to study design because in today's world employers are looking for individuals with a wide variety of skills.  In addition careers in advertising, marketing, and even public relations come across design situations.  Whether this be overlooking or changing the actual add, making a poster, brochure, or sign these skills come into use.  As a communication student I personally am interested in the advertising piece of this major and know these certain design skills will help me either get a job in this field or put me ahead in one.


Why does good design matter?


Good design matters because there is so much competition out there in the business world today.  If two  businesses that have similar goals and target audiences are competing the one with better sign design and better brochure design will most likely thrive more.  Another example is if your company has bad design attached to their name it could affect how well that company does and if it stays alive.  


Favorite piece of design:


My favorite piece of design would have to be Andy Warhol featuring Marilyn Monroe.  Also I love how people have done pieces that resemble the style Andy Warhol used, such as the Obama posters for the 2008 election and The Beatles poster.  I have always been drawn to these posters and their unique design. I believe these posters can be considered good design because of the layout and unique look.  In addition people in today's society who copy and use the Warhol original design can benefit because people recognize the design.  It's popular and can make a statement with the easy way of changing the design and color of an image and multiplying it.  

Impressions after first class:


After the first class I was very excited about the upcoming semester.  Being interested in the advertising piece of this major I think learning about better design will benefit me greatly as I pursue my career.  I am looking to be challenged with projects to better my knowledge about this topic and look forward to improving my skills.