Graphics II | Final Motion

Enjoy!

Graphics Two | Project Two | Wheatfields Website

http://people.ku.edu/~knmackey/wheatfields/wheatfields.html

Verner Pantan

Verner Panton (1926-1998) is among Denmark’s most distinguished and influential designers of modern furniture, lighting and textiles. Known for his explicit use of vibrant colors, mechanical patterns, and organic geometry, Panton created innovative and futuristic designs that truly invoke the imagination. His style is definitive of the 1960’s but his timeless works are as relevant in contemporary design as they were a half-century ago. After viewing Verner Panton's designs I liked his eccentric and futuristic style he created by theorizing color is more important than form and a good combination of colors can add depth and three dimensionality to space. I really enjoy to look at his furniture and especially textile designs. His pieces are both simple and complex and are meant to be the main focus or ensemble to create an environmental theme.

Journal Entry

Paula Sher's examples dealt a lot with type as image. The letter's flowed and fit into the space to create a style and hand drawn like placement. I thought her work was very intriguing and eye catching. David Carson's work consisted of lots of energy and excitement to draw viewers into his art. He makes sure his work is not boring and even if other people thought something was disrespectful atleast he grabbed their attention. Don Norman followed three principles behavioral, visceral, and reflective. He thought these concepts reflected why people by products for example packaging people buy for behavioral and visceral reasons because they want to feel in control. He also made a good point that when you are happy brainstorming comes to you easier and faster, so that is something to always keep in mind. 

Verner Panton

I chose to do Verner Panton as the designer for my exhibition, and here is his biography....

Verner Panton (13 February 1926 - 5 September 1998) is considered to be one of Denmark's most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers. During his career, he created innovative and futuristic designs in a variety of available materials, especially plastics, and in vibrant colors. His style was very "1960s" but regained popularity at the end of the 20th century; as of 2004, Pantons most well-known furniture models are still in production (at Vitra, among others).

Panton was trained as architectural engineer in Odense; next, he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) in Copenhagen. The first two years of his career - 1950-1952 - he worked at the architectural practice of Arne Jacobsen, another famous Danish architect and furniture designer, but Panton turned out to be an "enfant terrible" and he started his own design office in 1955. Near the end of the 1950s, his chair designs became more and more unconventional, with no legs or discernible back. In 1960, Panton was the designer of the very first single-form injection-moulded plastic chair - the Stacking chair or S chair, which would become his most famous and mass-produced design.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Verner Panton experimented with designing entire environments: radical and psychedelic interiors that were an ensemble of his curved furniture, wall upholsterings, textiles and lighting.

Journal Entry

Rethinking Modernism, Revising Funtionalism, this article started out by talking about the fundamentals that she learned in undergraduate school, which were always relate form to function. Her next step she learned the term "this is very clean", which swept away clutter and confusion and brought up Modernism. By minimizing the past's visual outburst creates a Modernism because it is much more calm. An Overcoming Modernism, focused on how designers may have lost the consensus of what is a good design, because of all the confusion and questions about the myth of modernism. Different methods of teaching new graphic designers now has been changed a lot because of the better technology and computers, which can explain some of the confusion. No matter what as a student it is always important that you participate in the communication of the process. In Steven Heller's interview, he made a good point that graphic designers need to make sure that they are successfully communicating the message to the people to make a difference.  Design is to be an effective tool to convey information and messages.

Project 2

Tear Down This Wall Speech

Speaker: Ronald Reagan

June 12, 1987

Article Reflection | Journal Entry

Choosing a Typeface

The article Type Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry,  really touched on wondering why the reason for choosing a font in a design. Most times the designer usually just likes it, and rarely is there a reason going back to the history of it. Frutura was the font the elaborated on because it represented modern design, and is used very much. Other options for sans-serif type would be Univers or Helvetica, i feel those two are very modern and popular.

I also read Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface, which mentioned different reasonings for a choosing a certain typeface. Some of them I could relate to, and others were interesting reasons because I've never thought of it in that way. Such as, Because it's ugly, I guess if thats what your going for it works and everyone has a different perception on what is actually ugly. Another interesting one was because it's boring, which makes since if your looking for a typeface that isn't going to take away from the image its incorporated with. 

Type Pictures from my Mexico Trip

Type Pictures from Mexico

 

Bold Sans Serif & Decorative Serif

Mcdonald's Cup Type

Journal Entry

Stefan Sagmeister's "Yes Design Can Make You Happy" talk touches on a few things that pertain to happiness. He starts off with how you need to be happy and content while you design. He also talks about different painting exhibitions that all help with the visualization of happiness. He made me realize how fast happiness can spread. Stefan's outlook on design and talk was very sincere and entertaining. I thought his main message was if you have the opportunity to make someone happy, why wouldn't you jump to it?

 

List from "How Good is Good?"

1. Strive for happiness2. Don’t hurt anybody

3. Help, others achieve the same

Now I would change that priority:

1. Help others
2. Don’t hurt anybody
3. Strive for happiness

Art Grandeur Nature. Stefan Sagmeister. 2004

I liked how the article mentioned what good things design is capable to unify, help us remember, simplify, make the world a safer place, better someone, inform and teach, raise money for non profit organizations, and build tolerance.

He really broke things down and made excellent points about design and it made me realize to always keep those things in mind while designing because anyone will appreciate a design as long as they can benefit from it.

I also watched J.J. Abrams, The Mystery Box. I found that he was pretty funny and comical guy, so I liked listening to him. His take on the mystery box, which had to do with his grandfather, is that mystery is the reason for imagination.  He showed footage of his work from lost, the scene was really intense and traumatic, he explains it as his imagination creating the scene and how mystery creates an outcome. He also showed a scene from Jaws, he explained that building character comes from inside the mystery box. "The investment of character which is really the stuff that is from inside the box....look inside yourself and figure out what is inside you."

The metaphor in this poster is the hand over the chest because it represents a barrier between the cancer and the breast. The exaggeration is the skin and how the body is naked, its an up close and extreme way to catch the attention and get the point across. The pink breast cancer ribbon is the metonymy for breast cancer because it represents breast cancer and everyone relates to the pink breast cancer ribbon when they think of breast cancer awareness. The color pink has also become a huge representation of breast cancer because they have come out with so many things that are only sold in pink because the funds go to breast cancer. The synecdoche is the text because it consists of alternative ways to educate yourself about your body and to become more aware.

Challenge One - Flash Link

http://people.ku.edu/~knmackey/intersection/

Speech Posters Refinement #2

Poster Refinements

GOOD journal

Good.is.  is a a website made by a individuals, business, and nonprofit organizations that want to push the world forward by creating magazines, videos , and events. After searching through their website I noticed that the content contained political, environment ,  and random news issues. Some of them were funny and some of them were serious. In some of type and image videos, depending on the message they wanted to communicate, they both worked well with each other. I noticed some were a little simpler than others depending on how busy the image was. I enjoyed watching the ones about the war and campaigns because they took each phrase, broke it up, and  explained everything pretty well with a picture to accompany. I liked how they had text transition on index cards or notepads instead of just having them blink across the screen. I also like how they really payed attention to the style of the text when they wanted to personalize Obama's and McCain's handwriting in one of their videos. Its little details like that , that can draw the viewer in and really show personality, attitude, and style.

Speech Poster Experiments

Final Book Covers

Final Book Covers

Series: 

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, 

and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Concept Statement

In the dream it feels as if it has a lovely meaning, too lovely

to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you are always wishing you could go into that mystical dream again. A feeling or great liking for something delightful and unusual. As if you were put under a magical spell that allows you to face danger without showing fear and to discover an adventurous imagination through the eyes of a child.

Refined "To Suggests....."

a fantasy and enchanted world

a mystical dream

an adventurous imagination

a glorious discovery of magic

the power of faith and determination

children committing heroic deeds

a sense of royalty

medieval fairy-tale

the beauty of nature

a relaxing landscape

Animated Typography

Animated Typography shows strong typography in motion in a way to convey the motion or mood of the text. Its another method, besides listening, to show the tone and personality of the speaker. It is usually done by scale, weight, spacing, tension, and motion. After watching the videos of type in motion I noticed there were so many methods of animating text. Some had a lot of text on the screen all at once and some focused on one word at a time. When there wasn't sound, depending on how fast the type was moving, the fast paced was harder to follow and understand. With sound that usually wasn't the case, but it was fun not to use sound because you could tell if the type in motion was successful or not. I watched a lot of videos that had blurbs from my favorite TV show The Office, which i think is hilarious. Watching the type in motion videos made it more interesting because seeing the text styles and scale I could actually notice the emotion and personality of each phrase.

I watched a variety of videos and the ones that I liked the most had good use of color and did not exceed 5 words on the screen at once. They broke it down and phrased each part with good animation that made  perfect sense and displayed the emotion and feeling. One of the videos lacked color and showed a lot of type on the screen at once, it was hard to follow and didn't grab my attention. Another one had a great variety of scale which I noticed was key to showing the importance and hierarchy especially when it comes to expressing some words more than others to successfully communicate the emotion and mood of the message. Overall, the transitions that focused on a small group of words instead of increasing the size of the group as each word came on, were successful. Also simplicity with detail and only a little color is preferred over a busy detail. This is because it is easier to focus and catch on to the emotion and meaning without hearing the actual words. 

After watching the movie title sequences, the most memorable ones were Catch me If You Can and the Pink Panther. I felt the graphics and imagery worked around the text. The text was the main focus and the transitions were based on the movement of the text and the picture went along with it. The text and picture styles went together very well. One that I was not so impressed with was Superbad's. I do like it because of the bright colors and simplicity but overall I was not impressed because the text and picture didn't work together, at times the pictures worked together but the type was always the last thing you noticed.

Ronald Reagan "Tear Down this Wall"

• This speech takes place in West Berlin Germany at the Brandenberg Gate on June 12, 1987. The speech was said by president Ronald Reagan to Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, about the his desire to destroy the Berlin Wall. Reagan speaks of freedom and the wall that stands between East and wast berlin is a scar and questions for freedom of all mankind. He explains that freedom is the basis for peace, prosperity, and liberalization. The wall stands as a symbol of the totalitarian communist rule and Reagan asks to tear it down as a symbol of increasing freedom. Reagan's Proposal to "tear down this wall" was intended so that democratic West Germany could spread into Communist Easy Germany. 
  

• This speech is very important to society as Reagan mentions freedom leads to prosperity and replaces the common hatreds among the nations comity and peace, which makes freedom the victor. Reagan is showing great respect for Berlin because of the great history in the city and he has faith in their courage and determination. 
  

• This speech is motivational, determined, challenging, confrontational, oppositional. The audience felt very hopeful, determined excited and relived. The opposing audience felt challenged with great difficulty. The most emphasized words are FREEDOM, "TEAR DOWN THIS WALL", and "THIS WALL WILL FALL."
  

Ronald Reagan Bio:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/ronaldreagan/

At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore “the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism.”
On February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He attended high school in nearby Dixon and then worked his way through Eureka College.

From his first marriage to actress Jane Wyman, he had two children, Maureen and Michael. Maureen passed away in 2001. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis, who was also an actress, and they had two children, Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.

In 1966 he was elected Governor of California by a margin of a million votes; he was re-elected in 1970. Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter.

On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.


Dealing skillfully with Congress, Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and Government expenditures, refusing to deviate from it when the strengthening of defense forces led to a large deficit.

A renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro.

In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.

In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve “peace through strength.” During his two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Reagan declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub.

By ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa.

Overall, the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity, and the goal of peace through strength seemed to be within grasp.

Journal #3

Jakob Trollback is a very successful and self taught designer. His studio is Trollback and Company, which is a creative studio that designs narratives using motion graphics and live action to create advertising, broadcast, and entertainment campaigns. The studio does work for HBO, CBS, ESPN, Nike, TED, AIGA and the New York Times Magazine. His idea behind the animation is storytelling the message os essential for a successful communication. The video on his talk explained how he grew as a designer, from barely have advertising space to creating ads for extremely well known television stations. I like how the storytelling is shown very minimal with type in his ads and the pictures and graphics are the main message. The picture shows a meaning which is very open until the word is shown, which communicates and explains the exact message that is being communicated.  

                              

Journal Entry #2

                        

An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth is a collection of statements directed towards beliefs, strategies and motivations. They are written by Bruce Mau, who is a creative director of his own design firm and founder of the Institute without Boundaries. After reading his Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, he came off as a very motivational person. The list was very much related to a design student or any creative field. My mantra for the week would be:

  "Stay up late.Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world." I chose this one because it related very much too my week so far, which has consisted of staying up late designing logos and book covers hoping I would come up with a brilliant and unique design. Even though I've had a lack of sleep, it seemed like a positive way to look at it.                     

Concept Revisions

Refined Concept Statement:

In the dream it feels as if it has a lovely meaning, too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you are always wishing you could go into that mystical dream again. A feeling or great liking for something delightful and unusual. As if you were put under a magical spell that allows you to face danger without showing fear and to discover an adventurous imagination through the eyes of a child.

Refined "To Suggests....."

a fantasy and enchanted world

a mystical dream

an adventurous imagination 

a glorious discovery of magic

the power of faith and determination

children committing heroic deeds

a sense of royalty

medieval fairy-tale

the beauty of nature

a relaxing landscape

 

Concept Statement and Audience Persona

Concept Statements

In the dream it feels as if it has a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you are always wishing you could go into that mystical dream again. To satisfy the need to relive the heroic adventure where good conquers evil with the power of faith and determination. 

A feeling or great liking for something beautiful and unusual. As if you were put under a magical spell that allows you to face danger without showing fear and to discover an adventurous imagination through the eyes of a child.

A glorious discovery of magic and adventure in a setting other than a real world opens a courageous door in the mind of a faithful and heroic person. Once it is closed they are always wishing how to get into the dream again, where evil was conquered by good.

Audience Persona

Olivia is a 10 year old girl who has always been very interested in girly things and loves playing dress up with her younger sister. She is very active and always has to be occupied with some type of fun activity. Shes in the 4th grade and loves going to school to socialize and learn about subjects of her interest. Everyday her teacher makes the class read for twenty minutes. Those twenty minutes are almost torture for Olivia because she can never focus longer than 5 minutes on her book. She has a tough time finding a book that she is willing to read and keep her interested until its finished. One day at the library she came across a section of fantasy novels. Olivia loved to use her imagination, so she thought that this genre would maybe solve her reading problem. Since then she has started a fantasy series called The Chronicles of Narnia. She is very interested and can barely take a break from reading until all seven are complete.

Graphic Design_Reading #2

A good point I came across in this reading was the generalization they made about how visual communication is everywhere in our world. Its used through billboards, signs, television commercials, magazine advertisements, and messages are even incorporated into the packaging. Logos play a crucial role in all of these forms of visual communication. When creating a logo it is very challenging to stay away from the trend because you don't want to take the chance of it going out of style. A logo is a foundation base for all the other messages. While designing a logo a designer should always keep a strong understanding of their own role, the client's role to maintain a clear and successful vision.

Book Cover Research

Series: a number of things. Events or people of a similar kind of related nature coming one after another

Sequence: a particular order in which related events, movements, or things follow each other

Sign: a stimulus pattern that has meaning, the difference is how the meaning happens to be attached to or associated with the pattern.

Example: signs can be gestures, facial expressions, speech disorders, slogans,

graffiti, commercials, music, drawing, poetry, etc. (very diverse)

*Similar to an Icon: a picture of your face is an icon of you.

This sign means no 

smoking.

               

Index: some sensory feature, A, (directly visible, audible, smellable, etc) that correlates with and thus implies or `points to' B, something of interest to an animal.

Example: dark clouds in the west are an indication for rain

Or a red stop light indicates that you should stop or wreck your car

Indicates a sad feeling, mood, or emotion.

                                            

              

Symbol: (content words like nouns, verbs and adjectives) are (sound) patterns) that get meaning:

1: from its mental association with other symbols and

2: from its correlation with environmental patterns

example: a child says “choo choo” because he sees train, smoke, charcoal, caboose, train tracks, loud horn, etc.

      

Book Choices:

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Genre: fantasy

The author of The Chronicles of Narnia is Clive Staples (C. S.) Lewis, who was called Jack instead of Clive. Born on November 29, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland, he attended English boarding schools, which he hated. During World War I he served in the British army and was wounded in battle. Lewis attended Oxford University in England, where he later became friends with J. R. R. Tolkien, who went on to write the Lord of the Rings series. While at Oxford, Lewis published his first work, a collection of poems called Spirits in Bondage (1919).

The Chronicles of Narnia were published one at a time during the 1950s. The books were very popular, and Lewis received many letters from children fascinated with the world of Narnia. During his lifetime, Lewis wrote more than 30 books, including science fiction stories. He was also a Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University. C. S. Lewis died on November 22, 1963, in Oxford, England.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

While hiding in an old, enchanted wardrobe, or closet, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie stumble into the world of Narnia.With the help of the Great Lion Aslan, they defeat the White Witch, who has made it always winter in Narnia, but never Christmas! For many years the children rule as kings and queens of Narnia until they return to their own world, where no time has passed.

Prince Caspian: the Return to Narnia

Prince Caspian’s evil uncle Miraz has murdered Caspian’s father—the true king of Narnia—and taken the throne for himself. Most of the enchanted beasts and creatures of Old Narnia have been killed or are in hiding. Fearing that his uncle will murder him next, Prince Caspian uses the help of the Pevensies to regain his throne. This is Peter’s and Susan’s last trip to Narnia.

The Voyage of Dawn Treader

Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace are pulled into Narnia through a painting.They find themselves aboard the Dawn Treader, the ship of their friend, King Caspian X. In a fantastic adventure to the End of the World (also called the World’s End), Caspian leads a successful search for the seven lords who were friends of his father, but who had been exiled (forced to leave), by the tyrant Miraz. Caspian returns home, but Eustace, Edmund, Lucy, and the noble Mouse Reepicheep continue their journey and encounter the Great Aslan, in the form of a lamb, who tells Lucy and Edmund that they are too old to return to Narnia after this trip.

Tone/Model

east _ > + _ _ west (eastern/western or east coast west coast)

organic > _ + _ _ high–tech
minimal _ _ + <_>+ _ _ futuristic / 

nostagic _ _ + _ _ contemporary
unrefined/rough _ >+ _ _ clean/sophisticated
machine made _ _ + <_handmade> + _ _non-traditional
complex _ >+ _ _easy

To Suggest

To suggest a fantasy and enchanted world

To suggest an antique taste

To suggest a mystical dream

To suggest an adventurous imagination

To suggest good conquering evil

To suggest the power of faith and determination

To suggest children committing great heroic deeds

To suggest a sense of royalty

To suggest the beauty of nature

 

Word list

Fantasy Magical Mystical Old-fashioned Antique Vintage Fancy Kingly Royalty Christianity Bold Misty Earthy Hazy Dreamy Rustic Symbolic Classy English Historical Wondrous Happy Family Honesty Delightful Aggressive Competitive Beauty Nature

Imaginative Adventurous Risky Heroic Wealth Rich Tough Chance Charming Wicked Unusual Eccentric Enchanted Forest Imaginary Greed Gluttony Friendly Seasonal Malicious Evil Danger Defeat Brave Timestopping Courageous Fearless Fascinating Entranced Kind Beautiful Sweet Gentle Valiant Magnificent Brilliant Glorious Vivid Pastel Subtle Cool Hazy

Enchanted: (enchantment) a feeling or great liking for something wonderful and unusual: a magic spell

Courageous: able to face or deal with danger or fear without flinching; face danger or pain without showing fear

Fantasy: the activity of imagining things that are impossible or improbably; a fanciful mental image; magic and adventure in a setting other than a real world

Magical: beautiful or delightful in such a way as to seem removed from everyday life

Antique:  in tradition, fashion or style of the past; old-fashioned; paper having rough surface; to emboss on paper or surface

Pastel: color having soft subdued shade; delicate or pale in color; light colors

Subtle: delicate, faint or mysterious; skill, crafty and clever; fine, thin, finely woven

Mystical: mystic; spiritually symbolic; of or having spiritual reality or import not apparent to the senses

Fancy:  the artistic ability of creating unreal or whimsical imagery, decorative detail; the breeding of animals to the point to develop beauty and excellence; ornamental, not plain

Dreamy: soothing, restful, serene

Adventurous:  inclined or willing to take part in adventures: full of risk, requiring courage, hazardous

Glorious: full of glory, entitled to great renown; brilliant, beautiful and magnificent (splendor) 

TONE 

Nonfiction, relaxed, colloquial 

Quotes, Phrases, etc.

"It is more magic." They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane stood Aslan himself.

"Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight

At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,

When he bears his teeth, winter meets its death

And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again." 

Perhaps is has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone said something which you don’t understand, but in the dream it feels as if it has some enormous meaning - either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again.
~ p141 (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)

She strove and she pleaded with cries all unheeded 

To go back and reign as a Narnian queen.

….But sparkling rivers, congenial beavers 

And ancient trees thickened with glistening snow 

Call to her softly, though her sister scoffs 

And claims 'twas a game that they played long ago. 

Yet she too was there, and she clung to His hair 

On the glorious morn when He conquered the grave. 

She too heard His roar and, as never before, 

Felt strong and compassionate, faithful and brave.

….With hope growing fainter, she's touched every painting 

And opened each wardrobe that she's come across. 

She's searched every station in deep desperation; 

Her spirit sags with a profound sense of loss. 

He told her to stay here and make her own way here, 

But it's not the haven it was way back when. 

Her true home lies hidden till a Storm - or a Kitten - 

Summons her back to her kingdom again.

- Lucy’s Lament (poem by Erin McCarty

“You have listened to fears, Child,” said Aslan. “Come, let me breathe on you. Forget them. Are you brave again?”
~ Aslan, p386 (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

“Offering a fresh perspective that allows readers to subtly discover God's love through the wide-open eyes of a child” – Erin McCarty

"It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy. "It's you. We shant meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?" 

"But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan. 

"Are -- are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund. 

"I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."

( The Voyage of Dawn Treader)

Book Covers

 

*White horse against the black  Background creates a very Strong contrast allowing the  Horse and arm to stand out. Eye drawing gold line leading 

To the tasteful type box. Good use of negative space.

*Type has very strong hierarchy and the lack of quotes and blurbs creates a great layout. The photo in the pupil is a little too much.

*The title is shuffled all over the Cover but is still very readable And interesting. Vibrant use of color.

*The flow of type and image may Contrast a bit too much. Very Good conceptual image design to the book. 

*Great use of mood through Photo. The type is a simple Touch and makes the over-all effect very pretty. Has A very successful color Palette. Questionable frilly Ornament.

Journal Entry #1

Book Cover Designers

                                                                  
Chip Kidd.....

Is a well known book cover designer who has designed who has designed over 1,500 book covers for very popular authors, from Michael Chrichton to John Updike.  He graduated from Penn State and went to work in the art department of Knopf and has been there ever since. After reading the book he begins to "visually solve the problem," which can take up to 10 minutes or 6 months.

                                                 

John Gall.....

Is the vice president and art director for Vintage and Anchor Books, the pictures above are his book cover designs. He studied art and design at the Rutgers University. His company designs about 200 book covers a year and he oversees all of it and 10%-20%  of the designing he does on his own. He likes to play with shallow three dimensional space and also a small set of classical typefaces.

Various Book Covers

  

   

All of these book covers have great interaction between the type and the image. They compliment each other very nicely. They are all very interesting to look at and grab your attention, which is always key with book covers.