junior review. the prep.

hello there A.De Sando Blog Viewers.

I am in the beginning stages of research and collection for items for my upcoming junior year review. I'm doing some preliminary research on me to find areas to focus on, and see how closer or different opinions of me are. I left it up to those that I polled to either send back a response to my question or not; in that way I hope that those that do respond are doing so out of genuine respect and kindness for me and/or my work. I feel that it is very important to make sure that I attain information that is correct and not simply sent just in the act of a automatic response/out of necessity response. As of right now I have received some responses and am very grateful for those...but especially in beginning stages, the wider the range of audience, the more narrowed you will be able to get for results.

I have some ideas running around about the specific order of projects and when to introduce certain parts. But, if I attain more responses I may end up changing my order. I'm aiming to shape my presentation off of the research results, or use it as an initial jumping off point.

The 5 minute window of time for this presentation is going to be a bit difficult. The main difficulty will rely on incorporating my own thoughts, project reasoning and lessons learned. As automatic response, my mind has the need to explain first what was not successful and then work back to the project brief and then my specific reasons for why all the decisions were made. I think that often I have that difficulty on stating what went well because I feel the focus should be on what can be used to improve it, but also see the importance in explaining to the audience(as well as myself) what I did that is good and works; it's a nice double check to make sure that I am on the same page as the audience/viewers/professors.

I am aiming for this review to be the most positive but serious presentation that I have given to date. I am pretty calm and ready for this review, just need to make sure I make the best structure of my skills and work. Since, I am a bit structured in the way that I focus on projects, situations, people, and events; this presentation needs to be tailored to have the most impact in a rather small amount of time. I fully realize the importance of presenting myself+skills, as well as further explain to the professors all the work that I have done these last three semesters; to help remind the mentors that what they have been doing has worked and I wasn't simply completing my work to get it done.

package redesign. the final.

The key concept for this focused around changing the brand’s current mode of appeal, which was ethos to logos. The intent was to focus on the informational and logical structure of the package, making the name less of a focal point, but rather the recipe and specific type of alcohol. I kept the Empire State Building as part of the design, but created the building with solid colored lines set at various heights. I kept the classic and elegant style of the initial design by using a mainly black design with an accent color for the specific type of alcohol.

front, back, front of the Gin, Vodka, and Berry Vodka bottles.

all of the twist-off bottle caps.

angled shot to show the color on insides to further differentiate alcohol types.

context shot of vodka bottles + redesign.

context shot of gin bottles + redesign.

my portfolio page.

the typeface. specimen final.

final pdf specimen for para-

para- was inspired by the distorted+refracted+altered images that most of us carry about ourselves+our work. para- is but a visual of how the mind often works, filled with emotions that we often try to ignore or push away. para- is defined as faulty : abnormal : paresthesia(a sensation of pricking, tingling, or creeping on the skin that has no objective cause). The key descriptive words for this typeface is distorted (as in "to twist out of a natural, normal, or original shape or condition <a face distorted by pain>; also : to cause to be perceived unnaturally <the new lights distorted colors>"), refracted (as in "to alter or distort as if by refraction) and altered (as in to make different without changing into something else).

the typeface. specimen3s.

option1.

option2.

post critique with Assistant Professor Michael E. Kidwell.
The story/poem was a nice addition to the creepy imagery. But with the imagery and no poetry, maybe less is more. hmm? hmm?! Get rid of name on first panel; have another character word or just the picture? Simpler can be better. No screaming. Not emotional.

the typeface. specimen2.

take 2...from some edits based on Assistant Professor Michael E. Kidwell's extremely quick initial thoughts.

timeline. final animations.

Below are the final 5 videos for the 1950s. To keep consistency between the three chosen events(Korean War, Rosa Parks, Explorer 1), we went with a background consisting of: polka-dot pattern, solid blue color and a paper text; and the same typefaces: Egyptienne Italic & Univers Roman. My partners were Zacree Cobos & Jesse Selz.

10 second Zac - Korean War.

10 second Anna - Rosa Parks.

10 second Jesse - Explorer 1.

20 second group.

5 second bumper.

the typeface. specimen1.

post tiny discussion with Assistant Professor Michael E. Kidwell.
keep parenthesis/brackets on the same baseline/orientation; don't keep changing it.
nice story, created typeface, images + image treatment.
don't end with explanation? End with letters/figures + explanation OR just letters/figures?
create more space between word+definition? change the size of word or definition?
change the typeface that the story is in?
don't always have the parenthesis/brackets in full view; make it appear, disappear and reappear later?

package redesign. further along+context shots.

Below are the changes from last class. Below are also some better studio shots of the bottles, as well as some context shots from a local grocery store. Not totally sure how I feel about my bottle design in comparison with the other options available at this store.

bottle fronts+backs.

bottle insides.

fronts.

backs.

lids.

vodka context.

gin context.

the typeface. update.

Based on the feedback that I received last class I worked more with the second half of the lettings going back and forth between going up or down. I also added some more figures. I kept the numbers and figures pretty normal, without splitting them as I did the letters. I wanted to create some stability in the set...but maybe there is too much of a disconnect between the two parts now? As for the specimen PDF, I need to put more ideas together for how to exactly promote this typeface.

package redesign. 98% done.

For these designs I went back to the minimalistic type lock up that read "no. 485 straight gin New Amsterdam" and explored more from there. I wanted to find a way to reference the back and New Amsterdam/New York which I felt was no longer on the front of the bottle. Although I was to redesign the package, I felt that there was too much of a disconnect with the Empire Building being only on the back. The lines that I initially had wrapping around the bottle referencing the structure of the building was too abstract to make any kind of connection to the city.

My focus was to keep logos the main appeal, with a hint of ethos, with the brand name. The simplicity I feel helps to further advance the logos appeal, giving straight facts and not much more. Although the Konica(design printer) didn't quite print the colors as intense as they are in my files, I feel the bottle packages are still successful.

gin bottle front + back labels.

vodka bottle front + back labels.

red berry vodka bottle front + back labels.

bottle mock up fronts.

bottle mock up backs.

bottle mock up caps.

package redesigning. more iterations.

Based off of the feedback from Design Ranch and a bit from Sir Galloway I went back to the drawing board with the ideas that I had already established. My thoughts were to try to bring together the different options that I had before, but put the focus on a beautiful redesign. Below are some of the options that I was working with this past week.

timeline. animation begins.

My rough animation of Rosa Parks.

Jesse's rough animation of Explorer 1.

Zac's rough animation of Korean War.

the typeface. initial work take 2.

Post critique with Assistant Professor Michael E. Kidwell, I was told to push more from rational, which meant a reselecting of descriptive words. All words are defined by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary; feel free to verify with the links.

new 3 words defined.

distorted defined as "to twist out of a natural, normal, or original shape or condition <a face distorted by pain>; also : to cause to be perceived unnaturally <the new lights distorted colors>"

emotional defined as "dominated by or prone to emotion <an emotional person>"

refracted defined as "to alter or distort as if by refraction <to refract that familiar world through the mind and heart of a romantic … woman — Anton Myrer>"

the upper case.

DE SANDO refracted+distorted+emotional. pages may look something like this.

the pages in the PDF may look something like this. use of poetry + imagery.

new page w letters+numbers.

feedback from class+Assistant Professor Michael E. Kidwell.

think about some of the halves of the letters going up...since they're all currently going down.

the black+white of the home was nice & added a dark tone=good thing.

an overall story about suburbia or America or a trip that someone is taking might be useful for the specimen.

House Gothic does not work here, use something different...something more similar to my typeface or something that allows my typeface to take more focus.

package redesign mock up1.

bottle options for today...pre cut out.

bottle top options.

fronts of bottle options.

side of bottle options.

back of bottle options.

other side of bottle options.

feedback from Design Ranch.
the fronts are too subtle, make loud.
they like the Empire State Building.
add the little icons to the sides or back; it currently reads too much as ingredients.
make New Amsterdam larger on the front; make it a focus.
just have "no. 485" on top.
when people look for alcohol they're looking more for brand than recipe.

package redesign digital sketches.

these are the digital sketches that I translated from the initial hand sketches.

 bottle option1(front, back + sides).

 bottle option2(front + back only).

 bottle option3(front + back only).

feedback from Sir Galloway.

The options in general seem to appeal to the same crowd, but is portraying the beverage in another way. The three options overall look pretty good. Think about adding color. Simplicity of text on bottle option3 is very nice, but think about moving "enhance your experience with" to the bottom...get rid of "with?" Break the structure grid more on bottle option1: have all four sides like the front? or have the front and back the same but sides full of lines? Make sure I keep my focus and push as much as I can to be pathos or logos. 

timeline. story boards.

my partners are Jesse Selz + Zac Cobos.

slides
1-3 Zac. Korean War.
4-6 Me. Rosa Parks.
7-9 Jesse. Explorer 1.


further work in class on beginning+middle of animation storyboard.

slide 1.

slide 2.

the typeface. initial work.

3 words+defined.

words are defined by Merriam–Webster’s Dictionary.

rational

“having reason or understanding”

traditional

“an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior”

disciplined

“a : control gained by enforcing obedience or order

 b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior

 c : self-control”

the type examples.

package redesign sketches 3. top 15.

feedback from class.

-designs that stood out "Be Distinct" + the pattern one + dealing with numbers

-think about maybe a more abstract front with a more detailed back

-the large 40 may just bring the connotation of beer 40s

-work more with numbers