My Year So Far in Graphic Design
This semester in graphic design was very rewarding as I felt more connected to the class and everyone in it. It does wonders when your work environment consists of people you've gotten to know the past couple of years.Homecoming Project
The homecoming project was the first project of the year for seniors and I felt like me and my partner roy really did a great job coming together and making a great poster in the end. I just looked over and saw he wrote some shady stuff about me and I'm gonna make him pay when we go out to dinner tomorrow (we've grown pretty close :) ). Thanks roy. No but seriously we actually turned out the poster and infographic and it should have won. It took around 2 weeks to finish, and I had a good time doing it. I learned that even though we did have "creative differences" that I honestly can say that I've grown to love him in a super special way.
He made me use this ugly sans serif font he chose but the compromise turned out great in the end.
Greeting Cards Project
The second project was to make a beautiful greeting card for whatever holiday/event we chose. There was a plot twist though that made us break away from our comfortable spaces on the computers. Gosh I don't know exactly how long it took but I remember the sheer amount of times I went to the computer when I should not have. I was using the liquify tool to shape my scans and then printing those out to trace over again. I learned that starting over is okay as long as you have enough time left. I should have started over on that project, I will definitely continue in the future to try and use other mediums in graphic design. I recently met with Ruthie Osa, she showed me a lot of really cool things to try that she had learned back when she was designing before computers were popularized and became the industry standard of graphic design. My (amazing) teacher, (excuse my kissing up) gave me some good advice on how to balance the heavy design elements on the front with the inside of the card which seemed very bare bones. I toned down the cover and included more cohesive elements inside the sleeve.
Branding Project
This project was actually super fun to do. I really feel like the skills I've learned throughout high school have been showcased really well in this project. I had full creative control and my teacher made it super fun to pick out of a bag of ideas for the type of brand we were assigned to do.
In the beginning I was given feedback because I didn't have any contrast, and I described it as "a look" and yeah sure it was a look, but it wasn't the right look for a serious company. I did face challenges while mounting it because the glue was spraying super unevenly and I didn't notice until afterward that the glue had gathered in the bottom left corner of 2 of my prints and had made them wet and warped. I used my time pretty well and when I had things to finish I stayed after school to do them. Other than that I think it looks good head on when you're not looking at the board from an angle. I learned a lot this project about taking constructive criticism and using it to better my art rather than taking it personally. I do really like the design itself and it looks rather polished now in my opinion.
Time management
I think I've spent my time pretty great in class and I've had lots of time to finish outside work and research new techniques I can use to better my projects even more. When I am at home I'm always studying new ways to create and even when I'm at work (I work at Lush), I have become really awesome at selling pre-wrapped gift sets because the graphic design elements in each of them is super important to me. I am very passionate about my trade and I hope that I will continue to be obsessed with it as long as I'm doing graphic design.
When I finish early on projects, I look for inspiration on bechance of similar projects that I search up to see, "is it on par/ exceeding the standards that other graphic designers are setting for me?" if not, then I go back to the drawing board and see what it is that I can do to make it exemplary.
My Areas of Strength
My greatest strength as a graphic designer is my total devotion to my craft. You can code a website to spit out graphics for your business but you will never be able to replicate the kind of tender love and care that I put into every single one of my projects. I eat sleep and breathe graphic design every day of my life. Everything I do, everything I interact with on a daily basis, is part of my mission to make every single thing in my life become tailored to me. There is nothing more fulfilling to me than to create an idea and then see it manifest before my eyes.
What I Can Work On Going Forward.
The day that we stop learning is the day we die. To me that sentiment is rooted very deeply and I feel like this next year I'm going to start trying ideas that are way out of the box. I just love learning new ways to express myself and these past couple years I've been going through a creative revolution. I've thrown out (donated) every "neutral colored" basic t shirt that I own, so that I can challenge myself every day to create a story with my outfits. Ive started doing my makeup in complimentary colors the past few months to whatever I'm wearing so I can further push that narrative. I want to improve on this more. in the picture below is one of my favorite looks to do, I see myself as my ultimate canvas and I think that makeup has everything to do with graphic design. It's a way of forcing people to look at your art wherever you go. I want to push myself farther than I have ever gone. I want to inspire others to start expressing themselves the way I try to every day.
Summary of This Semester
I loved when we all received the expectations of the project, to hear everyones thoughts, fears, etc. I just loved diving in and seeing what I could create. I feel like I did just that. I would completely restart the greeting card project. I want to make something that feels more me. I think I will tackle that this summer when I have time.
The biggest take away from this semester is the work ethic I've acquired while trying every day to please myself and my peers and my creative director. I feel like a race horse. I am always trying to churn out new ideas. Next semester I just want to work more on execution and making sure every single tiny detail is thought of in every project.
I would really like to thank every single person in my class for challenging me in some way or another. That is all.
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