Marv
I really enjoyed reading these and I feel that I have gained real knowledge by doing so. Marvin offers his opinion in a clear, understandable way and his advice is worthwhile. I really liked the way he used printing terms in his explanations. I don’t deal with these terms on a daily basis and yet I was able to understand them with little thought. For example he uses the phrases “knocked out” and “one to one fit.” Even though I’ve never heard these terms used in this context before I was still able easily understand what Marvin was talking about because he explains them so well. Also the addition of pictures aided in the comprehension of these terms.
Other than the fact that each explanation is easy to understand, I found that the information itself to be very useful. Not only is it relevant to this class (and the next project), but being a design major I was very interested to hear about how the unavoidable “manufacturer’s tolerance” should be considered when designing a disc’s label and what specifically can be done to minimize its impact.
One final thing that I would like to point out is how Marvin, in some cases, uses a graphic to describe the process by which he would improve a given disc label. The idea is easy enough to understand but in this case I would have like to have viewed them in higher resolution. The images he provided are too small to be able to read the text. It might be true that the text itself is of no importance but it still bothers me to have text that I can see but can’t read. If the text isn’t necessary for the purpose of the graphic then remove it and nothing will be affected, otherwise make it readable.
I also thought Marvin’s critiques were informative and fun reads. I never thought printing ink on discs to be such a complicated production issue. The Elvis Costello album primed my further interests in how further layers are taken into consideration during development, so as to hit the right contrast without completely botching the design, the text or both.
His description of the Los Lobos album and the concept of the disc label complimenting the cover rather than competing was a refreshing reminder that more isn’t necessarily better. This snippet also raised my awareness of print choice however as a pretty major concern. He gets really in-depth in this regard when looking at the Little Plastic Castle album. Color conflict and how it affects text, and the album presentation in general are legitimate issues raised, in which the absence of color may actually be better than utilizing it. It comes down once again to preference, whether the album is portrayed for a minimalist image, or a noisy color splash all play factors in how that music is presented to its selected audiences.
Submitted by bfawaz on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 23:03.I agree with what you had to say. He was very informative in the information he gave. The first thing was the terms that he gave. The were very accurate and anyone could understand them if they too the time to read them. The information he game can facilitate to anyone.
I would also agree with the evaluation of the pictures. They were very hard to read. For talking about designs and it being up on a digital medium they should of been higher res.
Submitted by cloud586 on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 07:00.