Duvet Cover

This is the duvet cover I have on my bed. Its purpose is purely decorative, but I think it's also an interesting example of graphic design. All it is is the Swedish alphabet in black and white, but each letter is slightly different each time it's printed. The whole thing is laid out on a grid, making it look very uniform and organized. I think it's a good design.

Giant Microbes

This is a box that my friend gave me for my birthday. It's got little toys inside that look like germs and diseases. The design of the box is pretty simple, but it's good at telling you what it is and what's in it. The fonts are kind of playful and geared towards kids, just like the toys. There aren't any graphics, which I actually think helps. Because the background is two-tone, some kind of design would probably just detract from the overall design. I don't think there is really a specific design style when it comes to the box, but the type is set out along a grid, making everything appear neat and clean. I think this is a pretty successful design because of that.

The Umbrella Academy

This is a page I scanned from one of my favorite graphic novels, The Umbrella Academy. I figured that if a book cover is an example of graphic design, why not the panels of a graphic novel as well? Its purpose is to tell a story and draw people in. Images and type are combined to let people know what's going on with the characters. The images are arranged in a way that is supposed to be compelling and show different scenes. A lot of effort goes into designing pages in a graphic novel, and I think that this is a good example of graphic design.

Makeup Ad

This is an ad for makeup that I found in a magazine. Its purpose is to get women to buy what they see because it'll supposedly make them look better. The ad is split into two parts--one part showing a woman wearing the product, and another showing the product itself. The ad is pretty sleek, I have to admit; everything is designed nicely and with simplicity in mind. The font is clean and sans-serif, and balances out the woman on the left side of the image. I think that overall it's a pretty decent design.

Hair Stuff

I was at Walgreen's the other day and noticed these two bottles of hair goop. One is the name-brand version, and the other one is the generic version. They're fairly similar in design, although one is packaged much differently. The fonts are different, but the colors are the same on both. I thought it was really interesting to see two products that are essentially the same but designed differently sitting next to each other. Makes for a great comparison!

The News-Gazette

This is the header to the Local section of the News-Gazette. Its purpose is to tell you what section of the paper you're reading, as well as who the editors of the paper are. It's a fairly simple design, with only black and white and a little bit of blue. It's not supposed to be decorative, so the fonts are kept simple. The typeface isn't Helvetica, but it's similiar and set on a grid, making everything legible and understandable. The only ornamentation comes in the form of the newpaper's title on the right-hand side. The typeface looks gothic to me, so I think it's supposed to look almost Victorian in nature. It's such a familiar typeface for those of us who subscribe to The News-Gazette, and has been used for so long it's recognized by the majority of people who live in or around Champaign.

Poster

This is a poster I bought at an Ikea a while back and never bothered to put up. I bought it because I really liked the way different typefaces, styles, and images were used to create something unified and enjoyable to look at. I like that it doesn't matter which way you turn it, because there will always be some images that are sideways or upside-down. Its only purpose is to serve as decoration, although I think it's made up of different posters advertising performers (for example, I think the bright yellow square is advertising Bob Marley). There are many different typefaces from different times, instead of sticking to just one or two typefaces characteristic of a specific era of graphic design. Overall I think it's a really great design, because at first glance it just looks like someone threw together all these different colors and typefaces, but as you look around the poster you start to see that everything meshes together because of the lack of similarity among the squares. I think I'm going to have to finally hang this poster up. :)

Reise, Reise

This is an album cover to one of my favorite bands, Rammstein. They're a German industrial metal band, so I think that probably plays into the cover of this particular album, Reise, Reise. Although the album is from 2004, I think it looks as though it contains echoes of the Swiss International style. Although nothing looks to be written in Helvetica, the cover is clearly designed on a grid and contains no personal elements that relate to anything the designer might have felt. (As far as I can tell, the words "Flugrekorder nicht offnen" mean something along the lines of "Flight recorder--do not open" in German, and I think it ties into the black box on an airplane or something). The color scheme is more reflective of the Constructivist movement, but the setup (at least to me) is more like Swiss International. It's a pretty interesting cover design; it's eye-catching because it's so simple and the colors are bold. It definitely made me want to pick up the album and look at it!

Box o' Dye

This is a box of hair dye I had sitting in my closet. I figured it's also an example of graphic design, because it's obviously meant to appeal to women (or men) who want to change their hair color. The type is pretty simple and straightforward throughout the design, with either the same or similiar fonts used, except in the case of the word "preference". The image is mostly focused on the woman's face, especially on her hair, so that we can see what the dye is supposed to look like (good luck getting it to turn out that way, though). Overall, I guess it's a pretty effective design, but I think I've seen better on other boxes of dye--even within the same brand.

DVD Menu Design

This is the inside flap of a DVD case for the show Six Feet Under. The purpose of the menu is to show how many episodes are on a disc, as well as which episodes are on what disc. The background is made up of several shades of a single color with rays coming from the right side, and the guides to the discs are split up through the use of dark green lines. The type used for each episode title is a simple, sans-serif font, and the information on each episode looks like it's written in Times New Roman. Small pictures feature a scene from each episode as well. I think overall it's a pretty good design, and it serves its function well. It's a short, helpful guide to finding an episode of the show you might want to watch, so I think it's pretty effective.

T-shirts

These are a couple T-shirts I got at a concert a few months ago. Basically, their function is to promote the band, My Chemical Romance. I really like the shirts because of their design. The one on the right is very simply colored, with only black, white, and red, and features the band members as if they're on a "Wanted" poster. The typography is all capital letters in a sans-serif font to make it seem more threatening, and the black bars over their eyes with the word "Exterminate" continue to convey that message. In a way, the shirt might even echo Constructivist design because of the color scheme and simplicity of the design (minus the Communist message). The other shirt is also pretty simple, with just the words "Look alive, sunshine!" on the front. In this case, the typography is the design, since there isn't another image on the shirt. It's a little hard to tell in the picture (sorry for the bad lighting), but the words actually have a sunburst inside them in orange and yellow (sort of echoing Art Deco), which I think makes the shirt kind of funny. Overall, I think the quality of the artwork is pretty good (which is, of course, why I bought the shirts in the first place), and they do a pretty good job of promoting the band.

Book Covers

This isn't really a post pointing out particular aspects of graphic design, but instead a post about how styles change. These are the U.S. covers to one of my favorite series, Nightrunner by Lynn Flewelling. The first three books in the series were published in 1996, 1997, and 1999, respectively. The latest two were published in 2008 and 2010. I think it's really interesting to see how the cover design changed over a period of fourteen years, even though they're all part of the same series. Another book is set to come out next year, and the cover for that one is similar to the last two.

The first three covers all use the same font for the title, while the design of the covers themselves are similar, with the colored bars on the top and the bottom with the white type inside them. The other two are completely different from the first three but are similar to each other, because one character is shown instead of a scene from the book, with an image featuring a location behind them. Although these books were published so far apart, the designers didn't choose to make all the covers similar, and instead went with a very different design for the last two. I can't help but think that this is due to the way styles change over the years, and they just wanted to keep up with what was popular at the time.

Mini Bowling Game

This is another picture I took at work, mostly because this particular design made me laugh. We sell these little toys and games behind the register at Claire's, and this one caught my eye. It's shaped like a bowling pin, which is fitting, and the colors are bright enough to capture the attention of its target audience--children. It's definitely not the best-designed thing I've ever seen, because it's kind of just a mish-mash of color, type, and images, and it's really kind of cheesey looking. A lot more (or, probably, less) could be done to make it look a little neater, but I guess overall it really serves its function of attracting kids to it.

But what really makes me giggle, though, is that this game came from China--and clearly something got lost in translation. Take a look at the caption in blue type near the top of the packaging: "Simulating the true styles and making carefully!"

Ghoul's Best Friend

I took this picture while at work the other day. It's a sign advertising a sale on Halloween merchandise. It's a pretty simple design with a border that features orange and yellow ghosts and big, bold, black letters that are meant to grab attention. Because the type is black on a white background, it really stands out. The store's logo and the catchphrase "ghoul's best friend" are written in orange and sort of take backstage to the main focus of the sign, which is the "buy one, get one half off" promo. Overall, I think it's pretty effective advertising, because compared to the rest of the promo signs in the store (which are mainly purple and white), it really pops. Even when compared to the layout and color of the store (black and purple), it sticks out from everything else and is pretty effective at drawing attention.

Yearbook Cover

This is the current yearbook from my old high school. My mom is the yearbook advisor there, so I found this laying around the house and thought it was a good example of graphic design. Every single book cover is an example of graphic design, and I figured yearbooks are no exception. Clearly its function is to show people all the events that happened during the school year, and the cover kind of gives an introduction to that. I like how it was designed this year, because "Post" has photos of students participating in different activities, like a bonfire, a football game, and the cheering section for the basketball teams. Plus the title stands out because the background is entirely black, which means all the words come to the foreground even more and generate interest in what other pictures are inside.

Wine Label

This is a label from a wine bottle I found in a store the other day. I thought it looked really cool, so I took a picture of it. It's a "specialty" label for Halloween, so I think the font suits it well, especially since the wine is called "Twisted". Similarly, the tree beneath the name reflects the font, and I like how the colors are kept to a maximum of three so the image isn't cluttered. Overall, I think it's a really good design, especially for a wine bottle, since it's printed in a relatively small space--too much would make it appear way too chaotic to be an effective design.

Magazine Cover

This is a cover for Oriental Trading magazine, which a magazine that sells toys, candy, and decorations for holidays. I got it in the mail the other day, and thought it would be good for the blogging assignment. I don't necessarily think it's the best design, although every cover for this magazine typically looks the same. For the most part, the type is two different colors and the fonts are within a close enough range of similarity that it's not really that distracting. But I do think the way they're laid over the photograph is a little distracting, maybe because the photo is so busy (the candy, the kids in costume, along with the type,the offers for free shipping, etc). Overall, it gets its message across, but I think the design isn't executed as well as it could be.

Business Card

This a business card I picked up from my piercer/tattoo-er, a guy in Champaign. I think it's a really good design for a business card, because the front of it is relatively simple, while the back of it contains all the information necessary. There is nothing "extra" to it, but it gets the point across very well. I really like the design on the front because of its simplicity, and the color scheme (a shade of maroon with gold lettering) is attention-getting. I really like the piece because of its style, and nothing seems like its out of place. Only one font is used on the front, and two on the back, so there isn't really any kind of distraction that I can see that might hamper the effectiveness of the piece.