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.