Senior Final Reflection

What did I do this semester?

This last semester in graphic design I buckled down and tied off all loose ends with my projects. People underestimate how hard it is to go back and finish where you might've hit a roadblock before. That's the curse of the artist, too many new canvases, not enough finishing the piece. This semester I made sure that everything I leave behind is clean, polished, and has my own unique touch to it.

Projects

Mentor Magazine Interview

This project was an excellent exercise in people skills, which is an integral part of every graphic designer's tool kit. Whether you are busting your butt trying to get a position at a graphic design firm and have to do an interview, or you're a freelance designer meeting with clients, you have to be able to talk to people. In class we were tasked with finding a mentor and talking with them about their tricks of the trade/ what got them into the industry. It took a lengthy amount of time to firstly find someone, I found Ruthie Osa. Ruthie Osa is a graphic designer who has been doing freelance work for many many years and has lots of experience dealing with hundreds of different clients all with specific needs. The only challenge I faced was picking together a cohesive selection of different parts of her portfolio. She has done so many different art styles and while they all look impressive on their own, it was very hard to pick some that looked good together. Another thing was, her style is so varied it was hard to pick a color scheme, font, etc for the spread because she has never done the same thing twice. I was frustrated so I reverted back to ways that I describe myself in terms of design. Burdolski told me that it didn't describe Ruthie in terms of design, So I finally sat down and thought about it a bit more and I'm really happy with how it encapsulates her now. Ruthie does a lot of tourist badges for different landmarks all around the U.S. and I decided to use that as my inspiration.

Senior Branding Project

This project we were tasked with creating a new atmosphere for our own portfolios, it was fitting because a lot of us have evolved since we did our last sets of logos. The hardest part of personal branding is that, to make it meaningful, you have to pin point a very narrow view of yourself and run with it. This is hard because we all think of ourselves as multi dimensional characters and as a gemini, I hate being pinned down to one thing. One big question for me personally was, did I want to just be a graphic designer? I think of myself more as a artist ranging from branding and printmaking to complex portraits and new mediums all the time. I eventually settled on the title 'digital artist' because it shows that I can and want to do a very wide range of things. to pin point my visual style I was forced to confront words that describe me. Nostalgic. Vivid. Maximalistic (I hate minimalism. its just a way for companies to trick people into buying ugly gray clothes). The reason I hate minimalism is because I'm a collector at heart and I get bored easily. Anyway, I decided to do a pixel art theme with primary colors. Nostalgic design. Vivid colors.  I'm super happy with the outcome of the design. It does a great job at describing who I am at this moment in my life. One day I'll change and so will my logo.

Company Branding Project

The last project we were assigned to do, we were asked to imagine a service that we could put out into the world for people to enjoy. Luckily, right around this time, I had already started my own little business. This year I'd been developing a cosmetic formula for highlighters/luminizers that change colors in the light. After many people at my job (coworkers and customers alike) kept asking me where I got it/How I made it, I decided to start buying ingredients in bulk and start selling my secret formula. It's not all natural or anything but it's not awful for your skin, the base is mica powder which practically all cosmetics nowadays are made from. I decided to name the company 'Sopping Wet Cosmetics' because people tell me that either I am glowing supernaturally or I look like I just got soaked. That's good, thats what you want a highlighter to do. This was a lucky project because I'm now able to use the promotional materials in the future on my products. I love how this project turned out. It's so me. The logo is inspired by the ghost from ghost busters, 'for the ghoul on the glow' is a fitting tagline I came up with to sell my products. This time I went with a secondary color scheme because I felt like it fit when it was stretched to ultraviolet standards. 

How did I use my time in class

I'm gonna be real here and say that I used my time in class to the best of my ability. This is the last semester of high school and my GPA is important to me. When I had outside projects that happened to be for other classes but were graphic design related I did parts of them in here. I never had a moment that I felt like my other work was being put on top of work for this class. When I'm outside of school, I love working on projects. It gives me time to think with no one staring at me and evaluating me all the time. My personal opinion is that I got all my work done, and did multitudes of outside research and planning. Getting my work done quickly is something that comes easy to me. I got all my work done. I'm proud of the work I did. And now I'm even more happy because to me, graphic design shouldn't feel like work. It doesn't feel like work until I complete it and have to ask everyone around me for their opinion, distracting them from their work so they can try to find little errors that I've already caught and planned on fixing. Because of this dynamic I've decided to follow in the ways of Ruthie Osa and start from scratch as a designer rather than enter a corporate mold that I just don't fit into. Outside of class I am a regular customer at Fedex and I'm always creating new work that I do in a timely manner. I gather inspiration from the world around me and create color schemes for fun. I go thrifting so I can look at old logos on T-shirts for inspiration. 

My Areas of Strength

As a designer, I am fueled off of creative energy I get from all the people around me. When I'm not looking like myself I feel drained and dull. Every day I try to look like a different version of myself. I push myself to learn new makeup techniques and get good deals on a cohesive outfit from the thrift store. I feel like makeup is a lot like vector art. It's all about symmetry and Blocking out colors and adding fine details on top of each other.

Another area of strength for me is coming up with a way to execute exactly what I want. Preplanning is my specialty. I could have never started making cosmetics if I didn't have the drive to do it and the ideas to back it.

Areas of improvement

The only thing I ever struggled with was time management. I am super loud so even if everyone else talks twice as much as I do, I am the one who is noticeably not doing my work even though I don't just decide to be a graphic designer 2 hours of the day. I am a graphic designer all the time. So time management may be a concern but not for me. I decide to enjoy every second of life and maintain a healthy work life balance when I'm alone or at home. 

Summary

I loved seeing all these people that I care about one last time. I loved making a product that I believe in and will continue wearing until I'm dead (when I'm dead I'll already be glowing). I wouldn't change anything that I did. I love how my projects turned out. My goal into the future of my career is to set myself in different aspects of design. I want to learn how to model in 3d and I want to become the epitome of style and customizing my life experience. Thanks dudes! That is all I have to say. Sayonara.