This week in class, we presented our historical perspectives projects. It was rewarding to present my slice of history to the class, and I loved seeing how it fit into the rest of the timeline of magazine history.
I hose to research Vogue from the 1960s, and found some fascinating information! I learned that during this time, Vogue became a visual representation of the female sexual revolution movement of that decade. Under direction of Diana Vreeland (editor in chief), Richard Avedon (photographer), and Nicholas Haslam (art director), Vogue embraced an identity where women could bare their bodies, flaunt oversized accessories, and sport vibrant makeup like they had never done before. Here are a few images that captured this expressionistic theme of the 60s.
When presenting, we went in order from earliest decade (starting with 1940s if I remember correctly) and moved up from there. Since a few of my classmates chose Vogue magazine, I was able to follow their historical introductions to my time frame, and it was exciting to show how the magazine developed from decade to decade. There were other magazines presented, such as Esquire and Ladies Home Journal, which seemed to have an almost entirely different identity than they do now! I loved seeing the developments of each of the magazines from year to year, but it was also helpful that we took the time to identify those changes – in typography, design, color, content, photography, and them combination of these elements.
…critique…departments, features, and covers
This week is a little different for me than most weeks. On Sunday, I was able to design my ARTS department page for VOX, which I am very excited to see in print this Thursday. However, I have a few other projects that I am juggling at the same time.
I am also designing a feature and cover, as well. I do have the option to trade with my classmates, but I have a few weekends this semester where I will be traveling for job interviews, so I decided to go with the schedule assigned. For my feature, I am designing a story about human trafficking. This piece has its ups and downs – it has a pro side because the editors are working with me early and frequently. They have been sending me updated drafts of the story weekly, and I have been attending the Friday morning weekly VOX meetings to discuss possible concepts. Today, I discovered that the new angle of the story will be a profile of a single individual. However – there is a con. It has been difficult to arrange photos for this story. I found out today that there will be a photo available for me on the server tomorrow, but my draft is due on Thursday…another tight deadline. My personal struggle with the piece is I am having a heard time visualizing human trafficking without photographs popping into my mind. I think this will be the major obstacle of the design – how do I convey the story through illustration artwork? Another development in this story is that this will not in fact be the ‘feature #1’ – rather, it will be shifted to the ‘feature #2’ category. I think only time will tell what exactly this means for my piece.
My cover is still in its preliminary stages, but it is going to focus around a story about ‘medieval warriors’. How fun is that?! I will be sure to post my work once I have presented it to the class and considered their critiques.
This week, I will also begin preparing my portfolio for portfolio reviews with Jan. Although I am dreading pulling all of my old info out, I am very appreciative that this was assigned now. I know I will be thanking Jan when May 15 (graduation!) rolls around.
No comments:
Post a Comment