SAE Baja Kansas 2011: Info Brochure

                                              This page contains the agenda and the team names hangs off the bottom

                                         This was my life saver. A folded dummy! It was a must for this project

                                      This is the front page with the logo and the team names hanging off the bottom

                             This is the front and back page opened up. The map and sponsors on the back page

              This page has all of the things to do in Pittsburg and you still have access to the team names!

                                           A few thumbnail sketches for my Logo

         This is the Welcome to Pittsburg page with a filler letter (hopefully a welcome from the mayor).


Our final project of the semester we were allowed to pick anything we wanted to do but we had to "WOW" our professor. In May of 2011 Pittsburg State University is holding a Baja off road vehicle competition. It's a world wide competition that is usually hosted at big schools on the coasts. So, for Pitt State to get this opportunity was a great accomplishment. Everyone apart of the School of Technology is lending a hand in some way to help make this a success, since we were awarded this on late notice. My job was to design a logo for the competition and a brochure that would be handed out to all 2,000 people competing. My initial thoughts were to have something attractive, easy to use, and something that shows Pittsburg and Kansas in a great light. I wanted people to just by going through the brochure to know how much this meant to the school and the City of Pittsburg.
The logo came to mind pretty quickly. I wanted the state of Kansas on there somehow. So I was going the make the logo in the shape of Kansas, but what else would I do. After a few sketches of average stuff the thought of having wheat came to mind. When you think of Kansas you think of open wheat fields waving in the wind, so why not bring that to the logo. After finishing the logo design I had to come up with content and layout for the brochure. Most of the content was given to us, so I knew what had to be in it, but how would I lay it out. By using the fold effectively I was able to have all 100 team names hang off the bottom so it was easy to locate when you're out on the dirt track watching the races. Second, I wanted as much stuff about Pittsburg in there. So, my idea was to have the mayor write a welcome to Pittsburg letter. In the design I just used a fake autograph and filler text to show what I wanted. The idea for pictures on every page I thought was going really propel my layout into competition with all the great designers at Pitt. I wanted there to be something large and attractive on each page and bright pictures of Pittsburg and Baja racing were exactly what I wanted (all of the pictures are also filler pictures). The rest of the design was meant for information at their finger tips. A map, event times, and things to do in the town were all necessities of this design. Also surrounding the map was spots for sponsorships. To print off 2,000 copies of this brochure it would cost $2,966.64 from quick print using a futura 100 coated paper. I would like to think with sponsorship help that cost would be pretty much paid for. I hope you enjoy the logo and layout. It was definitely my favorite project of the year to work on!

Magazine Ad Series: Sailor Jerry's

Sailor Jerry’s is a spiced rum that was invented from a navyman. All of the art work also comes from tattoos that he designed and now uses them as logos and for t-shirts designs. I chose this mainly because I thought this could be a fun little project and I like the spiced rum. Also, I had never seen an advertisement in a Magazine for it, so I figured why don’t I play around with that idea.

            Sailor seems to strive for a provocative and free image. So I knew I wanted to expand on that. Since it’s very free I didn’t want to be complicated at all. Just wanted to get the point across. While working on the thumbs and roughs I decided I wanted to use the word “Ahoy” as the catch phrase. Most alcohol drinks have an identifying catchy work or sentence that goes with it and I felt like “Ahoy” went perfect with Sailor Jerry’s.

            I used some of the tattoo artists and also a picture of a bottle. I really liked how both seemed so subtle but also left an impact on the viewer. I used the dimensions from ESPN the Magazines website. None of the designs were full bleed and I actually ran into having a tough time on which sizes the ad should be. I chose the final sizes for flexibility and also it fit Sailor Jerry’s more. I don’t see them as a full page type ad since it is a smaller feeling company. I also chose ESPN the Magazine because the labels and the Sailors appeals to men and 94% of ESPN the Magazines viewership is males. Their prices are very high though. If I were to actually run each one of these once (a 1/4 page horizontal black and white and a 1/4 square color) it would cost $151,857. That's an expensive job right there.

                                           Thumbnail Sketches

                                            Large MagAd Design

                                          Smaller MagAd Design

Newspaper Ad: MusicFest 2011

                                          Final Ad

                                           Rough Draft

                                           Thumbnail Sketches


Every year over 40 red dirt music bands converge on Steamboat, Colorado to put on the biggest Red Dirt festival outside of Texas. It’s a 5-day concert series where 40 bands play at 4 different venues in Steamboat. To go to the concerts you must buy a whole week pass that allows you entrance into the concerts, a 3-day lift ticket on the slopes, and lodging for the duration of the festival.
Most everyone that goes to the Music Fest travels from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Inspiration for my design came with the thought of a “Texas Takeover in Colorado.” So I wanted to find a unique way to combine Texas and Colorado. The obvious choice was to use mountains as the representative for Colorado, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with Texas. My first idea was inspired by a tattoo I saw on a Texan one time. He had the Texas flag inside of his fraternity letters, which I thought was pretty cool. I was going to used this idea for the mountains, but after doing a few more thumbs I came up with the idea to hang a cowboy hat from the mountain peak. Which led to what you see as my final design.

Variable Data Project-PrepsKC

When we were first introduced to the Variable data project I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I interned with a new sports network in Kansas City that covers high school football exclusively called PrepsKC. This network is booming and their first season went as planned, but still some people in the metro area have not heard about them, even though they are the best in the business in high school football coverage. Since it was nearing playoffs I thought a cool way to get the PrepsKC name out would be through a direct mailer. My two audiences were going to appeal to either Kansas HS fans or Missouri HS fans, since PrepsKC covers the entire Kansas City area.

            I wanted something that was going to be direct and to the point while at the same time encouraging people to head to the website. Also, on the design I said “Follow your favorite team through the playoffs” knowing that not everyone’s favorite team did in fact make the playoffs. I decided to still use that line because it would excite everyone that’s team did make the playoffs, but still spark interest to people who’s team didn’t make the playoffs.

            I used the PrepsKC logo and then drew the states around it. I also used red because that’s the main color of PrepsKC plus it’s a bright attractive color that while get peoples attention when looking through the mail. 

                                             Thumbnail sketches

                                             Back Printed Proof: Address and info is variable data

 

                                           Front Printed Proof: the state of KS is variable data

               

                                            Front Printed proof: State of MO is variable data

Robo Rescue Showcase

At the Four State Technology Conference I attended a Robo Rescue Showcase. This product was mainly used for classrooms. The robot was used made by Pittsco and also their partner Lego. This robot was actually the first time that Lego plastic was used to touch metal.
There was a camera on top of the Robot and you had to use the screen to navigate through the course. The course was built for only $80 with different stuff from HomeDepot. On the Robot is a two way radio and an arm to carry water or a First Aide Kit. The ability to carry objects is important because sometimes the robot is the first contact with an injured victim.
My favorite thing about this Pittsco Robot was that they only sell kits. This allows the students to build the robot the way they want to. The metal structure and kit allows you to adjust and set the pieces in the way that will help you build your Robot. Tetrix is the name of the metal building system.
This kit has been used in 25 countries and in several competitions world wide.

Recruitment Notepad Design

Thumbnail designs for notepad

Rough Design with Trim, Margin and Bleed marks

Final Design

I decided to choose a 4"x6" design. In the past I have used notepads at a similar size and I really liked the convenience of it. Plus it will give me enough room to have a design around the boarder as well as having enough space to write. If we want others to continually use our notepad I think it's imperative to use your previous experience or knowledge to decide on the size. My quote for 100 notepads came to $52.75 or approximately 53 cents a notepad.
I wanted to make "GIT" the focal point of the design but also add some twists to it. I like big, bold letters that stand out on the page. If you are writing a note with this pad you want the letters GIT to stand out so people will refer back to Pitt State.
When I was looking for inspiration for this design I looked around at popular vectors through a vector website. I saw a design that used people and a black boarder that really stood out to me. The people almost resembled a skyline over the background, so that was the feel I was trying to get with the letters "GIT."