Series 01
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Non-Kansas Typography: INSPIRATION
I have not seen the movie yet, but the typography and design of the intro is amazing! I don't know if I will get around to seeing it anytime soon, so this will have to do until now. click. scroll to bottom.
Journal 1.25.10
Visual Writing: Writer's toolbox
This reading will be helpful as a designer when brainstorming for a new project. There are several different tools explained to help get your brain thinking including mind maps, concept maps, freewriting, brainwriting, word lists, outlines, critiques, reflective writing and developing a journal or sketchbook.
I began by making a mind map of my book cover design concept: Italian Mafia.
The next suggestion was to do a concept map, which is just a deeper, more precise version of the concept map. I did not try this because I have already developed my concept previously. Instead I chose to do a freewriting exercise that I found more useful. After critiquing my work I realized that two of my titles are contradictory. I hope to use this in my design somehow.
Brainwriting is a more organized version of freewriting where you set up a grid and ask yourself specific questions about the audience, goal, and concepts of your project. A word list is like freewriting, but with only words. It is also like mind maps, but easier because you don't have to connect the words. They can be completely random and unrelated. It is just a way to get your thoughts and ideas out.
"Using private, "process" writing makes visual projects conceptually stronger, which ultimately leads to stronger "public" writing of materials problem-solving."
Do not question your mind map until is is completed.
Mind mapping is a tool to explore an idea and better understand a topic.
A more visual form of mind mapping is creating a mood board.
Revised Concept, Persona, Objective, Tone, To Suggest
Concept Statement:
Clip. Whack. Hit. Burn. Swag. The Boss is the ultimate decider of who should stay and who should go in the cut throat word of an Italian Mobster. The hierarchy of Wiseguys, Made Men, and Good Rats are responsible for big city hustles and schemes, including car theft, hijacking, smuggling, and other criminal activity. A career in the so called "waste management business" is as time consuming as a regular 9-to-5, but instead of a briefcase, these men sport flashy pinky rings, hankies, gold cufflinks, and Italian suits. It is not all glitz, glamor, and beautiful women, though, if you become to greedy and are caught "eating alone" you will be clipped, hit, whacked. Capiche? The best way to stay alive in this business is to stay in line and not be a "jamook," an idiot, loser, lamebrain, you know, a jamook!
Audience Persona
John is an educated, sophisticated forty-five year old man who has recently purchased a new home. He works as a designer during the day and after work he enjoys cooking Italian food, reading, and watching movies. Since a child, John has been fascinated with stories of crime and robbery, such as Bonnie and Clyde. When he was in his thirties he spent time traveling through Italy and experiencing their culture, language, and food. His love of crime stories and Italian culture grew to a new fascination with mafia books and movies. He enjoys reading about Kansas City crime families as well as mob families throughout the United States and Europe. John is drawn to clean, crisp, sophisticated design and looks for that to catch is eye when choosing a new book to read.
Tone
My books are based on true scenarios, although some are fictional and some are true stories. They all describe organized crime and Italian Mafia families living in the United States. The Mafia is famous for their poppy, slang conversational language as well as their "dead or alive" policy. I want both the seriousness of murder and the simplicity of their logic to come through in the series. I want the destruction of death to come through as well the fast, "bang-pow" Mafia speak to be present in the cover. It needs to be serious and poppy, loud like a gun shot.
To Suggest
To suggest the loud, spirited italian culture
To suggest the harsh, cold reality of the Mafia
To suggest death and violence
To suggest a feeling of being on the edge
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Developing Concepts
Proportions Worksheet:
Audience Persona:
John is a forty-five year old man whose children are beginning to move off to college and who has recently purchased a new home. He spends many evenings at home alone cooking, watching television, and reading. He has been fascinated with crime stories, like Bonnie and Clyde, since childhood and has continued his fascination into adulthood with a love of organized crime and mafia stories. He married into a typical "crazy Italian family" and took a trip to Italy one time to travel and experience the culture. He is not only fascinated with Italian cuisine and culture, but also with the American crime families in New York, New Jersey, and even closer to home, Kansas City. John is a graphic designer and appreciates good design, so in his book choices he is drawn to simple, clean lines and good typefaces.
Concept Statement:
A career in the "waste management business" is as consuming as a 9-to-5, but instead of a briefcase, these men sport pinky rings, hankies in the breast pockets, gold cufflinks, and italian suits. Mobsters live "high, violent, score-to-score lives in which car theft, hijacking-to-order, credit-card scams, cigarette smuggling, and other hustles and schemes are a part of the normal routine. The boss is who decides the fate of the typical wiseguy, made man, and rat. He decides who he is going to "burn, clip, hit, do a piece of work. put out a contract on, ice, pop, break an egg, and ultimately whack." The best way to stay alive in this cut throat business is to stay clear of the police and not be a "jamook," an idiot, loser, lamebrain, you know, a jamook!
The word "mafia" originated in the Sicilian word "maffia," which meant elegance, bravura, courage; of obscure origin. The mafia as we know it today is a hierarchically structured secret organization allegedly engaged in smuggling narcotics, and other criminal activities in the United States, Italy, and else where. The "mafioso's," as they have been termed, have been glorified in movies, music, and books as dangerous men who live wealthy, exciting lives filled with good food, good women, and good drugs. As the old Italian saying goes "Col tempo la foglia di gelso diventa seta" or "Time and patience change the mulberry leaf to satin."
Clip. Whack. Hit. Swag. Crank. Burn. and Broken. The Italian Mob is famous for their jive-talk, lingo, and so called "mafia speak." Their language, though, is representational of their lifestyle and career. It is fast, poppy, and instinctual. They follow the Boss's orders and try not to be too greedy because if they are caught "eating alone" they will be clipped. The Mafia is a family, but it can be a brutal and cut throat group to be in. The stories from the Italian Mob in New York and New Jersey especially have influenced authors, producers, and artists all over the word. Their harsh rules and regulations, trust and loyalty, and death and deceit. It is a difficult to live the high life of an Italian Mobster.
Type Studies:
The titles and authors with a box around them are my favorite combination. They are big and bold like the mafia.
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