tastebuds.in.5.4.3.2.

tastebuds launch is quickly approaching! everyone is quickly pumping out final design elements, press releases, and identity standards. The guide is being polished and printed and has come together is an exquisite way that is wonderful and sure to be well received by the community. All the design elements have finally come together in a very cohesive way that adds to the voice of tastebuds and is so clean and beautiful. The print group has spent many many many hours staying in the studio and rocking out the finishing elements and last minute content into the guide. Claire and myself sent off the final files for the last printed pieces for promotion and pieces for the partners of tastebuds. Everything is coming to an end and it has been an amazing journey filled with great design, pit falls, excellence, learning experiences, and positive networking experiences. I have even been asked to do some extra work for Crabtree farms, which is very exciting and much appreciated. I have to say that I am anxious to see the whole thing launch and be in existence in the community to see our design actually living and breathing somewhere else other than in our own studio space. 

Everyones groups have really put forth the best effort for the client and it all has lent itself to some really great design and a powerhouse of a project that will surely excite and benefit the farms, grocers, restaurants, and citizens of chattanooga and the surrounding areas.

tying.up.loose.ends.

Continuing on with work for tastebuds in Professional Practices. Some various team members from the team in charge of doing the guide took all of our mock ups for the printed materials to a meeting with Vanessa Mercer from Crabtree farms for approval and pointers on where things need to be tweeked and things that need to be corrected. My printyed materials were all approved expcept for a few things to be changed regarding infomation on the poster. Vanessa has been greatful of our quick work and has been really quick to point us in the right direction in a timely manner. The tastebuds roll out is quickly approaching so we have all been scrembling to get all the work completed and make is as great as it needs to be to make this visual information and press for tastebuds and crabtree launch successfully. Its not until you work with a client that you know that it is very important to keep the input of the client always in the front of your mind, because it is the client that is the most important and not you as the designer. All of your intuition is their to serve the clients needs. I believe that all of the class is working in this way and doing great work that is, not only satisfying the client but coming together in a timely manner and in a very cohesive way. 

soon. soon. soon.

posters.t’s.and.other.printed.things.

Been doing some assigned work for the event team in Professional Practices. While Tara continues to be the master of event planning and PR, Leslie has asked that I take on some of the design work, which includes a t-shirts for the event and roll-out of tastebuds, and some other printed materials. One of the pieces I am designing right now is the promotional poster for tastebuds. One of my team members Nick Lamkin had been perusing this idea with a piece of the logo repeated, which I have taken and added some typography to the lower portion of the poster. Nicks idea has really manifested itself in a really beautiful way that gives some true engagement for the community. 

The t-shirt is also a very exciting project. Nick Dupey’s new business Young Monster is screen printing our t-shirts for the event. We have decided to print them on American Apparel t-shirts and have decided to go with an eggplant color, which is a dark purple with white ink.

Claire Dunham and I have been collaborating on setting up some design ideas for the banners and window clings for the event and partners of tastebuds. The design for all the printed materials are similar to the logo which is minimal and clean however still suggests some friendly play with color palettes and light type treatments. 

Onward we go….tastebuds launches soon.

williams.print.

On March 3rd our Process and Materials class we took a true journey over to Williams Printing. Though out trip there had many a detour and some mild confusion, nevertheless we arrived. We were fortunate to have Bubba Williams as a tour guide who pre-gamed with a presentation of what Williams is about and how they operate as a company in both the design field and the business realm. He also introduced us to their in house graphic designers who were gracious enough to lighten up the room with some comedic conversation and some very insightful information about graphic design post-academia. Bubba took us through a maze of printing machines that handle different aspects of a printed project. i.e die cuts, digital pre press machines, and binding. All of the employees were happy to accommodate us and stop there daily schedule to show us how the process works for their part of operations. Williams didn’t hold any area of their business behind the curtain, Bubba showed us all of the operations that they partake in and was more than willing to answer any questions that we had. He was also very interested in helping us have our client project printed through Williams, which is exciting to us all.

a.printers.guide

For our most recent project we are compiling information regarding printers in our surrounding areas. This assignment is accompanied by components of our past project dealing with the working images. We are to create spreads in response or in accordance with the word and image pairs. I have been assigned National Print Group and Advanced Signs. These page layouts can use either image as the basis for the design aesthetic or appearance. The book will also have a front and back cover of our own design. The contents will be a compilation of all the classes assigned printers as well as some other spreads that i will design. So in it’s entirety it will be around 30 pages of content, which will be quite diverse, taking in to consideration different design styles and sensibilities in reference to everyones word pairs. 

For each internal spread i decided to use some different techniques that I was unaccustomed to using such as really abrasive saturated color palettes and some gradients. The cover, title page, and contents page will have something a bit more to my typical aesthetic however, I still plan to indulge in some mild experimentation while still using clean design presentation.

We will be printing the books through lulu.com and everyone will have their books delivered and bring them to class. I am quite interested in seeing the outcome of everyones covers. This will surely be an interesting mix of everyones design.

splitting.my.time.

Current progress within our class BuyFresh/BuyLocal has been quite the world wind of activity as of late. I have been attempting to divide my workflow between my team working with the event and getting other teams such as the print and identity group their necessary information regarding our newly selected logo.  Learning a lot about selecting pantones for the logo. This is all new for me, and Leslie Jensen Inman has been gracious in lending us her pantone books to find the appropriate colors to match my original palette and also incorporate new selected colors to complete a palette. I must mention my thanks to Leslie for her proposal of incorporating a purple into the palette, which was a spot on idea (not to give too much away). I am satisfied that my original palette was taken into consideration and adapted in way that made it so much stronger and can accommodate all the necessities of the project. As for my event team… we have been pounding out new great things. We have acquired a new chunk of deliverables after sending out our press release to the appropriate individuals. We are now embarking on a journey to find appropriate solutions for t-shirts, stickers, buttons, reusable bags, and marketing solutions. I am cranking out some solutions, which take the icon form out logo, and use it to make a pattern that can be placed on these items. Tara, one of my teammates for the event, has been working with placing the icon on a shirt in some very interesting ways that make the t-shirts very unique and eye catching. Our class as a whole has been working diligently to prepare all the upcoming deliverables and keep our eyes open for the upcoming challenges and goals. If our history with this project tells anything about it’s future, this project should have greatness for us to handover to the client. Onward we go!

 

at.the.Times.

Journey over to 10^th street last week to visit the Chattanooga Times Free Press for a tour of their facility and workroom. Upon entering the building a sense of calm punched me in the face with individuals casually strolling back and forth, but never neglecting to give a welcoming smile, however too busy to break their pace.  This all was something that I hadn’t predicted considering my idea of a newsroom was something more cinematic and hectic. The Times is a culmination of history, employees of many fields, and information. Our tour guide was Frank Anthony, who is a veteran at the Times. He began our tour with referencing the history of printing methods at the Times, which included: Washington hand press, linotype, and rotary type. Every aspect of the newspaper is separated and has handfuls of professionals handling every small aspect of the paper, from the absent reporters down to the men who reload the paper on their new super-intimidating printer. The tour was insightful and intriguing from the statue of Adolph Ochs, the original owner of the paper who’s nose is rubbed for good luck, to the gigantic vats of ink they store alongside the news printer, which they go through so rapidly.

 I must also mention the muted and classic architectural decisions within the building. The floors are the original hardwood floors from the original construction. The hardwood held the scars of the original machinery and where movement of machines had ground out chunks of the wood. The ceilings revealed the ductwork, which gave the newsrooms a very modern studio feel. The large windows in the newsroom allowed copious amounts of light to enter the environment, which I can image lighten the stress of the employees of a paper.

 The individuals at the paper were very accommodating to our visit both with their knowledge and time, even running the machinery so that we could actually view the processes.

 Awesomeness.

what’s.in.a.tree.

In response to presented article:

http://www.creativepro.com/article/paper-tips-how-to-choose-the-right-paper-

 

The selection process in accord with design work is one that is complex and takes much consideration. The first and foremost consideration when selecting you paper is finding a printer that can accommodate you in your required deliverables for your client or project. This means acquiring quotes of prices and matching these to your paper choices. Your paper choice should be based on the life span and should be in accord with how you are presenting information. In the article written by Paperspecs they bring about an example of a non-profit organization considering an alternative to using premium papers because it is slightly contradictory of the message that you are trying to present. So in this we have to think of considering not only text and what we are saying but also what the materials in which we are presenting them on are communicating as well, which is something that I have never really taken time to consider. Texture and finish is something that I feel is definitely an element that requires a particular eye and some intuition to choose. The surface quality of a print can dramatically affect the way the ink is received by the paper and also consider the use of imagery and what is appropriate for the function and reception of these aspect….overwhelming all these considerations! The article discussed the choosing of colored paper, which slightly freaks me out because I can’t really think of an appropriate situation to use colored paper. Seems too dangerous when it comes to anything to be printed in color and also just makes me think of silly flyers from my primary education. The section of this article that discusses the weight of paper at first seemed obvious in the page count for your printed matter, but I didn’t think of printing something double sided with heavy inks would require paper with a high opacity! This seems so obvious to me now but wasn’t on my mind when thinking about paperweight. Weight also directly influences something that is to be mailed and can directly affect your budget as well, which is no good. I am really astounded by all the decision making that goes into really narrowing your paper choice down for a given project. Seems like someone could be paid just to consider these things and pluck out the best option. Some homework and mapping out of options definitely exist in the process of paper. Stressful in process but important in practice, I am sure.

 

Check out paper specs here:

http://creativepro.paperspecs.com/

color.one.

Color is very complex to understand, because, color is something that is subject to thought, intention, surroundings, light, time…this list is endless. So we know that its effects are often time affected by a slew of various things. Interestingly enough color has the power to completely change the way we view a given image. The way that professional photographers choose to manipulate an image in post work can completely solidify the way it is received by the viewer. Shifts in color fields within the study of digital photography can take an original image and warp it in such a way that it becomes a composition, and an individual photograph, all its own. Often times there is a very fine line on where a photographs manipulation is successful and then where it becomes something that is formally disfunctional. However with our photo pair manipulation we see this rule being bent in such a way that harsh manipulations are made to see the functional qualities that they have to offer to each other in a series. This compositional comparison raises you eyebrow in a a similar way to what many Pop Art works would, the contrast with wild color combinations that are visually combative with the viewer, all the while creating a very interesting piece of “art”. Working with color in photoshop is a process and a practice that takes time and effort to tame and master…however letting yourself go slightly wild with manipulation is a good way to see what happens with things get a little out of hand…then pull yourself back in to understand how/when/why those tools are useful and when.

diggin’.around.

In the pursuit of knowledge expansion I usually prepare myself for a project with a little abstract research. Im never entirely sure of my direct position in relation to a new project so I tend to just sift through the internets endless matrices. I have to say the the word research often carries a daunting idea of task and time. However, research in fact can be a very important and enjoyable step within the processes one enters for problem solving. Gathering inspiration, motivation, knowledge, purpose, and information is quite possible the foundation you lay in order to construct a successful solution to any problem. I carry along with me a notebook that I collect visual and informative pieces in. Taking random notes of facts and resources you discover on the web can are often times invaluable to you at the time of collection however can be valuable inspiration for future projects, so I find it very helpful to be a collector of many things. Simply diggin’ around through websites can also be a helpful way to just round up some information regarding a question that is puzzling you or something that you need some reference for. For the work I am currently involved with, I find it helpful to just keep my laptop open and check out information about buying fresh and local, logo design for grocers and  other competitors, just to stay connected with my mindset towards a project.

I also cannot stress the importance of just grabbing magazines and books on or about design. The knowledge and visual information that a pile of magazines can offer you is so valuable. I find that many of my inspirational ideas for projects come from seeing what others are doing in the world with their aesthetic…this way it helps you recognize what others are doing and improve your own work, capitalizing on others new discoveries, making something new, advancing your skill set, releasing your identity into the world. Its all very relevant to research and design as a practice.