As promised, here are the links to the discussions that erupted late last year about Adobe’s plans for their new icons and branding campaign surrounding the Spring ‘07 release of Creative Suite 3. Be sure to read both sides.

The Icons
Adobe (sort of) on the new icons (pro)
Dave Shea’s take (con)
Veerle’s take (pro)
Jason Santa Maria’s take (con)

What’s your take?

Follow-up:
Creative Process - questions/review

Housekeeping:
Turn in Assignment 5
Review the details of Assignment 6
Note that grades are in the grading system - see me if you feel there is an error

Theory:
Identity/Branding

Illustrator:
Pathfinder and complex shapes

Next week:
MIDTERM

..about what is due tomorrow.

Assignment 5, as you well know, is due at the beginning of class. You will be turning the file(s) in via the submit system we discussed last week. In other words, you’ll zip it up and upload it. The option to do so will not be available until just before the start of class, so bring the files with you and we’ll do it together at the start of class.

Also, please PLEASE refer to your notes about outlining all text within your Illustrator document. I want to see two (2) versions of your file(s): one with live text and one where all text is outlined.

And finally: chapters 4, 5, and 7 in our book have been assigned. Be sure you read them. You now own them.

Our Department Chair Curtis Larsen has posted information pertaining to a new scholarship opportunity. If you are interested in any way, shape, or form, please have a look here.

AND…

…don’t forget to get on over to Shari’s this week for some friendly academic advisement.

Thanks to all for coming and participating in a fairly grueling two-hour session on the creative process tonight. Jason over at our friendly site North Temple has a relevant post about presenting your work and communicating with clients that fits nicely with tonight’s conversation:

And the ability to stand in front of two or several dozen stakeholders and defend your design is one that is required anywhere design is critical (really anywhere you’re being paid for your design).

Read the whole of his thoughts (Is that giving his post too much credit? I doubt it’s really the whole of his thoughts. But I digress.) here. How do you think that the points Jason raises will affect - if at all -the design process as you move through it?

Taking Critique

Sharing your work will, by design, open you up to critique. The web’s illustrator Kevin Cornell has a perfect write-up that deals with getting and taking critique. A sample:

When you’re first learning to take criticism, it can be very painful to hear. While it’s important to be able to emotionally invest yourself in art to make it meaningful, it’s also important to learn how to disengage yourself from it. When someone is offering criticism about your art, try to remain calm and objective. Imagine you’re looking at someone else’s work.

Substitute the word “art” for “design” and the message still holds true. Read the whole article here.

The point? I believe there is a metric tonne of truth in these two articles. Read them. Again. And again. Internalize them and allow the precepts to influence you as you learn and apply the design process.

Follow-up:
Design Basics notes (pdf)

Housekeeping:
Updates to Assignment x
Questions on Assignment 5? Note the added logo.
Grading site stuff.

Theory:
Creative Process

Illustrator:
Outlining type
Pen tool review

Next Week:
Assignment 5
Read: Chapters 4 + 5

Follow-up:
CMYK
RGB
Spot Color
Pantone Matching System

Show color shift on ID badges

Hand back Assignment 3 and discuss (show three)

Pen tool questions?

Quick look at / turn in Assignment 4 via the submit page (https://submit.cs.dixie.edu/)

Theory:
-review Proximity and Alignment
-Repetition (with examples)
-Contrast

Illustrator:
Outline type (and why)
Questions for me?

Next:
Assignment 5
Assignment x

Some great stuff has come across the feeds this week –some of it even floating around the same theme on creativity. I hope you’ve taken the time to read and digest the articles; if not get reading. I suspect it will benefit you at the beginning of class.

Some have wondered about the turning in of assignment 4. Please bring the files with you to class. One of the first things we will do is walk through the process to submit files with the new file submission system.

See you tomorrow.

Follow-up from Week 3:
4 design limitations (they were?)
Hand back quiz and discuss
Grading

Week review / web conversations
anything of note (perhaps pertaining to Proximity or Alignment)?
Tooth Fairy
Turn in Assignment 3

Illustrator
Review of basics
Pen Tool 101
-Bezier Curves
-Basic Exercises (download files here)
-Review Assignment 4

Theory
Color: RGB/CMYK/Pantone/oh my!
Review P & A
Introduce Repetition (Hampton Inn materials)

For next week:
Assignment 4

Anyone looking at a printed message will be influenced, within a split second of making eye contact, by everything on the page: the arrangement of various elements as well as the individual look of each one. In other words, an overall impression is created in our minds before we even start reading the first word. It’s similar to the way we respond to a person’s presence before we know anything about him or her, and then later find it difficult to revise our first impression.

Erik Spiekermann, Stop Stealing Sheep