Graphic Design Semester 2 Reflection

What did I do this semester?

Magazine Layout

1.) What is it

We were to interview a local graphic designer and create two magazine spreads over the interview. We were supposed to have 15 questions ready before the interview but we did not have to use all of them in the finished product so that we would have a balanced layout of images and copy. The goal was to use your interviewee's style and tie it into the overall design of the spreads so that it looks like something that they created. The graphic designer that I interviewed was my friend's aunt, Wende Beeson. She works as a graphic designer for Baker University so a lot of her work is based off of Baker and their colors and events. She also did some outside, non-profit event posters.

2.) How long did it take?

We started this project towards the end of first semester and into second semester, because of some server fails, this project took a lot longer than expected. I luckily had a version in my trash bin on my personal laptop that only set me back a few steps. I would say that this project took about 2 months.

3.) Challenges

There were many challenges throughout this project. First, I don't find myself to be very skilled when working with large bodies of copy so it was difficult for me to work with that. This was also my first time fully working in InDesign so I was getting used to a new platform. The main challenge was working around our server crash. When the server crashed, it had deleted/lost all of our second semester work so unless you had a copy off the server, you had to restart the entire layout from square one. But luckily I had a backup.

4.) What did I learn and what was the feedback I received? What did I change?

I definitely learned how to work with larger bodies of text and what to avoid when doing so. A piece of feedback that I got was to try to fix the "boxiness" of the text, try to be more creative with the layout of the text so that it's not boring. I tried to wrap the text around a picture that went over the gutter. Another piece of feedback was the similarities in the work of the graphic designer and not putting them directly by each other. I had this somewhat fixed before the server crash but that was lost after it.

5.) Outcome and Opinion

I am actually pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. It could definitely use some more work but I think that for my first try, I did pretty good. I thought I did a good job at tying in Wende's style of work and making it my own in a way. I'm glad that I have a somewhat basic understanding of InDeign for future reference.

Prom Poster

1.) What is itAs the juniors in my class, we all had to make a prom poster for our school based on the theme given to us by junior committee. The theme this year was "A Touch of Jazz" with the main colors being black and gold. We would all make our own posters and then the top 5 would be chosen by the teacher advisors of junior committee and the committee would choose one from the five.

2.) How long did it take?

This project took a few weeks to complete. We did have a hard deadline because this was for an actual event and prom was coming up pretty soon.

3.) Challenges

The main challenge for this project was understanding what junior committee wanted. I wanted to make something that everyone would like but the theme had changed a few times and the thoughts of what the poster should look like changed so I tried to make mine fit with what all I heard. It was also challenging to make a poster that stood out because the theme caused a lot of our posters to look similar.

4.) What did I learn and what was the feedback I received? What did I change?

Most of the feedback was trying to make the design more original and unique because everyone kind of had a similar design to their poster. From the feedback, I changed the background of my poster from just plain black to a black brick background because I thought that it would help the originality aspect.

5.) Outcome and Opinion

My poster ended up being apart of the top 5 but it was not chosen as the final concept. I was just glad that mine was in the top 5 though because I thought that my poster looked pretty good. I was happy with the outcome. I think that I could have cleaned up small parts, but I am pleased with the final outcome. I really enjoyed this project because it was fun to try for something that the entire school would see and I liked the competition feel of it but that it wasn't super competitive in the class.

Dog Day Branding

1.) What is it

This project was supposed to be a completely made up company/business or event thatwe created an entire brand for. We created a logo, poster, billboard, magazine ad, newspaper ad, web ads, brochure, infographic, tickets, and a merchandise item. My event was called Dog Day. Dog Day is an annual dog adoption event held at Shawnee Mission Park's dog park. The dogs up for adoption would be wearing a yellowish orange collar and you can bring your own dogs to just run around, get exercise and play.

2.) How long did it take?

We have been working on this project since right after spring break and just finished a few days ago so over a month now.

3.) Challenges

The challenge I faced was that we were not told what all we would be making for this project before we chose our concept so it was kind of difficult to make certain advertisements for an event that normally would not have those advertisements. The infographic was probably the more difficult aspect, I personally am not the strongest at infographics so it was even more difficult to create on over an event that doesn't necessarily need one. It was also hard to choose a logo because I was torn between a few of them.

4.) What did I learn and what was the feedback I received? What did I change?

A lot of people liked my logos and overall concept so a lot of the feedback that I received was that my logos were "cute" and, surprisingly, my infographic did not turn out very bad and people liked it. I had to make one of my web ads less busy. I made my magazine ad more picture based than graphic based after the feedback on it.

5.) Outcome and Opinion

I liked this project and I liked that I chose an event that I enjoyed creating branding for. I am pretty pleased with the overall outcome and thought that I did pretty well and I think that I have grown in the branding branch of graphic design. I still have a lot to learn but I have definitely grown from the beginning.  

 Brochure:

Infographic:

Magazine Ad:

Newspaper Ad:

Tickets: 

Web Ads:

Merch:

KC Metro College Expo Logo

1.) What is it

This was a project given to the juniors in the middle of the branding project. It was just to create a new logo for the KC Metro College Expo.

2.) How long did it take?

This did not take super long, it took a couple weeks to complete.

3.) Challenges

The challenge mainly was that we did not have really any information on what they wanted their logo to look like. We all just had to take a shot in the dark and do what we thought would look best.

4.) What did I learn and what was the feedback I received? What did I change?

We did not really have any critics on this project because we were all busy with the branding project but we did find out that they did not want any graduation caps so a lot of people had to change their concept but I had a few to choose from so I just deleted the one with the cap and chose between the other two.

5.) Outcome and Opinion

Mine was not chosen for the top 5 which was kind of upsetting because I thought my idea was kind of clever but I also wasn't sure what they were looking for. I liked my logo though and thought that the project was a fun side project.

Time Spent in Class

I spent my time pretty wisely for the most part. When I finished early, I worked on small or random things to discover cool things to do in illustrator. I do think that I got kind of lazy towards the end of the year because I worked hard to get all of my work done but I finished early and wasn't sure what to do but then I received my physics final which was that we had to create a poster (infographic) over the physics of whatever we wanted. I worked on that and really enjoyed that and it made me thankful that I had this class to create a good poster especially compared to the others. 

Strengths?

I think that my project management skills have improved to where I am getting my work done so that I will have time to really look it over and notice small mistakes that can be fixed. I also think that my overall skills in illustrator have been growing and my knowledge of the platform has been increasing as well. I am proud of my advances that I have made this year in class. 

Improvements?

I think that could work of thinking of outside projects that can use up my time when I'm not working on class work. I also need to communicate more and get the opinions of others because I was very introverted this year when it came to that kind of stuff especially with the seniors. I was nervous about the thoughts of others so I did not communicate as much as a should have which I will hopefully change next year.

Summary

What'd I love most?

I enjoyed improving my skills as a graphic designer. I really loved having this class for two hours of the day and I love the environment of the classroom and the class in general. I surprisingly liked cutting and mounting because I got up on my feet and it looks very clean when done correctly and I enjoyed that.

Changes?

It was very difficult once Burdolski left because we had to adjust to a long term sub and understand her ways but it ended out being okay for me. I would change my introverted ways in this class because I think it would have helped me in many ways.

Overall Take-Away?

Overall, I will definitely use my skills that I have learned to try to put myself out there for outside projects and bettering my skills. I have learned that to really improve, you just have to keep going and keep trying until you get the end result that you want. 

Goal for next year?

I want to improve my understandings of both Photoshop and InDesign because I need to understand the features that both offer and when I have a situation where I need to use them, I want to know exactly what I am doing. I also just want to keep improving my skills and learn even more features in illustrator that would make my work better. A major goal is to have a good portfolio that I am proud of and that will help me get into a college that I want to get in. 

Final Thoughts?

I think that out of all of the years that I have been in eComm, this one has been the most valuable. Next year will probably, hopefully, one up this year, but so far, this year has been the year that I have learned the most. It has reassured me in that fact that I want to keep doing graphic design and I hope to major in graphic design. I have truly enjoyed this year in the graphic design aspect of things.

Outside Projects:

 I made a poster for a annual Bunco Party for the nonprofit organization called Feed His Lambs. They help feed struggling families.

This was my physics poster for my final over Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.