The DSP Experience

I cannot believe that I came into this class not knowing how to use any of  the Adobe programs, and now I know all the basics. I wish I had had more time to work on my projects. I think DSP was even more deadline-crazy for me because I took so many art classes this semester, but the good news is that I am approximately five hundred times faster at getting things done than I was last semester. This was good for me, because I’ve built up all sorts of designing momentum that will hopefully last until I take Viscom I next spring.

I am excited for Viscom I because it’s more oriented toward the design aspect of graphic design, as opposed to the technical stuff. Obviously I needed to learn all of that (and there is still a lot I don’t know), but I chose visual communications as a major despite its use of computer programs, not because of it. Learning how to use InDesign and Photoshop and Illustrator is great, but I missed being pushed to design something that looks awesome, and as a result I think some of the work I did this semester is a little boring. So when I take Viscom I, I won’t enroll in three other studio classes, and I’ll design cooler stuff. At least that’s the plan.

Next year I will use the skills I learned in this class when I work on the design team for Detours Travel Magazine. I've already begun using Illustrator on my own - I designed a logo for a friend of my mom's, and I reworked the label of a Tabasco sauce bottle so it read "Lame Sauce" as a practical joke. Photoshop has been similarly helpful; I used it just last week to make a bitmap image to print on a T-shirt for printmaking class. Oh! I also used InDesign outside of class this semester to make a "lost sweatshirt" poster when I left my Truman hoodie in the dorm's laundry room - it's not that exciting, but I did get my sweatshirt back! So you can see I've definitely benefitted from DSP in more ways than one.

But anyway, here's my final portfolio. Enjoy!

Final Portfolio - Thumbnails

Although the thumbnails for the Chili Cook-Off poster aren’t colorful, they are my tightest thumbnail comps from this semester. I did quite a bit of work before I even began drawing the comps: brainstorming concepts, sketching a lot of pencil comps, and finally spacing them on two pages, penciling them in, and filling in with marker. They turned out rather nicely, I think, and I was the only one in my class to use a gray Prismacolor marker instead of all black.

I also think these thumbnails show great conceptual variety. Because the event was raising money for Heifer International (an organization devoted to promoting agriculture in developing countries), I thought of using an illustration of a corn plant with a ladle full of chili growing out of it. This turned out to be not as great a design choice as I had hoped, so I moved on to illustrations of chili peppers, bowls of chili, spoons, and cowboys (why not?) But the most significant reason for including these thumbnails in my final portfolio is the attention I paid to detail and to making them look snappy, the way I would have if I had been drawing them for a client.

Final Portfolio - Marker Comp

My best marker comp this semester was of the Marceline pamphlet. I should specify that my criteria for a marker comp does not overlap with my standards for a good design; while I think my Marceline pamphlet was a tad boring design-wise, the marker comp was very tight and looked very similar to the final product.  I also think that it was this assignment in which my Prismacolor marker skills finally began improving, and I got the hang of blending colors together to match those in the photographs.

            I knew that I had to be especially precise with this comp because of the copy fitting, but the precision extended further into the marker rendering of the photographs, such as the picture of the Marceline Hometown Museum. I think this picture is my most tightly rendered yet – certainly better than the very first marker comp assignment. I’m also happy with the map of Marceline because it’s an actual map of Marceline, but it’s much prettier than a screen shot of a Google Map.

But mainly I chose to include my Marceline Pamphlet in my final portfolio because it was a complicated project to begin with, due to the panels and copy fitting, and I am actually a bit surprised that it turned out as well as it did despite the challenges. And aside from the mediocre design, I would have no problem presenting it to a client.

Oh, you wanted a picture? Scroll down, please : )

Final Portfolio - Traditional Copy Fitting

My best example of traditional copy fitting is also the Marceline pamphlet. When compared to the final product, the text is very close in alignment and spacing. I have to say I was kind of amazed to do copy fitting the traditional way – who would have thought that graphic artists once had to be proficient in basic math? It was interesting to put my trust in numbers rather than being able to see everything all at once to place it on the page. I think this process hindered my design in a way (I mentioned before that I wish I had come up with a more original design), but I think that I could get used to it quickly and learn how to balance design with text.

 In any case, I had very little trouble fitting the text into the InDesign document exactly the way it was in my marker comp, and that’s the purpose of copy fitting. I’m not sure if I’ll use traditional copy fitting to this extent in any future designs simply because it can be done more easily with InDesign, but I can definitely see applying it in smaller doses, like for a title or a small block of text.

 

Final Portfolio - Best Design

My example of my best design is the Chili Cook-Off poster. I think that it stands out visually and grabs the viewer's attention. I used design principles like the rule of thirds and proportional hierarchy for the text. The black background box is there to provide contrast to the chili pepper and the text, and it gives some visual weight to the key word, "chili." I didn't get to choose which thumbnail I wanted to make into my final poster (I think I might have done a cowboy to be more original), but I think the pepper is bold and helps grab your attention. I chose this assignment as my best design because it's simple yet effective.

Final Portfolio - Typography

My best example of typography is the two-page magazine spread. This was a text-heavy assignment, so it was a typographical challenge, but I think it turned out well. I chose this as my typesetting example because the work I did on it was purely typography, since I recreated the layout and illustrations rather than designing them from scratch. I had to really work to make the text look exactly like it did in the magazine spread I chose, and I learned a lot of typography tricks for making things fit into certain spaces. Just from messing around with the text to make it look like my magazine article, I learned so many useful things: what the proper amount of kerning is in certain places, how to prevent hyphens at the ends of text lines, fixing widows and orphans, and using variations of the same font to make things cohesive. This assignment taught me the most about typesetting - what better way to learn than from professionals?

Final Portfolio - Creative Concept

I think my best creative concept was the one I had the most freedom with: my Favorite Ride promotion poster. I had a lot of fun designing it because I got to use my VW bus illustration. Since a VW camper is quite the nontraditional vehicle, I knew I had to come up with a wacky poster design. I brainstormed all the usual ideas for a car promotion poster, like a serious advertisement, but since my VW is a 1971 model, I eventually landed on the idea of a seventies-themed tour company. I thought of my target audience, who I imagine to be people a little older than my parents, who are adventurous and style-savvy and perhaps a little eccentric. They’d be looking for an all-inclusive trip, something strangely in between a resort and an RV. I’m not sure if anyone has ever tried to bridge that gap with an actual VW bus company, but if they have I would sure like to know about it.

Once I had my concept down, I began working on the visuals. I knew I wanted the poster to look modern and clean with seventies influences, so I decided early on to use orange in the background. Luckily my VW illustration was already a light blue color that I thought would pop out from the orange background, so I had my color scheme. I focused on the whimsical aspects of my concept, and instead of using a photograph or illustration of a trip, I used the camper as the focal point. I wanted to attract attention to the illustration, so my idea for an orangey background formed itself into a few swooshes that have the added benefit of leading the viewer’s eye around the poster.

I knew that since the color visuals in this poster were simple, I had to find a good seventies-inspired font for the text. This led to a few hours of distracted font-searching online (I think free font downloads are a new obsession of mine), and I found HuskyStash, which I thought was weighty enough and sufficiently retro.

 

Final Portfolio - Indesign

My example of proficiency in InDesign is my Marceline pamphlet. It is one of the most recent projects, so I had the most experience working with InDesign. Because I knew a little more about the program, my Marceline pamphlet is technically correct.

Final Portfolio - Illustrator

There have been a lot of Illustrator assignments this semester, but the one I spent the most time on is my VW bus illustration. I think it's technically correct and very detailed, which is what Illustrator is for. This assignment taught me the most about Illustrator and gave me the most practice drawing with curves, organizing layers, and using gradient meshes. I chose it as my example of proficiency in Illustrator because it was the single most challenging Illustrator assignment we had this semester.

Final Portfolio - Photoshop

Photoshop is primarily an image editing program, and so I've kept that in mind by choosing my retouched photo as my example of proficiency in Photoshop. Although I've used Photoshop on nearly every project, to make clipping masks or change colors or convert modes, I still think my retouched photo exhibits the most Photoshop-specific skills. For this assignment, I used the clone stamp tool as well as the adjustment options like brightness and contrast. I also dodged and burned parts of the image, really working to get the best visual result from the original photograph.