Merry Christmas!

As a child, one of my neighbors would go all out each year to decorate the outside of his house for Christmas. I would consider some Christmas decorations a great work of art, and probably my favorite to look at. My neighbor would start the day after Halloween to get everything ready and in the end it is diffidently worth it. Some day, if my wife lets me, I would love to do the same outside of my own house. The above images are just a couple examples of extreme Christmas lights. HGTV always have great shows talking with the people who do these and the time and money spent each year.

 Using what you have for an advantage. 

 In my opinion, one of the best ways to get someone to remember something is by being creative. the above three pictures are great examples of this. the top one is a billboard with a light pole in the way. to most people this would be a horrible spot to advertize, but the creator of this ad used it to better his ad as wee see a car crashing into it. this not only draws in people attention for being clever but also ads a 3 denominational effect along with it. the next one is Micky D's here they use the reflection of the glass background to complete the logo. (although this may only be possible with well know logos due to the effect being lost in the day time) and the last one i thought was the most creative by using the anchor rope from the ship to look as if a noodle. this gives me inspiration to use preexisting elements with the advertizements them self to have them stand out more than the others that may be around them.

I came across this on the web and I find it true with almost all food ads. when have you ever opened up a fast food product that has ever looked as delicious as the picture? this being said, it is a great reminder that while doing advertisement you should have your finished product look the absolute best it could under perfect conditions. 

Bathroom Ads

Bathroom Ads. Whether you are a guy or gal, you have probably noticed ads in bathrooms. The above images show some examples you have maybe seen. Guys most of the time you go to use a urinal there is something always posted right in front of you while you relive yourself. You can also find them on a stall door right at eye height while sitting down, and now they are starting to have ads built into the mirrors as you wash your hand. As you can see in the second pic, they are TV/mirror that as you walk up the sensor turns it back into a mirror.

In my opinion, these are very great and useful ways to advertise due to the fact people will look straight at them for at least a minute instead of just walk on by. These also work great for stores to put their coupons in. 

Billboards

One of my biggest fears is making an easy mistake on work that I am doing for a client. I found some of the biggest ads out there, billboards, that have mistakes. On the first one, it is an advertisement for a well established company, Porsche. There is an S missing in Boxster.  The next one has an ' in the word always that does not need to be there, and the last is a billboard that had the wrong date for voting. Sometimes things get looked over and that is why it is best to get as many eyes on your work as possible.  

Creative

I ran across this Picture on the internet, and it grabbed my attention. This is a picture of a hand strap on a bus or train with someone using it. I think this is probably one of the most creative ways to advertise a product. Not only does a consumer see the ad, but as he/she uses the strap as it is intended they now see the product (a watch) on their wrist where they would wear it. And this is done without the customer stepping foot inside the store.

This gives me inspiration to see if I could create the same thing, something someone may use every day and when they do use it shows of a product at the same time.

SIMPLE

Here are a couple logos I picked out that are very well known, name brand, type companies with some of the most simple designs. The first 3 here are just black and white, 3 slanted bars represents Adidas, a simple check mark (that has curve) for Nike, and The letter O for Oakley. The last one dose have one color, red, that looks like a target (I wonder what company this could be for?)

 I like these examples because when i work on designs I tend to try to make elaborate logos or ideas that just get to complicated and can lose its meaning or purpose, so these remind me simple can work too. 

Sign

This is a street sign that sits on the corner by my house. I noticed it was not like any of the other signs on the street (which are white with black vinyl lettering). I know these are not the best quality pics, but if you look closely at them you will notice a couple things that are different from the ST signs today. First, the letters are indented in the sign so they raise out, due to this there are two metal signs put together to make one. the color of the lettering is a faded brown and when i walked up to it, I saw up and down brush marks as if it was hand painted. the last thing is the pole it is on, its not the cheep green pole that almost every sign is on now. this pole is a round pole with decorative pieces right above and below where it holds the signs.

Placement

I was drinking a red bull the other day and i notice that there logo was perfectly alined to when a right handed person is drinking it shows to everyone else, while the nutrition facts was covered up by the palm of your hand. I thought this was a geniuos idea for companies to use. They know exactly how someone will hold their product due to where you drink from so why not use this to their advantage to tell everyone, hey look at what this person is drinking. 
After going back to the store to buy one for a picture I realized that this is not the case with all their cans, they are all randomly placed, so sometimes your hand may be covering up their logo. This could be used in the future especially with a newer companies looking into cheap advertizement that they know will be seen.

Hungry?

My wife was eating cereal the other morning and I happened to see the box. This is the design that is on the back. This is a great way to have people interact with the product they are selling. This box has games on it for kids to play while they are eating their breakfast, while the whole time they are staring at one big advertisement of the product.   

Hey Jack

 Jack of all trade, Master of none. This was a common phrase I heard in the military. A lot of times you find yourself going to multiple schools and training on a variety of things. These schools were not to make you an expert at them but to give you enough to do well at that job. Attached are some photos of a jack. These jacks are a design that shows what kind of work you did while you were in the military. The top one is a banner I was working on for a friend and the bottom is an outline of a jack that tells a bit about me. These types of designs are my favorite because to the average eye it looks like a cool design but for someone who knows what they are looking at, it tells a story without any words.

Welcome to my first Blog.

      I have never written a Blog before but am starting one for my graphic design classes I am currently taking at Parkland College, GDS 108 and 102. I just started college this week and I am already doing something I hate, writing. I have been out of high school for 5 years now so going to college made me a little nervous; however I am lucky to be in classes that I think I will enjoy.  By doing this blog I feel that I will be able to look back on where I am starting to where I will be at the end of my graphic design program. In my blogs I will be discussing photos I take that deal with graphic design.

     A little about myself, I was born in Effingham IL then moved down to the suburbs of Atlanta GA for about ten years. I moved back to IL in 2004 where I went to High School in Mahomet. After I graduated, I went off to the Marine Corps where I spent the past five years. I enjoyed my time in as it gave me chances to go to countries around the world and work and meet new people. Now that I am back home, it will give me time to settle down and spend more time with my family and my wife Ariel. Me and my wife met in High School. She doesn't like when I tell the real story on how we met but I'm going to say it anyways. She stocked me in PE class. Everything I did she did as well and because of her I got my first B in PE class. The teacher said it had something to do with focusing on her more than the Frisbee getting thrown around the room. She is currently enrolled at Parkland as well in the radiology program.  

    I chose Graphic Design because I think it will be something I will enjoy doing. On the opposite side of that, I have never been an artsy person. The last art class I had was back in elementary school, so I know I have a ways to go and am probably behind most who start off in this field. As a kid my dad worked for the department of transportation. He would occasionally bring me in and would make road signs for the county. I thought it was the coolest thing watching him design the sign, send it to the machine that cut it out on vinyl, then apply it to the metal backing. So about a year ago I decided to buy a 24 inch vinyl cutter to play around with. It didn't take long before I figured the basics of vector graphics and began cutting out custom vinyl graphics for my friends cars. While getting a haircut at my barber one day, it came up in conversation. The owner said he needed some new store hours for his window and asked if I would be willing to do it for him. This was the first of many projects he had me doing and when I thought there could be no more signs to make for this guy, he said he was opening a new store the next town over and he wanted me to do all the windows, signs, banners ext. Through the word of mouth I started getting calls from other local business to do their store fronts as well. It was very exciting for me to see my work on the outside of stores when I drove by. I knew I wanted to start a business someday with this but my time in the military was coming to an end and I was leaving California and my client base behind. When signing up for college, I was pretty set on going into business, but as I was scrolling through the list I saw graphic design and I knew this sounds like a better road to take, besides my wife is minoring in business. And a couple months later here I sit in my first Graphic design classes.