book design

After researching area and internet printers, the next step is to design book pages to compliment our research. In order to connect it to the work we have already done, we will be using our word pairs for each page design. For my word pairs, if you remember, I had wet and dry. The printers I researched were 4by6.com and Chattanooga Printing and Engraving.
The pages should reflect the word we are using and help to inform/enforce its meaning.
In addition to designing two pages, we were tasked with designing a book cover, title page and table of contents because we are going to utilise the print on demand service, lulu to have a guide printed to showcase the pages we made along side the works of our classmates.
I have never printed a book before, but in the past I have been asked to design a book cover. The book cover, title page, and table of contents need to look like they were designed by the same person and should all be cohesive. The pages we designed will not be next to each other and should not reflect that they were designed by the same person. The pages do not have to be legible save for the url, name of the print company and possibly the phone number.
I am excited about seeing my own work printed in a book!

williams printing

Last Thursday we got the privilege of touring Williams Print Company. The field trip was arranged for us by one of the members of Leadership Chattanooga.
Before the tour, we got to hear about some of Williams’ capabilities from David. Afterwards, Bubba took us on a tour of the facilities. Williams has a variety of services in printing, they can do die-cuts, folds and binding.
Williams has digital pre-press, lithographic printing, silk-screening and even graphic designers on staff. The design staff can do your design for you or they can just verify that everything you designed is ready to print and will print properly. The tour was very in-depth and we got to take a close look at the printers and hear about processes from the people that work them. All around the building I saw posters from Disney ice shows and I was completely stoked to be seeing the place that printed them. (I love Disney on Ice, so it was a special treat for me to get to see this!) It was also very neat to see that they do some of the cardboard cut-outs of people. Some how when you grow up in a place you get the idea that everything that is printed came from somewhere else, but just seeing all this was very eye-opening to what Chattanooga really has and how much of the printed collateral is really from here.
After the tour we met in the conference room to look at paper samples.
Williams Company was very generous and I look forward to working with them in the future!
Be sure to check them out if you need to print something: Williams Company.

newspaper printing fieldtrip

I was sick on Thursday, so I missed out on visiting the Times Free Press facilities for a tour given by Frank Anthony. This was a rare opportunity to get a really in depth tour of the facilities and I was puking my guts out. Looking back, I really should have just brought a trash can with me or something. Reading other blogs got me all excited about what I missed, so I did some googling about the Times Free Press and I will share it with you, because you, Dear Reader, missed it too!
I will start with an excerpt from the blog of my friend and classmate, Lauren Smart:
Speaking of ink, I’d never really thought about just how much ink they use. Let me tell you, they use a lot of ink. We saw quite a few huge containers of the various colors of ink. It was, sensibly, housed near the presses themselves. That room was one of my favorite parts of the visit. We got to see someone manipulation one of the gigantic rolls of paper so that when the original roll ran out, the flow of paper would continue smoothly. The ability to keep the press running without having to stop and change rolls can save around an hour of print time!

Giant paper and loads of ink, it makes sense, really. I mean, Chattanooga is not that big, but still lots of newspapers go out every day!
The Times Free Press is a combination of two newspapers: The Chattanooga Times and the Chattanooga News-Free Press. I read that from wikipedia, but I still remember getting the Chattanooga Times before the papers combined.

designing a guide

I am currently working with the print team to create a guide for area residents to find places to go to buy fresh, local produce, or for restaurants that buy local.
I have been researching guides to attempt to find a format that we can successfully utilise to reach our audience of local consumers.
Size is important to consider. It can fold, but how many folds before it becomes an inconvience to refold? We want our guide to be something that people feel they can keep and reuse over and over.
The guide needs to appeal to both genders and all ages. In order to do this, we will have to give special consideration to the font face and sizes and to the colours we choose to put in the guide.
To find the best format, I have been looking through guides and brochures collected from vacations. Vanessa has also provided us with guides from other Buy Fresh Buy Local branches.
We have a lot to think about when it comes to what goes into the guide, this is also what is hindering us in deciding our format. For sure there will be names and contact information of farmers, restaurants, and farmers markets. Joining the guide requires that you buy or sell local produce.
We want a map and blurbs about what Buy Fresh Buy Local is and why it is a great idea for the community.
I have faith in my team, I am sure we will find the right format to efficiently display the information.

press releases

For professional practices class, we have split into groups to work on the separate parts of the TasteBuds project for our clients. One of the groups is handling press releases, but not mine, my team is the print team. The print team has been handling postcards and plans for guides, but we have missed out on the experience of writing a press release.
So in order to more fully understand that section of the project, I researched press releases. It is always good to have as much experience under your belt as possible, especially in this economy because it makes you the most useful employee you can be.
These Ten Tips came from Press-Release-Writing.com:
1. Make sure the information is newsworthy.
2. Tell the audience that the information is intended for them and why they should continue to read it.
3. Start with a brief description of the news, then distinguish who announced it, and not the other way around.
4. Ask yourself, “How are people going to relate to this and will they be able to connect?”
5. Make sure the first 10 words of your release are effective, as they are the most important.
6. Avoid excessive use of adjectives and fancy language.
7. Deal with the facts.
8. Provide as much Contact information as possible: Individual to Contact, address, phone, fax, email, Web site address.
9. Make sure you wait until you have something with enough substance to issue a release.
10. Make it as easy as possible for media representatives to do their jobs

One of the tips from our Leadership Chattanooga client was that we should have a catchy headline so that the places it gets sent to will want to read it.
So, keep it simple and follow the rules to write a successful press release.

paper plus adventure

Thursday morning we were greeted with the surprise that we would be going on a field trip to Paper Plus. In preparation for our trip, we all gathered around the table and passed around paper samples.
There are some really fantastic paper types out there, and some great finishing elements. I do not seem to encounter many different paper types in most of the things I handle day to day, but I do see finishing elements, like foil stamps and embossing.
As a designer, I find myself becoming more aware of the things around me that have a designer’s touch, so it is great to learn about these finishing touches, like paper that can make a huge difference in the work that I create.
When we got to Paper Plus, we were graciously allowed to take as many paper sample books as we could carry. Sales associate Alex Brock met us at the door and showed us around the stacks of paper and was more than willing to answer questions. He was helpful and very friendly.
It was cool seeing stacks and stacks of paper all around and know that there is a place in Chattanooga I can go to get paper help from friendly people.
I would definitely recommend Paper Plus to anyone in need of paper, Paper Plus can get you what you need.
Be sure to check out the Paper Plus website to see what they have to offer. The people at Paper Plus are friendly and guaranteed to get you what you need!

printastic

When I think about printing, I feel a slight sense of dread. Swiping my card, praying I have enough money left on it and that it prints correctly the first time. But in the real world beyond the FAC’s testy Ricoh printer there are other methods of printing that are totally rad and have come a long way since Gutenberg first fired up his press.
The Production Manual listed four types of printing utilised by the commercial printing industry. These four types were silk screen, offset lithography, gravure, and letterpress.
Offset lithography uses a printing plate to put the image to the paper. The plate goes through an ink roller and areas that aren’t image repel the ink. Lithography can print at high speed and are apparently easy to prepare, which makes lithography a desirable, low-cost method.
One of the problems with offset lithography can be registration errors, colour variation, and ink transfer.
The only one of the four that I hadn’t heard of was gravure, but I’m familiar with the term silk screen, just because of my interest in t-shirts.
According to wikipedia, gravure is a type of intaglio printing and uses a rotary press. (Do remember to take wikipedia information with a grain of salt and do consider checking addition sources!)
Printing has come such a long way since Gutenberg made his press, it’s exciting to think that his work would be a springboard to such a large part of the life of a designer.

stellar presentations

I have never had to present a logo to a client, however, I have taken a public speaking class and I’m guessing the principles are very similar.
For starters, you should probably look nice for your presentation. If that’s not how your meetings usually roll, at least wear a plain tee shirt with no words because that can be a distraction. Also shower or maintain the appearance and smell or being clean and hygienic.
When speaking definitely make eye contact, but try to make the right amount. Too little and you seem shy or uncertain, too much and you are a creeper. Smile and enunciate, mumbling is not going to make a good sell.
Definitely have confidence in yourself and your logo because confidence is contagious.
When you present your logo make it clear that the logo you are presenting is the best option for them. Make sure they understand that you have listened to everything they have told you and that what you have is the way they need to go. Be firm and do not let them try to push you around. You are the designer, they are not. This does not mean that you get to discount their opinion, merely that you do know more about what a logo needs than they do, especially if you really did listen to what they said and did research before you carefully crafted their logo.
Take this information to heart and go forth confidently to present! You can do it!

spectacular logos

Logos are not something I thought much about until reading The Brand Gap and beginning this project.
Of course, I see logos everyday. Everyone does. There are such a big part of life now.
What makes a successful logo is something well designed and memorable. Also, I wouldd say depending on what that logo is selling, it is successful if you want that logo on you. I would say this is the case for clothing companies, shoe companies, and clothing designers. (Of course, the branding also has a lot to do with getting you to want to be in that logo.)
Part of being well designed is functioning with and without colour.
These are some of the most practical rules on logo designing from Just Creative Design.
1. A logo must be describable
2. A logo must be memorable
3. A logo must be effective without colour
4. A logo must be scalable i.e. effective when just an inch in size

If logos follow all of these rules they are very likely to be successful in their execution. Some really great resources for logo design can be found on the net at the following sites:
http://www.duoh.com/news/article/logo-design-for-educatorshandbook.com/
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=677444
http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/01/11/design-a-logo-the-ultimate-guide/
http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/logo_design/stepbystep_logo.html
http://www.logodesign.com/
http://logopond.com/
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/
http://www.misipile.com/
http://fontfeed.com/archives/the-logos-of-web-20/
http://www.rajasandhu.com/
http://www.davidairey.com/category/logos/

colour conceptual

Leslie assigned all of us word pairs for our next process & materials adventure. Of course, she also assigned us my greatest weakness: work that is conceptually strong and unique… and not obvious. I have problems with conceptual work. My mind can never connect to a concept that makes sense to anyone else. Most work the concept might take a while to understand, but the way my mind works, it could take years to decipher.
My creativity definitely hits a wall in this aspect, but I remain optimistic that I can work something out to complete the project. My word pair was wet/dry.
I started out by trying to think of the most obvious interpretations so I could move on to something that could perhaps be better. I made some word lists in attempt to sort it all out and I just recently took my photographs. I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out.
Also looking forward to testing my hand skills in cutting out and mounting the print outs.