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.