Take the SVA Train

For decades the School of Visual Arts in New York City has been famous for the unstinting excellence of its promotional efforts. The most visible of these works have been subway posters notable for their blend of memorable copywriting and arresting imagery. The latest example is an eye-catching simulation of the mosaics that are virtually synonymous with the subway and thus with the city itself. The poster is the work of Louise Fili Ltd. Louise Fili not only designed it but also wrote its copy. The complex production of the poster was carried out by John Passafiume and Dana Tanamachi at Louise Fili Ltd. Anthony P. Rhodes was the creative director and Michael J. Walsh the art director.

Read more: Take the SVA Train: Louise Fili's Homage to New York's Subway Signage — Imprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers

Hey guys one last reminder to put ALL your works on your blog tonight - if gen doesn't see it up there, it doesn't exist. You guys have a couple hours left (9 pm) so make sure everythings up there. Including:

• type specimen book
• Psa poster
• package design
• (open last project)

Post it all!! Great working with you all, I'm still Internetless in st Louis so apologies for the late reminder. Email us anytime if you have questions or need guidance or anything like that. And keep designing - hell keep taking courses yeah? Good luck guys. Hope you learned lots. Cheers

IMPORTANT CLASS GRADING!!

Hello Students:

It is that time of year again. Last day of class is upon us.

Here is the breakdown for how the grading for this class will go.

As you all know, Gen and your TAs have been hounding you to post to your blog and the reason why is because we grade from the blog

IF IT IS NOT ON YOUR BLOG IT DOES NOT EXIST

All content must be posted to your blog not later than

Wednesday, 8pm August 11, 2010

If it is not on your blog by that time then you will get an incomplete in the class.

We will be grading at 9pm and then submitting the grades directly to the school afterwards.

Also, please turn off word verification on your blog.

Let me restate... PLEASE TURN OFF WORD VERIFICATION ON YOUR BLOG

Here is a tutorial how to:

Tutorial

If you have any questions please contact your TA or Gen.

-Nicole

FINAL ASSIGNMENT! Part II

so for the final assignment, you guys can do whatever you want - since there were a lot of ideas that you guys listed in the beginning of the summer, go ahead and do three of a particular project. some ideas:

• book covers (three books, front / spine / back, preferably same author so you can establish a theme)
• tshirt design
• cd covers / lp covers (three covers, front / tracklist on back, doesn't have to be the same artist)
• personal identity / business cards

you get the idea. the catch is that for what you do, you need to bring in the final product on wednesday (and again the following wednesday with revisions). so if you're doing book covers, post your designs on your blog and bring in three books with your covers taped on top, etc.

//////

now for the final week, just keep at it. make those book covers look more crisp. work on your typography. make your business cards look like your own. keep at it. you guys will get it done for sure. good luck.

Job Posting

Senior Visual Designer

if interested pls contact: ab@renttherunway.com

Location: New York, NY
Rent the Runway is a Venture-backed ecommerce start-up looking for a talented and web savvy designer to join an innovative, fast-paced team.

Launched November 2009, Rent the Runway is a Netflix for fashion, offering designer fashions delivered to your doorstep for a fraction of the retail price. An exclusive fashion community, Rent the Runway enables women everywhere to have access to 4 day or 8 day rentals starting at just $50 for dresses and $10 for accessories. Rent the Runway partners with more than 100 top designers including Badgley Mischka, Calvin Klein, Kenneth Jay Lane, Herve Léger, Matthew Williamson, Proenza Schouler, and many more.

The Senior Visual Designer will work directly with the design team, as well as marketing team, developers, buyers and stylists, to create compelling design solutions. The ideal candidate will be responsible for brainstorming creative concepts with the team and developing original designs. Part of this role will be contributing to the development of existing digital and email marketing strategies, as well as developing new ones. We’re looking for someone that is hands on, hungry to learn, and passionate about design and fashion. As you grow with Rent the Runway, you will have the opportunity to work on web, print and brand identity.

Requirements:

Minimum 3-5 years of experience in web design. Print experience is a plus

Exceptional portfolio with a web emphasis

Solid understanding of the creative process, usability, typography and layout

Proficient knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Dreamweaver)

Experience with email marketing design

Working knowledge of AJAX, Flash, HTML

Strong conceptual thinking and detail oriented

Excellent communication skills

Team mentality and the ability to wear many hats

Highly organized and able to work efficiently on multiple projects to meet tight deadlines

Friendly, inspirational candidate who is eager to contribute to a culture of innovation and excellence!
If interested, please submit your resume, website or samples of your work to ab@renttherunway.com.

This week's assignment

kids-

sorry i couldn't make it to class last week, here's a reminder of what's due tomorrow:

• package / brand three different items from the same brand. so if you were doing a hardware company, packaging for a set of screws, a set of nuts, and a set of bolts. toiletries company, toilet paper, paper towels, tissues. olive oil, pasta, pasta sauce. peanuts, almonds, pistachios. coffee, tea, chai.
• alternatively, you can go to a thrift store and purchase three items and brand them together. don't spend more than $25. so a single logo to go with all three items and some differences in the packaging.

see you all... later today.

An open letter on the value of Design

Article by Kris Vessleman & Stephen Komives

Like many of our colleagues, we read with concern this week’s announcement of Gannett’s plans for regional hubs to build pages for many of their newspapers. This plan is similar to others that have sought to template publications and centralize parts of the creative and production process, or, in some extreme cases, eliminate design and graphics departments.

We all are looking for ways to eliminate inefficiencies to ensure a future for newspapers. However, as leaders of the Society for News Design, we would like to challenge some assumptions at the core of this (and similar) plans, as well as offer some ideas to consider at this critical time — a time when there is a need for relevancy, re-invention and creative solutions.

Full article here.

The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People

Isolate and create.

“In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for contructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” ~Rollo May

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

Creativity is a nebulous, murky topic that fascinates me endlessly — how does it work? What habits to creative people do that makes them so successful at creativity?

I’ve reflected on my own creative habits, but decided I’d look at the habits that others consider important to their creativity. I picked a handful of creatives, almost at random — there are so many that picking the best would be impossible, so I just picked some that I admire, who came to mind when I thought of the word “creative”.

read the full article here.

Staying Cool with Type

TypeTalk: You ask, we answer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q. How can I stay abreast of the latest and greatest typefaces? Check it out... Q. Do you have any tips for creating visually successful presentations? Check it out...

A Garamond by Any Other Name ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If it’s called Garamond, then it’s Garamond – true? If there were only one version of Garamond, perhaps. But in fact, there is more than one Garamond, just as there are multiple versions of many other designs. Read on...

The End of Movable Type in China ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While Western letterpress printing has made a recent revival, what was once considered one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China is no longer a sustainable practice in its country of origin. Movable type, made influential by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, was one of the greatest technological advances defining typography as we know it today. Invented in China by Bi Sheng 400 years earlier during the Song Dynasty, movable type was created as a system to print lengthy Buddhist scripture. As Chinese characters were mostly square, characters of uniform size and shape were easily interchangeable for printing. Kerning was not an issue; the letterforms had a balanced visual appearance by nature. Read on...

The CRACKED Guide to Fonts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If graphic design was a religion, fonts are its priests – some are brilliant and enhance your understanding of the text and others are, well, best avoided. Read on...

How Google Got Its Colorful Logo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In just a few short years, Google’s logo has become as recognizable as Nike’s swoosh and NBC’s peacock. Ruth Kedar, the graphic designer who developed the now-famous logo, shows the iterations that led to the instantly recognizable primary colors and Catull typeface that define the Google brand. Read on... And don’t forget to check out one particular blogger’s take on it, as well as the comments it inspired here. Read on...

Bring Gourmet Typography to your company, school, or organization ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In today’s competitive market, you need all the edge you can get. Whether you are a student or a professional, having strong typographic skills should be at the top of your list. Bring Gourmet Typography Training right to your company, school or organization! Workshops are customized for groups of any size and designed to fit your specific needs. Sessions are scheduled for your convenience — daytime, evenings or weekends. We will design a program customized for your particular requirements. SUMMER DISCOUNT: $300 off workshops when you mention this enewsletter. SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES: Special pricing, call 203.227.5929 for details. “I want to thank you for the great workshop last Friday. You dusted off and reinforced all of those typographic rules that I have — and have not — lived by in all my years as a graphic designer. Your down-to-earth approach to type made the session breezy and fun, and I couldn’t help but visually re-spacing all the headlines I had the time to linger on during my bumper-to-bumper drive back to home. Thanks again for reigniting my spark for type!” For more info, click here or call 203.227.5929.

The Type Studio now on Facebook ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Facebook is a great way for students, educators, and professionals with a common interest, in this case, typography, to stay connected and exchange ideas, announcements, and information. Follow The Type Studio on Facebook for the best of our typographic rants, raves, reviews, and releases.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ info@thetypestudio.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

alex fowkes' design process

alex fowkes is a designer who made a few videos to show the accelerated process of some of his projects. this is his digital video. take note, and check out some of his more videos here // http://vimeo.com/user226434

more posters!

simple texture, simple shapes, loads of them, good use of typography and mixing colors. see more of  the designer's work, ed national // http://www.ednacional.com/

a couple more.

try not to go crazy with graphical elements - you can use simple ones but typography should be the main focus for this assignment as well. but look how many different things you can do! so don't focus too much on heavy graphics yeah?

more posters.

poster assignment: past submissions