The Mac Lab

From the current issue of Layer’s Magazine: The January/February issue’s contest focuses on logo and advertising design. Your mission is to create a company logo for a fictitious company that develops games for computers and gaming consoles. Once your logo is complete, you then need to incorporate it into a full-page magazine ad for a new gaming title being introduced by your fictitious company.

Before you begin designing your logo and ad, be sure to read the Jan/Feb issue’s cover story, “Designing with Negative Space,” starting on page 28, and then follow some of the key concepts presented in the article for leveraging negative space to your artistic advantage. The judges will be looking at the overall design and creativity of the logo and the ad with a focus on the innovative use of negative space.

I’ve got a copy of the article for anyone interested in entering. NOTE: Kyle R’s mech is a terrific modeling job but, as you can see, it’s not an example of good use of negative space. Here’s The Briefing and The Rules (gotta be 18 by the March 13th deadline for entries).

 

How many times have I urged you guys to do something to help to make the world a little better place? Sure, I’ve suggested clicking a good deed and engaging in random acts of kindness, but how ’bout adding something different to the mix? What about including an approach that might actually result in you getting paid for doing the good deed?

For years I’ve urged students to look to local businesses for opportunities. Not all of these businesses have well-designed graphics packages. From business cards to signage to Websites, some of these local businesses virtually cry out for help.

Consider this. Here we have a perfect example of an entrepreneur in desperate need of graphic first aid. Lucky for him, Balend N stepped up with a redesign. Besides ridding the world of a truly ghastly graphic, Balend was rewarded with a portfolio piece, a satisfied customer (who will serve a reference), and a nice sum of money for performing this urgently-needed good deed. The colorful portion of the redesign might sit a bit higher on the background and the secondary font might be rethought, but in comparison to the original, Balend’s design is a ray of light shining in the darkness.