Everyday Inspiration Blog

Hello! For this post, I wanted to talk about some neat every day graphics and packaging that I found in daily life. I decided to go to the World Market for this one, as I wanted to capture stylings of designs from all over the place, not necessarily just the United States.

This first one is Chinese brand Meiji's "Hello Panda" biscuits with cream cheese. The target audience looks most definitely for children and maybe adults who are kid at heart. This is evidenced by the cartoons of pandas looking super happy with big offensively cute bug eyes. The call to action to me is the new sports printing that they have placed down at the bottom. It reminded me of how certain cereals in the America utilize new colors or flavors to the mix to entice the audience to pick it up. I also really enjoy the packaging of the product and have been thinking of maybe something like this for my final project in  my digital file preparation course.

This retro throwback lemonade is an American-made juice drink that originated in the late 1930s. They appeal to the target audience with a affinity for vintage: The look of lemonade in a classic bottle and labeling. the call to action is a combination of the artistic graphic which jumps right out at you and the insertion of the phrase "with real lemon juice" so you know it's legitimate and not pumped full of artificial flavoring and additives like they tend to do  these days. So in truth, the classcal nature of the bottle and it's resolution to remain "real" gives it's biggest appeal to prospective customers.

This slightly alcoholic cider, is my personal favorite. Though I am not an avid fan of "hard" juice drinks, I do appreciate the awesome quality of the packaging. From the playing card logo to the sumptuous red apples speckling the image, it literally looks mouth-watering. The call to action is most definitely for over agers due to the alcohol content, but I feel like anyone with an appreciation for the Old West-era symbolism the combination of playing cards and alcohol represent to most Americans.

This is U.K. creation is an alcoholic beverage, bottled and styled to format the classic british comedy troupe Monty Python. It is a Pale Ale with a comedic attention-grabbing logo and sub-logo (for those of poor eye-sight it says "tempered over burning witches". I cried from laughter). The target audience is most likely anyone who grew up with Monty Python lore or just someone who enjoys both alcohol and comedically unique things. The call to action being the fact that it's both unique and a neat aspect of the "Holy Grail" cast's wide-spread fame.

Finally, the last graphic image inspiration (and part of my delicious dinner that evening) is the German packaged "mini wini" cocktail sausages. The target audience looks like it is for the younger people as the packaging somewhat reminds me of the "Mighty Kids" bread labeling from the late 90s here in the United States. It's both colorful and eye-catching and the call to action could be the amount of little cocktail weenies stored in the nifty little jar. Also the freshness of the weenies could be a factor for anyone who knows that brine is a preservative substance used in keeping food fresh (If you didn't, no worries, I had to google what brine was exactly).

Everyday Inspiration for graphic design and packaging is literally EVERYWHERE and this is a mere taste of the multitude of interesting designs that are a part of the home we call Earth. Hope you enjoyed!

Magazine & Bilboard Ad Projects

The magazine ad will be for a soft drink aptly called "Drinq" and will be featured in Maxim magazine. The purpose is to get people interested in the product and can use the Microsoft Tag as a means of learning more. Call to action is that by buying this drink you will be able to escape the scorching summer ahead with a refreshing and cool beverage.

Project Specs
Magazine:
Size - 7in x 10.75in
Bleed - 0.125 in
Margins - 0.25 in
Cost to Produce:
Master Image: Screen Tint

Magazine Thumbs and Roughs:

The next ad, is the Bilboard which will also feature the "Drink" product. Since it's a bilboard, the project will have the same purpose and call to action as the magazine ad, only a lot bigger. I will utilize only a 4 raster color to create the image and keep it simplistic yet eye-catching.

Project Specs
Size in InDesign: 6.5" x 9.5"
Actual Bilboard Size: 10' 6.5" x 22' 9.5"
Bleed: 0.125 in
Margins: 0.25 in
Pixels: 18ppi
Resolution: 216
Cost to Produce: $700

Bilboard Thumbs and Roughs:



Well after attempting to make at least one of these roughs happen, I hit a few snags with the time to make them so I re-hashed the original product to look like this:

Magazine Ad:



Bilboard Ad:

Thanks for checking it out guys!

Job Analysis in Graphic Design

The job opportunity I discovered was about being the creative manager for the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. This combination of theater and graphic design is ideal for me as I want to work in the arts and I can also utilize my minor! It would be a marketing job primarily, as the job requires the person to oversee all advertising set forth by the Theater. I would be responsible for all programs, posters and online media for each production and receive $45,000 a year. Not too shabby for a theater company, but after perusing their website, I see that the Alliance Theater is one of the top Artistic Theatrical spaces in Atlanta. The job itself utilizes both parts of my major and minor respectively, but they are also looking for someone with several years real world experience under their belt as well. Oh well, perhaps I could shadow them?
All information was received from the following website:

http://artjobs.artsearch.us/job/creative-manager-graphic-designer-theatre/