The design thread

[Guest]

oh thank god. i thought me asking to see your work was going to turn into another Paracosm fiasco.

 

-beer bottle keyhole for the win

 

-i dig the second variation of the leamy alone design

 

-just all around solid work on #worstfriends, grandprix, and the ink wedding invites.

 

-and abovetheearth... YOU SELL OUT

[Guest]

My education is about the exact opposite as yours.  I went for Offset Printing, and Design and Copy Prep classes were a part of it but it was all designed to be industry specific.  I went right as Adobe In-Design was starting to become huge, but Quark Xpress was still primarily being used in the Printing Industry.  I never finished the degree due to not taking a handful of general education classes.  After a couple years I was going to go back and finish them up, but all the core classes expired.  Something like 40 of 48 credits were no longer valid.

Running press is a solid job, and you get to be active all day.

all our press guys make a very nice living. (none of them went to college)

[abovetheearth]

yeah. i sold out. first and LAST TIME!! i was feeding a horrible addiction.

[partysmasher]

credit union advertising. we work with credit unions around the country building their brand and designing promotions for them. We do all the printing here also, which is an awesome thing to witness. I don’t know how many of you have seen a 4 color press before, but that thing is terrifying.

 

I still get crazy nervous before I send something to press. Especially larger quantity things. The last mailer i did went out to over 30,000 people. One text error on it... and we lose a ton of money.

 

I'm art editor at a national magazine, 30k sales each week and it's down to me to design the cover and make sure the right barcode is on there... seriously. I mean, it gets checked before we send it to the printers but until it's weds evening and no one has emailed saying they can't scan the new issue at the tills, it's always in the back of my mind.

[Shitty Rambo]

Looks like you can buy custom logos on fiverr.com. Some of youse guise should do that.

[abovetheearth]

anyone working on anything cool?

[bgdesign]

Working for ESPN this week for a NASCAR event in Chicago.

[BuzzersonKillwell]

I'd really like a crack at redesigning their fantasy app. The web app. 

 

Put in a good word for me out there.

[Guest]

nothing cool, just weird.

we do political campaigns sometimes, we’re working on one for Michael D. Balls right now. we’re all so tired we laugh at it every time.

also I once got an email from [email protected]

[abovetheearth]

thats helario.

 

im just doing labels today.

 

the ESPN gig sounds Rad™

[BuzzersonKillwell]

What is the slogan of the Balls campaign?

[Guest]

everyone keeps designing logos that involve ovals for the balls campaign. his slogan is something about removing blight.

[Guest]

Mr. Balls was in here today, quoted as saying ‘we need balls on city council’

[BuzzersonKillwell]

APPROVED! 

 

How quickly can we get that on buttons and mugs?

[futures]

I came in here SO SURE that you guys were talking about Zoolander.

Then I recalled it's Ballstein.

[David The Gnome]

I'm doing some simple stylized portrait illustrations for my theory of personality final project vs writing an 8 page paper. I trip over simplifying the human nose every. single. time. 

[Guest]

could someone help me out with a tshirt design? it's fairly simple, i'm just oblivious at anything digital.

[FangsAnalSatan]

So for a college assignment I have to design a retro beer label - give me your opinions on mine so far.

[abovetheearth]

theres a great font called '1942 Report' that is grittier that would make that courier or typewriter font look authentic...not as clean.

 

go to dafont.com

 

http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=1942 (specific font..add an outline to bold her up)

 

maybe just do the private rank (single chevron) so it can be more your own art (unless you did this one)

 

add comma after foot. Little Foot, Michigan

 

overall a good start.

[videogamesandvinyl]

Your beer label looks cool, dude!

[BuzzersonKillwell]

I'd work on refining that typography. There is a lot of competing emphasis going on that is wreaking a little havoc on readability and hierarchy. 

 

You've got your "Pilsner" label in a pretty bright primary color, as well as a container, and it is all caps, and you are using a another outlined primary. That is A LOT of emphasis for what I'd argue is the least important element. I'd entertain the notion that "Pilsner" is really important as it best describes the beer type, but my logic is people who've had it won't need that designator, and in most other scenarios, such as menus, it'll be included anyway. In retail scenarios it'll may also be included within additional packaging. I'm remove a lot of the emphasis that distracts from the other branding elements.  

 

Moving up to to the First Class, a lot of the same critique can apply. You've used all caps, on a path with two drop shadows, one in a color (yellow) and one using the same red within outlines. The emphasis seems more appropriate here, but I think the execution can be refined.

 

Hard to give feedback on the Private without knowing exactly what it is. Is that the brewery, or is this brewery's pilsner called "Private First Class". Is the image also beer specific, with each theoretical label having a different image, say a different illustration called "Paratrooper Porter" or something? A little more context and I could give more specific feedback on visual hierarchy. 

 

I probably wouldn't use as broad of a palette personally, I'd use one or two more neutral and pick one of those stronger colors to be my contrast. That might be a little subjective. Objectively, if you do want to keep all the colors in play for the brand I'd try to find a little more harmony. Reference attached below.

 

Last little bit, I'd personally reduce the size of the ABV and the volume and probably stack them both to achieve a little more symmetry. So 5.5% above ABV and 355 above ML. That may not work, just thinking out loud. 

 

Don't mistake this critique as a negative, this is a strong start and concept! Feel free to challenge any and all of that, would be happy to hear a rebuttal. 

 

 

EDIT: Just saw you were looking for opinions and not necessarily a critique. If you just wanted an opinion consider mine "Solid start."  

[Guest]

 

this was sent to me to print a few days ago. I usually don’t like making fun of things clients design themselves but this one is out of control. it’s a 28 page book full of this stuff.

[futures]

Oh noooo.

 

This is the direct result of "Hey, why hire a professional when you can just do it yourself?"

[BuzzersonKillwell]

 

this was sent to me to print a few days ago. I usually don’t like making fun of things clients design themselves but this one is out of control. it’s a 28 page book full of this stuff.

 

[Guest]

I'd work on refining that typography. There is a lot of competing emphasis going on that is wreaking a little havoc on readability and hierarchy. 

 

You've got your "Pilsner" label in a pretty bright primary color, as well as a container, and it is all caps, and you are using a another outlined primary. That is A LOT of emphasis for what I'd argue is the least important element. I'd entertain the notion that "Pilsner" is really important as it best describes the beer type, but my logic is people who've had it won't need that designator, and in most other scenarios, such as menus, it'll be included anyway. In retail scenarios it'll may also be included within additional packaging. I'm remove a lot of the emphasis that distracts from the other branding elements.  

 

Moving up to to the First Class, a lot of the same critique can apply. You've used all caps, on a path with two drop shadows, one in a color (yellow) and one using the same red within outlines. The emphasis seems more appropriate here, but I think the execution can be refined.

 

Hard to give feedback on the Private without knowing exactly what it is. Is that the brewery, or is this brewery's pilsner called "Private First Class". Is the image also beer specific, with each theoretical label having a different image, say a different illustration called "Paratrooper Porter" or something? A little more context and I could give more specific feedback on visual hierarchy. 

 

I probably wouldn't use as broad of a palette personally, I'd use one or two more neutral and pick one of those stronger colors to be my contrast. That might be a little subjective. Objectively, if you do want to keep all the colors in play for the brand I'd try to find a little more harmony. Reference attached below.

 

Last little bit, I'd personally reduce the size of the ABV and the volume and probably stack them both to achieve a little more symmetry. So 5.5% above ABV and 355 above ML. That may not work, just thinking out loud. 

 

Don't mistake this critique as a negative, this is a strong start and concept! Feel free to challenge any and all of that, would be happy to hear a rebuttal. 

 

 

EDIT: Just saw you were looking for opinions and not necessarily a critique. If you just wanted an opinion consider mine "Solid start."  

 

I would've loved having you in my classes jefferson. Most of the people I went to school with offered almost nothing during critiques.