mporterlark-blog

[mporterlark-blog]

An experience map was created to reflect on the courses taken throughout the MDMFA program and how each course affected me emotionally, mentally and physically.

[mporterlark-blog]

This has been such a fantastic month in Media Design.  I have spent the past four weeks learning to be the very best “me” I could possibly be.  Sometimes, we can go through life placing pieces of a puzzle on a table in an orderly fashion way before we begin to solve it.  We start with the corner pieces.  Of course, they are the easiest.  Then we wind our way through what looks similar and possibly go together snapping in the most accessible parts of the puzzle.  It’s quick.  It’s fast.  You may get stuck from time to time, but you set it aside and move on.

One thing about this Media Design program is that you cannot set too many things aside for later.  Either later will never come or it will come so fast you won’t have time to breathe.  This last week, I thought the thesis presentation was my most challenging project to tackle.  I realized today that I would prefer the thesis presentation over rearranging my Behance site.  There were puzzle pieces all over.  I could not put off the inevitable.  I had to go in and pull out the parts that were in the wrong spot and put them together in one neatly wrapped package.  The grade for the thesis weighs heavily on our shoulders, but the amount of work it took for me to clean up my Behance made the thesis project feel like a cake walk.     

In the earliest part of their book, Sykes et al., (2013) tell us that the purpose of a visual story is to “... communicate a message that has been fine-tuned for your specific audience,” (Ch 1., To Be Effective, You Have to Affect People section, para. 2).  While creating my thesis presentation, I kept in the back of my mind who my audience would be, my professor for the course and the committee for the Media Design Mastery program.  Every item, entry, image, word needed to serve a purpose.  This was not fiction-based storytelling.  Stating the facts, supporting them, encouraging my views were necessary for my thesis presentation.  This was not about how I got from A street to Z Avenue.  This was a visual story that gave me an opportunity to show my audience what I learned along the way and prove that I mastered it.  This was my first takeaway from this course.  I want to supply my audience with such a compelling visual story that they would be wholeheartedly convinced, with proof, that I learned everything there was to be discovered in this program. 

Above images were taken from the Acquiring Competencies page of my thesis presentation.  Although various phases of the creation process for the responsive website had been saved over, to reflect on the struggles I incurred while learning Adobe Muse, it was necessary to recreate them as they occurred initially.

My second take away falls within the realm of Connecting, Synthesizing and Transforming.  Sykes et al., (2013) shares with us that, in storytelling, “... we need to make clear the reason why there needs to be a change at all,” (Ch. 4, para. 1). In creating the page for the Urban Gardens-To-Go project, I wanted to present all of the information necessary so that it would create a sense of “... something new and useful,” (Skyes et al., (2013), Ch. 4, The Three Big Whys section, para. 2).

I felt it was essential to include in the thesis presentation under this area my interpretation of the design solution for the logo of Urban Gardens-To-Go.  This was one of those moments where I should have written it down when it first was realized.  It would have been much more impactful.

If the thesis presentation convinces my audience that the design solutions work, then I have created a successful design campaign for Urban Gardens-To-Go.  Tell the story .. make it compelling ... draw them in ... ensure that everything that is placed within the presentation is necessary and informative.  

The third takeaway this month is that no matter what happens, leave a design solution in a better position than I found it.  Best (2006) suggests that it is necessary to “produce evidence at the end of the project to show that value has been somehow realized in a transparent and accountable way,” (pg. 170).  If I am not moved by my own concepts and design solutions, how do I intend to convince others who are viewing my work?  The message I received loud and clear from Professor McClung was that quality will always supersede quantity.  No matter how much information I provide, if it doesn’t make sense, it is useless.  I am now in the practice of going behind myself ensuring that every element has a reason, that it makes sense, and that it exceeds my own expectations and therefore may just convince others as well.  This has been an exciting opportunity and much to package up and take with me when I continue this journey past the MDMFA program.  I have learned so much about myself.  Most importantly, to stop being so lengthy in my explanations of processes and reasonings and stick to the facts.  Just because it sounds good in my head does not mean it needs to be in the documentation.  I can say it to myself but keep it relevant and to the point for everyone else.

This is an excerpt from the Solving Problems page.  This was such a gratifying project and being able to elevate it even higher than I could have ever imagined when taking Effective Copywriting in month 5, is astounding.  I am proud of the work I have produced in the Media Design program.  It was definitely worth the late nights and exhausted weekends.

References:

Best, K. (2006).  Design Management:  Managing Design Strategy, Process, and Implementation.  AVA Publishing.  Retrieved from http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/-/9782940439782

Sykes, M., Malik, A. N., West, M. D. (2013).  Stories that Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations.  John Wiley & Sons Ltd.  Retrieved from http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/communications/presentations/9781118423998

[mporterlark-blog]

Measuring Design Effectiveness

This month, I had an opportunity to learn how to plan, design and implement a survey to obtain feedback from participants regarding the work I’ve completed in my Master's program.

At first glance, how hard could it possibly be to come up with ten questions to ask a target audience about a project?  Try asking ten questions relating to four different projects.  Reviewing a project, one would ask, ‘what is the most important thing I would want to know about this project?’  Do I gauge if it is effective?  Do I ask how well the respondent likes the design?  Did I choose the right colors?  Would he or she be able to relate to the design solution?  Based on the project submitted, would they want to know more about it?  Whether providing or receiving feedback on a design project, there will be some who are interested in it, and others who may not be interested at all.  Nonetheless, feedback is still needed to assist in recognizing an opportunity to improve on the design.

Conducting a survey is a sure way to know if the design works and if it will substantiate the designer’s solution when presenting it to the client.  Let’s take a look at the survey questions that were asked and the results.

The feedback received in this survey has given me the opportunity to go back and fix additional areas on some of these projects.  For example, a comment was made that the mood board 'seemed busy’.  

This could be quite true for an individual who has qualities of a minimalist or do not see the relevance in all the images included in the design.  What if you receive a client unfamiliar with the purpose of the mood board.  Would they find it too busy as well?  The design matrix was used to create a more modern appeal to the board.  Each square represents a window.  Not everyone would see that the same way.  How can this be improved?  By changing the direction and creating black buildings and adding windows to create an urban-style structure.  Another comment was to add more images relevant to interior gardening since this would be one of the purposes of the brand. I agree with the suggestions and plan to implement changes to this moodboard in the near future.

No matter how tedious the task is of reading comments made throughout the survey, no comment is less important than the next.  One of the questions had 14 comments and I read through each one looking at it from the respondents perspective.  The survey results leave me encouraged that, although I did a really good job at meeting my goals for the projects,  there is still room for improvement!

[mporterlark-blog]

Month 9 - Multi-Platform Delivery

This month was a focus on a fictitious company Urban Gardens-To-Go and the creation of an identity for the brand.

The above is the moodboard created for Urban Gardens-To-Go through the use of a design matrix.  One of the aspects of the brand is that it will be advertised for urban contemporary America.   Having elements popping out from the squares that represent a window feature for the matrix.

There were a lot of ideas for this project.  The intent was to get much further with additional design phases such as stationery, business cards, packaging and even a responsive website.  

I plan to continue adding brand elements to Urban Gardens-To-Go in the near future to complete the needs of the client.  

This Media Design program has elevated my thought process for design to a new level where I feel anything is possible.  With continued practice, I know I will be able to push further into other aspects such as car wraps and other promotional materials.  It will be important for me to remember the audience the client wants to reach, possible expectations from consumers and the functionality of the design.  With the help of Professor Argo, Professor Baldowski, and Professor Kratz, I have a new appreciation for media design.  When I finish this program, I know I will no longer have them behind me pushing me forward but I will remember what they have taught me and the feedback and advice given during this endeavor.  To them I say ... “THANK YOU!”

On to the next course!

References:

Burdon, Eric (2017).  How To Have Patience In A World Of Instant Gratification. Ericscottburdon.com.  Retrieved from https://www.ericscottburdon.com/patience-world-instant-gratification/

Mockups provided by https://mockupfree.co/

[mporterlark-blog]

SUMMER REGGAE BENEFIT FESTIVAL LOGO REWORK

The above images show the original sketches created for the Summer Reggae Benefit Festival and the 23 revised sketches created to enhance the appearance of the benefit logo to work across various media outlets (i.e. print, web, etc.).

Three logos were chosen to refine as vectors and each connected to the brand in different ways.

It was then determined that some of the elements in the logos were either too small to see the details and would become lost even further if decreased further in size, others were missing the connection for the benefit (i.e. summer, reggae).

To improve on the previously submitted logos, dreads were added to Sketch #4.  This did not work well for the design solution as the shapes did not relate to dreads as intended and added complexity to the design.  Sketch #20 did increase in size but the details were still too small to proceed with this as a design solution.  Sketch #21 was found to be too organic and did not assist in elevating the brand’s identity.  With this in mind, I decided to proceed further with Sketch #21.

This design solution, although it did provide a better island vibe, the palm trees created chaos for the logo and the eyes gave off a ‘creepy’ aura thus both elements were removed.  The color was also changed from the tan that represented more of sand than a sun and a golden yellow was replaced with it. This would alleviate any questions for the viewer of what the element was meant to be within the logo.

Based on additional feedback, the eye color was removed and the eyes reshaped to fit more of a sea turtle’s eye which usually looks half closed in most of the images viewed on Google Images and other stock image sites.  Triangle shapes were added to the sun to represent sun rays.  This also added depth to the logo.  The design problem was solved by creating a logo that was simple, memorable and legible.

Although a lot of time was spent working on my enhancement project for Urban Gardens-To-Go, after completing the competitive analysis, I decided not to post anything related to the project since I will be starting over with the work I did complete.

[mporterlark-blog]

Design Strategies & Motivation

Project 1: Testimonial Ads - A course can definitely go from 0 to 100 very quickly even with proper planning.  If I were to say I spent a lot of time tweaking, that would probably be an understatement.  The great part about the bumps that appeared in the road is that each one taught a lesson that needed to be learned.  When I created the testimonial ads for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, they came out better than I anticipated.  When given the opportunity to improve upon them, the flaws began to appear and I realized additional research was needed.  The imagery was good but the copy was overbearing with lengthy lines and overfilling content.  It was time to condense.  The quotes turned out much better than the previous narrative; however, it left no appropriate place for the call to action.  The placement of the call to action is what I will tackle next class to finalize this project and move on to Project 2.  Font choices can be difficult.  Choosing the right one for a project can feel like running in a hamster wheel.  With resilience and much digging, Impact was the winning font and greatly improved the design.

Project 2: Muse Site Build - Getting the basics of Adobe Muse was enlightening.  The program really does what the reviews say.  It allows you to build a website without using code which was pretty amazing.  The dilemma that occurred while implementing the design compositions for the Summer Reggae Benefit Festival is that the logos created in two different classes clashed and broke the intended identity.  They contained two different font styles and the final logo had no elements anywhere else in the composition.  I will be working on recreating a more effective logo for the site build to bring the design compositions and the identity of the event into a cohesive design solution.  

I am glad to have had the opportunity to look at the work I previously submitted and to find new processes and ideas to improve upon the design solution.

[mporterlark-blog]

Final animated logo for the Summer Reggae Benefit Festival (for project purposes only).

This is the final revision to the event video for the Summer Reggae Benefit Festival project submitted for Organizational Structure.

[mporterlark-blog]

This was my very first visual FX experience.  This is a 7-second video created back in October 2015 while attending Full Sail for my Bachelor’s degree.  I used my son as a guinea pig and filmed him with the camera on my phone with no green screen available.  He was 15 at the time .. now he’s an 18-year-old in the Navy and when I talk about this experience he laughs and shakes his head.  They were always being actors in my videos or I would video them doing an action so that I can create the same movement when animating a character for a project.  It was tedious to rotoscope Elijah not to even mention the number of times I had to record him amping him up to be more dramatic.  All in all, it was so much fun creating this that I was sure I wanted to become a compositor.  Well, it hasn’t happened yet but it is never too late.  Nuke is a wonderful program once you learn it and when I finish my Master's degree I may go back to take this class again just to renew what I learned because I did enjoy it a lot.

I posted this video as a reminder of how much I love animation.  The current projects in class sometimes seem overwhelming and I feel I have no life other than work, school, kids ... Even scrambling yesterday to finalize the week’s assignments just so I can go and enjoy an invite I received to a Super Bowl party.  I finally finished at 6:54 pm and at 8:30 pm I was pulling into the driveway of the location and enjoyed the rest of my night .. red eyes and all.  Yes, I was tired ... drained even ... but I needed that outing.  This week’s even more work ahead of me but I’m a strong woman.  I will see this through no matter what.  I am learning a lot in this program and that is what keeps me motivated ... thinking of what I will be doing with the resources I have and will have gained.  As Dory says ... Just keep swimming!

[mporterlark-blog]

As quick as it would be to take the escalator, not much comes this easily to a creative mind without there being actual work involved.  Whether it is mental, technical or physical work, there must be some either blood, sweat, or tears behind the designer’s involvement in order to appreciate the outcome unless you have mastered your craft so well that you can do it with your eyes closed.  I have not reached that point at all yet but I am working hard at it.

DESIGN RESEARCH CLASS REFLECTION

There is nothing more fulfilling for me personally than to see myself growing within a program.  I can feel it in my existence every day.  I now understand why this degree program is called a Master’s program.  Here’s a quirky analogy for you:

Imagine yourself going for a routine checkup with your doctor.  As they check your ears, throat and lungs, you are asked “How’s your breathing?”  Your response?  I breathe just fine .. See?  You breathe through your nose and hear things that sound like a bulldozer in your nostrils.  Hmmm ... at least I thought I breathed fine.  The doctor does some skilled maneuver and then ask you to try it again.  This time, you inhale and exhale and you don’t hear a sound.  It’s as if your lungs became as clear as crystal and you can now go out and conquer the world with your new found freedom of breathing through your nose perfectly without it sounding like construction going on within your head.  Magic!

Yes, I’m sure that was a bit extreme but that’s why he’s the doctor and you’re the patient.  This is how I feel at the end of this class.  I, like quite a number of my friends, have created websites using Wix and WordPress.  But I did it using the brilliance of what others created.  My actions involved filling in the blanks per se.  True cakewalk.  To go through the design research process and actually produced something from scratch, I now appreciate all of those awesome people who create templates and programs to make web design easy as pie.  An average person may ask themselves why would you want to do this long thought out process if you can just click a few buttons, add a few images and walah!  Magic!  I have the perfect answer ... drumroll maestro ... appreciation for the work involved.  No matter how much tweaking or corrections I had to make, I was gung-ho to make them if the end result was to have success in the work I created ... on my own ... from scratch ... with feedback from my professor and peers.  Without plan or purpose, we are moving through roadways that take us nowhere.  

MOOD BOARDS

Above are the three mood boards for the charity event created with three different genres in mind.  Alternative, Reggaeton, and Reggae.  (Sidebar: Some may be wondering why Reggae and Reggaeton.  Although they are similar, the genres are not the same.  One originated in Jamaica, the other in Puerto Rico).  In the end, the Reggae concept was the strongest theme and now on to the next steps.  It is great to give your client several options to work with but not too many.  I’m noticing in this program that everything is done in 3′s.  I plan to continue this trend even after graduation.  It is a great campaign tool.  You want to give your clients options but not TOO many options.  They could end up visually all over the place with too many ideas.  We want to work smarter, not harder.  

PRELIMINARIES

There were two takeaways from this part of the assignment:

Nothing is ever written in stone until it’s finalized and signed off on by the client.

No matter what you plan, visions can change.

I look back at my preliminaries and although I know this process will get better with practice, they barely resemble the final design compositions.  The only thing that stayed the same for the most part is the logo placement.  The only issue with changing this up is that the client is expecting the design comps to look one way and then I totally changed it based on how the design elements were falling into place.  This is a project but had it been a real commission, I would have had to go back to the client with the new preliminary mockups to give them an idea of what to expect.  In other words, keep the client involved at all times with any changes you decide.  I’ve watched enough Flip or Flop and Love it or List It on HGTV to know this but I never really grasped why they did it that way until now.  With practice, the wireframes and preliminaries will improve and the idea I come up with will manifest itself in the end.  Right now, I’m still learning from my mistakes and growing from it.  Life lessons.

DESIGN COMPOSITIONS

Have you ever had something seem so hard to accomplish yet you enjoyed doing it?  Yes.  It’s called do what you love and working hard at what you love to do.  Amazing isn’t it?  These are the first design comps I’ve done from scratch.  I’m sure they will get better as I do more of them and even become easier to accomplish once an understanding has been made and the necessary research has been completed to attain the end results that meet the client’s expectations.  My takeaway from this section is to stay cohesive in the design process to ensure the brand is represented across the project and flows naturally.  One thing I am noticing that I have to get away from is the dark creations.  I have a tendency to darken the edges of projects and I’m unsure why.  Although it may be something I like, it may not come across well with future clients.  Dark is not always better.  It can be used for dramatic or mysterious purposes but it is not always a good concept.  Something to work on as I press forward in my pursuit of knowledge.

[mporterlark-blog]

These were my original three print ads for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence from Week #2.  After I posted them, I came to a realization from the feedback given by the professor in Week 3 that I needed to take my strongest ad and make all three ads more cohesive giving better thought to the organization’s purpose.  I created three ads that would represent that campaign the most that would reach the audience in a more compassionate manner.  A lot of things can be ignored until it touches the heart.

The above are three of the six sketches I made while coming up with ideas and a concept for the project.

Above are the two personas created for the campaign.

This month in Effective Copywriting gave me a whole new perspective on how copywriting affects our lives.  It takes a lot of research and work to come up with a good ad campaign.  This is just the print ad portion of advertising so I can imagine how complicated it would be to catch a reader’s attention on the internet with so much information pouring out of the world wide web.  Working with these ads, I felt as though I was tearing down what has already been said and finding a new way to rebuild it to give the message a stronger foundation without losing the audience’s attention.  

The three things I would take away from this class is as follows:

1. There is no such thing as too much unless you’ve gone too far and the intended message has faded away into oblivion and covered up by the irrelevant objects.  Stay focused and to keep asking myself ‘what is the purpose? what is the message I want to send?’.

2. As Felton stated in his book Advertising: Concept and Copy “Get some personal connection, some personal truth, out onto the page or screen” (pg. 192). I have to reach deeper and not do just enough.  Put my best out there with everything I have within me.  If this was something that impacted my family or friends, how would I want the truth told?  I cannot be fake about what I’m doing.  I have to feel something for the results or it’s not finished.  I have to get back in there and find what is missing based on my own feelings about the results.  If I don’t think it’s good enough, the client may not either.  People who are great at advertising pour their heart and soul into it or they retire.  Do what you love and love what you do.

3.  When sketching out an idea, there can never be too many sketches but make them quick and not so detailed.  You lose the next idea for a sketch by spending too much time thinking about the first one.  I realized my sketches contained too much and it went from a sketch to a drawing.  I have to learn how to sketch and not think so much about the details until refining.

It was a great class and I learned more than I thought I ever could.  I knew nothing about what copywriting was until now and it makes me feel like I’m ready to take on the world!  Touché Señor Pussycat!  Gotta love Tom & Jerry.

[mporterlark-blog]

One thing I’ve learned in this Brand Development class is that there is no easy way around anything.  I also learned that just when you think you’ve got a good foundation .. a good footing, someone can come along and pull the rug right from under you and you will have to start all over again.  I am sure most of us have an initial reaction of a temporary mental tantrum that goes on in our heads.  After the dust settles and we exhale, that’s when the magic happens.  I mean there’s no way around it ... if you’re going to do it over, might as well do something different.  Even though I didn’t expect to be revising two of my three logos; especially after working on them for over a month, I ended up liking the end result.  They came out better the second time around.  I went to sleep the night before thinking to myself, ‘how in the hell am I supposed to come up with something new on such short notice?’  I guess we are all amazed of the power of pressure. 

I ran across this quote and it resonated with me because it truly is no easy way to be successful.  Also, nothing’s gained unless you work hard at it and do your very best.  We are all good at one thing and can truly suck at something else but it is all a learning process.  Just as the saying goes, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ ... sometimes it takes a class to raise a great graphic designer LOL!  Thanks for reading.

[mporterlark-blog]

Crest design created for a fraternity Theta Phi Xi .. What is a Keeper without his brothers? Was just something to do after my homework was done.

[mporterlark-blog]

(Brand Development - Style Guides for Reykjavik, Iceland)

For my SWOT analysis, I had to sit back and become brutally honest with myself.  No one wants to discuss their weaknesses in public but they don’t go away just because we do not talk about them. To become totally honest, one must begin to discuss them and find ways to improve on the weaknesses and take into accord all opportunities for continuous growth and development.

There are things that I can do to improve on my weaknesses.  I’m unsure if it’s considered internal or external weaknesses.  Maybe it is a bit of both in my case.  As a Sagittarius I am an emotional creature and I wear those emotions on my sleeve.  I need to learn how to hide those kinds of things and put on a game face to appease the environment of my client(s).  Brand Development has taught me a lot and I plan to use what I’ve learned here in many aspects of my career now and in the future.

[mporterlark-blog]

One thing I’ve learned this month is that I’m going to have to grab a shovel and dig my way out of my own comfort zone if I want to succeed in this graduate program.  I’ve become known for doing certain things and thats all people reach out to me for.  Thus I’ve backed myself into a corner in which I’ll have to fight (within myself) to get out.  I can create a 3D environment that fits the needs of my clients but I cannot create a logo that fits the needs of my clients and their audience?  Let’s call this “double modalities” as they say in the clinical world.  Focusing on one thing is easy as pie.  Focusing on two?  The client AND the audience.  Man oh man .. I’ve got my work cut out for me here.  I’m used to designing the way I like it and the clients usually fall in love with the end product.  I might as well had grabbed some popcorn, a blanket, a nice fluffy pillow and laid across the couch for an awesome movie to watch.  That is how comfortable I’ve become.  I’m killing my dreams by not thinking outside that zone where the magic happens.  The magic won’t come unless I put in the work to make it happen.  There is much progress to be made here and I’m definitely up for the challenge.  Media Design!  Here me roar! <-- that will turn from a bark to a bite soon enough! Lol .. Hopefully sooner than later!  Thank you for reading!

[mporterlark-blog]

This month was definitely a learning lesson in the realm of graphic design.  One thing I can take away from this class, Defining Clients’ Needs, is to not throw myself into a project without thorough research.  What I’m finding difficult is when sketching ideas to keep those elements that are important to not only the client but its audience as well.  Just because I find something appealing does not mean the client or their audience will feel the same way.  Taking myself out of the design concept goes a long way.  It has been reiterated throughout this course and I’m finding myself having to pull away from what I like repetitively.  Design lessons indeed.  I feel like a 3 year old learning to ride a bike all over again.  Pulling from graphic design into 3D animation and now back into graphic design reminds me of just that.  In 3D animation, my ideas and the message “I” wanted to convey was key.  I have to get out of that mentality of what I like or what I want and think about the client and their audience instead.  This will definitely be a continuous work in progress!

[mporterlark-blog]

The concept of change can be devastating.  It can be one of those ‘grab your heart like Fred Sanford’ moments if you’re not ready for it.  Just close your eyes, take a moment and exhale.  You’re still breathing and very much alive.  I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen my employees roll their eyes at the mention of the word.  It’s like opening a book no one wants to read yet they have to listen to it eventually.  When life brings you to a dead end and you find yourself on the edge of it’s repetitive cycling routine, you may feel the need to jump off.  “Enough already!” ... “No more of this!” ... and God only knows what else your mind comes up with that tells you that you’ve had quite enough of that whatever it may be.  Time to take that leap into a fresh bowl of water and swim Nemo ... Swim!  I’ve experienced self-referential designing.  I found myself becoming repetitive in my creativity.  Now that I look back at it, the words that come to mind are “hum-drum” and "mundane”.  It’s like taking a trip to Disney World and not getting past the front gate.  I must say I am now terribly disappointed.  I realize that I was creating these environments just for the sake of having them.  I wasn’t thinking of the consumer at all.  If I look into the eyes of those that support my designs, I would see that they are always wanting more .. more uniqueness .. nothing the same ... EVER.  My designs have improved 2000% because I’m now designing 3D environments for the end user to enjoy ... not just for the numbers to say I finished it.  What’s a finished product if no one is buying it?  Just something taking up space and being ignored by millions.  So .. change.  Yes .. change is good.  Evolve.  See the future for what it can be .. not for what it is right now.  You may be swimming in that fish bowl alone for a moment .. but when your colleagues and other “fishies” see how much fun you’re having with creating new and innovative ideas and concepts, they’ll jump in too.    How you see change will determine the outcome.  See it successfully! 

[mporterlark-blog]

Nurturing and feeding our brain daily is a necessary conjunction.  It’s as unavoidable as air and water.  Our bodies know we need it even if our minds are telling us otherwise.  I connect this with criticism because there used to be a time where I could not handle criticism at all.  I believe it is the delivery that makes the difference.  I hone in on this particular subject because I am more than aware that it will be an important substance in my learning path.  To understand the critique is as important as the critique itself.  We do not all know the same things which leaves an excessive amount of room for knowledge to spill into and absorb within our minds.  The more we know, the better we can become.  Some may fall into a slump over a critique because they may have thought the work was so good, no one would have anything to say about it outside of our own feelings.  But if we do not open ourselves up to acceptance of the views of others, we will not only close out their thoughts and ideas but also close in our own.  The same way a person critiques you who may be an onlooker, classmate, colleague or professor, the same way a client will critique what we present to them.  We may think our design solution is ‘the bomb’ while the client is thinking we ‘bombed’.  In this journey, I will keep my mind as open as french doors installed in a beach house allowing the breeze to whip in the scent of the ocean absorbing every sense of being and allowing my emotions to reflect on what I’ve learned ... just by opening up the doors and accepting the breeze that comes in.  My mind is wide open and I am ready to take in as much as I can get.  It will help me in the long run.  Safe travels.