Jillian Duff Resume

Jillian Duff

Project: Wordmark & Resumé

9/21/09

Visual Message

Through the design of my resumé, I hope to communicate that I am a unique and creative, yet professional potential employee. My wordmark complements the rest of the design on the page as it establishes space and orients the positioning of every other text placement. I decided upon a landscape resume to depict my youthful and enthusiastic approach that I can offer a company. However, I felt the need to organize the main body text into two clean, even and similar sized columns in order to demonstrate my professional qualities of being confident, motivated, dedicated and bold. I hope to overall show my strength as a leader.

Audience

I will be sending this resumé to Eric Mower and Associates for a creative copy summer internship. I may also send this to Galaxy Communications for creative advertising/writing and event planning, which may include some minor alterations in the hierarchy and wording of job responsibilities.

Design Strategy

The initial impression my wordmark makes is to draw the viewer to my bold printed name, and then lead the eye outwards to my contact information and up to the main body text. It functions in the page’s hierarchy as the boldest and largest point of interest with a substantial amount of white space around it, yet not too bold and large as to take away from the other critical information. It serves as the fixed point of which to position every other body of text strategically around it using the hard lines (bottom of “duff” and left side of the “u”). The lower cased letters of the wordmark also portray this message of its importance along with the natural need to read the other two columns of text right after meanwhile establishing a level of comfort and ease with the use of my nick name. I chose Gill Sans and Helvetica as my two families of fonts as they complement each other in the sans serifs attribute, and yet are dissimilar enough to provide contrast, consistency and visual vocabulary for headers, body text, etc. Both fonts have large enough families to offer a variety of choices and both give off a youthful and creative feel, but still professional.

Style Sheet

WORDMARK: Gill Sans MT regular, 50/60, optical kerning, tracking 0

“du” OF WORDMARK: Gill Sans MT regular, 50/60, metrics kerning, tracking 0

CONTACT INFORMATION: Gill Sans regular, 14/16.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0

SECTION HEADERS: Gill Sans regular, 14/16.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0

SCHOOLS & JOBS: Helvetica bold, 10/12, metrics kerning, tracking 0

JOB POSITIONS: Helvetica bold oblique, 10/12, metrics kerning, tracking 0

JOB LOCATIONS & DATES: Helvetica Neue light, 10/12, metrics kerning, tracking 0

BODY TEXT: Helvetica Neue regular, 9/10.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Document Grid

TOP MARGIN: 4p11.633

BOTTOM MARGIN: 2p8.511

LEFT BODY MARGIN: 7p3.6

RIGHT BODY MARGIN: 4p7.8

Sources & Influences

After meeting with Professor Ed Russell about the portfolio class I will be taking this spring, he emailed me an ideal portfolio by a man named Andy Pearson who attended The Creative Circus portfolio school in Georgia. His resumé was set up landscape and the entire concept of being “on its side” as something different and intriguing inspired me to do the same.

Extras

A concern pertaining to the landscape layout is that there will be no organized room in which to add more jobs, activities, etc. However, with the clear-cut columns I believe altering/adding will not be a problem. Furthermore, I seek to replace certain jobs and activities that do not completely relate to my career goal as a copywriter with newer and more relevant items.

Resume and Rationale

Visual Message

The design of my resume is meant to convey professionalism with the creative use of white space and the balance of black and gray type.  The wordmark design is a simple, serif design of two italicized fonts, and is appealing to any number of jobs within the advertising field.  It is neither too feminine nor too crisp and plain, but is creative and professional enough to appeal to both creative and management departments of the advertising industry.  The D and G of the wordmark compliment the entirety of the resume, as the same font is used throughout, though it is bold, italicized, or grayed in some places to add appeal.  As I do not have a completely impressive resume at this point in my career, I kept the resume in serif font throughout the make it easier to read and add a professional nature.

Audience

My prospective employers reside in the advertising field, in both management and creative positions.  I paid much attention to distribution of space and balance of gray and black tint to display my knowledge of design, as this is very important in my chosen field.

Design Strategy

The simple design, and again, the use of blank space and tint, as well as a largely uniform typeface throughout are all part of the design strategy to balance out my relatively short resume.  The wordmark is a bold mixture of black and gray, and incorporates two different typefaces–ITC Legacy Serif Std (Book Italic) and Snell Roundhand LT Std (Bold Script).  I wanted the wordmark to be visually separated from the rest of the resume, and thus I used italicization, though I used the Legacy Serif font throughout the body to tie the whole thing together.  The fonts compliment each other with a proper mix of bold headlines and lower point descriptions, but have a definitive theme with the repetition of the Legacy font, whether it be bold, italic, or medium. 

Style Sheet

Wordmark:

    D&G: ITC Legacy Serif Std (Bold Italic), 80/96, kerning 0, tracking 0

    Remainder: Snell Roundhand LT Std, 45/60, kerning 0, tracking 0, tint 77

Address & E-mail:

    ITC Legacy Serif Std (Medium), 10/12, kerning 0, tracking 0, tint 77

Section Headers:

    ITC Legacy Serif Std (Medium), 12/11, kerning 0, tracking 0, tint 77

Body Titles:

    ITC Legacy Serif Std (Bold), 12/11, kerning 0, tracking 0

Locations/Dates:

    ITC Legacy Serif (Medium), 10/11, kerning 0, tracking 0, tint 77

Descriptions:

    ITC Legacy Serif (Medium), 10/11, kerning 0, tracking 0

Document Grid

Top Margin: 2p4

Bottom Margin: 10p5

Left Body Margin: 2p1

Right Body Margin: 8p2

My Resume

My rationale won't upload for some reason..but I am going to try again in the lab soon. Worst comes to worst, I will just copy and paste it onto here. Also, the font looks a lot smaller than it is on paper I promise...Enjoy!

Christine Bae

project: Wordmark & Resume

09-22-09

visual message: Through the design of my resume, I wanted to present my information in a very straight-forward manner. At the same time, I wanted to show elegance and grace. The wordmark I created is simple yet has a flair to it. I wanted it to reflect who I was as a person, one who likes to keep it simple yet isn't plain and boring. The wordmark is in script; typing my name in script allowed me to write out my name in lower case letters, very easy-going and casual, yet it still keep it from looking too plain. I want my prospective employers to see through my resume that I am flexible and would be suitable at any job position or any enviroment.

audience: The prospective employers to whom I would send this resume include entertainment-oriented Public Relations firms. This resume could also be sent to employers in the Television, Radio, Film market or the music industry field.

Wordmark:
Edwardian Script ITC Regular 55/66, metrics kerning, tracking after "h" -80, after "n" -20, after e -10
“S” in Wordmark- Edwardian Script ITC Regular 48/57.6
“d” in Wordmark- Edwardian Script ITC Regular 100/142, tracking -120
period in Wordmark- Edwardian Script ITC Regular 72/142, metrics kerning -130
“b” in Wordmark- Edwardian Script ITC Regular 55/66
“a” in Wordmark- Edwardian Script ITC Regular 55/66, tracking -50

Address &Email:
Georgia Regular 9.5/11.4
Section Headers: Edwardian Script ITC Regular 24/28.8
“skills”: Edwardian Script ITC Regular 24/28.8, tracking 80
“education”: Edwardian Script ITC Regular 24/28.8, metrics kerning, tracking 40, after “u” and "c" tracking 30, after "t" tracking 0, after "i" tracking 10, after "o" tracking 0, after “n” tracking -50, after period tracking 40

Body text:
Titles-Georgia Bold 10/12, metrics kerning
descriptions-Georgia Regular 9/12
“CitrusTV”: Georgia Bold 10/12, tracking -100
“Photographer”: Georgia Regular 10/12, tracking -60 after "r"
“Member”: Georgia Regular 10/12, tracking -60 after "r"
“Center”: Georgia Bold 10/12, tracking -60 after "r"
“Korean School of N.J.,”: Georgia Bold 10/12, tracking -60 after period
“Syracuse University”: Georgia Bold 10/12, tracking -110 after "y" in "University"

Document grid:
Top Margin: 3p4
Bottom Margin: 6p1
Left Body Margin: 5p0
Right Body Margin: 5p0

el resume

Angela Hu

Wordmark & Résumé Project

9/22/2009

Visual Message: I wanted my résumé to look clean and simple but also sleek. I utilized a large portion of the white space on the paper to make the résumé look spacious. My wordmark especially was the most difficult to contour in order to complement the feel I wanted to give off to future employers. But the contrast of colors between my wordmark establishes my first and last name very clearly. I wanted employers to be able to see my name first and follow the natural lines on the paper to the rest of my résumé.

Audience: My target audience for this résumé is geared towards more the creative realm of job opportunities. I hope to work with non-profit or companies that are making an effort to create a cultural and social influence in modern culture.

Design strategy: I thought that the position of my wordmark, especially the “g” in my name blatantly expressed that I want my employers to see my name first. I made the “g” in my name in its own textbox and enlarged it enough so the little earmark from the g draws the eyes into the middle of the résumé. I put the wordmark in the top left corner, in the most traditional sense, because I wanted to evoke a feeling of modern and vintage quality in my résumé. The design of my résumé is very simple, but holistically, portrays that I am an individual in my own right with the chosen typeface of my wordmark. I especially gravitated towards Bernhard Modern Std for my wordmark because it looked relatively classy and also the serif typeface added an old-school spin to my name. I chose Stempel Garamond Lt Std for my body because it was especially easy-to-read, but also complemented the elements present in my wordmark.

Style Sheet:

Wordmark:

“An”- Bernhard Modern Std 95/114, optical kerning, tracking -80

“G”- Bernhard Modern Std 125/ 150, metrics

“ela”- Bernhard Modern Std 95/114, optical kerning, tracking -100, -80

“Hu”- Bernhard Modern Std 120/144, optical kerning, tracking -80

Programs: Stempel Garamond Lt Std Bold, 10/12, metrics

Leadership Roles: Stempel Garamond Lt Std, 9/10.8, metrics

Address & E-mail: Stempel Garamond Lt Std, 9/10.8, metrics

Date & Location: Stempel Garamond Lt Std, 9/10.8, metrics, italicized

Body Text: Stempel Garamond Lt Std, 9/10.8, metrics

Document Grid:

Top margins: 2p6

Bottom margin: 3p7

Left body margin: 5p2

Right body margin: 8p6

Resume Project

Visual message: Through the design of my résumé, I wanted to convey and communicate simplicity and professionalism. Thus, I wanted to show contrast, balance, and consistency in my design. Thus, the wordmark consists of black and gray, capital and lower-case, and different sized letters. To show consistency, the headings and the line are gray, while the body is black to match the colors displayed on the wordmark.

Audience: This résumé would be sent to Public Relations firms or to designer brand companies that have a Public Relations department.

Design Strategy: I intended to convey professionalism to the PR firms. The wordmark is located on the upper left so that it would be the first thing the employers will see; it makes an initial impression that is very clear-cut, simple, and sophisticated. Although the design might seem boring at first glance, the typefaces add personality to my résumé. I chose Italian Old Style MT Std (serif) for my wordmark to evoke elegance and buoyancy and Futura Std (sans serif) for my body part of the résumé to portray simplicity and clarity. Thus, the typefaces of serif and sans serif create contrast and balance simultaneously.

Style Sheet

Wordmark Y,G: Italian Old Style MT Std Bold 85/102

Wordmark oo: Italian Old Style MT Std Bold 40/48, kerning -25

Wordmark ooJun: Italian Old Style MT Std Bold 40/48

Wordmark HonG: Italian Old Style MT Std Bold 35/42, 65%

Line: 0.5pt, 41p1.666, 50%

Address, number, and e-mail: Futura Std Book 8/9.6

Section Headers: Italian Old Style MT Std Bold 15/18 (Small caps), 65%

Body text: 

Futura Std Bold 11/13.2             

Futura Std Book 11/13.2

Futura Std Book 10/12            

Futura Std Bold 10/12

Tab: 1p5

Document grid

Top margin: 6p9

Bottom margin: 9p5

Left body margin: 4p0

Right body margin: 4p3

Susan Kim Resume

Visual Message

The design of my resumé is simple and organized. Because I will bring a new – possibly younger – perspective to the agency I will be working at, I wanted to convey my fresh and youthful personality without seeming too immature. The information I present is straight to the point, but still detailed enough to highlight my strengths, so that it does not bombard the audience with overwhelming details. My wordmark, which is creative without being overpowering, complements the clean design of my resumé.

Audience

This resumé would be sent to employers at a public relations agency.

Design Strategy

In order to convey a sense of youthfulness and freshness, I chose to use the font Antique Oliver Std for my wordmark. The roundness of the font makes it appear modern and young, but it does not overplay the youth factor so much that it appears immature or childish. The alternating colors and the line that extends from the letter ‘m’ in my wordmark act as creative elements, while the latter also unifies all the different sections of my resumé. The body is written in the font ITC Souvenir Std, which is clean and formal, but still has a little creative and youthful touch, evident in the roundness of the letters. The colors of the dates are in a darker shade of gray so that they will not take away from the more important parts of my resumé.

Style Sheet

Wordmark: Antique Olive Std (Light), 72/86.4, optical kerning, tracking 0

Section Headers: ITC Souvenir Std (Medium Italic), 10/12, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Body Text: ITC Souvenir Std (Light), 9.5/11.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Workplace (Experience): ITC Souvenir Std (Medium), 9.5/18, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Dates (Experience): ITC Souvenir Std (Light), 9.5/11.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0, tint 70%

Position (Experience): ITC Souvenir Std (Light Italic), 9.5/11.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Body Text of Skills and Activities & Honors: ITC Souvenir Std (Light), 9.5/13, metrics kerning, tracking 0

University (Education): ITC Souvenir Std (Medium), 9.5/26, metrics kerning, tracking 0

School (Education): ITC Souvenir Std (Light Italic), 9.5/26, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Contact Information: ITC Souvenir Std (Light Italic), 9.5/12, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Document Grid

Top Margin: 5p9

Bottom Margin: 6p2

Left Body Margin: 6p3

Right Body Margin: 5p11

lilianchan_resume

Rationale

Name: Lilian Chan
Project: Woodmark & Resumé
Date: September 20th, 2009

Visual message
The design that I was going for in my resumé was a clean and minimalistic one to showcase a little bit of my personality which is simple and fuss-free. The woodmark was not overly intricate which complements the overall design of the resumé perfectly. The section headers and body text are lined to follow the contact details on top making the whole text structured in the center of the page therefore giving a balanced and neat look to the resumé. The key look to the overall design of the resumé is meant to give the impression that I am someone who is well-organized and systematic in her work.

Audience
The resumé is intended for perspective employers who are in the magazine industry, specifically magazines catering to women’s interests.

Design strategy
The woodmark was purposely designed to not be over the top as to implement a style of simplicity. The woodmark sits at the top left of the page and is bigger than the rest of the text in the resumé so that my name ‘pops’ out and may be easily remembered. The woodmark is a combination of two typefaces: for ‘lilian’, Avenir LT Std. Light was used because it seemed to have a very professional feel to it and it was also easy on the eyes whereas for ‘chan’, ITC Isadora Std. Regular was used because it created a feminine touch to the my name which was suitable as I am greatly interested in writing about women’s interests. The ‘h’ from the ‘chan’ that circles the ‘i’ from ‘lilian’ bonds the two names together to show that I am serious about my work although the field is entirely about women’s interests. The ‘lilian’ and ‘chan’ are in different colors too because I prefer being called by my first name rather than my last name. However, all the letters in my name are in lowercase because although I am professional and serious about my work, I have an easy-going nature. The body text follows the main design of the woodmark - section headers use ITC Isadora Std. Regular with the same tinting percentage as the ‘chan’ from the woodmark whereas the rest of the body text are using various types from the Avenir typeface family.

Style sheet
Woodmark: lilian - Avenir LT Std. Light, 60/72
chan - ITC Isadora Std. Regular, 60/72, 60% tint
Contact details: Avenir LT Std. Light, 9.5/14.4, metrics
Section headers: Avenir Lt Std. Light, 12/14.4, 60% tint
Body text: Section titles - Avenir LT Std. Blk, 9.5/11.4
Section details - Avenir LT Std. Light, 9.5/11.4
Dates - Avenir LT Std. Light, 9.5/11.4, 60% tint

Document grid
Top margin: 3pc0
Bottom margin: 8pc11
Left body margin: 5pc6
Right body margin: 7pc9

Resume & Rationale

 Visual Message: I wanted to make my resume very professional looking.  However, I do value creativity and I wanted to put a little of that into my wordmark design. Yet I chose a serif font for the wordmark to still keep it professional. I wanted to show my prospective employers that I value creativity, but I also value conventional hard work as well.

Audience: I am dual majoring in Psychology and Public Relations so I expected my audience to be a corporate company or agency for Public Relations or anything related to social media.

Design Strategy: As I mentioned in my Visual Message, I wanted my wordmark and resume to show that I value creativity as well as professionalism. The “C “and the “H” in my first name mirrors the “O” and the “H” in my last name and I purposely did that for repetition and aesthetics. The round “C” and “O” offsets the squared and structured shapes of the rest of my name and the resume layout. Since my last name is short, it made natural guidelines for the layout of my resume. I chose Kepler and Trajan Pro as my fonts because they are serif fonts and give off a professional look. They are easy to read and convey an affinity to structure, which I like (as opposed to sans serifs that are round/loose and doesn’t communicate the preference for structure). I also greyed out my name to make my initials stand out like a monogram.

Fonts used- Kepler and Trajan Pro.

My Resume and Rationale

Visual message Through the design of my resume, I intend to convey a message of simplicity and professionalism. My wordmark is simple, but the different tones of the names and the typeface help it to stand out and give a hint of creativity. The two-tone wordmark ties into my section headings, in which I used the same font family and grey tone, which creates a more even flow to my resume and makes it easier to read. The different sections of my resume are stacked on top of each other but grouped by lines, which allows the reader to easily distinguish the different sections and also helps create a more even flow. This tone of simplicity helps to create the general message I hope to portray to employers, which is one of professionalism.
Audience-As a magazine major, this resume will be sent out to different magazines. Specifically, I hope to send it to magazines such as Rolling Stone, which is a very well respected magazine.
Design strategy-My design, which is simple yet stands out, helps to communicate to my audience that I am professional, yet can stand out. Since my wordmark is large, two-toned, and set to the top left of the body, it stands out right away and makes a bold statement, allowing the reader to clearly read my name. The body of my resume is set inline with my last name, it is as though the reader is pushed to read the body. Since the body is set over to the left, it also forces the reader’s eye towards it. The font I used for my wordmark is simple, yet it helps it to stand out. The font I use for my body is also very simple and easy to read, but also one that is not often used.

Style sheet-
Wordmark: First Name- ITC Tiffany Std Bold, tint 50%, 38/45.6, optical kerning, tracking 0
Last Name- ITC Tiffany Std Bold, 54/64.8,metrics kerning, tracking 0
Address and Email: News Gothic MT Regular, 9/10.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0
Section Headers: ITC Tiffany Gothic Std Demi, 12/14.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0
Body Text: Titles-News Gothic MT Bold, 10/12, metrics kerning, tracking 0
Locations/Dates- News Gothic MT Italic, 9/10.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0
Explanations- News Gothic MT Regular, 9/10.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Document Grid
Top Margin: 6p0.5
Bottom Margin: 2p2.75
Left Body Margin: 1p5.25
Right Body Margin: 5p8.5

Deanne Hoover Resume

Visual Message:

The ideas behind my resume are simplicity and relativity. The bulk of my experience does not pertain to the field I would like to work in. Therefore, I listed the most relevant position first. I also listed the responsibilities that were most important and conveyed leadership qualities. I kept the wordmark simple as to not confuse prospective employers for people tend to have a hard time with my name.

Audience:

Prospective employers that may receive my resume are newspapers looking for writers or editors. If I were to submit my resume to a restaurant then most likely I would omit the editor experience.

Design Strategy:

I intended to make the overall design of my resume easy to read. I listed my first name and job titles in bold in order to catch the reader’s eye. I tried to keep the wordmark simple and added contrast by making the middle initial and last name gray. I chose Antique Olive and Franklin Gothic as my typefaces because I was trying to stay away from any font that was hard to read or had any sort of script to it.

Style sheet:

Wordmark: Antique Olive Std Light, 55/66, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Address and E-mail: Antique Olive Std Light, 9/10.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Section Headers: Antique Olive Std Roman, 10/12, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Body Text: Franklin Gothic Std No.2 Roman, 12/14.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Franklin Gothic Book Regular, 9/10.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Franklin Gothic Book Italic, 9/10.8, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Document grid:

Top and Bottom Margin: 2p5

Mike Estabrook - Resume

Visual Message

I’m a reserved, diligent person, so that is what I set out to express while designing this resumé. I wanted my wordmark to represent a serious work ethic and not distract from the body. By restraining the wordmark’s effect, while still being visually memorable, and combining it with a straightforward body type, I attempted to make what I have to offer to employers the primary focus. Though minimalism can suggest lack of creativity, I believe it represents how I emphasize strong content output over presentation without substance.

Audience

            My ideal audience is a publication’s editorial staff, specifically a music and/or arts specialty magazine.

Design Strategy

            I aimed to associate the design of my resumé with subtlety and respectability. Pursuing a career as a writer means my name becomes linked with my ideas and personality. The sans-serif Avenir typeface in my wordmark does not overtly grab attention but instead asserts these characteristics, as well as my professionalism. I did not want my typeface to exceed the importance of the resumé’s message. Also, the Chaparral Pro body typeface is easy-to-read and doesn’t stand out, allowing employers to analyze what is on the resumé without being put-off by the font choice.

Style Sheet

            Wordmark:

First name: Avenir LT Std 85 Heavy, 45, 35 kerning between K/E, 50 kerning between E/e, -150 tracking

Last name: Avenir LT Std 45 Book Oblique, 45, metric kerning, -10 tracking

Address & E-Mail:

Avenir LT Std 45 Book, 10, metric kerning, 0 tracking

Section Headers:

Avenir LT Std 85 Heavy (gray), 13, metric kerning, 0 tracking

Body Text:

Chaparral Pro Semibold, 11.5, metric kerning, 0 tracking

Chaparral Pro Italic, 11.5, metric kerning, 0 tracking

Chaparral Pro Regular, 10, metric kerning, 0 tracking

Document Grid

            Top Margin: 3p4

            Bottom Margin: 4p1.928

            Left Body Margin: 5p9.429

            Right Body Margin: 5p7

Ryan Gerhardt Resume Project

I used two serif fonts for my resume. The wordmark and sideways headings are in Monotype Modern Std. Extended and the rest of the text is in some variation of Adobe Jenson Pro. Not having a lot to put on a resume, I thought that this was the best way to fill the white space. Let me know what you think, just don't be too honest. Haha.

Visual Message: The main thing that I was trying to convey through the design of my resume was professionalism. Having little suitable experience meant that I had to convey in a different way my ability to work in a business and professional setting. The wordmark is very large and offset with especially the “R” and “G” being very strong and professional looking, almost like company initials I think. The wordmark also provides a nice frame in which to set the body of my resume. The overall design may be slightly simplistic, but I did not want to clutter the page suggesting that as a potential employee I would have difficulty narrowing my focus.

Audience: As I am not currently sure as to where I would like to work, I tried to create a resume that would be acceptable in most business settings. I am a political science major as well as advertising and I think the professional look of my resume would be suitable for a law firm and government office or even the administrative side of an advertising agency.

Design Strategy: My wordmark creates an instant presence on the page, since there are no immediate words or marks around it. I think the initials of my name create a strong anchor and frame from which the rest of my resume flows out. The initials are also quite heavy, just like the names under my headings, suggesting importance for things such as my job positions and school. The actual headings themselves I feel are less important and only for direction, which is why they are sideways and gray. The two typefaces, Adobe Jenson Pro and Monotype Modern Std. Extended, complement each other very well I feel. Monotype Modern Std. Extended is a little more difficult to read when it is small but is also very professional looking which is why I only used it for the wordmark and headings, being things that are larger font. Adobe Jenson Pro for the body I feel complements very well mostly because stylistically they are similar looking and both serif fonts, but Adobe Jenson Pro is much easier to read as a small font making it more practical.

Style Sheet:

Wordmark Initials: Monotype Modern Std. Extended, 80/96, optical kerning, no tracking

Wordmark body: Monotype Modern Std. Extended, 30/36, optical kerning, tracking +15

Address & E-mail: Adobe Jenson Pro Regular, 11.5/13.8, optical kerning, no tracking

Section Headers: Monotype Modern Std. Extended, 18/21.6, optical kerning, no tracking

Body Headers: Adobe Jenson Pro Bold, 13/13.5, optical kerning, no tracking

Place Names: Adobe Jenson Pro Regular, 13/13.5, optical kerning, no tracking

Dates: Adobe Jenson Pro Italics, 13/13.5, optical kerning, no tracking

College Name: Adobe Jenson Pro Bold, 11.5/13.5, optical kerning, no tracking

Body Text: Adobe Jenson Pro Regular, 11.5/13.5, optical kerning, tracking +20

Document Grid:

Top Margin: 4p2.393

Bottom Margin: 6p2.25

Left Body Margin: 4p8.557

Right Body Margin: 8p9.75

Graphic Arts as a Marketing Strategy

One article that appealed to me while I was researching what's going on in the Graphic Arts World is from Design Talkboard. It's about iPhone Apps for Graphic Designers or just for anyonejust another tool or device to use to be creative. Here is the website I got the story from: http://www.designtalkboard.com/design-hardware/iphoneapps.php

(http://images.businessweek.com)

Here are some of the applications that I thought were interesting; the information and the picture all come from here.

Oblique is a set of postcards published by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. Each card contains a phrase, or suggestion that may help to overcome a creative block.

Another application is Palettes which is for creating color schemes. It allows you to import and export color palettes to and from Adobe Photoshop.

Photowizard is a photograph processor. It allows you to add you to play with photos taken on you iphone.

Things is another application that is a helpful tool, but can seem pretty redundant. It's a tool. It creates lists for you to remember events, tasks, and handle multiple projects at once.

Some measuring tools are: Caliper and Ruler...The Ruler was is just a ruler that is used for measurements. Caliper is used for measurement as well. It is a little more specific than the Ruler in that the measurements can be taken into pixels. I think these functions are boring and useless to me, but I'm sure it can come in handy for other people...

My favorite one has to be CameraBag. This lets you take pictures, which may not seem like anything different, however it stimulates different types of cameras, enabling you to have different types of pictures all in your iphone. Take a look:

http://www.ismashphone.com/2008/10/camerabag-brings-filter-fun-to-your-iphone-camera.html

I think using graphic arts to enhance products and technology to make it more appealing to the masses is a good marketing strategy. It's a feature I never thought could improve a product. I also was interested in purchasing the iPhone and now it just makes me want it more.

New Impressions With a New Logo

I am sure that we are all well aware of the bank failures that have been much discussed in the media lately. In this economy it is hard not to. Although I would love to discuss my opinion on big business bail-outs I will save that for another forum. Something I have noticed though is the logo and name changes that some of the banks are implementing.

For example, General Motors Acceptance Corporation otherwise known as GMAC recently changed their name to Ally Bank. What it is more interesting however, is the type of logo they chose. The only difference is not in the name itself. As you can see, the GMAC logo is big and loud. The all upper case, blue letters state, "Do business with me. I am bold. Don't worry your money is safe with me!" The thick line underneath the GMAC gives the impression of security. It alludes to GMAC standing on firm ground. The orange on the end of the bottom line offers contrast to the big blue letters.

What a difference bankruptcy and a government bail-out makes. Ally Bank's logo sends a different message. This time they went with all lowercase letters rather than all uppercase. They still include contrast by making the letter a purple. The color choice here speaks a little less loudly than the blue and orange seen in GMAC. The purple seems more humble. Also, the letters in ally seem closer. It is as if the letter y is reaching out to the two L's. Whereas, the letters in GMAC are spaced a little further apart. The Ally Bank logo also leaves the impression that they work for the little guy. Not to mention their new name almost sounds like they could be your friend.

tweet tweet : new design platforms

I'm a big fan of twitter. With less than 160 ( or so) characters, some people come up with the wittiest and funniest "tweets" across cyberspace. But along with this new social networking website, comes the beauty of new designs and opportunities for all nerdy techies. I just came across this article on logodesignlove talking about how twitter is helping designers get their work into the general public. I'm no advertising expert, but with 160 characters, twitter seems like the perfect advertising platform that's 1) free! and 2) fun to use.

Moreover, the wonderful thing about twitter (and tumblr, if you use one) is that they instruct newbies (like me) on how I can create my own "htmls" and other graphic design jargon. It seems like a mouthful, but they make it so easy that even computer illiterates like me am willing to give it a try. Twitter itself has some cool designs. Like when there's too much traffic and twitter-ers can't get to the page, this cute whale pops up on the page and tells me to try again later. I'm usually very impatient but seeing this whale indefinitely soothes my twittering anxieties.

The wonderful tech support that comes with these new social networking sites is definitely a smart and new-age move by new developers. It makes graphic design accessible to the everyman and suddenly, this realm of creativity doesn't seem so scary after all. However, the downfall to this accessibility is that actual graphic designers have to work overtime to make sure their designs are undeniably professional but also, likable for the general public. It's the cyberworld's Sophie's Choice.

The connections between brand image and logo design

 We all know about Walmart, the big corporation that has been causing a stir and instigating debates for many years about the fact that it is putting small businesses and local grocers out of business.  We've seen them pop up everywhere, attracting swarms of people looking to save a few bucks on food, clothes, toiletries, and the like.  Their logo is pretty straight-forward: big, block capital letters in a bold sans serif font.  It looks exactly like a corporate logo.  It's big and in your face, much like the Hummer logo.  The logo embodies the company–a corporate entity that has a big, recognizable name.  The star separating WAL and MART gives the logo a little character, but the uniform blue color keeps it professional and, well, corporate looking.  Recently however, with the increase of business and the advancement of international stores, Walmart has changed their logo by rounding the letters and adding a bit of color.  The blue is a little lighter and more fun, and the letters are more rounded, less harsh, and lowercase.  Replacing the star is an abstract illustration of something that reminds me of rays of light, implying a new, energy and community interested company.  The final result of the logo change is definitely softer and friendlier to the eye, and projects less of a corporate image and more of a community oriented front.  Going back to the note on a more internationally friendly image, research done at several American universities suggests that Eastern cultures, such as those in Asia, are more attracted and open to rounder, softer fonts.  For more on this, check out an article at Businessweek.com.  That means that this new logo is more internationally recognized and acceptable, something that was surely researched by Walmart's team of designers and artists.  Now, most companies have trouble changing their logos, as loyal customers that follow the brand sometimes have strong opinions about the change and how it affects their support of the brand and the brand image.  Walmart, as a comprehensive business offering food, clothes, and household items, doesn't truly have a brand following.  Nothing from the Walmart brand is especially high quality, and the food that they sell is mostly from other companies, so Walmart customers don't really have brand loyalty–they're just looking for low prices.  In this aspect, Walmart is definitely lucky.  This logo change seems pretty beneficial to the company, as they've also altered their commercials and overall mission to include community action and focus on local events, issues, and charities.  This is also reflected in their slogan, "Save money. Live better".  This has made Walmart a much more popular company and star, and overall, this logo change seems to have been the best move possible by a giant corporation looking to change its image.  

A New Look for a New Image

Recently, the car company Audi changed its company logo. Audi seems to have followed the lead of many other big time companies that have changed their company logos. However, unlike Pepsi, Audi seems to have changed for the better, with just a few minor changes.On the left is Audi's former company logo. This company logo can most likely be attributed to Audi's racing history. Audi's have long been popular in the motor sports scene due to their superior speed and handling. Many rally-car drivers preferred Audi for this reason. You can see this in the logo. The font looks to be italicized- with the A and the d slanted- which gives the sense of motion. Also, the four interlocked rings have a more matte finish, making it look more metallic (as stated in Brand New). This finish makes it look as though the metal is stronger and more durable, something a racing car should be.
However, over the years, Audi has become known more as a luxury vehicle, competing with companies such as BMW and Mercedes. This more luxurious feeling is shown most definitely in the new logo. For starters, they changed the four interlocked rings from a more matte finish to a more chrome-based finish. This obviously gives the sense of luxury, as the metal is more illustrious, shining much more than the matte finish. The change is also seen in the new font. The font is now noticeably smaller and a much plainer, more elegant typeface. This is much more befitting of a luxury car company, as apposed to the old, big and italicized typeface.
In my opinion, the change that Audi made to its company logo is a good change.
All too often we see a company try to change its logo to express a new image, but fail in the process. This is evident in the new Pepsi logo. The company recently changed its logo to express a new younger, modern image. To try and push their new logo, Pepsi set up ads that featured Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" infused with a new hip beat and lyrics by Will. I Am. However, even with the millions of dollars they spent on this shift, and although it was just a minor tweak, Pepsi has been criticized heavily for the change. In contrast, Audi's change in their logo fits the image they want to convey, which is luxury. If you compare it to the logos of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, they all look pretty similar- the typeface that is.
Audi and Mercedes now both have very similar logos. They both have a very simple, yet elegant looking typeface, along with a chrome feel to it which evokes a sense of luxury.
So, in my opinion, good job to Audi for a successful change.

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/index.php?page=2

Say It Ain't So, Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, the network that defined our childhoods (or at least mine), is changing their logo in favor of a more polished design. Gone is the trademark orange paint-splat. Horrible news, I know. Here's what the planned update will look like:

(source)

Now, I'm not a casual Nickelodeon viewer anymore (bring back Legends of the Hidden Temple!) but this new logo just isn't cutting it for me. Nick established itself as the spot for off-the-wall, zany kids programming. The paint-splat captured that image perfectly: lighthearted and fun.

The update, in contrast, comes across as very uptight and stale. The reserved typeface and loss of graphic backdrop signals a shift in the network's objective. Perhaps Nick is trying to adjust to its new target audience -- a younger generation that lacks the spunk we had as Nickelodeon viewers. The channel's schedule now features derivative garbage that is producing droves of horrible, boring "tweens." So much for objectivity on my part.

Anyway, the new logo isn't only a modernization, it's a sign of quality degradation. Creative programming no longer rules over at Nickelodeon. Goodbye, The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Hello...iCarly? Really, Nickelodeon? A missing paint drop isn't Nickelodeon's only problem. But, it was the one thing connecting it to its glorious past.

So, who's up for an episode of Rugrats and a juice box?

Google's Mysterious Logo

Google regularly and temporarily changes its logo to emphasize significant events or dates. The latest ones appeared on September 5 and September 15. The September 5th logo, as shown below, consisted of a UFO that hovered over the letter “O.” Thus, many people discussed about the sudden change of the logo through facebook and twitter. Many commented that something related to a UFO must have happened that same day in history. Although the same typeface was used, the drawing of the UFO was quite noticeable. 

Image Source: Google Images

The September 15th logo consisted of typefaces that were formed by the shape of crop circles.  This subtle new logo was based on the talk about the spaceship last week. As one can tell from the image, the letter “L” is drawn by a truck, further implying that crop circles could all be a hoax. Furthermore, on its twitter page, Google posted the latitude and longitude of Surrey England, the place where a person saw a flying saucer on September 15 in 1985. 

Through this Google example, I learned how powerful logos can be. Without a lengthy explanation, the logo itself gets its main point across. Billions of people use Google daily, and everyone started to question the mysterious new logo. It caught so many people's attention. 

 In a sense, I personally think that a graphic designer has a lot of power and control over people. With whatever typeface or design they create, people are interested in them, and they really get involved in it. Moreover, they can shape people's thoughts as well. Such as the example above in the September 15th logo,  the hidden letter "L" signifies that crop circles are created by humans and not by aliens. The designer does not have to provide a long explanation. With the little truck, he or she expresses his or her beliefs. It actually reminded me of the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words." Although Google's latest logo may not necessarily be considered as a picture, it definitely conveys a lot more than its simple design. 

Sources:

http://www.mediabistro.com/baynewser/google_stuff/latest_google_logo_touches_off_new_firestorm_in_amateur_sleuth_community_131244.asp

http://www.examiner.com/x-10080-DC-Technology-Examiner~y2009m9d5- Googles-mysterious-unexplained-phenomenon-flying-saucer-logo-today