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Week 10: Photography

The first 5 photos are by Deni Pesto. I came across this photographer on pinterest a few years ago. After looking them up on Flickr, I followed them on instagram, keeping up with their most recent work. I think what I like most about Pestos work is the natural and raw elements to them. The way both alternative and natural lighting are used to capture the moments that are photographed establish an overall feeling within Pestos work. It’s difficult to stop looking at.

The second photographer I chose is Alex Stoddard. This photographer photographs dream-like states through portraiture. I really like the photo manipulation he does in his work, forming these dream-like states. His photographs seem to have meaning behind them. Besides being beautifully shot photographs, they are visually interesting. 

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Designer Spotlight

The first designer me and my project partner chose to research was Owen Davey. Davey is a freelance illustrator from the U.K, and has been involved in many projects with both large and small clients. Originally what attracted us to Davey’s work was the packaging of “Smashmallow,” which is a marshmallow snack company. Each flavor of smashmallow has a beautifully illustrated environment on the packaging, representing the specific flavor. After looking through Smashmallows packaging, we were blown away with the rest of Davey’s work. Something that stands out to me in his illustrations is his character design. Each character is uniquely illustrated, yet they all have a similar style. 

For our second designer/firm we chose Digitas. Digitas is a large global marketing company. Although it’s not specifically a graphic design firm, the company has a well developed graphic art department within it. What stood out to us with Digitas was their involvement with the Charity water campaign. Digitas advertised a real-world issue through the use of graphic design and other marketing aspects, speaking on the topic of social change. There are hundreds of campaigns and advertisements Digitas is a part of, and I found it really interesting to see what they are involved in around the world. 

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Destination Website

While browsing multiple destination websites, I came across Visit Stockholm, and found it to have great design. There are many appealing elements included in the visit Stockholm website. What stood out to me the most was the beautiful photography, and color scheme of the website. Although the range of color varies throughout the website, I noticed a cool toned scheme of blues and purples being incorporated to pull the look of the website together. This is seen in the “Welcome to Stockholm” photo, the amusement park photo, and the “Things to do in Stockholm” photo. 

The visit Stockholm website has simplistic design elements, using icons to distinguish eat and drink, see and do, guides, and events. This makes the website very easy to navigate for users. Lastly, the visit Stockholm website mainly uses a san serif font for large titles, and smaller text. This provides a clean and appealing look for viewers. 

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The Barnes Foundation

On my way to the Barnes Foundation, I did not know what to expect of the Graphic Design team there. I wasn’t exactly sure what they were in charge of design wise, and what they specifically designed for the Barnes Foundation. When I think of graphic design jobs and opportunities, my mind doesn’t jump to the Barnes foundation. However, it was really interesting seeing what their tasks are, and what it is like to work on an in-house design team. Being on a team of two sounds stressful, yet great at the same time since you are able to be a part of nearly every project, having more say in the designs. I thought their designs were very elegant and well-composed with the artwork they were given to work with for their pamphlets. 

Although I am a graphic design major, I sometimes forget the different opportunities we have in the workforce. It liked hearing Pauline’s experience since she was once a Drexel student, and found it interesting that her co-op was very different from her job she now has at the Barnes Foundation. This reminded me to keep me mind open when it comes to finding internships and jobs. Overall I really enjoyed our trip to the Barnes Foundation and glad we had the opportunity to hear from the perspective of a Drexel student. 

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Book Design

The book I chose during our library visit is titled “Relishing Marketing” by Joe Duffy, Damian Hamilton, and Cristiano Vinciprova Machado. This book includes illustrations of food and drink packaging, product design, and what makes compelling packaging. I find packaging and branding a very fascinating area of graphic design. It combines marketing and design together to see what attracts the buyer the most. In “Relishing Marketing,” the authors discuss what works well in the packaging throughout the book. One aspect they discussed was storytelling within the packaging. (pg. 63) The use of storytelling brings life to the brand/product, becoming more visually appealing to the buyer. 

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Fashion Design

When it comes to my own style, I am very particular about what I like. While my sense of fashion has evolved over the years I have never been able to give myself a label as to what specific style I am. (iex, bohemian, grunge, preppy, etc.) If I had to describe my fashion style I would say it’s slightly edgy, but simplistic in that sense. I get a lot of my inspiration from pinterest, as it gives me ideas of how to style certain pieces, and what looks good together. Recently I’ve loved layering of different materials, patterns, and colors.

The designer/brand I chose is Dolce and Gabbana. Dolce and Gabbana’s Fall/winter 2018/19 runway show was inspired by features of the catholic church. The pieces I’ve chosen have gothic and grunge elements to them. The color palette is mainly red, black, and white. Each look is accessorized with jeweled headbands, fishnet socks, or similar elements that pull together this catholic “grunge” aesthetic. Something else I love about the fall/winter collection are the casual pieces added to some of the outfits. The collection contains jean jackets, sweats, and t-shirts. The contrast of casual wear with designer pieces is really interesting, especially in a runway show. The use of these casual pieces give me inspiration for my style. Lastly, the prints the designer used works really well with the entire collection. One look is a black graphic t-shirt with an oversized bedazzled and patterned jean jacket. These pieces are paired with animal print tights. I absolutely love the pattern layering and find it eye catching.

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Design and Explore

For Winter terms design and explore, Eric, Manny and I got assigned to visit East Passyunk in Philly. This was my second time out of university city and into a different area of Philadelphia. Luckily we didn’t have any problems navigating the septa, and getting to and from our destination. East Passyunk is a cute residential neighborhood that is located in south Philly. Leaving the septa station I wasn’t really sure what to expect of it. From what I’ve learned on our design and explore trip, East Passyunk is a pretty quiet, but charming neighborhood in Philly. It’s full of restaurants, cafes, and sit-downs. What I liked most about the food scene there is that a majority of restaurants were not chain restaurants. From what I know, this gives an overall better experience when eating somewhere, or just being in the neighborhood in general. We ate at Junior’s Beef and Pork. I’m not sure what attracted us about this place, but we decided to give it a shot. We ended up getting roast pork sandwiches. Overall I’m glad we got assigned East Passyunk because I’m not sure if it is somewhere I would think to go on my own. 

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Time Management

Time management is something extremely important to keep yourself in line with your assignments here at Drexel. The ten-week quarter is flying by, and as we’re on to week 5, I’ve noticed a routine with the way I manage my time. Scheduling is a major part of it. In my planner, I have a specific way of outlining my schoolwork and long term assignments for the week. I find that writing it out helps me remind myself what needs to be completed. Similar to my weekly outline, writing a to-do list each day organizes what I hope to accomplish by the end of the day. This can be anything from going to the gym, to finishing a project, or even calling my mom. Checking off what I completed each day is very rewarding and satisfying for myself. :) 

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2018 has been full of eye catching designs. I decided to include a variety of album covers, movie posters, and packaging designs for this post. One that I would like to talk about in particular is the Bonnie and Clyde gin packaging. Packaging is crucial for advertising your products, and one of my favorite areas where graphic design is applied. These gin bottles have tattoo like illustrations on them, establishing a hand drawn feel that is very appealing. The font pulls these hand drawn elements together. The contrast between the matte pink and black bottle works well with the gold cap, and detailing. Overall it’s a strong and eye catching design. 

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Week 1: Interests in Philly

It’s been about a week since I’ve moved to Philadelphia, and as a transfer student that has never lived outside of New York, I have the entire city to explore. While I will always be a New Yorker at heart, I’m looking forward to see what Philly has to offer. One area I’m eager to discover is the music industry in Philly. This includes concert venues, homegrown bands, and shows. After searching on the internet, I found a blog called “Jump: The Philly Music Project.” This blog caught my eye as it reviews the top albums of the year, breakout bands, and much more. Jump Philly documents different types of music from indie rock, electronic, jazz, folk, and much more. This is what appealed to me about the blog, as it does not focus solely on one music genre. Jump Philly also lists some music/entertainment venues that I find interesting. One of these venues is called Underground Arts. This venue has a capacity of 650 people, which makes it a pretty small and intimate venue. To me, the size of the venue and capacity is what makes concerts so enjoyable. When a band is performing in a smaller venue it creates a personal feeling with you and the performance. I’m hoping to see a show at Underground Arts while I’m in Philly. It would be a new and cool experience, especially in comparison to all of the New York music venues I’ve been to.

https://jumpphilly.com/