Goals.

Alright, I'm making it official.  They say if you have goals you're 80% more likely to achieve them if you write them down.  I'm thinking that if you blog about them the percentage rises to 85%. 

I, Elisabeth Harper, am officially declaring my goal of obtaining a graphic design job by September 1st.  "Graphic design job" can also translate into "regularly freelancing".  Either way, I will be getting real world design job experience on the regular by September 1, 2011.  How will I get there? In just a few simple steps:

1.  Finesse that resume!
2.  Portfolio site!
3.  Network, network, network!

Today, when I was in UB library doing research for class, I took some initiative and checked out the freelance designer's bible:

It's official and it is on.

Jumpcuts!!!

Over the past few months I've been playing keyboard in a new band called Jumpcuts. A blend of new-wave, kraut-rock, and just plain rock this group has blended into musical magic that never ceases to amaze me each time we get together. I'm so excited to announce our first show so that we can share these songs with our friends and whoever else wants to listen.

Oh yeah, and I made a flyer!

Covers and Blogs and Websites, Oh My!!!

I've been taking an extended absence of sorts from blogging here on BethBeat, and soon you all will see why! It's been an incredibly hectic semester for me filled with lots of fun things like DreamWeaver website disasters (lesson learned-code it yourself!) and uninspired blog ideas, in addition to lots and lots of revisions for lots and lots of magazines.  Lots of working, lots of learning, and more trial and error than I could ever imagine.

The semester's ending a week earlier than I had anticipated (quite the pleasant surprise!) and you'll all soon be dazzled with the work I've been producing over the last few months, but for now here's a sneak peak of what I'm working on now:

Beat Magazine:
(Redesign of Rolling Stone Magazine)

Vinyl Kisses:
(Vinyl Collecting Blog)

See the full blog here.

Charm City Vegan:
(Content rich website)

See the website-in-progress here.

Magazine Covers

This semester I've been taking a pretty intense class in Magazine Design.  This specific class is what attracted me to the Pub. Design program in the first place--when I was looking at the course catalog a while back I saw this class and had the epiphany-"Yes! That's what I want to do! I want to design magazines!"  I have since learned that the correct term for this is "art direction" and needless to say, I have been super excited about taking this class...that is until it started.

If I've learned one thing this semester it is that art direction is hard. *Super* hard. It looks like it's easy because magazines have a tendency to look effortless--that's because they're designed really, really well.  At first I was really discouraged and this also ties into why I haven't been posting that much this semester.  However, I have recently had a change of heart and decided that instead of sulking about what a bad designer I am, I'm going to just go ahead and work really hard to become a good designer!

With that being sad, my biggest struggle within magazine design has been covers.  I've been having typography issues, photography issues, color issues, you name it--my covers have more issues than the Judds.  Today I finally completed one of the covers for my Bust magazine redesign--this so far has become the most effortless-looking covers I've done to date.  Tell me what you think!

Here's the original cover as well for a reference:

Carrot Love

I made this graphic for my website today and couldn't resist sharing it with the blogosphere.

Inspired by overhearing  an argument  on "The Real Housewives of..." reunion and thinking to myself "Wow these women even fight about *carrots*??" when they were actually fighting about carats of a rock, not the root, I decided to veganize our beloved Baltimore heros:

A work in progress...

For my "Writing and Design for the Digital Environment" class we've been working on creating content-rich websites.  Inspired by my 30-day vegan challenge I decided to make a vegan related website entitled "Charm City Vegan".  This website is a forum for the local vegan community including vegan-friendly businesses and organizations that has some useful information and resources for the novice vegan.  Today I created a mock up of what the home page is going to look like.  I was excited about it at first (who doesn't like construction paper cut-outs??) but now realize it needs some work.  Tell me what you think (if you can see it, that is--the jpg looks a little tiny).

Charm City Vegan Logo!

Just made this logo for a website I'm working on for my digital design class.  Took a lot of trial and error but I'm pretty happy with the end result:

To make this I scanned in construction paper and cut it out in photoshop, and added some masks to my type.  I think it gives it a playful yet earthy feel.  Maybe I should get rid of that cat hair stuck in there though!