Winter Final Blog Post

My Takeaways

      Throughout my time in e-Comm, I have learned so much that I wouldn't have learned had I not been a part of e-Comm.  In the category of technology, I have learned how to use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and In Design.  To be honest, I didn't even know that Adobe In Design existed until I came into e-Comm.  With Illustrator, it took a bit of time for me to get accustomed to working in vectors.  The curve tool took awhile to get the hang of, but I am satisfied with my improvement.  With collaboration, I have definitely improved.  When I came into e-Comm, I was extremely shy and unconfident in my ability to work with others.  I am still shy and prefer to work on my own, however, I feel much more comfortable working with others when required.  This also goes for communication.  When I came into e-Comm, I could not communicate my ideas or designs fluently.  Now, though, I am able to pitch an idea much clearer than before.  With project management, I could still improve on this.  When working on a project, I get carried away trying to make my design as intricate as possible.  However, this sometimes makes me miss my deadline.  I need to work on making good-quality projects while also keeping within the time constraints.  Finally, with leadership, I definitely still need work on this aspect.  I am not a leader.  I always wish that I could take charge, but it scares me to do so.  I will continue working on my confidence in leadership in the future.

Strengths and Weaknesses

      I think one of my strengths in e-Comm is being able to create many different design ideas for the same project.  That way, I can choose which design is the best to move forward with.  One of my weaknesses is color.  I am never sure how to choose colors that set the mood that I want and that go together well.

What I Will Do With My Skills

      I do not plan to go into the field of graphic design.  However, that does not mean I will not use the skills I have learned.  I plan to be a scientist, and I think it will be very helpful knowing how to make clean visuals that can help explain my research.  If I need to ask for research grants, I will be able to provide helpful visuals to convince the person I am asking to provide the grant.  However, I also plan to do art commissions as a hobby.  I will be able to use the skills I have learned in graphic design in this aspect of my life as well.

Changes

      If I were to change one thing about my experience in graphic design, it would be that we learned more about the basic aspects of graphic design.  Because they are the basics, it seems like we should know them, but sometimes it feels like we just gloss over them.  For example, we never really covered color theory in class.  And we only briefly covered fonts.  Other than that, I enjoy graphic design. 

Conclusion

      In conclusion, I am very happy that I chose to go into graphic design rather than animation.  It was a close call, but I know I have enjoyed graphic design more than I would have enjoyed animation.  We have learned about line-meanings, patterns, and production of a physical object.  The line projects were boring, but I found them ver valuable.  The pattern product was fun, and I learned so much from it. I also enjoyed client work, as it gave me real world experience.

Sophomore Graphic Design Final

      My first favorite project from second semester was the vector illustration.  I did the illustration on my cat and I'm proud of how it turned out.  It took about a week to complete.  Due to my cat having a lot of fur, I had to make a lot of layers which complicated it a bit.  I learned how to better use the curvature tool during this project.  I added more details to my illustration after receiving feed back from peers.  I stayed pretty close to my original idea.
      My second favorite project was the logo project.  This project took me about a week to complete.  I had some trouble coming up with enough logo design ideas to meet the requirements.  I learned more about color schemes.  I didn't get feedback on this project.  I think I stayed very close to my original idea.  I am very proud of how my logos came out, and I can't choose a favorite.
      My third favorite project was the concert project.  This project took about 2 weeks to complete.  I was challenged by the time constraints.  I learned how to format a ticket.  I didn't receive much feedback on this project.  I stayed close to my original idea.  I think it turned out okay, but it could have been better.
      I think, on average, I stayed pretty on-task during second semester.  I watched tutorial videos to improve my technical skills in my free time.  I critiqued my projects before turning them in, and usually found ways that I could have improved them.  In my free time, I work on my drawing and art skills.
      I think my strengths as an eComm student are vector illustrations, logos, and 2D animations.  I feel like vector illustrations come naturally to me, and I have improved at them as well.  With logos, I found the logo project very fun and I enjoyed the thought process.  With 2D animations, I wish that we had focussed more on 2D instead of 3D in animation class.
      I think I need to improve my communications skills.  I don't enjoy working in groups, and it is sometimes hard for me to communicate clearly what I need to.  If I improved my communication skills, I think I would benefit from it in my eComm classes.
      I most liked learning about Adobe Illustrator this year.  It was very informative because I only knew how to use photoshop before.  If I could change anything, I would have liked to learn how to make more digital illustrations in Photoshop.  I would like to set the goal of putting even more effort into my graphic design projects.  I conclusion, I think I had a better 2nd semester than 1st semester.

Vector Illustrated Portrait

Pre-Production

      I chose to do a vector portrait of my cat, Emma.  I chose her as my subject because she is very precious to me, and she's very photogenic.  I started out in Photoshop and resized my image.  I also altered the colors slightly.  I then took it into Illustrator and pated it to 2 8x10 art boards.

Production

      During production, I created several different layers.  Some of them included layers for the front, middle, and behind of my cat's face, two separate layers for her eyes, and several layers for her ears.  While creating this piece, I focused on my cat's eyes and fur.  She has very vibrant eyes in person and I wanted to bring that out in my illustration.  I also wanted to make her fur look like it was popping off the screen because she has very thick fur that sticks out in many directions.  

Post-Production

      I am very happy with the final results of this project.  I think it turned out really well.  My portrait turned out exactly as I had hoped.  If I did it again, I would use a brighter photo and go into more detail.

Typography

Pre-Production

      When deciding on quotes, I knew I wanted to take inspiration from a podcast I really enjoy.  The podcast is full of funny lines and I knew at least a few of them would work for this project.  It was a little hard finding quotes that I could relate to, but I think the quotes I chose relate to me pretty well.

Production

       Something new I learned in Adobe Illustrator was how to use the flare tool.  I also learned how o change the color of the flares created by the flare tool.  I wanted my type to be arranged in a blocky way, but I also wanted it to flow well.  I preferred working on my type in black and white, though I like how my colored versions turned out.

Final Product

      I feel like, for my first type project, these turned out well.  I feel they could be better though.  I wish I had made the drawings more intricate/eye catching.