Martin Jarvis Journal Entries

Martin Jarvis Journal Entries

Visual Literacy Readings: Bulldog: The bulldog entry was crazy. So much symbolism can be put into a single drawing of a little snarling dog. A dog can be perceived as a little “lower than civilized” piece of culture, or even a “intimidating” aspect. Its interesting to see companies that utilize animals to represent their products in out culture today (American Eagle eagle, Hollister sea gull, Abercrombie moose, Geico gecko, Afflac duck, fruit loops toucan, etc).

Joe Camel: Thinking about how a camel can affect so many people is ridiculous. The young male crowd is very drawn in by success, and also by women. The camel was very prominent in each of these aspects. This is just like the day we talked about “how low one would go” to sell a product. Some graphic designer had to go low enough to design a marketing tool for a product that eventually would kill its customers. But that is the difference between work-world and real-world.

Vogue: Vogue has an interesting way of designing their cover. Their concept is no white space. To some this would be a concept that is way too cluttered. I would think sometimes white space is necessary to keep someones attention. Like white space puts a background on an image or word which gives it the ability to stand out from the norm. But in a way, the fact that they clutter their covers with colors

and pictures also makes them stand out on a different level. Maybe the word on the cover may at times blend in with the rest of the page, but if you observe the rest of the shelves, it stands out in that aspect.

Push Pin: The Push Pin almanac that came out had the great idea of changing their cover concept with the times. This is great, consumers, I feel, love the idea of change, versatility, and revitalization. By making all of these changes, it is that much more interesting when one goes to purchase the almanac every two weeks. The mindset is, “What could be on it today??”

Kandisky: This is basically showing kind of the essence of where some formal teaching form of graphic design came from. It’s crazy to think that some people were getting rid of, and rejecting the idea of this school called Bauhaus. I mean it’s almost like the old timers and how they think that nothing like designers and such art is necessary. Normally I would go back and delete the word “art” that I used in the last line, but since this is a journal I am going to leave it. I think that design is art, just art for a different purpose instead of art as a passion. I feel like designers are basically the people who have the personalities of putting others before themselves. They are the nice “people people”.

Siege of Leningrad: Looking through this it is a wonder to see how far back some of the ideas really link, and also how many of the things we observe and the ideas that we learn about in class link up to each other. Sometimes when I read different articles I tend to think the concepts found within them are really old and outdated. I think it is just the tradition of HISTORY being written in text form makes me feel like almost everything I read is in “ancient history” time span. Looking at this I see the ideas from the Helvetica video tied in, I see the ideas from the Swiss people tied in and so much more. And the book company that likes to use images, I have plenty of their books still, and they are still really big on imaging.

The man with the golden arm:

This article really gives way to the idea that a first impression is the most influential and lasting impression. This guy made so many titles for plenty of different films and made a killing. He realized that every aspect of the movie and what it was about should go into the concept of the title. I personally think that by doing this you keep an observer engaged and into the movie because they are now trying to figure how stuff relates back to the title. Whether or not it is a subconscious effort or a conscious effort, when stuff relates to each other it will click in the observers mind.

WEINGART: I think that there is something that Weingart has got and it is modernly known as swagger aka swag. Weingart has a lot of attitude at the beginning of the piece and this attitude continues all throughout the piece. I think this along with his skill and knack for the idea of design is what gives him such an admirable skill that people even still follow today. So word to the wise in any aspect or task in life…..NEVER LOSE THE SWAG. New York Subway Map: The ideas that vignelli spoke of were pretty cool. In the beginning it seems that he was speaking of how each and every part of a sign, as far down as each letter had a meaning to it, stressed organization, and if it didn’t it really was not designed well. I start to think of different things that are chaotic in the world around me, and what really has meaning. There are clearly some things that are around that do not have meaning to me. But at the same time I start to think of other people and the fact that everything that has meaning to me may not appeal to anyone else or have meaning to anyone else. Kind of like a pretty girl. I may think a girl is gorgeous if she fits the description, but another guy may be attracted to another type of girl (or guy for that matter). When it comes to design though, (in my opinion any art form) the meaning is ultimately defined by the artist. At the same time, design is not about the artist, it is about the customer, so if something does not have meaning to the customer it is also bad design. Vignelli was a very deep guy. He had some deep thoughts. He once said "I don't think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word 'dog' with any typeface and it doesn't have to look like a dog. But there are people that when they write 'dog' it should bark." Thus proving his thoughts about meaning. And his

opinions about how important the WAY you design something for someone else. Even if you don’t need it to bark to read the word dog, someone else may.

I SHOP THEREFORE I AM: This article helps in proving my point from Vignelli about how art is really how you take it. At the beginning of this article well into the middle, Kruger is described as a woman who is one of the best in the design and advertising industry. It also goes on to say how she opposes and denies this because she feels that her work is art, speaks towards issues, and has definitive meaning. This also shows how ethics and money weigh out. Now one could get offended when their work is objectified like hers is. Like her “I SHOP THEREFORE I AM” hand and card that is in the header of the article, but towards the end it shows that it doesn’t bother her too much that the meaning is getting ripped from her work because it has been for years and she is not causing too much of a raucus. She has actually helped out the field of design by proclaiming her style and sharing it. Some of her work like the shop therefore I am piece are in museums, and also at the same time you can find her piece on the side of shopping bags. Depending on how you look at something it can have so many different meanings. The true meaning, as I said before, can only be defined by the artist. Looking at her work she really enjoyed the idea of cut out words on top of pictures almost like the style of the old school serial killers in movies that leave the ransom note. Examples below.

ÉMIGRÉ: Émigré in my opinion is like the guy that does not like to just accept what is going on in society. This magazine by being the rebel it was in the type world is very respectable in my book. It is interesting that Vignelli called it “garbage”. At the same time it is sort of expected. When you look at the works of Vignelli, he has so much deep rooting in organization and uniformity. His uniform is basically the opposite of something that is in any way influenced by modernism. Most uniform

people resist change. Considering that this went all the way to MTV getting their name out just proves how modern it is. Vignelli’s “typographic garbage” comment is not all bad. His reasoning behind this were the different rules behind type. One of the most important being legibility. It is important that one is able to decipher what something says that they are reading, but at the same time it is beginning to become an art of picture and images more so than simply leaving it as words. At the same time, it was Vignelli that said that it is most imperative that design has meaning. If this is most important and the works inside émigré have meaning he has no leeway to say that the type is garbage. Unless he looks into the work to see what the meaning is.

Beach Culture: This article which describes the ideas of change and standing out, reflects directly to the ideas of the age. If you think about the ideas and the history of our generation, the evolution of the magazines are truly fitting and evolving with the times as well. In my marketing class it has been said that to channel and appeal to your audience, one must know thee audience and their characteristics. People of this generation are very rooted in standing out and being an individual. People in the generation before us were deeply rooted in patriotism and wars. This is very visual with these magazines. With magazines and design before there were deep roots in promoting the World Wars. Now days it is all about standing out and individualism. The fact that the trendy typefaces of émigré were turned down by the designers of this magazine proves it to the fullest extent. The writers rejected the “garbage” or émigré because it was too uniform and just like everything else of the day. Mind you this typeface was just criticized for not being uniform enough to be considered type. One would wonder what the true and modernized definition of type is and when (and if) it will ever reach its true peak. Colors: Being a fan myself of “awkward”, I would love to take a couple of these magazines and put them around different places on campus, and observing how people react to them. I think that the best way to approach an issue is to quit

beating around it and to just bring the issues back out into the public. Many people are terrified about the idea of speaking on issues such as these but I think it is important for discussion. It seems that now days there are plenty magazines with big names around the country and even around the world that produce different controversial issues. Many of the magazines result in different disputes and conflicts, but it basically just keeps America talking, and says and does what most people are scared to say and do. Time magazine is a popular one that takes advantage of the fact that their name is so big that they can say and do what they want.

Cranbook: So I’m observing this woman named Katherine Mccoy thinking about how she really just stayed for 24 years in a profession that she did not like. She didn’t want to do what she is doing but at the same time, she liked it. It is interesting that someone could love the concept and history of something like design, and simply due to this they will stay with it. It is also interesting to see how people such as Mccoy can make it exactly what they want to. No matter what she decides to teach her class or in which way she decides to go with her plans it does not really matter because it is one of the most versatile subjects. Producing qualified people and to place people in professional positions make it good easy to stay in this profession even if its not your first choice. These are just a few of the concepts she taught to her classes.

The Public Theater: Observing the ideas of type coming from the mouth of the woman in the poster makes me try to think of any related posters of today that enphasize the same thing. Like the article says, it is interesting looking at how the words are so big and bold, and how the nature of the words make it look as if the poster is SHOUTING at you instead of just speaking to you.

THE BANK READINGS: Christal Gobblet This was a very different way of looking at bodies of text comparing the glass and it being invisible and not thought of to a clear wine glass and the body to the stem. There should be a lot of things in life like that. Not just text but whole concepts should be like this. When you look at something like a designed poster, without the person even knowing they should be channeled to think of the event as something that they need to. I don’t think that the observer should need to do work to get the desired, it should just flow like wine from a wine glass. Country/Branding: I think its crazy how much this article lets out about what people say and how they feel about our country and just get away with madness. The fact that it was said that someone can “sell uncle bens rice so she can sell a national branch of government” is ridic. I cannot believe people also with the propaganda we spoke of in class and such things are sent overseas to people at war. It is crazy how much money our country really puts into things that are not necessary when there are people on the streets and also we have so much debt. WOW. Its also Crazy to look at how much money was actually spent in numbers trying to promote and inform the people that were involved

with the two world wars. LA Times says that on propaganda during WWI alone there was $4,912,533. One would think that that is a lot but when compared to the $500,000,000 spent on the same thing in WWII, you start to think what is REALLY driving this country. Strategy or ego… THINK FIRST DESIGN LATER DK HOLLAND Holland had a great point about design and how it should be well thought out before it is done. I was shown how much I didn’t play into the mind of a designer when we went over this concept in class and had the idea about the festival. I was shouting ideas out before we even thought about doing the web analysis. Now I see that design without planning is garbage. Just as marketer has to do research, which companies such as neilsen do a lot of help with, so must a designer.

CATEGORICAL ENTRIES: Printed Materials: Type and Pics in Everyday When I left the lecture about pictures, type, and the typography we went through with Meghan’s name in class, I decided to look around some at the different type, font and spacing that I would normally see during my everyday reading. I looked at things from my interests such as my ESPN magazine, all the way down to my Applied Calculus book, which I hate. No matter what the subject of the book it was cool to observe the different fonts, and spacing that we spoke of in class. To begin with I will start with my interest, which was ESPN magazine. Typically the audience that the magazine is guided towards would be the younger, and middle-aged male crowd. From the first page of the magazine this is proven true by the blown up picture of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders (some of the most attractive and well known girls for their looks), which exemplifies the “legibility” vs. “readability” tendencies that we discussed. This is the perfect example of how designers and authors will capitalize on the physical to intrigue and hook the reader before focusing on the actual information and words in the article. The slightly more boring articles are simply shown with words and maybe some color in the title in order to catch the reader’s attention.

To finish I observed the type and the design of my boring Applied Calculus book. It is not a good read. But surprisingly, due to the boring and not so interesting content I would have expected some cool pictures to be in there, and maybe more diagrams in order to hook and keep the attention of a reader. The type is pretty old and plain looking on the inside but on the outside it uses a more modern type which in my opinion is a false advertisement of what is to come inside the book. Clearly I am a little bias against math (its difficult for me to hide) but it is a direct link to the discussion in class about type and the feelings associated with them.

Sinage My interests in the following examples are due to one of my best friends major, it was something in DAAP, and it had to do with highway design management and the fact that I see these signs on a daily basis. Especially due to my daily visit to Panera, and I also think it’s interesting that the idea of a simple typeface that is apparently running my life. When we watched the Helvetica video in class I could not believe how many people actually utilized this. It made me think of how much I saw it and had gotten used to it. It was so much to the point that I was almost annoyed with how much it was used in and around society. Now I look even deeper into the idea of how much I see it around. Simply sitting in the corner at Panera Bread I can see it outside the

window across the street at UPA, I can see it in front of me on the wall of the hallway, I even see it on this employees apron trying to take my empty trays. I feel like the good signage is that that has meaning and purpose, and bad signage is that that needs to have purpose and meaning that doesn’t. The example of needing meaning and having it would be the very stand out colors, readability, and legibility can be found in the styles of street signs and such. They stand out no matter where they are at and give guidance and warning. Others such as thrown together, photocopied flyers for events and concerts that just fade and blend with many others are a example of bad signage. They both inform and have the same purpose, which is to inform, but only one of the two does their given job.

Websites My interests in the following are simply because I attend the University of Cincinnati. There are so many different opinions I have about the design of different websites. In my opinion the University of Cincinnati has a very good web design. It is very organized, It has tabs for organization, and it really does a good job of showing things in order of what is needed the most and most often at the top. I really like this but ironically I think that the UC BEARCATS athletic website is made pretty awful. It is poorly set up. Its hard to find things that are needed. The ticketing is very confusing. It is really not user friendly in my opinion. The students and the general admission tickets are extremely similar and they look as if they are one and the same until you get to the price at the check out and you realizing that your credit card is being charged $60+ aa opposed to $0. The ideals I think a website should have is similar to what Vignelli believes is important to design and type. He stressed how everything should have organization, purpose, meaning and basically SHOUT out

what it represents and means. This is how he decided how to design the New York subway. Well in my opinion websites should do the exact same thing. Even if they just made more of the fonts bold or in different typefaces in order to catch the eye of the reader, it would make it that much better. The organization of the University of Cincinnati main website is one that I think is very efficient, and time saving. I have never had a problem finding what I need when using it, unlike the countless times I have wasted my life away simply attempting to claim a free football ticket. These are simply my opinion though. http://www.uc.edu http://www.gobearcats.com

University of Cincinnati Website UC BEARCATS WEBSITE

TIMELINE JOURNALS: 1890’s This decade was one of big booms. There were so many different innovations and big money makers that were produced. Two of the majors who made it big were the Henry For d Automobile and the Tiffany Stained Glass lamp. These two companies have been very successful for over a century and still have prevalent futures now today. The companies have gone through many changes since their origin. Their location, amount and efficiency of production, and one thing that stands out in the design major is the logo. Below are listed some examples of the evolution of Fords logos from its beginning in the late 1890s/1900s products.

1900’s In the 1900s there were plenty of accomplishments for the graphic design world in general. There was the founding of the Society of Illustrators, and starting in 1901, well into the next decade, there was the immergence of a art journal by Gustav Stickley called, Craftsman. The book was produced in New York. Craftsman was known for its homes mainly, but also contained some other illustrations. There are still today variations of the Stickley Craftsman, which has evolved into a very professional looking production of today. Here are a few illustrations from some older versions, Stickley, and an evolved Craftsman.

1910s It is cool to see how many versatile candies such as the Clark Bar and the Moon Pie were invented in the same year that The United Stated entered World War I. Thinking could this be any relation to the soldiers, and maybe a versatile, sweet food that could be hidden in the barracks or the bunks at boot camp. It is also interesting to look at the propaganda to recruit soldiers in the past such as the ever popular Uncle Sam poster that is scripted with I WANT YOU, and the new ways of recruiting such as sponsorship of the popular Real World/Road Rules reality television challenges. Also the many different uplifting commercials that the Army, Marines, Navy, and National Guard have out that stress the admiration that comes with such a job. Still today the radio commercials are still happening as they were back in this day too. Just the same it says a lot about the nature of this decade that everything that I have said has related to war and military. This was a big influence in the way that countries and designers marketed products. By challenging the consumers’ emotions, it made it easier to spark interest. 1920s Herbert Bayer was well at work during the 1920s. He tried to unify the alphabet and make everything the same and universal, but then he also did things that would not hold on as long as some of his better ideas, like eliminating all capital letters. WHAT?!? Here is some of the work that he has done that is most popular in the design world. It is very abstract and has the potential of being very meaningful. The reason I say “potential” is because you never really know what people are thinking….or if they are even thinking about anything on a conscious level at all when they write. Sometimes it is the subconscious that does the most work.

Also below is a picture of him. The last poster (the blue one) is still $350.00.

1930s The 30s were an interesting era. It is ironically (or not so much actually) the decade that the first beer can was introduced and also the year that alcohol anonymous was founded. Its crazy to see the madness that the beer can has gone through. The different logos that different companies have gone through have been epic as well considering the simple and well known beer producers such as miller and bud light. They have used camouflage cans to go along with hunting (which seems like an awful decision to me…drunk and shooting guns!!!), and also designs such as collegiate logos and colors, Olympic endorsements, and just variations

of the simple logos. Here are a few.

1940s Just as with World War I, during World War II the market and the design of many products was greatly based on the war. The very popular children’s toy, “G.I. Joe” was invented during this decade, along with plenty other war influenced goods. Abram Games was a very prominent designer that was hard at work during this time period. He had two different projects that did very well. Some of his other works include Shell Oil logos, BP oil logos, and plenty more. Abram Games died not too long ago in the year 1996. He is no longer with us but his work has life for years to come.

1950s Now there is something called Problems with Design that was published. It is something that really analyzes the concepts of design. It was made and written by George Nelson. He is actually well known for the furniture he has made than everything else. He is known as one of the founders of modernism in the art world. He has so many different facets of his creative background and comes from Hartford, Connecticut. Below are some of the furniture designs that he has come up with over the times. It is clear just how modern and abstract his ideas are.

1960s This was the bell at the beginning of the fight for Coke and Pepsi. This generation was one that really sparked the competitive edge of design. When looking into the different companies of today and the design that they use to make themselves look good and their competition look bad it is clear to see that COMPETITIVE DESIGN is something that will live on for decades and centuries to come. It is crazy looking at the many different things that companies have done to counter eachother that look just like the Coke and Pepsi influences. If you observe the design and competitiveness between the very popular phone companies Verizon and

AT&T, it is clear to see that COMPETITIVE DESIGN is very alive.

1970s There were 2 big events that had some big design projects attached to them in this era. The munich Olympics design for the poster was designed by Otl Aicher, and the sinage for the New York City Ballet Festival by Don Matus. These were two big works that looked very good on the side of these two names. Aichers work can be found all over downtown Washington and all over the museums there. It was said in the Washington post “ Just take a walk down any street and you will find some of Aichers work and concepts”.

LUPTON Typefaces evolved strongly and are deeply rooted in handwriting. Looking over the different versions we saw in class it is a wonder to see how much it has in fact evolved. It is also interesting to see how some of the more “regurgitated” texts in Microsoft word are now coming into play and looking more and more like someone hand wrote them. An example of this is Lucinda

Sans. It looks just like handwriting on a piece of paper. Looks like history once again is sime

Graphic Journals Print: This site is very put together. Its pretty organized and has so much clean looking font. It does not have clutter, even though it has plenty of information. The links are all in order and all have purpose. It reminds me of the UC homepage in that sense. All and all good time.

How Design This just like the last one is designed very well. All of the different blocks of text are aligned and on the same line even more so than the print.com article. It is impressive to see how much one can alter professionalism by changing the line of which one will view a page. It is also interesting to think of how I could potentially alter my pages in reports and assignments and such in order to make graders and TA’s enjoy reading them more.

AIGA For this to be a graphic arts website I would think that there would be more arts of graphics to this page. It is very plain and not very eye catching. Although the information is all very organized it is pretty boring. Maybe it is one of the ideas like channel does where less is more but it seems to me that it could be done with a little more heart and could be fixed to look a lot better. Just my personal opinion though.

Interviews Reflection Section: The man in the Helvetica video was very good. From what I could see he had so much influence and knowledge throughout the years. It makes me think that designers do so much more work than they actually get credit for. It was also crazy thinking about how the lady that came in to talk to us had all those ideas for UC’s already industrialized campus. Its probably just the

marketer in me, but thinking about all of the money that UC could take in from putting running ads on the screens of TUC would be immense. Additionally to think about all of the designers and workers that had to come and help when it came to the process of putting something together like mainstreet, or even all of the ideas about the walls at the childrens medical center. All of this has so much more technology than one would normally think of and its crazy to think about what is coming in the future. companies such as “The Sixth Sense” used many different technologies that have not necessarily broken into market that designers of all sorts (especially graphic) are needed to launch within the next decade. Check it out. Product is called “The Sixth Sense”.

Below is old resume followed by new resume. Thanks for a great Quarter! -Martin Jarvis

Martin C. Jarvis 33 E. McMillan Street, Apt. E. Cincinnati, OH 45219 (937) 379-4682

[email protected]

Highly driven results-oriented college student with experience in marketing, customer service and working in a team environment for not-for-profit and for-profit organizations.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND •

University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH, College of Business (GPA: 3.0/4.0) Bachelor of Business Administration, International Marketing (Graduation: 2012) Chaminade-Julienne High School, Dayton, OH (Graduate: 2007) National School of Excellence

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WORK EXPERIENCE University of Cincinnati, Orientation Office, Cincinnati, OH Student Orientation Leader

2009 – Present

• • •

Key contributor in the organization/design of the University of Cincinnati’s new student orientation. Provide supervision, guidance, and introduction of incoming students to the University. Coach and assist students in scheduling their first quarter courses.

• •

Liaison between manager and customer; ensured customers were able to purchase goods. Coordinated team-marketing strategy increasing customer sales; met store sales quotas.

• • •

Increased credit card applications by using acquired marketing strategies to increase purchases. Managed own register; ensured 100% accuracy in sales receipt and cash drawer. Ability to work well in a team environment; completed all tasks efficiently.

•

Serviced the community at various sites including: soup kitchens, house building and city clean up.

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Responsible for the organization, public relations and supervision of the weekly trips for the students of Chaminade-Julienne to provide volunteer services in the Dayton/Cincinnati areas.

Champs Sporting Goods, Beavercreek OH/Kenwood, OH Retail Sales Assistant, Cashier, Shoe Runner (Part Time Position) American Eagle Outfitters, Centerville, OH Retail Sales Assistant, Cashier (Part Time Position)

Urban Plunge Service Trip, Cincinnati, OH Volunteer REACH Community Service Group, Dayton/Cincinnati, OH Volunteer Max and Erma’s Restaurant, Beavercreek, OH Host, Runner, Busboy (Part Time Position) • •

2008

2007

Spring 2007 2006 - 2007

2006 - 2007

Responsible for successfully accomplishing multiple tasks; in charge of hosting, serving and bussing Met internal and external customer requests in a demanding fast-paced environment.

SPECIAL SKILLS AND TRAINING • • • • •

MS Word (Level: Intermediate MS PowerPoint (Level: Intermediate) MS Excel (Level: Beginner) Access (Level: Beginner) UC’s Professional Practice Program; alternate quarterly between classroom study and work in the field of Business

Marti n C. Jarvis

2348 Rohs Street. Cincinnati, OH 45219 [email protected] (937) 397-4682

Highly driven results-oriented college student with experience in marketing, customer service and working in a team environment for not-for-profit and for-profit organizations.

EDUCATION University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH, College of Business Bachelor Business Administration, Marketing (GPA 3.0/4.0; Anticipated Graduation 2011) Chaminade-Julienne High School, Dayton, OH (Graduated 2007)

WORK EXPERIENCE Verizon Wireless, Cincinnati, OH

Fall

2009-Present Retail Sales Assistant (Part Time Position) Continuously increasing store sales exceptionally by utilizing acquired marketing and advertising skills. Advise individual and small business customers’ contract and device decisions based on analysis of their needs, demands, and preferences. Ensured 100% accuracy in sales receipt and cash drawer.

University of Cincinnati, Orientation Office, Cincinnati, OH

Summer 2009

Student Orientation Leader (Full Time Position) Key contributor in the organization/design of the University of Cincinnati’s new student orientation by providing supervision, guidance, and introduction of introduction of the University of Cincinnati to new incoming students and parents. Coach and assist students in scheduling their first quarter courses.

Champs Sporting Goods, Beavercreek/Kenwood, OH

Summer 2008 Retail Sales Assistant (Part Time Position) Liaison between manager and customer; ensured customers were able to purchase goods.

Coordinated team-marketing strategies and increased customer sales; met store sales quotas.

SPECIAL SKILLS AND TRAINING MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel, and MS Access Graphic Design Concepts – Beginner Level