Final Project

For my final project I made a cd case for my friends band "The Michaels"
Here are my thumbs and roughs, copyright statement, the finished print, and a picture of the assembled case.


I'm happy with how my project turned out. It was difficult to draw the image I had in my head, so I had to settle on other things, but I worked hard on what I was able to do and the case itself looks pretty cool and it feels like a real cd case so I'm glad about that. People hated on the flowers, but what can you do?

Publication Ad

This is my Publication Ad, first here are the specs, then thumbs and roughs, then my finished product.









This project was fun because I had a lot of ideas that I thought would be fun and it was difficult to choose which one I would actually finish. I did both bu tonly turned in the Pimpin' Ain't Easy because people seemed to like that one more

Postcard Thumbs and Roughs

Newspaper Ad, all the goods

First, here are some thumbs and roughs, they are a little mixed together, and you can see the original idea was an ad for a sporting goods store, but then thankfully I got the idea to advertise my friend's "fake" bands and give them the publicity they deserve.


















































Here are some goodies. This contains information concerning the preparation of this ad! Including target market and more.
















and finally, here is the 3 finished products, the first is biggest, then small
er, and smallest.

Brendan Murphy

Friday afternoon Pitt State Alum Brendan Murphy came back to visit his old school and he gave a presentation describing his life and his job as Lippincott in New York.

When I was sitting in the auditorium before the presentation I was expecting a guy in his early thirties and knowing he worked in New York City, I expected sort of a big shot, in a way. But he wasn’t, which was a pleasant surprise. He started by saying one his favorite sayings: “Nowhere leads to somewhere.” I can definitely see why this quote means so much to Brendan because he really did come from “nowhere.” He grew up in Ireland, didn’t do well in school, and only came to college because he was able to acquire a scholarship for track and field. So Brendan proved that nowhere definitely can lead to somewhere, but you must work hard to do it.

I was impressed by a lot of Murphy’s work. I like his new handicap sign better than the original one. I think he had good points in the reasons why he decided to make his own rendition of the symbol. It’s very big to have Wal-Mart take on the sign, and hopefully more and more organizations will do so too until it becomes the new standard. His work in reimaging the gas station I thought also looked good. I think the colors of their signs and building were yellow and orange and it looked cool. It was interesting how he showed the chart with all the color schemes the different companies use and I never really thought about having to determine your company’s colors to differ from other companies in the same field of business, but it makes a lot of sense.

An interesting point Brendan made was that if he could kiss anybody in his past, it would be his technical writing teacher. I was pretty disappointed when I heard that (lol!). I’ve never been a fan of writing, but I’m able to write a decent paper. But this information was very useful because now I know to go to class and actually pay attention when I sign up for the Technical Writing class next semester.

I learned a lot from Brendan Murphy’s presentation and it was fun to hear a real life success story about someone that went to the same school that I am attending. I will be sure to keep his words of wisdom, including “problem solving is an art.,” the importance of being able to communicate well, and to keep up with technology in order for me to become as successful as Mr. Murphy in my future.

My take on the Gap logo change.

Only a little over a week ago, the department store “Gap” altered its classic blue box logo to a simpler, sans serif version with a small blue box off to the side. Immediately after the changes were made, customers online went berserk and complaints flooded in about the new logo. Gap President says that the company did not handle the process of this decision in the correct way. Due to overwhelming discontent expressed from society, the company switched back to the classic Gap logo.

There is a lot to be learned from this earth-shattering incident. First of all this shows the importance of a something as simple of a logo. People are able to connect with stores and other businesses by enjoying the product they sell, the experience of going to there, and the way they feel when they leave. The people fall in love with the experience of going to a certain place, and a logo can personify everything they feel, every time they go there in one little picture. That is why people were so upset when the Gap changed theirs. Customers got used to going to the store they know and love and can trust to put out clothes they like every time they go there. So I’m sure the customers felt like the store is no longer the same as it once was and may not like it for the better.

I can see why the Gap Company wanted to get a new logo. Everybody today is updating their look and their sales were starting to drop too. Personally for me when I see the old Gap logo it reminds me of around 1996 when the TV show Friends was still new and exciting. It’s only what I’ve noticed in my fashion-less world, but that is when I think the Gap hit its high point in popularity, and that was fifteen years ago. So possibly if I felt that way, maybe the executives felt the same, that seeing the old logo is starting to remind you of old fashion trends instead of modern and hip ones. It just happened that the people that already shop there like it so much they can’t afford to lose that core group of customers, instead of finding new customers with the new logo. I like that all the complaints came in. It seems that we live in a world that wants to change everything constantly, but when that’s the case you aren’t able to appreciate the things that are really great. So all in all I’m glad fans of this store were willing to stand up for what they felt and they were rewarded for it.

Everything you need to know about my notepad

First, here are some thumbnails for my notepad project. The subject of each thumbnail is: video games, Bieber, vampires, skateboards, Bling, Bieber, football, cars, computers, and film.








Next the big winners of my notepad thumbnails, first is football. The next picture is Bieber.

































When deciding what to draw, i needed a word matrix to brainstorm topics high schoolers love.









And finally a finished product!! Here is a screenshot of the finished notepad design, in PDF form.