Practicing Monograms for the 'Gram

Before starting the monogram project, I was optimistic that mashing two or three letters together was going to be easy and fun. Oh, how very wrong I was. After a plethora of user errors...my nice way of describing unintelligible button smashing...I was on a slow track to understanding how shape, color (and absence of), size, and font types come together. By creating what I had floating around in my head, and manipulating those [listed] features, I was able to design a line of monograms that could carry the message of one of my Instagram accounts, @lifepoorlyexplained.

1. I used one of my favorite funky (100% free) fonts, Ragg, to attempt a manipulation of stroke lines.

2. I flipped the L and mimicked the P's stroke line. I realize it looks like I jus

Three letters of unusual shapes proved to be more than annoying for a beginner like me, so I went ahead and practiced a few more concepts with two letters - M and D. These are the initials of a company I had in mind that takes brand inspiration from McDonald's. One of those is the Easter egg in their brand style, using the Helvetica font's W as the M. Doesn't it look better? Flip your screen or head 180*! When I learned that fact, I never saw design the same again.

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Final Project: Mailer for MOCA

Our final project in Graphic Design class was to draft, design, and finalize a postcard call to action for MOCA's virtual hangout sessions. As easy as the task may sound, I was hit by roadblocks so simple, I'm not even sure how I finished. Stuck at the drawing board, I took the instructions too literally. Trying to fit all the text in, not realizing I could omit what I wanted... it was a busy mess! Thankfully, a class and a bit later, I decide to go back to what I know about design, what we've been taught, and find a middle ground between those and my artistic flair..... It came out pretty sucky. I think if I had the same amount of time with the knowledge that I didn't have to think as much as I did, I would have been much more successful. One challenge I faced was not so much in the technicalities of design (of while I'm sure I also need work on,) but rather, in my skills of the app. InDesign is much unlike Illustrator. Though they may have similar features, it...

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Describe who you are as an artist, designer, student? What you are focusing on in your field of study? What are people going to read on this blog? I am a writer by trade, but I dream in pictures. After graduating with a B.A. in Creative Writing, I kept feeling that tugging in my brain telling me that there was something else. Growing up, I had always wanted to design things. School buses, bedrooms, logos, websites (I have too many of those)...anything you can think of, and more. Silly thing is, I never took the time to understand the principles of design, to use illustrator... until now! My prior experience with photoshop, cinematography, photography, and some design knowledge, has allowed me to sustain some sort of portfolio, but it causes me to wince when I forward it to someone, especially job potentials. That is why I am taking graphic design. I hope to improve and expand my portfolio beyond words and home-baked grap...

GRAPHICS POORLY EXPLAINED

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