The Week That Plaid Dad Really Begins

Firstly, highlight of the week that's non-design related (I know... there are other joys in life besides designing? Poppycock.)

• I sat outside Starbucks in the sun today for two hours SANS jacket!! This weather automatically makes me happier, despite the heavy workload

Ok but anyway ->

Critique: First Draft of Plaid Dad Design

Previous to crafting my first Plaid Dad designs, I was frequent contact with the publishing group and went to a couple of their meetings where they brainstormed their ideas for features, departments, etc. I also talked to them a little bit about what they were envisioning design-wise, and then meshed it with the design I was envisioning in my head. All of this really helped me to get the true feel of the magazine and guide me in the direction they were looking to go. 

All in all, I'm pleased with my first draft of designs. There are definitely some things I plan on changing and improving on now that I have a little more time before the presentations, but there were very specific reasons I crafted my designing the way I did. My dad was/is a stay-at-home dad. He quit his job when I was around 7 years old because both of my parents were working up to that point and they decided one of them needed to stay home and get to know the kids that were spending too much time with their nanny. Thus, my dad raised me and my mom worked. This said, I am very passionate about this prototype because I feel that I know the target audience oh too well. 

The things I was concerned with while designing to really serve the target demographic the best:

• Readable, bold and BIG type (my dad hates when he has to get out his reading glasses because he can't read things - makes him feel old)
• Simple and clean - men tend not to notice the tiny design elements used just to be fancy
• Not too many different colors - doesn't do much for them
• Making cooking seem cool and manly 
• Using relatable design aspects (toolbox, the diamond plate pattern)

Based on all of these things, I was happy with my designs... but am really interested to see what everyone thinks and says about them. The Ninja Noms feature was my least favorite spread because I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to fit everything without it getting too confusing for the eye. I will probably make the most changes on this spread.

Response: Mag +

I really love the concept of this program. I was actually really engaged during the over-skype presentation and intrigued by how simple the process seemed. Now, I'm sure that it's harder to learn that it looks, but I think that Mike Haney did a very good job at explaining it. I did get pretty confused when he started mentioning all of the vertical and horizontal layers, but if I were to learn how to do it, I think it'd be an interesting shift in designing for the iPad as opposed to print. I think some things would stay the same, but there would be other considerations you'd have to keep in mind for something going online. For instance, how you can place a photo or even play a video in the background and only scroll the top layer that contains the article. It's just a different kind of animal.

Seeing as how I am on the Plaid Dad team and they aim to publish an iPad product along with print, it would be really useful to know how to design on this program. However, being able to do this kind of design seems like you'd really have to be more knowledgeable about the graphic design side of design. 

To be honest, I really do hope we get this program, but if we did I'm concerned I wouldn't be able to learn how to use it in time to create designs for the Meredith Project. Or at least, I wouldn't have time to get really good at it. 

All in all though, the program seems inventive and really quite useful if it works as it was presented.

You Can't Miss... This!

Autumn Whitehorst's Illustration Art.

While compulsively stumbling like I do with just the "design" box checked as a preference, I found "The Art Department," a company that works with consultants, artists, illustrators, etc. If you go on to browse through each of their departments, you can look at each individual and their portfolios. There are a lot of amazing and talented individuals presented, but one in particular that I was really drawn to was Autumn Whitehorst. Some of his illustrations: 

I think these are just gorgeous illustrations and use beautiful colors and textures. I'm really curious as to how Whitehorst made these and wish there was some way I could ask him. Would you make something like this from a real photograph? Would you use illustrator or photoshop? Or both? Or something completely different? Hmm...

Also...

I absolutely LOVE designspongeonline.com. There are so many amazing craft projects that I would love to try, and ya know perhaps I will this time. I've learned you've just got to make free time for yourself... you can't really wait for it or else you'll be rotting... or looking for the Tuck Everlasting well of life. But I've found a project I want to venture into...

A chandelier made out of PLASTIC STRAWS. Yeah. Go look at this website.

Alright well that's it for now.

Keep it real spotted seal,

      Kaylee