Comm Design

Once called the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ by Thomas Edison, Linotype typecasting machines revolutionised publishing when they were invented in 1886, and remained the industry standard for nearly a century after. The first commercially successful mechanical typesetter, the Linotype significantly sped up the printing process, allowing for larger and more local daily newspapers. In Farewell, etaoin shrdlu (the latter portion of the title taken from the nonsense words created by running your fingers down the letters of the machine’s first two rows), the former New York Times proofreader David Loeb Weiss bids a loving farewell to the Linotype by chronicling its final day of use at the Times on 1 July 1978. An evenhanded treatment of the unremitting march of technological progress, Weiss’s film about an outmoded craft is stylistically vintage yet also immediate in its investigation of modernity.

Source: The last day of hot metal press before computers come in at The New York Times | Aeon Videos

Part 1

Design your magazine prototype’s cover.

Your cover should be 8 x 10.5 or other standard size (no white margins).  Your cover should include:

• an updated, final version of your logo
• folio information (date, price, volume # and website)
• a dominant element (image or text)
• an appropriate number of story teasers (make sure they are the appropriate length and content)

Your cover will be evaluated on design and typography principles.

Part 2

Submit three or four typefaces you will use for your publication. Research the typefaces and tell me how you plan to use them.

Fonts in Use maybe helpful and choosing and mixing your typefaces.

Due at midnight on Sunday, Oct. 17.

During this week, find inspiration in various magazines (or elsewhere) for your design. Take pictures with your phone; scan with your computer. However you do it, show me your inspiration. Also this week, begin to design your magazine’s logo and develop a color palette. Designing the logo in Illustrator will help you get acquainted with its capabilities.

Create a PDF that includes the following two parts and submit it on Canvas.

Part I: Logo proposals

On a single page, produce the following.

• Three different potential logos
• A paragraph with each logo that includes:
  • The name of the typeface
  • Its basic history / where it came from / why it was created / who designed it
  • What do you like about it (why does it fit the look/feel of your publication)

Part II: Color Palette proposal

On a separate page, submit a proposed color palette you plan to use with your publication, with hex and Pantone information.

Part III: Inspiration

Display at least five examples from magazines or other locations of type, images, colors or other elements.

Due Friday, Oct. 7, at midnight. 

Example: Allison Brown proposal and inspiration
Example: Rachel Mallary proposal and inspiration
Example: Nashville Business Journal Color Palette

A Quick Guide to Type Anatomy

You are a designer assigned to develop a poster/flier for a festival on the ACU campus. The festival can be relate to music, movie or any other kind of subject matter (ACU-appropriate)

More »

Write a 3-page essay creating a plan for your publication. It should be double-spaced 12-point Times New Roman or Cambria. (Cite sources where appropriate.)

The outline should be as follows:

I. Function/Form – What connotations are you going for? Give me a list of words that embody your publication. What is the purpose of the publication? What are your goals? How do those things affect your form — frequency, design choices, etc. What design elements or decisions will you make to further the mission of the publication? Be general, not too specific here. Don’t give me typefaces and grid structure.

II. Audience – Who will be reading you publication? How many potential audience members do you have? What makes them tick?

1. Demographic Description. How many people in your geographic coverage area would be interested in reading your publication. How educated are they? Where do they live?
2. Psychographic Description. What makes them tick? What are their values? How do they consume your publication? Do they subscribe or buy off the rack?

III. Competition – Who’s your competition? How will you be different?

IV Advertising – What are your potential advertisers?

Due Friday at midnight.

Your assignment, due Friday, Sep. 9, at midnight, is to create a book cover for a popularly known book. Use Photoshop and InDesign.

The book cover’s dimensions should be 6″ by 9″ with a spine of 1.5″

Margins:

Inside .75in Outside.5in Top .5in Bottom.5in

Save a pdf of your book cover turn in on Canvas.

Cover must have the following elements

• title
• dominant art
• author
• logo of publisher
• description

It may also have:

• about the author
• review quotes

You aren’t required to use stock photos, but here are a few stock photography websites I find helpful:

• stocksnap.io
• flickr.com
• veer.com (some of these are paid, but for educational purposes only, you can use them)
• OR any of the sites mentioned in this article

Your work will be evaluated based on your application of design principles. The connotation and feel of the cover should match the message of the book.

Some examples (some stronger than others):

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Objective: Display your knowledge and competence using inDesign by creating an 8.5″ X 11″ sheet about yourself to share with the class.

To ensure you understand how to find and use typefaces that are not pre-installed, a minimum of one typeface must be downloaded from a website and used. (Try out dafont.com or losttype.com.)

Due midnight on Thursday, Sept. 1. 

Upload the assignment to the Canvas and email to your TA, Manny (iaj12a@acu.edu) or Madelyn (mcw12b@acu.edu). Late assignments will receive grade deductions.

When you email your assignment, make sure to include which two typefaces you used and where it was downloaded from.

Requirements:

1. Find at least 3 examples to inspire your design and email them to your TA.
2. Create in InDesign
3. Be standard size (8.5″ X 11″)
4. Include a minimum of three pictures
5. Use two different typefaces (at least one must be downloaded)
6. Include a background
7. Export assignment as a .pdf
8. Submit .pdf to Canvas and email it to your TA before midnight on Thursday, Sep. 1.

Reminder:  Files do not stay saved on these computers, so you must save your progress and fonts. It is advisable to email them to yourself so you can ensure that you have access to them.

Source: Inside the Consumer Reports Redesign

Here is a good discussion of terms related to color usage. I’d encourage you to read this.