The Easily Difficult Postcard

Creating the postcard was a bit of a challenge. Working more and more with Indesign the more familiar it becomes. Along the way learning new tricks and how things are supposed to be done. The postcard project was not difficult, but at the same time it was. Postcards are generally very basic. Writing a little something to someone, with a nice designed background to look at. The background more than likely fits the mood of the writing or the time of year (seasons). However this project was writing about yourself as a person, when postcards are usually meant for someone else, not describing yourself. In the end this is a good way of communicating about yourself in a different way, say other than a resume. My postcard is clearly blue, with a slight design background. Somewhat looks like a monitor background. I wanted it to be easy to look at, simple with no confusion. That's how I feel I am as a person. I like to be straight forward with people and individually. Blue is also one of my top three favorite colors. The fonts were easy to figure out. It's a postcard, not a written document that needs some fancy font to make it stand out. No one wants to take 15 minutes reading a short message trying to figure out what it says. The most complex font on the postcard would be my name. It's stylish which is how I think I can be as a person. Little did I know later on in the project the font I chose would work to my advantage. The shape we created in Illustrator was mainly made for the sake of a text wrap. Near the end of completion I felt like my shape was just an inanimate object. I took the cropped photo of myself created in Photoshop and placed it inside the shape, which was an oval. When I did that I thought of those classic picture frames that are the same shape, yet real fancy, and if they're hanging on a wall have the persons name written underneath them with real nice font. I deleted my shape and went to search for one of those frames on the internet. I thought my postcard was lacking a bit in the excitement part, so the frame would give it more depth. Once the frame was placed with my photo inside i took my name with the fancy font and placed it underneath the frame. It may sound boring but I thought it was a good idea. Indesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator were all used to create this postcard. Indesign was the main cog where everything was finalized and created. Photoshop allowed me to take a photo that included myself and crop myself from the background. Also later on I learned how to incorporate a new background so my cropped self didn't look so odd. Illustrator was used to create our shape. There were definitely some instructions I needed help with to make the final product. Learning how to crop myself out of a photo, adding that to a new background, learning more about the text wrap, and defining the edges of a cropped photo with certain tools in Photoshop.Whenever I write about myself I get tired of writing the same things over and over. I don't think I change much as a person. Im generally pretty laid back which is what I write. I wanted to think of something else to say for once. In the end my description of myself was unusual, and almost story like, but short. I wanted to be more in depth about how I described myself. In reading it, maybe it's too straight forward, but that's how I am.

Hydrolic Fracturing

Fracking is drilling into the earth then injecting fluid at an enormous amount of pressure to break rocks. When this is done natural gas is released. This is also called “hydrolic fracturing”. It is an economical issue. The majority of this process is done in England. Also taking part in the US, however concerns of the environment have risen. After researching fracking, I am against it. The fluid (water) that is used to break the rock requires it to be transferred, which costs the environment. The chemicals that are used can escape therefore contaminating the underground drinking water and pollutes the air. Reports surfaced in 2011 that during fracking, taking place in Blackpool, caused two small earth tremors. The quakes reached 1.5 and 2.2 on the scale. Because fracking is so easy, it has blinded governments from investing in other forms of reusable energy. The only real positive thing about fracking is that it makes it easy to gain access to oil and gas. At the same time, in the US anyway, the gas and oil discovered have lowered has prices. 

Pictures of wells, gas signs, gas prices, oil, oil rigs, drilling into the earth, contaminated water, air polution, side affects of the negatives, environmental energy costs. 

Adjectives: 1) Controversy  2) Environment  3) Chemicals  4) Costly  5) Investing  6) Dangerous  7) Hazardous  8) National  9) Rupture  10) 

Not sure of font names but a few font types could be runny, make a font look like something is dripping representing oil. Another could be something simple, make it look bold, stand out, as this is a widely discussed topic. Have the audience take note of it. Make it noticeable and approachable. 

This topic is sensitive, to a point. People obviously don’t want to have their water polluted or breath is chemicals. Others can turn around and say helpful resources are being obtained, at the same time health risks are involved. Both sides can be argued, but if lives are prone to health related issues and there are other methods or resources that can be used, a different alternative should be discussed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14432401

https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/problems/fracking

Good Posters

WANTED POSTER

When someone sees a wanted poster, it stands out on it's own because of default. There doesn't need to be a bright color to make it stand out. This poster has a lot of useful information. It states who is wanted, why they are wanted, and the price for the capture. The two most important thing's were made to stand out. With the persons picture put directly in the middle on the poster. Also their name was made bigger than other text and bold to stand out. 

RAY CHARLES

Ray Charles was one of the most famous composers of all time. Putting his very recognizable face on this poster makes it stand out alone, not to mention the orange background. A lot of good information on here. The most important sticks out, his name is big with a cool font selection, right at the very top in big letters is where it will take place and when. The little caption next to his face lets people who don't know, that he is very popular. 

GREASE

Excellent use of how the word grease is used. Grease is oily and runny which is how the word is viewed on the poster. Also it is in the form of a car. Judging by how the two individuals are dressed it suggests they could be in college, which college students and their cars are popular. At the very top the two stars of the film are right there nice and bold. With those being the only two names used, making them the only two on the poster makes sense so audiences know who they are. Stating which company is producing the film makes sense. That may persuade some to go see it if they like that companies films.

Bad Posters

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
This poster does not stand out well at all. A black background makes for a very vague look. For people who know the movie they know that's supposed to be the cat's smile. For those who don't they may think it's a bad use of the moon. There is no date or announcement when the movie comes out. Along with no star names or even figures of who is in the film.

NIRVANA
There is good use of attention grabbing with an angel and a can of soup. After looking at the poster it may become confusing. There is little information. For the info that is there however it is difficult to read. The word Nirvana is split into two separate lines, the name should be one line. Same thing for the three lines on the bottom that say "pala chia coo". Not sure if that even is one word or if it's supposed to be that way.

JURASSIC WORLD
Don't get me wrong everyone knows the jurassic park logo. If you know that then you know what the movie is about. I feel like with this Jurassic World the design team could have taken it a step further with it being a new beginning to the franchise. I understand the concept of wanting to keep things the same, or have continuity, but this is an opportunity to promote. Have the star(s) of the movie with their images and names. If there is something new that wasn't in the first three films make that a point of emphasis. Having the logo in the poster is key, something more needs to be included. The tag line "the park is open" is catchy, but for this poster isn't enough.