Last night I googled myself for the first time in maybe three years. The last time I had done this there were maybe thirty links for Sara Khwaja (or Sarah Khawaja) and only one other person I could find with my exact name. This time there were over 160,000 links and tons of Sara Khwajas. All a bit shocking.
What was most interesting is that I found out that I was featured in Loyola Marymount’s Vistas magazine this fall for my redesign of a wine label. Months ago they interviewed me and a bunch of other students but they weren’t clear on who would make it into the magazine and they did not send us final versions. Overall, it was interesting to see my words sort of strewn about and reconfigured and really cool to see my work in a public forum.
I redesigned the bottle for White Cottage wine (on the far right).We had a choice of wine labels to redesign and I chose a label that was very traditional and classic in order to be able to push the redesign further. I also had to do something about the typefaces, which are considered a big “no no” in the typography world.
According to the article, the wine makers found my design “interesting” and said that they tend to sell directly to clients and not through vendors, so they don’t worry about their labels being eye-catching, but rather reflective of their tradition in wine making. I can completely understand that, but I still have a problem with their choice of typefaces!