I'm back from vacation and feeling rejuvenated! Before I hit the Costa Rican coast, I put the finishing touches on the Office of Technology Services Strategic Plan Update.  In addition to layout on this project, I also did a bit of copy editing. This is an activity that's a bit out of my comfort zone, but necessary to keep the page numbers down! T'was fun. Here's what we got back from the printer:

In going through my first TB drive and cleaning up files, I came across a fun project assigned by Max Boam. I loved this typography poster project: select type designer and interpret one of their typefaces in a calendar. I chose Herb Lubalin's Avant Garde.

This was my first go round . . . I think I'mma plop this guy into my portfolio for nostalgias sake:

{I'll be sure to make a more realistic mock-up if I do.}

I was about to post this article when I came across the Herb Lubalin Poster that I did in my UNDERGRAD poster design class.  Barring the color palette, two years didn't change my grid much. I think that I approached the projects with such a reverence for Mr. Lubalin that I was scared to take many chances with the design . . . it's kinda cute  if you think about it:

Yes, I read an article last year in an old NYer mag that went over the finer points of getting freebies and upgrades.

Miercoles / Wednesday:

Stayed up late into the morning contemplating the water cycle. Here in Pto. Viejo it functions practically like clockwork.

• The constant beating of the waters on the sand and the high daytime heat creates a steady stream of moisture raising up into the air. This eventually forms clouds.
• The clouds coagulate and obscure the early evening sun, always around 4pm, making a less-than-spectacular sunset. I’d wager that the residents of this Caribbean pueblo have never seen the orange fingers of night drag across the vast sky as it deepens from blue to purple to black.
• Then at 10pm the rains start. Fat drops of water speed toward the coast. It rains for 1-4 hours—depending on the previous day’s temperature—then it stops and the sun rises on a cool, moist land. The sunrise always begins with enough cloud cover to show off it’s evaporative powers. As Sol raises over the sea the clouds thin to wisps within 30 minutes. 

ON SHARKS: I have a lot of nerve believing that of all the hundreds of people bathing in the waters along the coast I am just important enough to warrant a shark attack. I mean, really.

Ticos and Dogs

Tico taking his dog for a swim

The people of Costa Rica love their dogs...this is in stark contrast to the way we treat dogs back in my neck of the Caribbean. Here they dote on, play with, cherish and respect their canines. As a result the dogs are all friendly and bite only when being playful.

At home, dogs are generally chained to a stake and left to protect the home. They are often dehydrated, underfed and beaten regularly—as far as I’m concerned, it’s our national shame. Antiguan dogs bark incessantly and can be quite unpredictable because of the persistent fear in which they live. They don’t bond with their masters. So, at night, Antiguan dogs revert to a quasi-feral state and form packs. These large dog packs roam the city streets fighting, or hunting, or just striking fear into humans that they reluctantly protect by day.

 At night the Pto. Viejo dogs sleep in a quiet corner until the morning, content that each human that they encounter will be a friend. There are no territorial displays when dogs encounter strangers—canine or human—when they meet during the day. It’s a bit different if a stranger enters the yard at night, of course.

This little doggie found Rob irresistible. She refused to listen to her owner and instead came over to kiss and love on this vacationing tourist!!!

Best vacation reading, indeed the best book I’ve read all year: Empress of Ireland, by Christopher Robbins

Well, this isn't actually a question. However, you should have a process outlined for this one. The interviewer wants to know that you can approach a project methodically and follow the logical steps to a successful design project. Be aware that these are not optional steps. Here they are:

1. Get the design challenge and do your research: Learn all you can about the target audience and message. Find out the format and budgetary constraints. 
2. Create thumbnails: Brainstorm design solutions and sketch out several quick ideas.
3.   Develop the roughs: Flesh out 3 or 4 of the thumbs to develop further. Get feedback from the team or client on which is most successful for their needs.
4. Make up the comprehensive designs (comps): Use the successful rough to create a design that’s full sized, using the final color palette, and sans-Greeked text. This project is practically finished. Get some feedback from your team or client.
5.  Final design: Use that last round of feedback to polish up your comp into the finished product.

As a developer / designer in higher education, I've seen the climate shift toward electronic media. This means that presenting imagery of e-learning is increasingly important. I'm talking about showing engaged learners using computers, devices, and non-traditional media to get information. That said, this iPad round-up doesn't show engaged learners at all.

Instead here are some devices that you can use in your design work or portfolio. I have downloaded and worked with a few of these at different times in the past year:

Free Apple iPad Vector - this freebie was created by jameskoster,  is completely editable in Illustrator, and includes glass glare in the layers!! Plus I've used it in my new graphic design portfolio.

Vecteezy Vector iPad - created by yaquiloco

Deviantart 18 iPad Icons - created by Adidadidu

Deviantart angled iPad icon - created by chrisnoakes

My friend Kate just posted this fantastic vid of a graphic designer, DangerDom, creating a poster in Adobe Illustrator. This time-lapse presentation shows the poster for ALT-J from sketch to finished product. Phenomenal!!



Alt-J Poster Process Video from -DangerDom- on Vimeo.

Through color we express and experience emotion. Effective branding uses color to effectively reach the consumer, market and audience.

in a recent scouring on the interweb, I came across a beautiful design site that features student and professional designers. Th goal of this search is actually to try to develop some assignment models for  an intro to graphic design course that I'm developing. For most designers, the develop a typeface project is ubiquitous one that spans graphic design education through the ages.


For this project, students were given a foreign language newspaper and asked to redesign it, with an emphasis on the audience and on typorgaphy. Here, Joren shows not only the finished product but all steps in his process. Follow this link to view the full project: