Presentation

In class on Wednesday, we presented our dummied marker comps for the Marceline pamphlet to the other lab, such as we would to a client. I wasn't too intimidated by the presentation or having things to say, but I was surprised at how short a time it took to present everything I had planned. Guess that's a skill to work on, taking up enough time in the presentation. However, I don't think this will be too difficult. As soon as I finished presenting my layout and the next person had started, of course I thought of more I could have said. Of course...

Marceline Marker Comp

My goal with this project was to target an audience of families with young children who, like most kids, are interested in Disney movies. The idea behind this brochure then was to catch their eye and attract these young families to Marceline, MO. Having younger siblings as well as (like most people) once being a kid myself (maybe I still am...) I know that the bright colors and the big, bold, iconic Mickey Mouse graphic would grab the attention of most little kids, who would take the brochure to their parents and beg to go there. Bingo. Goal accomplished.

However, this brochure is attractive to the parents who can read, unlike their small children only interested in the pretty pictures. I wanted to keep the layout simple so that busy parents can find the information they want quickly. The typeface used for the headers clearly identifies with Walt Disney, in case the Mickey ears weren't enough. There is also a hierarchy shown in the way the pamphlet is opened. First, the reader sees some of the Attractions, as well as Local Attractions and Accomodations. This tells the reader why he should come to Marceline. The next panel opened tells about the special Festivals that take place in Marceline as well as information on a Group Tour. Finally, after being convinced that Marceline, MO is his next vacation destination, the reader flips to the back, where he is told how to get there.

A few notes on the construction: The white rectangles are placeholders for photographs or a map on the "Getting There" panel. The "Local Attractions/Accomodations" panel has no photographs. Because the blocks of copy on that panel will be more like lists than paragraphs, I copy-fitted for the number of lines I knew would be there, not necessarily how long each line will be. I am excited to move this pamphlet into final production and see the end result.

Fishing Thumbnails

I thought that this project was interesting: design a layout targeting and audience of the opposite sex. Personally, I don't know many guys that are too big on fishing, but I still had fun researching something a little different. For this layout, I found some really great photography to incorporate. I especially like the photo used as a background for the header in the first thumbnail. My tiny marker comp of it does not do it justice. But I really think it will look good. That is the design that will be carried further into production -- next with a marker comp, then the final production using the software. Another feature of this design that my classmate Danielle liked was the pull quote on the second page. She also liked that about the thumbnail right under the final one.

I really liked the fish illustration I found, so it is incorporated in several of the layouts. Also, I liked experimenting with blocks of color to break up the page. I did a tiny bit of preliminary copy-fitting, and I believe that the copy would fit nicely into all of these layouts, and will look great in the one I will be carrying on to completion.

Mickey Marceline

These are the color thumbnail comps I created for the pamphlet featuring the small town of Marceline, MO, the childhood home of Walt Disney. I had a different concept for each.


thumbnail 1
For thumbnail 1, I wanted to show that Disney's idea of Mickey Mouse grew out of Marceline. Therefore the front panel shows a hole in a baseboard, such as a mouse might live in. The inside spread shows the growing up, or evolution of Mickey Mouse, showing that Disney grew up in Marceline.


thumbnail 2
In this design, I wanted to portray the idea of Marceline as a destination with small-town-America charm. I used postcards to portray this. Each postcard was to present a different image of the attractions of Marceline. The red, white, and blue color scheme further promotes the idea of a small, patriotic town. The man featured on the inside spread represents a photograph of Walt Disney himself.


thumbnail 3
This concept shows Disney's original trademark: film. Each block of copy is shown as a portion of a film strip. I used only black and white to keep the layout simple and unconfused.


thumbnail 4
This design mimics a map of the Disneyland theme parks. The inside spread features a map of Marceline, with callouts describing each attraction while also pointing out its location. Again, a patriotic color scheme was utilized to emphasize the small-town-America feel.


thumbnail 5
This is the design that, after discussion with my classmate Danielle, I have decided to carry further into production. I chose this one because it is simple, but eye-catching and appealing. It utilizes a silhouette of the classic Mickey Mouse ears as a motif throughout. My goal in this layout was to appeal to young families who might have children interested in Disney.

Final Ride Promotion Poster

The biggest issue I had when completing the final stages of production was time. Or rather, the lack thereof. I had forgotten that I would have to build the extra graphics featured in the clouds. I constructed these in Illustrator, then exported them to Photoshop to apply clipping paths in the cloud shape before finally placing them in my InDesign document. These took about 3-4 hours. It also took me awhile to figure out how to use the clipping paths and layer masks to the best advantage. However, overall I believe I was successful and ended up with a good design.

The only problem I had with presentation was the realization that I did not have a piece of black foam core that was big enough for mounting the 13x19" final poster. This was easily remedied with a quick run to Walmart and the evening, and the project, was saved.

Ride Promotion Poster Comp

I made several significant changes from my original thumbnail design for this half-size, full color marker comp. Most of these changes were suggestions made by Erin when choosing the design that I would carry further into production. She suggested adding small, tropical images into the cloud shapes to further the concept of a tropical vacation. I have added graphics of flip-flops, a hammock and a palm tree, a person watching the sunset on the beach, and small sea creatures in the tide. I plan to create these graphics in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Creating this comp was different in several ways. First, it was in color, which I found harder to work with. Because my car illustration that I had to work with already existed, some colors were chosen for me. The car I had previously created is silver, but because I did not have a silver or gray marker, I used a light blue to represent the silver car. Because color was more difficult to work with, I was very glad that this comp was only half-size, therefore taking much less time than it otherwise would have!

Chili Cook-off part 2

This is the design I have been working on for the Chili Cook-off poster assignment. The image on the left, my original thumbnail, was edited in several ways before moving on to the full size marker comp on the right (apologies for the poor scan). I added a little more detail to the chili graphic by varying the line weights and adding highlights along the chili as well as the stem. The headline "Thinking about chili?" was changed so that it fit on one line instead of the two. Also, the "N" in "now you are." was capitalized to keep the composition unified. For the marker comp, I was able to add in the text in the larger block. Once I saw how much text there actually would be, I was able to increase the font size and the leading slightly for an airier, easier-to-read look. For the marker comp, I also used an exact typeface instead of the general idea of one I used for the thumbnail.


From the discussion of the marker comps, I received several good suggestions that I am integrating into the final design. I altered the graphic again, adding a thought bubble behind the chili and lowering its opacity so it will not distract from the chili. I also gave more emphasis to the event title itself by rearranging the text "National Ag Week 2009 Chili Cook-off" and moving it under the chili graphic, inside the thought bubble.