Response: Cheers to you guys. You're brilliant.

We are designers. We are brilliant.

Every day for the past two weeks I've woken up and thought, "Oh thank God, I'm one day closer to being done with school."

Now that the culmination of our undergraduate studies is finally upon us, I'm not so sure I like it. Of course I won't miss the huge load of schoolwork and sleep deprivation that comes along with it, but I'm definitely a lot more hesitant about the part where everybody moves on to the next chapter of their lives. Separation anxiety is inevitable.

I know that we've all been really stressed lately what with finishing up our magazine prototypes, iPad apps, mini portfolios and websites, but I propose we all take a step back and try to enjoy the time we have left together, even if it does involve mag editing, haaaaa. I'm going to try really hard to fully appreciate the short time we have left together before graduation.

It can't be denied; our capstone class has become a creepy cult-like family over the past month. We do perfect impersonations of each another. Our jokes make little sense to anybody else. (Trust me, I've tried. People don't get design humor. Or, in many cases, design itself haaaa.) Shoot, half of us are in the design lab right now ordering Gumby's and laughing hysterically about something insignificant. IT CANNOT BE DENIED.

As a lot of you probably know by now, my immediate plans are to stay and work in Columbia, so if any of you will be in CoMo this summer, please let me know. I'd love to keep in touch and get together for "social outings."

I wish each of you the best of luck in your future endeavors, wherever they might take you. No matter where you're headed, remember this: "The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."

You can't miss: unique business cards

Now that I've finished my mini portfolio and have seen a proof of it, I'm really excited to begin doing freelance work so that I can start getting some professional experience and making a name for myself.

To start getting prepared, I finally ordered CS5 today. The first project I plan to tackle after graduation is creating fliers and business cards to promote my work. But more about that in my response post for the week.

Zazzle features some really interesting options for business cards. If you're looking to design your own, I'd check it out to see what some current business card trends are. For example, I learned that vertical business cards are apparently very in right now.

When I create my stuff, I'll probably keep working with my little bird fellows. I think they express my quirky personality in just the right way. As I mentioned in last week's blog, I've also been fond of the different lemon, black and gray color combinations that are happening right now, so I might try to work that color palette in somewhere, too. 

Trendy indie mustaches have even infiltrated the professional market of business cards. Especially the market of poorly designed business cards...

Vertical cards are everywhere.

 Retro birds are found on only the trendiest of business cards. OMG.

Not sure what you'd this one for. Maybe if you're promoting the Dresden Dolls?

Critique: Mini portfolio design

Except for my final round of copy editing, I just finished up my mini portfolio. Here's a preview of the little booklet I'll have to send to potential employers.

cover

I created these little bird fellows a while ago, and I knew I wanted to use them for one of my personal projects at some point. They represent my personal design style, which is very much still evolving.

table of contents

 

I organized my portfolio by type of work to help differentiate different design approaches. I found corresponding quotes to fit with each section divider to give whoever is looking at it an insight into how my mind works.

Vox intro

I designed an opener for each new section. I wrote a little blurb to explain the reason for the designs in each section, such as audience and the time frame, etc. Employers outside of Columbia might not know too much about Vox, the Missourian and, especially, our capstone projects. These little blurbs will give them some contextual understanding.

design work thumbnails

Although I originally wanted to format my spreads with a blurb on the left page and an example on the right, I eventually decided to put one piece with a blurb on each page. Each spread uses three corresponding colored dots that pull together the colors on both the pages. I stood by my decision to use black pages, but some of my darker colored designs got lost, so I added a .75 pt white border around each image to help them pop.

Can't wait to see everybody else's final portfolios next Wednesday :)

Response: iPad design

"I have conquered the iPad. Hire me." 

 — Christina Shimer

Since we sent our final product to the printer last week, we've moved on to developing content for our publication's iPad application. Our goal for Nosh is to convert our entire issue into a format suitable for the iPad.

We're not just uploading pdfs of our publication onto our application, though. We're recreating it for an iPad platform using the software that the J-school has recently bestowed on us ever so graciously. Heck, we can even get free copies of it uploaded onto our personal laptops.

So just how useful and relevant is our current work on the iPad? Only time will tell. For all we know, iPads could be irrelevant in a few years. Or maybe they'll be the default computer operating system for half of America. While I don't think the former is likely, I do think the latter is a prediction by Apple techies who are overestimating the appeal of the iPad.

Do I think a design company will hire me solely based on the fact that I've used iPad design software? No.

Do I think that the additional experience portrays me as having both the interest and capability needed to learn software that could be obsolete in a couple of years? Absolutely.

Do I care about iPads? Not so much at this point in my life.

Do I care about knowing how to design for the iPad? Absolutely. (Hrmmm this seems hypocritical.)

Crap, I might have to give in and get one. If only I had a coupon...

You can't miss: awesome people who design invitations

Since this week's critique featured the graduation announcements I designed for myself, I thought I'd explore to find some inspirational invitations. I thought I'd share my top three designers with you. ***Disclaimer: I'm sharing sites of my own free will to recognize the outstanding design content they offer.***

Gourmet Invitations by Tifany Wunschl

Feathers are very in right now for brides planning weddings, and the use of them in this invitation by Tifany Wunshcl is absolutely gorgeous. I'm usually not fond of the pink and black color theme for weddings, but this invitation has me considering it for my wedding in 50 years. Most of the invitations I found on this site exude a chic vintage feel.

Elizabeth Anne Designs

It was really hard for me to choose just one invitation to showcase from this site because they're all so beautiful. Although  I wouldn't necessarily want to use this as my wedding invitation, I knew I had to recognize its unique and charming nature. Each invitation on Elizabeth Anne Designs is quirky, which probably means that the designers take great care in capturing the couples' individual identities in each invitation. Overall, this site fits with my personal design style the most.

Wedding Paper Divas

You might be able to tell that I have a thing for mustardy, neon yellows and greens, especially when they're paired with black. Maybe that's the direction I'll head in some day. Anyway, Wedding Paper Divas is more of a commercial wedding invitation website. The invitations are basically templates that couples can choose to use for their occasion. So, though the invitations might not be unique to just one couple's special day, that couple would still get a really awesome invitation for a relatively low cost.

After this short excursion into the realm of wedding invitations, I realize I could probably spend (or waste) a great deal of time exploring the medium. Maybe one day I will actually need to ;)

Critique: graduation announcements

                      front

As our final days at MU come to a close, my amazing procrastination skills are paying off yet again. Graduation is in a little more than two weeks, and I have yet to send out my graduation announcements.

This simple fact of reality is more than fitting given my collegiate career as a journalist.

Anyway, I decided to make my own graduation announcements, partially because I hate imprinted cardstock and partially because thought it would be cheaper.
Anyway, here's what I came up with. Luckily, I was my own target audience so I got to do whatever I wanted without having to worry about anybody else's opinion, haaa.

                     back

The prominent words on the front are from one of MU's school songs. I chose to use them because they're so celebratory and fun. The quote at the bottom is engraved in MU's infamous J-school arch, so I found it to be very appropriate. And of course I included the columns.

While I wanted my invitation to have a more modern, graphic feel, I still wanted to use the traditional format of a graduation announcement. So, this is what I decided to do for the back.

HOORAY. HURRAH. MIZZOU. MIZZOU.

Response: indecision — enjoy the power and beauty of your youth

I am tired. It's 4:16 a.m., and a number of my capstone classmates are still in the design lab working on final magazine prototypes.

Walking out of the Missourian after many late hours of design work typically means I'll be a walking zombie the next day, but recently I've felt sad as I make my way through the empty hallways. This is the end. In a month I won't have to complain about the lack of sleep resulting from my schoolwork because I won't have any.

I've done pretty good in school, and it's because I've put so much effort into most of what I do. I wish I could have gotten more design experience earlier, but I was too busy working as both a Peer Adviser and blog editor for SuretyBonds.com. My boss offered me a full time position last summer, which has made working through my last two semesters much more manageable.                                          If only I knew then what I know now...

Having a job waiting for me definitely influenced my decision not to continue school right after graduation. Although I'm definitely ready to move on to the next chapter of my life, I can't help but feel nostalgic about my experiences as a J-school student.

Part of me wishes I would have applied to start grad school here in the fall so I could continue my work as a designer. I'm not sure I know how to live a life that isn't mainly focused on bettering myself through the education system.

What I do know, though, is that at this point in my life, I'm ready to live my life for me. I won't have school and its correlated requirements and commitments to bog me down. I'm excited to finally be fully self-sufficient and independent. Honestly, I can't wait to work 9-to-5 and bring home a steady paycheck. Then the rest of my time will be spent doing things that I choose to do for me. I'll have full, subjective control of what I want to do with my life.

The only problem is I have absolutely no idea what I want at all, not to mention where I want to see myself in a few years. I've tossed around the idea of attending art school for graphic design. Heck, I've even thought about pursuing my recent interest in fine art photography, but earning a living doing that seems too unrealistic for me considering my lack of experience in the field.

The following are the lyrics to a song by Baz Luhrmann that I've always really liked. I think that they ring truer than ever now. They give me a lot of comfort when I'm feeling unsure about the future and what to do with my life. I hope whoever reads this appreciates it, too.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '99—

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it

The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists

Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience

I will dispense this advice now

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, nevermind

You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded

But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked

You are not as fat as you imagine

Don't worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind

The kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday

Do one thing every day that scares you

Sing

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts

Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours

Floss

Don't waste your time on jealousy

Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind

The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself

Remember compliments you receive

Forget the insults, if you succeed in doing this, tell me how

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements

Stretch

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life

Some of the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives

Some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't

Get plenty of calcium, be kind to your knees

You'll miss them when they're gone

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't

Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't

Maybe you'll divorce at 40

Maybe you'll dance the "Funky Chicken" on your 75th wedding anniversary

Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much

Or berate yourself either

Your choices are half chance

So are everybody else's

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can

Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it

It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own

Dance

Even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them

Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good

Be nice to your siblings, they're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future

Understand that friends come and go

But for a precious few, you should hold on

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle

For as the older you get, 
The more you need the people you knew when you were young

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard

Live in northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft

Travel

Accept certain inalienable truths

Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you, too, will get old

And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young

Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble

And children respected their elders

Respect your elders

Don't expect anyone else to support you

Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse

But you never know when either one might run out

Don't mess too much with your hair

Or by the time you're 40 it will look 85

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it

Advice is a form of nostalgia — 
Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts

And recycling it for more than it's worth

But trust me on the sunscreen

You can't miss: badass type

Read it. Think about it. This is undeniably badass.

Original photo was taken by Jacklyn Atlas and used in an article by Booooooom.

Critique: snack your ass off — final(ish) Nosh production

The following designs are the culmination of my work as a designer for our Nosh magazine prototype.

cover

The publishers wanted some extra covers for their prospectus, so I got a chance to design the autumn cover for Nosh. The cover story is slated as "healthier halloween," and I didn't want to use cheesy autumn colors. I also created the sweet sell lines.

NoshMagazine.com

 This page had a lot of information about the additional content readers can find both online and on iPads. I wanted to show people interacting since this page was all about interaction. Also, we had few opportunities to use photos with people since so many of our pages featured recipes and food histories, etc. I wanted to take advantage of my ability to run a great picture here as big as possible.

Seasonal snacking department page

The content on this page is about combining rhubarb with strawberries to make use of a pretty unique — or maybe just weird — vegetable. I found that phenomenal parfait photo, and Theresa suggested I bleed it to take full advantage of it. I think everything on this page just goes together.

Three ingredient snacks

 This my least favorite of the pages I worked on. I never really liked how that vertical photo fit onto the page, but I just kind of went with it and kept working with it hoping it would evolve into something more interesting. Overall I think the page is too white for my liking, but there comes a time when you have to prioritize and move on with your life.

Feature: International snacks

Coming up with a concept for this took quite a bit of thinking, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I even came up with the title, which I think is pretty clever. You might notice the large amount of copy. Even though there was a lot of copy, I still decided to run the photos as big as possible because I thought they really lent to the story, even if that meant forfeiting my only real ability to use white space. I'm ok with my decision, though, because there's a great deal of white space on the splash page that opens the spread.

Packaged to homemade

 The content on this page teaches readers how to take packaged snack foods and make them from scratch. I love that photo of puppy chow, and the color scheme turned out quite nicely.

You don't even want to know how much noshing I did while working on these pages....

Response: portfolio production

Based on our discussion about how to put together a mini portfolio, I'm considering the following approaches:

• 6"x6"
• a clean cover with some sort of logo to brand myself
• black backgrounds behind my samples to set off the whiteness of the images
• one design sample image per page
• blurb-type captions on each adjacent page
• content will be organized by topic (e.g. VOX covers, VOX features, Nosh, and other projects)
• tabs that differentiate different topic sections

I'm still tossing around the idea including some samples of my photography, though I might just create a separate book for it.

online portfolio

This is a screenshot of the online portfolio that I made last summer as a part of my news design class. Don't judge, I made it completely from scratch.

I'm obviously hoping for the final product of this class to look a little more professional, though I'm not sure how exactly I plan to achieve that since I haven't coded since the summer and thus have not enhanced my online design skills whatsoever.

You can't miss: trendy indie fashion blogs

 a screenshot image from Sein.Box

With the ever-growing success of the new Midwest Style blog, it seems that people are finally starting to take midwestern fashion seriously.

A few months ago, somehow ran across a blog called Sein.Box that's based out of Springfield, Missouri. Although it is a little too "hipster" for my liking, the photography is pretty good. And at least somebody is trying to get out there and represent.

As far as my personal style goes, I really like the stuff that Urban Outfitters comes out with, though I never really have enough money to actually justify buying the overpriced baloney from there (Also, my hips/thighs are far too big to rock most of their looks, ha). Either way, check out this sweet wall hanging I found:

And who can pass on this sweet hipster mustache that's on clearance for just $2.99?! Can you believe they didn't sell out of it while it had its original price of $8.00?!?!?! Maybe Midwest Style will pick it up for an even trendier indie outfit...

Critique: 30 under 30 contest for VOX

Last week the advance design students competed amongst ourselves for a shot at designing VOX's 30 under 30 feature. The story featured 30 up-and-coming Columbia residents under the age of 30 who are impacting the community in one way or another.

cover

The VOX editors really wanted to emphasize diversity with this story, so I wanted to show it right from the start. I also wanted to use fun, bright colors to emphasize the quirky youthfulness of the story. I wasn't crazy about the solid orange background, but I wasn't able to come up with another idea that I knew I could execute in a professional manner. Also, I grabbed the arrows from our Nosh prototype (two birds, one stone haaa).

opening spread

I wanted to continue presenting the diversity of those featured in the article. I absolutely loved this photo of Phylshawn Johnson. It's really fun and energizing (as are the other lead photos here), which I thought would attract readers.

secondary spread

With the secondary spread I was trying to show how I would work to squeeze 30 vignettes into the 10 pages that were originally slated for the story. Because there was so much text and a photo for each story, I didn't want to use too many "decorative" design elements. We all knew the pages were going to be tight. I chose to use bold drop caps, numbers and pull-quotes to help break up the seas of gray.

In the end, I still feel as though my designs were far too text heavy. I wish I would have found a better solution to help split up the stories more definitively, as did Theresa. She developed a really great broken grid technique that convey the story's VOX-y edginess, which, of course, is why her design was chosen :)

You can't miss: more 30s under 30s!

how I feel about 30 things after working on the 30 under 30 assignment: ribbons and flowers. and really REALLY good clip art :)

for those looking to find a job

Inc. 500's 2010 list of the 30 coolest young entrepreneurs. The founders of Her Campus, FourSquare and Living Social all made the list.

for those interested in photography

Photobite.com features a 30 under 30: women photographers to spread the world about influential women in the field, as the industry is often stereotyped as being dominated by mails.

the best of the best
The Power 30 Under 30 Awards recognizes young leaders from the following categories: 1) Arts, Entertainment & Media 2) Business 3) Community Service 4) Politics 5) Science & Technology 6) Sports. 

for the country music fan
Nashville's top 30 under 30 functions in a way that's very similar to VOX's concept. No, it's not about twangy, corny singers, but people who actually make a difference.

Response: photo a day

I spent my spring break in my hometown of Lowry City, Missouri since it was the only time I would really be able to spend time with my family this semester. Here's a visual diary of my week at home.

day 1

Last year Lowry City was recognized for having the best tasting water in the state of Missouri. It was then recognized as having the fifth best tasting water in the nation. Naturally, I felt I should take a picture of our water tower :)

day 2

This is my grandpa Greg coming in from doing chores. It was about 50 degrees this day, which isn't really cold enough to warrant that many layers, haha.

day 3

I took a little walk around town and stopped by the city park where I used to practice basketball when I was in high school. I'm not really sure when these bleachers were placed ON the court, but they definitely shouldn't be there, ha.

day 4

I visited my dad's parents, Mama Sue and Papa Tom :)

day 5

This is just a flower outside of our house. I'm not sure what exactly it is, but I used to call them "snowball flowers" when I was younger.

day 6

My mom and I drove out to the lake. Isn't she pretty? I think this one is funny because it looks like a senior picture.

day 7

I stopped to take some pictures of cattle before I headed back to Columbia. Such a classic.

Critique: found typography assignment

For this assignment I wanted to focus on the bold neon typography of big name companies because I'm so intrigued by their use of of color. I chose the word "mammoth" so that the word itself and the type would refer to each other. While taking the pictures I tried to do so from the same angle for each sign to get a consistent 3-D perspective.

While designing the piece I cut out each letter individually. To get across the neony feel of the signs, I added a drop shadow and a glow to every letter so that the letters would pop off the page more.

Anyway, that's about it. I was really surprised with how well it turned out. Can you guess where each of the letters came from? Some are pretty obvious.

From left to right: Wal-Mart, Subway, MCSports, McDonalds, Target, Dollar Tree, Chuck E. Cheese.

You can't miss: rad SXSW ad & rude advice for the real world

totally rad
A couple of weeks ago Ministry of Type showcased the type treatment on this great South by Southwest ad. It has a totally rad scrolling feature that you MUST check out. Seriously, it takes like 10 seconds. And there's a great surprise at the end, too. Just click the picture below to see the real interactive version.

totally rude
As we prepare to graduate and enter the workforce, we're facing a whole slew of intimidating obstacles. Maybe you're nervous about finding a job or scared to enter the real adult workforce. Or maybe, like me, your fear of failure is hindering you from pursuing your passion.

If you feel apprehensive about your future, appreciate lewd humor and need some honest advice, this is right up your alley. It's definitely applicable to anybody preparing to graduate and strike out on their own for the first time. The author of the article, Julien Smith, has one message for all of us: "It’s time you stopped being a fucking pussy."

Response: magazine prototype progress

My fellow design capstone junkies and I are preparing to leave for spring break to pretend that we have social lives outside of school. But before we do, we've been sharing the progress of our final projects. Generally, I think all of our groups need to work out the kinks to make sure that our prototypes have a consistent design tone, though disconnects are obviously to be expected with first drafts.

Modern Midwest

This publication definitely has a lot of interesting content, so seeing where the designs progress from here will be exciting. I know it might take some extra work to find good visuals to work with, but it should be comforting that the designers aren't limited to content that primarily centers around food. I think the magazine's nature will make for some really unique design presentations.

Plaid Dad
I feel your pain with having to differentiate between feature and department content. The design team is definitely on the right track as far as recognizing the different ways to present the information to readers logically. They're doing a good job of keeping their target audience — young dads — in mind while creating design concepts. And kudos for coming up with so many nameplate options.

Shindig

I like the idea of using real-world textures, and I hope you guys are able to find some great ones that correspond with the publication's tone. Also, unlike others, I personally like the publication's title, and the design style does completely reclaim the word. I think your overall design concepts were interesting, and I can't wait to see them implemented.

Cupboard

The content for Cupboard is also pretty unique, but at the same time I think it would be difficult to come up with concepts for some of the stories. The crafty feel that the publication is taking on is fun. I would try to play that up as much as possible.

Good luck everybody, and try to have a relaxing break!

Critique: VOX food challenges cover

This week's critique features cover concepts I developed to highlight VOX Magazine's food challenges issue that will be printed during spring break. One problem that arose was defining what exactly a "food challenge" is. Apparently it's really just about people eating huge, spicy or otherwise ridiculous food in a competitive nature. All three of my drafts utilized similar color palettes, which wasn't especially intentional but something that's understandable given the color palettes of the food featured.

meaty madness

Since the story conveys a tone as though the food involved in the challenges is intimidating and confrontational, I wanted to convey a fun photo illustration that gave a sense that the food is "attacking" the challenger, which would be the reader in this case. Although I'm not sure how feasible this concept would have been in regard to the images VOX photographers had produced for the story, I really like how this one turned out.

uncomfortable eats

With this cover concept, I basically wanted to show how unappetizing these challenges can be. I honestly don't think that anybody is going to look at that and say, "Oh, that looks delicious!" I wanted them to think, "Oh God, that looks terrible. Who in their right mind would try to eat that?" Fun fact: after printing my first drafts for critique, my boyfriend pointed out that he read the title as "Uncomfortable Cats." Obviously this would have been a problem, so I would have worked with the type.

the human element

I personally thought that the most compelling part of the story is the fact that actual people choose to partake in these challenges. I definitely thought that showing somebody in the midst of a food challenge would be the best way to entice readers to pick up the issue. In the end, this is the one that the editors and art directors wanted me to rework for our final drafts.

final draft

Unfortunately, once the rest of the photos came in from the photographers, I quickly saw that there weren't any new ones that featured an individual partaking in a challenge. Instead, the photos were basically still-shots of the food, which were obviously not interesting as far as compelling cover images go. I looked through the photographer's raw files of this burger shoot, but this was still the best image as far as content and framing were concerned.

Jan wanted the burger itself to be more dominant as well as more centered, so I zoomed in on that aspect of the photo and tried to rework its position, as well as the title, to make it more of the focus. I knew the words within the title would be crucial for selling the rest of the story, so I worked with the title a lot to find the best way to convey information.

In the end I was satisfied with the end result. I think it looks like something VOX would run, even though it wasn't the final choice for the issue.

Response: designing for VOX's special travel issue

or, "why meeting deadlines is crucial for journalists"

When taking an exam in one of my first real journalism classes at MU (Cross-Cultural Journalism) my professor poked fun at the last few students staying past class to finish up their exams. I'll always remember her saying the bunch of us would probably be good journalists since we were determined to work straight up to deadline.

I have another theory, however. I believe a fair number of people are attracted to studying journalism because it allows for procrastination (to an extent). As a student who's nearing alum status at one of the world's strongest journalism programs, I can tell you all about the rush of adrenaline you get from pumping out a piece right before deadline. It doesn't matter if you're reporting a breaking story or designing 1A. Finishing your work right before deadline — and knowing you did a good job – is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. Even if you're not really procrastinating, it sure does feel like you've been trying to play catch-up.

But there are some who take procrastination too far. They consistently fail to meet their deadlines, which makes it hard for those who work after them to further develop a story. Procrastinators make life harder for those who plan ahead and schedule every step they're going to need to take in order for a story to be published on time without errors.

Unfortunately, designers are all too often left at the end groping for content that isn't available, which requires us to (at times) create designs with a limited understanding of the story to be presented. It is both our curse and our opportunity to make sure that everything in a story's package comes together in a visually appealing, content-driven way. Without the content, though, this can be difficult to navigate.

I know a number of designers struggled with this while working on this week's special edition of VOX. The problems can't be blamed solely on procrastination. A good majority of the publication's template was reworked for the special issue, which threw off everybody working on the issue. Miscommunication played a role as well.

The bottom line is that each individual on the chain needs to work his/her behind off as to not hinder the progress of those who come after them. And if something should go awry along the way, it's okay to admit your fault, apologize to those whose progress you slowed down and then move on with life.

You can't miss: blog redesigns and renovations

During this past week, The Ministry of Type has posted new articles four times. The blog apparently hadn't been updated because the owner was redesigning the blog. The new blog is easier to navigate, and the overall design is cleaner and more streamlined.

The owner also redesigned the blog's logo, which is something that was of special interest to me since I just finished working on logo designs for SJI. Here's a screenshot from the site that shows the logo's progression over the years. I really like the new, simplified logo. I generally think that when a design element is simplified, it almost always looks better. Thus far, this ideology has held true based on my experiences with VOX Magazine.

You should definitely check it out when you have a chance.

After getting acquainted with the new display, I started thinking about why blog redesigns can be good. I began searching to find some good information about bettering a blog. BloggingExperiment.com outlines some of the benefits that can come from redesigning a blog. If you're interested in professionally blogging for a company, AnotherBlogger.com offers advice on how to build a better company blog. The advice in both of these articles can be applied to personal blogs for those wanting to increase their readership, so get to reading and rejuvenating.