Posts (page 2)

Here are a few links to products you should be aware of as you work on your portfolio this spring.

MOO mini cards: are really beautifully printed, petite business cards from England. Groovy size, thick stock. Worth a look. They also have great postcards and other products that you can use to promote yourself.

PINA ZANGARO  portfolio cases. Neat formats, sizes. Very expandable.

OFFICE: my favorite store on Alberta Street. Great portfolios (they carry Pina Zangaro) and have free shipping right now for orders over $75.

Back by Popular Demand! OFFICE PDX is proud to feature our signature event - a quarterly event - featuring all-star design panelists from both creative companies (in-house designers) as well as creative agencies (consultants). Five panelists from multiple disciplines will reveal insights on what they look for in portfolios, portfolio strategy and pacing, do’s and don’t in getting a job at their respective companies, and insider tips for creatives on what it takes to "get in". Moderated by OFFICE PDX’s Marketing Director, Kelly Coller, who has put together thousands of winning portfolios and pitches for new business as well as reviewed hundreds of portfolios from design candidates. Note: Panelists are different at every portfolio event.
Cost: FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC; RSVP required to info@officepdx.com (space is limited to 70)
Time: 6 to 8 PM; 6 to 7 for panel discussion followed by Q and A / networking from 7 to 8 PM
Bonus: Includes PORTFOLIO COVER SALE that evening only: save 20% on all Pina Zangaro Portfolio Covers

That's a REALLY LONG TITLE for a blog entry, but it's a really ambitious project that my 18 awesome second year Graphic Design students are busy working on. (see their photos on the previous entry)

THE FORUM:
A 10 week long GD264: Digital Publication Design class in the Integrated Media: Graphic Design Program at Mt. Hood Community College

THE CHALLENGE:
In less than 6 weeks, design a full-color 32-page book for Mercy Corps to
• commemorate the January 2008 trip to Nepal and India for the donor/travelers
• showcase Joni Kabana's fantastic photography
• be used by MC and the Phoenix Fund to solicit support
• accurately reflect the MC mission and follow their visual identity guide
• use the Adobe Creative Suite 3 software to layout and design the book
• publish each student's book through the online print-on-demand self-publishing tool, lulu.com
• display the books at a formal gallery reception in March where attendees can place orders for additional copies
• proceeds from the sale of these books on our Lulu.com store will go directly to Mercy Corps media efforts in Nepal and India.

THE PROCESS:
Students read Joni's blog entries every day during her trip. She posted her photos and wrote short narratives from remote mountain villages, at midnight by firelight, and even from a run-down hotel where they were held at gunpoint.
Using text from both her blog and a longer story she wrote upon returning, students became familiar enough with the 3 week journey to begin roughing in words and images over the 32 pages. They followed the 80-page Mercy Corps Identity Guideline to be true to the color palette, typography and use of photography so that the final books could be used for future marketing efforts by both MC and the Phoenix Fund.

THE TIMELINE
February 6: Joni visited the class right after her return, bringing us hundreds of her images from both her and her fellow travelers. She answered questions and got us started in the right direction. Later, students emailed Joni to obtain additional information (such as passport pictures, textile and food images) so that each solution could tell a unique story.

February 8 - 25: Our class meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 - 12. Students are hard at work editing down the vast number of images, and finding an angle to the story that can be sustained through 32 pages. Should the main focus be on faces, landscapes, details? Show the story follow the itinerary? Should the travelers be the focus or the local people? How do they weave photos from other travelers in with Joni's? Where should the captions go? Photo credits? Should there be page numbers? They also did many printing tests to discover just the right font size, font weight, line length and line spacing so that the body copy is legible.

 

February 27: Joni returned to class with Jean Hart, MC Phoenix Fund Director to check our progress and offer feedback and critique. Students hung their full-color spreads on our critique wall and took notes as Jean combed through the designs, pointing out when a photo needed to be moved or didn't hit quite the right note. Her comments were extremely helpful and nuanced, giving student rare insight into the client interactions they'll soon encounter in the real world. At the end of this 2 hour session, we decided that the best way to show off these books during the formal reception on March 20 was to hang each student's full range of sixteen double-page spreads on the walls outside Joni's studio, forming a linear visual narrative.

March 3: Several students were far enough along that I was able to send Joni some .pdfs of their books to her, as a preview. We're all learning what works from Joni and Jean's critical eyes. Working with real clients is great experience for students. They start to understand how to remove themselves from their work and evaluate their decisions (both editorial and design) from another perspective. And how to compromise.

I also sent some of the maps they had drawn of the journey so that Joni could forward them to the Oregonian. I hope they're able to use one in the upcoming story which will appear in the Sunday Travel section.They're also discovering how to manage file sizes so that they can be sent responsibly over FTP or Email.

March 5: Some students should be ready to upload their files to Lulu.com so that we can have a few printed samples of the books back in time for the formal reception in Joni's studio on March 20. Lulu's turn around time for on-demand printing is 10 days. Students will have to "break apart" their InDesign spreads into single pages, adjust bleeds and make sure the design stays intact. Then each file will be exported to Acrobat and uploaded page by page to Lulu.com. They'll order a single book (8.5 x 11) plus perfect bound cover printed to show the donors and guests.

March  10: Joni will return to class to help write caption and answer questions. Today, 5 complete books have been uploaded to and can be purchased at our lulu.com storefront.

March 12: Students will be working on adding the finishing touches and printing like crazy. (16 double-page spreads (plus covers) x 18 students = a whole lot of printing!)

March 13: The first book shipment came in from Lulu this morning (Von Vinhasa's design) and it looks fantastic. The print quality is excellent and Joni's images really pop! The cover is coated with a glossy varnish and looks really professional. With expedited shipping, this order took only 5 days to arrive. It's a huge relief to know that our digital file prep from Photoshop to InDesign to Adobe Acrobat worked great.

March 17: As of tonight, 16 books are finished and uploaded to Lulu! Of course, our trusty Xerox Phaser 7750 printer went down tonight just as the last book was being sent to print for the reception. I'll head to Beaverton tomorrow morning to find some replacement parts.

March 20: (During our Final Exam week) Joni's arranged to open the fourth floor of the Towne Storage Building for the reception at 7:00 pm. I hung each student's 16 spreads to the white walls that make up the interior of this unusual building. Several hundred people attended the reception and were able to place orders for the books. The proceeds from the sales of books will go directly to Mercy Corps media efforts in Nepal and India.

VISIT OUR LULU STORE, VIEW 16 DIFFERENT BOOK DESIGNS and PLACE YOUR ORDER.

One of the favorite parts of being an educator is that I get to keep in touch with my graduates.... from as far back as 20 years ago or as recently as last June. Connections are made and, over time, morph into intricate circular, roundabout relationships that renew and grow in a cyclical way. Is this an Oregon phenomenon? Six degrees of separation?

Recent re-connections  (all in the last two weeks!)

Josh (class of 1989) was just featured in Wacom's "Power of the Pens" series that showcases a designer each day for 12 days. "This is the story of 12 leading artists each tasked with creating a piece of calendar art in their own unique style. Meet the artists, explore their work, and watch them create digital magic. For the next 12 days, a new work by one of the artists will be revealed highlighting the process and experience of its creation." BTW, Rich Harris, former art director for Wacom (located in Vancouver, WA) teaches several of the first year Integrated Media classes at MHCC.

Lori (class of 1991) is the Marketing Specialist for ProPhoto Supply in Portland. She's working with me to promote a cool project for Portland photographer, Joni Kabana (a former colleague of my husband's when they worked together at Wagoner Edstrom a decade ago... he designed her web site and she continues to document my family each year as my daughters grow to adulthood). Anyway, Joni's going to India, Tibet and Nepal to document the good works of MercyCorps. She asked me to design a commemorative book of this trip, and I said "Sure" after realizing that the project would be a perfect fit for my second year Digital Publication Design class.

Bret (class of 1998) owns Workshed Media in Camas, Washington, a vibrant web development company that hired two other graduates of MHCC's Graphic Design program (Jason, class of 2005 and Oscar, class of 2008). Bret recently turned Camas photographer Lara Blair on to the Internship program at MHCC, so hopefully I'll be able to place a talented intern or graduate there soon. A loyal colleague who knows a good thing when he sees it, Bret also uses the services of Andy (class of 1998) who owns MacTechHelp.com, Andy helps people with their Macs and travels between Las Vegas and Portland. He works on Macs and networks of many former MHCC design grads!

Karen (class of 2001) just returned to Portland after a 6 year absence. She's been working as a designer in Michigan and Chicago for the past six years. She called the other day looking for an intern or freelancer to help her out in the design department of the Engineering and Development company she works for in Portland.

Suzy (class of 2001) just wrote to tell me she'd re-located to Santa Fe and is interviewing there for a design position. She's hovered between Colorado and New Mexico since she left Oregon. I'm sending good interview mojo her way!

I just received a neat 10-year anniversary mailing from Bryan Potter Design where Elin (class of 2001) and Josh, (class of 2003) each worked for a couple of years after they graduated from MHCC. They were both mentioned in the publication, which was cool. Elin just moved back to Portland after a long stint in Florida and Josh started Waterknot last year. BPD also featured colleague, Jennifer Brinkman's photos. She teaches the Digital Photo classes for Integrated Media.

And, finally, I spotted the beloved Keith (class of 1990 and 2005.... long story;-) in the cafeteria on Thursday while having lunch with my daughter, class of 2010??? He was back on campus to get his teeth cleaned at the dental school. I spotted his size 15 shoes from 100 feet away. He's been busy dreaming up and executing outrageous ad campaigns since I last saw him. One of my all-time favorite students!

Moral of this story: Never burn your bridges! Portland is a very small town ;-)

INSPIRATION:  Art of the Business Card
FLICKR SETS: More Business Cards
GREAT DEAL:   Free Illustrator downloads
PODCAST: Andy Rutlege's Design View podcast
TYPOGRAPHY: Flickr set of typography

This lighting set up is perfect for product shots. It's located in the small room inside the AC1392 computer lab.

VECTOR MAGIC is a free web-based auto-tracing tool is available for both Mac and PC users. It's more accurate than Adobe Illustrator's CS3 Live Trace feature. The simple step-by-step interface was easy to use. Upload a photo, select a few options, and view the results. It produced fewer duplicate, redundant shapes and was easy to edit further using Illustrator.

Check out VectorMagic here.

SHAPE: Swedish illustrator Bo Lundberg's amazing portfolio

HUMOR: Troublesome clients can be redirected to these products!

INSIGHT: Interview with Vintage book cover designer John Gall

CREATE: How to create a digital typeface, part 1

INSPIRATION: Illustrator Kevin Dart's portfolio site

CUT PAPER: British illustrator Rob Ryan

MUSEUMS: Museum of Online Museums... compendium deluxe 

TYPE: Great article on Old Style fonts from I love Typography

IMAGE: Photoshop tutorial on using collaged images to design a poster  from PSDTuts

WEB DESIGN: Smart observations on web design from A List Apart

BRANDING: Critique on recent branding overhauls from Armin Vit at Brand New

DESIGN: Check out the latest in Book Cover design  from FWIS

BUSINESS: Timely advice for freelancers  from FreelanceSwitch

PRINTING: Groovy little cards and stickers from England  from Moo

LETTERPRESS: Gorgeous local letterpress shop  from Egg Press