Response: First draft critique

I have chosen to write a response about our first drafts we presented to the class for our projects. I presented my cover and an example of a department page. It was really beneficial hearing everyone's opinions on my work, especially my cover. As great as it is hearing what people like about my work, I'd rather receive constructive criticism about it so I can make the proper changes that it needs so I can present the best possible product to the rest of my publishing team. I find it so interesting that we are all presented the same assignment but can all create such different and unique designs from each other's. I enjoy seeing everyone else's designs in my class so I can get inspired by what other people are doing.

Can't Miss This: How to Beat Designer's Block Like a Kung Fu Master

We've all dealt with it. We've all starred at the computer screen for hours on end looking not knowing what more we can possibly do to this design. It's a little something called "designer's block" (yes, incredibly similar to writer's block.) I found this helpful article to give designers ideas on what to do when they can't stare at a screen any longer.

Before I found this article, I found going on a run helped me a lot. Also coming back to it a couple days later, (or hours if I don't have that luxury), gives me fresh new eyes and new ideas. But my favorite thing from the article that I had never thought of before was getting inspiration from things besides other magazine layouts. Such as bags, purses, anything that has patterns... like below!





So check this site out!
How to Beat Designer's Block Like a Kung Fu Master

Response: Getting Work Published

Building off my last post about critiquing my covers, I wanted to talk a little about my experience with getting my work published. It's really interesting and beneficial getting to hear everyone's opinions about my work, especially from professors and the editors up at Vox that have had an unreal amount of experience in the real magazine world. It definitely gives me more confidence about my design work!

What I found crazy was how many changes I made from the beginning draft to the very end. It has a completely different feel to it, completely different color scheme, went from a typography cover to a cover with a stock photo. I am really happy with how it turned out and it was great working with the art directors, my TA, the editors up at Vox and other students hearing what they like best and what I should incorporate into it. I learned how important it is to be able to take constructive criticism with my work and to make certain changes to keep everyone happy!

Critique: Cover Process

So for the past couple weeks, I've been working very diligently on my cover(s) for Vox's "Afterlife" issue, which comes out TOMORROW! I was assigned to first start out with 3 covers, making them all completely different. I found it really difficult to think of themes for each one since afterlife isn't an actual object I can take a picture of. Everyone has different views of what afterlife can be so it was important to gear it towards all audiences.

So two weeks ago, I turned in the following 3 cover designs:

I was told to make one a typography cover, one an Illustration cover and one a photography cover. My favorites were the first and last one, and when I presented them to the Vox staff, they agreed. They shared their input on all three covers and I was to then pick on after hearing their thoughts and make the proper changes for next week's critique. I was going back and forth between the first and third cover, but decided to do the first one. If I picked the third one, I would have to find someone to photograph (since I obviously could not get Glenn Beck to do it for me), and I thought that it would have been difficult finding someone when this was such a quick turn-around.

So I made the proper changes, and voila! I present to you the next draft!

The Vox staff wanted me to keep the question mark theme, but give it a more "light-hearted" feel, since the stories in the issue weren't as "dark" as my cover was.

After presenting this draft the next week, I was the lucky winner and they chose to publish it! So the next step was to make even more changes.

I was told to incorporate some kind of "cloud" theme on the cover, but keep the question mark. We didn't want it to be too "heavenly" and too literal for the reader, so we put cirrus clouds on the cover. (No, I did not know what cirrus clouds were before this experience.)

So I made 3 new covers for the art directors/TA's to pick from:

We ended up going with the first ones, since the cirrus clouds didn't scream out heaven. I never thought I'd spend so much time inspecting question marks in my life. We wanted a rounded question mark, because the blocky question marks (like the second one) didn't quite fit the overall feel of the issue.

The first cover was selected and will be published. It comes out tomorrow and I'm very excited to see how it turns out!

Response: The September Issue

Like many other people in class, I'm choosing to write a response on The September Issue. I had never seen it before but had heard lots about it so I was excited to see it. I, of course, (like every other girl) have seen The Devil Wears Prada and it amazed me how great of a job Hollywood did mimicking Anna Wintour's style as an editor. It's so fascinating how she sets the trend for the entire fashion world. People look to her for what's going to be in. Advertising plays such a big role in magazines, especially the September issue of Vogue, because it reaches the hands of so many people.

What I loved watching in The September Issue was the interaction/relationship between Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief, and Grace Coddington, the creative director. Anna doesn't have a warm and friendly personality. Her main focus is clearly to get business done, and Grace is more of a people person and works well with not only her coworkers but also the models. I think it is important to be business minded, but also be able to build relationships with the people around you.

You Can't Miss: Brochure Designs

For the past 3 summers, I was a marketing intern at Maxus Properties, which is a real estate company in North Kansas City. My duties were to create various marketing material to distribute to surrounding companies/shops/stores in the area. I made a lot of flyers and brochures but struggled with ways to make them eye-catching and different from previous ones I had already made.


I recently came across this website that shows 17 different ways to create business brochures. Their biggest piece of advice is to make them full-color. They tell you to think of your brochures like movies - "Do people want to watch the latest films in black and white nowadays especially when these can be viewed in 3D? I think not."


Even if you're not looking to make an eye-catching brochure, I'd still check it out!

Critique: Spring Preview

Welcome back to my blog!

Our next big assignment was designing a cover, splash page and spread for Vox's Spring Preview issue. I had looked at quite a few examples from previous years, and decided to pick a direction that wasn't quite so "spring" obvious. I saw lots of spring related themes, such as flowers, rainboots, etc., and decided I should go a different route since those had already been done. However, what I did know I wanted to incorporate were bright colors.

I think the most difficult part of this assignment was picking a theme. After lots of time spent brainstorming, I was trying to bounce ideas off my roommates to see what they thought. I realized when explaining the assignment to them, and explaining what the issue would cover, such as all the different venues different events were being held all over Columbia, I thought of doing a gameboard theme.

My cover:

I was pretty excited about my theme, because I thought it allowed for much creativity. Plus I loved being able to use all different colors, of all different shades.

Below: splash page and spread

I was pretty happy about my final products. I was able to play around with different types, a wide variety of colors, and most importantly, (minus the 5 constant days of stress about it and working in the lab till the wee hours), I actually had a lot of fun in the process of it all! That's all that matters, right? :)