Author Archives: em154746

Gift Bag

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Eileen Makak

Gift Bag

Design Approach:

The cause that the bag supports is raising awareness about affirmative consent.  I used streetlights in order to relate to the idea of stopping, slowing down, and then going.  For example, if someone is driving along and the streetlight is broken and it is giving “mixed signals”, then it makes sense to slow down and assess the situation. The same idea holds for affirmative consent. People need to ask and get an active “yes, this is okay” in order to continue. In order to properly communicate this, I wanted to create something bold, something that would grab the attention of college students. I went with a black background with bright yellow words and gift tag in order to accomplish that.

I chose college students as the target audiance for a few reasons. One, they are more likely to be surviors of sexual assault, so it is important to keep htem informed. Two, the idea of affirmative consent is gaining momentum within a younger population. Only recently has the idea of yes means yes (versus no means no) come about. This new phrase surrounding sexual assualt has really stared to engage a younger generation. I wanted a gift bag that would reflect the same impact, and have the same punch to it, hence why I used the phrase “consent,
get it”.

What I learned:

I learned a little bit more about the cause itself: sexual assault and affirmative consent. I also gained a better sense of what it means to have a certain flow in a design. It is a complicated process to get to, but the end result is usually simplicity. I really wanted to have two different phrases on either side of the bag. There is so much information I wanted to put out onto the bag. However, I will needed to compromise with the design of the bag, and edit myself down to just one phrase on the bag, one resource on the tag, and one other phrase explaining the metaphor on the gift bag tag.

Typefaces Used:

Arial Rounded  MT Bold 76/91; 36/43

Invitation

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Eileen Makak

My Design Approach:

I wanted a really clean and simple design. I ended up only using one quote: “there is something extra special about the women who take out your trash everyday”. I liked the way this went with the image of the woman flexing. I wanted that to be the center, and the focus from the beginning. Throughout the process of the design, I took out a second quote, and made the typefaces smaller. This really helped my design breath, and gave it the simplicity I wanted.

Paper I would Use: Mohawk, softwhite, 100lbs cover.

What I learned:

It was interesting to try and think of a design upside down, and really depending on developed sketches to guide that process forward. I also learned how inaccurate printers can be. Before this project, I had a lot more trust in printers and their ability to be precise. It is interesting how much work needs to go into making a printer as accurate as they need to be.

Typefaces Used:

Helvetica (Thin).

Postcard Analysis

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Eileen Makak

Design Approach:

At first, my designs and ideas were very basic. My picture was of a path (it was taken a couple of summers ago when I went up to Maine). The word that I chose was “narrow”. My designs centered around the idea of being narrow, and walking a narrow path. I was very focused on kerning the letters together, having the letters be in the center of the image, making them small. Later on, however, I played more with the images and the typefaces. I worried less about the word itself looking narrow, and more on the design as a whole.

What I learned:

The more I play with the design, the more fun I have, and the better the deign looks. Additionally, this is the most I have ever used Photoshop. I am excited to know something about how to use it. It was fun playing with different colors, and then going into InDesign and making my own color swatches.

Typefaces:

Helvetica, Bodoni, Century, Century Expanded