is forsamstoneS the story of sam stone, a

communications designer

and creative thinker.

the story of sam stone, a communications designer and creative thinker.table of contentss is for sam stone / portfolio of work ......................................... 1who is sam stone? ....................................................................... 41contact .......................................................................................... 43

is forsamstoneS

S s is for stuck in first levelAh, you are not alone. Every designer - no matter how much experience he or she has - goes through the struggle of overcoming first level thinking. One way I overcame first level thinking was throwing away everything that was too literal early in the desing process. For instance, you don’t want dol-lar signs on a poster talking about money. A great thing to do is sit down and write down every idea you can possibly think of for a project; even if you don’t think an idea will work, try it!

Wow, I’ve never seena restaurant logo with a fork on it.

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croppedletterformcmd 281the beginning

The assignment involves cropping out as much of a letterform as possible while leaving enough to allow its identification as a typographic character. This assignment brings into focus those qualities of a letter that makes it unique to itself. Use one serif, one sans serif, and one of your choice. You will create three black and white, and three color compre-hensives. All will be 10x10 inches.

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cmd 281the beginning

formaldefinitionsVisually define the words of your choice (organization, alienation, noncooperation) using only black and white. Define the word not simply to make a visually interesting design. The final solutions must be mechanically drawn using basic drafting tools. The definition should be done through typography, imagery, and the combination of both to create a hybrid definition and a 3 dimensional cube definition.

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Aa is for asymmetryand symmetry Asymmetry and symmetry are the key to creating a graphi-cally interesting layout. The two terms mean the opposite, yet they work together very much. Asymmetry has do with the off balance of imagery, making an image or layout unequal in parts, while symmetry is the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing eachother around an axis. Some of the most famous examples of asymmetry include the well known Chinese symbol, the yin-yang, while symmetry is most famously seen in butterflies.

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Symmetry is boring.

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cmd 281the beginning

letter symbol and 3D letterLetter symbol: use a minimum of three and a maximum of seven of the same letter in the same size to create a visual symbolism3D letterform: create a three dimensional fabrication of your choice of typography(Rockwell F). Use white paper, bristol board, and foam core. Any flaw will be seen within the edges and the scoring and folding and measuring must be accurate to the letterform.

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Mm is for marketing and brandingMaking a brand is something that we are introduced to in the beginning of learning Communications Design. Branding is a complicated process, as you must consider every element of your brand while creating the identity- who would use this brand? What is its placement in the marketplace? Communi-cating to the mass marketplace in a clear and practical way is the most important part of creating an integrated brand. We explored outdoor advertising as well as magazine adver-tising. We also explored packaging and point of purchase displays as well as logos for restaurant brands.

It’s time to research.

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Love your lunch again. Located at 350 W. 53rd Street Between 8th and 9th AvenueNew York City, New York

Visit us at www.lunchline.com

lunch line

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cmd 251where’s my utility knife?

restaurant brand signatureDevelop a logotype signature for your new restaurant. Explore both typographic and symbolic alternatives. Select a final restaurant identity and execute a full color logo as well as two posters: a visual comprehensive and a typographic comprehensive.

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Love your lunch again. Located at 350 W. 53rd Street Between 8th and 9th AvenueNew York City, New York

Visit us at www.lunchline.com

lunch line

cmd 252research, research, and more research

packaging, point of purchase, and adPlain old baking soda has been a wonderful product for the Arm and Hammer corpora-tion for over 150 years. There are already hundreds of everyday uses for the product. The challenge is to create a new one. Name it. Package it. Arm and Hammer is the manufac-turer, not the brand so the A&H logo is not the driving identity of your product brand.

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S s is for structureStructure can refer to the arrangement of particular parts of a piece or the construction of a whole. Structure is a significant element of the design process, especially as a Communica-tions Designer, since making parts work together as well as making a piece look well constructed is a struggle at some times. A point in time when good structure was really impor-tant was during the construction of our three dimensional letters. The elements needed to reflect the actual letter form that we were mimicking, making it difficult to get proportions exactly accurate.

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These are a few of m

y

favorite th

ings...

cmd 251where’s my utility knife?

design history exhibitionCreate a scale model exhibit of the assigned topic for your group (advertising). This is a walk-through display to be viewed by people at floor level. Your group represents one topic and one display in a larger show on the history of graphic design.

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Design History exhibition photos, continued. The exhibit design was based on exploiting the important strategies of advertising, including humor, association, en-dorsement, seduction, and comparison.

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T t is for time managementIn Communications Design, time management is everything. Its very difficult to manage time and get things done in a timely manner. Time management is important for everything in life, but its especially important when it comes to group projects. Coordinating times to meet and who buys what materials is something groups tend to struggle with. In the end, good time management skills helped me succeed in group projects as well as individual projects throughout this year in Communications Design.

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SLEEP

I’M SO

TIRED

SLEEP

SO MUCH

HOMEWORKSLEEPI’M SO

TIRED

HOW WILL I GET

THIS DONE?

I WANT SLEEP

I’M SO TIRED

I WANT SLEEP

STRESSED

STRESSEDI WANT SLEEP

STRESSEDI’m pulling an all

nighter tonight.

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SLEEP

I’M SO

TIRED

SLEEP

SO MUCH

HOMEWORKSLEEPI’M SO

TIRED

HOW WILL I GET

THIS DONE?

I WANT SLEEP

I’M SO TIRED

I WANT SLEEP

STRESSED

STRESSEDI WANT SLEEP

STRESSEDI’m not going to

sleep much tonight....

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T t is for time managementIn Communications Design, time management is everything. Its very difficult to manage time and get things done in a timely manner. Time management is important for everything in life, but its especially important when it comes to group projects. Coordinating times to meet and who buys what materials is something groups tend to struggle with. In the end, good time management skills helped me succeed in group projects as well as individual projects throughout this year in Communications Design.

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cmd 252research, research, and more research

magazine designCreate a two sided magazine for two distinct audiences:-One magazine is for the household husband between the ages of 25 and 45-The other magazine is for the household wife between ages 25 and 45Both magazines have the same content and my magazine is called Oi!, for the misfit guy/girl.

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cmd 252research, research, and more research

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The content of both of my magazines is aimed towards the punk lifestyle. Through a lot of research, I found out many elements of punk culture and lifestyle that I would have never imagined. Through my spreads and covers, I differentiated the male and female magazines through color, design, and article content.

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cmd 252research, research, and more research

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The content of both of my magazines is aimed towards the punk lifestyle. Through a lot of research, I found out many elements of punk culture and lifestyle that I would have never imagined. Through my spreads and covers, I differentiated the male and female magazines through color, design, and article content.

Oo is for organizationOrganization is everything. Whether it is how you organize your ideas, thoughts, files, or notes, it is extremely important for every aspect of the design process. When you have a lot of projects going on at once and you save everything on your desktop, life can get really unorganized and confusing. I learned that the hard way. Having a folder on your computer for each project you have is probably the easiest and best way to keep all of your files organized. It’s helpful to keep a sketchbook with lots of ideas and writing in it as well. Carry it with you everywhere - you’ll get ideas or have thoughts about a project when you least expect it.

I’m gonna run out of

space in my notebook.

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connection progressionCreate a visual book consisting of typography and imagery. The book format will be 8 inches square, accordion fold, black and white. Explore the use of illustration, sculpture, and painting as a visual subject matter. The book will have a visual macro theme as well as micro themes (the connections). The macro theme is an overall visual impression from pages 1-24.

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N n is for nicheNiche has to do with the position that a certain element takes within its community. In that case, niche and grids come hand in hand. As a designer, it is important to make sure each ele-ment of the community fits together nicely. The typography and imagery need to work hand in hand to become one, and the grid works to get all the pieces and parts to become an in-tegrated layout. Grids are mostly important for posters, maga-zine layouts, and book layouts. They differ for each subject, but work do the same thing for everything; they create a niche.

Your layout doesn’t

even fit your grid.

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g

by Megan Seling

Green Day’s (very small) catalog and started listening to every other similar band I could get my hands on-Operation Ivy, Rancid, Blink-182, Screeching Weasel, the Mr. T Experience, the Vandals, Less Than Jake, even MxPx because I liked that their songs were polite enough for me to listen to while my parents were around. I would religiously read one band’s liner notes to see the other bands they thanked or mentioned, then I’d go buy those band’s CDs. That’s how I learned about NOFX, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the Hippos, Unwritten

Everything I know about being a woman I learned from boys singing songs about girls. I was 13 years old when Green Day released their breakthrough album Dookie. The song “Longview” was all over the radio, and I fell in love fast and hard. As a newly pubescent girl from the suburbs, I was on the verge of having the power to make my own decisions, and they represented something radical I could choose to be. The guys in Green Day had tattoos and dyed hair and an enviable “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. I wanted all of it. I went backward through

“I wanted to be friends with the guys, but I also wanted to kiss them, so I listened to pop punk as a way to decipher the male code while trying to discover who I was.”

Law, Home Grown, and more. Pop punk (and its musical siblings) was my life’s main soundtrack at one of the most critical, fragile, and exciting phases of my life. These songs were what taught me what it meant to be a woman as I was becoming one. It’s a miracle I made it out unscathed. From the Cootees telling me the most desir-able figure was “36-24-36” in “School Girl Fantasy” to Screeching Weasel spitting, “As long as you don’t have lots of zits or small tits or crooked teeth, (continued)

RELATIONSHIPS

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N n is for nicheNiche has to do with the position that a certain element takes within its community. In that case, niche and grids come hand in hand. As a designer, it is important to make sure each ele-ment of the community fits together nicely. The typography and imagery need to work hand in hand to become one, and the grid works to get all the pieces and parts to become an in-tegrated layout. Grids are mostly important for posters, maga-zine layouts, and book layouts. They differ for each subject, but work do the same thing for everything; they create a niche.

Your layout doesn’t

even fit your grid.

33

g

letterformlayoutscmd 281the beginning

The assignment involves the methods of organizing image and typography in a visual arena. You will be asked to combine several elements in a poster format. You are required to photograph your 3D letterform in a way that captures a conceptual message. Your poster will aslo include a version of your cropped letterform and letter symbol.

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Ee is for executionNo, I don’t mean execution in terms of a death sentence. I mean execution when it comes to cleanliness, neatness, and technique. Execution is important for all aspects of design, when it comes to hand-making something or cutting a poster neatly with a clean Xacto knife. Execution doesn’t come easy- it takes practice and precision to be good at having a cleanly, neatly executed project.

Let me look at my notes....

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REDO IT. REDO IT. REDO IT. REDO IT.

REDO IT. REDO IT. IT NEEDS TO BE CLEANER

BETTER EXECUTIONREDO IT.

REDO IT.

ITS NOT THE RIGHT SIZE

REDO IT.

REDO IT. REDO IT. REDO IT.

THIS IS FIRST LEVEL THINKING IT COULD BE

BETTERJUST REDO IT.

REDO IT. REDO IT.

REDO IT. THIS IS MESSYREDO IT. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

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information designDesign a new version of your selected topic. You are responsible for gathering examples of your topic that are in use. You must determine the overall format and size your infor-mation design project will take. Use a balance of text, imagery, charts, tables, graphs, illustrations or photography to best communicate your information.

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My name is Sam Stone. I’m a communications designer with ideas and the creative thought process. Born and raised in Los Angeles, I have fortunately been exposed to good design my whole life. My enthusiasm for design and the arts has led me to Syra-cuse University, where I have strived to become the best designer I could possibly be. My love for design, grids, typography, and so on has grown to be a passion of mine.

s as t o

who is

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nm

?e

Contact:Samantha Stonesstone02@syr.eduwww.behance.net/samanthastone(818) 590 628743

Created in 2013 by Samantha StoneSyracuse University, Communications Design, Class of 2015