Ride the Wave at Lake Powell

Introduction

Original Ad-Rock the Water image — https://adesignconcern.com/imc/lake-powell-print-ads/

This ad was found at adesignconcern.com. The designer (not named on the site) discussed working with directors at Lake Powell Marinas in 2016 to create ads that show how Lake Powell is immense because of its coastline and also because of the many activities that are done there. Every experience at Lake Powell is a little different because it has so much to offer. The goal for the developer was to draw people in to the experience that is Lake Powell and have them want to come try it out for themselves.

Original Ad Analysis

Design

I really like the image of the sky with the map of Lake Powell coming through. The designer used the sky as a backdrop for the map, but it’s subtle and not overdone. The message he portrays in this image matches the text below about Lake Powell having more shoreline than the west coast and has so much to offer visitors. This effect repeats the message of the text well.

Proximity within this image is done well. I like how the designer put the text “1,960 shore miles” on top of the sky which has the map showing through. This effect associates the map of Lake Powell with the idea of the length of the shore. This creates the idea that it would be hard to see all that Lake Powell has to offer in one visit. The ad also has the main message “Rock the Water” in close proximity to the boat and wake boarder. This solidifies the message by showing an example of rocking the water right above the text.

The alignment of the main message is center aligned. It appears that the designer is attempting to align the other text to the edges of the white picture frame, but this where I believe the alignment is a little off. The text on the left is a little too far right and the Lake Powell logo and name could be a little further right so that the edges of both texts match the edges of the white picture frame. Also the paragraph of text crosses over the center line of the ad on the right side. I believe he should have moved the whole body of text to left slightly to align on the left side with the white picture frame and on the right side with the center alignment.

Color

The three main colors in this ad are blue, white and brown. The blue in this ad is portrayed in many different shades. There is the blue text which is brighter blue to stand out against the blue of the sky. The sky has varying shades with the strokes of the map in the background. The water is also blue and shifts to a darker blue where the white text starts. This helps the white text to stand out against the background. Besides the blue text about the miles of shore line, all the rest of the text is white, which helps it stand out against the colors in the image. The boat, which is also white, pops out of the image. The browns of the rock are a classic Lake Powell look. The brown contrasts well with the blue and white and creates a striking backdrop.

Typography

The typography in the ad is various san-serif fonts. While there is contrast between the different texts, it doesn’t come from using two different typefaces. The contrast comes in thickness and size of fonts. As an example, the main message “Rock the Water” is all caps, large and in a thick font. The paragraph below is of lesser importance and is smaller text. The contact info is slightly larger and bold. The text in the top left corner, 1960 Shore miles is in a different color and the number is bold while shore miles is all caps but not bold. The name Lake Powell has letters that are long and narrow. All of these differences create contrast even though the typeface isn’t contrasting. Each message stands out because of changes in character and stroke size.

New Ad Analysis

Design

The original ad campaign had a couple of ads with different messages about things to do at Lake Powell. The one in my original ad here is “Rock the Water”. Another one was “Made for Adventure”. One of the things my kids like to do most at Lake Powell is surf so I used the message “Ride the Wave”. For the design of this new ad, I used a picture from our Lake Powell last summer. I framed it the same as the original ad with a white box framing the activity. I used the map behind the sky and turned the opacity down so that it is subtle like the original.

I created the same proximity as the original ad by putting the main message “Ride the Wave” in close proximity to the picture. This helps associate the image visually to the message of the text. Because of the size of the image, the sky was not near as big and so I put the message “1,960 Shore Miles” as close to the sky as I could while still keeping it within the white picture frame like the original ad.

I tried to improve the alignment in my recreating on the original ad. It is still center aligned like the original ad, but I moved the two columns of text away from the center line so they didn’t cross over. I wasn’t able to align the edges of the text with the picture frame without making the text much smaller so I deliberately moved the alignment past the picture frame so it was an obvious choice.

Color

The color scheme in the new ad is green, white and brown. I kept the white text like the original ad, including the logo. Even the surf board is mostly white. However, the color of the water in this picture is more green than blue like in the original ad. There are varying shades of green in the water and the water got lighter towards the bottom of the image. So I used a green rectangle box (with opacity set down low) behind the white text on the lower section of the image so that the white text would still stand out like in the original ad. The brown rock is a nice contrast to the green and white.

Typography

Like the original ad, I used all san-serif fonts. I created contrast in the text, by using different size strokes and varying character sizes. On the phrase “1,960 Shore Miles” I used bold on the numbers and regular, but all caps on the the words. The main message “Ride the Wave” is all caps, bold, and very large characters. This helps this message to stand out as the most important message to the reader. The text on the left side (the long paragraph message, contact info, and company info) is of varying sizes and separated from each other to show they are different messages. To match the original ad, “Lake Powell” is long and narrow with Resorts & Marinas smaller but still all caps. By using different stroke sizes, character sizes and all caps. verses regular, there is contrast into the text without changing the type face.

Conclusion

This new ad fits well with the original ad campaign because it shows another activity that is done at Lake Powell. It has a three-word, catchy main message like the original ad campaign. The white picture phrase, with a cutout for the main phrase ties it to the original ads. The map behind the sky is similar to the original ad. It uses the white text in a san-serif type face through out. The logo placement is the same as the original ad campaign.

The message in the ad campaign that Lake Powell has something for everyone and is a new experience every time you visit is well portrayed in the original ad as well as the new ad. A submessage that is portrayed in the original and new ad is that because Lake Powell has so much coastline, you will feel like you have the lake to yourself. Notice that in all three ads, one person is enjoying an activity without the traffic of other boaters in the image. This emphasizes that there is enough space at Lake Powell for everyone to enjoy it.

Simple Beauty as a Child of God

This magazine spread is from pages 20-21 of the Ensign March 2018 magazine. The article is written by Jacqueline N. Smith and the photograph is by Kristin Anne Jones. I found the spread in one of my old Ensign magazines and scanned in the pages using my printer. Here is the online link to the article although the online layout on the website is different than in the print layout in the magazine.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2018/03/young-adults/unendowed-but-not-unimportant?lang=en

I really like this layout because it is simple and beautiful. I can easily recognize typography and photography concepts that I learned about this week. The design complements the message of the article and draws in the reader into the article.

Typefaces

The two typefaces used in this article are Oldstyle and San Serif. The main header, sub headers and the quote are in a San Serif typeface. These are shown in green boxes. The body of the article is an Oldstyle typeface. This typeface is shown in the red boxes. These two typefaces are contrasting because the headers have no serifs and the thickness of the letter strokes stays the same while the body text has slanted serifs on lower-case letters and a thin/thick stroke for each letter. Contrast is also shown in font size and the bold feature in the header. I really like how in the header, the author emphasized the phrase “Not Unimportant” by making the first part of the phrase “Unendowed but” extra thin and “Not Unimportant” extra thick.

Depth of Field

The photographer did a fantastic job of bringing the subject out in front of the background by creating a shallow depth of field. The features on the young woman’s face (and even the strands of her hair) are very sharp in detail, while the leaves and buildings behind her are blown out and blurry. By doing this, the young woman is shown as being the focus of the picture, and the trees and bushes fades into the background.

Rule of Thirds

The photographer uses the Rule of Thirds by setting the girl slightly off of center. If you draw a line down the middle of her face, she is actually centered in the photograph, but by turning her body slighly, her forward shoulder and side of her hair runs right through the right third of the page. The left third of the page contains on a tiny part of her arm. This shift of her body creates the rule of thirds while still making her look centered in the photograph.

Images

These are the three photographs that I took. I situated each subject to stand at an angle and look upward with a slight smile like in the original photograph. I set the aperture to F14 to create a shallow depth of field that blurs out the leaves and trees in the background. Each subject is situated slightly off center to the right third of the frame in order to use the rule of thirds like in the original photograph. I took the photographs during the golden hour before the sun set to take advantage of the natural soft light of the sun.

Recreation of Magazine Spread

As you can see, the original photograph in the magazine layout could be replaced with any of my images and still create the contemplative and peaceful feel of the article. With the background blown out, the focus is on the subject’s face and her expression draws the reader in to where they will want to read the message of the article. The simple contrasts of typography contribute to the beautiful message of the article again drawing the reader in to the content. Unendowed but Not Unimportant reminds all that each person is of value as a child of God and each has a place in the temple.

Who Are You Calling Ugly?

Introduction

This ad for Intermarche (a French supermarket chain) was found at the website: https://www.canva.com/learn/print-advertising-ideas/. I could not find who the designer was, however the ad was presented on this design website as an example of showing an object with obvious imperfections to catch the eye. Even the text “The Ugly Carrot” showcases embracing imperfections. The ad is fairly simple in fonts and colors used, which also highlights the imperfections of the carrot of the ad. These design choices emphasize the message that fruits and vegetables shouldn’t be wasted because of appearance.

Design Analysis

Alignment

With the eye-catching image in the middle of the ad, the alignment of this ad is on the left side of the ad is significant. It creates the only sharp lines of the ad. The text of the ad stands out with the message that fruits and vegetables shouldn’t be wasted. The only text on the right side is the name of the company sponsoring the message of this ad. This helps the name stand out, even though it is smaller text in the lower right hand corner.

Proximity

The most important message is grouped together in the top left side of the ad. The idea that is being portrayed is that looks don’t matter and that consumers shouldn’t waste food. By separating this main message from other text in the ad, it stands out reaffirming what our eye sees: all food tastes the same regardless of visual imperfections.

Contrast

This ad is very simple in color scheme. The carrot is orange. The text is also orange. The contrast design element comes in the changes of fonts and font sizes. The main message is larger, with a bold, all-caps font. This catches the reader’s attention right away. Underneath, in smaller, lower-case lettering is the message on not wasting food. In the lower left-hand side of the ad, this pattern is repeated: first line of text is larger, bold, all-caps font followed by a second line of smaller, lower-case font. Finally, the name if the company in the lower right-hand corner, while still orange, is a completely different font and size. All of these differences in font characteristics aid in creating contrast and making different texts stand out on their own.

Repetition

Repetition within this ad was a little more subtle at first. However, once I saw a similarity, I couldn’t ignore it. The shape of the carrot is the letter ‘R’. The font the designer chose has a similar block ‘R’ to the shape of the carrot. Because the font is also orange, all of the R’s within the text, helped tie the message back to the image in the ad.

Color

To the casual observer, this ad has a simple color choice: orange, all orange. I used the eye-dropper feature to pull out the colors and found the different shades of pale yellow, orange and dark brown within the carrot and the texts. The different shades of orange are analogous color choices. The designer could have used a complementary color for the text, however, staying with analogous colors further embraces the message of the ad. Do not ignore the ugly carrot.

Conclusion

This ad, which appears quite simple at first, actually uses all the design principles. Careful choice of color, font alignment and size, proximity, contrast, and repetition are all used in this ad while not taking away from the image of the carrot. They compliment the image, which is effective at helping the message standout: “Don’t waste food.”

Life lessons learned from my kids

I haven’t posted on this blog in years, but sometimes there are things that happen that change you. I’m not a big journal writer, but the lessons I learned this week are ones I want to record so I don’t forget them.

Jackson wrestles for Pleasant Grove High School and qualified for state this year. At the state tournament this week, he broke his collar bone in his second match of the day and just like that his state tournament experience was over. Here are some of the hard lessons I learned.

After Jackson broke his collar bone in his match Wednesday night, he continued to wrestle without crying out in pain for what must have seemed like an eternity to him. It was actually 20 or so more seconds while a wrestler that would never have had a shot against him if Jackson wasn’t injured, rolled him up on his injured shoulder and pinned him. I learned from him that I shouldn’t give up, even when I’m in terrible pain.

He laid on the mat until he was helped up by the official, hobbled back over to the center of the mat to shake his opponent’s hand, then over to the opposing coaches to shake their hands before going over to his coaches and a trainer to tell them something was seriously wrong with his shoulder. I learned from him that being a good sport is more important than winning a match.

As we left the state tournament early with our devastated son to go to the hospital to have it x-rayed, we were all holding back tears (except for Sarah who was sobbing) wondering how such a freak thing could have happened and ended his state experience just like that. Duane and I both expressed privately to each other how unfair this was. Jackson never once said anything about it being unfair. Even though he was upset, he said, “well that wasn’t how I pictured state going.” I learned from Jackson to have a positive attitude.

Yesterday morning, we found out that the surgical center was willing to fit Jackson in that afternoon, but it would mean that he couldn’t go back to the state tournament to watch his team win state. Jackson said there was no way he was missing out on being there with his team. Even though his dreams for the tournament were over, he wanted to be there for his team mates. He was willing to delay his surgery and deal with the pain for over a week over missing being there for his team. I learned from Jackson that in a world where individual stats and selfish play are the norm, we should be all about the team.

Yesterday at lunch time, I was leaving to pick up Jackson’s meds, when Christian drove up with an oreo shake for his brother who was home resting. What a sweet brother. I am so grateful my boys are each other’s best friends. I learned from Christian to be unselfish and think of others.

We took Jackson last night to cheer on his team and he was greeted with applause by his team mates as he walked up into the stands. I will forever be grateful to the players and parents for that welcome they gave him. He truly loves his wrestling brothers and coaches.

Despite the pain he was in, he stood when he could to cheer on his team mates that were wrestling for 1st place. Whenever anyone asked how he was doing, he said he was good, not letting on to the pain he was feeling.

Christian came with us to the tournament last night to watch his friend, Brandon wrestle for first place. When he found out Brandon’s sister wasn’t going to make it to his match because she was stranded after cheerleading, he was happy to leave and run and pick her up, even though the chances of them getting back in time were iffy. He got her back in time to watch her brother wrestle. He has been so helpful and thoughtful through this week, as has his sister Emma. I have learned how important each member of a family is.

Watching Jackson be a part of his 5A state championship team has been amazing. I’m so grateful for all he has learned from these incredible coaches and team mates. These boys beat up on each other night after night and go to long tournaments together every weekend. They spend the rest of the weekend getting caught up on school work and miss out on a social life during these months. Because of all of that, they will fight for each other. Jackson says wrestling is the hardest thing he’s ever done, but he is so glad to be a part of it. He may never be a state champion, but he’s a champ to me. I’ve learned from Jackson that hard work may not always show results right away, but that in the grand scheme of life, he will be an amazing man, husband, father and provider because he works so hard at the things he does.

Callie Anna

Callie Anna has arrived. She was born Nov. 8, 2010 at 1:35 pm. She was 21 inches long and a mere 7 lbs. 14 oz.–my smallest baby by a full pound. Delivery went well, minus an epidural that wore off a little too soon.

Emma wanted to be there for the delivery, but we told her that at the age of ten, she might not be ready to handle a delivery, and she definitely wasn’t ready to handle it if there ended up being complications. So we compromised and told her she could wait outside the room and be the first to come in after everything was tidied up. Besides Duane and me, she was the first to hold the baby. She has been a great help taking care of Callie and helping me out.

Callie looks a lot like Christian as a baby. She reminds me of Christian in other ways too. Just like Christian, she hiccuped through my pregnancy and now that she’s born hiccups every evening without fail. She has a little constipation and will sometimes go a week or longer in between messy diapers, just like Christian. Her theme song should be “Sister Christian” by Night Ranger.

It’s a good thing she’s a cutie because she’s a little fussy with all the constipation!

Brothers and sisters all love her and the only problem we’re having is Sarah mauling her too much.

It’s been a whirlwind of a couple of months. In addition to adjusting to a new baby and sleep deprivation and feedings, we have had two major holidays, a birthday, basketball practices and games, a football banquet we put on, ballet rehearsals and Nutcracker performances, carpools, and church callings. We made it through Christmas and are now enjoying some time off from school with some sleeping in and sending the older kids up to ski at Sundance.

More to come soon!

Baby Names

We’ve been having a little contest to see who can come up with our new baby’s name. We haven’t figured out what the reward will be, but it will be good.

Right now, Sarah’s in the lead with “Wedgie Time”. Her other favorites are Funky Time, George, and of course, Sunshine.

But seriously, if you have a great name idea and we use it, we will have a reward, so comment if you have a suggestion.

Sarah’s most recent quotes

The other day, Sarah said, “turn the abc down!” We could not figure out what she was talking about, until we realized Duane had just asked the kids upstairs to turn the A/C down and she was just trying to help relay the message to them.

When we went to Lake Powell in June (pictures and post will be forthcoming), Sarah kept calling the house boat the “hospital boat”. All week long, we corrected her and at the end of the week, she was still saying “hospital boat”.

Sarah really wants a puppy and she reminds me every day. I keep telling her we are having a baby, not a puppy. We can’t have both. Well, one day she announced, “I don’t want a baby. I just want a puppy.” I explained to her that it wasn’t possible because the baby was already in my tummy. She was so disappointed for about 24 hours. By then, she was back to being excited about being a big sister.

So with my pregnancy hormones, I’ve been a little bit emotional lately. I’m not usually a big bawl baby, but last weekend, Jackson went to a scout overnighter and I took him something he forgot, and he was really disrespectful to me in front of the other boys and leaders. I went home humiliated and upset and the tears wouldn’t stop. A little while later, when I felt I had myself mostly under control, I went outside to weed and work in yard. Sarah was outside helping me. While I was leaned over pulling on a weed, she said to me, “Mom, your bum is a little bit…” I was thinking to myself, here it comes. I’m going to start bawling again if she calls my bum big. But instead she said, “a little bit little.” Bless you my child!

Her life was spared even though what she said was a big fat lie–my bum is a lot bit big right now!

Baby Sunshine

Is this a good excuse for not posting for so long? Not really, I’ve been feeling pretty good for the last month or so. But I have been super lazy about getting caught up on my blog. This announcement seems like a good place to start at getting caught up.

When we told the kids that we were going to have a baby they were all excited, but Sarah was the most excited and right away decided the baby’s name was going to be Sunshine. Well, on Friday we found out that we are having a girl, so I guess it’s not totally out of the realm of possibilities to name her Sunshine…

Chuck Norris

Christian told me a joke yesterday:

“Chuck Norris went to the Virginia Islands. When he left, they just called them The Islands.”

“Uh, Christian I think you mean the Virgin Islands. And I don’t think you should tell that joke anymore.”

Then I had to explain to him why.

Since Jackson doesn’t have spelling sentences for me to post anymore…

I thought I would post some letters the boys wrote to their congressman about a national issue that concerns them for a merit badge they’re working on.

Here’s Jackson’s:

Dear Congressman Chaffetz:

I’m concerned about the big storm in the South-East. 11 people have been killed! I was wondering what I could do to help. I hate catastrophes like this when people suffer without deserving to.

Perhaps I could donate a little money? Toys? Anything? I’m not entirely sure what to do. I just want to help the people without power. What do you think I could do? For I am a 1st Class Scout and am ready to help.

With all respect,
Jackson Duane Newman

Here’s Christian’s letter (get ready):

Dear Congressman Chaffetz,

I am a Boy Scout. I am trying to earn my citizenship in the nation merit badge. So I would like to talk to you about a national issue. Well there was a flood in the north east and they are using our tax money to move sand from the ocean floor to the beach. They say they need to make the U.S.A.’s biggest tourest destination very nice.

But I don’t think this is a good idea. Because the sand is just going to wear away again. And I think that nature meant to have this happen. And when the sand wears away, they will just do it again. So that effects everything that lives in the ocean because the sand is part of the eco system.

So please vote that we can stop this sand moving.

I would appreciate if you answer soon.

Sincerily, Christian Newman