Project 1—Fish Design—Advising 11x17 Poster, 8.5x11 Flyer, Web Banner

These designs were created in InDesign, using fish art from Shutterstock. Below is the original 11"x17" poster, the poster with minor updates, plus the 8.5"x11" flyer and web banner with the updates applied.

The following feedback was given:

1. Will the fish make it to the other bowl with the current trajectory? Move to the right a bit?
2. Add more space between the script and the rest of the headline.
3. Check resolution of the fish image.

Updates:

1. I chose not to move the fish. I thought it would have enough air time to make it. What do the rest of you think about its trajectory? Will it make it to the other bowl or not?
2. I added a small bit of leading between the head and the next line on all of them. For the web banner, I tightened the leading of the remaining lines to allow it all to fit. Do you think the changes improved the overall appearance?
3. Great reminder! I updated the resolution and in the process noticed that my original art was skewed width-wise. I corrected that when I upgraded the resolution.

NOTE: It bothered me that the font has serifs for the capital "I" but not for anything else. It didn't bother my feedback partner, so I left it. What does everyone else think?

Also, please see "Project 1—Fish Designs Addendum

Poster—Original Design

Poster—Minor Updates—Hi-res & leading

Flyer—Minor Updates—Hi-res & leading

Web Banner—Minor Updates—Hi-res & leading

Portfolio #1 Non-Smoking PSA

Here is my first portfolio redo, based on Greg's critique during class 2/3. This non-smoking PSA is targeted at adults ages 40-60, who would remember the popular American  Express campaign from 1976, "Don't Leave Home without It" (your American Express card), which used Karl Malden. The low-res image is a major problem with this PSA. Unfortunately, I've been unable to secure a high-res version of the image of actor Karl Malden, so the main image remains "fuzzy." (I looked through magazines and even Malden's autobiography.) Posterizing the image didn't sharpen it.  I enlarged and changed the font of the headline from Helvetica to a scarier font called Horrorfind. The cigarette pack is generic to avoid focusing on any one cigarette company, and it is pink/salmon in color to represent women smokers, since a big target of cigarette companies is women.

Please don't forget to add YOUR LABEL to each post from now on

Hi all - thanks for the great portfolio sites. Very inspirational. Please take the time to visit everyone's "finds" - you never know when something will spark your creativity and your next moves all become clear to you!

I'm actually posting this as a reminder to you all to ADD YOUR INDIVIDUAL LABELS TO YOUR POSTS. When you write your next, and future, posts please look to the right and find your blue name under the Label section and choose it so it appears in the little window. This is how I track your participation in the blog.

I have already linked your label to your previous posts (see at the very bottom where it says Label: Name?). Now it's up to you.

Thanks!

3 Portfolio Sites

http://strangelove.me/
http://www.jessewillmon.com/
http://okaydave.com/

These are some Portfolios that I like, not only for their content , but for their layout and navigation (though I would try center-aligning them). I know these are all designed similarly, but I like white space and simple graphics that make it easier to navigate. I don't like portfolio sites that are confusing and difficult to sift through.

The number one portfolio I would like to talk about is http://iamrahul.com/. I enjoyed the ease of use of his site and it simplistic arrangement. The web site started off with an eye catching background and the initial information about the website, as you scroll down the page his work is cleanly displayed followed by an about him section and contact information. throughout the page there are multiple links which allow you to jump from work to contact info or the about section.

The second page I found is http://www.circografico.com.ar/ which belongs to illustrator Alex Dukal. This portfolio stood out to me because of the way he displays his work. He displays a few of his pieces in a clickable banner at the top of the page followed by category links. However when you select a category rather than bringing the viewer to a new page the art work in the gallery shuffles around displaying only the work you want to view. The dark grey scale theme and red accents found in his type add to the dark feel of his illustration style.

The third web portfolio I found is http://www.benhulse.com/. This website has a clean clear appearance with a white background, grey logo and text the vibrant colors he uses in his work become the focus. This makes hi work stand out and inspires the viewer to click and take a closer look.

Online Portfolios

I liked the following websites:

1)  http://viget.com/ — I found this site to have very visually appealing designs on the homepage slider, with nice flow to the imagery. The use of color throughout the website was very effective and appealing as well. The topics of the work projects provided insight into the company's ethos—conservation, women’s fitness, Wildlife Alert, WWF, hospital, etc. The About slider further conveys the personality of the employees and company. The employees appear to be a young crowd and it shows in their fresh approaches to design solutions. In addition, there is a blog at the bottom of the page with many interesting topics.

2) http://www.castirondesign.com/ —This website also includes very visually appealing page and colors. It is a very clean design, without a lot of clutter. The navigation is logical and easy to move through. The website also provides comprehensive background info on specific projects. It is refreshing to find the responsive nature of the website to be working well.

3) http://www.studioairport.nl/en# — This site has logical and intuitive navigation. Although I don't readily associate the icons at the top with their associated category, it is handy that the category names fade in an out as you hover. Once you hover over the icons, you realize there is a good overview of major categories, such as projects, profile, approach, news, and contact icons at top. From there, the navigation for content of each category is on the left of each page. When different categories are selected, the contents move to best represent the selected content. I found the use of white space to be very effective, although I found the colors of most pages to not be very inspired. Gray and orange as the main colors didn't do much for me.

I have been researching many inspiring portfolio sites of which I must say http://www.serialcut.com/ was beautifully designed with vivid breath taking pieces filling the entire screen with individual examples. However, because of these large files the site had issues loading its homepage. Then you have to click a link to their old site and after that you can finally view their creations with the load time for each click lagging. This would aggravate and defer many viewers in my opinion.

The next portfolio site I reviewed was a very innovative approach at http://smallstudio.com.au/ where their logo was in the center of the page with a floating orange balloon that right of the bat, makes the viewer interact with the site, by making them cut the rope to the balloon. It floats away and brings you to the homepage. I could appreciate the way they tied in the simplistic circular balloon not only in the logo but throughout the site with iconic circles strategically placed giving a sense of harmony. They also maintained unity by incorporating the contrasting orange and black. I did find some issues with this site however. In my opinion their creativity causes unnecessary confusion in the navigation at first because of its placement. And most importantly without the use of a header or footer in their site their logo and contact information gets lost in the shuffle after you cut the orange balloon.

I liked the concept of the unique balance between designer and coder used in http://www.adhamdannaway.com/. This was an interesting site because they say you usually sway more one way then another either as a designer or a coder depending on your creativity and logical thinking. Yet I find myself much more like Adham's interpretation of a more equally proportionate comparison between designer and coder. With that being said I believe his site is a tad too playful (example: contact info displaying him as an avatar) and could wrangle in just a little more professionalism.

I absolutely love the simplistic approach Marc used with the infographics, excellent use of white space, with an overall balanced site displayed at http://mrcthms.com/. Simple yet effective.

Now for the two over the top sites you must check out:
1. I found this Robby's portfolio a couple years ago and I still love it's interactive qualities not to mention his prior work experience with big name company's like AOL and Fox News at http://www.rleonardi.com/interactive-resume/.

2. This is a company portfolio rather than an individual portfolio but I just have to post it because it's visual awe inspiring effectiveness demands attention at TecRoc http://tekroc.com/. This is a top notch site in my book with it's use of all the elements and  principals of design bursting at the seems!

Hope these sites will inspire you as much and they did for me!