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11-18-21

Today I gave my final presentation for this class, showing how I rebranded The Washington Football Team.  I enjoyed doing this project, my friends really liked my designs and what I came up with.  I was nervous to present because today is a rough day emotionally for me for personal reasons I won’t get into, but I felt like my presentation was pretty good.  I went 30 seconds over 6 minutes I think, but I hit all the points I wanted to hit and I think I made products people will actually like and want to use.  I uploaded a lot of files to the folder, just in case a file won’t open or something, but also to show my entire progress the whole way through, from sketches to final products and the in between.  I really liked what everyone else came up with, and its been very interesting to see what different people do with the exact same teams.  I think it really shows everyone’s creativity and the level of their skill.  This project takes a lot of time, but I’d say its worth it for the material it gives you to use for your portfolio.  I’m excited to see everyone else’s projects and where their minds were.  At the last minute of my project I came up with a simple bumper sticker, because I felt like I could do another ancillary product for the team, there’s just so many options it’s hard to choose what to do.  I’m also glad I got my project over with and I don’t have anything else new to do for this class anymore, I have a lot of things I have to focus on for finals and its nice to have some extra time.  I’m looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving and showing my family this project, I think they’d really like it and like to see what my classmates did as well on Basecamp. My picture for this week is just some screenshots showing everything I have in my files folder, just to show how much it really is.  

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11-1-21

This week I worked on finalizing my rebranding of the Washington Football team.  I’m liking my progress and I’m still working on final details, but I’m getting there.  From the comments in class, I added some more “cuts” into the letters in the word mark.  This way I’m making the font more of my own, and also adding to the aggressive owl image I’m trying to convey.  It gives the appearance of being pecked at.  My final color palette is the original colors of the team, but I traded brown for white.  The brown was just too difficult to work with and honestly was making things look really ugly.  With my van I’ve made, the comments in class mentioned adding the wing pattern to the side of the van, but I kind of like the way the feather pattern works with it, since if there were feathers coming off of the van it would be somewhat like that, obviously with more thought to the design than just scattering feathers everywhere.  It is a bit playful, but since its an automotive I don’t know if we necessarily need to be as intimidating as when we’re playing the game.  This van is intended to be transportation for player’s families or to and from the airport, things like that.  To add the wings in, I think I might add my primary logo to the back of the van.  People driving behind it would just be staring at an aggressive owl and think, “oh jeez its looking at me, its going to attack”, like the team would be doing to their competitors.  My ancillary application, the business cards, needed some work, so I made the front of them be the wing instead of the feather pattern.  I do like this more, and think it looks more professional and sleek.  I think I may go back and add some more of the red color to them, since its a lot of that yellow gold color and not much red.  I think I’ll redo one of my shirt designs, so there’s more of a difference in the options for people, I’m thinking of adding the logo with the full word mark on the primary logo shirt I designed.  I started making my presentation tonight and I’m just putting things in to get an idea of what I’m going to say and how I’m going to lay things out for a efficient presentation, since we only get 6 minutes each.  

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11-4-21

This week we continued working on our logo design and rebranding.  I decided to go with a feather pattern, taking from the original logo, since the rebrand is to be the Screech Owls.  However, the two feathers together may still be offensive to the Native community, so I’ll do some more research and see if there is any cultural significance to feathers and the number of them.  I also worked on my word mark some more and I found this font I liked on dafont.com.  I reworked it to combine the letters, but I think I’m going to draw out and do my own S since I don’t really like how the rounded form looks with this font.  I like how the T and W blend together so I might do that more.  Also with my color palette, I’m thinking of omitting the brown color, since it’s been hard to work with.  I like how the red and gold work together, and the black and white make it stand out more.  I liked the more staggered pattern, as it was easier on the eyes than the straight line.  I’m thinking of using the feather as my secondary mark, but I’m not sure how to make it fierce.  I think I’m headed in the right direction, and I have tons of ideas for merchandise, so I feel good about this project right now.  I also feel like my skills in adobe are getting better as a whole, and I’m learning more techniques and skills, and how to problem solve on my own better.  

This week’s reading comes from chapter 15 and 17, designing apps for mobile devices and user experience specialists.  I like designing digital interfaces and “fake apps” just as concept art, so this interested me.  Bumgarner describes websites as endless portals, while magazines have a beginning and an end.  People read magazines to be closed and not deal with all the outside forces, but when you combine that with the internet it can be tricky, since it lends itself to become its own social network in a way.  Chanaud describes it as a service to give people the news, which I agree with.  You have to design it so that people feel that familiarity, with the modern charm of a sleek iPad, iPhone, whatever device you have.  I also agree with him that there is certainly a place for print in the digital space, and I think that’s where schools like the iSchool here at USC come into play, Information Sciences.  People always view the iSchool as just librarians, but they should be rebranded into what they really are, the sources of our information in this new digital age we live in.  Also from this chapter, I liked the little passage about girls and games.  Women really are underrepresented in this field, even though there are so many of us.  I think girls and boys should both be interested in it, but there should definitely be more representation of women, as we are doing amazing things in design everyday.  From chapter 17, I noted some things.  I like how Aidan describes the most change coming culturally rather than technological.  Brands want to connect with people, engagement, rather than seeing them as numbers.  This approach to marketing has been highly successful and focusing on storytelling is key.  He describes marketers as storytellers, neither scientists or artists, which I think is interesting.  Dubberly brings up a Steve Jobs quote, describing it as a veneer, as interior decorating.  Its a man made thing that become successful in the outer world, reaching great distances and connecting us all globally.  I like that, and I think more people should realize just how important good design is in today’s society. 

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10-28-21

This week we continued working on our rebranding of logos.  I inserted a picture of some of my ideas, most of the others are online in a Miro board.  I started roughly sketching out different ideas for products for my brand.  Right now I’m leaning toward making a keychain and stickers for the team, and possibly a bus wrap for them as well, but I need to think that over more.  I think I’ll change my new team name to be The Washington Screech or maybe even The Washington Flight.  I think an owl is the right direction to go with rebranding, but it is a little bit difficult to come up with an actual name that can be used and shouted across stadiums.  My brand ethos revolves around our new slogan, “Smarter, Stronger, Wiser.” to show how the team isn’t covering up their past, but rather taking active steps to correct themselves and be transparent about it. I’m also trying to give more credit to the Native American community, since they’re the ones that deserve it and the team said that was their original intention from the jump.  I like the idea of making the owl logo holding a football with its talons and an angry glare, and use that on some of our commercial products.  Again, since we’re already changing so much of the team, I’d like to keep the original color palette, and I think it works with my model of the Eastern Screech Owl nicely anyways.  

Our reading for this week comes from chapter 2, starting a studio or working for someone else.  I think there was an error on the syllabus, some dates are wrong and chapter 11 is on understanding change, so I was a bit confused with what chapter to read, so I’m just continuing on in the order of the syllabus.  I liked the advice from Lynda Decker, who worked for other companies for several years before starting up her own studio.  She talks about how its important to have a diverse group of people working for her, that way things operate efficiently.  Even though she does resort to stereotypes, she is right.  I’ve noticed my best group projects come from people who have different backgrounds and can pick up where others fall short, creating a nice balance and a satisfying product.  She also mentions how her designs have become more simple with time, and I can see that happening with me too.  I always think, I’ve got to show off everything I can do and slap it all on there, but its not the way design usually goes.  I’m trying to force myself to be less wordy and more focused on the design, what would people who don’t want to read a lot be thinking looking at my work?  They’d probably think, eh too much work, moving on.  So I’m going to work on that.  For example, I love the designs from Allison Aver for Kate Spade, I think they’re simple but super effective in getting the message across and reinforcing the brand all at the same time.  Alexander Isley talks about working in a “real studio” before spreading his wings and working on his own.  He mentions how earning your client’s trust is the most important factor in any job you do.  I think I could do a good job at that in my career, even though I can be a bit awkward, I do like working with people in terms of creativity, and I’d like to say I’m almost always down for any ideas anyone has.  The overall theme I gathered from all the featured designers in the reading is that either option is going to be hard work.  If you decide to start up your own, you have to do everything and it can be daunting and expensive.  If you join an existing studio, you have to work your butt off to get to where you want to be and it takes a while before you can move on, you’ve got to have an outstanding portfolio either way.  One last teeny thought for this week’s reading, I just love the Kaleidoscope flower stamps by Antonio Alcala, I love the color theories being applied and its so aesthetically pleasing, but that’s all.  

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I chose to rebrand the Washington Redskins as the Washington Screechers, or possible the Scarlet Screechers.  Screechers comes from the Eastern Screech owl, commonly found in the DC area.  Scarlet comes from the scarlet oak tree, the national tree of DC.  I thought it would be good to still use the red as the team is known for their red colors and wants to keep using them anyways.  Owls represent wisdom and the passage of time, so I thought they’d be a great wise mascot that still strikes fear into the other teams.  Also in Native American culture, owls represent a death omen, so it would be good for the client to have some more knowledgable use of Native American culture as a homage to them instead of an insult like before.  I like using the slogan “Smarter, Stronger, Wiser.” as it would be good for the client to show they are making real efforts to change and become better, but also not cover up their problematic past.  I’m not totally set on the font I chose for this, I think I would rather have something more condensed, but these are my main ideas for right now. I like keeping the same color palette, as it works nicely for the team and there’s no real need to change it in my opinion. 

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10-21-21

This week I worked with a couple of other girls from class on rebranding the Washington Football team from their previous name of the Redskins.  We came up with many ideas and right now I think we’re all leaning in a different direction.  We are choosing to keep the color scheme the team already uses since it is pretty iconic to the brand and we can still use the red, just in a better way.  One girl, Sarah, brought up the idea of using an owl as the mascot, as owls symbolize wisdom and the passage of time.  I thought this was a great idea, and already knowing that owls are a big part of Native American culture.  In Native culture, owls represent a death omen, so I thought it would be a great way to still honor the culture they previously stole from as well as threaten the other teams.  Owls are known for having angry eyes and sharp talons, so I want to highlight that in my logo design.  I researched what kinds of owls live in the DC area and I found eastern screech owls live there.  From this I came up with the name The Scarlet Screechers.  Scarlet comes from the tree of DC, the scarlet oak.  We also liked the ideas of using red foxes, as they’re native to the DC area as well.  Aaliyah wanted to use a dog as her mascot, as they symbolize loyalty and settled on the german shepherd, a popular dog breed in Washington DC and a symbol of strength, extreme loyalty, and aggression.  We also looked up other NFL logos for inspiration of what to do with our own and also to avoid stealing ideas from a previously existing brand. 

The reading this week comes from chapter 9 and focuses on packaging and branding.  I think the overall brand of a company is one of, if not the, most important part of a company.  It sends the message across to whoever the target is and acts on that promise, fulfilling that image and idea every time they produce something.  I was pleased to see the Mrs. Meyer Clean Day products on page 160, as I really enjoying the packaging of those products.  It sends the message across of being familiar, clean, and safe for the user, I would have had no idea who the designer was (Sharon Werner) so its nice to read some of her words here.  She perfectly describes why packaging is so important, “Think about cracking open a new book, the sound of the spine creaking, the smell of the fresh ink on paper wafting up, the smooth texture of the laminated jacket in contrast to the toothy, text pages.  That’s an experience that can’t be replicated with an iPad.” Werner says.  Packaging is all about creating an experience, sometimes I love the packaging of some of my beauty products so much I’ll hoard around the little boxes for a bit.  It adds so much to the experience of a product and just can’t be replicated digitally.  

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10/14/21

This week we continued working on our remaking language project.  I’ve been super busy, which is becoming a normal thing for me this semester, but I have been enjoying working on this project.  I’m working with InDesign for the second time ever, the first time being maybe two weeks ago in another class of mine, and that class focuses on publication writing, so more like a magazine than an intimate booklet.  So, I’m feeling overwhelmed and a teensy bit lost but I am learning a lot and I’m very grateful for that.  When we did our critique today, there were comments about my text being too heavy.  I think that fully exposes me as a writer more than a designer, though I would like to be skilled in both eventually.  Most of my studies up until this point have been writing focused and I tend to get a little carried away when writing.  It’s usually a struggle for me to get my word count down instead of trying to meet the minimum, so I think I got excited when I realized I could write for this project and ended up going overboard a little bit.  I’m going to work on my design more and fiddle with it until it’s more clear and concise and brings attention to my letterforms, which are the real star of the show over the writing passages with them.  Printing has been another issue for this project, but I’m also learning how to use all that as well.  I feel like a lot of people don’t think printing could be a huge issue but for many of us it has become one and people should really take it more seriously when its involved in a project.  Clients are going to want the product done and printed at a specific time and you can’t have mistakes with it.  Hopefully one day I’ll have my own big fancy printer to make things like this, but for now I remain a broke college student using the school services (which I am also super grateful for).

This week our reading is on chapter 5 and focuses on making logos and marks.  I think learning how to successfully create logos is crucial for anyone who wants to get into design.  I mean they’re everywhere and everyone who has a company needs one or needs one revised.  The logo becomes a face for the brand, what people remember over a lot of other things.  Mark Fox from the reading reminds me of myself, a more fine arts person trying to learn graphic design.  Though he is of the 1980s, his story hold some inspiration for me.  Often with my graphic design I get shy and I hate most of my work honestly, but in other art classes (fine art), I approached them with complete confidence because it’s what I’m used to.  Looking at the visual examples in the book, I like a lot of them and think if I really put my mind to it I could create products similar.  Fox dedicated the year after he graduated college for it, and since I’m about to graduate it makes me wonder if I should take the same steps.  I especially like the BO.LT logo with the little elephant he designed with Angie Wang.  It’s so cute but still has an edge to it, which I like a lot and is the vibe I try to use in my personal works -- cute but edgy.  Another thing Fox mentions is how detailed you must be as a designer, and this is also something I struggle with.  When I’m practicing my fine arts, I kind of just let anything happen, things just fall into place usually.  Graphic art is much different, you must be meticulous and detail oriented if you want to have any success, and on top of that it must be pleasing to the eye as well.  I think people underestimate the time and effort that goes into it, many of my peers have said graphic design seems easy, but I think any designer would assure that a lot more goes into it than meets the eye.  I think logos are a great way for people to start practicing with design, as they can have a lot of freedom as well as building up a valuable skillset that so many employers are looking for these days.  

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9-30-21

This week we started working on our new assignment remaking language.  I enjoyed sketching out the letterforms and seeing how the different shapes work together.  Vendetta font works with old and new designs, while Condor works with thick and thin, so I thought the two would look nice together when we bring them into the booklet.  I’m still feeling a bit overwhelmed with Illustrator, but grateful that I’m getting more experience with it.  In my other class, publication writing and design, we’re creating the alumni magazine for the CIC, InterCom.  We just started learning InDesign today, and it was definitely daunting at first.  However, once I was shown how to do things I was picking it up a little bit faster, I’m just grateful to be learning more about design.  In my visual arts computing class, we barely even got to Illustrator so we didn’t even get to work with InDesign at all even though we were supposed to.  I’m glad I’m getting to work on my skills more, as I feel like I’m thriving with my writing courses and assignments, but hitting a brick wall with my design skills and working with the software.  I want to be great at both, so I can have more opportunities in my career and work for fun companies where I can enjoy my work.

For the reading, I loved how so many of the people interviewed stressed that partnerships cannot be too similar.  I definitely think when working with a partner you have to find some kind of commonality, but at the same time there could be tons of overlaps in your works together, which not every client is going to like.  There needs to be a healthy balance between similarities and differences when working with a partner.  Not everything one person likes another person is going to, you can’t just assume that.  However, you can’t be so different that you’re never agreeing on anything, you’ll just find yourself getting nothing done or creating works that are not at their fullest potential.  When you’re working in any creative field, you are going to have to have a small ego.  You’re going to get critiqued, people aren’t going to like your work, and you have to accept that as a learning opportunity to get better and improve on yourself.  It doesn’t always feel good to hear that you’re not the best, but how are you ever going to evolve without some critique?  One of the main thing my internship liked about me was that I wasn’t afraid of them not liking every piece of my work, and also that I wasn’t scared to critique them as well.  I came into the interview with notes on their social media design and other elements of their communication methods, both good things and things I would have done differently.  Anyways, working with a partner or a group is great when you can all work on your own and stop to give each other pointers or compliments, maybe even some new ideas.  For example, the SaveTango project.  We all worked together coming up with all the different little pieces for it, we couldn’t have done it and executed it the same way without each other.  

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9/23/21

I wish I knew illustrator better so I could do this project to my liking.  I love working with flowers in my art, the natural beauty and softness of the petals almost always works for me.  I’ve only used illustrator with simple shapes on templates in my other class, and it was pretty rushed, so I focused my efforts on Photoshop since its what I plan on using more often.  Right now, I’m playing around with my tools in illustrator and seeing what produces results I actually like, and I’m moving the orientation of the flower around to see what works better with my limited space, but I am determined to use the letter L.  Also side note, last week I didn’t mention anything about my group’s SaveTango project for the climate designers.  I was really proud of that project, and it boosted my confidence in myself going forward in this class.  My group members and I worked great together and I’m so glad they liked my ideas for the game, without their help the idea would have been so hard to actually put together all by myself, so I just wanted to add that that’s on my mind this week as well.  I’m glad Marc loved our project so much, it was an honor.  

For the reading, I agree that print is making a comeback as people get tired of looking at screens all day.  I feel like I see more and more people reading as time goes on, though many are still in the digital realm.  Print design and online design can go hand in hand, but many times things on the screen don’t translate correctly to print, so studying editorial design is crucial for any designer.  People still love the smell of fresh ink, as Susanna Shannon mentions.  Personally, I’d like to work for a magazine, as any level can get a job so I could work my way up as I learn.  Right now I’m working on InterCom, the CIC alumni magazine, in my Publication Writing and Design class.  Since the magazine is available online and in print, I’m learning about the differences and similarities of both and its really interesting to learn about.  Len P. Small mentions this when he describes how things online can easily translate to print, but not as easily the other way around, but there is a little passageway between the two that designers can work with.  Online is meant to be read quickly and immediately catch the reader with short headlines and flashiness, print is more “luxurious” as Small says.  It feels more available to the reader at any given moment, and I think that’s something that makes people always go back to the paper despite so many screens. 

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9/16/21

This week was definitely a lot better than last week.  I’m finally making some better grades and I feel more comfortable with my schedule.  For my image for this week, I chose my new 9/11 poster for our project.  I’m a lot happier with my result, and I think I just panicked under the pressure with the last one.  It represents the twin towers as twins.  The concept of twins is that they’re closer than most, they shared a womb.  Then the twin towers will forever be known together, they are one.  It also represents the unity that 9/11 had on US citizens.  People, regardless of background or culture, were helping each other.  They raised each other back up, and the country was more united as a whole because of it.  If I were to change anything, I’d take out the ellipses because I see how it can be a problem with the design, creating a visual pause.  I guess I put it because I wanted the sentence to trail off, but ellipses are just kind of hit or miss, whether it be in writing or design.  

For the reading, the final paragraph of the first part caught my eye.  I’m interested in one day being an art director, or preferably a creative director, so when it mentioned that many of them devote their lives to the art of book and book jacket design I was kind of shocked.  I definitely agree with the next line which says, “others find their specialties too limiting and look for new opportunities in other creative media.” I definitely would look for something more, I think book design can be kind of specific, and to truly capture the essence of the book I imagine I’d have to read a lot of them and I’m not really trying to do that for a career.  However, I truly do appreciate good book design, capturing the viewer from across the store simply by its cover.   For instance, the cover on page 133.  I turned the page while reading but my eyes instead went immediately to that cover!  I also enjoyed the quote, “ I look for stunning work and an individual voice.  I look for visual intelligence and problem solving.  I look for risk taking and those who clearly love what they do.” from Paul Buckley.  These are the things I’m going to try to show through my work in school and in my career. 

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This week was absolutely insane honestly,  I had the 9/11 sprint assignment due the same day as another project, a quiz, all my other classes (tuesday and thursday are my longest days, 3 classes in a row.  My brain today (and this entire week but I won’t get into it here) feels so burnt out. Once I finished the sprint assignment and went to turn it in, I was worried because my project looked so much different than everyone else's.  For one, mine was horizontal.  I chose to do horizontal because I simply just like horizontal posters better when I'm making them, but it was still 11x17.  Another thing I noticed was that mine was a completely different vibe than everyone else's, most people chose a clean and simple look.  I decided to do my design the way I did because I wanted to remind people of the closeness such a tragedy brought to the people of the United States, and give recognition to our firefighters.  I was inspired by the documentary we were assigned, as I felt the main focus was the togetherness people felt.  I also wanted to branch out with my photoshop skills, my visual arts computing class was sent online due to covid and my professor was extremely hard to reach, just recommending youtube videos instead of helping.  I learn best by seeing what needs to happen right in front of me, so classroom education works ten times better for me, online just doesn't.  So, I have very basic skills in photoshop currently and I wanted to challenge myself.  

As for the reading, this week we read about social innovation.  As someone who wants to start her career working for nonprofits, this is extremely helpful to me.  As a writer who loves art, I'd love to have a career working with both.  This reading discussed other businesses such as larger corporations and the government -- some consider it to be a business okay -- that need designers as well.  I will say, I'd prefer to work for a nonprofit but I do understand that larger corporations running good causes need designers too, I am just not a corporate gal I'd say.  However, I should keep my mind open to it as it presents more opportunities.  I thought it was interesting that Bob McKinnon said projects start with a design, not a "I want to change the world" mindset.  I've always been told to always always start with your mindset.  I do see what he's saying though, we can change the world but we must also change our minds as designers.  People forget about the individual level of this, design for yourself, design for a friend, design for your boss, but I guess to make real change we have to stay realistic about things first.  Maybe instead of starting with, “let me change the world,” we should start with “let me make myself happy first, then get to it.” 

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9-1-21

This week in class we were introduced to the climate design project and decided who our group members would be.  I’m in a group with Leslie, Bree, and Sarah and right now we’re deciding what our focus should be for the project.  We have come up with the idea of creating a landing page for our website, maybe having a pop up event where we hand out stickers and t shirts.  I attached a photo of our miro board for the project.  We've decided to shift our focus onto that we're all women on campus or that we all like video games, particularly animal crossing.  Still deciding which to go with, and we have ideas of what we could do for both.

As far as the reading for this week,  I enjoyed hearing from Michael Bierut on how writing is like design in a way.  I'm a mass communications major (minoring in art studio) so I always like when the two are tied together, as its pretty much what I would like to do with my life.  He said, "Writing is like design in that you need a structure, you need an idea, you need the technical skill to execute that idea, and you need to do it with some style that will give pleasure to the person who's going to read it."  He goes on to say those four elements exist in every design structure and they're fun ways to learn about the world.  I 100% agree, I've always loved writing but art and design are my passions in life.  People sometimes look at me confused when I mention my minor to my major, but I just want to be creative.  I'd like to be a creative director for a nonprofit someday, that way I can make money and be doing the things I love all at the same time.  

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8-26-2021

I didn’t end up finishing my assignment, only getting two of my three squares completed. Since I was in such a rush, I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of my work, so instead I’m including some of my sketches along with the final square I got to start drawing on. I labelled each space with what tone of gray I planned on using for it to save time, but I didn’t anticipate how long it would take to get straight lines. In the future, I’ll try to be more proactive with projects like this so I can avoid this in the future.

For the reading, it definitely helped my understanding of this project. I was really lost with the grids, and honestly with the type too. I’ve never worked with type or this specific of lines with my own hands before, so I felt overwhelmed. I especially enjoyed the piece, The National (The Wiltern) by Marian Bantjes, for how it laid out the spaces so I got some inspiration from that. The section on Roberto de Vicq de Cumpitch inspired me to continue on with my design dreams, as he said he is lazy (I am a couch potato as well) but can still achieve such great things. He also said, “designers should know there are always several solutions for any problem, but only one at a time,” and I think that’s great advice, especially seeing how overwhelmed I was this week. I need to take time to settle on one decision and work with it to save time better.