You can't miss: Colour Lovers and Sports Illustrated

Color Trends: So looking back on past entries from colourlovers' blog, I found this post about the color scheme of Marie Antoinette. I started looking around the actual colorlovers site, and found that they had the color themes and schemes for many different categories of wonderful things. Like websites. I picked a few that I actually use or visit. (Icluding YouTube and facebook below)



I thought the idea was really interesting. It is similar to when I hunt down a font that is the exact font an ad or movie poster or magazine uses. This is much easier though because it basically gives you the call numbers for the colors you may want to match.

Sports Illustrated:
I was actually in another class when my teacher presented this video to us. (It's about 3 minutes, and you don't have to watch the entire thing.)
It made me think about all the discussions I have had in classes about interactive media. Even for this class we will be designing some things for the web. It's all very fascinating. The possibilities are almost endless. (Literally. Today we watched another video about the future of interactive technology. Only I am lying because this isn't the real video we watched in class; it is just the one I could find.) I think designing for these new mediums is exciting, but I know it will be challenging for me. Things look a lot different online - they should (and they kind of have to). But SI clearly did a lot of thinking about what interests their readers and how they will want to interact with their media. For our projects (and for Vox), I think those are two important things we will have to keep in mind.

Response: Meredith Corp.

My plan when the panel from Meredith Corp. visited our class was to take copious notes. This plan was a success for all of 10 minutes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the panel's discussion about their thought process behind their designs. The story about the wedding cake spread was really interesting. I think the back-and-forth debates is something that I expect from the system, but I didn't think about things like staging photos. (Probably because I have never been in photo before.)

The comments made about the type of furniture and space setting a sort of tone for the cakes themselves and telling the readers that this story is "cool" was really interesting. Once I started thinking about it, it made total sense. If the exact same cakes had been placed on a darker wood table with a traditional tablecloth and in a wallpapered room, etc, the feel of the photo itself becomes more traditional - appealing to an older audience.

The panelists were asked several times about redesigning for a younger audience. It seems like this redesign is a preoccupation of a lot of Meredith Corp's publications and online spaces. I find the changes they are making to be interesting. As part of this target demographic, I don't know if redesigning is going to be enough. Rebranding I think is equally important, and I think it can be done without abandoning their current readers. BH&G is seen as an older woman's magazine - something mom's read. To reach a younger audience, I think potential readers need to believe (or see) that there is plenty in the magazine for them as well.

Critique: Parents & Pageants

Cover: I chose a cut out that I had made for my cover. Toddlers & Tiaras really inspired my typography choices and, of course, the title I picked for the headline. (I also love ampersands, so it was fun for me.)


Opening Spread: I wanted my opening spread to be styled like my cover. I chose my favorite photo as the leading visual because it demonstrated the father-daughter relationship I was focusing on for this feature. It also worked well with my cover as both photos are dark. The reverse type was a little much. A less intense display of the copy on this page may have been easier on the eyes.


Second spread: Two things I struggled with while designing were
1) the copy and
2) the photos.
That seems a bit much since most spreads are mainly made of those two components. Wanting to keep the columns of text the same width, limited what I could do with the text and where I could really place it. I had originally thought I was going to have a full column on the side of one of the pages, but I realized the length of the story really didn't call for that. I also didn't know what exactly to do to display the photos in a way that pushed the design. I knew which photos I wanted to use, but I didn't think the story (or the photos) called for an unusual or exciting arrangement.

Last page: I wanted to the end the photo order with what I believed was the natural end to the day - the awards. I chose to play the photo of Ellie larger because that is what I believe that the story was leading to. Ronnie really wanted his daughter to be self-sufficient when she grew up - to be able to stand on her own. The previous spread showed his involvement and devotion to her growth and eventual independence.




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What's next:
The spring preview assignment due date is Friday afternoon. To be quite honest, I have a lot to do before then.
I don't have anything to show for this assignment right now, but I have been brainstorming some un-spring ideas. That is to say, I think we have all heard several times to avoid flowers and rain boots and whatnots. I've thought of literal springs - you know, the mattress type. I've thought of binoculars, monacals, and stationary viewers. I've thought of 3-D letters for "spring preview" covered in a sheet - like something spectacular about to be revealed, even though you can tell what it is. My final decision will really depend on the ease of creating or finding these images.
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Salutations

To kick off the introductions on this page, I will start with myself. Seeing as how I am short on time and other people to introduce, I may not get around to anyone else.

My name is Erica and I am creating this blog. If I start listing the reason... oh wait, there is only one. Moving on: This blog will showcase entries I have written because that's how blogs work...

Most of the things one would typically say to introduce oneself, you know (or can easily deduce). I am a senior journalism major in my magazine capstone at the University of Missouri... You probably did not know I am horrible at imitating accents and my goal for the semester is to contribute to the virality of a YouTube video.

Truthfully, there is very little about myself that I feel is blog-worthy, so I am afraid my personal story ends there. Thankfully, we are focusing on design.