curves preset: sunshine skillet

SUNSHINE SKILLET

Every photographer knows you HAVE to shoot at the golden hour. You know- the hours during sunset!

Get a couple gorgeous models, head out to the park, and dazzle them with your photography skills by using the amazing light to your advantage. But wait- there's more you can do. Load up those blog worthy headshots in photoshop and use this preset to give your photos the finishing touch.

Please note: your photo must have similar qualities to this one below to achieve desired results...

Exposure: 800

  

Project Progress: Laura Lee Photography

    This week, I extended an offer for free blog design on my twitter account. The response wasn't overwhelming, but I was only expecting one person to really respond. Haha. I ended up with 4 or 5 projects.
I've known Laura forever, so I'm really thrilled she asked me to do her photography blog/webpage. Plus she has great taste [;
I'm starting off with a moodboard to make sure we agree on the creative direction of the project, and then making a couple logos for her to choose from. Feel free to comment with thoughts and critique!~

Summer Fonts: Bullpen, Bemio, Chelsea

Inspiration from Breanna / Color Palette from Pantone 

Summer font / Friends font / Mosquito font

What YOU should know about design

     As our culture heavily leans towards individualization and "who are you", there's so much opportunity to customize, decorate, and design your personal spaces. Whether this is the clothes you wear, your facebook cover photo, your twit pic, your tumblr layout, a tattoo, the bumper stickers on your car, or personal living spaces like your office or the living room. Basically, everyone has the opportunity to be a designer, or at least look like they have good taste and style.
     Here's a couple things you should keep in mind as you visualize your public image (This might end up being a list of don'ts...):

1) Flow.

Don't use 5 odd matching colors that are your personal favorites. Make sure you have a theme, whether that's in pattern, color, or texture. It's pleasing to the eye to see continuity. Ever hear the rule not to use more than two fonts? That applies here. (I sometimes I use three... Header font, subheader font, and body text font)

          

2) Quality.

It's really easy to refine your Google search to find high quality images.

No one wants to see pixelated or stretched images anywhere. For facebook cover photos, the size of your image should be at least 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall.

3) Don't use default fonts.

The obvious, stay away from papyrus and comic sans. But really, any font that's overused and can be selected from a dropdown list is a no-no.
Courier, Times, Impact, Handwriting-Dakota, Arial, Lucida, etc... It's all a bit 2005 and way over-done.

Try googling some good fonts you can install on your computer or mac. Lost Type Co is the graphic designer's go-to, but even those fonts are wearing on me.

Here's a couple links to check out:
http://pinterest.com/missjillian/great-fonts/
http://asubtlerevelry.com/25-great-fonts-for-parties
http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design-tips/best-free-fonts-for-designers-1233380

4) Negative Space.

Negative space is basically just empty space. You have your focal point, then you have all the extra space around it where there's nothing. This is actually more pleasing to the eye than trying to crowd your space with a ton of things because you're scared it will look empty. Less is more.

Which advertisement is more effective and pleasing to look at?

Technology & Culture

     Technology is everywhere and used for so many different purposes. Business, Education, Careers, Science, Community, Social Media, etc...
     For me personally, I have always used technology to connect me to the rest of the world. I was homeschooled growing up, so I wasn't always up to date with the trends or what movie everyone was into. Like most people, they would know this because they went to school with thousands of other children everyday and learning from others was commonplace.
     As a graphic design student, culture is key. Without knowing what's going on in culture, your work is irrelevant and useless. Graphic design is about getting a message across, afterall, and if your message is out of date, then no one will listen.
     So, I've taken advantage of the internet, phones, and computers since I was in middleschool. I kept up on forums, gaming sites, and blogs.

     I knew what music was popular and what actors everyone was in love with. When "memes" started to become popular,  I knew what the memes were actually referring to.

     Maybe I wasn't in a highschool with peers, but I sure knew what was going, and more. The internet began to develop it's own culture- a sort of "underground" scene. I had gone beyond staying in touch with my peers and their interests. I found out about different types of cultures through more personal formats, like Tumblr and reddit.

     Today, I still use technology to connect me to culture. Blogging is a huge part of the design community, as well as networks like Behance, Dribbble, Linkedin, Flickr, etc...
     I try my hardest to keep tabs on things going on at Youtube, Mashable, online magazines, and other news sources.
     Technology provides you with so many ways to connect with the world and people you would never see or places you would never otherwise experience. That's how it becomes a part of my daily life.

I wrote this article for an application to a scholarship sponsored by Direct2TV.com
Illustrations by me.

I had an interview today...

I had an interview today for a graphic design internship over the summer.  After reading advice articles and having been through a couple other interviews, this is how I prepared:

1) Do the research.

I made sure I thoroughly looked over the company's website. I had to be passionate about who I was going to work for. While researching, I made sure I kept note of what questions I would want to ask the employers.

2) Ready portfolio.

I selected a few pieces from my portfolio that I really thought showed who I was as a designer. I also made sure that I selected pieces that spoke of my variance in my work. Example, I had an illustration piece, a piece that relied on typography for it's composition, a couple website mockups, a collection of my best logos, and a piece that was favored by the client to show I could accomplish what the client wanted.

3) Print any other important documents.

I gathered some important letters that I thought it would benefit for the company to see. I gave them my school acceptance letter, a letter announcing I had made the honor roll at my school, and a letter of recommendation from my current manager.


4) Bring a notebook.

I didn't take very many notes, but I thought it was a good idea to show I had brought a notebook to write down anything I might need to know. This makes you look like you are organized and well-together person.

5) Be confident and excited about what you are talking about.

I cracked some jokes and tried to show them what my personality was while being professional. I spoke confidently about what I knew and showed them that I was very passionate about my career choice.

6) What to wear?

I knew I was applying for a design position, so I wanted to wear something artsy and colorful, but still professional.
I went with a colorful patterned dress, flats, and a neutral gray blazer. I threw on some big bracelets, and curled/waved my hair. I basically looked like every graphic designer/mom blogger.

7) Arrive on time.

This is a given, but I arrived 15 minutes early.

*Pro-tip: Because I was interviewing with 5 staff members, I made 5 copies of all my documents and put them in folders. Each staff member had their own folder to look over.

Overall, I feel like it went pretty well. I was really nervous. It's a job I want really badly. I gave it my best shot though, so now it's up to them if I'm the right fit for the company.

I'll let you guys know!

WEDDING - Lupe + Zach Wright

This was my first wedding! Definitely a lot of fun and really great learning experience. Check out some of my favorites from the day:

Shoutout to Cameron for being my second shooter! He was a great help (: