Finishing up for Julie Fowlis

Everything is designed. Few things are designed well.

— Brian Reed

Below are my sketches for the Julie Fowlis postcard. I have also posted some sketches and handwritten typography that I wanted to include. While listening to Fowlis’s music, I was very inspired to incorporate natural hand drawn graphics. While listening, I came up with this tree that I definitely wanted to incorporate.

Here are the three completed postcard designs I have given to the Cultural Programs to choose from. My personal favorite is the first one with the hand drawn tree. The hand drawn elements give the postcard a natural, organic feel that I feel symbolizes her music. I also chose blues and grays that are reminiscent of the ocean and natural surrounding of her hometown. (My favorite is the last) Enjoy!

Gaelic Research- Julie Fowlis

Design is not the narrow application of formal skills, it is a way of thinking.

— Chris Pullman

The performance for November by the Cultural Programs is Julie Fowlis on November 6^th in the Fine Arts Concert Hall at 7:30 pm. Here is once again the Cultural Programs page.

As with previous postcards, I have been doing research on Fowlis by listening to her music and looking up videos and articles for further information. First I would like to say that I am incredibly excited for this one! She has the most amazing voice, and although her music is in a Gaelic language that basically no one can understand (besides 1% of Scotts), it is incredibly powerful and so beautiful. Her music is soothing, folky, upbeat, and just plain wonderful! Along with singing, Fowlis can also play a variety of instruments including the bagpipes, flute, oboe, accordion, and more. Now for a couple links: Here is a great short film about her, here is an example of her amazing traditional songs, and here is an awesome cover of Blackbird (love, love, love!). Now, on to the Brief!

Target Audience: I feel that this performance has the ability to attract a very wide audience. Those who enjoy folky, traditional music, those who enjoy upbeat music, and those who enjoy more calming slow music, so basically almost everyone. I feel that this performance may also attract a large student population and younger audience because of the artist’s age and her particular music.

Adjectives: pure, soothing, folky, natural/organic, upbeat, dancy (yeah not sure if that’s a word…)

Colors: I definitely want to keep this one very organic and natural, with deep greens, browns, and possibly blues (the short film made me really think of the ocean and fields while listening to her music)

Images: the image sent to me is absolutely beautiful, and has a very organic airy feel to it, which fits perfectly with my concept. I am also playing with the idea to add some texture such as burlap or other fabrics to introduce the folk-traditional aspect of her music. I also really want to add some hand drawn typography.

Here are a couple of inspirational posters and images:

I like her signature on the second as far as hand type goes.

What I have learned from my internship...

Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up.

— Tate Linden

It is almost midterms and so I have decided to write a blog about what I have learned thus far from my internship. One of the first lessons I have learned is how to interact and provide for an actual client. So far, this has been a very positive experience. Basically, I am given a list of information and a couple pictures and set free. I create a concept, make a couple variations, and make final touch-ups and revisions to the postcard chosen. One particularly interesting aspect of this is that unlike my graphics classes, the final critique is not given by a group of artists or professors. Instead of a critique based on form and design, it is more based on what words to italicize and when to make a specific sentence smaller or larger or the overall function. This can be very difficult because I feel I have to critique my own personal work at a much more critical level; nevertheless, I feel that this is also a very good technique to learn!

Another aspect of my particular client-designer relationship that I have had to adapt to is preparing work for an actual printer and sending work to a client. This part has definitely been aided by my current print production course, but still is an invaluable lesson from my internship. My first postcard was by no means correct when I originally sent it to the Cultural Programs, but after several revisions, it was ready to send the printer in a correct format. Now I feel very confident not only sending preliminary options to my client, but also sending a finished product to the printer.

A third aspect to my internship is the importance of a deadline. Although this has always been present in class assignments, there is absolutely no option to move back a deadline for the postcards because the performance is very set in stone. Because there is a long line ahead of me that will need my design in order to get it sent out in time, I really do have to be constantly aware of when I need to have the options for the postcard sent to the Cultural Programs.

Finally, I thought it would be pertinent to explain what knowledge I have brought to my internship. Of course all the design rules I have learned in the past two years I have used extensively, such as hierarchy, color theory, and grid alignment. I have also used all the technical processes I have learned in my courses using Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.

Overall, the short 8 weeks of my internship thus far has been incredibly helpful in my growth as a professional designer and provided significant insights into the real world of design.

Choices for the ICO and Leon Fleisher Postcard

The only important thing about design is how it relates to people.

— Victor Papanek

I have completed three options that I have sent to the cultural program. First though are my sketches. These won’t make a lot of sense, but like I said in my last post, I really loved the picture, so I wanted to focus on that. However, through my search for inspiration, I fell in love with the graphic images of the instruments associated with orchestra. Below are a couple of my sketches:

And here are the finished products:

Personally, I like how all three came out. Now it is up to the Cultural Program to decide! And then revisions, printing and sending…

Orchestrated research-The Irish Chamber Orchestra with Leon Fleisher

Behavioral design is all about feeling in control. Includes: usability, understanding, but also the feel.

— Don Norman

The next performance brought to UW by the Cultural Programs is the Irish Chamber Orchestra with Leon Fleisher, a pianist, on October 24^th in the Fine Arts Concert Hall at 7:30 pm. Here you can find the Cultural Programs page with a small blurb.

Similar to the research for Jane Monheit, I have been listening to music from both the orchestra as well as Leon Fleisher. I have also watched quite a few videos on both, here is a great one for the Irish Chamber Orchestra and here (scroll to bottom of the page) is a short film by Nathaniel Kahn about Leon Fleisher (I know this is CU’s page… but it was the only place I could find “Two Hands” on the internet). It is undeniable that both the Irish Chamber Orchestra and Leon Fleisher are absolutely amazing musicians who highlight classical music. Below is the brief for the postcard for this performance:

Target Audience: Once again the students and professors of the university as well as community. This particular performance will most likely appeal to a large crowd of older more mature community and university members as well as students involved in orchestra and band at the university.

Adjectives to describe performer: Strong, intense, moving, powerful, classical.

Colors: I am thinking deep monotone colors with possible pops of lighter or stronger colors to depict the wide range of both.

Images: The image the cultural programs has sent me to use is extremely visually striking. I would like to feature the image as the main graphic element and mimic the curving lines in the image. It is black and white, so I feel that in order to keep the image the most dominant element, I will need to keep my color pallet and typography somewhat recessive.

Here are some inspirational posters I have found:

Aren't the typography instruments absolutely amazing!?!

A tall order...but I think I can pull it off.

The Finished Product-Jane Monheit's Postcard

Design is not the narrow application of formal skills, it is a way of thinking.

— Chris Pullman

And finally I have finished the postcard. Below are my two final products that I sent to the Cultural Programs office:

Both of the postcards passed my credentials I listed in my first post here. I feel the postcards efficiently describe her music and what audience members can expect to hear. The hierarchy is obvious for both and the color pallet in particular represents the feel of her music and my concept for each. Finally, it includes all pertinent information for the concert. However, I did have a few complications regarding number 5, the regulations. As I have learned extensively in a Print Production course I am taking this fall, there are A LOT of regulations to follow concerning mailing regulations that I didn’t really put a lot of thought into previously. Luckily, I have learned enough to complete a postcard which will most definitely be able to be mailed, and look good doing it too.

The Cultural Programs chose the more modern postcard (my personal favorite as well), and after several small revisions concerning the type size, placement, and specifics and adding bleed (oops), it has been sent to the printer and will be sent in the mail on October 7^th. Now that that is completely finished, on to the next! The Irish Chamber Orchestra and Leon Fleisher!

Inspiration and Sketches

Good design is a lot like clear thinking made visual.

— Edward Tufte

Through further research, I have gathered a few inspirational pieces, and I have begun to sketch out ideas. Here are a couple of the posters I have found:

Most of these posters are based on old Jazz posters or more contemporary takes on Jazz posters. As far as my sketches go, I have done a few with an old jazz feel and one that is a more contemporary, soothing feel that features just Monheit’s image (a suggestion from my professor). I am going to complete one of the old jazz ones (the top one I believe) and the more modern one and send both to the Cultural Programs office. Below are some of my more finished sketches I have done.