Jim Ratliff, Librarian, Kalamazoo Valley Community College – Arcadia Commons Campus 202 N. Rose St., Kalamazoo, MI 49003-4070
269-373-7867 jratliff

Filed under: In-Class | Homework | No Comments »

Filed under: In-Class | Homework | No Comments »

IN-CLASS

• 1:30pm class begins
• 1:45pm Wall Reviews/Status meeting:
  • COLLEGE NIGHT 2009: completed posters for wall review (Note: clients coming In today for first review.)
  • BLUES FEST: handbill, program spreads (new assignment Ad)
  • GRAD NIGHT POSTERS: status report
  • HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: tri-folds family look
  • PMN Logo Usage Guidelines: style review status
  • ENRICHMENT CAMPAIGN: comps  and printer’s quotes
  • M-TECH: troubleshooting and preparing cookbooks status
  • KVCC ART SHOW: prototype for Awards and tags
  • POLICE: program status
• New Assignments: 1.) T-shirts designs Portage Paddle Fest, 2.) Portage Public Library
• 3:00pm Karen Visser / Matt Dennis: College Night Posters
• 4:00pm Lynn Berkey: Police Academy Graduation Program (Becky)
• 5:05pm class ends
  

(TENTATIVE) HOMEWORK | IN-THE-WORKS THIS WEEK

• HABITAT: logos attached, brand Builders handbook is in class folder or can be obtained online see below.
• COLLEGE NIGHT: Have posters ready for Design Studio (DS) wall review for Monday. I would be happy to do a pre-review by e-mail and would welcome the opportunity to give you feedback before the wall review. Karen Visser and Matt Dennis will be In later in the class to have you present your ideas to them. Attached Is a GIF of the WMU logo am trying  to get a vector image but you can use this as a placeholder for now.
• PMN LOGO GUIDELINES: would like to see where you will be taking it Chris and Brandon.
• BLUES PROGRAM: attached is a PDF that you can use to grab text from to start designing. Would like to see a sample spread of 2 pages of bio. I am attaching a copy based off of last years. Note please look and see where the paragraph, character and object styles are used. We will discuss how to use them next week in class.  Brandon B., Aaron and Tim: please take these 2 pages and redesign/restyle them to work with Brandon B’s poster design. Guitar T-shirt needs some layout attention. I’d like to see a copy of all the Chosen T-shirts as a PDF before Monday. Tim: regarding commemorative poster. need to put KVBA logo on, venue, dates, acts, website URL (act copy should be finalized soon) You may omit other sponsor logos, visa master card, all the admission stuff… kids/backpack check etc.
• ENRICHMENT: comps for DS review and hopefully printer’s quotes can be shared with DS.
• M-TECH: next steps: troubleshooting and preparing cookbooks
• GRAD NIGHT POSTERS: need status report Nick/Andy?
• KVCC ART SHOW: Posters/invites done. Next steps: Prototype for Awards and tags? Thomas do you want some one else to do these?
• POLICE: Becky, can you send me a PDF of the current state of the program. Thank you. Also, if you have not done so preflighting It now would be a good idea. (I know it is not complete and photos are still coming…)

NEXT CLASS | April 6, 2009

UPCOMING | Monday, April 13

• 3:30pm Karen Visser / Matt Dennis: College Night Posters

For those of you that took the time to earn the extra credit I hope you found the exercises interesting. All have something to do with Perception that relates to design and I hope to have time to discuss in class.

IN-CLASS

• 1:30pm class begins
• 1:45pm Individual Reviews: College Night 2009 Poster / Postcard promotion
• 2:00pm Brian Zipp: Logo Usage Guidelines
• 4:00pm Lynn Berkey: Police Academy Graduation Program (Becky)
• 5:05pm class ends
  

HOMEWORK | IN-THE-WORKS THIS WEEK

The information below was e-mailed to you all with attachments of the WMU logo (FPO), Habitat logos, Blues program files. If you did not receive please e-mail me or check with a class member to get the attachments.

ALL: There is still much to do this term — and there is a lot to keep track of. Please give these jobs as much attention as you can. Again, I am here to help via e-mail (FYI during the weekend I check e-mail less often, but will reply to you ASAP) Below is current status/next steps/deliverables:

• HABITAT: logos attached, brand Builders handbook is in class folder or can be obtained online see below.
• COLLEGE NIGHT: Have posters ready for Design Studio (DS) wall review for Monday. I would be happy to do a pre-review by e-mail and would welcome the opportunity to give you feedback before the wall review. Karen Visser and Matt Dennis will be In later in the class to have you present your ideas to them. Attached Is a GIF of the WMU logo am trying  to get a vector image but you can use this as a placeholder for now.
• PMN LOGO GUIDELINES: would like to see where you will be taking it Chris and Brandon.
• BLUES PROGRAM: attached is a PDF that you can use to grab text from to start designing. Would like to see a sample spread of 2 pages of bio. I am attaching a copy based off of last years. Note please look and see where the paragraph, character and object styles are used. We will discuss how to use them next week in class.  Brandon B., Aaron and Tim: please take these 2 pages and redesign/restyle them to work with Brandon B’s poster design. Guitar T-shirt needs some layout attention. I’d like to see a copy of all the Chosen T-shirts as a PDF before Monday. Tim: regarding commemorative poster. need to put KVBA logo on, venue, dates, acts, website URL (act copy should be finalized soon) You may omit other sponsor logos, visa master card, all the admission stuff… kids/backpack check etc.
• ENRICHMENT: comps for DS review and hopefully printer’s quotes can be shared with DS.
• M-TECH: next steps: troubleshooting and preparing cookbooks
• GRAD NIGHT POSTERS: need status report Nick/Andy?
• KVCC ART SHOW: Posters/invites done. Next steps: Prototype for Awards and tags? Thomas do you want some one else to do these?
• POLICE: Becky, can you send me a PDF of the current state of the program. Thank you. Also, if you have not done so preflighting It now would be a good idea. (I know it is not complete and photos are still coming…)

NEXT CLASS | March 30, 2009

Something that is important in design is solid awareness of your perception and the way you receive information visually. Below are a few  assessments / online games that fall into different  areas which are important for designers to be aware of. Go to the pages and do the following and take screen shots of the last page/score, send me the screen shots (6 total) and you will earn a  4.0 for Extra Credit in this class. (the whole thing should take no more than one hour) Note: you will not be graded on the scores, that just lets me know you did the test. Do ALL the exercises completely and you draw your own conclusions from the experience. We will discuss next week in class what you found out.

Screen shots can be made on a Mac by clicking  Shift + Command + 4 (the cursor turns into a cross-hair with numbers. You drag out a box around the items you want to take a screen shot of, a PNG file named Picture 1, Picture 2 etc will be placed on he desktop).

• Learning Styles | http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire (note: you can check more than one answer on this. Tells you whether you are a visual, auditory,  read/write or kinesthetic learner (note most are multi-modal).
• Color Perception | http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77 (arrange the hues in order…score allows you to see how well you see color hues and how it compares to others in your age/gender category )
• Color Deficiency/Color Blindness | http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8833/coloreye.htmlNOTE: about 1 in 12 people have some sort of color deficinecy — many are great designers. As designers it is important that you realize people experience color differently. Please see the page: http://colorvisiontesting.com/what%20colorblind%20people%20see.htm to see how a color deficient person might precieve things)
• Image Perception | http://www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllusions/illusions.htm | Experience ALL the illusions on this page, send me screen shots from the three you find most interesting when finished.
• Left Brain/Right Brained | http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-501432
  no need to send a screen shot just let me know which you are: Right ot left brained.

OPTIONAL: If you find these assessments interesting I suggest you take the Strength Quest Assessment through the Student Success Center in Anna Whitten Hall call/contact Ken Barr (kbarr@kvcc.edu) to make arrangements to take the online assessment. It will take about 40 minutes to complete and will identify 5 of your top Strengths. As I said i took the accessment and foind it to be very accurate. Here are the first 3 strengths in the accessment so you can see these are deep, core strengths and may not point to a specific job/career but give even more insight:

1. achiever People especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.
2. activator People especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.
3. adaptability People especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

IN-CLASS

• 1:45pm class strategy and planning session
• 3:30pm Karen Visser: College Night 2009 Poster / Postcard promotion
• 4:00pm Lynn Berkey: Police Academy Graduation Program (Becky)
  

HOMEWORK | IN-THE-WORKS THIS WEEK

• Kal-Haven T-Shirt: Brandon A. (make changes based upon client input)
• KVCC Art Show Posters/Invite/Awards/Program/Tags: Thomas + (Design comps for invite, tags, program, awards)
• CNM Graduate Show Posters/Invite/Awards/Program/Tags: Nick, Andy V.  (Get with client, Karen Matson and Design comps for invite, tags, program, awards)
• Enrichment Campaign: Thomas + Paul (Printing Quotes for different pieces)
• Police Academy Program Design: Becky further development of design
  
• Blues Fest/T-shirts/poster/handbills/program: Brandon B., and Tim’s designs for the posters. Brandon A, Aaron’s, and Tim’s T shirt designs. Brandon B. “Please contact me.” – A.Stork
  
• M-Tech: Thomas, Becky, Chris – further development of protype. Questions sent to client for feedback. Wes to act as: tutorial student in prep for client training
  
• College Night: Develop concepts, and direction. Originaly small group but Due to the "High Visability" was opened up to entire class based upon interest. All who are interestedL be prepared to chat with instructor next week about your design direction/thumbnails. We will not do a wall review next week. Samples below (click on image for larger preview)

NEXT CLASS | March 23, 2009

• Individual instructor review with each designer (feel free to come early to class and get it over with
  
• PMN Logo Guidelines: Client, Brian Zip
  
• 3:00pm Habitat for Humanity: Client, Ann Kilkuskie
  
• 4:00pm Lynn Berkey: Police Academy Graduation Program (Becky)
  

• 1:30pm Fill out Self/Class Midterm Evaluation Form: Thank you for your honest assessment of this class. It will help direct the rest of the term.
• Wall Review of Art Show Posters: Designers agree to forward designs to Arleigh for decision by Wednesday.
• Wall Review of Kal-Haven T-shirt Designs
  
• 4:00pm – 2009 Kal-Haven Trail Run T-shirt design: Terry Huchins in Studio to receive T-shirt design presentation frpm Nick, Brandon A, Brandon B, Chris F, Chris B., Andy, 
• 4:00pm – Police Academy Program Design: Lynn Berkey in Studio to receive Program Designs from Becky, Stephanie, Jesus and Wesley.
• 4:00pm -Tim Degryse: Tim DeGryse in Studio to explain direction for program. They are still deciding between Brandon B., and Tim’s designs for the posters. They want to use Brandon A, Aaron’s, and Tim’s T shirt designs. He discussed with each modification needed on thier designs.

HOMEWORK | IN-THE-WORKS THIS WEEK

• Police Academy: Lynn Berkey e-mailed saying she had been out sick no decision on design has been made as of yet.
• Kal-Haven T-shirt designs: Terry Hutchins was not able to get with his co-director of the race. A decision is still forthcoming..
• M-TEC Program: client Pat Wallace has directed changes to Becky and Thomas. Changes are being implemented.
• Enrichment Campaign: client Lesa Strausbaugh has directed questions and request for quote to Thomas and me. A series of e-mails back and forth ha developed next steps in the process. Interest in going forward with Pass it on Card, some type of reversable magnet with  “I need enrichment/I enriched someone today” messaging, calendar (either print based or electronic, as well desktops/screensavers with inspirational message. Need to stratagize regarding development of all pieces of the campaign.
• KVCC Student Art Show materials: client Arleigh Smyrnios made her decision among the 8 designs that were e-mailed to her. She has decided to go with a design from Thomas. She was impressed at the strength of the designs and now we need t strategice implementation of the design across all the elements.
• CNM Graduate Show: and other almost identical program (poster, invites, program, etc.) that runs at the end of the term is the CNM Graduate Show in which almost all of you will be showing your work. Karen Matson is the faculty adviser and Thomas Mills is helping. Design Studio has always done the designs for this as well. Rather than have you all duplicate the poster project I asked both if they were okay with using a modification of Nick’s design, as ti captures the essence of the CNM in a compelling and symbolic way. Both agreed so Nick will be working with Karen and Thomas to modify his poster for that purpose.
• Blues: There was an immediate need for a 1/4 page ad in B/B and Brandon B. was contacted to turn it around quickly based on his poster design. (Note: this does not to imply that Brandon’s Poster design will be used for the final festival design — it was decided that it would be the strongest at the smaller size 3.5 x 4.58″.) Brandon worked with Tim and me and went through 3 quick rounds of design/revision. Client feedback: “I thought it looked good! I am happy with it.” Thank you  Brandon.

NEXT CLASS | March 16, 2009

• As the above reveals: you have been incredibly busy.
  
• We need to regroup and get very clear on who will be doing what on each project. We will be having a lead designer on the larger/multiple piece projects with others acting as support and backup.
  
• Terri Williams’ pre-press class may preflight and proof your work as well. (still not finalized)
  
• We have 3 jobs yet to start. A series of tri-folds, a poster/postcard promotion for an event and a logo usage guideline document.
  
• I am posting some small versions of the designs that have been worked on that have come across my e-mail this week to express my gratitude for the strong work you all have done. You can click on image to see a slightly larger version…
  
• 
  

There is a late breaking new project for the KVCC Student Art Show. This is a fine arts show coordinated by Arleigh Smyrnios. Arleigh has a class that meets at Texas Twp the same time we do so client contact face-to-face will be minimal, and most communication done via voice mail, e-mail and interoffice mail. Please note this is HOT as the deadlines are approaching FAST. The most urgent pieces are the Poster and Invitation. All pieces should have a cohesive identity. Below are the notes I received from Arleigh with specs, and information to be used on each piece. The look should be compelling and relate to Fine Art. We do not have specific images from the show so you will need to create images/symbols that relate to the disciplines (ceramics, photography, traditional and digital arts.) Note: the emphasis on Fine Art (Personal Expression) as opposed to Commercial Arts.

Because of the deadlines, current workload and spring break we will need to move quickly, and strategically on this project. This is a GREAT project due to the quick turn around, open ended design criteria (lots of room to show your creativity), and I would like to have lots of participation. PLEASE RSVP TO ME YOUR INTENTIONS TO WORK ON THIS PROJECT. If you are not able to please tell me specifically what projects you are actively working on and what you are doing on each.

List of Tasks and Datelines

The poster design idea/theme/style should be adapted to the awards and invitations.  That two or more people who can work in a tight time framework coordinate the labels, awards, and catalog. (We will get the roster information on a Monday evening or Tuesday morning and will have to have all ready by Wednesday afternoon (labels & awards) and Wed. evening (catalog).

Show Poster        11/17” full color            Target 3/16
Invitation for VIPs    Choice/See instructions            3/23
Show Labels        3 5/8 x 1 1/16” Card stock        4/8
Award Sheets        4 3/4 x 7 1/2”                    4/8
Catalog            8 1/12 x 11” Tri-fold            4/8

Show Poster

11 x 17″ (4/0 full color – Splash)

Text – Main Info:

KVCC Student Art Show
Sunday, April 8th through Tuesday April 16th, 2009
Commons Forum
Texas Township Campus

Subordinant Info:

Juror: (I’ll have this next week)

Opening Reception: Wednesday  6:30-8pm |7:00 pm Awards Ceremony Refreshments

For more information contact: 488-4505
Include KVCC Logo
Images: Choice–just keep in mind it’s a fine arts student show. Included will be drawing, painting, calligraphy, photography, ceramics and sculpture. The image used could be specific or abstract.

Invitation

Note: design to coordinate with the poster. The invitations will be mailed to the invited parties, so they must be a size to fit in a standard envelope. The invitation could be a single card or a single fold card.

You are cordially invited to the Opening Reception
of the 2009 Student Art Show
April 8, 2009 6:30-8:00pm
Award Ceremony 7:00 pm
Refreshments will be served.

Program

8 1/2 x 11 tri-fold, 2 sided
Required Copy Exterior Spread:

Cover Panel (3.7″wide):

KVCC Student Art Show
April 8-16, 2009
KVCC, Texas Township Gallery
KVCC Logo

Back left (tuck panel 3.6″ wide):

Juror: Name and Juror statement (to be supplied)

Required Copy Interior Spread | Should keep established show identity (panel width left to right 3.7″, 3.7″, 3.6″):

KVCC Student Art Show (Headline)
Left third content:

Award Winners
Category
place/name/title

Right 2/3 content:

Exhibitors
Category
Name

Where there is room: (small)
Faculty Coordinator: Arleigh Smyrnios
Funding: KVCC Office of Student Services
Many thanks to the students of the CNM Design Studio for their work on the print media  for this show.
(If room, list names of all designers. If not list the designer of the theme idea used)
A very special thanks to President Marilyn Schlack and the KVCC Board for their support of the arts at KVCC.

Show Label

3 5/8 by 1 1/16” (24 up on an 8 1/2 x 11”) on card stock. (The master list of names for the labels will not be available for entry until Monday evening or Tuesday morning. The award name and piece entries will be available as soon as the juror finishes judging.

Title
Media
Artist’s Name
Price

Award Sheet

Size 7 1/2” x 4 3/4” | (will eventually be mounted on a black 5 1/2” x 8 1/2” sheet)

KVCC Student Art Show 2009
Name
Congratulations on your
____Place  in __________(Category)(ex: First Place in Ceramics)
Entitled