EOY Reflection

EOY Reflection
This semester I learned a lot. For the entire year I stayed focused, hardly was off task and overall, took graphic design much more serious than I did last year. This year was a big success and I feel that I accomplished more than I had planned. This class has really helped me become a more efficient graphic designer and has helped me become prepared for college next year.

Homecoming
Starting with projects our first project this year was the homecoming package. We first had to take notes as student council presented to us of how they wanted the look and feel to be of the dance. The theme was above and beyond being more of a soothing cloudy theme. They wanted light blues and purples, as well as some whites and grays. We then had not only design a poster but also an infographic for the week that included spirit days for the week, when homecoming king and queen nominations were, and other important days and statistics for the week.

Greeting Card - Hand Type
The next project we were assigned was the greeting card. We first started sketching ideas of how we wanted the card to look like whether it was a Christmas, valentines, halloween, birthday, etc, it was an option. The next step was to sketch out what we wanted our card to look like. After this is was a solid week or two of sketching out our cards and perfecting our type as best as humanly possible and to then scan them into the computer and clean them up where need be. Then we added color and textures to top it off I ended up making a card that said "its fall y'all" on the front with leaves to really give it a autumn feel.

Branding
After that, the next project was one of the branding projects that was assigned this year. First, every wrote down a mineral, number, animal, and 2 letters of 4 different pieces of paper. They were all thrown into a hat and were randomly distributed. After this we had to create a company using these four aspects. I drew topaz, 12, an elephant, and the letters C and O. I created a company called "Trunks", a company that sold swimsuits, and made the logo an elephant. The company was based out of Colorado representing the C and O, and their headquarters was located on Topaz Street and 12th avenue. After this we designed 6 logo concepts and then picked one and chose color. We then had a letterhead, envelope, business card, and folder for a stationary. We also mocked-up the store interior and exterior as well as make merchandise.

Magazine Spreads

The next project was magazine spreads. To start this project, we had to go and search people who work in the graphic design industry, interview them, and then make 2 magazines spreads about them. The interview was about an hour and was really interesting. The man I interviewed talked about so interesting things when it comes to working in the design world. He told me how you will most likely have some bad experiences with people starting out but it will benefit you in the long run.

Personal Branding

After that came personal branding. Personal branding was by far the hardest project mainly because not only are you branding which is typically more difficult, but you are doing it for yourself. Everyone was having issues coming up with ideas so we took everyones name and everyone wrote down something that made them think of that person. After that we came up with different logo concepts, added color and determined whether that design was fit for us or not. Overall I was very happy with this project and my business card turned out nicely.


 Strengths and Weaknesses
 This year I have improved on my strengths, and got a lot better when it came to overcoming my weaknesses. First I became a lot more efficient when it came using the software. I learned a lot in illustrator and indesign, and as well as photoshop. I improved greatly on my weaknesses. Last year I would work in this class but would often spend my time working on a different subject. This was because of my sophomore year. My teacher had made it seem that graphic design was a waste of time and that it doesn't matter. That changed at the end of my junior year where I learned that you can't quit doing something because someone else makes it seem like it matters. If it matters to you, then pursuit it.

Summary
Overall, this year helped my become well prepared for college next year and has helped me grow as a designer. I learned a lot of necessary skills that I will need but I still have a lot to learn. This class has been my favorite this year and I will continue to excel in graphic design. My overall big takeaway from this semester has been to continue facing the difficulty if it means growing as a person and possibly messing up. Learning experiences are one of the most important things in life and they are there for a reason. My goal for next semester is to continue doing graphic design and to continue having my passion for it. Overall this was a very successful year and it has been an amazing four years of high school.

Semester Reflection

This semester in e-Comm I have accomplished much more than I had imagined. I worked hard and was almost always on task. Multiple projects were assigned this semester and they were all very unique one way or another. First was the homecoming posters, second the greeting cards, and third being our branding projects.

Homecoming Package
The first project of the year was the homecoming package: students were assigned to make a homecoming poster, infographic, breakfast invite for the court candidates, and finally tickets. The project took about a month just a week or two before homecoming. Some challenges that were faced along the way were communication with group member(s), coming up with completely different ideas since the colors and general theme made it hard to think of new ideas. During this project, I learned there is a lot of outside work required to be able to complete a project on time. I found myself coming in more often than not. Feedback received for this project was mostly from group members before we submitted our project. During this project I changed the amount of time I came in from outside of class to put extra work into a project. Overall this project was a good eye-opener on how to better communication with group members in the future.

Greeting Card
The second project of this year was a greeting card. For this project, we were required to make a welcome or different type of card. In my case, I decided to make a fall card because in my opinion,
fall is a time of year that appears to be very welcoming and the neutral season that most people seem to like. In total, the project took about a month and a half. First we had to sketch some ideas of what our card would look like. Next we had to make a big version of what we wanted our type to look like and then fill it in with a sharpie, and scan it into the computer. We then designed our card, and finished it off. Some challenges I faced were getting the final hand written version perfect because otherwise, it wouldn't look good when it were to be scanned in. Some feedback I was given was color choice, hierarchy, and contrast. The color issue I had just came down to a couple tones, and it wasn't too long before I found the colors I was going to use. Hierarchy came into play when I was trying to find a background wood texture. At first I had a lighter wood for my texture when I needed a darker color for better contrast. Overall my card turned out better than I had hoped and I gained some much needed experience from this project.

Branding
The third project that was assigned this year was the branding project. Trunks (my company's name) is a fictional company that sells swim trunks. The process in which my company was created - as a class we picked a random animal, number, two letters, and a mineral. The animal I picked was an elephant, the number 12, the letters being C & O, and my mineral was Topaz. The project took a month or two to complete and proved to be much more work than most had imagined. The main challenge I faced was coming up with new ideas for different logos. Logo design has always been one of my weak points, which I hope over time that will change and that it will eventually become second nature to me. This project changed the way I approach completing a specific task-to plan out how to complete something instead of doing it within a day or two. Overall this project turned out very good and the overall theme was appealing to me and all of my design packaged well together.

Time Management
This semester I had used my time in class very efficiently in comparison to last year. In class I have been always working on something graphic design related. Even if I were to "finish a project early" that wouldn't cause me to stop working. I may take a break from that project for a little and then come back later with a fresh pair of eyes to see the project from a new perspective and find any minor or big changes I could make to improve it. So far this year I haven't completed any projects early but at most a day or two before they are due. This has allowed me to make some last minute changes to better my projects. When it comes to working outside of class I often find myself coming in after school to work and sometimes staying late to make sure a project is completed on time and that it looks good.

Strengths & Weaknesses
In class I have found that my main strength is finding something I like, and going in that direction when working on a project. For example, when we were assigned the greeting card I quickly found something I liked and went in that direction and it bettered my project as the result. However I am aware that I have quite a few weaknesses that I need to work on. The main one is always having new ideas on how to approach a project. 9 times out of 10 the longest and/or hardest part of every project for me is sketching. I will have a couple of great ideas and then get stumped on what to do next. This is something I believe has changed from the current project we are working on but still has been one of my weakest areas I need to work on to be successful.

Summary
In conclusion this has been a very successful semester and plan to do the same the next. This semester the thing I've liked the most has been that I have gotten to know all of the other seniors this year as opposed to the people in my corner like last year. I also don't think I would change anything. I've really enjoyed how this class has been going this semester and hope it will be even better the next! The big take-away that I will get from this semester is that as long as I work hard that I will continue to grow in this class and be successful. My goal for next semester is to grow even further as a designer and be better prepared for college. Overall this has been a very successful first semester and hope for the next to be even better.

EOY Final

My junior year of graphic design has been the most productive, fun, and amazing year by far. I have learned to use Indesign, Illustrator, and photoshop more efficiently. In this reflection I am going to go over the pros and cons for me this year as well as some other details that were of importance to me and how I worked this year.

Technology

This year I learned many things but I believe that one of the most valuable technological advancements I had was getting comfortable with using Indesign. We started using Indesign this year with our name typography project but I started to get the hang of it when we started our menu re-design project. Learning Indesign was a program I knew how to use but I learned more advanced tools with it during that project. I also learned to not chose a company when starting a project like this when they have horrible color choices, and their logo is only available in a gif file. In conclusion, I learned some basic dos and don'ts this year in Indesign and choosing bad companies when the colors they use aren't necessarily the best choices.

Collaboration

During first quarter this year I didn't know many people in this class. I sat by myself in first quarter and when Abby was in class during second hour. Because I didn't know many people I had a hard time working with others in this class. I began to get the hang of how this class operated during our first critique and realized how much everyone really does help each other in this class. I began to ask for help and gave feedback to others when asked. Collaborating with others also helped me improve my communication skills and strengthened some of my other weaknesses that I eventually overcame this year. In conclusion, once I started collaborating with others all of my other skills, such as communication, improved as well.

Communication

Starting first quarter this year was kind of rough because I didn't know many people in this class. I also was very quiet and didn't really talk, but as the year went on, I made new friends and met new people. I eventually would learn that one crucial part of succeeding in a class such as this one, that I would need to go out of my comfort zone, talk to others, and met new people. This meant getting feedback to apply to my projects, asking others around me if they knew how to do something that I didn't, and other things such as that. It was important because when you go out into the real world, you are going to have to communicate with others no matter what type of job you may have. When doing this, I did't face any social barriers, I just had to learn to use my words and speak up. In conclusion, I learned to speak up when I needed help instead of staring at my screen, and to ask for feedback that wasn't during a critique.

Project Management

In the beginning of this year, I was almost always on task with my projects and was constantly trying my hardest to work and improve what I did. But as the year went on, and we moved into the menu-redesign project, my ability to stay on task took a turn for the worst. Because I was stuck and couldn't figure something out, I would sit in my seat, clueless of what to do, and because I was still in my little bubble of not talking a whole lot, I fell behind. Soon after that catastrophic event, I slowly got back on track and back to what I was supposed to be doing. This was an important part of the year for me because it truly taught me why it is important to always stay on task, no matter how difficult something may become. In conclusion, I learned that as what you do may become more difficult, it is important to have the discipline to do what is right, and do your work.

Leadership

When speaking of leadership this year, I learned the importance of being a leader, and how it can affect others around you. During the start of the year I was more of an observer, learning to communicate in a class where communication is key, and how important it is to talk to others. In November, I received my Eagle Scout and that was another trigger that motivated me to attempt to become more of a leader, not just in this class, but everywhere else also, such as helping start of a socratic seminar in English, or helping someone get caught up when they were sick, etc. When it came to this class, I still wasn't the best, but the seniors certainly helped me learn more and guided me through the year. In conclusion, leadership is a very important role to almost anything, whether it be a workplace, sports team, or some other kind of environment when a group of people are working together.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I have made many improvements this year such as overcoming some weaknesses such as staying on task, and communicating when I need help. This year I primarily improved with my communication skills and speaking up when I need help, but I still need to improve my ability to stay on task. No matter the class, aside from a select few, I have always had trouble staying on task and listening and probably always will. My main problem that does prevent me from staying on task is probably my short attention span and that I tend to forget information if I forget to write it down. In conclusion, I have became better at staying on task and listening when necessary.

Conclusion

In all, this year in graphic design has been the best overall, I made new friends, improved many of my skills, and tried my hardest. I am going to do with what I have learned this year leadership wise, and do my best to help the incoming juniors next year in this class. I wouldn't change anything besides my ability to stay on task and chose a different restaurant to re-do their menu. In conclusion, I had a great time this year in graphic design and have came a long way since freshman year.

Semester Final

Name Typography

Rebranding

This semester in class, we have done a variety of different kinds of projects. We put our name into different kinds of typography, rebranded a company, and are currently working on any other projects from clients that we have met with for endorsement hours. In every project that has been assigned, myself and most everyone has has come into contact with at least one kind of obstacle to get around in some way. For me, some of the challenges I face were getting the type to look right on my name typography project, or not getting lines lined up while rebranding the logo of our company. While doing these projects we get together and tell each other how to possibly make better of someone’s project such as making a color a little brighter, or changing a font because it doesn’t fit with the design or idea of the project. In this class the overall deign process is very well organized and helps put together your project piece by piece and allows you to make minor adjustments that could make it look much better than you would expect.

            During class, you must spend your time in the best and most optimal way that you possibly can. For example, if you are stuck on what to do and catch yourself sitting and just staring at your screen, get up and ask someone around you some possible ideas of what you can do to improve your work and get your brain working on what to do next. Early on in the year I caught myself doing that exact thing, stuck, not knowing what to do next, just staring with a blank face at my screen. I have been better about doing so, and cannot recall doing it at all in the past few weeks. Anytime you think you’re finished with a project, you probably aren’t. There will almost always be something that you can improve, something that I learned. During our name typography project, I thought I was done early when I clearly could improve my project in many different ways that I did not realize. Even while outside of class, there are things to work on. Even though I don’t have a mac at home, I can still work on projects. I have done things such as almost all of my sketches at my house and using a computer to gain ideas and possible outcomes of a project. Or use my time to talk to a client about possible outcomes for his or her project that they have given to me to complete.

            As a graphic designer, I currently have more weaknesses than I could think of since I have not been doing it for too long, but they have been slowly going away as the year progresses and I learn how to do new things. Besides that, this year I have gained many strengths and have been using them to my advantage to get a project done, and make it look good and not something that was rushed in all of five minutes. To maximize my strengths, I use my time in class wisely to get my work turned in on time, and help classmates if they are stuck trying to do something to the best of my ability.

            Some areas that I need to focus on improving is learning how to use some of the tools that I may not know how to use as well as others, in any sort of program especially InDesign, which I am currently learning how to use it while we are re doing our restaurant menus. It has most of the same tools, but some new ones that I have yet to experiment with.

            This semester in graphic design has been a wonderful experience and has led me to learn much, much more than I expected. This class has been so amazing and I have met some new people along the way and have had a great time while doing so. Next semester, I will know what I need to do differently and improve my experience in this class. The big thing I have learned this year is that every minutes counts in this class and to use it as best as you can. In all, this semester has been amazing and am ready for next year to come!

Name typography

This year in e-Comm our first project was name typography. It dealt with many different fonts that were supposed to represent things we liked or things we liked to do. For example, if we liked going to the beach, then we would make a font that felt like you were at the beach. So make the o in your name a beach ball or add some "sand" around your name.

The process for doing this was very long but very interesting at the same time. First I made my sketches for all of my possibilities. At least three concepts for each category. After the sketches we went to the computer to put our ideas into illustrator and start looking for fonts that were similar to ur sketches. After we collected our fonts we put them into illustrator and cleaned up minor flaws that we had. Once all of our fonts were the way we liked them we put them into indesign with crop marks and bleed and then print them to go onto the last step. We then cut out all of our fonts and sprayed them onto a matboard and then after that we were finished once we put the description of the project on the back.

During this project I learned many new things about where illustrator has put all of their tools after updating it, as well as indesign. I also learned how to make precise cuts with an x-acto knife and how to cut your finger while doing so.

For the next project we have I wouldn't do many things differently besides maybe come to class after school to work a little if I need to and at the same time not to push myself if I am ahead on my work. Things I would do the same is ask for help when I need it but try to ask someone around me first. This why I try to solve my problems myself and manage my how how I wold like to and not stress over a project at the last minute.

From this project I have had many experiences such as how to cut and how not to cut matboard as well as regular paper and where not to put your phone when spraying at the table.

Overall this project was really unique in its own way just as all the others are. I have made many experiences from it and will take those and put them into each project going forward.

Technical Tutorial Review

In this tutorial I will be showing you how to make ice cream and how to color and texturize it. But before you start make sure your workspace is set to modeling in the top left of your screen.

For your first step you will make 

a sphere by clicking the sphere tool on the 

far left under polygons.

Then you should have a sphere in your workspace and it should look like this.

Next you will hold down the 

right click on your mouse 

and go down to assign 

favorite material and 

then let go once your mouse 

is hovering over lambert.

Then you will see a menu

appear on the right of 

your screen. Click the grey

box next to the word color.

Then the color menu will appear. 

Change the H value to 60, 

the S value to 0.207,

and the V value to 1.

Now your sphere should look 

something like this.

Then still being in the attribute editor, click the 

checkered box across from bump mapping.

After you click on bump mapping look for

the texture called fractal.

Then under the fractal attributes lower the 

amplitude down to 0.048.

Then you have your ice cream!!!

Professional Article Review

http://www.animationarena.com/motion-capture-animation.html

The link above leads to a professional article by Annie Gray, a journalist who talks about motion tracking in many famous movies including Avatar --- no not the animated one, the one about the blue people.

The article basically talks about how professional animators use motion tracking in movies to turn someones skin to blue from its original color. We need this skill so that way we can still have different skin colors like green and blue as well as others. Also its not just for skin color, it's also for showing emotion such as Deadpool's mask. The author does show very good points but has trouble defending them. Also her conclusion over the whole thing is that animators need motion tracking to pull off incredible projects to make such amazing movies.

In her article she had many good points, but she could still not defend them as well as she could have. Yes, as they may not have good arguments, but she does have solid main points that defend themselves in a way. Also her evidence she has is convincing because she has placed pictures in the article to also help prove her points. Her main point though is explaining why we need motion tracking and how helpful it can be. Also her vocabulary and the way she words her article is very easy to understand and simple.

In conclusion, the article is very well written besides a bit of a weak argument, but she does have solid points that are hard to argue themselves.