Picas Points & Pages

Started working tonight on the CD project for my InDesign class. I chose an artist based on a set of photos I borrowed from a photographer on Flickr. I wanted to make sure the photo for the CD was compelling and the musical artists was not well known. So far my designs are clean and straight forward. We're required to add a 4 page booklet for the CD using a master grid layout. It's going to be interesting to see how it develops over the next week or so.

It's been a pretty hectic day. I didn't get as much done as I should have. I stayed up until around two in the morning trying advance Photoshop skills and didn't effectively complete any of the three tutorials I tried. I think I'm trying to move to fast and need to get the basics down first. I did, however, successfully complete the tricky path selection assignment for my Photoshop class. It had to be almost perfect or we would not receive full credit.



I also just finished the second part of my postcard ad for my InDesign class. I didn't do enough thinking about this assignment, but I feel pretty good about what I created tonight. I should though be able to produce two or three versions of project and not just be satisfied with one design. I'm still amazed at graphic designers come up so many fresh ideas. It takes a lot thinking and work produce to produce an effective design, especially if you have to come up with the both content and the design layout.

Oh well, I'm going to call it a night and try to get in bed earlier than last night. I tend to be less patient with my kids in the morning when I don't get enough sleep. They don't deserve that.

Just discovered Erykah Badu's artwork on her website. Seriously digging it. Wish I could cut lose and express like this:

Book meme

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 161.
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Use what's actually next to you.

Internal newsletters are created for narrowly defined audience of people already connected with the organization, such as company employees or school district parents.
– Exploring InDesign CS2: And In-Depth Introducation to Page to Page Layout and Design with Adobe InDesign, by Terry Rydberg

Using my Spring break to work through Terry Rydberg's Exlporing InDesign CS2. I'm finding a very good book of exercises for learning InDesign and design basics in general. Unlike other books on InDesign, this one explains features of the program by having you apply them to actual layouts. The end of each chapter provides a few more exercises that you do somewhat independently. These exercises also reinforce what is taught in each chapter. Very good step by step instructions for those just being to use InDesign.

It was great to hear from my instructor today by email that I'm one of the few students who is getting an A in the class. I think it largely comes from my having some basic understanding of design theory, whereas other students could use a class in it. However, though I think the A is well deserved, I still have so much more to learn. I still don't feel confident about my creative abilities. I see so many powerful creative designers out there that I get very intimidated and feel as though I'll never measure up, though I really have a passion to become better.

Anyway, tomorrow (or now today) I need to make better use of my time. I need to work on a client's video, catch up on my 100x100 CD project, and do some market planning. I wasted too much time today surfing the net and thinking about distant projects.

This by far was the most difficult InDesign assignment. Creating a silhouette, using word wrap, and just coming up with slogan using Why ...when you can... All very challenging, and don't like what I came up with:



And I didn't realize until after I handed this assignment that I had to design a second ad with the same campaign using 4c. So it'll probably go from bad to worse.

Anyway, I found what seems to be a better textbook on InDesign (Exploring InDesign CS2, by Terry Rydberg.) It was expensive but I like how it mixes design theory with learning the features of the software. I plan to work with it more as I work through the assignment for class.

Well, already we have a different assignment for Intro to InDesign. It's little overwhelming to have three different assignments in three weeks.

Assignment: come up with a display ad using an image and text wrap.

I'm going to do a lot of brainstorming on this one before I open InDesign. In fact, I'll probably just try to do a couple of mockups using the apps I have at home first. The ad has to use the text: Why______if you can_______.

Brainstorm: (I'm thinking of some sort of public service ad.)

Why sink if you can swim?

Why wait if you can do it today?

Why hide when you can shout?

Why look when you can participate?

Why complain when you act?

Trying out LiveJournal using Xjournal poster.