Project 2: Artist's Postcard

As you can see from the previous Sagmeister post this postcard is a reflection of his own craft that I manipulated. This project was a lot of fun as it gave us freedom to vector off from our artists' work. The mottos on the front of the card are some of my own...some that I live by... I am French American soooo one motto is in french and the other in english. "Quand tu veux tu peux" means when you want you can. Didnt provide a translation since it is elementary french and can easily be looked and plus it adds a little mystere to the card...mystery.

Second 10 Tutorials (read/watched)

Cool Neon Effects...#2
After my last neon tutorial in illustrator I thought it would be interesting to see how the effect would be executed in photoshop. The tutorial is long and extensive. Yet the result is quite realistic and intense. I would like to try this effect on a few pictures of mine! It seems to be quite futuristic!

Smooth NATURAL Looking Skin
I chose this tutorial since I absolutely hate when someone takes their pictures into iPhoto and uses the magic wand. It's so detectible and really tacky! Since I hate when people use that mediocre air brushing I thought it would be good to touch up on my touch-upping skills! The tutorial is simple and helpful.

Pop Art
I love Pop Art so I had to look into this one. The process seems fairly simple...perhaps that is why the tutorial's final image wasn't as Pop Artish as the originals... Bummer. I wonder if this is simple due to a couple steps missing...

Smokin' Woman
Well quite frankly I had to check this one out! The title was intriguing and well this looks like a fun thing to do in photoshop. The tutorial is laid out in a user friendly manner. At times it seems like helpful commentary is lacking...

Patterns
Getting the details on how to achieve some perfecting moves for patterns. Unfortunately the pattern in the tutorial has no originality or spunk like Julia Rothman's greatness...but it suits its purpose.

Retaining Spot Color
This tutorial was interesting and caught my eye. I feel that this tutorial could add an added effect to my pins! The end product has such 3-d qualities...with minimal steps to achieve it.I love how the shadow of the swirl shows through in such a light manner. This was a quick tutorial and could complement a variety of project quests.

Transform, Style + Blend
I love these type of images that encompass creativity, geometry and various mathematics. This image seems like the elementary stages of some of Pentegram's works. The tutorial does a great job demonstrating how to manipulate shapes and overlay them in an organized manner...instead of having a messy wad of string...

Crazy Pie Charts
This tutorial seemed like it would be fun. I am majoring in marketing and advertising; therefore, we often have to use graphs including pie charts. Overall the charts are fairly boring...they all look so similar. Yet with this tutorial I can easily add some character to those boring charts. The cool thing is that I have the option to go both ways... wacky crazy or business professional.

Expressive Shining Eye
This a very extensive tutorial. So detailed that it is broken up into 2 tutorials. I found the tutorial off of boogiesbc.ro. When I clicked on the link to the 2-parted tutorial I was directed to a site that offered various paint brush textures... not exactly what I wanted! So I googled the name of the tutorial and found this one...which combines the two parts into one! Yay! The first page of tutorial results in the creation of the eye with various effects. The second page of the tutorial completes the shining eye by adding more depth and glow to the image.

Neon Lights Effect
This tutorial is seemingly easy. Yet the neon lights effect could easily be used in multiple ways. It would be interesting to add the effect to night pictures or as a glowing background effect with interesting lines...

First 5 Completed Tutorials

Vector Clouds using Gradient Mesh Tool

This is the tutorials image

I chose to do this tutorial since I love watching clouds. I find it interesting how many objects, characters or figures one can find in cloud formations. This tutorial was quite comprehensive and fun to complete.

The image to the left: my vectored clouds

The image to the right: Original cloud picture

The image to the left: Shows the gradient mesh that was used to manipulate the clouds.

Create a Super Happy Octopus Character
I chose to do this tutorial due to the name of the tutorial. There was just something extremely enticing about creating a super happy octopus character. This tutorial was quite difficult to execute in the end. It was difficult to manipulate the radials. For some reason as I was trying to angle out the radials at 20o the wouldn't turn! So frustrating! But I have to say my octopus looks cuter!

Creating stick figures!!


I used this tutorial to help me figure out what would be the best technique to draw/use stick figures in Illustrator for project 2 (artist's postcards). Even though the tutorial is for photoshop, it shows what shapes to use to create the best looking stick figure. I ended up using rectangles for the most part to lend my figures some extra rigidness as Sagmeister seemed to have implemented a similar technique. Overall I would rate this tutorial as an 8...but probably a 10 if photoshop would have been in order. Here is a snap shot of some of the stick figures I created for my postcard.

Working with multiple artboards and setting it up:
I looked up this tutorial in order to figure out how to set up multiple art boards within a file. The tutorial was quite helpful. Since it was out of adobe livedocs it linked to other help guides that related to art boards. I used this tutorial while setting up my Ai document for the Sagmeister postcard. Since I was going to use the main form of my stick figure throughout all the cards it was best to keep them all within the same document. Here is a snapshot of my artboard.

Pen Tool Tutorial
This tutorial was referred to for project 3 (logos). I am doing the Coca-Cola logo. Even though there is a font similar to the one that is the font in the logo...it is different than the actual font used...thereby it is necessary to pentool out the letters off of the original logo in order to get a perfect replica. The tutorial is useful and helpful. It is easy to read through and then refer to during the process of working out the glitches while using the tool. Here are some snap shots of using the pen tool to achieve the coca-cola logo font.

STEFAN SAGMEISTER

born in 1962, bregenz, austria. stefan sagmeister studied graphic design at the university of applied arts in vienna. in 1987 he moved to new york to attended pratt institute on a fulbright scholarship. he then returned to austria in 1990 for community service as an alternative to obligatory military conscription. at the age 29, he attained a job with leo burnett hong kong. in 1993 he returned to new york to work for the hungarian graphic designer tibor kalman at M&Co. when the studio closed the same year, sagmeister opened his own office ‘sagmeister inc’. in 1994 he was nominated for a grammy award for his album cover - 'h. p. zinker mountains of madness’. in the following years he designed album packaging for artists such as david byrne, lou reed and the rolling stones. in 1996 sagmeister began developed posters for AIGA -american institue of graphic arts- he took a ‘year out’ in 1999, closing his studio to commercial work and concentrating on his own experimental projects. in 2001 released the book ‘made you look (another self-indulgent design monograph)’. in 2005 he won a grammy award as art director of the ‘once in a lifetime’ talking heads boxed set packaging. currently among many projects sagmeister continues his work on ‘20 things in my life I have learned so far.’ a series of typographic pieces inspired by the work of his grandfather that he began in 2004.

what is the best moment of the day?
in the early evening and the early morning.
when talking about design Iwould say the morning because
it's quiet in here (his office) and there is then time to really
think about concepts. the evening because then most of the
day is over and so it's a more playful time, specifically when
all the tasks are done.

much of your work is related to music...
I have always been interested in music
although now a diminishing part of my life.
growing older (I'm 43 now) I can say that looking back
music was much more important to me when I was 23.

what kind of music do you listen to at the moment?
what you just heard there (music playing in the office)
is 'cat power' we've been listening to her extensively
recently.

do you always like the music of the bands you work with?
we always try not to have to work with musicians or
any other clients who we don't like. there is absolutely
no excuse to work with ass-holes.

do you listen to the radio?
I used to love listening to the radio when I was in austria
but here (NY) much less. the level of advertising between
songs drives me nuts. I haven't been very diligently looking
for stations lately. we have a new intern every three months
and we always ask them to bring with them their favorite music,
so there is quite a little bit of vocation going on.

what books do you have on your bedside table?
I just finished 'the brooklyn follies' by paul auster which I loved.
last week I read a picasso biography and I have just started
'the last true story I'll ever tell' by john crawford, it's an
account of a soldier in iraq. for pleasure I read fiction,
non-fiction really whatever comes my way.

do you read design magazines?
the studio has subscriptions to a number of them,
and I flick through them usually for pleasure not for
inspiration, and not usually in office hours.

where do you get news from? newspapers? TV?
not from TV, I cant stand TV news in america,
I read the new york times, which I find a good newspaper
although it is slanted towards one direction.
it's probably my prime news-source.

do you notice how women are dressing?
I do now much more than I used 10 years ago
because my girlfriend is a fashion designer. now I notice
things here and there. she's influenced how I dress for sure
(heavily), and she has given me more of an eye for things.

do you have any preferences?
also through her influence, simple grounded ideas.

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
basically anything that isn't made by my girlfriend,
or isn't sold by my brother. he also has a men’s fashion
store. so between the two of them I would say 95%
of what I wear comes from either of them.

do you have any pets?
no I don't, when I was very, very young I had a turtle.

when you were a child, did you want
to become a designer?
not as a child but as an adolescent, when I was around
15 or 16 I knew that I wanted to become a designer.

where do you work on your designs and projects?
everywhere, obviously the execution of them mostly in the
office. the conception of them everywhere, I travel quite a bit
and now I find it easy to work on a plane and I love to work
in a hotel room. I love to work in new fresh surroundings,
a new country...also i prefer working on concepts that don't
have a deadline attached where I can work freely.

do you discuss your work with other graphic designers?
we have a group called 'second tuesday' and we meet every
second month. there are about 15 people who run design firms.
we always meet at someone's home or studio, that person has
to organize dinner and a subject. sometimes these subjects are
quite practical such as finances. lately the topics have been
focused more towards administration and business rather than
cultural aspects.

please describe your style,
as a good friend of yours would.
for a long time we prided ourselves not to have a style
which to uphold became impossible. this is because if you
really switch your stylistic approach from project to project
it is impossible to come up with a new one on a weekly or
monthly basis, without ripping-off either historical styles or a
particular designers' style. although it would not cover all of
our work I would say we are probably best known for our
hand-made quality.

... and 'style = fart'?
yes i said this but I had to give up. it was the headline of
a theory that style and stylistic questions are just hot air
and meaningless. I discovered that this is simply not true.
through experience I found that if you have content that is
worthwhile the properexpression of that content, in terms of
form and style is actually very important. it can be a very
useful tool to communicate that content.
I don't think that it is actually hot-air anymore.

which type of project has given you the most satisfaction?
well the cop-out answer would be projects for good clients
who have good products or good services. that could be
CD packaging for a band that I love or for people who are kind
or a pleasure to work with, or smarter than me so I can learn
something. projects where I have the guts to work on them
hard enough so that they become good in my eyes,
they always tend to be more rewarding than the ones where
I was lazy.

who would you like to design something for?
a person who I have always wanted to and tried to work with
is the guitarist 'robert fripp' from the band 'king crimson'
because it is a band that I have admired since I was 16.
as far as a particular product is concerned I would love to do
something ‘big’ and with a big impact in terms of its distribution.
I would love to re-design the coke can, or an identity that is truly
‘worldwide’. I always felt that these type of jobs used to be done
very well by small design companies or single designers for
example IBM or coca-cola. in the last decades though these jobs
tend to have been done by larger branding consultancies.
they often have a very different agenda and in my eyes generally
do terrible jobs, though there are some exceptions. I think that
it's a pity that designers avoid this type of work in favor of more
obscure projects, because today how children learn what the
world looks like is determined by these type of jobs. so I would
love to be involved there. in a small studio though this type of
project rarely happens, big companies like working with other
big companies.

and your studio is small...
we very purposefully remain small. we started in 1993 and
there would have been many opportunities to grow through the
nineties. other than not being involved with the size of branding
I definately think that a small studio only has advantages
(apart from not being involved with the branding projects).
to keep the studio small was actually advice i received from
tibor kalman.

is there any designer/ architect from the past
you appreciate a lot?
my old boss, tibor kalman.

and those still working?
many, we would be here forever if I were to list them all!
in industrial design I would say the 'dutch bunch',
marcel wanders etc. in graphics, especially in the USA I would
say rick valicenti, and in the UK mark farrow, but there are
many people.

do yo have any advice for the young?
try to be a good person and work your ass off.

what are you afraid of regarding the future?
hmm (thinks) not much, I wouldn't call myself a very
gutsy person but I can't say that I am scared of anything
regarding the future... not at all. I think that it's going to be fine.
humanity adapts to all kinds of situations, and right now I think
is a good time to be alive.

Some of Sagmeister's Works:

Product:

Work Process (so many pennies!)

Life Instructions: Sagmeister's piece that I would like to base my artist's card off of...I was thinking of modifying it to Life Motos ... half in French and half in English...Just like me!

Final Typography Patterns

PROJECT ONE: Surface Design and Pattern Study

The assignment was to make four customized designs out of type letterforms (one per design) through constructing, deconstructing, moving, angling and customizing letterforms from various fonts. The project was reminded me of starting a doodle and then changing it and turning it into something completely different from its starting point. 

M's using Zapino font 18 pt


7's using Edwardian Script ITC font
This one makes me think of elephants....the elephants from Dumbo when they have that crazy psychedelic scene... and show all those myriads of patterns....

&'s using Big Caslon Medium font 48 pt


%'s using Curlz MT font 60 pt


%'s using Curlz MT font 36 pt

Adobe Live Docs

Adobe live docs is a great feature to aid anyone's usage with adobe softwares. The online resource feature is better than having some heavy dictionary user guide that you rarely refer too and is overall a waste of paper. The great thing about having an online resource guide is that as the program prompts the user for software updates, the updates are also reflected online, thereby eradicating the need for a second volume or edition of a printed user guide. Having the user guide online saves time as well. All one needs to do is type in what they need and in one second multiple results are a click away...ranging from definitions, video tutorials, written tutorials with or without pictures and the like. Live docs resembles the help feature on most programs, yet the videos and step-by-step pictures are of greater assistance. This is due to the jargon that sometimes one might not be familiar with.
I first discovered live docs while I was in ART 200 a graphic design class. The teacher was assisting other students and I just needed to know how to properly place a a pull-quote. So I navigated to Help and sought out the online help resource. There I easily found how to use a pull-quote, instead of waiting for the teacher to be liberated! I have learned many other tricks and features of the adobe suite through adobe live docs. I will continue to refer back to it as I face questions in using the programs. While perusing through Illustrator's live docs I focused most of my search on giving illustrations a more organic-hand-drawn feel. The suer guide is very helpful and is in a PDF format. Therefore, it can easily be saved onto the desktop or printed. Overall, live docs is very user-friendly and provides quick help much like a dictionary or cook book.

Scrabble Bananas!!

I am an avid scrabble player. Recently I tied one of my opponents. First tie I have ever experienced with scrabble. The game was tough...the upper left quadrant was not used! I had to take a snap shot to grab that moment of history. Here it is for the rest to enjoy!

Weekend Image Upload Scavenger Hunt

The following images are some of many that inspire me and keep me engaged/inspired. The order is no reflection of their rank vis a vis favoritism and the like....
Lisa Strausfeld of Pentagram
This technique of mapping intrigues me. It demonstrates The intricacies involved in everyday as well as the extraordinary situations we encounter. This type of visualization is extremely mathematical and multifaceted. I enjoy how clear, simple yet complicated these images are and can be. This type of art reminds me of some of Tad Savinar's art pieces. I would like to know exactly what plays into certain angles being at such degrees as well as the variance in the length of rays. What variable or attribute results in a point being in a certain position on the image? What would a person's daily routine or life look like if represented through this mapping/design technique? How long is the process to create such imagery? How long would this image take to create?




Sagmeister Inc.
I came upon this poster while hunting around. The poster was made using only one punctuation mark: the apostrophe. This reminds me of our current project (typography patterns). It would be interesting to see if it would be possible to make an object easily recognizable out of several letters of the same letter of the alphabet as well as font. Once an object has been created it could then be repeated in order to create a pattern effect. I like this picture due do its rigidity and use of lines. I also love that the trigger is in a bright yellow, creating a stark contrast against the gun. It seems like only some parts of the apostrophe are used in some areas in order to establish sharp corners. Perhaps the white lines within the gun were added later. Did they crop parts of the apostrophes in order to establish certain shapes to reach the desired object? I wonder how hard it would be to use these design parameters with other objects as well as different punctuation marks or letters.



Andreas Müller at Hahakid
This piece about memories caught my attention due to its creative use of space on a page. I find the artist's way of placing words in such a textural manner to be quite interesting. The lightness of the concept creates such movement in the words...they are blowing in the wind. I wonder exactly how the 3-dimensional space is achieved in such a program as Illustrator. I wonder if there is a tool in a program that exists that could establish perspective through opacity or percentage of brightness/darkness automatically given the dimensions and preferred angle at which the image is trying to be.



Taobot for the Omega Code Project
I have been interested in learning how to implement layering in this manner. I love the textures that are established. If you follow the link the other images that demonstrate this technique are quite appealing as well. I would like to learn how to manipulate layers in order to achieve thy type of imagery. The organic forms grow on the eyes, which is why I enjoy this piece. I read a couple tutorials on how to create such images and seemingly it takes hours to get to the end result. I wonder if there is a fast or faster way to use this technique. Is it really necessary to have such high numbers of layers? Is there a way to manipulate the base image to the final result or is it necessary to use multiple images?



Rebeliarts
It's pretty clear that I am inspired by images which incorporate a lot of digital layering and morphing of reality. I enjoy mixed media and the marrying of different elements and subjects. I'm all about multitasking and so are these types of graphic images. I feel that it enables the audience have even more of a choice in how to perceive-incorporate the work. Although I wouldn't really qualify this image as being one of my favorite, its purpose here is to illustrate the various techniques that were used in its creation. I wonder if this image is just a composite of various layers that were then laid upon one another without really taking into account the other layers or environment. Some of the layers seem to be separate from the focus of the image: the girl. I wonder if the mesh/vortex layer would look better if it took into account the girl, by for instance bending when it comes into contact with her and changes its angle. Would the image become more 3-dimensional? How would this picture look if it were in a grayscale?