Source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/chicken-and-sausage-gumbo-gm168623522-24163340

I had the privilege of improving the Manda Meats bad advertisement. In the original ad, there was just too much going on, a lack of direction, and not a clear purpose of product. To top it off, I could barely read their slogan, “Flavor says it all” due to the font color and background combination.

To fix it, I put a picture of chicken and andouille sausage gumbo on the left to get attention, the “Laissez les bon temps rouler” and I added “this Mardi Gras with” to get the motive noticeable in some white space leading to Manda’s logo and slogan on the right in the middle leading the eyes to a website link at the bottom right of the ad. On top of the technicalities, I decorated the edges with purple, yellow, and green for seasonal purposes. I also kept the “72 years of commitment to the South Louisiana Community” at the bottom to build credibility.

This ad needed work, and I think I cleaned it up well. I had some trouble lining up the lines and the pictures with each other. But all in all, I think I did a good job and I enjoyed doing it.

Source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/ford-mustang-on-the-valley-of-fire-gm518527340-90085439

The color I used for my assignment was red and the adjective I associated with red was “sporty.” The reason being, I have always been a car fanatic and I have driven two red Mustangs. My first one was a bright red with white stripes and my current one is a dark red with silver stripes. So I’ve always seen the color red as a sports car color, thus being “sporty.” When I think of sports cars I typically think of red and yellow but I chose red because of my previous experience with red cars.

The adjective that I used for my typography project was, “cold.” When I think of the word cold, I tend to think of ice, snow, white, or crisp. For my picture as a whole, I decided to create a scene of snowfall using the word, “cold” as building blocks for the image. The snowflakes, the horizon, the clouds, and the snowman at the bottom are all made of the word, “cold.” For the snowflakes and horizon, I used the font, “Baskerville Old Face.” I used that particular font because the slanted serifs, old style thickness, and overall shape reminds me of sort of an ice sculpture type feel. And snowflakes are tiny gatherings of ice floating down to the ground. As for the Clouds and ground below, I used the font, “papyrus.” Papyrus is a novelty/decorative font. I used this font because it almost seems iced over, as would the sky and ground on a snowy day. It looks gloomy and brushed like a settled patch of snow or a grey sky.

I enjoyed this project simply because it gave me a chance to learn and expand on something that I really have not gotten to do in college so far. I enjoy creating and making things for personal gain and this almost did not feel like schoolwork. I had a bit of trouble getting things settled where I wanted them at first, but I eventually figured it out. I added some extra stuff that I figured out along the way such as shape altering, layering, and adding photos. Overall, I think this project benefited as a student, and also as a creative person that likes to figure things out as I go.

My name is Chris Rees. I do event marketing and merchandising for Louisiana Fish Fry. I am a junior digital advertising major and a business minor. I am a singer and musician and I also love Mustangs.

What I expect to learn from this class is how to expand upon my abilities in design and visual communication. I love this kind of stuff and I’m very excited.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton