Typography – Page 2 – Professor Victoria Martin

November 1, 2018November 1, 2018

Feature Student: Rachelle

I would like to share the work of another talented student: Rachelle. Today we had our critique in Photoshop 1. The students had to create a character and side kick/ villian, etc. After they completed the artwork the students had to create a book jacket (which has to be printed and fit onto an actual book). The students measure a book they own and set up their document to fit that individual book. During crit student pass their books around the room so their classmates can appreciate the craftsmanship.

Next: the book has just gotten a movie deal. So they have to create a movie poster. And of course we know all movies advertise and have big splashy marketing campaigns. So the students also had to create no less than 2 swag pieces and a website mock up.

Rachelle painted her own face with body paint, photographed herself and then edited those photos in Photoshop.

As designers we often have to reshuffle artwork for different applications and media. Well done Rachelle.

October 20, 2018October 20, 2018

Concert Event Postcard

As I have mentioned before, I truly believe in helping others. Every fall the music dept at Palm Beach State has a fall concert with a special guest star. This semester our featured performer is John Fedchock, trombonist.

The image above was created by Thelma. Great use of type and geometry behind the performer. The use of fall colors and typeface feels classical and speaks of jazz clubs in NYC. Below is a card designed by Roshina. I really like the hierarchy of her type, use of color and how that triangle shape with his name follows his eye line.

The piece above was created by Kacy, I really like how she used abstracted lines to lead the eye. The colors are unexpected. And I really enjoy how the word concert melds into the green background. The piece below was created by Samien, he took a photograph that wasn’t the best and gave it a duotone effect. Nice use of color and balance. Actually these last two pieces were chosen by the music dept. for the final designs. These designs will be sent out to thousands via email and printed pieces. A great feather in the cap fo your resume. Well done Kacy and Samien, and the rest of the crew.

October 6, 2018October 20, 2018

Beautiful Web Design

A lot of people get sort of weird when they ponder web design. And I totally get it. Tell me to set up an ad to 3.75 x 9.78, CMYK, Indesign, packaged, pdf upload; I get it. But build a website to view on every device on the market… GULP.

But it’s not as scary as you may think. Websites are just a series of designed pages, ( just like ads) but they are hosted on a server and are connected via hyperlinks. Not so confusing. Responsive design is based on breakpoints in your browser. Meaning, as you scale down the width of your webpage in a browser, watch the content re-flow down the page.

The images above were created by Kimmie, a super talented student who recently graduated and is working as a professional graphic designer. Her website features audio, video, and links to sound cloud. When she registered for my web design class she had never designed for web. (like most of my students). But she did such great work she started free-lancing straight away. Below is a mock up created by Clay (another really talented recent grad) who is now studying at Ringling School of Art. His mock up demonstrates how websites should change across devices. He had recently visiting United Airlines website and struggled to complete basic tasks, so he created a website that was “more user friendly”.

The website sample below was created by Kevin who is now studying down at FIU in Miami. His websites were constructed with mobile first in mind. All of these websites demonstrate rules of design and typography don’t have to (and shouldn’t) go out the window when designing for the web.

When in doubt building your website: keep it simple.

With mobile design it’s really important to remember: less is more.

September 30, 2018September 30, 2018

Beam Me Up: Close Encounter Movie Poster

Do you like Star Trek? Do you know what a Tractor Beam and a Captain’s Log are? Me too.

With this project the students had to digitally paint a character and then turn it into a movie poster.

These pieces are from my Photoshop 1 class. The students have to use at least 5 images and seamlessly join. The piece was created by Steven. The light effects are simply electric.

The image above was created by Desiree. I like the glow she applied to the text so it feels like toxic neon. And yes, the students had to have some sort of light effect in their composition.

This image was created by Zachary. Seriously, if you saw this poster on Netflix, you’d watch wouldn’t you? (Actually, I would watch all of these based on the poster design)

That slight blur on the type, subtle and quite lovely. As I have said… I am really lucky to be surrounded by so many talented people.