The Week of Back to Reality

Unfortunately, spring break is over. Aure voi breath of fresh air, it was nice seeing you again. Now it's back to the daily grind. Six more weeks 'til I'm a scholarly and useful member of society... scary. But that's for later, 'cuz for now...



Critique: Vox Department Page


Oddly enough, this far into the semester I have only designed two music department pages. However, I have a couple more coming up soon and close together. I haven't talked very much about department designing for Vox here yet, so I thought I could assess an example.

It's surprising how tough it is to design just one page in which you already have the text, photos, and general template for. Perhaps though, the more specifics you have to work with, the more limited you are. For this particular department page, I had to make the playlist. The only tricky part was finding a photo with enough open room on the left side to put the text. Crafting department pages always takes me longer than I think it will in the beginning, but I think designing these pages is an exercise that deviates from our designer-norm. 

Usually as designers we are told to go big and get crazy with first drafts because it is always easier to be scaled back than to be told to get bolder, however designing these department pages with such specific directions is a much more detailed and meticulous process. I think this is a useful practice just in order for us to start looking at the details and how to design around the content, instead of assuming that the content will follow our desired design scheme.

I don't think that I will have time to get particularly well-versed in doing department pages quickly in this semester. I feel like I would need to do it much more often to get faster at designing these. However, I think that this probably applies to many things in life and to many people as well.

Response: Spring Break Photo Projects

This sort of project was right up my alley. I love photography, of course since I did it all through high school and started out as a photojournalism major, so I am already used to carrying a camera around with me wherever I go and the odd looks as I pull out my mega-camera with huge lens attached. I am known as the photographer in my group of friends and family. Everyone knows that I will be taking photos wherever I go so they don't worry too much about remembering their own. 

Even though I switched my sequence to magazine design in the J School instead of photojournalism, I still absolutely love photography as a hobby or passion and can't stand the idea of ever buying a framed photo as art decor that was taken by anyone else. That isn't supposed to sound conceded, but rather that I just strive to always make my photos good enough that I would like to see them hung on the wall above my bed.

So we were asked to keep a photo journal of the week of spring break and take one photo of each day that was inspirational and that would stand as a nice reminder of the week. Though I only went home, (to Grapevine, Tx.) I had a fantastic and relaxing time with my family, as always. I absolutely love Texas and fully plan on returning in the near future, and find many things around my home intriguing and inspiring. (Not to mention, the temperature and appearance of the sun doesn't hurt either.) My week was follows:

Day 1: Saturday

 A gigantic metal structure of a lone star complete with cowboy hats covering the whole thing, which was hanging in the hotel next to where my sister's dance competition was located in Ft. Worth. I want a slightly smaller version of this in my future home.

Day 2: Sunday

My dear sister poses in front of the plethora of trophies that her dance team won at her very last competition before she graduates high school.

Day 3: Monday

My dad and I finally joined the rest of the world in owning smart phones, about 2 years too late, but were nonetheless pumped about it. We spent a while taking pictures of each other and playing with our new gadgets for most of the day.

Day 4: Tuesday

Meet Tux. He is a sassy old man of a cat, but he is my favorite. Am I not supposed to pick favorites out of my pets at home? Oops...

Day 5: Wednesday

My boyfriend takes the week off of school a bit early to come visit me, and these are his boots in contrast with my living room rug. I must get myself a new pair of cowboy boots soon.

Day 6: Thursday

My neighbor, Andy, was such a great sport and posed with his daughter for a photo shoot for the cover of Plaid Dad. This isn't the photo we will use for the cover because we want a candid shot, but here is a cute one of the both of them smiling.

Day 7: Friday

I walked around Main St. in my city with a few friends for fun (and to look for material for my typography project) on this very nice and sunny day, and the feed store was selling baby chicks and duck since it's so close to Easter. I have really wanted a pet duck for a while now, and it was extremely difficult for me to pass up taking home this little guy. (P.S. - Duck diapers exist... google it)

Day 8: Saturday

My sister got asked to prom by her future-date hanging this huge sign in front of our house. We had to get her to go out to dinner with us so that he could be there standing underneath it when we pulled up back at home.

 

Day 8: Saturday (Cont.)

My sister and her date before her dance team's banquet. She gets her good looks from me, of course.

Day 9: Very Very Early Monday Morning

I drove back from Grapevine to Columbia, and the clouds were so ominous and cool looking that I risked my life by taking a few photos while driving. As you can see there were just so many cars on the road I could've potentially run into...

And here is the product of my typography project. I walked around to try and find letters in everyday things. It was really invigorating actually how it made you look at buildings and the ground and seemingly ordinary things in a different way. I spelled out La Vita E Bella, which means Life is Beautiful in Italian. I plan on printing out these letters individually and then leaving matte in between each in one big frame. I've been wanting to do one of these for a long time, as I was actually given one as a gift that spells out 'Texas'. Now I have one of my own!

You Can't Miss... This!

Weird and funky furniture designs? Yes, please! I mean who hasn't been bored out of their minds while accompanying your parents furniture shopping before... or at least ya know before we started growing up to be as old as we are now (eek!) we used to be bored by those kinds of things. Check out these fresh ideas by Straight Line Designs-->

Until next week (if I make it to that point... whew what a week),

See you soon big baboon, 

      - Kaylee