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[SomeOneInaHat]

I had no idea there was a Graphic design GAF! Why, hello there.

Since I'm stopping by to post I though I might as well go ahead and share our classes latest project. Its a design practice studio class where we get real work and then design for the client as a class, group work basically. This guy runs CES (Cole Entertainment Services) a group based in Memphis, TN that supplies stage production work for live events and shows. I'm sharing this certain project because our client wants the most badass thing that we could muster out of our little inexperienced noggins. He explained that his crew is basically an assortment of criminal types who use CES as a way off the streets. They look at themselves as a misfit band of redneck pirates that work metal and rigging. The owner also mentioned that he hates modern design and wants something big and kickass to put on their company trucks, vans, t-shirts, etc that matches his tattoo. Which, with words because I don't have the picture on me, is a Mexican candy skull with intricate design patterns surrounded with deer antlers and flanked with marlins. There are broken hooks for its eyes where CH and RS are written below the eyes to signify the people that have died from falling on the job.

This jobs has been too much fun to work on because we can be as fucking crazy with it as we want. Just to clarify, our classroom was divided into divisions, so we could work on what we think our strongest attribute is. For me, I joined the logo team. After many revisions, we made some stuff, I think they're rather neat.

My Original Submission:​

My latest Submission:​

 

[killertofu]

Tablets are basically essential for every designer. I've never used a Huion, so unfortunately I can't comment on quality differences between it and Wacom. I can say that I've been using the same Intuos 3 for something like 8 years and I still love it. So with Wacom the price might be high, but they're made to last.

Are you amateur, student, or professional?

I work at a production house as an editor/motion designer. I'm trying to expand my skill set so I'm trying to use Illustrator more and more and try my hand in animation.

As for the Huion... I decided to pass on it because I found an Intuos 5 (small) in the office

 

[killertofu]

Any tips using this pen? It always seems to lag when Im using it in Illustrator so it ends up holding something I just wanted to click on and moves it around. Very annoying

 

[Insane Metal]

Meggs' History of Graphic Design: bought. Also, other 3 books. Let's do this

 

[N0VAM0D]

Graphic Design GAF is a thing?! Nice!

I've been pretty addicted to graphic design for a long time now, so I decided to start studying it this year. I'm almost through my first month of the course and loving it to bits. I've done a few pieces for class already, but I won't share those. Throughout the year, however, I'll definitely post some things for you all to check out and possibly critique!

 

[Ray Wonder]

Any feedback on this would be awesome.

This is just a personal project. I'm using it for a hip hop instrumental tape.

 

[SomeOneInaHat]

Any feedback on this would be awesome.

This is just a personal project. I'm using it for a hip hop instrumental tape.

I really like the style and mood that your going for here. The paper-cut patterns feel very handmade and match well with the background and character.

A few nit-picks, from a student mind you, so take my input with a grain of salt. The title is rather small, tucked away, and surrounded by a bluish color. I feel like the title would pop more if were slightly larger and given a little breathing room from the edges of the composition, unless you were going for a claustrophobic feel.

A second note, the character seems to be sitting on nothing, or floating above the landscape. Try overlapping or shading some areas around the sitting areas to show a more connected feel to the composition. If it were me, I'd either overlap some grass blades on the pants and shoe, or even lay a Gaussian blurred shadow to show some ambient occlusion.

 

[RDreamer]

A second note, the character seems to be sitting on nothing, or floating above the landscape. Try overlapping or shading some areas around the sitting areas to show a more connected feel to the composition. If it were me, I'd either overlap some grass blades on the pants and shoe, or even lay a Gaussian blurred shadow to show some ambient occlusion.

The character does look a bit odd. I'd personally just carry the texture of that 'hill' through the character, too and keep it as an entire textured silhouette rather than separate objects.

 

[Ray Wonder]

I really like the style and mood that your going for here. The paper-cut patterns feel very handmade and match well with the background and character.

A few nit-picks, from a student mind you, so take my input with a grain of salt. The title is rather small, tucked away, and surrounded by a bluish color. I feel like the title would pop more if were slightly larger and given a little breathing room from the edges of the composition, unless you were going for a claustrophobic feel.

For the title, I kinda was going for a sort of tucked away look, but in no way am I set on that. I'll play around with it more.

A second note, the character seems to be sitting on nothing, or floating above the landscape. Try overlapping or shading some areas around the sitting areas to show a more connected feel to the composition. If it were me, I'd either overlap some grass blades on the pants and shoe, or even lay a Gaussian blurred shadow to show some ambient occlusion.

Great idea. I'll definitely put some grass on there. I'll upload something later, and edit this post with a few revisions. Thanks for the advice.

The character does look a bit odd. I'd personally just carry the texture of that 'hill' through the character, too and keep it as an entire textured silhouette rather than separate objects.

Hmm. I didn't even think of that. I'll see what it looks like. Thanks.

 

[SomeOneInaHat]

Since we're tossing some critique around I might as well ask you guys about this logo I've been work-shopping . Its going to be used on the portfolio website I'm putting together so any suggestions would be appreciated, especially on how or if it should be colored. All of the elements on the sight will be based around the aesthetic of the logo so any input would be rad.

The white background and dropshadow are there for dressing and not a part of the logo.

 

[killertofu]

Anyone have any clue what fonts these could be?

 

[empyrean]

Not sure if this is the correct place so apologies if it isn't. To be honest my 'design' skills suck, I'm a web developer (read programmer) by profession and want to improve my design skills, not only for web, but for mobile applications and maybe even 2d game asset creation (i know this is a broad range of topics).

One of my questions is: can anyone become reasonable with enough practice or unless you have a natural gift is it pointless trying?

Second question: anyone have a preference of software for the cases i've listed above, i.e., Affinity Designer, Sketch 3 (those are the two I'm currently looking at due to cost)?

Any tips / guidance greatly appreciated

 

[phillipgessert]

Not sure if this is the correct place so apologies if it isn't. To be honest my 'design' skills suck, I'm a web developer (read programmer) by profession and want to improve my design skills, not only for web, but for mobile applications and maybe even 2d game asset creation (i know this is a broad range of topics).

One of my questions is: can anyone become reasonable with enough practice or unless you have a natural gift is it pointless trying?

Second question: anyone have a preference of software for the cases i've listed above, i.e., Affinity Designer, Sketch 3 (those are the two I'm currently looking at due to cost)?

Any tips / guidance greatly appreciated

If you want to build a solid design foundation, I wouldn't even mess with software at all until you've acquainted yourself with some fundamentals. Personally I'd start with reading up on typography and layout, starting with Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic Style and Müller-Brockman's Grid Systems.

Design can be learned regardless of 'talent' because it is essentially just about identifying problems and solving them. All talent would give you is a headstart in the beginning.

 

[SomeOneInaHat]

Anyone have any clue what fonts these could be?

The Bottom Font is Georgia Bold Italic
from Microsoft Georgia:

The middle font may be Myriad Pro Semi-bold.

The WFF is Adobe Gurmukhi

 

[Insane Metal]

I finally started my design undergrad program and I'm so happy. Loving it. BUT, we already have to design a poster for the photography and graphic design week, which will be from april 27 to april 30. It's just a chance to start creating and not actually part of the exams, but still... I'd love to make something, but I have no idea where to start... I've just started using Illustrator and Corel, I don't have enough knowledge to create something nice... I'm so frustrated

 

[Typographenia]

I finally started my design undergrad program and I'm so happy. Loving it. BUT, we already have to design a poster for the photography and graphic design week, which will be from april 27 to april 30. It's just a chance to start creating and not actually part of the exams, but still... I'd love to make something, but I have no idea where to start... I've just started using Illustrator and Corel, I don't have enough knowledge to create something nice... I'm so frustrated

Don't get caught up in whether or not you can, just go for it.

The only way you will sharpen your skills, regardless of the medium, is to just keep working in it. Sketch out some ideas, do whatever you can do, and see what happens. Yeah, you're going to run into some road blocks and difficulties, but by trying to resolve those problems, you'll learn invaluable techniques and tricks that will aid you in the future and build up your base skills. Even if you don't translate them into a program or a finished piece, just sketching ideas and brainstorming is always a great exercise.

Even if you don't end up submitting it, take it as a chance to do something for yourself and learn. : )

 

[MrGerbils]

I finally started my design undergrad program and I'm so happy. Loving it. BUT, we already have to design a poster for the photography and graphic design week, which will be from april 27 to april 30. It's just a chance to start creating and not actually part of the exams, but still... I'd love to make something, but I have no idea where to start... I've just started using Illustrator and Corel, I don't have enough knowledge to create something nice... I'm so frustrated

Probably the most difficult part of design is conquering this fear.

John K, the creator of Ren and Stimpy, once posted on his blog something that really stuck with me. It was something along the lines of, "You have to eat the pain and get used to hating your work anytime you try to improve yourself."

The point being that struggling is a necessary part of learning. If you're just cruising along working in your comfort zone only making stuff you're easily proud of, then you're not challenging yourself at all, or learning anything.

And that fear will never go away, for as long as you're learning and growing your skillset. Long in to your adulthood and career. I've been working for a long time now and I still get it when pitching projects to big clients, or even just presenting work to my peers, especially when it's work that I feel is pushing myself and/or the medium. The trick is to recognize that fear as exciting. To let it drive you to want to learn more and to do better.

And the only way to learn is to actually put pencil to paper. You can read and study history and theory all you want, but it's only when you're actually making your own work that you really start to understand design.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[N0VAM0D]

I finally started my design undergrad program and I'm so happy. Loving it. BUT, we already have to design a poster for the photography and graphic design week, which will be from april 27 to april 30. It's just a chance to start creating and not actually part of the exams, but still... I'd love to make something, but I have no idea where to start... I've just started using Illustrator and Corel, I don't have enough knowledge to create something nice... I'm so frustrated

Congratulations on starting the design program! I'm excited for you.

A great way to get started is to really get to know the brief. Consider and analyse the information you have such as the client, the demographic, and keywords in the brief. These will be some of the elements which help you create an effective design. To generate ideas and inspiration, I find that taking the keywords of a brief and then doing some word association is incredibly helpful. So, I'll pick 3 or 4 words that I think are key to the effectiveness of the design, put them in separate columns, and just list whatever words that are associated with them that come to my mind. From there, I'll pick 3 or 4 words that I think will really work, and run with that.

Then I'll start to create a bunch of different moodboards for the design. A moodboard is like a collection of visual material that provides inspiration and clarification. I make some to establish the visual direction I want to take with the design, and others to better understand who/what/etc I'm designing for. Don't be afraid to brainstorm and stuff, make notes on things like the "look" you're going for, the mood of the piece (very useful for colour choice), or the style of typography.

After all of that, I start to sketch lots of thumbnails for possible layouts. Thumbnail as much as you can, it's so, so helpful!

Notice how I haven't even mentioned getting started on the computer yet? That comes after you've got a few (or several) solid ideas to work with. I think in the earlier stages of design, it's quantity over quality. Don't be afraid of your ideas. Just keep formulating those ideas and you can refine them later. Always, always have plenty of options. There is never just one solution.

 

[Insane Metal]

Damn, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much for the replies! I think I might actually be able to do something. I'll post it here when I have something to show.

Thank you a lot for your tips, N0VAM0D!

 

[N0VAM0D]

Damn, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much for the replies! I think I might actually be able to do something. I'll post it here when I have something to show.

Thank you a lot for your tips, N0VAM0D!

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

 

[Insane Metal]

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

I'll start by brainstorming and writing stuff/ideas that connect to the event, and only then I'll go to the computer. But don't expect anything looking great, haha. My knowledge is very limited.

 

[Insane Metal]

Goddamn, this is so difficult. I wrote down a lot of stuff, made scraps about how I wanted it to look, went to the laptop to try to create what I wanted, the result was a disaster. I deleted everything and I threw away all the stuff I wrote down. I hate myself. :|

 

[Syphon Filter]

Goddamn, this is so difficult. I wrote down a lot of stuff, made scraps about how I wanted it to look, went to the laptop to try to create what I wanted, the result was a disaster. I deleted everything and I threw away all the stuff I wrote down. I hate myself. :|

What was a disaster? The look or you couldn't get it to look how you imagined?

 

[Kitsuné]

Goddamn, this is so difficult. I wrote down a lot of stuff, made scraps about how I wanted it to look, went to the laptop to try to create what I wanted, the result was a disaster. I deleted everything and I threw away all the stuff I wrote down. I hate myself. :|

Yeah well, the creative process can be bitch. What you're experiencing right now is something we all go through from time to time. Especially when you're starting out. You just got to stick with it! I can speak from my own experience, I've had projects where I couldn't come up with anything good for hours or even days, but in the end you'll find something that works!

 

[Insane Metal]

What was a disaster? The look or you couldn't get it to look how you imagined?

I didn't know how I wanted it to look, so I tried many alternatives... none ended up looking good... lol

Yeah well, the creative process can be bitch. What you're experiencing right now is something we all go through from time to time. Especially when you're starting out. You just got to stick with it! I can speak from my own experience, I've had projects where I couldn't come up with anything good for hours or even days, but in the end you'll find something that works!

I guess... thank you for your reply.

I just asked a girl from my class to give me some help with Corel and Illustrator. She's in the third year, and works in the area...

 

[Insane Metal]

God daaaaamn I feel tired... I swear... I spent like DAYS trying to do something reasonably acceptable... lol. I'm too critic with my own creations. I know I still can improve a lot, but this is what I came up with and I feel slightly well about it.

So, I had to create a poster about the week of Graphic Design and Photography at college. There are no restraints on colors, photography, etc. All of the colors and shapes are my choices. Also I created the PS, Ai and Corel icons from scratch

The borders are there because of the shadows in that gray shape

EDIT: whoops, huge image, sorry. Now it's fine. But the jpeg compression screwed the colors >_>

 

[cbox]

I'd ditch the drop shadows on the header text, cut back the opacity of the hatched background and decide on a better treatment for the date. You also may want to incorporate the orange and blue elsewhere instead of grey. As it is right now all the colours aren't flowing well together.

 

[Insane Metal]

I'd ditch the drop shadows on the header text, cut back the opacity of the hatched background and decide on a better treatment for the date. You also may want to incorporate the orange and blue elsewhere instead of grey. As it is right now all the colours aren't flowing well together.

Thank you for your opinion!

But I already handed it to my teacher... and he liked it quite a lot... he said it looks really good for a first effort... haha

 

[cbox]

Thank you for your opinion!

But I already handed it to my teacher... and he liked it quite a lot... he said it looks really good for a first effort... haha

Ahh nice! Just some suggestions

 

[Insane Metal]

Ahh nice! Just some suggestions

No prob, I like it! It would probably look better without the shadows, actually. I'll take a look when I get home.

 

[N0VAM0D]

Goddamn, this is so difficult. I wrote down a lot of stuff, made scraps about how I wanted it to look, went to the laptop to try to create what I wanted, the result was a disaster. I deleted everything and I threw away all the stuff I wrote down. I hate myself. :|

No! Don't do that! Watch this super short video, THE GAP. It's very relatable, and helped me a lot — don't ever give up on yourself, okay? What you created was great effort for a first timer! Keep going.

 

[Insane Metal]

No! Don't do that! Watch this super short video, THE GAP. It's very relatable, and helped me a lot — don't ever give up on yourself, okay? What you created was great effort for a first timer! Keep going.

I think everybody does that sometimes, right?

Thank you man.

Edit 04/25 (just so I don't have to post again): I had a class yesterday where the professor told us we should never get rid of anything we create, even if it looks bad, especially in the beginning.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Im doing an interview on monday and tuesday. 15 hours test in design.


Day 1 we have to re-create a poster for a famous book on various design. One where we are completely free, one where it is only typography (the title, and a bit of text) and then a final book cover which is about placement with designated logos and artwork.

I feel my biggest weakness is understanding typography. I am very boring, plane and don't have the eye for it. I've spend too much time trying to do illustrations. I know typography is important but I just haven't cracked it yet.

I wanted to ask if anybody knew any sort of tutorial, articles or guidelines for how to do really breakthrough. I've studied styles, sans ans sans serif differences, I've searched and been using fonts that I like (Futura, Century Gothic, Gotham, Adobe Caslon) but I still feel I don't know what I am doing.
When I am doing a poster or illustration my headlines are always boring. I am not good at sensing the air space between the letters. This is a major problem.





The second day of testing is a analog test with drawings. you need to use scissors, carton, glue, pencils, pens, coloring. It's about your ability to do form, color, function, drawing, perspective and visualization as well as sketches. I am not strong in this field. They say the most important thing is to show your breath of technique and ability. So it's about showing off as many different things you can do.
Things like - draw 20 different hearts, or draw a front page for a famous newspaper with a pencil.
I'm trying to do things with carton and newspapers as a texture, but I find these sorts of resources hard to come by. There isn't a lot of designer resources for analog design.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Insane Metal]

Im doing an interview on monday and tuesday. 15 hours test in design.


Day 1 we have to re-create a poster for a famous book on various design. One where we are completely free, one where it is only typography (the title, and a bit of text) and then a final book cover which is about placement with designated logos and artwork.

I feel my biggest weakness is understanding typography. I am very boring, plane and don't have the eye for it. I've spend too much time trying to do illustrations. I know typography is important but I just haven't cracked it yet.

I wanted to ask if anybody knew any sort of tutorial, articles or guidelines for how to do really breakthrough. I've studied styles, sans ans sans serif differences, I've searched and been using fonts that I like (Futura, Century Gothic, Gotham, Adobe Caslon) but I still feel I don't know what I am doing.
When I am doing a poster or illustration my headlines are always boring. I am not good at sensing the air space between the letters. This is a major problem.





The second day of testing is a analog test with drawings. you need to use scissors, carton, glue, pencils, pens, coloring. It's about your ability to do form, color, function, drawing, perspective and visualization as well as sketches. I am not strong in this field. They say the most important thing is to show your breath of technique and ability. So it's about showing off as many different things you can do.
Things like - draw 20 different hearts, or draw a front page for a famous newspaper with a pencil.
I'm trying to do things with carton and newspapers as a texture, but I find these sorts of resources hard to come by. There isn't a lot of designer resources for analog design.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Hi there! Have you tried looking for what you need at pinterest.com? I've found a lot of good stuff for me in there!

 

[Insertia]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131780567@N07/17296195281/
What do you think? The left is blue because it represents Democrats the right is red because it represents Republicans. They are both rectangles to represent the fallen of the Twin Towers. I made this because its time for a new chapter in American history.

 

[SystemBug]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131780567@N07/17296195281/
What do you think? The left is blue because it represents Democrats the right is red because it represents Republicans. They are both rectangles to represent the fallen of the Twin Towers. I made this because its time for a new chapter in American history.

funny guy

 

[killertofu]

Jesus Christ I JUST figured out how to use the blend tool to create color palettes.

Its like a fucking portal just opened up in my brain, holy shit

 

[Axiom]

I'm curious as to how people display their work in a resume.

It's one thing to have your work on a nice big landscape, or have a nice folder you can bring in with an interview, but ensuring your work is best represented on an A4 size document that could be printed in black and white is proving an interesting challenge.

 

[cbox]

I'm curious as to how people display their work in a resume.

It's one thing to have your work on a nice big landscape, or have a nice folder you can bring in with an interview, but ensuring your work is best represented on an A4 size document that could be printed in black and white is proving an interesting challenge.

Your work alone isn't the lone aspect that gets you a job when interviewing. It's how you can speak to that project, any challenges you had and how you solved them, and how you fit in with the team. I've never gotten too specific in an interview about a certain project. A printout in a nice booklet, or on a tablet should be good enough. You can make a collage where you highlight certain aspects, like texture, a layout, etc.

 

[MrGerbils]

I'm curious as to how people display their work in a resume.

It's one thing to have your work on a nice big landscape, or have a nice folder you can bring in with an interview, but ensuring your work is best represented on an A4 size document that could be printed in black and white is proving an interesting challenge.

?

Why would you try to display work on a resume?

 

[xxracerxx]

I'm curious as to how people display their work in a resume.

It's one thing to have your work on a nice big landscape, or have a nice folder you can bring in with an interview, but ensuring your work is best represented on an A4 size document that could be printed in black and white is proving an interesting challenge.

That is what your portfolio is for not your resume.

 

[Buddha Beam]

I feel my biggest weakness is understanding typography. I am very boring, plane and don't have the eye for it. I've spend too much time trying to do illustrations. I know typography is important but I just haven't cracked it yet.

I wanted to ask if anybody knew any sort of tutorial, articles or guidelines for how to do really breakthrough. I've studied styles, sans ans sans serif differences, I've searched and been using fonts that I like (Futura, Century Gothic, Gotham, Adobe Caslon) but I still feel I don't know what I am doing.
When I am doing a poster or illustration my headlines are always boring. I am not good at sensing the air space between the letters. This is a major problem.

You're doing the right thing here. The mistake that people make when it comes to typography is that you can have some magical understanding of it. I remember when I was in school I was always so frustrated by it too because they'd talk about it as though if it was some artistic element. To an extent, it's true, but the real truth is that there's really nothing to "get".

The real secret to enlightenment here is to just keep using maybe 15-25 fonts max in your work. Before you know it, you'll have a really good understanding of how those typefaces work. You'll be able to really visualize them in your head. So you're on the right track by focusing on fonts that you like. Just keep doing that and eventually it'll all click into place and you won't even realize it.

 

[CoolOff]

I have no idea if this is the correct thread for this, but I couldn't find anything that would be a better fit for my question, so here goes.

Currently writing a thesis in management, need to create a theoretical line graph model. Nothing extremely fancy, just two different curves, a bunch of labels, and a "field" covering part of it. I need tips on tools where this is possible for a relative beginner.

I have a crude paint outline, but it turns out that program is less than ideal.

 

[Diddy Kong]

I want to try to give graphic design a shot. I want to buy photoshop but I'm not sure how to go about doing it. It seems when I go to buy it on the site I can only do a monthly plan? I don't really want that.

I have a Macbook pro and a fairly decent PC, so I'm not sure which version I should go for. I assume buying one license doesn't give you access to the other right?

Also if anyone could point me in the direction of some very basic tutorials I'd very much appreciate it.

 

[MrGerbils]

I want to try to give graphic design a shot. I want to buy photoshop but I'm not sure how to go about doing it. It seems when I go to buy it on the site I can only do a monthly plan? I don't really want that.

I have a Macbook pro and a fairly decent PC, so I'm not sure which version I should go for. I assume buying one license doesn't give you access to the other right?

Also if anyone could point me in the direction of some very basic tutorials I'd very much appreciate it.

The monthly subscription is by far the most affordable option, especially if you're just interested in checking it out, and if you want the latest version I believe it's the only option now.

You can buy PS CS6 (an older version) for $700 here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/catal...sl_catalog_sl_software_sl_creativesuite6.html

If you're really interested in design I'd recommend a sub to both Photoshop and Illustrator.

I have no idea if this is the correct thread for this, but I couldn't find anything that would be a better fit for my question, so here goes.

Currently writing a thesis in management, need to create a theoretical line graph model. Nothing extremely fancy, just two different curves, a bunch of labels, and a "field" covering part of it. I need tips on tools where this is possible for a relative beginner.

I have a crude paint outline, but it turns out that program is less than ideal.

A vector program would be your best bet. Illustrator is expensive, but the most common. I know there are free vector programs out there but I've never used them so can't recommend them.

I think Word and Pages can do totally acceptable graphs these days too.

 

[cbox]

Finished up a poster for the game I'm releasing soon A mixture of the 3d model I made in blender, UV unwrapping and texturing in photoshop, and then the rest of the post work in illustrator/photoshop.

 

[Pickman]

"Why is the URL so small?"

"Because you picked a URL with 18 fucking characters in it."

 

[N0VAM0D]

I'm having a hard time choosing which looks better:

which one do I continue with?

help

 

[Insane Metal]

Personally, I think the bottom one looks better, specially the first T.

 

[N0VAM0D]

Personally, I think the bottom one looks better, specially the first T.

Thank you! Most people I've asked say the bottom is better, and I think I agree. It's just hard to judge your own work sometimes.