Solid Logos

So, I saw this the other day, as I was perusing the interwebs... and I figured since a pretty solid majority of us in his group are either IN Logotype, HAVE TAKEN Logotype, or have an INTEREST in making corporate identity packages as a graphic designer...

...that this would be a good article to post here on the blog, so everyone can appreciate it.

It's an appreciation of 30 separate vector-based logos. Each logo comes with some small discussion on each logo's finer points, or a brief explanation of how it relates to the theme or spirit of the individual/organization it represents.

Enjoy; hopefully this will give you some ideas as to the design sensibility we're all capable of, or inspire you in some way. Leave a comment, tell us what you think!

VectorTuts: 30 Brilliant Vector Logo Designs, Deconstructed.

~L, LX.

DM Minutes!

Yeah so... I've been lazy. We've had two meetings, and I've only now gotten around to posting the minutes for them. What a slacker, right? But anyways, here they are.

DM Minutes (8/27)

Ellen Hatcher, Guest Speaker from Rebuilding Together Savannah.
-Use of fact sheet to help create a snazzy new brochure.
-Maintain green in logo.
-Show vibrancy and kindness is volunteers, and work they accomplish together.

Motion: Vote to take on brochure project for Rebuilding Together Savannah: All in Favor, none opposed.

Another project pitched- logo redesign. To be started after completion of brochure.

Motion: Reschedule all meetings to Second MONDAY each month, 12PM. All in favor, none opposed.

Club Dues: 10$ please get those to us ASAP.

AASU Day
-If you have ideas, please let us know, or shoot us an e-mail—we’d appreciate any and all involvement in this very important project for us.
-Things we’re considering currently: Popcorn Machine (if complementary again), Brownies, Postcards/Greeting Cards, Food, Templates for pictures. Gaudy Frames to put our work in (Justin says he can help with this! Awesome!)
-Things we need help with: Design, Construction, Helping Hands to maintain booth. Work to display.

12:54—Diana proclaims that she has hunger.



DM Minutes (9/8)

DUES! We need ‘em.

Rebuilding Savannah Brochure Responsibilities:
Photo Touch-up & Selection – Alex
Design – Jenni (with an I) & Amie (with an IE.)
Layout – Chris G.
General Assistance, Organization & Prep – Diana

Other Logo Project — Sam & Justin

AASU Day (Oct 22):
-Brownie Sugaring Party at Chris G. & Alex’s house on Tuesday the 21st of October. (The Day BEFORE AASU Day) 6PM—please come if you can help!
-Jenni is going to see if her husband’s band can come prior to end of AASU Day to play a few songs by our booth.
-Sam & Chris G. are looking to make templates for a themed photo-background of some sort, where people can come up and take pictures and then we can shop their faces onto it, and print it out for them.



Aaaand... that's pretty much it. Let me know if I've forgotten anything! :p

~LX.

Summer Task #3 submission!

That's right, you read that title correctly. Submission without the "s"

Haha. I figured I'd go ahead post it anyways, I went about a week after the deadline waiting for submissions but they never came in.


So here's mine:




I've always wanted to do one of these old retro ads because they fascinate me...especially the old tobacco ones despite my not being a smoker.

I had a blast doing it and I'm looking foward to this next semester with Design Matters. This concludes the official Design Matters Summer Tasks.

See you all at the Block Party on Monday!

- Chris

The Design Process

I saw this today and thought it was really great.

Stop signs are one of the many things we take for granted. It's hard to believe that there was a time before the stop sign existed, and that someone had to invent it. The Process is a fun short about how things would have turned out if it were designed by committee.

- Chris

7 fonts that should die

I forgot one of the uses we established for this blog was to share things with each other that are design-related.

Well, here's a quick and funny one that Alex and I were talking about earlier today:

7 Fonts that should die

He and I both agreed that Comic Sans should most definitely be added to that list (that is, if it already isn't dead...we can only hope)

If you guys find anything fun or useful that is design-related, post it up here and share it with us.

- Chris

Summer Task #3 -- Advertise!

Hey Guys,

I've decided to go ahead and propose the third official Design Matters Summer Task. This is one that my friends and I used to do a long time ago for fun way back when we were first taking an interest in digital art.

I would like everyone to make a magazine advertisement.

Well, what are the stipulations, you ask? None, really. Like all of the other summer tasks, this is very open ended. This is not a magazine layout or a spread. This is a one page ad for a product, service, business, etc. Thumb through any magazine that's close to you to draw inspiration. You can advertise anything you want and design in any style that you'd like to.











I'm going to go ahead and give everyone more time to complete this one since the last task had such a low turnout (more than likely due to the time frame). I'll go ahead and make submissions due on August 9th. That give you 12 days, not counting today. If you feel like you could do more during that time, by all means, do more than one. Or if you didn't already submit one, go ahead and submit a website design for the 2nd summer task.

Unfortunately, this will be the last summer task because school will resume shortly after this project's completion.

Good luck everyone, and I hope to see some ads from everyone in the next 2 weeks

- Chris

Summer Task #2 Submissions

Hey again, everyone.

So, perhaps I went and made the 2nd summer challenge a bit too short. I blame the boredom of summer and having to wait around for 12 days feels like an eternity so as impatient as I was feeling, I may have jumped the gun.

We only got 2 submissions: Raphyel and myself.


Raphyel Jordan



Chris Gibson


Short video showing how it would look while browsing the site


Both of us agreed that we had fun coming up with our ideas and executing the project itself so if you still want to come up with a design, by all means, keep working at it. I'll take them whenever you're done and post them up here. We'll just remove the deadline for the challenge.

- Chris

Gig Poster submissions!

Hey Everybody,

just wanted to go ahead and show off everyone's gig poster submissions for the first official Design Matters Summer Task.

Raphyel Jordan



Diana Holliday



Jimmy Taylor




Chris Gibson







Alex Sandoval




Well, that's it. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did and also learned a few things along the way. I know I did. Good Job, everyone.

- Chris

Summer Task #2

Hey guys,With the first summer task having come to a close, I decided I would step up and present the next challenge. Diana mentioned maybe making some things for the Block Party but until we meet up to discuss, I'd like to continue having projects to work on.
Without further adieu:

Summer Task #2: Web Site Design

Let me preface this task by saying that your web site design, in no way needs to be functional on the web. A simple JPEG of your conceptualized design will suffice.

Here are a few examples to help you get inspired:











The actual site can be whatever you want it to be. A website for a band, a blog, an online store, anything goes.

Think about Typography and Graphics (images). These days, graphics play a huge role in website design. Remember that you have certain liberties that you might normally be restricted by with print media.
Really look around and see what makes certain websites stand out from others.

Let's say that submissions will be due on July 12th. That gives you 9 days to come up with a design. I know this is less time that the previous task but, given that it's summer, I feel like it should be enough.

I look foward to seeing your designs.

- Chris

Summer Task #1 - Gig Poster

Okay, so it's been a long time. Summer started a while ago, and I'm sure by now, many of us have wrested some form of laziness or enjoyment from it. I know I have gotten both.

But, if you're up to it, it's time for Design Matters' first Summer Task. There are optional assignments that you can choose to do to have a little fun, challenge yourself, or learn something from. I picked this first medium because I absolutely LOVE poster art, especially the famous gig poster.

A "gig poster" for the uninitiated, are those posters you find at venues or on telephone poles that advertise a concert or performance that is coming at a later date. There's really no boundaries here, as gig posters come in all shapes, sizes, colors and styles. Some are deconstructed, some could be considered high art-- it's all up to you.

I'll try and put some examples down here for you to look at.

Cake -- http://www.gigposters.com/posters/90130.jpg
Radiohead -- http://www.gigposters.com/posters/66556.jpg
Pink Floyd -- http://www.gigposters.com/posters/72733.jpg
Spoon -- http://www.gigposters.com/posters/95925.jpg
Dave Matthews Band -- http://www.gigposters.com/posters/86792.jpg

Got those gears rolling? Here are some guidelines:

Style: Limitless.
Dimensions: Anything, within reason. (Most gig posters are manageable paper size, not billboard big.)
Additional Elements (Things to consider): Many gig posters have, in addition to the main act name: additional support band names, date of show, venue name and location, time of show start, price of ticket, venue website.

Put it all in, leave it all out, it's up to you. There really are no restrictions on this one, so just have a day.



Final submissions will be due... let's say... by June 30th. (Send them to designmattersaasu@gmail.com) That gives you TWELVE days, so try and do something that pushes you in a couple areas you haven't ventured in.

HAVE FUN!

~L, LX.

End of Year Party

Well today was the official last day of the semester. We laughed, we cried, we worked hard to get this club started. So what better way to end the semester with a bang! As a sign of thanks to everyone's contributions to Design Matters, we're having a pizza party next Wed. (May 7th) in the conference room of the fine arts building at 12:30 pm. Food and items will be supplied by the lead reps, so all you gotta do is bring your behind and a stomach! Hope everyone manages to make it. Design Matters wouldn't be where it is without any of you.

So best of luck with finals, see everyone next week, and as always, happy designing! ^_^

Raphyel M. Jordan

Just for Fun...

Thought you all might be interested in seeing this... put it together just for fun.
Enjoy and happy designing!
~arh

DM Minutes -- April 9th, 2008.

Hey guys, here are the minutes for the meeting held on April 9th, 2008.


* Speakers- (If you know people, ask them if they'd like to talk about their experiences int he design field, graduating, taking commissions-- ANYTHING! At least, ask them if they'll write a post that we can post on the blog.)



* Contracts/Work- (Need to figure out prices, what we can and cannot do, and how we'll agree to do it. If you have any experience with this, please help us out!)



* Portfolio- (We're working on making a Flickr account for the club, so send in your design work, layours, art... anything you want to show off, and we can start building on our blog, and shedding a spotlight on what we are capable of.)



* AASU Day- (We can't pass up an opportunity to continue the momentum we've built up after the Outdoor Arts Festival. Let's do everything we can to make our booth at AASU exponentially more killer than our first. There's a booth design contest, and I think we can easily win that with all the things we can bring to it, and the people we know. We're looking to use what worked from the Festival, and apply it to AASU Day-- such as greeting cards, popcorn, and brownies this time, instead of cookies. If you have any ideas, please let them be heard!)



* Club Strength- (While looking forward and planning for festivals and fairs is great, we need to focus on other stuff too. What work can we do, how can we get our name out there, and if we have nothing to do, let's find a way to keep keen and keep ourselves busy with design. Be it critiques, club contests / challenges, or more. Mrs. Horne suggested shopping our name out there, and possibly taking on one project a semester for the school board or the community as a pro-bono (no pay) piece, so we can make ourselves known.)



* Welcome Back! Bash- (This was our last meeting of the semester, but that definitely doesn't mean we're finished for the summer. For our first meeting of the next semester we're planning to do a "Welcome Back! Bash" for our club members-- old AND new. All we have planned right now is to bring in design / artwork that you've done over the months of break, so we can see what people have been up to, and some food to liven things up. Naturally, we want to celebrate what very well may be the last year for some members, and hopefully the first year at Armstrong for others.)




And most importantly--

SPREAD THE WORD
&
LET US HEAR YOU.


Please e-mail us at DesignMattersAASU@gmail.com .

We really want you guys to have a hand in where this club goes and how it grows, so don't pass up that opportunity.


~LX.

Sup folks! We had a great time this Saturday at the Outdoors Art Festival. We wanna thank all of our members for attending if not to at least stop by. This weekend's success couldn't have been done without any of you....and speaking of success:

The club earned a total of $132.17 to be exact!!!! Great job everyone! Not a bad start for our debut. Not bad at all! Mrs. Horne also said we received a lot of great feedback on the manner in which we conducted ourselves at the booth: very professional. Be sure to check out the pics Alex just dropped too. Lets keep up the good work, and until next time, Happy Designing!

Raphyel M. Jordan

The Outdoor Arts Festival: A Recap!
(The pictures are linked through my blog, so you might have to click through to see them larger.)

As many of you know,

We’ve been slowly trying to gain some momentum, creating a foundation to build upon, and it all came to a head this weekend. Our first public showing at the Armstrong Annual Outdoor Arts Festival. We put some of our work up, showing what even the few of us are capable of. We sold some designer cookies, popcorn, and greeting cards. Take a looksee:

There you’ll see our President and Vice President in front of our awesome board of accomplishments, where we sat, doing our damnedest to show what we can do, and trying to entice any passerby and staff members to let us do their next business card or letterhead— or anything else!!

You’ll also see our cookies in the final stage, Chris has a bunch of pictures of our troubled but successful making, baking and frosting of them. Not bad for our very first attempt, I’d say!! We made 39, and we sold 35, and only a few of those we bought ourselves. :p

Hey, they looked (and were!) delicious!!

Besides that, there are also pictures of all the greeting card designs we had for sale… not QUITE as popular, but definitely still worth the effort. As well the popcorn machine we rented. Even at 50 cents a bag, we made a killing with it.

Speaking of which,

All in all, we made about 133$, and raised a fair amount of interest in our services— which is FANTASTIC for our first showing.

I think many of us were expecting to be absolutely bored out of our collective minds, but I actually had a lot of fun. A lot of that is due mainly to the people that comprise our humble club, I’d say. There was much laughing, and smiling, which I’m positive was good for business. Chris and I had the foresight to bring sunscreen and bug spray for everyone, which I’m sure also made a big difference. :p I can’t remember another time in which I spent a good 3 to 4 hours in the beating sun and not coming away like a blackened lobster.

Aside from all that...

Some of the performances were definitely notable, and one act had most of us ROLLING for about an hour. PuppetPeople sent over a Pirate to entertain us, and he was hysterical. He ran around giving people lessons on how to speak like a swashbuckler, putting his massive hat on people, and making them say “Yar” and “Yo-ho!”

Even here, pictures are sometimes stronger than words, so check him out:

There he is, running up and down the aisles, making idle buccaneer banter with most of us. In the pictures, you see Mrs. Horne, a fellow member as much as she is our advisor and mentor; and Raphyel getting shown the finer points of the pirate’s life.

It’s not the best video, but it still makes me titter— at one point, music was playing for one of the other kids’ performances, and the pirate busted out into some KILLER moves.

Yes, that’s me giggling like a little girl in the back.

I honestly couldn’t contain myself, but anyone who knows me is aware that inability to control my laughter is a bulletpoint that defines the entirety of my character.

Aside from that, Chris went out for a break, and came back with a totally sweet moustache. I guess when you can’t do it yourself…

That other thing on his cheek is “Optimus Prime with a bowler hat on.” What an imagination on that guy. Everyone knows Optimus only wears feather caps. Silly.

Outdoors Arts Festival status

Greeting/post cards: It turns out I have been using the wrong
term concerning this subject. I always called this our greeting cards post
cards in emails and in discussions, We are making greeting cards for the festival! My bad! (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then disregard the info in bold)

Don't freak out though for those who made your works in greeting card format! This isn't a huge alteration. Actually, it might even be easier. Mrs. Horne did greeting cards, and they were printed on 8.5 x 11 matte paper and folded it in half with the logo ...why don't I just
send an example? We're all visual folk, and I think if I talk too much
I'll just confuse everyone. CHECK attachment above.

Here's an update on our status:

Stickers:Diana has printed out 100 stickers for us saturday. Yay!

Business cards: since most of us are really putting a lot of concentration on the post/greeting cards, Mrs. Horne took the liberty of doing the business cards for us. They look really great! So give a big thanks to her everyone.

Think that about does it. Look forward to seeing you good peeps on saturday. Till then, happy designing!!!

Raphyel M. Jordan

Wed. March 19th Meeting

Sup folks. Here's the list of things discussed in yesterday's meeting:

-Our icing/ cookie party will be next Friday on the 28th at 7:00 p.m. Location and directions will be given later.

-Postcards:
- Everyone will have to print their own postcards. Fortunately, most of us got Mrs. Horne for sumthin this semester. BUT-if not, she has offered the lab during AGD class on Wednesday the 26th (1:30-4:15).

- The paper you can print the cards on is either scrapbook or Staple's matte paper.

-standard post card sizes are 4.25 x 6.00 inches

-the DM logo needs to be printed on the back center and .5 inch from the bottom of the card. The needed size of the logo will be provided by Diana.

-Don't forget the business cards! Standard size is 3.5X2 inches. You can design within the 3.25x1.75 perimeter pf the card. These need to be printed out by Wednesday the 26th (1:30-4:15) as well.

-If you plan to submit a graphic work to be displayed, it ALSO must be printed by Wednesday the 26th (1:30-4:15).

Yeah, so it looks like we got a lot of stuff ahead of us. Still, lets remember this is all about what we plan on doing in the future after college, and having fun along the way. So rest assured, when I say "Happy designing", I always mean it. ^_0

If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to contact one of the Four (Diana, Alex, Chris, and myself). This is the club's big debut. Let's start tha party with a bang! Next week is gonna be craaaaaazy!.....ugh-in a good way y'all.

See all you good peeps next week, and till next time, Happy Designing!!!

Raphyel M. Jordan

Final Logo Submissions

I know, I know. I already sent an e-mail.

Letting everyone know our final critique for our clubs logo will be held next Wed., February 13th at 12:00 pm at the usual Solms B. Remember, both black and white and colored versions are being requested. Best of luck folks.

See?Now that wasn't so bad now, was it. As always ladies and gents, happy designing!

Raphyel M. Jordan

January 30th's Meeting

Hey "y'all!"

We had a GREAT meeting today, and got a pretty descent push on our logo front thanks to the sketches and comps we got from people. Big thanks to those who helped push us in the right direction!

And what direction is that, you ask? Professional and full of Impact. This is what we're trying to say with our logo. Now no need for frowns for all you folks who couldn't make it this time since this was only a sketch and comp review.

You all can still submit a final design when we meet again the second Wed. in February. Only thing is we need a BLACK and WHITE version of your final as well if you submit a colored version. Don't forget!

On a side note, we (the Founding Four) are juuuuuuuuuuust about ready to submit your official by-laws. Yahoo!

So keep those creative juices pumping, and dat good ole right side of the brain busy. Till next time boys and gals, happy designing! Holla! ^_^

Raphyel Jordan

Upcoming Meeting on 30th!!!

Hello all! Hope everyone's back n2 that good 'ole college routine again, and hope everyone had a great break. We (the Founding Four) have been busy trying to get our club up and on tha go!...ahem, even though we've had a couple set backs along the way (Sorry Alex!!!)

But just for a happy go minder, everyone is meeting on January 30th so we can look at some sketches/concepts for our club's logo! You'll start seein signs being posted up in the next couple of days.

Be sure to bring your game face and a bat!!!!...oh, okay....just-uh, leave tha bat at home-this time.... ^_^

Till then people, happy designing, and see everyone on the 30th!!!

Raphyel Jordan