Freelance update: LGBT

To round out my final semester of undergraduate school, my web design class required a final multimedia project. The project needed to be journalistic in nature with a story about something that had impact on the community. What resulted was a website collecting stories from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender group on campus.

A link to the site can be found here.

Filed under: Editoral, Graphic, My Work, School, Web

Practicing what I preach

After having gone on numerous rants about how awesome European news design is and having confirmed my love by actually visiting Europe this summer (and therefor seeing these papers in my hands), I have finally made the plunge.

After seeing the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s redesign this summer, I dropped all hesitation. I absolutely loved the look and if one mainstream American newspaper could pull this great look off, I had to try it.

As the new managing editor of The Daily Eastern News, I was able to accomplish, with the help of my advisers and faithful Editor in Chief, a (successful) total redesign of the paper.

Most of the touches are entirely inspired by the international (or modernist or swiss or whatever you want to call it) style most papers around the world now adhere to.

Here is today’s front page.

This page was entirely designed by one of our nightly copy editors/designers. She has minimal experience and yet she was completely capable of producing a pleasant front page with little creative effort.

The redesign, introduced in August, is entirely grid-based. Front page sections are 16 columns and inside pages are 15. This ultimately amounts to 5 columns of text. The additional column on the front sections is in order to allow a wider rail or grid-based white space. Unfortunately, this formula was impossible to impose on inside pages with designers who have possibly never touched Indesign.

Filed under: Editoral, Graphic, My Work, Newspapers, Print, School, Newspapers, Personal, Print, Projects, School, Tabloid

Completion

This spring semester has nearly come to a close. Two finals left and I am off to the Netherlands for a month. What a great feeling of relief.

Since my semester is complete, this blog is no longer a requirement. So, at this point, I cannot say if it will continue. I hope to keep it going, but I also know myself well enough that without a serious passion or deadline, I rarely find the motivation necessary. We shall see…

As a side note: Here is my final video project for my class.

Finally, here are the finished May Fest advertisements.

From left to right, clockwise, is an 11″ x 17″ poster, a 24″ x 32″ poster, an 8.5″ x 11″ flyer (ready for fax or copy), and an 11″ x 8.5″ tri-fold table tent.

I really worked on creating a more deliberate design than many of my past advertisements. Often I like to take the approach of throwing anything at the fan and seeing what works, but because I had a very distinct style in mind, I was able to create a more hand-crafted look. Ironically, I think some of the designs almost look like stock art with blanks filled in. I’m not actually sure if that’s a success or not, but I’m fairly pleased with how everything turned out. I would have liked to include some more details on the cyan (some cracked or peeling ink) and maybe added some folds here and there, but I did what I could within a reasonable time. That said, I always feel there is places for improvement and I think everything came out nicely textured and polished regardless.

Feel free to leave me some comments or thoughts.

Filed under: General, Graphic, Graphic, My Work, School

Adopt-a-multimedia journalist part 2

This weblog’s existence can be credited to Bryan Murley, my Multimedia Journalism professor at Eastern Illinois University. I say this because a weblog is a requirement of that class. As such, we (the students of the class) have a few requirements for our blogs. One of which is a final project entitled “Adopt-a-multimedia Journalism” where we choose a journalist in the field that is currently creating new media work (videos, Flash, Soundslides, etc.) and then we have to write a critique of their work. That said, I have chosen Amanda Cox of the New York Times and her work is amazing, so there will be inspirational value within. Avoid or flock to these posts as you see fit.

Filed under: Adopt-a-multimedia Journalist, General, Inspiration, Misc., Newspapers, School, Web

Fame and Fortune

Earlier this morning I was mentioned on the Charles Apple blog. Charles must be an early riser because I was unaware of this until 9:30 a.m. when my Communications Law professor, Dr. James Tidwell, congratulated me. So caught off guard, I had no idea what he was talking about until I did my daily visit to Mr. Apple’s blog. Since then I’ve received a number of congratulatory words from both students and professors.
To clear things up: Charles Apple asked for submissions for this post. He did not choose me, nor did I get nominated for something. He essentially offered free advertising and myself and 30 others took him up on the offer. Not to diminish the awesomeness of Charles’ mention, though, because the publicity for a Midwestern college student such as myself is extremely helpful.

The second reason for this post (the fortune part) is that I was offered and officially accepted the job of Managing Editor of The Daily Eastern News (Eastern Illinois’ student newspaper). I will take the position in the Fall under editor in chief Tyler Angelo.

Note: The Charles Apple post (probably) didn’t influence Tyler’s choice and yes, my ego is as the picture shows.

Filed under: Misc., My Work, School, Web

Adopt-a-multimedia journalist

This weblog’s existence can be credited to Bryan Murley, my Multimedia Journalism professor at Eastern Illinois University. I say this because a weblog is a requirement of that class. As such, we (the students of the class) have a few requirements for our blogs. One of which is a final project entitled “Adopt-a-multimedia Journalism” where we choose a journalist in the field that is currently creating new media work (videos, Flash, Soundslides, etc.) and then we have to write a critique of their work. That said, I have chosen Amanda Cox of the New York Times and her work is amazing, so there will be inspirational value within. Avoid or flock to these posts as you see fit.

Click the image for the actual piece.

Filed under: Adopt-a-multimedia Journalist, Graphic, Inspiration, Newspapers, School, Web, Web Design, Adopt-a-multimedia Journalist, Assignments, Beauty, Class, Graphics, Inspire, Interactives, Personal, School, Web