Album Art

With the advent of digital music, I find myself more often than not downloading albums rather than going out and purchasing them. With a select few bands though (Muse, Jamiroquai, Green Day...) I still remain a dedicated fan and [usually] purchase the physical CDs when I get the chance. Anyway, here is some album art that I enjoy. :)


I like this cover of Radiohead's In Rainbows for the bold colors and large headlining type.



When Muse's (<3) Black Holes and Revelations came out I was overjoyed. The album artwork itself leaves some to be desired, but the subsequent artwork that was released for the various singles is exquisite!

Original Album:



Later artwork:

     

I was so in love with the above portrait of the band that I bought the poster, frame and all. It's absolutely lovely. :)

     

     


Beastie Boys' To the Five Boroughs has a cool package in that the digi pack folds out to reveal a super long, double-sided drawing of the East and West sides of NYC (one on either side) with the lyrics from the songs running throughout. Click the album cover below for more info:





Cake's album art has a very strong, distinct look to it. The band name is bold at the top with a vintage-looking illustration below.

     

     

Beck's The Information had a very clever twist to its package. The cover looks very simplistic with "Beck" on the front and a light blue-on-white grid paper look for the background. When you open the package though, behind the seemingly plain insert is a fold-out sheet of stickers you can use to decorate the insert yourself! I used a few on sketchbooks and such, but sadly never actually used them on the CD insert. I should get a jump on that!

Click for more info:

On my search for images of album art, I found this awesome website that showcases different musicians' album artwork and gives in-depth info on the designs. Very cool!

Sleevage.com

Dreaming

I have a few recurring dream themes, one of which is the "teeth falling out" dream that it seems a lot of other people have too. Another one is that I accidentally eat meat. Mind you, I went vegetarian over a year ago, but I get these weird dreams where I "slip up." Anyway, I wanted to create an illustration that combined these two themes and this is what I came up with:

Collecting

I think it's in my genes to collect or hold onto things that I probably have no use for. For example, I collect matchbooks whenever I'm out somewhere, though I rarely use them for anything since I don't smoke & don't burn incense or candles very often. I just think they're neat since they're little pieces of design. :)

I've also been collecting vintage suitcases in hopes that one day I will find a use to make out of them. I've wanted to paint/decorate them and maybe resell them. I also found that really cool website where someone made amps/speaker boxes out of them.

I also collect cool/interesting event flyers. Working at a print shop, I print out a lot of flyers for different people. I usually make myself an extra copy if I especially like the design. I've collected so many and I've been meaning to put them up on my wall in some decorative fashion. I've only managed to hang up a couple though.

Another thing I collect is business cards. As with flyers and matchbooks, they are another form of design and I like to keep ones that I find attractive.

Calendar Tweaking

After talking with Stan I found a stronger direction with which to take my calendar. I came back to my earlier design of using the type in different arrangements for each month. It was more visually appealing to me, but still needed a little something extra. So, each month one of the items will be highlighted and it will include some info about that item; e.g. how to cook it, health benefits, facts, etc.

T-shirt designs

My favorite place to buy shirts is Threadless.com. I have SO many T-shirts from there, I have to refrain from going crazy every time they have a sale. Here are some of my favs that I've collected:

Flickrrrr

In case you didn't already know, I have a Flickr account that I've been keeping up with for a while now, check it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christinerivera/

Typography Calendar

So the idea I'm working with for the calendar is a 13-month seasonal produce calendar for the Southeast U.S. that informs the user of what produce is in season for each month. My first idea was to use the names of the fruits & veggies in different type arrangements with the dates for each month being on a separate page, so it would be a 2-page vertical spread suitable for a wall calendar:







After doing a few months' layouts, I was afraid that this would get too repetitive/boring. So then I tried a more illustrative approach, which would end up making each month a single-page layout:

I'm unsure of what might work better. Any suggestions?

Typography Cut-out Calendar

Click me

Typestaches

I thought this was an interesting idea that could be related to our type calendar project.

Creative Calendar Design

Click on each link/photo to read more.

Simple Numbers, Complicated Dates: 49 Innovative Calendars

Each week I feel as though I must check in at/with…

If you don't know by now that I'm a webcomic nerd, then let me reiterate: I am a webcomic nerd. Therefore, I have an ever-growing list of comics that I check in with multiple times a week. My favorites are:

• Octopus Pie
• Questionable Content
• Wapsi Square
• Brightest
• Girls With Slingshots
• Nedroid Picture Diary

Among others. :)

I also try to check in often with my classmates' blogs throughout the week. As lame as it sounds, I'm always on Facebook too, but besides e-stalking I sometimes come across interesting articles/websites/videos that my friends post on there, and I can share with them the things that I find interesting as well.

I didn't realize it until now, but another place I frequent often is the coffee shop across the street from my job, Joe's in East Atlanta Village. Whenever I go there I usually scan through their massive wall of flyer postings for shows and whatnot. Some of the posters are pretty well designed, others are more bizarre.

Reading Material

The following are some art/graphic design-related publications I've collected over the years. Ellen Lupton's works are obviously a favorite of mine. :)

One: Color by Paul Zelanski & Mary Pat Fisher - A great resource concerning color theory and more. It explains four color process printing, the psychology of color, the use of color in different artistic practices, etc.

Two: CMYK Magazine - I recently picked up an issue of CMYK Magazine (as it was one of the lesser-priced art magazines!) which showcases new creatives.

Three: How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy - I just purchased this a couple weeks ago. Haven't gotten a real chance to sit down and read through it, but I like what I've read so far. :)

Four: Graphic Design Theory, Editor Helen Armstrong - A lovely collection of writings from then and now concerning the theory of graphic design with a wide range of topics. In my art history classes I always found the theory behind artwork to be the most fascinating part.

Five: Graphic Design That Works (Rockport Publishers) - A collection of examples of successful design, ranging from logo design to magazine layouts to promotional and identity design. A good book to glean inspiration from.

Six: Design It Yourself (D.I.Y.) by Ellen Lupton - Nothing beats real, hand-made d.i.y. work. This books gives approachable tips on how to go about designing and physically creating various things from books, zines, notecards, coasters, t-shirts, CD packaging, and more.

Seven: Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton - This was actually the required textbook for my Intro to Typography class. Gives you the history, technical terminology and practical usage of type, as well as showing examples of unique type treatments.

Wine Bottle Mock-ups

It's all coming together! I haven't been this excited about a project for a while. Here are some photos of the mock-ups I've been working on (click for larger view):


(Sorry for the low-res quality, these were taken with my cell phone.)

Boxy

It's getting down to the wire, but I'm trying to not get too stressed out. I'm nearing the home stretch on this project, the bottle is basically all done so the main thing I'm trying to complete is the box. Here is what I'm going with for the box design:

This is the front of the box with the diecut circle in the center of the record revealing the label of the bottle

The record image is going to stretch over onto the side panels, adding visual interest and giving it more of a 3-dimensional feel. For the back I'm thinking a really simple type treatment and incorporating another photo of a stack of records.

I'm almost there, wish me luck!

Fonts fonts fonty fonts

Just wanted to post some font sites that I found during my internet travels lately.

Free Font Sites:

Stereo Type

Font Squirrel

Just My Type


Type Porn – 20 websites for font, letter and symbol enthusiasts (lists more pay & free sites)

This font reminded me of the "font babies" exercise that we did in class: Fusion

Many examples just like our illustrated type project: Hand Made Font

Re-Working the Label

I searched through some more fonts trying to find something more appropriate. I really liked this one called "Wild Ride." I think it still says "retro" and "fun" without being too over-the-top. I also tried a couple different colors and one without the extra half-circle details.

Better?

Wine Label -- Roadblock!

Argh, I need help on this. I'm trying to go for a vintage look, obviously, on the label for my bottle, but not sure if I'm beating a dead horse or if this actually looks ok. Any suggestions?