Inspiration for Project 9 - NMED 2005

I almost forgot to incude my inspirations, I hope it is not too late.

I was infulenced by the ironic illustration of this cover and the basic dual complementary color scheme.

Since I chose an article dealing with diminishing natural resources and the environment, I looked up some environmentally conscious publications and I was also pleased by the irony of this cover in respect to the environment.

Because I chose an illustrated cover for my project, I decided not too overwhelm the double-page spread with stock photography, opting instead for some basic color accents, the faucet, and one altered photograph. I like the way the page above has an illustrated image and how it looks slightly more magazine and textbook than newspaper.

Assignment 10-Newspaper Redesign-NMED 2005

I put this project off forever because I was weary about working with so much type again although once I got started, the flow of ideas remained constant. Since I used photos in many of my other assignments, I decided to make my front cover an illustration. The faucet is my primary graphical element because the feature article is about water scarcity. I wanted the background to be a map of Alberta but I had to alter it quite a bit in Photoshop before bringing into Illustrator because I did not want the city names to be confused with the headlines. I lowered the opacity quite a bit so the headlines stand out so I hope now it is not confusing to the eye. I chose no caps in the meliorist logo because it is a student newspaper and no caps implies creativity which a student body should be.

To keep the theme going onto the second page, I added the same faucet but made it smaller and incorporated the color palette of the front cover. Since the water workshop was called "Waves of Change", I used waves in the headline. I found the image of the glass of water on the web and photoshopped the poison symbol on there since the image is relevant to the pull-out quote. I added the quiz because I had extra room. The text on top is relevant to the front cover because I used he same font and drop shadow as I had used in the meliorist logo.

I didn't think I would but I actually really enjoyed this project. I really like working with illustrator and photoshop and am going to miss it over the summer unless I can find a pirated version.

METALHEADS

Metalheads are a broad subculture that encompass a large variety of sub-genres including thrash metal-heads, traditional metal-heads, glam metallers. groove metallers, nu metallers and doom metallers. Since heavy metal music began in the 1970's with bands such as Black Sabbath (shown below), Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, the traditional metallers, often referred to as the "true metallers" were the first to don the fashion (black, leather, wifebeaters, cuffs, tattoos and skulls), grow the hair out (ideally into a mullet!) and show the devil horns with the "Corna" hand gesture. (see above). Metalheads are often mislabled as goths, satanists, dim-witted (think Beavis and Butthead), or punkers but these attritibutes only apply to a few subgenres as there are many extremely intelligent, happy, and non-satanic metalheads who all share the passion of busting out some mean air guitar now and then and rocking out to Metal. Heavy Metal itself is heavy riff-driven music with lots of electric guitar and bass, often very fast (thrash metal), and usually with semi-shouting to screaming vocals.

Over the years, metalheads, like most subcultures, are becoming increasingly harder to define. There are those who listen to the music but reject the image and those who embrace the image but are not really passionate about the music. The imagery portrayed in Metal can be based upon certain interests that metalheads have in common such as horror films, science fiction, occultism, politics, blood and gore imagery, weaponry (e.g. swords, knives, firearms etc) and militaria, fantasy (with particular attention to the work of J. R. R. Tolkien), and Celtic and Nordic culture and mythology. Some metalheads enhance this imagery for show (apparently Alice Cooper is an avowed Christian) and others have either naturally or synthetically disturbed minds. Regardless of the subgenre they belong to, metalheads can be very relatable and likable. I don't know anyone who doesn't make like Wayne and Garth and start headbanging when the heavy part of Bohemian Rhapsody comes on! For more metal fun rent the documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey or take the quiz on youthink.com What Heavy Metal Band are you?

Assignment 9 - NMED 2005

I created this poster based on the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The building was desgined by Frank Loyd Wright and although both Guggenheim and Wright died before the building's completion, the result is a clear testiment of Wright's architectural genius.

"The Guggenheim Museum is an embodiment of Wright's attempts to render the inherent plasticity of organic forms in architecture. His inverted ziggurat (a stepped or winding pyramidal temple of Babylonian origin) dispensed with the conventional approach to museum design, which led visitors through a series of interconnected rooms and forced them to retrace their steps when exiting. Instead, Wright whisked people to the top of the building via elevator, proceeding downward at a leisurely pace on the gentle slope of a continuous ramp. The galleries were divided like the membranes in citrus fruit, with self-contained yet interdependent sections. The open rotunda afforded viewers the unique possibility of seeing several bays of work on different levels simultaneously. The spiral design recalled a nautilus shell, with continuous spaces flowing freely one into another."
-excerpt taken from http://www.guggenheim.org/the_building.html

I did not intend to go psychedelic with this design but the shape and design of the galleries (the inverted ziggurat) reminded me of Op art and this led me to the final product. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, I just hope it prints out accordingly.

This is the photograph that I based my design upon: