Primarily Design

About anything design

[primarilydesign]

How to work through Creative Block

Hello Friends!

As a artist and designer person, I have felt the strain of creative block. It always hits at the worst times and no matter what I can do, I feel I can't shake it. I spend so much time trying to get out of a creative slump that I end up wasting more time. I have to say, the best way I can work through a creative block is to walk away. Do something else. At the time it feels like I'm just wasting more time but it will make me think and see more. I could see something that will spark an idea and then another. Soon it's back on the crazy ride of creation!

Here are some tips on how you can work through your own creative block:

Walk away. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give up. If the idea isn't working, don't get stuck on it, start a new one.

Leave your desk. Get away for a while and do something fun and like draw some goofy characters or play with LEGOS.

Assess yourself wholly. Look to the root problem of what’s blocking you.

Stop avoiding. Pull up a chair and listen to what the Block has to say. Listen and learn from it. And then move on.

Face your fears, whatever they may be. Whatever it is you’re afraid of, do that thing. Even if it has nothing to do with creativity.

Do something completely unrelated to your discipline. If you’re a writer, paint. If a photographer, draw. And so on.

Move around. Kinesthetic learning has been proven to work.

Laugh out loud. No, I mean to literally laugh. Really cool stuff happens to you physiologically and mentally when you do this. In particular, it relieves stress.

Take a break from technology for a day. That’s right. Get off the Internet.

Dance in front of a mirror. (Why? Um, because it’s weird… and it gets your blood flowing… and it’ll probably cause you to do #8 uncontrollably.)

I hope these tips can help you find your way past the next block you get.

Happy Creating!

[primarilydesign]

Building designs

Well Hello Friends!

Ever wanted to know what would happen if famous artists designed their own houses? The artist Federico Babina created this series called Archist City, using the famous styles of the artists to create their own home.

See all 27 designs here. They are so believable I honestly wished they existed.

Happy Monday!

[primarilydesign]

Project Critique

Well, Hello Friends. there is a saying, an artist is never finished. It is the same for design. There is always more you can improve on is any piece. This week I spend a lot of time completing an Infographic project. I got the class and my professor to critique my poster. Even when I thought I was close to done, they all gave me useful feedback that pushed the poster to the final. Below is the poster before the critique but a few things were already changed.

The comments:

Check your Kerning

Like the clock hands in the O

Type change?

I like this green better (banner)

Add connecting lines in the hour glass graphic

Watch the colours

Try adding banners to the subtitles

Make the titles all in Caps

Again kerning

There is an awkward space (already fixed)

Intersecting lines (already fixed)

Shorten text

Texture background is something to think about

Print check the colours before final

Change colour of time management icons, make them brighter, stand out more.

Better type heiarchy

SPELL CHECK (I always forget this)

Change the white boxes at bottom to grey (already fixed)

Make the boxes circles

Add sources

All these comments were taken into consideration when reworking the poster. The final product came out so much better and I'm really proud of it. The final poster will be on here, I encourage you to take a look.

Happy Viewing!

[primarilydesign]

The Gravity Stool

Hello Friends! A classmate showed this video and I was more than fascinated! It combines magnet machine with the plastic material to create this work of art! The power of magnets and gravity give the seat it's unique shape. Jólan van der Wiel has gone out and made a new art form that is completely bizarre but all his own. Watch the original video HERE and learn more about him HERE.

Happy Wednesday!

[primarilydesign]

Rant: The Boyfriend

Well, Hello Friends!

This is me getting some stuff off my chest. Being in this program is hard to begin with. It's highly demanding of our time. We spend hours in the class room and any other free time working our tails off the get projects done. The pay off is so satisfying when we produce beautiful pieces. But all this dedicated time has a toll on our social life. I have lost connections with friends because I just don't have time to hang out. Once in a long while, I will take a night off to visit but it always bugs me that at the back of my mind, I'm still thinking about my homework and how I'm losing precious minutes. 

Now that for visiting friends for a few hours. What I struggle with most is my boyfriend. Off the bat, I spend all my time with him. We live together so there is no way around it. We are always together. Now during the summer and breaks, it's fun because we can spend that time together without worry. As soon as we are back to school, I feel my time should be devoted to my studies. He does not agree. We have fought time and again about this. He argues that I don't pay any attention to him for 8 months while in school, I argue back that I honestly can't due to the amount to time this program and projects take. It's an ongoing struggle for me to try to balance keeping him happy and working on my projects. 

It is so distraction having him take my attention away from my homework every bloody minute to stroke his 'wounded heart' because I don't pay attention. It is frustration when I try to explain to him I need ALL my freaking time to do my projects, because he just says all I do is 'doodle', so why does it take me 6 hours to finish anything. We get so heated and pissed off at each other.

Wow, I'm getting really worked up writing this so I think I'll stop it there. I really do love this guy. We will be dating for 6 years in a few weeks so we have to be doing something right. 

May you find peace of mind!

[primarilydesign]

LOOP is an innovative design studio based in Toronto, Canada, passionate about using design as a tool to generate positive change for businesses and our local community. LOOP works as a for-profit and a not-for profit organization at the same time. We use our skills as graphic designers to create eye-catching branding, web and interactive design solutions. Part of what we make from this flows into funding Urban Tag, our non-for-profit, community urban design project. Our studio, located in the heart of Toronto’s East end is where the magic comes to life.

Hello Friends!

I wanted to share this studio based in Toronto for all to see! Their mission statement is Design for Social Good. I've been looking into many causes for design when I found this studio. The site is beautifully designed of course so I encourage you visit it. I want to go visit this studio, but want I really want is to work there. I wonder if they will take interns.

Happy Designing!

[primarilydesign]

27 Ads That are Absolutely Brilliant.

Ad's Continued

Well, Hello Friends!

I blogged earlier about ads and commercials and how they are becoming an art form all their own. I linked to an article that shows some pretty awesome ads! They are funny, creative, powerful and like what I want to be able to do in the near future. I hope that I can create a memorable ad someday. These are just some of my favourites from the article.

Happy Viewing!

[primarilydesign]

Zim And Zou on Behance

Well Hello Friends!

I am please to share this studio Zim&Zou based in France. I found them on Behance and I was so fascinated that I just had to share it!

Lucie Thomas teamed up with Thibault Zimmermann to form Zim&Zou, a french studio based in Nancy that explores different fields including paper sculpture, installation, graphic design, illustration. The duo studied graphic design during 3 years. Rather than composing images on a computer, they prefer creating real objects with paper and taking photos out of them. A number of intricate illustrations actually come from the three-dimensional installations made by Zim&Zou. Their choice of paper is due to the versatility and good quality of the material, especially when it is sculpted and photographed. Zim&Zou's strength is to be a complementary and polyvalent duo.

The work they do is so mind boggling. I have worked with paper before so to see the extent they can go to makes my skills to match a preschooler. Not only do they create such complex items they use neon coloured paper that just grabs your eye.

There is so much out there. I am excited to see more and expand my inspiration pool.

Happy Viewing!

[primarilydesign]

Where does my Time go?

Well, Hello Friends!

We are taking on a new project about infographics. We are tasked to create our own with whatever idea we wish. I have chosen to create an infographic on what college students do with their time. I have found some useful research online but I wanted to get my own data.

So for a few days I tracked my own time usage. I am more than surprised at what I recorded. On an average 24 hour day: 

On an average day, I get about 7 and a half hours of sleep.

I spend 45 minutes getting ready for school (dressing, grooming, eating, packing my bag)

I drive for 30 minutes to get to school. Round trip that's an hour. Add in other errands I have to do after school. Add about another 30 minutes. 

I have class for 2 hours. Take a lunch break, 45 minutes. Class for another 4 hours.

So far this is about 16.6 hours of my day.

Finally get home, unwind for 30 minutes. Grab some dinner another 15 minutes. 

Internet browse for an hour.

Work on homework while watching movies or tv, about 4 and a half hours.  

One hour and some minutes getting ready for bed (cleaning up, shutting down, grooming again, reading)

That's my 24 hour day. That data is skewed day to day like if I have work or planned social outing. I find it's actually upsetting to see how much time I waste everyday. Example of this is say the 6 hours I am at school, how much of it am I actually doing my work? I find I'm surfing instead of working. This all helped in the process of my infographic, seeing how time is used and hopefully I can use this data to better time manage myself. 

Try this yourself, track your time and see where it goes.

Cheers!

[primarilydesign]

Public Survey

Well, Hello Friends!

I've been think about what Graphic Design actually is. But mainly what other people think it is. I wanted to know how much my family and friends understood about graphic design. I asked a few people two questions are recorded their answers

What is Graphic Design?

 Fine art put to work.

Anything that conveys an ideas, a feeling, that is useful in daily life BUT no 'fine art'

Telling a story through the use of images

Making thing pretty to the most people, also must please the commissioner

Making things that I can't. Like posters with large images you have made.

The creation of functional art usually for a commercial use. 

What do Graphic Designers do?

They create 'the look' that their clients wishes to convey to the buyer.

Come up with visually engaging images to attract a majority of attention.

Graphic Designers 'do' functional art. 

They doodle, and then magic happens to make that (points to Star Wars poster)

Make up shit to sell shit and make a 'shitload' of money (draws a poop) 

Their answers were for the most part pretty on the mark. Graphic Design is defined as the art or skill of combining text and pictures in advertisements, magazines, or books. Graphic Design essentially the art of communication using images, text, and space to visual tell a story. 

Happy Friday!

[primarilydesign]

Hello Friends!

A Valentines Day card I made in my illustration class. I'm so very happy with how it turned out.

Love you All!

[primarilydesign]

Alcohol Label, Pt 3 : Complete!

Well Hello Friends!

The Beer Label is DONE! The label has changed a bit since last week. From lots of critiques, feedback and help from some classmates the label has taken on its final form. The decision to add gold to the label gave it an extra punch. The process of adding the gold is to iron on this gold paper over printed ink spots so it transfers tot he label. I had a few trial and errors but it came out in the end. Here is the flat label art work.

The dark brown areas are where the gold is placed. Figuring out the content for the label was hard. I had to look at like 10 different bottles and cans to pin point what I needed to include. I added french because Colony is brewed in Canada. Original I wanted my label to be on a clear acetate but when mocking it up, that idea didn't pan out. The label couldn't be seen against the dark liquid in the bottle. So I printed my label on organic paper that had some grain to it. The final mock up I'm very proud of!

Presenting: Colony, Honey Flavoured Mead

It took so long and gave me a lot of pain but the end result is so rewarding! My desk on the other hand, needs to be cleaned (this was it Sunday night).

I need a nap. Happy Monday!

[primarilydesign]

Well, Hello Friends!

Lets chat about ads. Commercials have become such a daily bombardment that we are desensitized to their effect. Now companies are coming out with commercials that really grab the viewers attention. They have become artful, beautiful, whimsical, inspiring and mind boggling. All in the name of getting the viewers attention for about a minute. I've also seen that commercials are being shared online. People link others to an ad and it just spreads like wild fire. Which I assume is beneficial to the company. The way ads are created now shows the growth the industry is taking and I look forward to what is to come.

Here are a few other commercials that I find interesting.

Happy Viewing!

[primarilydesign]

Alcohol Label, Pt 2 : Progress

Well, Hello Friends!

Update on the Beer Label! I have been making a lot of progress. Through meetings and class discussion I have narrowed my ideas to down to three. Then after another talk with my professor I only pursued two ideas. Hive, a Honey Mead and Third Eye Absinthe. I began with sketches but quickly moved to the computer to get my ideas going.

From here, I decided to move forward with Hive or Colony. I got the name colony from research, due to Hive already being an existing whiskey product. One classmate said they found the name Colony had a negative connotation to it. Again with a meeting with my prof, I decided to stick with the name. I combined the two above label concepts to get these.

The bottom concept won out at this stage and more tweaking is needed. But I'm loving the direction this is going!

I rotated the text and kept the comb pattern. I'm started to figure out what is going on the back of the label. I think I'm going with a simple rectangle for the information on the back. 

I want to label to wrap around the bottle and connect, to match up to continue the pattern. Oh, and my bottle of choice for my Mead is a hexagon! Thanks to Dad for the bottle, it was original a rum bottle.

So here is where I am so far! Happy Wednesday!

[primarilydesign]

Photography Critique

Well, Hello Friends!

I took this photo for photography class. We are experimenting with different lighting for portrait photography. This lighting technique is called Rembrandt lighting. A triangle of light appears on the shadow side of the face just under the eye while the other side is lite up. My classmate was nice enough to let me photograph her. I love the shadows her shoulders cast. It's helpful to try out different styles to see what works for me. I'll keep experimenting as long has I have wiling subjects. 

Happy Shooting!

[primarilydesign]

Lettering | hand lettering

For another project this semester, working in group we are to create a typographic calendar. Hand lettering is not a strong suit for me but I am doing as much research and gathering as many resources to help me along the way. This site was linked to me by This Lovely Lady and I wanted to share it. It amazes me that people can create beautiful compositions with letters and fonts.

Happy Typography!

[primarilydesign]

Self Improvment

Well, Hello Friends!

Today I feel so proud of myself.

For a while now I've been wanting to try my hand at using a tablet. I have had one for a few year but have never gotten it out to play with it. I felt since so many of my classmates are using a tablet that I should get on the computer and learn myself.

I made it one of my semester goals to become more comfortable with it. So every now and then I pull it out and sketch. Doodles mostly but at least getting used to the tech.

Today for Illustration class, we were assigned a three hour editorial illustration to an article. I started with sketching out my idea on paper. Then I figured it's a good time as any! I ditched my pencil and went right to the computer. After two hours and twenty minutes, I finished my illustration and handed it in.

This was the finished product.

It's still pretty rough but its a huge leap for me!

Happy Tuesday!