You Can't Miss: I make my case and D.Ro's graduation announcements

(Again, once I get to the lab, I will update this with photos.)

1. Colourlovers. This place has some neat entries and apparently they are expanding which I am sure is very exciting for them - mostly because I read that it was. For this post, I wanted to highlight the entry about imakemycase.com.

For those of you who have iPhones or blackberries, you'll want to check this out! This site allows users to create personal designs for their phone cases. Some of them look really amazing; I might spend some time decorating my own while dreaming of the day I get a new

phone.

2. Danielle Rodabaugh is ah-mazing. How she manages to crank out her designs for class and stay on top of her personal life, I have no idea. I had wanted to design graduation announcements and gave up due to my lack of time for anything (seriously, I would go into detail, but I think most of you are in the same boat). She, however, designed some fantastic postcards that she then let me steal and manipulate for my own personal use. I of course, gave her a shout out on my card. Check the before and after below.

Response: The last semester

This past semester has been incredible. I say that with every connotation of the word because I don't mean it to sound purely positive. There has been so much going on, and I have wanted to cry sometimes (usually in the design lab when I have whatever our version of writer's block is or when I go home at 3 a.m. and cannot fall asleep even though I have work in six hours). I have, however, really enjoyed getting to know our class. It is a shame that it took four years for many of us to get to know one another, but I am glad we eventually did.

I have been so inspired by the things our class has created. The competitions, while sometimes a nuisance, amazed me each time as we all created something different. I have learned a lot from many of you who have greater knowledge and experience than I do when it comes to design, technology and the like; and I appreciate your patience as I have asked so many questions throughout the semester.

I am leaving with a lot more than I had anticipated. (Firstly, let's not go there quite yet. I have a lot to do before next week.) These mini-portfolios might be my demise if I have to scramble to finish them, but I never imagined I would have enough to fill 40 pages. I have very little experience and less clips than many of you, but I will be happy to present my full booklet next week. Some of these pages make me feel very nostalgic for those late nights (well, early mornings...) in the design lab. Someone will have to commit to Skype-ing me at 1 a.m. for the first few weeks after graduation until I get a normal sleep pattern back.

Thanks for a great semester and for all of the things you have taught me! You are all super.

Critique: Murder Covers

So, last week I created three murder covers. I wanted to focus on the things that came to my mind (and the minds of those I polled) when I thought about murder. I can't say that any were particularly imaginative because we all came up with similar ideas.

The ideas I executed included scene-of-the-crime themed elements such as evidence cards, a chalk outline and the morgue. (I may watch too much NCIS.) The feedback I was given was to combine several of my ideas, such as the words "murder," "mystery" and "mayhem" and the chalk outline that was so clearly inspired by "Anatomy of a Murder."

This is where I will post this combination. (As I am in the library and unable to connect to the server.)

You Can't Miss: Earthday recyclable crafts and

Colourlovers goes green with this crafty Earth Day post. In the highlighted book ReMake It, shirts are made into cute buttons and a purse (you know, you could even put the buttons on the purse. Check out the post for specific instructions.

I like looking at the examples and diagrams of each step. For Infographics, we had to illustrate "how to tie a bow tie." It was pretty difficult. So I admire the clear steps given.

This helpful graph is from GraphJam – a site I love. It has some really fantastic informational graphics that I can so easily relate to. I love it. Check out the site for more hilarious pie charts and more.

Response: Personal branding

So, I struggled a bit with this branding idea. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, and I didn't have any past examples of this type of work. So, I started from scratch and chose some colors and patterns as well as a font that I liked. I created my mini portfolio cover and a wireframe in Illustrator ... I will eventually transfer this to Dreamweaver (but I have yet to conquer that program, so I need to figure that out).

I plan on using these colors and design elements throughout my mini portfolio. I am thinking I will need to find another font to pair with this cursive one. I will use the cursive one for titles and the other font for any description I add to the portfolio.

Mini portfolio cover:

Portfolio wireframe:

Critique: Modern Midwest website wireframe

Ok, so I spent a lot of time working on this wireframe (as did Joe). Literally, hours of my life were dedicated to carefully constructing this –

Modern Midwest's home page (in theory):

And this (Nightlife page):

Truthfully, it was a lot of work. I spent a lot of time bringing in the elements that Michelle had created for us to use in print and working them for the page. Mainly our fonts and color palette was brought in. I also layered two bars from our magazine to create a divider at the top of the page.

Joe created the content on the main bar of the home page – the featured content viewer turned out great. He also created the tabs at the bottom of the page.

I made the template for the pages and put together the side bar content we were given after google-searching for images. I also googled all of the ads I placed.

My favorite part to design was the "subscribe here" ads. I made three versions that I placed throughout the pages.

Maybe someday I will place the "before" version of this site for comparison. Really, the basic frame we were given wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. All the pieces were there. Joe and I just had the task of making it look more visually appealing.

You Can't Miss: RGB Wallpaper and the Evolution of the Hipster

RGB Wallpaper:

I was looking through the archives of the colourlovers' blog and found this post about wallpaper. I don't know where in my life I would be able to hang this, but it would be pretty cool. It's pretty fascinating to see how different images are more prevalent with the different lighting. I would say that the combined effect is by far my favorite. (And regular lighting would be much easier on the eyes.)

The post also talks about wall art made available by the same process of overlapping three layers – one in red, one in green and one in blue (but you knew that). The art is based on playing cards, and there are several prints of the strange combinations created by mixing these colors.

Evolution of the Hipster:

Looking at the monsteractive blog, I found an entry about infographics. Having previously taken that course, my general interest was sparked, and I took a look at the collective list.

I pulled "The Evolution of the Hipster" for you all to look at. It was one of the more fun options and made me laugh. I love the pull outs with the arcs and the typography. It is really wonderful. I also love the staggered poses of the hipsters – it truly becomes an evolutionary set up.

At first this reminded me of the 30/30 story that we just designed, but somehow they manage to make this an infographic and not just a design spread – though I would have found this truly inspiring for that week. Love, love, love. Enjoy.