by Alex Hogrefe | Aug 4, 2019 | Graphic Design, Portfolio Vol. 6, Styles / Effects, Uncategorized |
Porter Square Station is a place I pass through nearly every day and is the site I have decided to take on as my next design/illustration project. Since the station is nearby my office, it is how I get to and from my home, and how I get in and out of the city for...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jul 12, 2019 | Break Down, Uncategorized |
I am a big fan of podcasts, maybe too much. I listen to them all day everyday while I work. Some of my all time favorites include 99% Invisible, Freakanomics Radio, Revisionist History, The Tim Ferris Show, This American Life, Comedy Bang Bang, Judge John Hodgman,...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jun 16, 2019 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
After many months, I have finally finished Portfolio Volume 05. I can honestly say that I have put more time into this book than I have on anything else I have ever worked on. So many new illustrations were generated beyond what was shown on this blog and a lot of...
by Alex Hogrefe | Apr 27, 2019 | Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
If it seems like I have been posting less and less lately, it is because all of my time has been going into my next portfolio. This book has been in the making for the past 3 years. However, I have taken the last several months to invest all of my free time into...
by Alex Hogrefe | Apr 3, 2019 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
One of the images not initially generated for the Philly Bridge Project was the south side of the pedestrian bridge. Here, the bridge turns into a park-like setting with lots of trees, vegetation, and a grand stair connecting down to the street level. This was an...
by Alex Hogrefe | Feb 22, 2019 | Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
If you haven’t been to my site in a while, I have been taking the past several months to piece together my new Portfolio Volume 05. As I go from project to project, I look to fill in gaps of missing information in the storytelling of the design. In this case, I...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jan 27, 2019 | Break Down, Fundamentals, Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
One of the new images I generated for my upcoming Portfolio Volume 05 was an aerial view of the Research Lab Project. Because I have many new images to generate in a short amount of time for the portfolio, I have been trying to minimize time spent on each image. In...
by Matt Uminski | Jan 7, 2019 | Graphic Design, Styles / Effects, Uncategorized |
If you read my first post, you understand that Alex and I chose to start his Portfolio design process by selecting fonts. Anytime I begin any kind of design project I always start with type. Others may tell you they start with a grid, color palette, forms, and shapes,...
by Alex Hogrefe | Dec 19, 2018 | Break Down |
For this year’s Winter Special illustration, I decided to create a series of images partly because I couldn’t decide on one view, but also to experiment with the effects of thick snow at different view angles. I was less interested in the architectural...
by Matt Uminski | Dec 1, 2018 | Graphic Design, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
For the first time on Visualizing Architecture, I am bringing in a new voice to help discuss some important graphic design related topics for the upcoming design of Portfolio Volume 05. Matt Uminski is a really good friend and encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes...
by Alex Hogrefe | Oct 28, 2018 | Portfolio Vol. 5 |
I have begun thinking about some of the spreads for the Mountain Lodge Project and what kind of tone I want to set. The images consists of simple and minimal diagrams paired with heavily textured and vegetated perspectives intentionally creating a contrast between the...
by Alex Hogrefe | Oct 3, 2018 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
It’s been way too long since my last post. It has been a busy month traveling and moving Design Distill to a new office. However, I was finally able to find some time this weekend to put together two new images for the Mountain Lodge Project. For these images,...
by Alex Hogrefe | Aug 20, 2018 | Portfolio Vol. 5 |
I have been working up some drafts for a few diagrams and elevations for the mountain lodge project. I am testing out some graphically minimal styles that contrast the highly textured and atmospheric perspective illustrations seen here and here. I don’t normally...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jul 22, 2018 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
This will be a quick post, but I wanted to show another image that I have been working on. This illustration was put together to study the ground around the base of the tower. I wanted to iterate on some ideas I had for the landscape/hardscape relationship as well as...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jul 6, 2018 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
As I continue to develop my Mountain Lodge Project, there are a couple of areas that I am using visualization to study the design a little more closely. One of the key moments is a bridge that connects the tower to the mountain side. I had envisioned this space to be...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jun 10, 2018 | Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
Below is a sneak peak of my next project that I will be illustrating over the next several months. As with all of my projects, I have tried to setup several scenarios that I am interested in visualizing. For this project, specifically, the overarching concept is of a...
by Alex Hogrefe | May 20, 2018 | Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
The Desert House Project is nearing completion and I have begun looking at how I can piece together the different images into portfolio spreads. Setting up these spreads help me to clarify what images still need to be generated to fill in the narrative gaps. They also...
by Alex Hogrefe | Apr 21, 2018 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5, Styles / Effects |
I decided to go abstract with this latest post. With this set of illustrations, I have been studying the interior spaces of the Desert House. I tend to prefer interiors with minimal color and material, so I generated these studies as a way to force me out of that way...
by Alex Hogrefe | Mar 25, 2018 | Break Down, Over Time, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
Part 2 of this tutorial will break down the Photoshop side of this illustration. In terms of Photoshop complexity, this image is relatively simple and minimal in layers. However, I think it is a good example of how a compelling image can be generated with just a few...
by Alex Hogrefe | Mar 4, 2018 | Fundamentals, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
I have had a ton of people asking me to create a more thorough breakdown of one of my images and it seems the desert house dusk shot would be a good candidate. I like this image because not a ton of Photoshop is needed for the illustration, but the little Photoshop...
