Good Day... Better Design!

In prepping for the debut of my expedition into teaching art- I discover (once again like all the great masters) that an artist will never completely finish a design or lay-out.

There's ALWAYS something that can be

• tweaked,
• enhanced
• or omitted

to the Nth degree.

While the differences are subtle- they ARE what makes for

GOOD DESIGN!

In any piece of art (be it digital or traditional mediums) judicious use of

• space,
• color,
• imagery
• and text

can make all the difference and ultimately make or break the composition.

Thus... here's one of the early versions of the flyer and I plan on using this as a visual illustration for class participants.

Notice the word "Today". While I've mimicked the font-typeface of the word "Learn" it's not sending a commanding tone to the word and giving it the emphasis it needs to be a directive. I still have a slight misgiving about the choice of capitalizing only the first letter of the word and using lower case for the rest but since the word "Photoshop" needs to be all caps as a nod to the actual packaging of the software- it gets sort of lost when I do that. So- I increased the orange tones on the brushwork color underneath the word to make it stand out a little more.

In both versions I kept my name and the name of my Design Studio in the same font but altered the lines that they appear on and the spacing of the layer shadow to "unmuddy" the appearance and changed the inner glow to a favorite reddish-magenta color on my name only. The word "Instructor" is changed from the Chopin typeface to the more formal Georgia font because use of the more scroll"y" font is saved for just the more idealistic portion of the message. In other words the terms "Learn" and my name(s) are therefore showy but not the main emphasis.

Too the layer shadow-work on the text containing the WWHW info is spread wider and the inner glow of the letter work is increased to make it pop from the green paint spills underneath (in the lower right hand corner).

All this critique and dissecting of design is part and parcel of what I'll be touching on in the 6 week workshop. Spaces are limited- sign up now by calling Stephanie Smith at the SmithZonian Art Center, 612 Maine Street; 870.403.6936. Classes are on Wednesdays 11A-12:30P, March 30th-May4th, 2011.

Embracing Poliosis

Poliosis.

Sounds like a bad disease; but I'm referring to a benign part of maturation.

po·li·o·sis (pl-ss)

n.

An absence or lessening of melanin in hair of the scalp, brows, or lashes.

Looking straight into the mirror and being brutally honest- I see an almost 49 year-old woman with gray roots. I've colored that hair because of vanity and because my Grandmother, Mae, was very opinionated on that topic when it came to my hair. She did not want me to go gray since she had grayed so early (probably due to an illness). I agreed at first and was horrified to imagine my grade-school child with an old Mom. But, as the years roll by, he has grown to adulthood and I approach the big 5-0 I'm more than willing to stop the gray charade.

Going Gray

I did some research and found that lots of baby boomers are coming to the same conclusion.

I discovered blogs devoted to hair styles and this article about the dilemma women ponder when trying to figure out just HOW to go about going gray after having colored it for so long. Obviously- I'm going to have to go to a colorist to achieve the most gradual transition. I've asked two hair-stylists their opinions on the best method of how to go about this process and they both had to ponder it. I'm not sure if the are slow to opine on account of they've not yet faced this question with any of their clients or simply because they are carefully considering the "root" of my problem. Pun intended.

Surprisingly- there are even books published about this topic which makes it obvious to me: write and you CAN get it published (but, that's another topic). Did you know? There are about 7,160,000 results on google alone for "going gray". That figure alone should tell me it's an upward trend and encourage all women to welcome the natural turn of events and quit grasping at the unrealistic idealism of non-aging.

Besides... technically- I could be a Grandmother at this point in my life. I want to look like one- rather than one of the youngest of the baby-boomers that grew up in the 70's, achieved adult-hood in the 80's and survived the 20-year class reunion in the '00's.

Looking forward to wearing my gray badge of courage... my badge of honor for having lived a little.