Getting Scary!

Argh,

Looks like we are getting way too close to the finish line for my liking.... I got a gorillion little threads to chase down...

This week had me drumming up a business card, finally getting my poster pretty much visualized, resume started and a redesign of the case for my "knife".

Business Card: Front

Business Card: Back

Poster: Mostly Done

Knife Case, From Top to bottom left to right:

Bottom portion side panel, top portion side panels, how case will open, side view and front view with "seal" in place.

Second pass at resume first version worth presenting.

Portfolio layout, left and right pages, work in progress.

Work has been kicking me around, homework is piling up, and there is still so much to do... I just have to keep my head down and get through the last couple of weeks... Then what?

Tweak and tweak and tweak some more

Here we are, another week down and another update.

Last week didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped, but this all part of a learning curve. Onwards and upwards with every week.

Fortunately my imagery seems to be congealing, its just a matter of narrowing down the message a bit. So thats what I did.

I took some feedback from Nancy and changed how I was presenting myself, taking her words and changing them a bit so I wasn't using them verbatim, cause that would be a bit lazy.

So here we are this week, with new changes in place:

Here, we see I removed the logo. It was mentioned that the personal branding might be a hindrance, so it's gone, leaving my "tagline" as the sole content of the cover.

 Wording here was changed a bit here, message brought more inline with Nancy's suggestion.

I made two new slides with two more multitools with a simple message on each "blade" each short message image reinforcing how much I can do, and in different "environments". The axe represents a different environment than the USB adapter and suggests different functions in different environments and requirements.

One last "multitool" and a last little jab reflecting my sense of humour, contrasting the white trash, greasy fast food association of the cheap plastic silly disposable spork against the line that I'm a sophisticated individual. Wording on the final "blade" was changed to be more inline with Nancy's suggestion of pushing a unified message.

Back cover, nothing to see here.

Here is the poster again. It may frustrate to see I am sticking with the original message, but I wanted to produce a poster that could be used as wall art if I am not hired by the company I'm applying to. I felt that this line can still work as a motivational statement and be a little more versatile thereby maybe keeping my presence around a bit longer than a direct single use message advertising me.

I did add my tagline and phone number to the bottom of the poster in order to unify my message and keep drumming my contact information into the audiences head.

This weekend I will finally be sourcing photographs of my own nail in order to finally get rid of this pixellated mess that I've been using for the last few weeks. I've got a couple concepts to chase for the nail, but the overall layout of the poster won't be changing.

Tune in next week, where you just might see this thing assembled! I'm kinda excited.

"Reading Break" Thats awfully funny.

So here we are post reading break, and I did anything but have a break. Since the last post I made I have bodged together the rickety frame of what will be considered my online presence, I have begun scripting for the video component of my project and I have finally begun visually developing the components of my marketing strategy.

So here is what I have arrived at for this week. I have begun the first component of my "campaign", a full size poster that will be mailed out to the potential employer. During my meeting with Nancy and Patrick, he made a passing comment about using a single tool and I ran with it.

Upon researching the actual quote I learned that it is called The Law Of the Instrument and it reads thusly:

"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail"


I really struggled with the wording of that as I didn't want to insinuate that the firm(s) I'd be applying to are one note jokes or limited in their abilities, so the wording had to be changed to neutralize it a bit.

Here are my first run of comps for the poster. The typography is EXTREMELY rough, I know the spacing makes it all look like a box of sardines...

So far I'm partial to the second design with the big nail placed at the bottom. Initial feedback I have received has been to remove the red strokes at the top and bottom of the text. I have two more concept I'm going to chase before settling on a final direction, but I am liking this direction so far.

Next the Swiss Army knife concept. Here we have from left to right, the front "cover", the inner core that is going to hold the pages, a sample rough for one of the pages, and the back "cover".  Followed by a secondary full bleed potential treatment for the inner cards. I am personally leaning towards the full bleed visually as it looks a little more resolved. The image without bleed resembles a polaroid photo a bit too much for my liking. Upon review I believe I am going to lose the logo from the front cover component and leave the bigger logo on the back cover. The text was aligned in portrait orientation as i figure as the viewer slides the book out of the sleeve the text would reveal itself and get its snark, sarcasm and slightly confrontational message across better as it was being revealed.

These inner components will contain some sort of URL or QR code as you can see here that will direct the viewer to the video component. Said video will act as an introductory component and call to action to contact me. The video will end with my website URL, Email address and phone number so the viewer will be able to contact me immediately after viewing.

I want to ship the poster in a black tube sealed with my logo, and then the knife will ship in a package that I am designing that will be similar to a sleeve for an actual knife. This package will once again be clasped shut with a magnet bearing my logo.

Speaking of my logo, this is where I'm at. It's not perfect, and has some tweaking to do, but I'm pleased with it so far. There is a lot at play here conceptually. The logo uses my initials to complete the "project" that is the box. While the box also symbolizes my first initial as well. The scratchy, icky typewriter lettering that reflects me, the a.d. that can be inferred as me, "after design", advertising, or even the concept of time (e.g. 2014 ad.). The design needs to be tweaked for lower resolutions, but I'm stoked at how it turned out. Nancy suggested that we go for a simple relatively neutral concept and I think this succeeds, yet it allows just enough of my personality to seep through.

I'm feeling good about where this is headed, but I still have a lot of kinks to iron out over the next few weeks. I gotta keep my head down and keep plugging away. It is relieving to finally be getting some steam behind me now. It has been a scary couple of weeks to be sure.

Onward and upward and all that stuff...