Welp, I just finished putting together the new introduction to my website, Huddy Design. I got the idea for this intro from an After Effects tutorial on Layers Magazine's website, and right away I wanted to try it out myself for 2 reasons: 1, I wanted to brush up on my After Effects skills (the program I used to create this movie clip) and 2- It just looks rad! I also wanted to show off my new logo, in a way that would give it an intense, "let's get down to business," but totally unique feel, just the way I see it as.
I think my new logo design is pretty awesome and I really couldn't be happier with it. It's actually pretty weird to even be saying that because I very rarely say that about any of my work. But for some reason, I love my new logo. If I had to guess why I do, ironically, it's because about 4 out of the 5 people I've showed it to so far (all family members- so go figure) said they didn't "get it." And to that I say with an honest smirk on my face, "even better." It's different, it's out of peoples' comfort zone in terms of design, it gets people talking, and it's not sacrificing the character of my company; It's staying true to what I think Huddy Design is about and to what I want it to become- a solid resource for design and development. Yeah, I guess that's why I love it. :)
Alright, here it is:
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
"The last kiss is always sweet than the first."
Pretty cool little story- Jana Harvey of Jana Winery and Scott Harvey Wines, who I've worked for in the past on some cool projects, RANDOMLY found my last blog post while searching for some quotes related to love and wine for an upcoming project. Extremely luckily for me, not only did she happen to find it, she loved it and asked me to help out with the project!!
The project is an 8.5 x 11" case card or sell sheet for one of their wines, One Last Kiss. Jana liked my idea behind the holiday postcard and wants to implement it somehow on the case card, this time using the quotes she's found to make up the man and woman's profile.
Here's the first concept's rough draft:
Today I plan on playing around with the text inside the profiles... want to to see if alternating word sizes will give it a more interesting and emphasized look (I started to do this in the man's profile) and also, if more quotes or less might look better than the amount that's included in the design now. We'll see how this one comes out!
Here are the other 2 layout designs (also, both very rough drafts):
The possibly final draft, as of this morning (1/13/09):
Hope you guys like it. Whether you do or don't, you should still buy a bottle or 2 of One Last Kiss... just in time for Valentine's Day!! :) You can order it online here.
The project is an 8.5 x 11" case card or sell sheet for one of their wines, One Last Kiss. Jana liked my idea behind the holiday postcard and wants to implement it somehow on the case card, this time using the quotes she's found to make up the man and woman's profile.
Here's the first concept's rough draft:
Today I plan on playing around with the text inside the profiles... want to to see if alternating word sizes will give it a more interesting and emphasized look (I started to do this in the man's profile) and also, if more quotes or less might look better than the amount that's included in the design now. We'll see how this one comes out!
Here are the other 2 layout designs (also, both very rough drafts):
The possibly final draft, as of this morning (1/13/09):
Hope you guys like it. Whether you do or don't, you should still buy a bottle or 2 of One Last Kiss... just in time for Valentine's Day!! :) You can order it online here.
Monday, December 15, 2008
A Holiday Postcard
This is my final project for Art 223, AKA Intro to Typography.
ASSIGNMENT: Create a layout for a holiday postrcard by interpreting a poem, song or short story with a holiday or winter theme. You may only use type to accomplish this. No illustrations or photographs allowed! If you must illustrate, use letterforms to do so.
REQUIREMENTS:
-Strong conceptual interpretation of a holiday/winter poem, song or short story
-You may only use TYPE to design the layout. No illustrations or photographs!
-Needs a headline/title, subhead and a text block.
-Must be accomplished using Adobe Illustrator.
SIZE AND FORMAT:
-Single-sided, 5" x 7" postcard size
-Final printed and mounted on a 8 1/2" x 11" black matte board.
COLOR:
-Full color (CMYK)
-Whatever best communicates the concept.
Welp, here is what I came up with:
Anyone who has a decent taste in music will agree that "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (originally written by Frank Leosser) is one of the best duets and Christmas/Winter season songs of all time. :)
My goal here was to keep the mood of this postcard simple and classic, just like the tone of the song, as well as clever, just like the song's concept. I've always thought this song was so simple but so fun to listen to and just really freakin' cute. It always puts me in a good mood. So, I wanted this design to be really clean and easy to understand but with a fun little twist.
I'll let you guys find the "twist" yourself (to my surprise, not everyone sees it right away while others see it the instant they take a glance). I'll give you a hint though: Everything the woman says in this duet is on the left and everything the man sings back to her is on the right.
Hope you like it! If not, well.... you know it doesn't matter TOO much to me. Especially because I'm pretty happy with this one! :)
ASSIGNMENT: Create a layout for a holiday postrcard by interpreting a poem, song or short story with a holiday or winter theme. You may only use type to accomplish this. No illustrations or photographs allowed! If you must illustrate, use letterforms to do so.
REQUIREMENTS:
-Strong conceptual interpretation of a holiday/winter poem, song or short story
-You may only use TYPE to design the layout. No illustrations or photographs!
-Needs a headline/title, subhead and a text block.
-Must be accomplished using Adobe Illustrator.
SIZE AND FORMAT:
-Single-sided, 5" x 7" postcard size
-Final printed and mounted on a 8 1/2" x 11" black matte board.
COLOR:
-Full color (CMYK)
-Whatever best communicates the concept.
Welp, here is what I came up with:
Anyone who has a decent taste in music will agree that "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (originally written by Frank Leosser) is one of the best duets and Christmas/Winter season songs of all time. :)
My goal here was to keep the mood of this postcard simple and classic, just like the tone of the song, as well as clever, just like the song's concept. I've always thought this song was so simple but so fun to listen to and just really freakin' cute. It always puts me in a good mood. So, I wanted this design to be really clean and easy to understand but with a fun little twist.
I'll let you guys find the "twist" yourself (to my surprise, not everyone sees it right away while others see it the instant they take a glance). I'll give you a hint though: Everything the woman says in this duet is on the left and everything the man sings back to her is on the right.
Hope you like it! If not, well.... you know it doesn't matter TOO much to me. Especially because I'm pretty happy with this one! :)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Designing a piece for ASS.
Welp, it's been a different type of challenge for me this time as a graphic designer. Never before have I ever had to come up with an idea for anything remotely close to ASS. Yeah, that's right. ASS. As in A+ Survival Supply.
The first round/rough drafts of the logo designs:
The first round/rough drafts of the logo designs:
Sunday, November 23, 2008
You are NOT a professional designer... because there is no such thing.
While messing around on Twitter, I came across a new follower who listed "professional designer" in their bio, yet again. Seeing self-proclaimed "professional" graphic designers and such is definitely not a rare occurance. People in creative industries who call themselves "professional" just always strikes a chord with me. Honestly, it upsets me. I can't blame them though; It has nothing to do with the person or designer themselves compared to the design industry and those who run it.
It's about damn time they do something about the way designers refer to themselves. It's time someone comes up with some sort of system that adequately and officially sets the crappy, the average, the great and the superior designers apart from eachother. Sure, with research and a little time, we can make a decent guess at who's better than someone else skillwise. But the point is, we shouldn't have to and neither should potential clients when seeking a new designer to hire for a job.
It seems like every other major industry has taken care of this dillema already, some of them thousands of years ago! So why hasn't the design world?? Professional American baseball players usually start working their way up in elementary school, then play in high school, college, then the minor leagues (which, by the way are further broken down into rookie ball, single a, aa, aaa) then the major league. When we go to college, we work our way up to the top and earn our degrees along the way. First we get our associates, then our bachelors, then maybe our masters or even our doctorate, depending on the field you're in of course. Whatever you end up studying, wherever you end up working, or whatever you end up just doing in your life, there's always something to work up to. Another degree, another position, another personal best.
What's so great about that isn't just having something to work towards. Obtaining a certain degree or just being able to give ourselves some kind of label based on what we've accomplished gives the rest of the world an easy way to acknowledge our achievements! The point is, it's not hard to devise systems that rank people within a certain field of work, especially when doing so has extremely obvious benefits. And when they do come up with a ranking system, no matter the field, the exact same attributes are taken into consideration: how much experience, training and education, and how much success. That's really it! The best MLB players are almost always the ones with the most experience, training and success. Same with the best doctors, the best teachers, the best managers and the best designers.
Until AIGA or someone comes up with a way to validate a designer's skill level, I think designers and clients will each face a major problem:
Designers and their clients won't always be getting what they pay for. I'm willing to bet that every designer has under-estimated the price of a project before and I'm also willing to bet that lots of designers (especially those with years of solid experience) have over-charged clients before because they knew they could just whip out an old template to get the job done. Crappy, but true! Either way, if designers had titles which they earned and could have on display, so much of this would stop happening. If I earned the title of "advanced logo designer" for instance, I would charge a certain rate that was in an advanced designer's range and the client would be assured that he or she would get what they paid for. Simple as that.
Sorry if I come off sounding bitchy about this at all but I seriously think that having some kind of way to fairly and consistently measure a designer's success would help everyone drastically; It would help designers get paid what they've worked hard to deserve more often than they do now. And as for clients, not only would they be more likely to get what they pay for as well, but it would be easier for them to see the difference between an average and a truly professional designer if they learn to understand what it takes to reach a certain level in design.
It's about damn time they do something about the way designers refer to themselves. It's time someone comes up with some sort of system that adequately and officially sets the crappy, the average, the great and the superior designers apart from eachother. Sure, with research and a little time, we can make a decent guess at who's better than someone else skillwise. But the point is, we shouldn't have to and neither should potential clients when seeking a new designer to hire for a job.
It seems like every other major industry has taken care of this dillema already, some of them thousands of years ago! So why hasn't the design world?? Professional American baseball players usually start working their way up in elementary school, then play in high school, college, then the minor leagues (which, by the way are further broken down into rookie ball, single a, aa, aaa) then the major league. When we go to college, we work our way up to the top and earn our degrees along the way. First we get our associates, then our bachelors, then maybe our masters or even our doctorate, depending on the field you're in of course. Whatever you end up studying, wherever you end up working, or whatever you end up just doing in your life, there's always something to work up to. Another degree, another position, another personal best.
What's so great about that isn't just having something to work towards. Obtaining a certain degree or just being able to give ourselves some kind of label based on what we've accomplished gives the rest of the world an easy way to acknowledge our achievements! The point is, it's not hard to devise systems that rank people within a certain field of work, especially when doing so has extremely obvious benefits. And when they do come up with a ranking system, no matter the field, the exact same attributes are taken into consideration: how much experience, training and education, and how much success. That's really it! The best MLB players are almost always the ones with the most experience, training and success. Same with the best doctors, the best teachers, the best managers and the best designers.
Until AIGA or someone comes up with a way to validate a designer's skill level, I think designers and clients will each face a major problem:
Designers and their clients won't always be getting what they pay for. I'm willing to bet that every designer has under-estimated the price of a project before and I'm also willing to bet that lots of designers (especially those with years of solid experience) have over-charged clients before because they knew they could just whip out an old template to get the job done. Crappy, but true! Either way, if designers had titles which they earned and could have on display, so much of this would stop happening. If I earned the title of "advanced logo designer" for instance, I would charge a certain rate that was in an advanced designer's range and the client would be assured that he or she would get what they paid for. Simple as that.
Sorry if I come off sounding bitchy about this at all but I seriously think that having some kind of way to fairly and consistently measure a designer's success would help everyone drastically; It would help designers get paid what they've worked hard to deserve more often than they do now. And as for clients, not only would they be more likely to get what they pay for as well, but it would be easier for them to see the difference between an average and a truly professional designer if they learn to understand what it takes to reach a certain level in design.
Friday, November 21, 2008
No amount of genius can overcome a preoccupation with detail. -Marion Levy
I'm always up for a challenge. This, however, is a challenge unlike any other I've come across as a designer. Not saying I'm not up for it, because I definitely am!! But I'm not sure where to start exactly. :) The task: Design a logo for a new company called A+ Survival Supply. "What's so challenging about that?" you ask. Well, YOU try putting the letters of the company together and see what you can come up with. Bet you it'll take at least 10 minutes of valuable time spent wasting away on Twitter, or whatever other site or project you could be spending your precious time on (or should be anyway) to come up with a logo that doesn't scream "ASS!!!" to all who see it. LOL. And no, only playing around with type and using the full company name does not count.
Anyway, here's my first concept:
Before you pick out the details, just know that this is a VERY rough draft and I have a lot of smoothin out to do, obviously. Especially in the S's. Ok, now you may comment. :D
Anyway, here's my first concept:
Before you pick out the details, just know that this is a VERY rough draft and I have a lot of smoothin out to do, obviously. Especially in the S's. Ok, now you may comment. :D
Monday, November 17, 2008
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