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I would never consider myself an Illustrator... If you asked me my favorite part about graphic design, I would start using things words like "kerning" and "tracking" and "character style" and "master pages" that might make you roll your eyes and walk away. My heart is in the details. And these are the things I am good at. My favorite and best-selling single product has been my Shabby Chic wedding program. It is really simple, but I love the challenge of each program, trying to expand the minimalist bride's information without it feeling empty or trying to condense the thankful and thorough bride's information without it feeling squished. I want each program to look like the layout had been designed specifically for each wedding no matter how much or little information. Unfortunately, being a freelancer, I cannot limit myself to one part of the design process and I have always wished to improve my illustrative abilities. I know there are a lot of great resources, like stock photography and royalty-free vector illustrations, but deep down in my heart I feel like that's cheating. It can also get really expensive and sifting through all the terms and usage restrictions can be confusing. I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to invest in a good drawing tablet. Certainly that seems like the logical thing to do. I guess I always imagined them to be really expensive, and I was too busy kerning my letters to do some easy research. But after experimenting a bit with a friend's WACOM tablet, I knew it was a long-awaited necessity.  So today I am playing around with my new Turcom TS-6608. I picked it because it was highly discounted AND had great reviews on Amazon. So far, it seems pretty suitable for my basic needs. My first project is to transfer all of these hand-drawn flash cards into my own original digital illustrations. Having them all in digital format will allow me to easily make complimentary worksheets and coloring pages for homeschooling. If I can make it all the way to Z (which will be over 200 illustrations), I think I will have improved my illustrating skills a lot, which will benefit all areas of my design work. Stay tuned and follow my progress, with lots of free downloads along the way.
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Summer break has officially started and now its time to catch up on all those lesson plans I promised myself that I would blog.
You can catch up on the rest of the Graphic Design 101 series here. These are lesson plans that are flexible enough to be adapted for grades 4-8. My objective in the first half of the course was to introduce the students to the idea that Graphic Design is not equivalent to Digital Design. There are centuries worth of inspiration and many basic design principles to learn before jumping on the computer. So far we've covered : >> Positive/Negative Space and Balance >> Visual Dominance and Hierarchy Now we are moving on to Rhythm Honestly, most of this lesson was just showing them pictures! It seemed the easiest way to demonstrate the concept, without confusing them with a bunch of heady definitions. Types of Rhythm 
Purpose of Rhythm in Graphic Design - 1. Creating Visual Unity using similar shapes, colors, styles, textures, etc. to present a single, understandable message. 
No Visual Unity
Visual Unity is achieved by the repeated shape, color and size of the objects
To further demonstrate these concepts in action, we looked at a host of examples from the internet. For each picture, I asked them to tell me all of the repeating elements they could find. First, we remembered our anceint Egyptian friends. They expertly used repetition and pattern and flowing rhythm. Repetition occurs with the sitting figures and rectangles. Checkered and striped patterns occur on the clothing. And flowing rhythm is created as the similar figures are displayed in varying sizes. 
Copyright: scorpionka / 123RF Stock Photo
Now for a modern-day example... This website design repeats many visual elements, such as the hexagon shape, the colors {grey, blue and salmon}, and thin straight lines. 
Source : http://jayce-o.blogspot.com/2012/12/graphic-design-principles-unity-graphic-design.html, Original Site - http://builtbybuffalo.com
You're starting to get the idea, right? You can download the entire ppt, with all of the samples at the end of this post. For now, let's move on to the second purpose of rhythm in graphic design. 2. Creating Movement repeating shapes, colors, styles, textures, etc. in a way that moves the viewer's eye through the design, or that makes objects appear to be moving. 
The similarity of the shape and color provides unity. The variation of size and color leads the eye all the way to the last triangle.
Again we looked at some samples to show the theory in action. The first one is not a graphic design sample, but it is too good of an illustration to pass up. The repetition of all the men create the impression that the statue just might walk away. (Note: I tried really hard to retrace my source for this to no avail. Please contact me if you are out there and I will give you due credit) 
When possible, I like to use samples that the kids are familiar with and can relate to in their every day life. The Coca Cola packaging uses the repetition of curved lines (in different colors, styles and textures) and bubbles to create the fluidness of their refreshing product.
Teaching the theory of rhythm to the kids was pretty easy. They are so smart and could easily identify the repeated elements and how they created unity and movement. However, visual unity is easier to identify than to create. Throughout the following classes, it was difficult to get the kids to simplify their designs to create a coherent whole. Especially when we got on the computer and there were tons of crazy options for them to explore. But when a kid is beaming with pride and excitement over their creation, I think a good teacher knows when to let it be.
Feel free to download my complete powerpoint presentation to use for your personal or educational purposes. 
March 22 was World Water Day, so maybe this is a bit late in coming. But here in India, water conservation is an every day reality, especially in the last two months of summer before the monsoon rains hit in June.
Our city in particular is at 21% of the water capacity that it should be. And we still have at least six weeks before we will see rain. But its the rural communities that get hit the hardest. Some small villages have ZERO water, and rely on water tanker trucks to bring in water from other parts of the country. Since we live in a fairly affluent apartment complex, the water makes it to our home. And my biggest inconvenience has been last week's city-wide mandate to drain all the swimming pools. But it helped me to realize even more that every drop really does count. I'm trying to do my part by thoroughly examining every piece of laundry that goes into the hamper, stopping the cloth diapers for a while, helping the kids take speed showers and making sure we don't dirty unnecessary dishes. The irony is that Luke landed in Houston on Sunday night to witness what 16 inches of rain in 24 hours looks like. Of course, I made the joke that Luke ought to bring some of it back with him. But water is a resource that really can't be just redistributed. So what can the West do? Funny you should ask, because I just finished reading "The Blue Sweater" by Jacqueline Novogratz. She records her journey of redefining philanthropy, striving to see more sustainable change through a combination of non-profit and profit-producing ventures. It is really sad to hear about how many good intentioned philanthropic projects can actually be harmful to those in need. Novogratz taught me that it is not as simple as bringing a new technology (a well, for instance) and training a few people. Often a shift of thinking in the entire community needs to take place, which can be a hard-fought battle, especially if attempted by an outsider. My biggest take-away is to research, research, research any organization that is promising big things with your dollar. Find out how their projects sustain over time and be especially inquisitive when solutions sound too simple. The great news is that there are good organizations out there! You can find out more about Novogratz's organization and some of the great things already happening here. In the meantime, as you are showering, cleaning, or running through the sprinkler this summer, don't forget those millions of people who suffer from a real, life-threatening lack of water. We live in a messed-up world, where creation itself is groaning for redemption. The change starts in our own thoughts and attitudes toward the things we have. Feel free to download a free 8x10 printable of my "Water is Life" graphic to hang up for a visual reminder! 
Wedding season is officially here! YAY! I can already see a steady increase of wedding orders in my Etsy shop. I am looking forward to the 2016 wedding season, because we will get to watch at least two special couples tie the knot, maybe a third - you know who you are - AND we will celebrate our own 10th wedding anniversary. A whole DECADE! That also means we have been married for one-third of our whole lives. Lord-willing, there will be many more years of goodness to come. Now back to the present... with Luke gone, I've been trying to keep the kids out of the house as much as possible. It makes the time go by fast and there's less to clean later. But this week I plan to hunker down at home and get some new designs up, even if it means a little more TV time for them. It is so so so hot here, which inspired me to do something cool and refreshing. Here it is - the new Floral Watercolor Program. I have done up a few color samples, but am able to customize it with virtually any color or shade. You can click on the photos for a direct link to my Etsy shop. We are currently on Day NINE of NINETEEN of Luke's trip to the US. So we are about half-way through. Marriage often shows us the worst of our selfishness and our deep inability to fully love another person as much as we love ourselves. In complete honesty, I had a hard time loving him and being happy with him as he left for what I knew was a much needed break. I had a hard time being happy, because it meant I would be left home with all four kids by myself. You see, I have been spoiled pretty rotten by Luke and all that he does to help me with the kids. Although I knew three weeks is not THAT long, and many other families are regularly apart for longer periods, it certainly seemed like it would be an eternity of frustration and impatience. Has it been that bad? Of course not. Is it because I am doing a great job? Far from it. I have had leaned in on deep dependence of friends and God, with Luke sacrificially taking time to cheer me on from across the globe. I am so blessed. With Luke gone, I planned to be really pro-active in writing and designs, but all I've managed is to keep up with the slowly increasing wedding orders as we approach the busy wedding season. Here are a few highlights from what has been keeping us busy : Day One : Woke up to a flood of emotions, via an incredibly encouraging email from Luke. Like I said, he spoils me rotten! Came home at 10:30 that night to an actual flood of water throughout our entire apartment. Because our floors and baseboards are all tile, its more frustrating than damaging. Thankfully I had a couple of friends with me. We each grabbed a mop and had it cleaned up in a couple of hours. Day Three : Went to check out a wedding venue with a dear friend. Day Four : Spontaneously enrolled the two oldest kids in swim lessons! Day Six : My worlds collided without me there! My parents got to meet up with Luke and some of our good friends from India. Couldn't believe how handsome my dad is getting as he ages. Miss all of these people a lot!!  Day Seven : Spent the day with Deb, founder of MIDA Creations and GroupArtCircle. She just launched her new website and she closed her biggest deal yet with a local BMW retailer. Day Eight : Took the girlies for haircuts and ice cream. Day Nine : Lunch with Liz from HonestLiz.com, who gifted me with a new Chumbak bag. She knows my taste so well!!  I think these occasional breaks are so good for Luke and me. Being together all the time can really cause us to take each other for granted. Its good to have to miss each other once in a while! I am definitely counting down the days for his return, but I don't want to miss seeing all of these little blessings while he is away.
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JulieLuke and I are married and have four little munchkins that travel the world with us. I blog about living overseas, travel, kids, education and graphic design. Archives
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