Final Reflective Essay - Cookbook

I think the best way for me to gauge what I’ve learned is to go back and look at the scratch projects I created in the first lab of the term. I had never used Photoshop, I really had no idea what I was doing and yet, I was quite proud of those little projects. They were the foundation on which all of my following projects would build on. Fill in color, rotate shape, erase; that was about the extent of my knowledge.

Layers brought in a whole new style of working. There is so much freedom in layers, whereas before every mark was so permanent unless you wanted to press undo a hundred times and then lose the rest of your work. Messing around with the free transform tool, opacity, curves, hue, and saturation all expanded my knowledge and increased my skills as a Photoshop artist. These all came together when I was working on my book, enabling me to create something beautiful. And like those first scratch projects which I felt proud of for my level of Photoshop competence, I also feel proud of this book I’ve created through my gained experience and new found competence.

When I finished my first dummy I knew it wasn’t what I had envisioned but I assumed it was just the lack of pictures that made it seem so dry. The next day in class, Professor Arellano said something that made me realize what the problem was. He said that this wasn’t a report; it was our very own book. It shouldn’t have “the title”, and “the text”, and “the picture” and you’re done. It was a design project and I needed a better design. I trashed my old book design and started afresh; same concept; new look.

I made my book square to start, it seemed like the thing to do, and then made every page have common theme with basically the same layout. This helped but there was still something that made it feel rather dull. I figured it out after about 2 hours of trying to find a more lively color to make it come alive. It didn’t need a new color, it needed the same color stretched out from dark to light. For this I used the gradient tool and I used it a lot! Once I got that, the whole book fell into place.

These recipes are mainly my roommate’s recipes (the man on the right on the cover) and once we complete all seven days and take our own photographs of the food (all of the photos were taken from Google Images and are cited in the bibliography) we hope to be published and sell. Until then I think we will continue to make delicious meals and perhaps distribute the cookbooks as Zines in Ashland and Portland.

By Sam Hoiland

Cookbook (Final)

Weeday Cookbook
Designed by Sam Hoiland

Book Project

Cubeecraft Project: Revisited

Furrilla³

Book Project: Proposal

For this project I will be making a cookbook using InDesign with both text and photographs of the finished dish. I’m attempting to make Seven dishes, one for everyday of the week. Each title will be something like “Monday Mash”, or “Stir Friday”.

The idea is to make a cookbook for college students who are on a budget, but also want a healthy, hardy, meal at least once a day. All the dishes will be dinner dishes and they’ll be in this format. Each of the seven dishes will have two pages in which there will be a photograph on one side and the ingredients and recipe on the other. The recipe will be set up thus.

There will be The Basic, which is essentially the one grain or base (rice, pasta, quinoa, tortilla, etc…), the protein (beans, meat, fish, egg, etc…) and the veggie (raw, steamed, sautéed, salad, etc…) and the basic seasoning (salt, pepper, ketchup, BBQ, etc…).

The next will be the add-on category or the If you have it…, which will add variety by listing a multitude a delicious vegetables, seasoning, and meat rubs, that go well with the dish.

And the final category will be the Grand Cuisine, which is fully loaded with everything from suggestions on presentation, to drinks of choice and mouth watering appetizers, not to mention some kitchen secrets that will surely make that girl you’re trying to impress jump right into your open arms as soon as she tries the first bight… Or something along those lines.

I’m still working on the title and I haven’t made up any of the full recipe sheets but I have a good idea of all the dishes I’d like to have on there. My first hurtle will be getting a good enough camera for the pictures of the dishes and then also convincing my roommate to let me take over the kitchen for a few weeks. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now and I think this is the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Poster Project #2

Red Lettering
[The Club]

Poster Project Reflective Essay

I wanted the “Poetry Slam” to be at the top of the visual hierarchy. I knew that that needed to be seen first so people would read on. I also didn’t want there to be too much going on, simple and clear always works for getting a message out. You see so many posters on campus that are just spattered with unnecessary designs, lines and shapes that distract from the selling point. I kept it clean and dirty, made it look fun but I had the professional organization to it as well. It naturally tells the eyes where to go. First at the “Poetry Slam” and then at the “Sou’s First” or maybe “[club]” and then down to the two figures with the information between them.

I was looking for a long time on the internet for a graffiti font but I had no luck so I decided to make my own. It shows the rap/hip-hop influence in slam poetry today but it’s not too much to the point where it might feel threatening to the reader.

I wanted excite poets around campus. For them to know that there is finally a club where they can be who they are and speak their words without judgment. I also wanted to excite the people on campus who didn’t know they were poet’s and maybe it just entices them to come to the meeting place because the sign roused their curiosity. I think I succeeded because I’ll get excited when I see it up around campus. I know I made it but if I hadn’t I think I would still be stoked to think that there were other poets like me who just want to express their lyrics with some like-minded people.