WIP: Uncommon Fund

Cover from possible collateral piece for due diligence purposes.

Established in 2006 at the University of Chicago and entirely student-run, the Uncommon Fund finances a diverse range of student projects. I wondered what things would look like if the Fund was a national-level organization with a seven-figure endowment. Print pieces use Gotham throughout; website uses Gotham and Arial.

Funded Projects Report: First interior spread.

Funded Projects Report: Chapter opening.

Funded Projects Report: Typical primary project spread.

Funded Projects Report: Typical secondary projects spread and brief synopsis.

Website: Homepage.

The site is laid out on a 6 x 6 grid in Illustrator, and employs a horizontal navigation system laid out in columns, similar to the view found in Finder. Most of it pretty basic at the moment.

Website: "About" section, introduction.

Website: Application mockup.

Website: Project gallery.

Website: Project entry.

Media Meltdown, &c.

Designed in Adobe Illustrator CS3 & post-processed in Photoshop CS3; font: Sansation

Print is dead...long live print!

Here's what I like about paper over the Web: Not mucking around with mystical coding that distracts from design. I was going to add typographical versatility, but it looks like TypeKit will narrow that gap soon. But my previous point stands--I'd rather go to a printer who will get what I want ninety-nine percent of the time than go through a programmer who, fancying himself a design guru, decides to take artistic license where he shouldn't.

I also believe that the principles of good design obtain across different media--the only thing that the Internet really changes design-wise is interactivity, and even then it's really just a step up from pop-up books, in my estimation. Elsewhere, there are plenty of impediments vis-a-vis image reproduction that makes web design much more cumbersome and irritating than its technically simpler predecessor.

In any event, people who insist that the Internet has somehow revolutionized the core values of design are trying to swindle you, and are not to be trusted. A line is still a line, and human beings still respond as they have to certain layouts, figures, colors, and what have you. The salient change concerns the celerity with which things are published, which poses an economic, not aesthetic, challenge.

On a related note, I have had people approach me asking me to teach them Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, &c. in the hope that a command thereof it will somehow improve their design acumen. This is a pernicious belief that must be eradicated. The programs of record do not in any way, shape, or form directly affect one's artistic competency. Having the right tools will allow you to do things (and better tools tend to allow you to do them more expediently), but they will not make you do them well.

Designed in Adobe Illustrator CS3 and processed in Photoshop CS3; font: Garamond BE

Garamond is boring. Or is it? Dun dunn DUNNNN...

On a related note: I need to start using serif fonts more.

Keep Calm & Carry On; Print Redesign

Designed in Adobe Illustrator CS3; font: Univers

Inspired by this WWII British poster, I present to you this piece of quasi-fascistic office propaganda. May she inspire our designers to glory and proper typesetting!

Designed in Adobe Illustrator CS3 and Adobe InDesign CS3; fonts:
Nevis Bold, Gotham, & ITC Galliard Standard.

I promised a print redesign, and lo, here it is, for your enjoyment and judgment; note that I will probably replace the body text with either Meta Serif or some comparable serif typeface.

Also, I'd like to voice my sincerest apologies to Ben "Rossi!" Rossi, who--last I checked--was not a gibbering fool.

On a side note, I did in fact take that F1 photo*.

The various, disparate "mini-features" currently in print--such as the crime report and corrections--will be overhauled and unified via a system of info-icons. I don't know whether I'd like to extend this system to each section, but it's tempting.


*For the photo-curious: I've a D90 with a 24mm f/2.8, 35mm f/1.8, and 50mm f/1.8