Whew, what a week

Though it might not feel like it yet in Missouri, it's April already. Time seems to be flying by these days. Must be because there is so much to do!

One thing that I'll be able to check off my list soon is the Meredith project. Our group is planning on going to press next week, so that means we've been spending a lot of time getting everything finalized. At the beginning of the semester had I been told I would have been a part of essentially creating a magazine, I might not have believed it. Overall, it's been a lot of work. However, it's been a beneficial learning experience.

One big thing I've learned is the importance of marrying the words and images within a magazine. Our group has run into communication problems a few times, including a miscommuication about changing copy. That led to designs that were misinterperted and concepts that didn't service the story. When the stories lacked strong focus, the designs suffered as well.

I've had fun designing this, too. I enjoy reading food magazines, so actually working on one is a treat. Since our publication is targeting the edgier foodie, we've been able to have some fun with things, too, rather than find a ton of pretty food shots (though, we've done our fair share of that). One of my favorite contributions to the magazine so far is my illustration for a feature of a vegetarian. Here's what I came up with:
In other design news, I've finally made some headway with Flash. Nothing like learning a difficult program on deadline! Let's just say it was a long, frustrating project. I made a little slideshow about Holy Week, the week preceding Easter, for the Missourian. I had fun designing it, because there are so many symbols involved. Since light plays a large, symbolic role in the death and resurrection of Jesus, I made my slides go from light to dark to light again. I spent a lot of time searching for just the right pictures. And by that, I mean I spent a lot of time shying away from starting in Flash. Just when I started to get the hang of it, I'd preview my work and nothing would play right, even though all my code looked right. Frustrating, to say the least.

Finally, I got it figured out, but it was definitely up to the very last minute. Check out the finished product here.
And, finally, if the week hasn't been crazy enough, I've secured a job for the summer. This summer I will be serving as editor-in-chief of Vox. Not at all where I thought I'd be, but I'm pretty excited (and nervous!) about the opportunity.