Michelle's Design Blog

what is it about coffee?

melkin11 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:17:18 +0000

From Starbucks to McDonald’s, the coffee industry has exploded. This of course is not anything new, I just wanted to share my thoughts on it. When I think of coffee this is what comes to my mind: drinking coffee, sitting with friends drinking coffee, caffeine, staying awake, coffee houses, cafe’s, making turkish coffee on my stove, mmmm….. coffee! Yes I am a lover of coffee, and being a college student it has helped me through some tough times, especially staying up all night designing last-minute for projects or studying for finals.

Back to my point though, McDonald’s has created McCafe’ and Dunkin’ Donuts are promoting their coffees. Not only are the coffee shops selling “quality” coffee anymore, but according to the fast food restaurant promotions they sell premium quality coffees as well. I put it in quotations because I couldn’t tell you whether it is quality or not, I don’t have that knowledge. I do know that they are competing with the already established Starbucks and all the other coffee shops already existing. And notice the design on the cups you drink out of. In my eyes they are designed to look sophisticated. Take McDonald’s, your $1 menu leader has a special cup designed just for their coffee beverages.

There is a status of being a coffee drinker, the cool, artsy, hip, sophisticated, intellectual person. And I think McDonald’s is trying to catch that person with their McCafe’ beverages and sophisticated design of the cup.

On the other hand Dunkin’ Donuts is doing a great job advertising to the people who just want to grab a cup of joe and go. I like their spin on the status of coffee shops.

I’m curious to see what design trends will follow this coffee craze, from commercials to cups.

my answer: alexey brodovitch

melkin11 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:09:40 +0000

In my graphic design history class I learned a whole new section of history. The history of type, designers, the schools and of course the trends and evolution of graphic design. One of the many designers we studied included Alexey Brodovitch, his name alone drew my attention. I could tell that he was Russian, and with that I wanted to know more about him. Raised in a Russian background myself, I am drawn to anything connected to my culture.

Brodovitch’s page layouts were my favorite. He flows the type alongside images, creating beautiful white space, and has an amazing eye for typography. Here are some examples of his work with Harper’s Bazaar.

So when asked what designer from the past would I want to work with, my answer is without question Alexey Brodovtich and this would be my cover letter to him.

what’s the use of print anymore?

melkin11 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:38:06 +0000

A trend in design that I have taken notice to is digital advertising. From billboards to mall advertisements, things that were only done as print advertising before are taking new forms. I feel as though everything is going digital, and design is following that trend.

Although I feel that billboards are distracting as it is, I find the digital billboards more appealing. I wanna see what they are showing, or what advertisment will be shown next. I think all designers enjoy poking fun at the poorly designed billboards, now you can see multiples on one with digital advertising. I think overall the digital billboards show more well designed advertisments.

There are many design firms offering these services. You don’t see too many digital billboards in St. Louis yet, but Lumiere Casino has a great one outside the establishment, and I’ve seen one or two others along I70. I like the way Aeneas Group shows their mock-up of digital advertising.

I also like the use of digital advertising in malls. I think it is very effective! When I’m shopping and I walk by a digital advertisment, I have to stop to look and see what its showing. If they’re showing what stores are having sales at times, I’m there!

my online portfolio is up and running!

melkin11 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:19:30 +0000

I’ve included a wide range of my design work showing a few pieces in each.

You can view it at

michelleelkin.carbonmade.com

Enjoy!

help me! i have designer’s roadblock!

melkin11 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:14:11 +0000

When I’m stuck or getting started on a project I like to take a step back and browse the web to free my mind. When I need inspiration to help get me out of any roadblocks, or help with ideas for a project whether it be research or imagery I always google it first and see where I can branch off from there.

When it comes to imagery, my favorite image bank is probably iStockphoto, I’ve used the site as a resource for imagery on numerous projects. I have trouble finding images I need in free stock photography websites; so I prefer searching iStockphoto, where I’ll usually find what I’m looking for and I don’t mind paying for the rights to use the imagery. I also like how the home page of the website shows previews of pictures that are in stock.

Another website I often use for research purposes is the AIGA website. I really enjoy reading their articles and feel that the information they have on design and designers is a reliable source. Plus whenever I go on the site I can’t help myself from browsing through it, it has a great visual appeal that makes me want to see more and read more!

i don’t wanna grow up!

melkin11 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:29:00 +0000

First of all let me say, the design of this After School Special: Advice for Emerging Designers is awesome! Which it would be coming from the AIGIA website, but the interactive aspect of it made it fun to read. The advice is great, but too much for me to comment on as a whole because it’s broken down into individual issues. So my comments on it will be broken down as well, let me credit Michael Crane for the idea!

The opening paragraph is great, it’s so true too! After getting started with my graphic design degree I was told that you can go anywhere and design anything. I couldn’t believe it! It is so true, we are involved in one of those amazing industries that any environment you would like to work for is available in graphic design! From your home to big fancy corporation, whatever you like.

When it comes to theory and practice, my teachers have warned me. Once school is out, the clients will eat you alive, if you let them. Well, not that bad, but I think all the teachers I’ve had for art and design classes do a good job on touching up on what the real world has to offer you. You’re not designing for class projects anymore, you’re designing for a client. Dealing with customers, especially the ones that make you really wanna grind your teeth, are humbling to me. Granted my customers are dining at a restaurant while I wait on them at my job. The idea is, I’ve learned that you can take every experience you live and learn something from it!

Developing great habits taught me something new! I’m always trying to break my old habits, such as procrastination, and after five years of trying I’ve barely budged to not procrastinate as much. But the idea to create new habits, which is easier than breaking old ones is great! I suppose the blonde in me never thought of it that way… So I’ll work on creating smaller new habits to break my big old habit without directly focusing on my old one!

Be Positive! I agree! I work very hard to stay as optomistic as possible in life in general! Carpe Diem! I do notice that I am able to enjoy life and take in the little things that my more pessimistic friends can’t.

Learn to write… Ugh, my biggest frustration! When I decided to double major with marketing, writing papers in my business classes came right along with it. I have trained myself to not be so intimidated by writing anymore, and I’m surprisingly starting to enjoy it. I know writing is not my greatest strength, but I will not let it stay a weakness. I feel that with my double major I will be able to understand both sides of graphic design, the art and design side along with the business point of view. I really enjoy that!

To work harder than anyone else, now that does intimidate me. But then again, that’s why I chose my two majors, because I enjoy them, both of them, and I usually am eager to learn what my instructors have to teach me that session.

Ignore the naysayers. Well put and said, I think those three words are pretty powerful, I have learned to be more confident in my work and stand up for it, because I designed it, and I designed it that way for a reason! If you don’t like it, that’s your problem! I’m happy to move on.

Make it better! Aaah, story of my life. My favorite stage of the design process is revision! I love to nitpick and focus on all the tiny little details, I could spend hours on that and enjoy every bit of it!

Get involved, it’s true! If I worked on my projects alone, without my peers and friends, I would get no where. I love the input, ideas, and criticisms that my classmates share with me. They always help no matter how negative, you learn from it. Seeing my classmates different approaches to design inspires me. Their input inspires me to make my projects the best they can be.

Be kind. Rewind. My first reaction to that heading. I love the idea of people coming with different points of views. My mind is a parachute and what other people think and believe fascinates me. I’ll listen to what someone might have to say, I might not agree with it, but to understand why they think that way, I put myself in their shoes and make sense of it.

Have Passion, like it to my blurb about being positive. I have the same reaction!

Don’t Lie. Ha! Not a problem for me, I could never be an actor because I am the worst at lying. Plus I’ve always been a very honest person, and I never feel the need to lie. If I was in the wrong, I’m aware that there are consequences. I was always taught to be honest, and so far it has done nothing but help me!

and the beat goes on…

melkin11 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:36:31 +0000

Aaaah, my inspiration! Hands down is music. I can truly say that I love all forms of music in one way or another. No matter what mood I’m in, it always settles my mind! Whether I’m happy, angry, stressed, anxious, or sad, I can always depend on the sounds of music to help me.

I was named Michelle after the Beatles song “Michelle, my bell.” Awesome I know, trust me I hated it growing up. My dad was a musician in his younger years, playing his guitar back in Gomel, Belarus. One of his favorite groups, as well as my mother’s, is the Beatles. I was raised speaking Russian and am heavily influenced by the culture. The traditional music is so beautiful to me, along with the new contemporary music trends in Russia (although they are heavily influenced by western music nowadays). Here is a link to one of my favorite Russian songs:

It’s been covered by many various musicians, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you recognize the sound. This particular version is covered by Nikolay Baskov, I love the power of his voice! If you want to know what the lyrics mean, and how the song originated click here.

The reason music inspires me is that it keeps me focused. Especially when I’m designing or getting into a new project. Music puts me into that zone. Like I said I like all types of music in one form or another, but when I’m working on design there is one type of music I prefer to listen to. Techno, how most people would refer to it, but there are different genres such as house and trance. Those are the two main genres I listen to. Some people don’t understand it and can’t stand the repetitive beats. The way I hear it sounds like a symphony to me, it moves through my soul. I know I’m getting deep with this, but it’s truly how I feel. I played the violin through middle and high school and had a great appreciation for classical music. That’s where my passion for techno music stems from. Along with playing in the school orchestra, my older sister played loud dance music of the early house trends in the 90′s. So I was exposed to techno when I was only about nine or ten years old. I feel that techno is a different spin on classical compositions; good DJ’s are like composers that take electronic music and organize it into different ensembles. If you don’t like house music, I dare you to sit and listen to this song, listen from beginning to end, and then tell me your perception. This newer song has helped put me in the zone for researching and developing new design projects, so take a listen:

These are two types of music that are my major influences. I can sit and listen to traditional and contemporary Russian music along with techno music all day long. I also enjoy the music by musicians such as Jason Mraz, Justin Nozuka, and Corrine Bailey Ray. Those are my favorite more down tempo sounds.

Without music, there would definitely be a void in my life. When asked to write a paper on which sense I could not live without, in my high school psychology class, you bet I wrote all about not being able to live without hearing. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote, but I do remember about half my paper was about my strong passion for not being able to live without music.

BCBG Max Azria’s website design

melkin11 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:40:09 +0000

I just love the way BCBG designs their website. It’s changed for every season in the fashion world, from fall to winter to spring to summer! It used to be a flash based website, and everything was fit perfectly into this box, where the elements of that season were incorporated. Unfortunately they changed it, but the design is still strong. Now they have more of a traditional layout with less use of flash, but the photography and use of diagonal lines make their home page very exciting for the eye. Their use of typography inspired how to use my typography for my project I told you about in my last posting, the book on shoes. They use a mixture of sans serif along with serif typefaces, along with using different weights of those families. The colors are bold, and the layout is well organized and easy to navigate. They use a grid very effectively as well. Here are some snapshots of the website now:

All of their designs fit together, from their mailings to their catalogues, and website! I think they have a very effective design team, and would love to get a chance to sit in with them for a day to see their process on how they work!

the process and the design

melkin11 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:57:36 +0000

Last semester in my type II class, my instructor Tyler Stallings assigned an infographics project to the class. We could choose from a timeline or a comparison. Wow did that get my brain thinking. So I started with the idea of doing the history of the stiletto heel. My main idea was to show the history in some sort of timeline and realized that the history of the stiletto heel is too young, and if I focused on heeled shoes for women, that topic was too broad. So after doing some research on the history of shoes, I started to think about Cinderella, and the girl who wore the shoe. This was taking me away from my main idea, the history of the stiletto heel. I was open to it and after discussing my ideas with Tyler and doing more brainstorming, I decided I wanted to do a book that would illustrate this woman behind the shoe. After sketching and researching I came across the idea to do a comparison. I would compare the woman today who wears the stiletto heel to a the woman who wore some different shoe that was in the same class of the stiletto heel of her time and generation. I was always fascinated with the Renaissance era, so my focus wound down to the women from the 16th century. That’s when my project evolved to be a book comparing the two women, the 21st century woman wearing the stiletto heel and the 16th century woman wearing what was popular in her time the chopine. The chopine was the grandmother to platform shoes, as seen on the Spice Girls back when they were popular. So my book started to take form, I was influenced by Alexey Brodovitch and his layout design. I wanted to use different size type, and different pictures, I wanted the book to flow together. I made it into a double sided book, on one side you would read about the 21st century woman, and learn who she is and what puts her in the stiletto heel, once you get to the centerspread the page on the right side is upside down. That’s when you flip the book over and read about the 16th century woman and what put her in the chopine. My book did somewhat stick to my original idea of the history of the stiletto heel, in that it gave a brief history of each shoe. This is probably one of my favorite pieces that I have designed, mostly because I broke my own personal design barriers! Here are a few exasmples of some spreads.

Along with the double sided design, I wanted to incorporate my sources within the book, so inside the front cover the page is folded in a couple inches. This is a brief contents page, and when you flip it open, you can read all my sources for the pictures and information. Here is my cover as a whole showing these contents strips.You can also visualize the double sided aspect of the book.

Putting the book together, the pages were done with french folding and on a glossy paper, the cover and inside cover spreads were done on matte, I did this to give the book a more textural feeling and to give it more depth.

portfolio schedule on my terms

melkin11 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:14:38 +0000

9.18 / Revise resume, design business card and cover letter based on resume design

9.25 / Review website designs and choose to use them or to create a new one , Search for new picture to redesign A&D travel pack

10.2 / Complete redesign of A&D travel pack, Begin reworking Mixnation magazine

10.9 / Continue reworking magazine

10.16 / Upload Civil War book for printing and rebinding

10.23 / Upload Annual Report for printing and binding

10.30 / Send magazine to printers for rebinding with all revisions complete, Decide how to organize portfolio (order of projects, which projects to keep and to throw out)

11.6 / Begin design layout for digital portfolio

11.13 / Take photos for digital portfolio as needed

11.20 / Continue working on digital portfolio

12.4 / TBA