News Paper Ad

In my news paper advertisement project, I learned how to estimate the cost of an ad, and execute an effective black and white design under a budget. My advertisement, following the theme of "The Board Shop," is again intended for males and females, 18-25. The use of white space and the element of the logo is intended to draw the eye on a busy news paper. I want to persuade readers to look into visiting The Board Shop.

Here is the final ad.

This is the design I settled with for my rough.

As with every project, I started with a series of roughs to determine where I wanted to go with me advertisement.

All art and images copyright by Gordon Maxey, 2011

Direct Mailer

The direct mailer project got me thinking about designing to an audience. I started with the concept for a wakeboard shop, then began a design around that target audience. The mailer is targeted to Males and females, 18-25. The design itself speaks to the younger crowd and the difference in colors separates guys from girls. To complete this mailer I included, along with my files for print, an Excel sheet with all of the variable information, and written instructions on how the piece goes together. The piece is two cards with two front covers and one black and white back to cut down on time and cost. With this mailer, I hope to persuade potential customers to visit The Board Shop for all of their wakeboard needs.

I started with five thumbnail sketches of possible layouts.

Final Cards

All Images are Copyright 2011, taken by Gordon Maxey

I then developed a rough of the one I wanted to use.

I started with five thumbnail sketches of possible layouts.

Notpad Assignment

Notepad Assignment:

I was recently charged with the task of designing a notepad that "sells ourselves." Through this project I went through the whole process of design (input) to print (output) start to finish. This project involved not only design, but preparing files for output, then following up with the printer to find out how they would like files given to them, the time required to print, and ultimately, cost. I found out the price differences between all my options and then made the best, most cost effective decision for me. My photography was a perfect place to start. I wanted something simple and elegant that would catch the eye and deliver a message quickly. Here is what I came up with. All images and design copyright by Gordon Maxey 2011.

My finished product.

After drawing out ten thumbnail sketches I decided on one to take a little further and I liked it about the others. This is my rough draft.

My design process began with ten thumbnail sketches. I wanted to incorporate my logo, but in a different way than it has been traditionally seen on my website and business cards

Photo Formats

In our first assignment we took one photo and altered it multiple times to see just a few of the format options that photoshop has to offer.

This is the full color image I decided to use as a starting point for my wakeboard shop logo. I brought it into photoshop and sized it to fit on a 4 x 6 postcard with 1/8th inch bleeds. then I proceeded to make a few variations of this photo for future use.

Here I converted my full color image to grayscale in the color mode drop down menu.

In this duo-tone image I extracted all the colors except for a dark blue by going into the color mode panel.

Here I used the pen tool to make a cut out of the wakeboarder from the black and white image. I then placed him in the top left hand corner of the postcard and added the title of my wakeboard shop. It's simple, yet gets the point across. Which is exactly what I intended when I set out on a design for my store.

My Mission

In this blog I hope to display my abilities as a designer, photographer and artist, as well as inspire all those who see my work. This blog is a portfolio piece that I hope to continue on into the future. I hope you like what you see. Enjoy.