From the course: Graphic Design Tips & Tricks
Lanzarote calendar assignment: Revisited
From the course: Graphic Design Tips & Tricks
Lanzarote calendar assignment: Revisited
- In a previous installment you were invited to redesign this calendar for Lanzarote Island. The full webinar of the results of your work can be found @graphicdesigntipsandtricks Facebook Live page. You could use any approach to the calendar you wanted, so some of you chose to use beautiful pictures of the ocean, others the unique lunar landscape of Lanzarote, still others the unique architecture of Lanzarote. I tried my hand at this, too, and I would like to show you the results. I settled on a picture of the harbor. There are two things that I would like to point out in this video. One is how to work with the lines that are in the image, and two is my general preference for keeping type separate from the image. What I like about this picture, one, it's extremely horizontal, two, I like the way the clouds move through the sky. I like the horizon line created by the buildings, and I like a secondary horizon line created by the lit buildings just above the waterfront. Of course, the foreground is placid and pretty. So, first step is to add space above the photograph. My first approach was a very Swiss style grid where I set the type in the upper left corner in, this is a variant of Helvetica, and drew guidelines, and then set the calendar type there. It looks arbitrary, it's not really, because I then added to that a picture of the Canary Islands so we could position the island in space. I also like kinda the organic quality of these islands relative to the very mechanical quality of the type. What I like about this is that the type itself is a little bit generic. It goes with anything. You could use this approach for almost any visual topic, and the type tends to stay away, so the focal point here is really still the photograph. My next attempt was far more radical. I dove into a 1970s style typeface called Macrame Super Triline. It has, well, you can see what it has. The thing I wanna point out here is how Calendar has been set on the photograph itself below the blue band at the top, and how the type is resting on the top of the picture. This seem like a natural place for it, and it's very designed this way. An option would be to put it at the top, exactly the same reason. It feels quite intentional. Less intentional-looking is in the middle. It works fine, I like this approach as well. I like the typeface, but it's so different from the picture that it lacks a connection. I noticed, however, there's a connection, we could create a connection with color, the colors that are lit along that waterfront, so I picked some of those colors and added them to the typeface, which creates kind of a festive quality now, and a strong connection between those two elements. From here I added in the Canary Islands. They're not quite as successful here, I think because the typeface itself is so radical. Third approach, more radical still, an extremely extended typeface called Design System stretching side to side across the top. Kind of automotive-like, almost like Porsche. Tucked the calendar type into the R, the 2017 white against the neutral field, Calendar, of course, dark against the neutral field. I like this, it's similar in width to the waterfront buildings. But as I was looking at it, it looks a little bit too much like a ceiling rather than the sky being open, sort of inviting us into the sky. And so I swapped positions, putting the name at the bottom. And this is beginning to work. It's almost feeling now like a wall that we're looking over, the detail of Lanzarote is very similar to the detail of those buildings. And one last step, let's do the color thing, pulling color from the waterfront into the typeface, love this result, and I think it solves every issue. The surprise for me was although this type is designed to go with this picture, it works with the others, too. With a small change of color but nothing else, it goes with the ocean, it goes with the lunar landscape, it goes with the architecture. Very distinctive, works with the flow of the picture, keeps the type off of the picture. Those are the things I look for. And that's your design for today. Seeya next time.
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Contents
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Design a modern cover: Think simple, clean, and angular3m 22s
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Transform a product sheet: Put your words here, not there3m 1s
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Design a business card: Make it look like what it says4m 40s
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Double your artwork for free: Use the same picture twice3m 49s
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Design a ghosted logo: A picture always goes with itself5m 39s
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Design a business card using repetitive shape4m 38s
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Why round letters are bigger than straight ones1m 49s
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Design a powerful poster: Work with your photo, not against it7m 13s
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Design stationery that’s almost a brochure: Picture your product, not your logo7m 42s
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Alignment: Your ruler’s good only for regular things4m 32s
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Logo design: Think simple3m 40s
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Your design needs a focal point: Dramatic photo anchors a strong makeover8m 5s
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Chart your data with images2m 26s
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Make a beautiful logo with off-the-shelf type3m 30s
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How to transfer your look to a new format13m 55s
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Angles4m 52s
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The (very!) versatile art of the silhouette8m 14s
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Easy, functional one-line design6m 30s
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Signage: Consistency makes the brand7m 59s
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Elementals: How black, white, and gray make depth2m 43s
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A beautiful desk calendar you can make yourself9m 28s
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Lesson of the counterintuitive logo5m 24s
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How to design visual instructions5m 42s
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Design a beautiful CD package9m 7s
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Simple brochure presents your face to the public2m 37s
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Soften the edge2m 49s
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Small layout packs a big punch6m 59s
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Shape it: Part one6m 52s
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Shape it: Part two4m
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A logo makeover: Part one5m 3s
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A logo makeover: Part two5m 22s
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Grid collage3m 8s
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People in a group on a grid5m 24s
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Magazine cover redesign4m 33s
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Designing cards with type alone7m 7s
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Designing a small-space advertisement4m 11s
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Designing a business card for a photographer5m 17s
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Designing names with type and basic shapes4m 17s
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Review of an outdoor sign logo7m 58s
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Creating a small multipage brochure9m 21s
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Designing with black, white, and gray5m 19s
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Gestalt techniques: Isomorphism6m 40s
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Redesigning a business card7m 48s
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How to put motion on a static page11m 59s
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The color wheel6m 36s
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Layout decision points5m 3s
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Designing a tiny brochure3m 53s
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Panoramic spacing3m 23s
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Multi-use format for a business card7m 57s
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The boring book cover challenge: Part 17m 31s
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The boring book cover challenge: Part 24m 21s
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The single space practice5m 1s
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Incorporating hairlines into your design4m 22s
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Close enough with color choice4m 39s
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More design techniques with grids4m 35s
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Lanzarote calendar assignment4m 11s
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Foreground focal point2m 58s
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Stop, look, observe3m 50s
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Working with a rule of thumb (dynamic) grid8m 24s
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The humble power of negative space9m 37s
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Go with the flow9m 52s
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Learning by doing11m 43s
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For the love of design!4m 7s
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The boring book cover challenge, part 35m 50s
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Bold moves5m 6s
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Simply beautiful4m 51s
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Common but versatile looks5m 37s
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Audacious philanthropy5m 50s
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Simple slides12m 48s
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Every face has a place5m 8s
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Those little extras1m 53s
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Seeing sight lines13m 34s
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Swiss style grids, part 15m 26s
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Swiss style grids, part 26m 54s
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Poetic type5m 20s
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Visual continuity4m 53s
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Find your balance5m 25s
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Procrastiworking with album covers10m 21s
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Looking around: Why it works4m 17s
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Don't fake it2m 3s
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Find the focal point6m 5s
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Tooth and texture8m 35s
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Small and simple5m 37s
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Design challenge: Dino Water3m 36s
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Looking around: Address the audience2m 52s
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Experimenting with borders5m 20s
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Magazine layout triple threat5m 48s
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Product ad comparison4m 5s
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Lanzarote calendar assignment: Revisited5m 24s
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Rewind: Simply beautiful4m 59s
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Rewind: Seeing sight lines13m 33s
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Find your center with typefaces4m 59s
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Maki poster, part 15m 40s
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Maki poster, part 26m 35s
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Quick look: Decoded wallet case1m 2s
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A type of luxury2m 32s
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Quick look: Saltwater restaurant1m 15s
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Quick look: Nick's Cove1m 1s
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Less is more: Book covers5m 22s
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Less is more: Notices5m 25s
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Less is more: Posters4m 44s
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Movement in design4m 16s
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The British Academy: Logo4m 36s
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The British Academy: Type3m 48s
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The British Academy: Grid4m 45s
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Quick look: Teavana rock sugar53s
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Ask John: Authentic advice2m 33s
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Blue Note: Donald Byrd album cover3m 50s
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Blue Note: Caddy Daddy, Part 14m 45s
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Blue Note: Caddy Daddy, Part 24m 28s
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Blue Note: Caddy Daddy, Part 33m 56s
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Ask John: Finding your passion2m 41s
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It's all in the details: Lineweights1m 49s
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Paper flyer redesign4m 6s
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Set a headline with Gossamer3m 54s
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Ask John: New business logo1m 52s
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A new type: Helvetica Now5m 48s
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In detail: Line values2m
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Typographic silence6m 46s
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Rebranded: Uber4m 6s
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Capture connection with authenticity5m 27s
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