Design a Magazine Spread

In a Nutshell

When designing the magazine spread, you have many elements to organise. We will be working on display type, text type, captions, folios, and visuals (halftones, line art, and full-colour art). You usually need to establish an underlying structure that can provide help in maintaining clarity, legibility, balance and unity.

1) Understanding of page design, layout, grid and textformatting etc.
2) Apply graphic and imported images into InDesign.
3) Achieving effective colour schemes and transparency.
4) Apply appropriate tools in InDesign to design and interesting and effective magazine spread.

Requirements

Using Adobe InDesign as a design and production tool to produce the full colour page layout. Select any title you want and design a double-spread layout that link with the personality of your selected magazine.

1) Article headline design (display type)
2) Edit text and imagnes
3) Include following elements: page number, running head, drop caps
4) Design dimensions of spread should be same as those of the magazine you choose
5) Establish emphasis, balance and rhythm

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Diamonds

Article from: National Geographic
Presentation: Full colour, print on art card, mount on compressed foam

Click here for large version

Other Info

Took about 3 days to finish the whole spread.

Blood splatters pathed out using Macromedia Freehand.

Spread shows 2 sides of the diamond industry:
bling bling and bling bang; supposedly “glam” diamonds and conflict diamonds.

Do you see the power of good advertising? Look at the tragedy De Beers has created.

Diamonds are forever = bloodsheds are forever. People, please insist on non-conflict diamonds, or just don’t buy them at all. They are just made of carbon!!!

p/s Critiques are welcome in the comment box!

Logo Design: Trigger

In a Nutshell

This is a Typography module, so basically we are required to design a Logo Text, rather than a very graphical one incorporated with lots of images. Lines, dots, textures and simple shapes are allowed.

We had 4 names to choose from to design a logo:

1) Gravity (Sports Shop)
2) Attacker (LAN Shop)
3) Trigger (Cafe)
4) Street (Fashion shop)

I chose Trigger, the cafe.

After we have design a logo, we have to overlay the signboard onto a suitable space (ie. if you’re doing Street, take a photo of a fashion shop and place the signboard on the shop front or anywhere within the shop itself).

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Logo Type

Font used: Alba
Done with: Macromedia Freehand
Presentation: Print on A3 Art Card

Signage

Other Info

I wanted to portray Trigger as a bubbly cheery cafe, where friends can hang out in big groups and have fun and be trigger happy.

Orange was used to give a refreshing feeling and lines give it a glossy 3D rounded effect. Wanted to create some perspective to make it more interesting, so I added the 2 grey shadows at the bottom of the 2 ‘g’s, and a converging shape behind the word Trigger.

Don’t know if you noticed, but the grey shape at the back is supposed to look like a long bench/sofa, and the alphabets are the “human beings” sitting along the length of it. Hahaha. Yea, and the play with the dot on the ‘i’, where the wavy lines represent smoke from a steaming hot cup of coffee.

I felt I did pretty average on this. Saw a few good ones, and they were really GRAPHICAL. Super a lot of images! I don’t know if the guidelines given by my lecturer is indeed true (to strictly stick to logo TYPE) … but he sure made our logos look really simple (which I hope is a good thing).

Oh well, we’ll just wait for the results.

p/s Critiques are welcome in the comment box!

Magazine Cover Illustration

In a Nutshell

Design a magazine cover, with a face profile of a human being. It can be any genre of magazine – fashion, music, street culture etc.

Layout, colours and typography must suit the genre of the magazine you are working on.

Bella Magazine Cover

Genre of Magazine: Female fashion
Presentation: Print on A3 Art Card

Other Info

Everything done using Macromedia Freehand.

Took about 3 weeks to finish this illustration. Tried my best to be as detailed as possible.

For more info, read this post.

This is another art work which got taken away by my lecturer. =_=

Visual Semantics

In a Nutshell

Simple exercise using Macromedia Freehand. We were to choose a word which can be elaborately expressed with visual elements. Choose a suitable font for your word and incorporate graphics.

After which, make use of the visual elements to design a Trexi, front and back view.

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Font Manipulation

Word chosen: GEARED
Presentation: Print on A5 paper, laminate

Trexi

Presentation: Print on A5 paper, laminate

Other Info

We were given 2 weeks to complete this whole exercise. Quite a feat for someone who has just learnt Macromedia Freehand for a week or so, but I managed. Am quite pleased with how they turned out.

But sadly, this GEARED concept was shamelessly “adapted” by a Thai classmate. To put it crudely, he copied my concept. Of course he had to use another word, which is MACHINE. Urgh!

I’m so sure that he copied because initially he was using another word, but he came by my table and saw my sketches of the word GEARED. He went back to his table, and WALA! Next week I saw some similar designs on his computer! What an asshole.

Anyway, this is another of my art work which got taken away by my teacher. =_= He said it’s for display purposes.

I hope there won’t be anymore copying incidents.

Curriculum Vitae

In A Nutshell

Simple exercise for dealing with a spread layout (meaning 2 A4 pages) on Adobe InDesign. We were to design a aesthetically pleasing Curriculum Vitae. Paragraphing and layout of words have to flow with the graphics or pictures included. CV should reflect your personal style as a graphic, publication, packaging designer/animator/illustrator.

Front and back cover is optional.

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Front Cover

Large version

Spread

Large version

Back Cover

Large Version

Other Info

Graphics pathed out using Macromedia Freehand.

Currently am schooling at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (not included in CV).

Am looking for a job now, so if you feel that I am a suitable candidate for a job, please email me for the full resume. Thank you!

Design an Analog Clock: Little Miss Geisha

In a Nutshell

Design an analog clock face overlaid with an analogy to a proposed profession or vocation (eg. mathematician, magician, doctor etc.).

The design should not necessary tell time but express strong contents related to your chosen profession.

Construct a working clock, 10-inch in diameter, using a standard mechanism. Use collage, mix-media etc that is appropriate to your subject.

Name your clock. Make sure the name is reflected in your clock design.

Finally, mount your clock design on a base that works structurally and visually with your design.

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Study Clock

Design a minimalistic, 10-inch diameter study clock using basic elementary shapes (circle, squares, lines, triangles etc.) Consider hierarchical clarity of the clock: the relative shape, size and position of the hands and dial markings.

Presentation: Black & White in any media, mounted on compressed foam.
Materials used: Layout paper, black Copic marker, Pilot drawing pens

Analog clock: Little Miss Geisha

Chosen profession: Geisha
Shape: Oval
Materials used: Opaque black acrylic, clock mechanism from Sagacity
Design: Done with Macromedia Freehand, printed on Art Card

Other Info

This is one of the most pain in the ass project, because I had to go to the workshop! ROARRRRRR!!! But no choice… I lugged my ass there and finished everything in one afternoon! Haha!

Acrylic cut and sanded to shape in the workshop.

Clock stand cut and bent when acrylic becomes soft after heating with hot metal rod.

Drilling of hole for clock mechanism done by my Dad.

p/s All critiques are welcome in the comment box!

Dingbats: Humpty Dumpty!

In a Nutshell

We were given a set of dingbats (typographical ornaments or symbols) and 4 nursary rhymes to choose from:

1) Humpty Dumpty
2) Jack & Jill
3) Hickory Dickory Dock
4) Baa Baa Black Sheep

Select one nursary rhyme and using the given set of dingbats, create a 6-frame storyboard to illustrate your chosen nursary rhyme.

Choose any dingbats which will best represent your storyboard. Dingbats can be enlarged, shrunk, cropped, overlapped and duplicated as many times as you want.

Try it yourself!

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Here’s my take on Humpty Dumpty – slightly violent, but erm, whatever.

Size: 12 cm x 12 cm per frame
Presentation: Black & White; one-spot colour, mount.

*Dingbats were scanned in and put together with Adobe Photoshop CS2 (although we were supposed to do collage work and manually enlarge/shrink images with photocopy machine – which I think is nuts!).

This is the one exercise which I enjoyed most in Design Process. So fun!

p/s All critiques welcome in the comment box!

Ad Relayout: Kia Motors

In a Nutshell

This task is called Ad Relayout. Basically we were told to select 3 ads from print media and bring it to class. Classmates will then pick one out of the 3 for each of us to work on, after a psuedo “meeting with Art Director” scenario, complete with debates and comments on why they chose the particular ad out of the 3. We could choose to reject their option.

We had to think of a brand new layout for the selected ad, or if we want to venture furthur, think of a brand new concept to present the ad without straying from the original objective.

My classmates chose for me a Kia Motors ad, which also doubled up as a announcement for being the Major Sponsor of the Australian Open 2007. Original ad features Nadal as Kia brand ambassador.

Below are my respective art works for teaser, quarter page and junior page:

Teaser

Size: 11 cm x 14 cm
Presentation: Black & white; one-spot colour

Quarter Page Ad

Size: 21 cm x 28 cm
Presentation: Black & White; one-spot colour

Click here for large version

Junior Page Ad

Size: A3
Presentation: Full colour

Click here for large version

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Other info
I was desperately looking for a tennis racquet & a model for a photoshoot to realise my concepts, and fortunately for me, I had lady luck by my side. Managed to find a racquet TOGETHER with a model. Woohoo. The model did a great job btw, and that’s quite an understatement. Thank you Adrian !

Photos shot with: Fuji Finepix F-20 (6.0 megapixels)
Model: Adrian Lin
Venue: Multi-story Carpark :O
Car images from: www.kia.com

Everything put together with Adobe Photoshop CS2, brain juices, skipped breaks/lunches, flattened buttcheeks & sleepless nights.

Above concepts and finishes are all done by myself, so please have the courtesy NOT to plagiarise.

Thank you very much.

p/s All critiques are welcome in the comment box!

Tingle Away

Welcome to my humble little art journal. Decided to get a space for it because

1) My physical portfolio is pretty empty what with all the lecturers keeping my stuff (for display purposes? O_o), so might as well build one here since I have the soft copies

2) My friends have been asking to look at my art pieces

3) I just want to get a bit more organised and perhaps record the changes or growth of my style (if it ever existed)

Everything is still pretty raw here. Banner and categories not up yet… but nevermind. Take it easy…

I thought of the name Tingling Pixels because… I’m bo liao. Hahaha. No lah, because my name is Yuting so I might as well make use of the ting since so many people call me by ting ting ting ting ting ah TING! So yes, this is called IDENTITY. Checked.

As for the pixels… everything you view here is formed by pixels on your monitor. SO! There you go. Simple.

Will upload my art works from time to time. Will start with my pieces from the Foundation Year which I just “graduated” from. Hahaha. Foundations are such a pain in the ass I tell you, but I had fun learning all the new stuff and playing with softwares which I never thought I would touch.

So yes, check back once in a while if you wanna get tingled.

p/s Everything here is done by me alone unless specified.