11 Days, 12 Nights in an Art School Cubicle

What I Discovered

So I have about eleven days to finish everything. This is typically the part of the year I bring a sleeping bag and pillow to my studio. I'm going to briefly post some of the iterations I did for this week. Unfortunately, I didn't get to photograph them so I have to show the print files:

 

Basically, my main problem is I still haven't figured out how to get those secondary statements to align over the word bubbles. I think I'm grouping them better, but now weird parts of the statements are being called out by virtue of the overlap. The placement of the website could also be better I think.

Otherwise, I think the 'cropped' nature lends to better placement on the page. It also is a lot more dynamic than some word bubbles being dumped onto a page. I was designing for different formats too, like the 8.5 x 11, the vertical Diag Boads.

How I Spent My Time

A large portion of these last two weeks has been trying to get this to work on other formats, other media. I've also been trying to ask people unrelated to my project for advice and insight to see if they see anything at the last minute that we all can't since we've seen this so much. It's been helpful, but I still am a bit worried about how those statements go over the word bubbles for each center.

What's Next

Primarily, resolving the issue I mentioned above. Beyond that, I have a ton of work I need to print, then photograph, and condense into the identity guide. For the text, I basically wrote out what I wanted to say, then cut it in half, then cut it in half again. Luckily, uLitho prints small runs of books on good paper, so I'm not dumping this off at Kinko's and praying they don't screw it up.

So foremost, the book and the posters/handouts are most important. Then I'll deal with the website, that's something I can work on after things are turned in on the 6th. Mark wasn't too optimistic I'd be able to get a computer either, so I don't want to focus on that, only to not be able to show it. Besides, people who have webwork as their primary medium (Katie) should get computers first.

Aren't Things S'posed to be Gettin' Easier?

What I Discovered
You'd think at this time in the semester—if you planned accordingly—it should be relatively simple. Yet, todays critique still gave me more to think about. I imagine, next week's critique will give me more yet to think about.

Here are some ideas I heard:

1. Try seven colors, seven word bubbles for the general advertisement

2. The statements on the healthcare advertisement became too reductive and a lost a sense of tone

3. Said statements need to group better with the word bubbles (think tints, screens of color, make it slightly quieter)
4. Larger formats seem to be working well, but smaller formats become too congested

5. Think of the 8.5 x 11 pieces of paper as maybe a piece of a puzzle, where you only show a hint of the design

6. Explore vertical formats

7. Explore a Diag board

8. Explore the way the type [the statements] is rendered on the word bubbles

9. Some of the paraphernalia I created is an interesting extension of the posters—the posters still aren't quite there yet.

Basically, I think I need to take a few final whacks at the posters. My thoughts are, try to get a lot of iterations done between now and Thursday, and then after Thursday I'll have enough comments and criticism to finalize them. I can then focus more specifically on the identity book and website.

Here's some work from this past week:

I also have a rough draft of my book, but to be blunt it's a very shitty-shitty rough draft. I'm all right with that, shitty rough drafts have a point. It's just not worth showing yet. I'm hoping for a better outline on Thursday.

How I Spent My Time
I mainly just tried to come up with new iterations and new ideas, try to better focus my thoughts and best prepare for these last three weeks.

What's Next
It's time to lock in and get this bad-lad done. More progress on the book, more iterations with the poster (think of the white space) more in general. It's going to get very busy, very quickly.

Getting Closer

How I Spent My Time
We'll forgive that I failed to post before break, but work has been proceeding at a steady pace. I'll first show stuff I did the week of break.





I created a few new iterations of the general advertisement and a specific advertisement. To my count, these are the fifth iterations. I tried to incorporate comments I got before break and that Stephanie gave me. I'm actually very pleased with the general advertisement. I tried to pair down the number of bubbles, but I still think it's visually engaging.

As for the individual advertisement, I think I'm close—but not quite there. I can't figure out how to integrate the name "the roosevelt institute" fully with the bubbles, and if I need the other text.




I also printed to a scale of sizes, Hannah mentioned before break I need to not just default to 11x17. In my head, I wanted 24x36 since January, so now it's time to see if it works at that size. Here's an image of their relative size:


The other two things I've been working on over this last week is the website and book. Unfortunately, I feel like I'm at a point in the year where the closer it comes to April, the more difficult it is to change these. Books and websites require time to code, setup, publish, print, etc. I'm looking to create thumbnails of both for critique next Thursday. This way, I can get advice about the overall feel of both without having to do any coding or setup, and ideally any changes I need to do in the next few weeks would just be minor tweaks.

I was going to create the thumbnails for the blog, but that's my weekend goal, so I just took a photo of my sketchbook.


Basically, the websites first page is the tagline. You click that, and it moves to the lower left corner, and the policy center names and word bubbles grow from the dot at the end of the tagline. When you 'rollover' each policy center, the color changes from gray and the other word bubbles—except those associated with the policy center your mouse is over—dim out.

Click that policy center and the other word bubbles contract and disappear into the dot. Information about the specific policy center comes up, including meeting time, and contact information for that policy center's director.

I'll also have an about section, and if I do this in flash I'll have back and forward buttons. The technical side of things isn't threshed out, and while this all seems simple in thumbnail, it's pretty complicated on the web.

The book I don't have down quite as concretely. I know for the format I want the pages to be a little longer than wider, I've started outlining what needs to be in it. I know I want to photograph my work for the book. It will look a lot more professional to see it in realistic situations, rather than just a bunch of Adobe Illustrator exports.




As far as content, I know I need to talk about the advertisements (size, placement, color v. black & white, hierarchy), the web presence, and also some of the broader applications of the work (t-shirts, envelopes, letterhead, their yearly publication, buttons, mugs) to showcase its flexibility. Most of these things will be mocked up. I also need to outlinethe typefaces I chose, but more importantly I need to talk about why I chose this tagline, why I chose word bubbles, what tone was I trying to achieve for the organization?

I'm hoping to take this book and present it to the group at the end of the year and also have it sent to the national organization (who have apparently taken keen interest in the work I'm doing). Really, that's my goal. To have this adopted, to have this on campus next year, to have this used nationally.

How I Spent My Time
I'll admit, I was one of those who did not take the advice to spend break working. I went somewhere warm. It was beautiful and reinvigorating.

However, just because I was out of town didn't mean my project was out of mind. I started sketching ideas for the book and website. This week I began to solidify them more, I also made the new poster revisions this week, and printed them off already and have been trying to get advice from people on them. I started to explore whether I should use flash or html for the website.

What's Next
So I've been starring at these advertisements for two months now. I'm ready to get them to a finished stage, so I can print them out on really nice paper. I've been using crappy bond paper for the drafts. It's hard to work on the website or book when the advertisements change, but I am really excited to work on the book.

I really like the idea of condensing all I've done this year into something finite, presentable, and intelligible that I can use not only to persuade the Roosevelt Institute to use my ideas, but also to show others.