I really don’t like investing in myself for some odd reason. I think it comes from the my former need to want to appease everyone, appear helpful, and have people like me. In short, not wanting to have haters or be on anyone’s bad side. That’s another topic for another time. However, after being here in NYC for a year, I’ve decided to reduce the amount of hours at work so that I can learn about investing in stocks and focus on getting a formal framework in design. I’m enrolled in classes that I’m paying for and even though there are many accessible and free places that I can learn about stocks or design, I’ve decided to take in person classes. When I graduated, I took one class on Peer Mental Health and when I finished it, I didn’t want to go back to school ever again. I thought that I could learn everything on the job and while this is true, the basics/ having a live critique for design is something I lack and actually crave in order to get better in design.

It didn’t make sense to me until right now that even though I’ve decided to reduce my hours, take a pay increase, but not make the same amount if I kept my regular pay and hours that it’s actually fine because it is an investment. An investment in education and more importantly, an investment in myself. When it comes to investing in stocks, people are actually investing a lot of their time in the form of money in order to reap large rewards in the future. In the same way, taking time away from my job/ having a reduction in pay will pay off in the future because I’ll have the confidence to explain my process and maybe have a full time job.

*note, I chose to live part time for the last year because I wanted to enjoy my time in NYC. It’s like being a freshman in college. You go out. Stay up light. Mess up. But you figure things out. Now that I have a better sense of this place/ have a small network, I’m able to go forward to where I want to be which is a full time graphic designer with a large knowledge of stocks who skateboards on the side.

For these designs, the constraints were 1 weight size, but 2 pt sizes

Week 3

Using all of the text provided, create a layout using 1 weight size and 2 point sizes

Design 1

Helvetica Light

Point size 11 and 22

This was a strong design for me. One of the reasons why is because I set this on a 9 x 9 grid which is supposed to be the perfect grid ratio. I knew about the Fibonnaci grid, but I didn’t know about the 9x9 grid. It stinks that I’ve only been using one grid for the past year and it’s only now that I’m discovering these other grids and how to make them in Illustrator.

Design 2

Helvetica Medium

Point size 9 and 15

Out of this bunch, this was my favorite one. I think it’s because there’s a lot of white space and because I copied a majority of it from a submission episode from The Futur. Like Chris Do says, you gotta steal and copy, but make it better. Not sure if I made it better, but I definitely stole and made it my own.

Design 3

Helvetica Bold

Point size 11 and 33

For this design, I actually took the same point sizes and weights from the other Week 3 assignment because I was disappointed in how it came out the first time. This is a re-do/ another version of it. Instead of making In This Issue ALL CAPS and at size 33, I just kept it at ALL CAPS and size 11. I think it makes the design flow a bit better/ gives DZN the top spot for hierarchy. I’m still a little uncertain if this design works. Elements align and it’s on a grid. Well all of these are on a grid. I think it just feels like there are too many groupings.

Design 4

Helvetica Light

Size 11 and 44

Same thing applies for this one like the last one. I re did a past one because I didn’t like how that one turned out. Again I used a grid, but it still just doesn’t feel exactly right or the way that I want it to be. Elements align and everything like that and there is hierarchy, but one thing that bothers me is repetition. I’m not quite sure if too much repetition is a good thing.

Design 5

Helvetica Regular

Pt size 11 and 22

Very simple design. Align everything right and make it a two column. It works, it’s just not as visually stimulating to me. Maybe flipping it upside down?

I’ve been back in NYC for a week now and jeezus I’m already tired of being here. At work, I’ve been able to reduce my hours and increase my wage a little bit so that I can focus on getting a formal background in graphic design online/ in person and focus on learning how to use the stock market to my advantage. While I was really motivated when I started last week, I’m already feeling burnt out. I just don’t feel creative/ all my stuff doesn’t look how I want it to look/ I feel like I’m just stealing designs (which isn’t bad especially in the beginning because I’m still getting a sense of layout).

It just feels like since I’ve decided to learn how to do everything on my own, it just feels like I know there is this wealth of information out there that I’m way behind on or paying too much for. All of a sudden, I just feel like quitting because it’s too much. However, I really need to pat myself on the back because at least I’m starting. No matter how small it is, the results will be plenty. I think about when I used to do cross country and track and field. Every step, no matter how fast, would compound and result in a fast time on the course. It didn’t matter if I didn’t give it everything in training because no one sees that. What people see is the performance at the meet. I know based on my past experiences that things will be fine. I do just wish that I had some designer friends. One really is the loneliest number…even if you have a therapy dog :/

For these designs, the constraints were 1 weight size, but 2 pt sizes

Copy of Week 2

Using all of the text provided, create a layout using 1 weight size and 2 point sizes

Design 1

Weight: Light

Point: 11 and 22

This is definitely a design that I could have done a year ago which means it’s very safe to me. It still doesn’t exactly feel right though. It’s a design that is functional, but again, it just doesn’t feel right. I never know exactly when I’m going to get a good design. Often I feel like I’m just throwing whatever on a page, moving it around, and basing the fact that I have a good eye that it’s going to work.

Design 2

Weight: Medium

Pt sizes: 9 and 15

This is an example of a design that works, but something just feels off. Proximity and how things relate to one another works here, but the positioning of the date was kind of weird. I like working with bold text at small point sizes of bold font at big weight sizes. As well, I learned that you can use ALL CAPS as a way to differentiate weight.

Design 3

Weight Size: Bold

Point size: 11 and 33

I think this design would have been better if I had aligned right the “In this issue section.” As well, if I had made In this issue and Features all caps and the same size as the main copy. There is contrast, but it’s not the contrast that I need.

Design 4

Weight: Thin

44 and 11

Contrast is there, but not in the right places. I’m doing a bit too much here.

From what I’m learning is that it’s to keep things simple. But at the same time, I know that it’s important to experiment right now because I don’t know what works and doesn’t work.

Design 5

Weight: Regular

Point size: 11 and 22

A little more experimental. Elements line up. However, hierarchy doesn’t really work here. By placing DZN at the top right, it draws attention, but the date at the right detracts a bit from it.

A lot of times it pays off, but there are times when I need to molt off that busy lifestyle and just chill.

However, this has always been an issue. Someone out there is always working harder. It’s an irritating feeling because I know I’m a competitive person. But it’s also easy to say, fxk off and just go back to being lazy. At the end of the day though, if I don’t try, I just let myself down. This inspires me for a little bit to keep trying, but then I come back around to just wanting to say “fxk off.” It’s a Tale as old as time. 

The question now becomes what is my why power. My why power is to ensure that my dad doesn’t have to think he has to take care of me. I’ve taken care of myself for the past 2 years with no help from my dad. I know that I can definitely ask and I have been asking for help recently. It’s just that I hate asking. It’s frustrating because I know one day he won’t be here to help. But I guess it’s better to ask for help now before there is no one there willing. That’s the nice thing about some parents. I say some because not all are fortunate to have parents. I’m lucky to still have one alive.

For these designs, the constraints were 2 weight sizes, but 1
point size.

Week 2

Using all of the text provided, create a layout using 2 weights and 1 point size.

Medium and Light

Size 12

I think this set of design were pretty solid. I think there’s only 2 out of these that I didn’t really like as much. If you’re looking at this, I didn’t like 2 and 3 so much. Well actually, 4 is a little iffy to me because there is a lot of repetition going on. I like 5 a lot because there’s just enough contrast and just enough repetition.

Design 2

I tried to align on one axis for the majority of this one, but the issue is that this one is bottom heavy.

Design 3

It works, but the bottom right hand corner kind of bothers me because I aligned right.

Design 4

A little too much repetition here. It works, things align, but I don’t know. A lot of times I have designs that work, but I just don’t feel like they work because I don’t know theory. Practice makes perfect, but if you don’t know what you’re doing or don’t have guidance then it’s just driving in the dark with no headlights. Fortunately, this is just me practicing. I should give myself credit though. I’ve been told to trust my eye as to when something is finished.

Design 5

This is probably my best one. Like I said, just enough contrast, but enough repetition. The Feng Shui of it is good.

Day 3. Well technically 4 that I’ve been doing this. I design every day, but I started designing one day before I started posting. They say that it takes about 3 weeks to build a habit. It’s only day 3 and I’m kind of over this already.

On the side, I’m taking an investment class (Surprise Surprise, I’m still a student), but that’s because I want to learn to make my money work for me. Back in college, I thought money was the root of evil. However, I’m starting to think not having money is a root of evil. Remember that there are several roots to a tree, not just one.

Well any who, I’m back here again talking about design. I’m starting to see a bit of improvement/ my way of thinking has changed in the last few days. Low key, I don’t really want to write this, but I got to so that I can evaluate how I’m doing and compare results from start
to finish.

For these designs, the constraints were 2 weight sizes, but 1
point size.

Copy of Copy of Week 1 or Day 1

Using all of the text provided, create a layout using One Weight and One point size of Helvetica Neue

Copy of Design 1

Weight: Bold and Thin

PT size: 22

I watched more submission from The Futur and tried to copy some of the designs that I saw. There were two elements that I tried to copy. One was the placement of DZN as a type of bookmark and the other was rotating the axis of the names of the designers and article titles. I think what should be done is decrease the overall point size so that I’m not hitting the edges. With design, it’s basically feng shui. You want to be able to design a place so that your guests or the readers are able to enjoy the space or read your message. This design sort of works, but it would be better with some white space for breathability.

Copy of Design 2

Weight: Medium and Light

Pt size: 15

This one sort of builds off of my last design. The weight sizes need to contrast because contrast is king when it comes to design. The weight sizes need to be very different for there to be an impact and to give it dynamics. This is a much more simpler design that work because there is a clear relationship between title and it’s content and there is distance between groupings in order to show that they are not related. Hierarchy does pretty well here too in my opinion.

Copy of Design 3

Weights: Bold and Regular

Pt size: 10

I definitely missed the mark here. I kept in mind the feng shui of design and tried to make it very easy and comfortable, but it doesn’t exactly feel that way to me. I think I repeated elements/ techniques too much in this case. I think the bottom part of how I did the grouping was really clean, but everything else needs a bit of shifting/ rethinking.

Copy of Design 4

Weights: Medium and Light

PT size: 20

Really not that different from Design 2. Again, making all of the font smaller to give it some white space/ breathing room would be a good idea.

Copy of Design 5

This was probably my best one in this round. This is what I’m talking about in Design 2 and 5 about giving something space and breathability. With the white space, the reader is able to come in at all angles and just focus on the text. The design is very simple because I align everything on one axis. I think there’s about 2 tricks here. This is what I’m striving for instead of the normal, move everything to the left and align it. I think i’m starting to get a bit more comfortable.