I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed everything I learned from this class. It was easily the most useful class I have taken graphics wise. Learning how to use InDesign in order to make sure something will print correctly was tedious, but after doing it for the whole semester it is the only way that I set up files now. The only thing that I would even consider changing is the blog posts. The blog posts were clearly present on Canvas so the fact that the first few were missed by some of us is our own ignorance, but I find it odd that the posts carry about as much weight as our projects. Perhaps, the blog posts should be weighted differently. I do understand that this is a writing to learn class, but I still think the blog posts could be half as many points and still cover that writing to learn criteria just as well. That is just my two cents. Thank you for teaching me so much this semester and putting up with our Mac disdain in the corner! I hope to have a class from you further down the line and that you have a wonderful break.
-Nevin P. Jones
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Lawsuit Summary
A free lance graphic designer named Jon Engle received a bill from a stock art site called stockart.com for $18,000 back in 2008 for designs he allegedly used without purchasing. Jon was being sued for 65 of his images (roughly $275 per image). On Jon's own blog he wrote, "Once the sticker shock wore off the obvious question came to mind. Where the hell did they get these from?
It seems as if most or all of them were lifted from my LogoPond
showcase. They especially seemed to favor the ones that made it to the
gallery." He claims that someone copied his artwork and separated from the typography and then posted them for sale on the stock site. After he refused to pay the bill, stockart.com hired a law firm specializing in copyright infringement that called John offering a settlement of $18,000 (not much better). "BRING IT ON!," says John, "I have no doubt I can win in court."
The case caused an outrage around the blogosphere and Twitter in overwhelming support for John even to the point that a donation collection was setup for his defense fund. Upon some investigation of the allegations, it actually appears that Jon is a blatant liar and he knows it. The Logo Factor, a graphic design blog with no relation to either side did a little investigating into the matter and came up with this: "I was also told that before contacting anyone, IPG perform extensive research into the background of any disputed images, including creation date, history and when it was added to the Stock Art site, pointing out that some of the images “in question” have been on the Stock Art website for almost a decade. Logopond, the supposed source for the designs (at least according to Jon’s blog), had only been online since June of 2006 at the very earliest. The worst point, from a designer’s point of view anyway, was the dispute involved the work of over twenty illustrators. With illustrations and icons that just happened to mirror their exact personal style. And if that wasn’t enough, Jon had previously been billed for other Stock Art licensed work, after it was discovered that it may have been used without permission. He paid that bill." Here are a few examples of the work in question.
Those are some pretty incriminating photos with even more of them shown here: http://www.thelogofactory.com.nyud.net:8080/logo_blog/stock.html. While the copyright dates on the Stock Art images show 2009, some of them have been around for over a decade. This is a case that needs to be decided in court and there is definitely a strong chance that Jon would have no prayer of winning. It appears that Jon must have agreed also because he removed his website, blog, Twitter account, and even the legal fund set up to help him. That is pretty incriminating when you put it all together. That man's career as a graphic designer is over, just as it should be. These kinds of things can be easily avoided by giving people credit when you use their image or just making something completely original. Failure to do so is just lazy and will end up making you the recipient of a surprise bill for $18,000 some day.
Info attained here:
http://www.freelancerant.com/2009/04/13/jon-engle-copyright-infringement-case/
http://www.freelancerant.com/2009/04/07/so-you-thought-you-had-a-bad-day/
http://www.thelogofactory.com.nyud.net:8080/logo_blog/stock.html
The case caused an outrage around the blogosphere and Twitter in overwhelming support for John even to the point that a donation collection was setup for his defense fund. Upon some investigation of the allegations, it actually appears that Jon is a blatant liar and he knows it. The Logo Factor, a graphic design blog with no relation to either side did a little investigating into the matter and came up with this: "I was also told that before contacting anyone, IPG perform extensive research into the background of any disputed images, including creation date, history and when it was added to the Stock Art site, pointing out that some of the images “in question” have been on the Stock Art website for almost a decade. Logopond, the supposed source for the designs (at least according to Jon’s blog), had only been online since June of 2006 at the very earliest. The worst point, from a designer’s point of view anyway, was the dispute involved the work of over twenty illustrators. With illustrations and icons that just happened to mirror their exact personal style. And if that wasn’t enough, Jon had previously been billed for other Stock Art licensed work, after it was discovered that it may have been used without permission. He paid that bill." Here are a few examples of the work in question.
 |
Info attained here:
http://www.freelancerant.com/2009/04/13/jon-engle-copyright-infringement-case/
http://www.freelancerant.com/2009/04/07/so-you-thought-you-had-a-bad-day/
http://www.thelogofactory.com.nyud.net:8080/logo_blog/stock.html
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Final Project
The purpose of the project is to design something with a fold in it so what we are making is not just a simple flat surface. What I have decided to do is design video game themed disc golfs that come in a box themed around the characters inside of it. The box will come with two discs each. The range of the disc inside depends on the order (driver, mid-distance, or putter).
The two target audiences for this project are disc golfers and gamers. Gamers may be more likely to pick up disc golf if their favorite video game character is somehow incorporated into the design. So with that in mind, the call to action is to buy and use these special discs. Who wouldn't want a Mario inspired disc to help nail a long drive?
The specs is where it gets a little tricky for me. The space to contain the discs needs to be about 8.5 in across to fit the whole thing comfortably and the depth needs to be about 1.25 in to fit both discs on top of each other. So the length of the box front and back is 8.5 but with the flaps added on it will be 20.75 in long and then each side will be 11 inches. The bleed will be .125 as usual and the margins will be .25 on the actual layout. To design the disc is one whole different monster. It is a simple circle about 8.125 in in diameter all around so I just need to make some designs that will fill up that area for two discs.
I received a price quote, but I forgot to write it down before I turned it in to you. I believe the price quote for a thousand of the box prints was $450. The price quote for a thousand of the vinyl sticker prints was $350 for each one. This isn't adding in the cost of a disc which would hike the cost up considerably. The cheapest I found for buying the discs in bulk for a thousand was close to $4500.
All images were created by me with the exception of the green pipe and disc golf goal which I acquired for free use from Open Clip Art Library. The fonts were all acquired for free use from dafont.com.
Thumbs & Roughs:
Here are a bunch of pictures of my final product all put together and the final design:
I am pleased with how the design turned out overall, especially the discs. I used a COB raster on this project which completed all of my requirements on the master image list.
The two target audiences for this project are disc golfers and gamers. Gamers may be more likely to pick up disc golf if their favorite video game character is somehow incorporated into the design. So with that in mind, the call to action is to buy and use these special discs. Who wouldn't want a Mario inspired disc to help nail a long drive?
The specs is where it gets a little tricky for me. The space to contain the discs needs to be about 8.5 in across to fit the whole thing comfortably and the depth needs to be about 1.25 in to fit both discs on top of each other. So the length of the box front and back is 8.5 but with the flaps added on it will be 20.75 in long and then each side will be 11 inches. The bleed will be .125 as usual and the margins will be .25 on the actual layout. To design the disc is one whole different monster. It is a simple circle about 8.125 in in diameter all around so I just need to make some designs that will fill up that area for two discs.
I received a price quote, but I forgot to write it down before I turned it in to you. I believe the price quote for a thousand of the box prints was $450. The price quote for a thousand of the vinyl sticker prints was $350 for each one. This isn't adding in the cost of a disc which would hike the cost up considerably. The cheapest I found for buying the discs in bulk for a thousand was close to $4500.
All images were created by me with the exception of the green pipe and disc golf goal which I acquired for free use from Open Clip Art Library. The fonts were all acquired for free use from dafont.com.
Thumbs & Roughs:
 |
| The thumbs |
 |
| The roughs. |
 |
| The top of the box. |
 |
| The box with a view of the side. |
 |
| The discs (especially the Yoshi one)! |
 |
| The Mario disc. |
 |
| The back of the box. |
 |
| The box design. |
 |
| The Mario disc design. |
 |
| The Yoshi disc design. |
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Everyday Design: Environment Inspiration
I took three picture and a screen capture of things that I see every day. Let's get the poor ones out of the way first.
Bad: Martin Professional Cleaning and Restoration logo
This sits on the refrigerator in my house currently. I believe the target audience would be their customers (people getting their carpet cleaned). As you can see from the photo, something is very off in the resolution of the photo. From my guess, it all boils down to not using the right resolution for the logo to print correctly. This causes everything in the logo to be off. They type is blurry and nearly illegible, the type gets a weird pink color to it when it clearly wants to be red, and it becomes pixelated just making it bad to look at. The design of the logo itself isn't poor but since it was not properly printed, the outcome looks bad.
Ugly: The Morning Sun Website
I took this screen capture with my two monitor set up in my room. I absolutely abhor this website. I check it periodically so I can keep tabs on how kids I coach in track at Colgan are doing in football this year. Even though I visit the site frequently enough that I should be able to navigate it, I am always amazed at how I can't find what I want and just the overall clutter of the site. I took the biggest picture I could, but it still does not properly show how silly the front page is. Top headlines, Sports, Blogs, Entertainment, News, Photos, Videos, and Business & Personal Finance are all headlines on the front page. It makes everything on the front page just look cluttered. They could easily put these things on separate pages to do away with the clutter. There are even tabs included at the top in order to navigate to an entertainment or sports section so the need for these things on the front page is superfluous.
There are also big blank boxes of trapped white space which is a big layout sin. The logo is fine at the top and prominent. The confusing website design doesn't help the target audience (basically people of Crawford county, specifically older people who care about the news) navigate the website because I doubt the audience is that technologically adept in the first place. As a technical writer, this website makes me want to yell.
Now for happier discoveries.
Good: Winnie the Pooh poster
This is a poster that hangs in my room and I absolutely love it. Winnie the Pooh was one of my favorite movies of the last year.There really is no logo or much type to be talked about (what type is there works perfectly fine), but what is here features great simplicity in design.
The colors for all of the characters pop against the white background and the yellow honey serves as Pooh's signature snack of choice and great white space. The big amount of white space used with the honey makes the date prominent at the bottom which is easily legible with the simple type used. This poster is basically a call to action to see Winnie the Pooh on July 15. The year wouldn't need to be included because the poster would only be there for the time of the movie being in theaters. The target audience I can think of is two: the kids who want to see what these adorable adventurers are up to and adults who want a huge nostalgia trip. The printing process must have gone fine also because the poster is crisp and looks wonderful.
Great: Bawls bottle
This is a bottle that sits in my room. Once you get past the comical effect of saying something like "I'm just sitting here drinking some Bawls," you find that the design of the bottle is absolutely great and memorable. The type is prominent with the white against the blue bottle and easily legible. The target audience is gamers actually, but you wouldn't really be able to tell that from the bottle. Bawls is an energy drink company that will sponsor things like LAN parties by sending you free cases of Bawls as long as you send in pics of your group playing games and drinking Bawls. The call to action of a bottle containing a drink is to drink the contents. What makes this bottle standout is the design. The bottle has a unique color and grip to it. You don't see many glass bottled energy drinks and I have never seen a bumpy bottle like this. It gives a certain classiness to the Bawls drinking gamer over other energy drink brands. I have to believe that the production process of everything here went fine because all the type is legible.
Bad: Martin Professional Cleaning and Restoration logo
 |
| Something bad was done here. |
Ugly: The Morning Sun Website
 |
| Behold the horror... |
There are also big blank boxes of trapped white space which is a big layout sin. The logo is fine at the top and prominent. The confusing website design doesn't help the target audience (basically people of Crawford county, specifically older people who care about the news) navigate the website because I doubt the audience is that technologically adept in the first place. As a technical writer, this website makes me want to yell.
Now for happier discoveries.
Good: Winnie the Pooh poster
 | |
| A nostalgia punch in the gut. |
The colors for all of the characters pop against the white background and the yellow honey serves as Pooh's signature snack of choice and great white space. The big amount of white space used with the honey makes the date prominent at the bottom which is easily legible with the simple type used. This poster is basically a call to action to see Winnie the Pooh on July 15. The year wouldn't need to be included because the poster would only be there for the time of the movie being in theaters. The target audience I can think of is two: the kids who want to see what these adorable adventurers are up to and adults who want a huge nostalgia trip. The printing process must have gone fine also because the poster is crisp and looks wonderful.
Great: Bawls bottle
 |
| It is a thing of beauty. |
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Microsoft Tags
A Microsoft tag is a High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) that encodes data in a 2D barcode using clusters of colored triangles instead of the square pixels usually associated with 2D barcodes. The data density of the code is increased by using a palette of 4 or 9 colors for the triangles. It is a nice alternative to a QR code and the addition of color not only increases the data but also gives it a more visual appeal.
In order to generate a Microsoft Tag you must do so from this website: http://tag.microsoft.com/home.aspx. There the aspect of the Tag is explained and how to use it. You put in the information and url you'd like to link to by using their generator (as you would a qr code) then their site has specially made features for tracking the activity of the code called Tag Solution. It features free reporting on the success of each of you Tags.
Using a Microsoft Tag happens for the same reason that one would use a QR code: to link the physical to the digital. It's easy to load up a tag reader on your smartphone and instantly gain access to a further exploration of a company's add campaign. This can easily be used for promotions and advertising purposes. The addition of color to the tag, while increasing the data size the code can hold, also makes the code work better with the product by giving it a more pleasing look. What makes a Microsoft Tag perhaps even more convenient than a qr code is the fact that all your generating and tracking data can be found straight through Microsoft.
All information was found at these sources:
http://tag.microsoft.com/what-is-tag/home.aspx (Generator found on same site)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Capacity_Color_Barcode
In order to generate a Microsoft Tag you must do so from this website: http://tag.microsoft.com/home.aspx. There the aspect of the Tag is explained and how to use it. You put in the information and url you'd like to link to by using their generator (as you would a qr code) then their site has specially made features for tracking the activity of the code called Tag Solution. It features free reporting on the success of each of you Tags.
Using a Microsoft Tag happens for the same reason that one would use a QR code: to link the physical to the digital. It's easy to load up a tag reader on your smartphone and instantly gain access to a further exploration of a company's add campaign. This can easily be used for promotions and advertising purposes. The addition of color to the tag, while increasing the data size the code can hold, also makes the code work better with the product by giving it a more pleasing look. What makes a Microsoft Tag perhaps even more convenient than a qr code is the fact that all your generating and tracking data can be found straight through Microsoft.
 | |
| This is the Microsoft Tag I produced. |
All information was found at these sources:
http://tag.microsoft.com/what-is-tag/home.aspx (Generator found on same site)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Capacity_Color_Barcode
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Magazine and Billboard ad
The magazine I decided to place an ad in is Game Informer. Game Informer is the 4th highest circulated magazine in the U.S. with a little bit over 8.1 million subscribers. It is a video game magazine that features reviews, previews, opinion pieces and many more video game based articles. To put it shortly, the magazine is amazing. For a one time full page, four color ad the cost is
$195,455. The specifications are as follows:
Full Page
The file is to be in PDF format. CONVERT: All Spot colors need to be converted to CYMK colors. Can submit just as a zip file.
The primary readership demographic is video game players. All kinds of video game players meaning console and PC based. This age will vary but I'm guessing for gamers between the age of 13-40.
The content on a billboard differs from previous projects because it is just absolutely huge. The specifics for the content need to be just right so that the resolution for the pictures turns out well. The pictures have to be able to be blown up to fit the billboard so only high res photos should be used. Also have to switch the content to more of a landscape layout. The billboard specs I'm going for are the 10.412 x 22.662ft live area, 10.644 x 22.894ft overall doc size, and 10.542 x 22.792ft with 18 pixels per inch at 216 resolution. The preferred formats are PSD, PDF, and TIFF.
My purpose is to get people to discover what the next generation of consoles would be by scanning the MS Tag in the mag ad and going to the website in the billboard ad. The target audience is as specified previously (gamers between 13-40). The website is supposed to be a gaming community that embraces all assets of gaming albeit consoles, handhelds, PC's and everything else. It is a place to find friends and gamers who enjoy the same things.
I used a 4 color raster for the MS tag and my second screen tint from the master grade sheet.
All images were created by me and the MS tag was generated at tag.microsoft.com. Spy Agency font is a free font attained from dafont.com.
Full Page
| Bleed | 9 1/4" x 11" |
| Trim | 9" x 10 3/4" |
| Non-Bleed | 8 1/2" x 10 1/4" |
The file is to be in PDF format. CONVERT: All Spot colors need to be converted to CYMK colors. Can submit just as a zip file.
The primary readership demographic is video game players. All kinds of video game players meaning console and PC based. This age will vary but I'm guessing for gamers between the age of 13-40.
The content on a billboard differs from previous projects because it is just absolutely huge. The specifics for the content need to be just right so that the resolution for the pictures turns out well. The pictures have to be able to be blown up to fit the billboard so only high res photos should be used. Also have to switch the content to more of a landscape layout. The billboard specs I'm going for are the 10.412 x 22.662ft live area, 10.644 x 22.894ft overall doc size, and 10.542 x 22.792ft with 18 pixels per inch at 216 resolution. The preferred formats are PSD, PDF, and TIFF.
My purpose is to get people to discover what the next generation of consoles would be by scanning the MS Tag in the mag ad and going to the website in the billboard ad. The target audience is as specified previously (gamers between 13-40). The website is supposed to be a gaming community that embraces all assets of gaming albeit consoles, handhelds, PC's and everything else. It is a place to find friends and gamers who enjoy the same things.
I used a 4 color raster for the MS tag and my second screen tint from the master grade sheet.
 |
| The thumbs. Strictly magazine. |
 |
| The roughs. Do ignore the MS tag on the billboard version. That will be replaced with a URL. |
 |
| My final magazine ad. |
 |
| My final billboard ad. |
All images were created by me and the MS tag was generated at tag.microsoft.com. Spy Agency font is a free font attained from dafont.com.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
National Logo Redesign
 |
| The past logos of DC Comics. |
DC Comics seems to make a habit of changing their logo constantly. From 1940-2005 there have been nine changes to their logo. This seems like a little too many to me, but DC doesn't seem to care because in 2012 they chose to yet again change their logo. Behold, the most controversial DC Comics logo change yet:
 |
| The DC Comics new logo. |
 |
| Different versions of the logo for different characters. |
Sources:
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/01/19/new-dc-logo-images-interactive/
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/01/18/dc-comics-logo-design-critique/
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/01/17/dc-comics-logo-history/
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/01/dc-new-logo/
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)