"Birds of a Feather"

I was touched by the videos on the Often Awesome web site. I had heard of the disease referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, but I didn’t really know what it was.  It’s a very informative site. Tim LaFottette was an awesome individual who made a difference and left behind a wonderful legacy.

The love story video “Birds of a Feather” about Tim and Kayla was especially moving and inspirational. It explains the swallows tattoo that was inspired by a bookplate in a song book that was in tribute to Tim’s mom, who had died of the disease.

Swallows symbolize freedom, hope and fertility. They also represent the renewal of life. Some say the swallow means you are a good fighter. It may also symbolize a safe return and has been associated with sailors. So I decided that I wanted to use a swallow in my poster. My poster is an advertisement for a fundraiser 5 or 10K walk/run that I imagine taking place around San Diego Bay. The walk/run is called “Walk This Way”.

My fictional event for my ALS fundraiser event poster design is a fun run around San Diego Bay. The demographic targeted for this event is health conscious people of both sexes, ages 20s through 50s.

I have never used Adobe InDesign, or Illustrator before, so I took a lot of time learning my way around as I worked. I enjoyed French’s tutorials. I plan on taking all of his tutorials when I have the time to do so. I also found the search function very helpful. I had so much fun working in these two programs that I decided to work through two of my thumbnail designs just for the practice. I couldn’t decide which of the two I liked better, so I’ve included both of them.

The other types of media that would be used to promote for my ALS fundraiser event would be a web site with links in Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites. There would be radio ads, TV ads, and a billboard version of the poster design.

I started by drawing the sparrows on Adobe Illustrator. I then went to InDesign to create the layout.

LaFollette, T. (2010-2012) Often Awesome http://oftenawesome.org