Heading to LA

Walup guys,

I'll be heading to LA for a week or so with la gf and her fam. Winners of the giveaway will be posted shortly, if the rate of wifi at the hotel's affordable. For the meantime, I'll be posting updates via twitter(↑). And hopefully pictures and stories. if the rate of wifi at the hotel's affordable.

Thanks again for all the constructive criticisms and willingness to share a piece of your vision with me. A series of renovations are on their way.

Keep up the open mind,
Benson

======================================================================== -Benson|| Twitter || the movement|| The Imaginary Zebra website || Shop of Imagination ||

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Go Outside. Stay Inside.

A sudden idea.
Self-initiated graphic design - Go outside or stay inside, your choice.



======================================================================== -Benson|| Twitter || the movement|| The Imaginary Zebra website || Shop of Imagination ||

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Interesting Online Resources

There are abundance of cool things online, just like to share these with you:

1. Chrome Experiments.

I''ve always been a big Firefox guy (and still am) but I gotta say, these are some intriguing CSS/Java type gadgets for Chrome.

While I'm at it, here are some quick examples of what I saw:

Pong, the old school game. They made it so that you can actually play it with the browser windows itself. (The AI's pretty tough to beat)


I had photoshop opened while playing this. What lay beneath the mosaic mask is one of the series 3.

Then, there's Google gravity.




This is self-explanatory.




Now 2. Pilot Handwriting font.

Saw this through Angela's comment. Pilot's got this innovative web site that allows you to customize your handwriting into fonts. They have simple video on their front that explains every step.

Here's my try:


First, print out the template.




Fill in all the letters.

Sidenote// Use regular pen(I made a mistake), pilot tends to bold your letters.

Capture with one of the 3: Built-in camera, digital camera, or scanner.


Capturing the letters in process.


Bam. Tolerable?


You can tweak it in post-production as well.


There.


3. Evernote.

Introduced to me by Kyle. Evernote's like an advanced notepad that stores all the cool stuff you see online.

Once you download the software. You can post pictures, links, types, make check-lists, add tags to everything you stumble across. It's a great tool to store inspirations.


It's really easy to use. Simple, too.

Utilize what's around ya. Enjoy.


======================================================================== -Benson|| Twitter || the movement|| The Imaginary Zebra website || Shop of Imagination ||

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Series III - Work in Progress

It's been several weeks after my graduation and been enjoying every single bit of it while my mind still lingers in the college days. But now it's back in the game and I invite you to walk along side with me.
2 days into the giveaway and I have already received terrific feed-backs, thank you. 

There will be a renovation soon enough to clean up the edges while incorporating many of your advises. What you say matters.

Now back to Series 3. I have dug out my past designs and products for refinement.

↑ The tags and label used for a quick period of time. I prefer woven labels, which provide a professional look to garments, until they cause irritation to the back of the neck. so bam, the printed tags today.






↑ My printer's been out of order.. sometimes you just gotta bring it down to the most fundamental level for designs.















Thanks for your patience, Series 3 coming soon.

I'm still open for feedbacks.

======================================================================== -Benson|| Twitter || the movement|| The Imaginary Zebra website || Shop of Imagination ||

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Constructive Critic Giveaway!

I'm all ears.














======================================================================== -Benson|| Twitter || the movement|| The Imaginary Zebra website || Shop of Imagination ||

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DSP Planner Cover Design Process

Invited by a member of Delta Sigma Pi UC Davis, Johnson, to come up with a design for their upcoming fundraiser.

My first time designing a cover of any sort (I tried Yearbook cover during my high school year, which was a disaster. and was never published.) It's always been flyers, logos, and apparel for me. From past experiences, I believe there's a distinctive style for each medium depending on the limitations of making that particular product and the usage of the product. I assume a "cover" should be pretty close to "flyers", judging by the material, sizing, and the way it's produced.

I was provided a file for guidelines and dimension of the cover.

↑A list of samples. Those are definitely not generic.

After doing some research, I decided to go for the simplistic route. Hopefully a cover that can last a while. 

↑ The idea derived from the quote "Without planning is like planning for disaster." The person who said it has escaped my mind. I thought it was pretty fitting for a planner. I, then, added a color strip to off set the monochrome plainness.   

..but it was still missing something.

So I added this. For a more personal touch.

↑ but I was asked to modify the character - to something more abstract. 

Sketch of the new characters.


Found these semi-transparent onion skin paper for refinement.


I think I made it worse.

↑ The guy on the left looked like it was sweating excessively. Guy on the right looked like Mr.T with a shower cap.

Then, a little magic from Illustrator:

↑ Added glasses and mustache to emphasize the characteristics. oh, the belly, too.

Tada!



↑ Not exactly how the planner looks, but you get the idea.

Fin.
======================================================================== -Benson|| Twitter || the movement|| The Imaginary Zebra website || Shop of Imagination ||

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