iTunes 11 - a designers review

Hey guys! iTunes 11 is here and it is AWESOME!

Yeah, yeah, I know it this is a random post from what I usually post but hey it is always good for change, right? I thought it was part of design, new look, new way of making things work better which is my slogan now, have you heard.

Well, let's get to it then. The BRAND NEW iTUNES 11 has AWESOME new features where you can sync your music, apps, books, movies, etc., to your iCloud account. This makes it easy to access your personalized iTunes anywhere and everywhere. Here is how it looks now:

PRETTY, RIGHT? I just love how they managed to simplify it more even though it is already very clean and minimal looking. Some people are confused on where the sidebar went and WHY they took it away. Well, from a designers perspective I think they just wanted it out of the way, making the music library look more clean and easier to access. It is all about the music and when you open your library your beautiful artwork jumps at you. It's just right there for you to click on and play!

Anyway, to get your sidebar back you just hit ALT+CMD+S (MAC) / CTRL+ALT+S (WINDOWS) and TA-DA! But personally I prefer the new look better. Problems start when you want to sync your iPod or other devices with playlists... So just turn on that sidebar and do it the old fashion way. Can also be switched on from the menu: "View > Show Sidebar"

Enough technical stuff lets talk about the design of the new interface!

Apple has manages to design this amazing feature with the new iTunes 11 when you download an album with an artwork the library extracts the colours from the cover art and changes the theme of that album window. As you can see in the picture above from the latest Rihanna album (LOVE HER!) the window extracted her skin colour of the art work and replaced the text in the window with that colour. AMAZING! Here is another example for you to get the picture:

The new mini player is a big change in iTunes and I think many people will start using this more often now. You can search and add songs to "up next" playlists from the mini player. This is an awesome new feature that I think is very handy when working and don't want the big iTunes window to open.

Furthermore you can change the views of your library that I am in love with!!! They limited it to Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, and Playlists which is SO much easier to handle. The sidebar with all my hundreds of playlists made it confusing and difficult to find stuff. Thanks Apple for making this so awesome!

Now you just have to go download the new iTunes A.S.A.P!!! It is really a must-have that will make your life off organizing your music MUCH easier and well pretty to look at while browsing your library.

Till Later!

*F

UPGRADE 2012

Good Morning and Welcome to the new Franco Creations Blog/Website Upgrade

I am excited to announce that the upgrade is officially been done for your connivence.
Please enjoy the new experience and feel free to report if you have a problem with accessing any of the links or work.

I exhibited my work and my brands new look & feel last night. I just want to thank everyone for making this exhibition and this brand possible, and for making it look awesome. Thank you for my parents for giving me the opportunity to live my dream and building myself up to where I am today.

If you are in Cape Town please drop by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Cape Tech) to view my exhibit and take a business card. I will soon upload my portfolio to the blog. Exhibition opens 9am-8pm Wednesday 28 & Thursday 29.

Thank you supporting my brand and be sure to check for new updates.

Till Later!
*F

Post 125

So this year was insanely-crazy-busy and here we are at the end again. Wow time sure passes quickly when one is busy working.

At the beginning of this year I promised everyone that I will be posting on my blog more than every before and so I posted less than last year... disappointing, I know... To make this right I will just have to work even harder and commit myself. Everyone is busy and don't have time for things, but one can make time for important thing right?

I have been working on my new brand identity for some time now and the time has come to officially release it to the public. Although I have leaked the logo on my new Photography logo but that's cool, you haven't seen the final logo_ yet!

Next year is going to be a mystery without knowing where I will be and what I am going to do for a living. But one thing that is clear is that I won't stop designing! Hopefully luck comes my way and I can get my degree in Graphic Design which would be awesome but for now I just have to wait and see what is going to happen.

BUT HEY! Don't be alarmed, since I have some time I am going to keep you guys busy during the holidays with some designs and maybe some tutorials. Keep an eye out for the big upgrade to see new cool features.

Till Later

*F

A New and Improved Logo

You may have noticed something different on my photographs on Facebook since Saturday.
Yeah, there is a new logo on it's way! It is still a working progress but I was too excited to show it to everyone so tell me what you think about it.

This is part of a rebrand project that I am working on for my portfolio for the end of this year. I know my logo has changed a lot since 2010 but this is it. No more changing styles, no more changing identities, just no more confusion. Just FC Franco Creations.

Till Later! *F

Here is my new style and new extension logo for photography:

WTF Media Conference 2012

The 14th annual WTF Media Conference took place on September 01, 2012 at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Bellville Campus. This is a one-day media conference which hosts professional speakers in social media and technology.

The theme for the 2012 WTF Media Conference is “Impact”. The conference that will evolve around the impact of technology and the impact of social media. According to all the pundits…this year 2012 is the year that technology is going to have an impact on our lives.

The Speakers:

This year, speakers will include: Andy Hadfield, Clive Simpkins, Sheena Gates, Heike Meyburgh, John Beale, KateWolters, Matthew Visser, Melissa Attree, Sam Wilson, Tom Manners, Rashiq Fataar and Mike Sharman.

This is truly a highlight of the year at CPUT. Make sure you pencil this event into your diary for 2013 and for many years to come. To find out more about this conference please visit the CPUT website:

http://www.cput.ac.za/about/events/wtf-media-conference

(Photographs©2012 Copyright to the Cape Peninsula University of Technology)

*Click to enlarge

How to use a camera, sis!

Hi again. Here is one of my random shots I took when teaching my sister how to use a SLR camera. She is pretty good in photography, guess it runs in the family. Well, I showed her how shutter speed works and what Aperture does. She nailed it and took beautiful pictures! So here is something random, but loving it.

Till Later!
*F

Urban/Nature follow-up

Experimenting with drawing objects and different mediums I mixed it up with placing it on my photographs and the results was kinda awesome. It was interesting to see how drawings can change into something else instead of it just sitting on the paper. New ideas can come up which can help a lot when designing something new. Try it, I recommend it!

My concept was a rhetorical question that asks the question if the nature in the picture you see is really true? We as humans place plants and nature in places it shouldn't be or we put it to make it look natural, but does it really?

Enjoy the final photographs!
Till Later!
*F

Urban/Nature Photography

This was something new to me. I usually take pictures that I love and what I feel looks good, but for this project I had to challenge myself to start getting creative with composition. Anyway, I didn't understand what was expected of me but what I do know is that I could have taken photographs!!! :-D

So it's all about finding urbanized buildings or scenes that was inspired by or have some kind of relation to nature. Keeping in mind that this project would be integrated with the next drawing project we had to come up with some sort of statement that was communicated through the images. So here is my top 3 photographs that I chose for my final.

Till Later!

*F

Data Visualization: Unemployment

Hi guys! So this is the first time for me to design an infographic.

This project was aimed at collecting raw data from a social issue of choice. I choose to unemployment in South Africa because it is such a big issue. Every South African knows this a massive issue but do they really? That is why I thought to bring this issue to front and make people more aware of it.

I went with a clean vector look so it is easy to read but also to make it look professional, because I think we have to address this issue professionally and quite serious. After a lot of research I narrowed down my questions and kept it straight to the point and easy to understand as well. Here is the final, check it out and feel free to tell me what you think;

Till Later!
*F

WebDesign Training

We had website training for a week and a half. The first week was hell, I had to learn coding which wasn't so bad, but for a designer like me who is really not a fan of maths I admit, it's not fun. After that week our trainer told us that there is an easier way to create websites using the design interface... without code... SERIOUSLY!!! So we basically it was a waste of time. I know coding is cool to know and you can always go back and fix something if you have problem but I feel that for that limited time we could have gotten more advance training to be better in designing websites.

Anyway! I should probably stop complaining because I am good in what I do and I strive to do better. So I went and did more research and improved my web design skills. Here is my final website for the project. Enjoy!

*(P.S. this is not a live website, this is a screen grab)
Till Later!
*F

TrashBack Urbin Design Competition

A few people from outside tech came to brief us on competition entires. This was integrated into our term schedule and was going to be marked as a normal project, and well be entered for the competition. We this was the first time we worked with live clients. It was a real challenge for everyone and a big adjustment from the usual projects. But the biggest challenge was signing up for one of the 3 competitions...

There was 3 options; TFG Gift Card Design (Illustrations), TrashBack Project (Design Techniques, 3D objects), and Music Video (Flash animation, video). As you can imagine EVERYONE wanted to do the TFG Gift Card Design because hey, we are graphic designers that loves illustrations and layout. But of course there was a limit to each competition... Man was that an interesting sign up... Luckily no one got hurt but there was a vibe.

SO I got the honor to NOT doing what I wanted and got placed on the TrashBack Project. I must admit, it was more fun then I imagined and I enjoyed it. I think it was one of those projects that just pulled me out of my comfort zone to try something different. Here is the final product.

Unfortunately I didn't get nominated and well I didn't win, but I can proudly say that two of my friends won from our institution! Check them out on the TrashBack Website.
Till Later!
*F

Fantasy Object Drawing

So we got this project. Very interesting project. So interesting that I actually didn't got it a 100%.
Well I've been to the first two classes and then I got sent to the Design Indaba Simulcast which was a lifetime experience. I didn't have time to do this project well so I did it in one nights time, yeah I went from 7pm to 7am without taking a break. I must say I didn't do that well, I wish I could have gotten a second chance to redo this project though. O' well, it's life I guess, you win you lose. But I must say I don't regret giving up class to go to the Simulcast!

Here is a scamp I did before the final. We had to bring an object to class and do an observational drawing from it.

This is the final. What we had to do is draw an imaginary fantasy object that we created from various pieces of mechanisms and machines. As you can see I came up with something simple that is kind of possible but also not. Well at least I did the project!

So tune in later for more uploads and well more impressive work (sarcasm)
Till Later!
*F

Really Busy!

Hi guys!
Sorry I haven't been present for the couple of months. 3rd year isn't really chilled like I planned it would be. What I've been up to? A LOT OF THINGS! A LOT!

There has been interviews, campaign designing, design day planning, moving, drama, and that is just a few I can think off right now. I will be giving attention to my blog asap but I am actually sitting in the Media24 office right now, busy with my work-shadow for next term.

I can officially say that Publishing is for me! People think it's like the movies and TV Series (Ugly Betty vibe) but you know, it's really not that dramatic as they make it to be. Sure the busy office life and organizing is hectic but I realize that this is my environment that I want to be in. I wouldn't mind coming to this every day for the rest of my life. I just want to design and organize.

So keep an eye on my blog for more updates. Will be uploading some of my work pretty soon, but for now cheers!

Till Later!
*F

BEST Photograph EVER!

I did it!

I finally achieved my goal for the best photograph I ever took. I mean in a few months I will probably take another awesome photograph and think that will be the next ultimate photograph. But today, right now, I feel this is the best I ever achieved in photography.

I was feeling kinda down the past few days and though that my photography skills are starting to disintegrating. Luckily spending some time with my friend, walking around and taking random shots I got back in the game and this time I will not back down.

From me to you - It is a fact that when you develop a skill like playing guitar, drawing, even driving you just have to keep practicing it. When a skill doesn't get practiced enough it starts to weaken and later just be on the list of "what I used to do" and believe me you don't want your skills to end up there.

Practice makes Perfect.

Till Later!

*F