Ad I Really, Really Like--A Lot!

I was first drawn to this ad because of the beautiful design. When I looked at it more closely, I realized that I couldn't read it. I thought that it wasn't much good as an ad if the viewer couldn't figure out what it was communicating. Then I read about the ad and realized how very creative it is.

This is a help-wanted ad. It's far from the typical (and boring) help-wanteds that you usually see. This agency was looking for an expert typographer. This ad uses a contemporary color palette and a graphic style that references the Bauhaus school. The text is set in all dingbats. They did a series of these ads using Webdings, Wingdings and Zapf Dingbats. Only a real typography geek would be able to read the ads, which include all the info a person would need to apply for the job. This company is obsessed (their word) with typography. They wanted to hire a typographer who is, too. So this ad communitcates perfectly well to the target audience. I think it is top drawer (to coin a phrase from the Bauhaus era).

Another Ad I Really Like

What's the old saying about how the hat makes the man? These two men couldn't be more different. I don't know what kind of company is identified in the upper right corner, but if they sell hats, then how clever is that? I think this is a smart ad. It's clean, very simple, but communicates so much.

Ad I Like

Most of the ads that caught my eye stood out from the rest because they were so clean. They communicated a point, but did not contain superfluous information. This ad is simple and direct. It directs the viewer to choose between two options. There is no grey between the black and white here.

Student Art Show ad copy

Actually, this ad is not quite finished. I want to add original art in the large space at the bottom. In real life I would choose the work of a student. I'm not sure how to incorporate, say a drawing, into the piece. When I did this kind of work in the olden days, I would make a photostat copy of the original art and paste it on with sticky wax. In the case of a photo, I would tape the exact size red transparency film onto the paste-up, mark the registration, and give the photo to the printer with my camera-ready copy. Something tells me that it isn't done that way nowadays. Anyway, I still need to add the drawing. Also, I chose a font that had a magical feel, "Herculanum." It doesn't have lower case letters, but the style fit the sort of magical spring, Walpurgis feel I wanted.

Another thing--I learned from working in public schools that if you really want people to turn out for an event, you have to offer free food. Door prizes make it even better.

School Logo

 This text is making me crazy. It's all perfectly aligned when I type it, but it spreads out when I post it. This is my last try. I had to abandon the eagle I was working with. I got to the place where the more I worked with it, the more I disliked what I was doing. So I decided to redesign my high school logo. Harrisonburg High is the home of the Blue Streaks. The school colors are blue and white. The old logo has the v-shaped lightening bolts. I wanted the blue streak in my design to make the horizontal on the h's. I would like to play around more with this same idea, but using different fonts, different streaks, too.

Lena

I worked with a photo of Amy during class, but I somehow lost it in the great expanse of the computer universe. That happens sometimes. So I reworked this photo I took of Lena. I cropped it, zombied her up a little and added a ghostly figure in the window.

I thought that learning about how to use 3D text might be helpful.
There were some small areas that I just could not get color into, even when I ungrouped the text more. I don't find that the tools work exactly the way they are presented in tutorials. Could just be me, though.

Magic of Machu Picchu

Playing with Illustrator

This wasn't hard, but I never could get the blend tool to work.
Ah, well, tomorrow's another day!

The Magic of Machu Picchu

It's really hard to magic-up Macchu Picchu. It is naturally magically beautiful. So that part proved to be a challenge. In the first picture I played with colors in areas that I selected by color. It was interesting, but the original photo seemed more truly mystical. So I decided to give myself magical modes of travel in Machu Picchu. I thought arriving in a Glinda, witch of the North, bubble ball would be fun. I put a shiny reflection on the bubble, but somehow saved the one I made before adding that. Oh well. The moth wing came from a photo of a moth taken in the botanical gardens below M.P. The last picture was taken in the Temple of the Moon at the base of Huanapicchu, the tall mountain behind downtown. I painted myself to look like a storybook princess there, because I felt like one (even if I was probably sitting on an alter where human sacrifices were performed). The guides there will tell you that the Inca only sacrificed llamas, but I don't think that's exactly the whole truth.

To save layers, I had to save my work as an xcf file in the GIMP program. I did that, but for some reason they did not save properly. I was unable to separate the layers. The changes I made are pretty subtle. I toned down Lena, so she does not come forward from the background quite so much. I also toned down the leaves around Tristan and added some shadows. I think it helped a little.