'Not Your Mother's Postcard'

Whats so significant about postcards anyway?

The postcard project is an essential exercise in design communication because it is the only project in which the designer is allowed total freedom to design a piece of work that is solely about them. There is no, “tailoring the postcard to reflect a company, business, or random individual”, it is completely about the designer, the colors, the font, the images, graphics, etc. By having the freedom to create a postcard that is only about the designer helps to enhance the freedom of creativity, which then allows for great work to be done.

In my postcard I used earth tones, as you might already notice from my past blog posts and descriptions of design, I am a sucker for earth tones. I am not an obnoxious, loud, or “in-your-face” kind of person, therefore bright neon, or fluffy girly colors such as pastel pinks, purples, and neon yellows, greens, blues, and pinks, would be a poor representation of my personality. I enjoy subdued, calming, “earthy” colors it is a true reflection of who I am. For instance I am constantly outdoors and my vacations usually are consumed of doing things outdoors whether it be camping, hiking, or kayaking. And I feel that the postcard is a clear reflection of that.

The font choices were difficult for me, I am picky with my fonts, as now looking back on the project, I’m sure there were other fonts that would have worked a lot better with this postcard. But nevertheless, I decided to go with s sans serif font for my larger words, like my name and my quote. By using the sans serif font for my larger words it makes it easy to read and initially reflects my laid back personality. Where as serif fonts tend to reflect a serious and more structured personality, which is why I used that for my body text. The appearance of using both types of serif fonts creates a balance between the two and clearly separates the main points from the body copy.

Lately I have been obsessed with the triangle shapes and clean lines. This is why I decided to create a graphic made of multiple triangles, and used both solid and dotted lines around the boarder of my postcard.

The image of the world inside the circle with a quote typed over top, reflects my desire to travel the world (wow, what a cliché), but really! It also reflects my desire for opportunity, knowledge, and understanding, through travelling we learn to understand more than just our own social norms. The image of myself that I used was taken in Colorado a year and a half ago, in the Garden of the Gods. In the photograph I am overlooking the entire city of Colorado Springs, I felt on top of the world (yes pun intended), and because that’s how I felt, I though that it was only appropriate to actually place this image of myself on top of the world.

As for my postcard pertaining to the design hierarchy, I believe that I fulfilled the creativity criteria by placing the image of the world into a text circle, and using my image over top as a metaphor for “being on top of the world”. I also think that the placement of my intertwined triangle graphic was placed appropriately, which created balance between each side of the postcard.  I also fulfilled the usability criteria. Although I feel it met creativity standards, I also feel that this was a simple enough layout that is forgiving and easy to design. I believe that I could have increased my level of proficiency, perhaps being slightly more detail oriented to reflect a level of higher proficiency and professionalism. Although I believe my postcard could also reflect a stable and consistent design, and it meets the basic needs of the project, I do not feel that the postcard was of low or little to no value.

This postcard is well balanced in terms of image and word placement. The size of the font types work cohesively together and do not over power one over the other. Through the body text is small, there is enough text so that it does not get lost behind the large text of my name and quote. 

Reflect Yourself Visually

GIVE THE EYE WHAT IT DESERVES: Beauty

This logo shows creativity, and proficiency. The use of colors prevents this logo from being bland and the lines that create the image are enticing. The sans serif font is easy to read and wraps neatly and attractively around the logo image.

The creative, stamp-like, or rather, Reese's cup shape of the outer edge of this logo immediately brings the mind to something sweet and delicious and triggering a "good memory" perhaps with the signature candy it resembles. The creativity used with the hand and the infinity symbol brings two unlikely objects together and creates a visually attractive image. The earth tone colors make it easy to look at, and flow cohesively together. The use of serif fonts are excellent, creating a bolder and stronger aspect to this logo, against all of its other subtle elements. This logo definitely fits into the usability criteria.

This logo is creatively beautiful. Rich and bold colors are soothing and appealing to the eye. Using the sun as the main bold color element emphasizes the "Sun" aspect in the company name. There are so many different ways to travel, and what makes this logo so creative is the use of an image of a man traveling by camel; a way of transportation that most people wouldn't ideally think of using. This logo is above well above functionality.

The Outdoor Adventure Club's clearly indicates the type of company they are, simply by only using mountains within their logo. It's not as creative as others, and could use a little work. Its definitely functional, simple, and attractive. Using white against navy works well, keeping an outdoorsy, earthy feel to the overall logo.

This logo is very creative, uses a lot of detail, and demonstrates high proficiency. Although the logo is designed mostly of simple lines, they are used so well to convey who they are as a company. The use of different fonts adds even more detail. This is a very well designed logo.

As for my logo...

I am very much inspired by the last logo of my logo-critique series. I am using simple lines which will add detail, as well as a sans serif font to keep cohesion among the use of the lines. I decided to go with a more outdoorsy feel because thats who I am, but I am incorporating that within my company, which is Graphic Design. I've illustrated the sun and the moon, showing that my company will work around the clock in order to get things done for our clients. I've used double mountains/triangles to signify that each piece of work is like climbing a mountain, there are many steps involved in order to achieve the success of the work.