3 Most Memorable Experiences

The first memorable experience was the first brain storming activity. I really enjoyed this because it brought a class together that didn't have all that much in common. Before this first activity the class was much more separate but after we were much more of a team. This had lasted throughout the whole semester.

The next memorable experience was the day when we all did are screen printing. Everyone was excited and ready to go. The whole period was taken up and we were very busy. I remember that I didn't even look at the clock to see how long it was until 2:25 but rather stayed as long as I could trying to finnish my prints.

The last memorable experience was our class trips to VIA. Both trips were equally fun and exciting while also being extremely educational.  It was a pleasure to work alongside people who care about your work and will offer advise to improve it. The environment that we were in also helped make the VIA trips a worthwhile experience.

Work that I am the most proud of...

       
 During this semester I have created many pieces of work which I am proud of. That being said, my screen printing t-shirt design was defiantly my favorite. Creating good t-shirt is a process with many steps, the graphic designing, the cutting of the papers, and the actual printing. I felt that I did a great job on all three steps. Firstly, my design was unique, clean, and meaningful, though not my best photoshop work it was quite good. The next step was the cutting the design onto paper. This step was not as difficult but was incredibly time consuming and I had to spend a fair amount of time out of class. The final step was the printing process. This involved many steps which made a clean final print almost impossible. In the end I was only able to get 2 or 3 nice prints. Overall the screen printing project really helped me going forward. It gave me more confidence because my previous design were not very strong and lacked in many areas. I felt that after this design I was more likely to try new and more challenging things on photoshop.

BBM Tennis Tournament T-Shirt

Purpose:

• To use creative problem-solving skills to design a t-shirt for an annual tennis tournament that raises money for the Cancer Community Center of Maine;
• To understand the importance of being involved in a real-life, authentic learning experience.

 

The Betty Blakeman Tshirt design was definitely the most challenging project on the semester. The first major learning was due to the nature of the project. The t-shirt had to be original but also needed aspects from the many T-shirts in the past. It also needed specific words such as “Betty Blakeman” and “2014.” This made the designing process harder because there were many specific’s to be met. The second major learning was taking the criticism from the employer and using it in a positive way. My person feedback was quite negative but the reality was that it was her feedback that mattered. Even if I loved my design the employers feedback was the only thing that had weight. My last major learning was simplicity. I have struggled with this concept the whole unit and I felt that my design wasn’t quite simply enough but the change from first draft to final was large and I made good progress in making the t-shirt look simple.

VIA Special Assignment

Purpose: To visit a local advertising agency in order to gain an understanding of the many possible career opportunities; To engage in a fictitious design problem with authentic graphic designers; to present and receive feedback about your artwork from authentic graphic designers.

Walking into VIA I was instantly struck by the modern architecture and cool design of the layout. The building was full of amazing sculptures and was built with creativity in mind. I loved how open the whole working environment was. Employees were in and out of different rooms conversing about whatever project they were working on. This was very nice to see as a student touring and went against the ideas the present education system where the majority of the work is done alone and conversing is not allowed. I loved the way life went on inside the business and was please to find a company that ran like VIA did.  During the 5 minutes we worked in groups the enthusiasm from the employes was clear. This made the active fun and easy instead. Overall VIA seems like a great place to work and I am excited at the possibility to return to continue work on the corpse project.

My second trip to VIA was just as inspiring as the first. Right away I felt the same comfortable vibe from all the employees. We all shared our artwork and we all received polite honest answers. Everyone was super nice and kind, and were genuinely interested in the work we were doing. My favorite part was when Teddy offered Ihila with the internship after seeing her amazing videos. It was really cool to see how her work was appreciated by the group at VIA and then how she was given the internship. The very last part of the trip we watched a viral video from a commercial airline company. The video definitely inspired us on how important digital media is.

Magazine Cover Designs

Purpose:

To use knowledge and tools of Photoshop, along with conceptual design to create a magazine cover for a fictitious magazine.

 I tried to used many of the important concept in my magazine. First, I tried to match the color of the snowboarder’s jacket with the main text by using the text: match and complement concept.  I hoped this would add to the symmetry of the piece. Second, I used the concept of placing dark text onto a light background. I thought the light shade of the the snow, sky, and mountains would contrast with the dark red and green of the text. I feel that I didn’t do a great job of using all the concepts. If I had I might of been more successful with the final product. 

 

Logo Designs

Purpose:

• To understand the process of logo design;
• To design a clear and effective logo for the chosen company scenario

My companies name is “PIECO.” We sell economic sports cars that have amazing milage and are environmentally friendly. The company is new and are starting with manufacturing one car. Similar design to an older Ford Mustang with a surprisingly powerful engine. The PIECO (which stands for “Power in Ecology”) The target audience is for 18-30 years olds who are aware of the environment and the changes that need to happen. My car will be affordable enough for people to want over a traditional gasoline powered car with the same amount of power and style.

I thought my logo design process was a good example Jacob Cass’s logo design step one, “Learn What A Logo Is & What It Represents.” I knew my logo had to simple and eye catching but most importantly it had to be evident that it was advertising a car. This was very hard for me and in the beginning of the process I tried to draw cars to put into the logo. Later I realized that my logo could show the environmental side instead of the car side to portray the same message. I messed around with the tree idea and I really liked it. Now I could add the text into the tree so that both messages were present in the same logo. In the end I made my logo much simpler and smoother which helped the logo go from amature to profesional-ish grade. 

Simplicity- In the previous units I really struggled to keep designs simply. I would add extra bits that were not needed. I feel like this logo is much better that the previous attempts.

Work with previous ideas- While designing the PIECO logo I would try and make final draft logos but rather make many different brief logos and take the ideas that I like from each one. Once I had done this I would make slight adjustments and compare it with the previous logo.

Change text by more than font- During this project I really tried to mess around with the text in other ways than just font. I stretch out the letters and then put them close together so that they overlapped. I really liked how this came out and it gave the logo more power than if the text was just plain.  

Positive & Negative Space Carved Pumpkins

Purpose: To use problem-solving skills and knowledge of positive and negative space to create a unique design on the surface of a pumpkin and with carving a pumpkin.

What were the successes and challenges of completing this assignment. Include responses for designing the surface and for carving.

The Pumpkin design project was defiantly a challenging project. The pumpkin was a very different element than any thing we have done on a computer. Since we only had three different values to use on the pumpkin so the design had to be simple and clean. Once the design was done we still had the issue of carving which was a challenge on its own. One success was the surface caving on the pumpkin. I hadn't ever done surface carving on pumpkins before and I thought it came out great.