design it.
M/W 3:45–5:05 | section SIX | intro to graphic design | Renée Stevens
Author Archive
What I learned in GRA 217
My absolute favorite thing I learned in Graphics was to appreciate good typography. I never realized how many typefaces there were in the world and how much work went into producing them. I also never realized how much meaning each typeface has behind it and how typefaces can really become visual art. The most beneficial aspect of the class was definitely the critiques with my classmates, Professor Stevens, and Bridget. I really tried to get the most out of each critique and push myself to be as successful as possible with each assignment. Thus far, I am so happy with how all my projects turned out. As for the future, concerning all my assignments, I will definitely take with me that simplicity is key and to always create hierarchy. Each project I produced I tried to be as simple as possible, while still remaining creative, organized, and structured. I think lab time should be better used towards helping with our actual assignments. I truly believe most of my procedure with the programs came out of my own time with lack of help from lab hours. Lab hours usually seemed extremely not useful towards the upcoming assignments. Working on the computer during lecture time would probably be more helpful. I also loved when Professor Stevens would show us examples of other work. It really helped me get creative and unleash ideas. The videos and clips were always really interesting and fun to break up the lecture. All in all, It was a really great semester and I am so proud of all the work I completed. – Jessica Ente
Favorite Website Design
My favorite website is apple.com. I truly feel Apple does a great job at making their website look fresh, clean, technologically savvy, and innovative. They really do sell their products just by their clean and organized feel. There website is very easy to get around, along with their navigation bar. They leave no room for confusion. Apple also utilizes a great deal of white space in their website designs, while just enlarging one image and or typography visual to create hierarchy. I definitely feel Apple.com is a very successful website design.
– Jessica Ente
Good/Bad Website Design Layouts
I think Twitter is a very successful website design layout. It’s two column grid is very organized and easy to navigate. The main navigation bar is very organized and simple which makes the website so successful. One thing unique to Twitter that I noticed is that they do not have a footer. I continuously scrolled down the website and finally came to the conclusion that there really is no footer. Since Twitter is not necessarily a “typical” website, I think it is okay that it does not have a footer. Twitter’s website work because if you take a look, it is just so simple and all alligned in two very rectangular grids.
Another very successful website layout design is cnn.com. CNN uses a three column grid to organize its text heavy website. I really love the main navigation bar on cnn.com. It is very organized and simple and the colors are very consistent. The site also uses a great deal of hierarchy with the main content photographs being larger than the rest. I also really like the organization of the secondary navigation bars. They organize the upcoming stories in a way that does not make it seem so text heavy. The footer is also extremely organized and uses a great deal of gestault.
I think ebay.com is an unsuccessful example of a website design layout. Although it does use a three column grid, it is extremely packed with visuals and information that makes it feel very cluttered. I think the placement of the main content is a little off centered and should be bigger to create hierarchy. The secondary navigation bar is also extremely dull and uncreative. I think it calls no attention to itself and I definitely think this is a poor example of a website design layout.
-Jessica Ente
Sucessful Sidebar Usage
I really love the design of this sidebar. I like the color change on the bottom which really creates hierarchy on the page and draw the viewer’s eyes to the quick, fast and visual information. The sidebar is also very large and easy to understand. The sidebar is also extremely organized with its graph like infographic. The content given is very successful because it directly relates to the article upon it.The sidebar is giving information about the fastest accelerating land vehicle in the world through a graph visual. The article itself is talking about the fastest vehicle in the world. The sidebar is given quick information that one might really want to know without having to read the entire article. At first glance this sidebar is more visually tasteful than just the article. I personally think the sidebar makes this magazine spread more than the article. It is very uniquely creative and really stands out to me. The sidebar directly relates to the article and the design and the entire spread really picks up a technology savyy vibe. All in all, I feel this is a very tasteful and successful usage of a sidebar that I would love to incorporate on my own magazine spread. – Jessica Ente
Magazine Project roughs
click on for pdf of magazine spread roughs – Jessica Ente
Custom Grid used in magazine spread
This magazine spread uses a custom grid with 2 columns and about 15 rows. I found the number of rows by counting up the page with the smaller amount of white space used at the bottom. The grid is apparent due to the clear gutter space. The custom grid on this magazine spread makes the text easier to read and organizes the information well. The text seems to be nicely structured, along with the image as well. -Jessica Ente
Final Poster Design
– Jessica Ente
What's due next on the blog
This week you will need to post a summary of the things you learned. In it we want you to include what you think was most beneficial about the class, what information you will use as you further your career, what you think could be improved upon, what you learned that stands out the most, and what you like most/least about the class.
>> due by 02nd May at 11:59pm---------------------------
Last week you needed to post an image of your favorite website. You needed to not only describe why you like it best in terms of design and content, but also explain how they lay it out and how it helps with navigation.
>> due by 25th Apr at 11:59pm---------------------------
design it. 