field/trip

Last Thursday I was able to tour a printing company in Chattanooga, TN called Williams Printing Company. They are a large company with on site-printing and graphic designers.  Our tour guide, Bubba Williams was generous and took time out of his schedule to give up-and-coming graphic designers a peak into the printing world.  He first introduced us to the company and then took us on a tour. Once on the tour, we stopped by the graphic design department and then we were off to see how the image on computer comes to life on paper. The company has a vast range of printing techniques such as digital pre press, lithographic printing, silkscreen printing, finishing/binding and I was able to see each kind of printing. I was amazed by the whole process and was thankful the tour was so in-depth because it allowed me to learn real life experience instead of reading about the process. I am a visual learner so this experience was far more beneficial than reading on my own. Williams Printing will print, bind, and package whatever type of job needed. The last stop we made on the tour was the die-cut area… now this stuff gets me excited. I wish I could meet the woman/man who invited die cutting because it has revolutionized cards, advertisement, and paper products. I didn’t realize die-cut was all around me… even fast food restaurants use die cuts to emphasize each layer of a hamburger. It is mind-blowing if one sits down and realizes how die cutting has invaded the printing process.

In all, Williams Printing Company was so generous in giving UTC students a tour and I am thankful for this experience.

my own book

For the next project in Process and Materials for Graphic Design I have the opportunity to design a real book. In previous graphic design courses I have designed book covers and designed 10 page books, but this time I am designing a book and sending it off to be professionally bound. I will be sending it to LuLu.com and it will consist of my own design for the cover, content page, and two page layouts. The book will be a printer guide of different printing companies in Chattanooga and larger companies outside of Chattanooga. Each student will be responsible for designing a page for each printer they were assigned (each student was assigned two printers). For an example, I was assigned Silk Screen Printing Company in Dalton GA and Modern Way Printing Company in Chattanooga so each printing company will have there own page. So once I was given the assignment, I decided to research what makes a successful book cover. Since a book cover sets the mood for the book it needs to relate to the content within the book. The color will either attract the viewer’s attention or cause the viewers eyes to hurt. Text placement, legibility and size will also help or hurt the cover. There are so many elements that can cause a book cover to go from good to bad. The content inside might be insightful and amazing but if the book covers are not successful then the chances of someone picking up the book is slim.

the newspaper business

On Thursday I was introduced to the newspaper business. For years, I have been receiving the Chattanooga Times Free Press and have always been curious of how the newspaper process worked. At last my questions were going to be answered. When I first arrived I was greeted with our tour guide, Frank Anthony, who was very knowledgeable and excited about the printing process. He was filled with information from the beginning of printing all the ways to the present time of printing. The tour began by explaining how the printing process has evolved and showed the class linotype machines. It is important to know where we have been in the printing process to appreciate were we are now. All too often, printers and computers are taken for granted and it is nice to step back and marvel at the machines that brought us to modern day computers/printers. Next, we were taken to Advertisement, then off to Editors. The building in which Chattanooga Times Free Press is in has old architecture which means old brick is exposed and apart of the wall and the wood floors are still the same. The floors are unique and dated due to stains from the old machines used to type/print. It adds to the character of the building. Next, was the printing process. The machines which produced the thousands upon thousands of newspaper copies were massive and impressive. For each machine at the newspaper, there is a back up machine incase the machines breaks down. Times Free Press uses CMYK colors. This process can be confusing to some but it is simple. First cyan is printed, then magenta, then yellow, then lastly black. Together this makes a four color print.

 

In all, the field trip to Chattanooga Times Free Press was enjoyable and I came away with very useful information.

marketing tool: brochures

Currently in my professional practice class I am in the process of creating a guide/brochure for our client.  Brochure can be a useful tool for a perspective audience but it is imperative to put together the brochure in a cohesive readable format. From the top of my head brochures need to flow, have hierarchy, and get to the point. First, the information needs to be quick and to the point. The target audience does not wish to read a whole paragraph just to the main point; bullets can be useful in achieving this. Also, hierarchy is key. If the client wants a major point to be made through the brochure, then it should be one of the first things mentioned. It is important for the brochure to have a cohesive flow because the audience does not wish to continually flip the brochure over and over to get the information straight. It is not wise to have the audience come away from reading to brochure with more questions than before.

 

All brochures seem to have the same dimensions and can become mundane to the audience. It is nice to spice up the brochure by introducing a new element… the size. This element can attract a viewer and lure them into your product verses another brochure. Color is a good bonus as well, but be wise with color choices. Bright, explosive colors can hurt the viewer’s eye and deter them all together. Subtle, easy-on-the-eye colors are more in line with what the viewers wish to see.

 

In all, brochures can be an effective marketing tool but when used wrong, they look horrible. So, be wise and cautious when designing a brochure. Makes sure it’s a creative and well crafted work of art.

Press Release

As the semester has progressed, one of my classes, Professional Practice, has broadened my appreciation for professionals. I have learned an abundance of information and one of them was learning how to write a press release. A group in my class is devoted to writing the press release but even though I am not writing the release it is important for me to understand the basics. So the basics… what is a press release? The purpose of a press release is to give journalist, editors, or reporter’s information that is interesting, accurate, and useful. A press release can be tricky because journalists receive a lot of releases in a day and they have set standards in order to have the release read. If it does not conform to the standards then the releases are sometimes thrown out. A release should be written in third person about a particular event, service, or product. They are usually sent by email, fax or the old fashion way by the postal service.

 

So what does a press release look like? There is a simple format to follow, first at the top of the page in the left hand corner is the contact information, name, telephone, and email. In the top right hand corner usually sits the statement FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Skip one or two lines and the main title of the press release are in all upper case then the subtitle goes under with title case. The main title is very important because the reporter is not interested in helping you make money he/she is looking for an interesting story for his readers and for his editor. In the headline, you want to state the most exciting news with as few words as possible. Next is the subhead, this is where you can further hook the reporter. All elements of the press release are important and should not be overlooked. This is only a quick look at press release; there is more information on this websites:

http://www.lunareclipse.net/pressrelease.htm

A New Adventure

In my process and Materials class, we got to embark on a surprise field trip to Paper Plus in Chattanooga, TN. I have never been to a printing/paper company and so I did not know what to expect, but it was the most interesting and intriguing experience. Upon arrival, the company had over 20 sample books of paper products sold in there store and the company was more than willing to give out the books. This was like Christmas… first, I love paper. At home I have boxes from childhood of paper still stored away. I love every quality of paper from the smell to the uniqueness of the paper; there seems to be no two alike. After I acquired enough paper samples, I was brought back to reality and was greeted by Alex Brock, a sales assistant. He was kind enough to give us almost an hour of his time and explain the printing process and the different kinds of paper in there store. The store was filled with many different kinds of paper, some made across seas and some made in the United States. Each paper comes in different weights, sizes, and colors. I was soaking up all this information and it was very intriguing. One enlightening experience was when he explained the grain direction in paper. This plays a significant role in the printing process. Grain direction comes in two types, long grain and the short grain.  The long grain is the grain direction of the paper and this runs in the same direction as the longest length of the paper. The short grain refers to the direction of the paper that runs in the same direction as the shortest length. For example, if you have a paper that is 8 ½ by 11, then the grain length would run the distance of 11.

 

In all the field trip was very interesting and informative. I came away with a better understand of paper and the printing process. I appreciate Paper Plus in Chattanooga for taking time out of their day and enlightening young designers.

 

For more information on Paper Plus visit them at http://www.paperplus.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Client Presentations

So what makes a successful client presentation? This has been one of my main thoughts today because one is coming up for me. This Tuesday I will be presnting my design to a room full of clients. I have made presentation before to clients in Interior Design but not for Graphic Design. I was before a panel of judges and I had to present a architecture blue print that I had been working on for 2 months. It was intense and I was nervous. But those experiences are good because they prepare you for what’s next. So back to the question, what makes a good presentation? In my opinion and this is backed up from research I compiled. First, the first impressions are critical. Not to be judgmental, but how one dresses does make an impact. The clients will take the designer serious if the designer takes herself/himself seriously.  How one uses their language is critical. It is important to think before you talk and not say “um” too many times.

 

It is important to give the information needed and not to overload the client with details. If the client is being presented with a new logo then they do not want to hear the designer ramble on about unnecessary details. It is also key for the designer to know their clients very well. To be able to read them and give them what they want.

 

As one site said that I came across in my research said to look at each presentation as a opportunity and not a threat. Be confident in yourself and in the product/design you are selling.

 

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/04/23/45542/how-to-make-great-presentations.html

Printing Process

The printing process has exploded into something huge.  Printing has evolved from handwriting to letterpress done by Guttenberg all the way to the present age of offset lithography. To my understanding, offset lithography is done by almost every commercial printer. The printing process is sometimes hard to understand but there are areas which are easier to comprehend. So how does offset lithography work? Well words and art are placed on plates which are then dampened first by water and then by ink. The ink will adhere to the area where the image is and the water adheres to the non-image area. Next, the image is transferred onto a rubber blanket and then onto the paper. Even though this process is done by a large majority of printers, there are still lots of different options for printing. Here is a list of just a few:

                -engraving

                -thermograph

                -reprographics

                -digital printing

                -letterpress

                -screen

                -flexography

                -gravure

In my years as a Graphic Design student, I have seen a few of these processes done in person. Each printer is an amazing machine which can reproduce something from the computer to your hand. Some of the machines for the printing process are enormous, especially the offset printer. The paper that is fed through this printer can be up to 2000 pounds (1 ton) but after the printing the paper is cut to size. Each roll can supply 72,000 printed pages. This would blow Guttenberg’s mind and it is truly a work of art. (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/offset-printing4.htm)

A hit or a miss

What makes a good logo? For my professional practice class, each student is designing a logo for an up and coming project. There are a lot of dynamics that can make a logo look horribly wrong but there are designs which are very successful. A logo is a defining source of identity for companies and in order to have a successful one it must be powerful and memorable. In the beginning logos are usually associated and put with a companies name but once the symbol/logo becomes popular or highly used then the symbol/logo can stand alone. For example, take the company Nike. It has been around for awhile and has become very successful in the shoe/clothing industry. At one time the swoosh symbol was used with the text NIKE but once the symbol became identified and could stand alone then if anyone saw a swoosh symbol there thoughts automatically went to Nike. Logos for business can take months to create. There are a lot of roughs, revisions, and going back to the drawing board to create a successful logo. If the logo is successful, then the company can make a good profit and if the logo is unsuccessful the company can become second best or worse. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there and logos are imperative and need to be a top priority for companies. For example, the project I am working on right now, I have made over 100 different versions and ideas for a logo. It’s a rewarding process and I realized how much I enjoy creating logos.

Color…a powerful tool

For the next project in Process and Materials for Graphic design, I was assigned a word pair, Old/New, and from the word pair pictures were to be taken to depict the words.  I am supposed to have two different sets of pictures to depict the word pair relationships. For my first set, I decide that my subject would be light bulbs. I took an up-close picture of an old light bulb with the light off then I turned the light on and switched the light out for a compact fluorescent bulb.  In my mind, when I think about old and new I associate the past and present. So in defense of my composition, I chose a subject that had a past and a present. I relate the light bulb being turned off with something in the past that has already happened/ passed and a light bulb being on with something new and happening that instant.  

 

After the pictures were taken, I put the pictures in a 5×5 picture plan and created six different variations of the picture. I used different colors in my variations such as grayscale, duotone; color compliments, and adjusted the colors using curves and levels. Changing the colors within the pictures can dramatically alter an images meaning. Once I changed the original image from color to a duotone, a sepia look appeared. It allowed the image to become a whole different creature.  Color is a powerful tool and needs to be used carefully or else things can go wrong.