Saturday, December 15, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
I interrupt your normal programming to bring the following announcement:
The 2007 book is officially DONE! *throws confetti*
I am so proud of everything we accomplished this year. It has been one crazy/beautiful experience... Thanks again to everyone :]
Now, we just need to find $20k to make sure it comes out in October...
Hearts, stars and horseshoes, clovers and blue moons!
Cait
P.S. Lucky Charms sounds really good right about now, haha.
P.P.S. Good luck on finals this week!
I am so proud of everything we accomplished this year. It has been one crazy/beautiful experience... Thanks again to everyone :]
Now, we just need to find $20k to make sure it comes out in October...
Hearts, stars and horseshoes, clovers and blue moons!
Cait
P.S. Lucky Charms sounds really good right about now, haha.
P.P.S. Good luck on finals this week!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Interrobang
They do exist?!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang
I vote we somehow incorporate the interrobang as much as possible into next year's book as a design element.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang
I vote we somehow incorporate the interrobang as much as possible into next year's book as a design element.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Post-Production Reflection from the Design Editor
First of all, I'm a chemistry student. If I wrote anything that doesn't make sense, just be glad that I wasn't your copy editor.
Lyman always makes fun of how long Caitlin and I (and Tiffany, except she never gets made fun of) have been stuck in yearbook for so long. You know you've done too many books when your mood cycle (and for girls, you know what I'm talking about) is dictated by the progress of the production. That is sadly true.
Today we submitted the last 10 pages of the 2007 Blue & Gold. Granted, there are lots of corrections and contents to play around with on proofs, but a majority of the work has been done. I honestly can't tell you how successful this year has been. Well, I guess this is the to pull one of those "when I was doing my first book..." history lessons. I've honestly submitted blank pages to fill deadlines before. Our achievement this year is tremendous.
This is not to say the production was all smooth sailing. Of course, there are lots of glitches along the way. There are a lot of things we can improve on in both production and operational aspects. That's what the next two months are for. I think I'm going to need to take a few weeks off from InDesign and work as Anne Marie's yearbook Wikipedia. I don't know if I've mentioned, but in the past 6 years I've mainly involved in purely design work. I'm a designer and I'm happy to stay in that realm, but at the same time I feel like I should step out of that safety zone. Cal doesn't need any Goudy Old Style book with perfectly aligned text boxes and pica'ed photos. I think my work is done in that department.
Again, regardless of what people Caitlin and Tiffany say--you guys are such dolls by the way--this book would not have been possible without the contribution from all of you. I'm just here to help along the way and make sure pica-ing, conventions and deadlines are followed religiously, so to speak. I know it hasn't been the easiest working with/for me. I'm not someone you want to talk to about 2-3 months before the production wraps. But I promise I'm back to the normal kind person I... sometimes... am.
And I remember that exact thought that ran through my head when I finished Iris 2005. Even just for a moment, right before the rush of adrenaline, is NEVER F#$*ING AGAIN. I'm sure all the ex-high school editors-in-chief/design tech/editors-at-large share that sentiment. Then we keep coming back for more, like moths to a flame. Yep, we're pretty much addicted to torturing ourselves on an annual cycle that is called the yearbook.
But everything is so freaken forgiven when you first run the blade over the brown packing tape to cut open the box. The glowing tranquility of the bear, the texture of the cover, the weight and the thickness of the book. Then you pick it up and open it for the first time, you smell the ink and paper--the distinct scent of process ink and the Bordeaux #100 that we try to get out of every single year. It's the smell that you keep coming back for. You see the beautiful and airy Goudy Old Style, the Garamond family, Avalon, Times Small Cap... every choice of convention we studied over. Every style, drop cap, by-line, alignment, photo credit, caption, every little details that you see, you bet someone on staff had discussed heatedly over it.
Then you feel the thickness of the paper as you first turn the page. But then you do it very carefully--you don't want to stain the beautiful, black dividers with your fingerprints. It's your book. You know every story, you counted those polls, you took all those pictures, you place all those texts. You arranged every tasteful layout and wrote every intriguing copy, you've chased down every professional photographers and made every mistake. And you know you're the only one who would ever, ever, eeeever spot those mistakes. But they are there, permanently, and it stings a little every time you see them, even though you try really hard to avoid looking at them.
We've all been there and done that. But somehow making a book that marks a permanent history of a grand university like Cal is the most satisfying thing in the world. It's kind of like having a baby, except you don't really have to deal with crying children nor are you obligated to provide food, shelter, education, insurance, etc. Anyway I'm rambling too much. Thanks for the great work everyone and let's strive to do even better next year. For that it will the last book for a lot of us.
Really.
Lyman always makes fun of how long Caitlin and I (and Tiffany, except she never gets made fun of) have been stuck in yearbook for so long. You know you've done too many books when your mood cycle (and for girls, you know what I'm talking about) is dictated by the progress of the production. That is sadly true.
Today we submitted the last 10 pages of the 2007 Blue & Gold. Granted, there are lots of corrections and contents to play around with on proofs, but a majority of the work has been done. I honestly can't tell you how successful this year has been. Well, I guess this is the to pull one of those "when I was doing my first book..." history lessons. I've honestly submitted blank pages to fill deadlines before. Our achievement this year is tremendous.
This is not to say the production was all smooth sailing. Of course, there are lots of glitches along the way. There are a lot of things we can improve on in both production and operational aspects. That's what the next two months are for. I think I'm going to need to take a few weeks off from InDesign and work as Anne Marie's yearbook Wikipedia. I don't know if I've mentioned, but in the past 6 years I've mainly involved in purely design work. I'm a designer and I'm happy to stay in that realm, but at the same time I feel like I should step out of that safety zone. Cal doesn't need any Goudy Old Style book with perfectly aligned text boxes and pica'ed photos. I think my work is done in that department.
Again, regardless of what people Caitlin and Tiffany say--you guys are such dolls by the way--this book would not have been possible without the contribution from all of you. I'm just here to help along the way and make sure pica-ing, conventions and deadlines are followed religiously, so to speak. I know it hasn't been the easiest working with/for me. I'm not someone you want to talk to about 2-3 months before the production wraps. But I promise I'm back to the normal kind person I... sometimes... am.
And I remember that exact thought that ran through my head when I finished Iris 2005. Even just for a moment, right before the rush of adrenaline, is NEVER F#$*ING AGAIN. I'm sure all the ex-high school editors-in-chief/design tech/editors-at-large share that sentiment. Then we keep coming back for more, like moths to a flame. Yep, we're pretty much addicted to torturing ourselves on an annual cycle that is called the yearbook.
But everything is so freaken forgiven when you first run the blade over the brown packing tape to cut open the box. The glowing tranquility of the bear, the texture of the cover, the weight and the thickness of the book. Then you pick it up and open it for the first time, you smell the ink and paper--the distinct scent of process ink and the Bordeaux #100 that we try to get out of every single year. It's the smell that you keep coming back for. You see the beautiful and airy Goudy Old Style, the Garamond family, Avalon, Times Small Cap... every choice of convention we studied over. Every style, drop cap, by-line, alignment, photo credit, caption, every little details that you see, you bet someone on staff had discussed heatedly over it.
Then you feel the thickness of the paper as you first turn the page. But then you do it very carefully--you don't want to stain the beautiful, black dividers with your fingerprints. It's your book. You know every story, you counted those polls, you took all those pictures, you place all those texts. You arranged every tasteful layout and wrote every intriguing copy, you've chased down every professional photographers and made every mistake. And you know you're the only one who would ever, ever, eeeever spot those mistakes. But they are there, permanently, and it stings a little every time you see them, even though you try really hard to avoid looking at them.
We've all been there and done that. But somehow making a book that marks a permanent history of a grand university like Cal is the most satisfying thing in the world. It's kind of like having a baby, except you don't really have to deal with crying children nor are you obligated to provide food, shelter, education, insurance, etc. Anyway I'm rambling too much. Thanks for the great work everyone and let's strive to do even better next year. For that it will the last book for a lot of us.
Really.
2 more pages
Okay, that still wasn't the most pleasant experience, nor was it the most productive (4 hours to work on one spread ~ 2 hr/page). But what the hell, it's done. Peace out peeps.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Adviser emeritus?
Let's make sure we add Anne Marie to our lovely and utopian virtual yearbook society. Amolosky at B.E.
[As an aside, everyone thinks utopia means "good place" BUT that's not the etymology: eu-topos = good place and ou-topos = NO place]
On another note, can I be adviser emeritus? That sounds so cool and I need at least one fancy title to hold onto as I ride off into the sunset, er..., sunrise.
[As an aside, everyone thinks utopia means "good place" BUT that's not the etymology: eu-topos = good place and ou-topos = NO place]
On another note, can I be adviser emeritus? That sounds so cool and I need at least one fancy title to hold onto as I ride off into the sunset, er..., sunrise.
OMGWTFBBQ?
4:57 PM like, wtfbbq?
me: fosho man
4:58 PM Caitlin: where ma dogs at?
where ma doggs at?
, yo?
mama?
dawgsssssss, I mean dawgs. Yes.
4:59 PM Snoop DOGG would not approve.
And he is all I've ever aspired to be, so I'm not sure this is okay.
I need to re-evaluate my morals.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
For future Senior Surveys
As we get Senior Surveys completed, we should just keep a running tally of sorts. Same goes with the Sales Record. It supremely sucks to sit and tally up approximately 500 or so senior surveys. And 300ish of which in one day/weekend. =(
Sunday, June 24, 2007
You know you've been in the office for too long when...
- Your butt suddenly hurts from sitting for so long
- You get noticeably colder and colder
- You're hungry and don't know why
- Your tan starts to fade away
- There are empty bottles and cans of diet coke everywhere
- There are pieces of papers with page numbers and orbitals drawn on them
- You're emailing/facebooking/looking for music to listen to/blogging instead of working on pages
- You don't go home - you go to Caitlin's
- Your phone complains it hasn't been charged in days
- Pica-ing/lining things up becomes really hard
- Even Dave doesn't want to go get more coffee
- All the sunlight you see is the kind that reflects off of MLK when you walk by the garage door to go to the bathroom
- You add more to this list
AMAZING
I am simply amazed and astound with how many hours you guys put in yesterday. Insane! Have I told how absolutely amazing I think you two are??! =) Yay! We are almost done =D I vote for a party this weekend of sorts. You guys deserve it for sure!
The sun is probably still out
... but the last time I saw it was 8 hours ago.
The key to good yearbook design is all about formulations and consistencies. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
As we dot the i's and cross the t's on this book, I can't help feeling all nostalgic. We've put in a ridiculous amount of time and effort into B&G 07, and it really shows. One more week, everyone. Hang in there.
The key to good yearbook design is all about formulations and consistencies. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
As we dot the i's and cross the t's on this book, I can't help feeling all nostalgic. We've put in a ridiculous amount of time and effort into B&G 07, and it really shows. One more week, everyone. Hang in there.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
This blog is going to become SO ridiculous.
So, like, why is SRB ("Suuuuurbbbbbbb") so boring? It's just people sitting. Snooze-ville!
*brought to you by 2gether's "U + Me = Us (Calculus)"*
*brought to you by 2gether's "U + Me = Us (Calculus)"*
Why I hate America
Is explained below:
1. It's really cold in the basement
and
2. The delete command wouldn't work on InDesign
but most importantly...
3. LYMAN DRANK ALL THE DIET COKE. AHHHHHHHHH.
1. It's really cold in the basement
and
2. The delete command wouldn't work on InDesign
but most importantly...
3. LYMAN DRANK ALL THE DIET COKE. AHHHHHHHHH.
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