MICHAEL SMITH IS BACK after a hiatus of a couple of months. He offers two pages (well, he actually sent four but I’m holding a couple back for now) for your review and comment. His notes—and some comments from yours truly—follow each page.
FROM MICHAEL: We have a very talented graphic artist who designed this illustration for me. The editorial point is that because of confusion in state law, one city is getting a fiduciary gift from another community. So I asked my graphic artist to design a big Christmas present with money as wrapping paper and the to/from gift tag.
FROM ED: I like the fact that you gave numbers at the bottom of the package and I believe the entire presentation could have been improved had we used those numbers—and others—in a chart. Sorry, but the gift drawing looks just a bit too clip-arty and cartoonish for my taste—and it fails to offer any real information. It serves to illustrate, but not illuminate.
FROM MICHAEL: This page was designed to promote an upcoming film festival. I wanted to design the page like a movie poster. I used the Top Gun poster as a template but used a black reverse. The film festival consists of independent filmmakers, so black seemed an appropriate color.
FROM ED: I love print. I love the process. I love the craft. I love everything about print. But I gotta admit: We just can’t get black blacks like this in print. In digital form, this page rocks! I’m curious how it came out in print.
So, how about the rest of you? What are your thoughts? Comments?