I have been working on a new emblem for myself. I will still be using the classic “C“ logo, but I wanted to have a character I could do more with. I drew up the character on a piece of paper and finally got some time to make a digital version of him. The only thing left to do is give him a name. I was thinking “Webnaut” but I am not entirely set on that name. Any suggestions or critiques?

I chose to be a designer, but I was not chosen to design. How quickly I forget my purpose while immersed in work. Yet, what point is there of toiling through my labors if I am no longer conscious of my purpose? I might as well be as one who sleeps. The moments that I am most conscious of my purpose are the moments I find myself the most alive.

The American Dream is parading through me, but that is all it is, a dream. A dream in which I am being coaxed into sleeping. I work to get stuff and I am convinced that this stuff will make me happy. And maybe it does make me happy, but that happiness is short lived. I hand over Everlasting Joy for my small highs of happiness.

Jesus once said that, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” I must stay prudent in living beyond the work that I can do.

Overall, I am really satisfied with the feel I developed. Oh, you can even take a look at the roughs for this project if you wish.

Why is this applicable?
Suppose you are using WordPress and you want to add your logo to a theme. By default WordPress adds something like the following code:

<div id="headerimg">
<h1><a href="/">Your Blog Name</a></h1>
<div class="description">Description</div>
</div>

And instead of having Your Blog Name you want to have your logo. Well, you can do that all through CSS. This same technique is great for replacing plain text with images for menus.

First the CSS and then I’ll explain.

#headerimg h1 {
background:url('images/logo.jpg') no-repeat 0px 0px;
display: block;
height: 0px;
padding-top: 40px;
overflow: hidden;
width: 220px
}

The Explanation
So in order to do this all through CSS we need to add a background image that is aligned to the top left or 0px 0px. We want this image to be displaying as a block so that we can mess with the height and width. The height we are setting to 0px because we do not want to have the words Your Blog Name to be showing up on top of our logo. Instead we will use padding to change the height of the container to the size of our logo image. Make sure to make the overflow set to hidden so that the blog title does not show up underneath.

Why not just add an image?
Images are great and all, but this way is helpful for search engines and browsers without CSS support. When CSS is disabled or not read the words Your Blog Name still appear in both search engines and CSS disabled browsers. You could use the alt tag to put the name of your title in, but when images are not displayed the typographical hierarchy is lost.

Well that it for this tutorial. I’ll hopefully be adding an addition to this later on for CSS menus that will include rollover states.

I am currently working on my final project for Graphic Design IV. In this project I will be creating a brand image for a coffee company of my choice and will also be designing both the liquid and dry packaging for the coffee. I chose to create a company called French Press. The idea is sort of comical in that I will be playing off the idea of Bench Press.

Before I chose this design concept, however, I had 2 other concepts to narrow down from.  The class and professor agreed that my French Press idea would be the best to work with. Although Jawa Java was a pretty funny name. I might go ahead and design that package set anyway. Below are my 3 concept roughs. Let me know what you think.

These don’t look finished

During the brainstorming stage of my design I try not to get caught up on making things perfect. I focus on developing feels and throwing together ideas that will work as great solutions to the problem at hand. From the brainstorming and conceptual work I go on to making roughs for the concept work. After the roughs are completed and I have received thorough critique, I go on to fine tune my designs.

I have already begun work on both the liquid packaging and dry packaging for the company. I’ll post those images later.

Some Negative and Positives of the Show
I did not get much feedback on my work. I love to hear critique and suggestions from others as they provide me with room to grow. If you never come across conflict or opposing views then you never get a chance to grow or learn anything new. Even so, I am glad to have the show out of the way. The semester is coming to a close, graduation is coming up soon, and it is a relief to have my portfolio class completed.

The Future
My internship at Rockfish Interactive is coming soon! I cannot wait to start. I am hopeful that Rockfish will fit well with what I want to do in design.

The New Look
After the longest identity crisis of all time, I finally lightened up my design and added some color. I’ve never really made a left aligned site, but I am pretty satisfied with the results.

What is Coming Up
Tutorials, Tips, Tricks, Apps, and more designs! Now that I am close to a month away from being a professional, I have decided to share my new found knowledge to the world. Stay tuned and learn some great stuff.

I hope you all enjoy the design. Feel free to give some constructive criticism, compliments or whatever you like.

The ribbons, the boxes, the designs, and construction was all done by hand. Anyone want the template?

I really stretched myself to liven up my design and make it fun, especially since the festival is about fun. The buildings in the logo mimic the downtown area of Paola. I think it turned out great.

This project was a challenge solely due to culture differences. Even so, I enjoyed the challenge and I think it turned out well.