Critique

Hi friends. It seems like I got loads done over break but there's still so much to be done.

I finished up the self-guided tour brochure for FATE. That was challenging because there is a lot of text and information that needs to fit into a very formatted area.

The Renovate Style designers pulled together and produced several departments and one feature to present on Wednesday for early critiques. We still need to edit a bit, but I think the style of the magazine is really coming through. It's fun being able to work together on this--we can all help out and collaborate. I think things will get more exciting as the deadline draws near. We'll be able to see more and more of the body of the magazine and be confident in how it all fits together. I'd really like to start setting up the contents with blurbs and all that, so I'll be bugging the publishers for words to start setting.


(Opening Feature spread a la the lovely Abbey Trescott)


(My department design)


(Our amazing color palette!)

I spent some time revamping my cover that was chosen for the April 2 issue of Vox. Overall I'm happy with how things went. I'm still very attached the initial idea and covers, but you've got to work around the obstacles. Experimenting with photography was challenging, but I got a lot of inspiration from book cover design as well as the work of Chris Ashworth, who I've mentioned here before. I'll add images when I have a moment!

Lets see, what else. After some seriously grueling hours (1 am on Saturday nights), Epic is finally finished. I have to say, I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I am so happy to have had this project--one I've been planning for the past year. Even when things didn't go as planned, I couldn't even get annoyed. I just thought about how rare it is for someone to be given complete creative control, and how lucky I am to work with the editors of Epic. Many times throughout the process I thought, wow, I may never get to do something like this again--completely the way I want but for a group of people. Does that make sense? Anyway, it was an amazing experience. I learned a lot, and I wish I could do it every year! Make sure to come to the release party later in April. I'll have copies for anyone who wants one! Ooh, and I'm not sure I can show it to you yet, but I'll do it anyway. Here are a few of the features in the magazine (opening spreads and splash pages). The photography section and cover is in color, which isn't shown.





Oh! And Tom's in town too! Yay. He's been art directing for friends back in Dublin who are getting ready to launch a free city magazine. It's been interesting to watch his process and see how he works with the editors. I won't get into it very much, but it's all strikingly similar to my experience with Renovate Style--the good and the bad. Maybe if he lets me, I'll put up some of his work on the magazine.

In the next week I will take some time off from the Design Center and focus on putting Renovate Style together as well as that darn mini portfolio I've got to get squared away. And there's that editing exam as well.