srejourneyofmastery-blog

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM691 Professional Practice

Month 1- Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership

In Month 1, it was the beginning of my academic journey at Full Sail University. Through discovering and using Grit and Ambition Scale self-assessments, the assessment had contributed to my personal and professional development by comparing my strongest and weakest areas to determine what I need to improve as a designer. As a result, my strongest areas would be aiming to be the best at what I do and driven to be ambitious. However, my weakest areas would be new ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones and being obsessed with certain ideas and projects for a short period then lost interest.  In reference to Mastery by Robert Greene, an individual can face a project or solve a problem to any circumstance and become completely energized and focused. (Greene, 2016). However, once the deadline arrived the feeling of power and creativity fades away. In connection, I was able to prevent from losing the interest of creativity, which became one of my personal triumphs for this course. I started to plan ahead and set goals and tactics for each course through creating Mastery Journal timeline. In effect, it kept me to have an open mind to creativity and expanding my knowledge of problem-solving. Another personal triumph was being able to conquer my fears to record a turning point video that explains who I am as a designer and individual, which had created confidence in myself and motivated to go forth in the program.

Month 2- Defining Client Needs 

In Month 2, creating projects or effective presentations could lead to solutions to communicating with the targeted clients. In detail, designers are visual people that can dedicate to an audience through the use of typography, color, and imagery (O’Grady, 2009).  However, designers can establish a set of procedures to create innovative solutions to communicate the problems (O’Grady, 2009). In connection, through exploring various approaches to designing the posters, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, I took to research and creative thinking to provide the information that would communicate the message through its content.  The content of typography and imagery can set into a grid to create consistency and visual appeal. Furthermore, this course has contributed to my professional and personal development by utilizing research to implement ideas to create content that would have an effective connection with the targeted audience. Significantly, Research-driven design can help to define an audience that supports a concept, advocate for aesthetic, and measure effectiveness of the campaign (O’Grady, 2009).  In reference, the most triumph in this course would take from Margo Chase, which would be having a creative process to communicate what the client needs.

Month 3-Brand Development

According to Alina Wheeler, the brand identity can fuels recognition, amplifies differentiation and makes big ideas and meaning accessible (Wheeler, 2012).  In month 3 of Brand Development, I was able to understand the meaning of branding through the Rainy Day Toy project, Mordström’s branding analysis, and Marty Neumeier’s 17-step process. In the aspects of personal and professional development, Marty Neumeier’s 17-step process contribute by learning the four elements: differentiation, focus, trend, and communication that leads to understanding the purpose of branding. Also, the 17-step process helps to understand the purpose and objective of a company, what makes the brand differentiates from other competitors, and how to find ways to connect and communicate to an audience.  In detail, through the usage of the Rebrand Analysis and research on a high-end fashion company, Modström, I was able to understand the balance of their objectives, strengths, weakness, and competitors, which demonstrate the development of their brand. In addition, the brand can create an identity that would establish a new look and persuade the targeted audience to use their product or services. By incorporating new imagery and expanding their visions, the brand can go forward and strive to attract new customers. The most outstanding triumph of this course was Rainy Day Toys brand campaign. Rainy Day Toys had helped me to succeed in breaking down its identity through logos and researching other “child-like” companies, to find strategic ways to elevate and persuade a parent and child target audience.  As Alina Wheeler states (2012),” it is important to bring consistency, visual and verbal order to help grow a company and market effectively”(Wheeler, 2012).

Month 4-Effective Copywriting

In Month 4, research and inspiration have played an important role in this course.  Through research and inspiration, I was able to use swipe files that show a collection of headlines or promos, which is more attentive to the viewer and help understand how words can persuade people to take action. As George Felton states (2014) that “Doing reinforces any communication, as people realize whenever they’re put to use”(Felton, 2014). In other words, if the people don’t have anything to deal with a message, they might not even listen to it, which it's best to encourage a response (Felton, 2014). Testimonial ads and personas had contributed to my personal and professional development as a designer by having the responsibility to figure out what connection that would be most effective to have people engage in the message. Furthermore, the first step was researching on the brand and what they represent and defining the target audience. In particular, Equality Now has the purpose of standing against females’ inequality and demands woman’s equality regionally, nationally, and internationally. By researching on Equality Now, I was able to create personas, a profile that would explain in detail on the types of people to generate a connection within the targeted demographic.  Also, I figured out that the best-targeted audience would between ages 10-35 both girls and women.  As the result, the most outstanding personal triumph in this course would be creating the testimonial ads.  Through creating personas, I had achieved on generating an emotional connection through the brand’s message that reaches a younger audience age 13-16 to meet the needs or desires of older women over the age of 18 through imagery and words.

Month 5- Design Research

In month 5, the design process has broken down into discovery, exploration, and implementation to create the Sea Turtle Concert Campaign.  This course contributes to my personal and professional development as a designer by researching and discovering on what type of music genre that would best represent and promote the message of raising awareness for sea turtles.  As the result, the intended audience was young and middle-aged adults ages 18-55. By the same token, the idea started by being inspired by the music genre, Soul music. However, due to the failure of connecting and creating a successful design that had lack clarity, the idea changed to “Disco” music.  Disco music has vintage elements with vibrant colors that would create a simple and fun design. Through the exploration process, I was able to gather information to apply towards creating mood boards, and wireframes for usability and functionality. Also, finding the appropriate brand attributes that set the tone of the project. The brand attributes were “Energetic”, “Freedom”, “Vision”, “Melody” and “Vibrant” to have the design to be fun, straightforward and distinctive. Similarly, the implantation stage is to use the concepts or ideas and create a web design comp that sets as a layout before input into an HTML.  In connection, the most outstanding personal triumph in this course was creating a unique Sea Turtle for the Disco Boogie’s final design comp. As the mood board and design were refined, the stronger the idea became in the design process. In connection, it resulted in a visual appeal through a vibrant solid color palette, texture, and typography.

Month 6-Organizational Structures

In month 6, Motion Graphics and Video became difficult to understand, however, it was a learning experience.  Motion Graphics or Graphics in motion that contains visual elements such as imagery, geometric shapes, and typography. In contrast, Animation can compare to Motion Graphics and known to be more artistic and create a frame-by-frame sequence of images or objects in motion. In connection, the 12 basic principles can apply to motion design, which is:

•    Squash and Stretch (adding exaggeration to an object) •    Staging (establish mood and create clarity) •    Straight Ahead/Pose to Pose to Pose Action (animation technique to connect the image within a frame) •    Slow in and Slow Out (object and human’s momentum before reach full speed) •    Arc (objects that form an arc between the start and end points) •    Secondary Action (primary movement in a motion such as a person walking) •    Timing (establishes personality of characters and emotions express) •    Solid Drawing (enhanced level of realism to the skill of drawing) •    Appeal (establishes before anything moves creating visual transitions) •    Anticipation (character prepares for an action and gives the clue to the audience) •    Follow Through/Overlapping Action (having body parts exaggerate from the body) •    Exaggeration (every action, pose and expression can advance to the next level)

(Pannafino, 2015)

With this in mind, this course contributed to my personal and professional development as a designer by utilizing these 12 basic principles and apply them to create a motion graphic for the logo through an Adobe program, After Effects. Through the process of sketching and research, the idea of the logo was to connect with the theme of “Disco Boogie” through rounded typefaces, colorful palettes, and circular shapes.  Furthermore, After Effects is digital motion design software that creates and composes 2-D animations, video, and visual effects. Through using Adobe’s After Effects as a tool, I started to feel inspired by using 2 basic motion design principles, Staging and Timing to manipulate the logo to create a “bubble-like” effect. The purpose of visual communication through color and bubble-like effects were to generate positive emotions like happiness. In this course, the most outstanding triumph was creating the promotional video. Through technical conflicts and frustrations, I was able to use the knowledge and skill by using After Effects to incorporate a frame-by-frame sequence with imagery and audio to communicate, connect, and promote Disco Boogie’s Sea Turtle project within a 30-second time frame.  Overall, for this course, a media designer design layouts, create animated sequences, incorporates videos, photography to the mix, and adding visual effects (Taylor, 2013).

Month 7, 8 and 9- Design Strategies, Design, Integration, and Multi-Platform Delivery

Month 7-Design Strategies and Motivation

Even though in month 7, I had difficulties and frustrations, I managed to understand human-centered design with enhancing a design mindset. Equally important, IDEO.org states (2015)

As human-centered designers can adopt an iterative approach to solving problems because it takes feedback from the people who designers are designing for as a critical part of how a solution evolves (IDEO.org, 2015).

In connection with this course, the Design Committee Review had contributed to my personal and professional development as a designer by giving me feedback on the areas of improvement towards each project.  Significantly, I personally chose to revise Rainy Day Toys brand campaign that leads to understanding more on the foundation of branding.  Based on the feedback from Rainy Day Toy’s brand presentation, Design Committee Review had mentioned that logo explorations looked too similar and the logo looked more of an illustration than a real logo.   For that reason, I chose to use the original logo of the umbrella and began to explore in different approaches that created distinctiveness. As David Airey states (2014) “create a logo that demonstrates a unique style, which portrays a brand perspective” (Airey, 2014). In the process, the refined umbrella for the logo began to interpret the vision of Rainy Day Toys through vibrant, playful, energetic, and simple attributes towards a target audience. However, designing a logo became challenged due to lack of sketches, specific targeted audience, and the sense of direction of the design. For example, later in this course, I had to reject the idea of using the umbrella for a logo due to lack of connection, however, I thought it was best to create the logo based on geometric shapes.  In addition, the most outstanding triumph for this course would be experimenting the new logo in black and white that lead to a successful logo in full color which seems to be simple and easier to recognize.

Month 8-Design Integration

In month 8, the Rainy Day Toy project had a turning point.  From the previous course, in month 7, the logo design did not reach its full potential of creativity, which leads to lack of clarity and visual impact.   Under those circumstances, I decided to strategize by re-sketching and brainstorming new ideas.  In effect, by continually iterating, refining, and improving the work, a designer can have more ideas, trying a variety of approaches, unlock creativity and arrive more quickly at successful solutions (IDEO.org, 2015).  With this in mind, creating three style guides that have broken into different visual elements such as color palette, typography, and imagery, which generate the look and feel of the logo.  The main goal was to generate an emotional connection that would communicate a vibrant, playful and fun tone towards the intended audience.  This course contributed to my personal and professional development as a designer through finding inspirations that would help clarify and maintain consistency within its brand identity.  In detail, through researching on other toy companies’ logos, it was an opportunity to create a concept of a “rocking horse” which leads to simplicity, versatility, and relevancy to Rainy Day Toys.  As Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris states (2009) that “once the design had selected, implemented or produced, the design process has ended” (Ambrose & Harris, 2009). In that case, the most outstanding triumph in this course is creating a unique logo and completing a brand book.  By researching and understanding Rainy Day Toys, I had the capability to re-create a logo that would fit the purpose of its identity. Through defining Rainy Day Toys through creating a brand book, it became a great tool to explain how the brand functions and understand its importance in the marketplace.

Month 9- Multi-Platform Delivery

In month 9, this course had combined the knowledge from previous courses by month 7 and 8 through designing the logo and defining the target audience.  In this course, utilizing the creative process of research, inspiration, and problem-solving had contributed to my personal and professional development as a designer. The main problem for the last part of the Rainy Day Toys brand campaign was having too much text with a lack of compositional design within the presentation. Furthermore, the challenge was to create a design that identified the visual elements that make up the brand as a whole.  Through research, I had the idea to create my own analysis on the brand’s objective, attributes, target demographic, and other competitors. As the results of the research, the target audience is parents and grandparents ages 25-64 with preschool children ages 1-4. Furthermore, the information based on parent or grandparent interactions with preschool children that generate emotional and cognitive development towards a brighter future.  Also, research on other competitors, such as Nick Jr. and Sesame Street played a role in the creative process. For example, Nick Jr. specializes in preschool children that provide parents and caregivers which involves family engagement, literary, emotional and STEM skills (Beyondthebackpack.com, 2017).  By differentiating Rainy Day Toys to other competitors such as Nick Jr., I started to feel inspired by an identity model called Kapferer Brand Identity Prism. In connection, the prism can demonstrate on "what" and "how" the brand stands out from the rest of the other brands.   The most outstanding triumph in this course was having the solution to create different designs that lead towards the strongest idea.  Similar to a brand book, I decided to create an Interactive PDF that would communicate the attributes, which were vibrant, creative, fun and energetic with an engaging presentation.  In addition, Interactive PDF can have the ability to have crisper images with control for brand guidelines and attracts viewers visually.

Month 10- Measuring Design Effectiveness

In month 10, after completing the Rainy Day Toys campaign, this course contributes to my personal and professional development as a designer by collecting opinions and preferences of a specific target group on the project.  In detail, surveys are formative research that gains insight and valid findings on supporting and understanding the effects of a creative campaign (Visocky O’Grady & O’Grady, 2009). By gathering information from the project, it was clear to distinguish what were areas that need to improve and strong areas that were successful.  In connection, by designing the questionnaire I was able to distinguish what kind of questions that were most effective to meet the target audience desires and needs. Also, it should be clear from the research and brand objectives that the questionnaire needs to cover (Brace, 2013). In particular, information can contain product and brand awareness, usage, behavioral patterns, attitudes, satisfaction with the service, etc. (Brace, 2013).  However, to have a quick response from recipients, keep the questions compelling, short and simple, and straight to the point (Collins, 2010).

Through the process of elimination out of 15 questions, the 10 questions were good choices that lead to an increase in responses from recipients by using SurveyMonkey.  Each question formatted based on ratings such as “1” for “not so very well” to “5” as “very well”. In addition, other questions formatted as “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree” to let the recipients have the freedom to choose and prevent loss of interest within the questionnaire.  The best approach is to have the respondents to discover the answer without much thought (Collins, 2010).  

In effect, the most outstanding triumph in this course was having eleven recipients to respond to the questionnaire, which made up about 55.55% of females who are in the age range between 30-45. Also, a tie with 18.18% that was in the age range between 18-30 and 45-55. The results came out very interesting of mixed opinions that deal with the Rainy Day Toy’s brand identity. To clarify, both 50 percent of male and female recipients believed that both original and new logos best expresses Rainy Day Toys values. However, the marketing strategy to promote Rainy Day Toys through products or services, only 50 percent agreed which didn’t expect that turn of events. Regardless of the results, it leads me to be optimistic that embraces possibilities find the answers to the problem and prevent dead ends.

Month 11- Presentation of Design Solutions

In month 11, one month before graduation, I have to face a challenge, which is creating the thesis presentation.  Thesis presentation can combine with every project created within the Media Design MFA program. In addition, each degree learning outcomes, Connecting, Synthesizing, and Transforming, Solving Problems, Innovative Thinking and Acquired Competencies which illustrate the ability to develop or solve through compelling evidence and persuasive research. For this reason, I decided to connect each project through each DLO that aligns with various design solutions. For example, Connecting, Synthesizing and Transforming that illustrates development that connects with solutions through precise information. Rainy Day Toys project demonstrated accurate research that helps elevated and transformed to create an effective project. In detail, I gained new knowledge through research that connects with different designs to create the strongest one to persuade a targeted audience parents and grandparents ages 25-64. In reference to Stories that Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations by Martin Sykes; A Nicklas Malik; and Mark D. West states (2012) that “the theme can be underlying on the meaning which the audience can leave with” (Sykes, Malik, & West, 2012). In other words, the theme can become the interpretation of what they have seen, heard, and their understanding of why it is important to them (Sykes et al., 2012). This course contributed my personal and professional development as a designer, is the best work that explains in detail, which tells a story of “what”, “when” how and “why” about the purpose of creating a project from the perspective of a designer. Also, created by a good one-page visual story to clarify the focus of the message before developing other formats to communicate the story (Sykes et al., 2012).  In detail, a visual presentation should communicate simple and effective that would bring a simple message that is easier to follow (Sykes et al., 2012). Overall, My outstanding triumph in this course was being able to take the time to plan out and captivate content that would guide the audience to understand, identify my goals for each project, and create visual appeal.

Month 12-Professional Practice

In month 12, finally at the finish line and accomplished all the goals since month 1 in the Mastery course through learning creativity, research, and logical reasoning. However, these skills still apply within this course.  The three takeaways from this course that I learned was ethics and moral reasoning, copyrighting, and creating the experience map.

Ethics and Moral Reasoning My first takeaway was ethics and moral reasoning. Ethics defined as a standard to determine whether it's right or wrong based on belief. In contrast, moral reasoning or morality can refer to as customs and practices of an individual or a social group (Satyanarayana, 2009).  Similarly, both ethics and morality can base on human actions, which can lead to unethical and ethical behavior. Significantly, unethical behavior can lack moral principles that are unwilling to abide the rules of conduct (Braga, 2014). On the other hand, ethical behavior characterized by honesty, fairness, and equity through rights of individuals and groups of people (Braga, 2014).  Advertising can be the tools for a business to promote their brand through media such as television, Internet or mobile devices.  According to Clifford Christians, advertising can be a profession that should recognize as not only a business tool but also a vehicle for social communication (Christians, 2016). In connection, marketers should be able to establish ethics to make sure the customers treated equally.

Copyrighting My second takeaway is Copyrighting. Copyrighting defined as the ownership of their own work to avoid plagiarism (AIGA, 2009).  Also, copyrighting allows the designer to decide whether to duplicate his or her work.  In understanding copyrighting, any work should be authentic and innovative which authorize and registered through any Copyright offices in the United States.  Also, to prevent infringement and a lawsuit, a documented proposal that should update every month or two if the terms and agreement have changed. On the contrary, the owner of the copyright has the right to sell its license unless it's in writing to avoid paying usage rights.  For example, profession photography seeks to sell only the limited rights to the photographs (AIGA, 2009).  However, if the greater rights become desired, the photographer will ask for a higher fee (AIGA, 2009). Then again, the designer can have the capability to get what their clients desire through figuring out what ways to get the rights to use the media.  Comparatively, an illustrator’s work will not duplicate unless the illustrator gives permission. In addition, according to AIGA, an artist’s copyright protected by the  1976 Copyright Act that covers the work for the artist’s lifetime plus 70 years (AIGA, 2009)

Creating the Experience Map

This course has contributed to my personal and professional development as a designer by organizing ideas that would connect and generate tangible results. Experience mapping can help visualize a compelling story and supports new courses of action (n.d., 2013).  Also, by researching can play an important role in finding answers and creating the structure of the experience map.  In fact, the three building blocks that make up the experience map are Doing, Thinking, and Feeling.  In constructing the sticky-notes for the draft, I chose to organize them by color, pink, green and yellow to give an organized appearance and distinguish which connects to each semester within the building blocks for the diagram. After organizing sticky notes and sketches,  my first idea was using running bunnies going up and down determining the highs and lows of my experience in the program.  In effect, I wasn’t sure that the theme of running bunnies could tell my visual story.  Through re-sketching and looking at my sticky notes, my second idea was creating a female going on her way towards her academic journey.  The mountain represented the diagram that was easier to understand the highs and lows of my academic journey. Overall, the design captured the story accurately through imagery, which was the most outstanding triumph of this course. By turning a map into a compelling visual story means thinking through both the completed work and the inspired work (n.d., 2013).

Sticky-Notes “Stickies”

Sticky-Notes “Stickies” | December 2017

Sketches

Sketches | December 2017

Experience Map Designs

Initial Draft Experience Map | Tool(s): Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop | December 2017

Final Design Experience Map | Tool(s): Adobe Photoshop & Adobe InDesign | December 2017|

References 

AIGA (2009). Design Business + Ethics. Retrieved from:http://www.aiga.org/design-business-and-ethics

Airey, D. (2014). Logo Design Love. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/branding/9780133812589

Ambrose, G. & Harris, P. (2009). Basic Design 08: Design Thinking. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/design/9782940439386

Beyondthebackpack.com (2017). Let’s get ready for kindergarten. Retrieved from: http://beyondthebackpack.nickjr.com/

Brace, I. (2013). Questionnaire Design. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/sales-and-marketing/9780749467791

Braga, T. (2014). What is the difference between unethical and ethical behavior?[PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from: https://prezi.com/xj1jz5jx0w8h/what-is-the-differemce-between-ethical-unethical-behaviour/

Christians, C. (2016). Media Ethics. Retrieved from:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781134841561

Collins, H. (2010). Creative Research. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/design/9782940439676

Felton, G (2014). Advertising: Concept and Copy. Retrieved from:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780393733921

Greene, R. (2016). Mastery. Retrieved from: https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781101601020

IDEO.org. (2015). Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. Retrieved from: https://www.ideo.com/post/design-kit

n.d. (2013). Adaptive Path’s Guide to Experience Mapping. Retrieved from: http://mappingexperiences.com/

Pannafino, J. (2015). 12 Basic Principles of Animation in Motion Design. Retrieved from:http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/12-basic-principles-animation-motion-design/

Satyanarayana, Y.V. (2009). Ethics. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/ethics/9788131729472

Sykes, M., Nicklas, A. M., & West, D. M.,(2012). Stories that Move Mountains. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/communications/presentations/9781118423998

Taylor, A. (2013). Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/animation-and-3d/9780240811819

Wheeler, A. (2012). Designing Brand Identity. Retrieved from:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781118465028

Viscocky O’ Grady, J. & O’Grady, K. (2009). A Designer’s Research Manual. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/graphic-design/9781592535576

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM690: Presentation of Design Solution

This month’s course has been a learning process for me.  Even though it has been a stressful couple of weeks dealing with the thesis presentation, I have been able to organize and evaluate my previous projects.   In connection with becoming a better designer, I have recognized how important solving problems, researching, implementing ideas, and creative thinking can communicate and persuade towards a targeted audience.  Furthermore, the main takeaways I gained from this course are creating and identifying an effective visual presentation, how to connect with the four DLOs, and learning my strengths and weaknesses as a designer.

The first takeaway was creating and identifying an effective presentation was communicating a proven and simple idea that would persuade an audience to act on it in a compelling way (Sykes, Malik, & West, 2012). In addition, a presentation should narrate a story that has specific information that would guide the audience from beginning and end.  With this in mind, the thesis presentation establishes a specific format known as Michelle Meier template that contains the four Degree Learning Outcomes which is Connecting, Synthesizing, and Transforming, Solving Problems, Innovative Thinking and Acquiring Competences that connects with past projects.  At first, it became difficult for me to determine “how” what”, “what if”,  “who” and “ why” to explain which project connects with the DLOs.  The first idea was creating a Visual Story Map that was keeping track of progress and highlight key information as it develops under each four Degree Learning Outcomes (Sykes, Malik, & West, 2012).  I stepped back and evaluate the information that I wrote to elevate my idea towards the thesis. My idea was to take what I have and connect with the necessary projects or portions of the project that would show who I am as a designer and able to follow a connection throughout the visual examples.  As Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris state (2009) that a designer needs to interpret a terminology that both a designer and client can understand and obtain (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).  In other words, think about things from a target audience point of view and be empathetic about their expectations (Best, 2006). For example, by asking myself, how can my Rainy Day Toy Project that can have tightly focus information with and have clear reasons to communicate the essence of its brand.

In connection, the second takeaway was how to connect the four DLOs, which means taking content that would build upon a direction that would guide the audience throughout the information.  The problem is taking each part of the information and make sure the audience can have something they can draw back on within each DLO.   In a step to preventing an audience to drift away, the strategy is to align the design solution with telling a story on the creative process that would generate enthusiasm and excitement about the design (Best, 2006).  In detail, it is important to mention about the particular aspects of the solution such as materials used and specific formats (Best, 2006).  With this intention, I was able to implement my notes that I had written down from each project with each Degree Learning Outcome description.  For example, Solving Problems should employ accurate and persuasive evidence of reason with multiple approaches considered. Similarly, I took the notes connected to the Visual Story Map and generate logical reasons that would lead to solving the problem of creating a logo to represent Rainy Day Toys.  As a result, it created clarity within that Solving Problem outcome. Martin Sykes, A. Nicklas Malik, and Mark D. West describes

The three-step process is by including the information necessary to ensure the audience to identify what is being proposed. Also, it should lead to a decision via content structured in such a way that the audience will best accept.  In fact, delivering the message can convince the audience to make the decision quickly.

In connection, it was being capable to break down the evidence, visual examples, into different approaches for every Degree Learning Outcome, which made sense in the process of creating an effective presentation.

My last takeaway was learning my strengths and weakness. Throughout this course and creating a presentation, I was able to figure out what areas I was successful in and other areas I need to improve.  Even though the thesis presentation was an interesting journey into completing it,  it had elevated my skills and me as a designer.  Significantly, I have better communication skills, elevated technical skills in Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, and improved in critical thinking skills like solving problems and decision-making. Overall, concentrating on the strengths had brought a better sense of fulfillment and forward progress (Turner, 2012).

Connecting, Synthesizing, Transforming

Solving Problems

Innovative Thinking

Acquiring Competencies

References:

Ambrose, G. & Harris, P.(2009). Basic Design 08: Design Thinking. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/design/9782940439386

Best, K. (2006). Design Management. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/design/9782940439782

Sykes, M., Malik, A. N., & West, D. M. (2012). Stories that Move Mountains. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/communications/presentations/9781118423998

Turner, J. (2012). 5 ways to discover and develop your unique strengths. Retrieved from: https://www.fastcompany.com/1807534/5-ways-discover-and-develop-your-unique-strengths

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM640 Measuring Design Effectiveness

The experience in this course has been an eye-opener for me on the basis of critical thinking and creativity.  Critical thinking has contributed to widening perspective and broadening thinking possibilities of finding solutions to creative problems (Elmansy, 2017).  For example, in the process of creating the survey, it was very difficult to figure out what questions are most effective to ask towards an intended audience who might or might not be familiar about Rainy Day Toys.  In addition, finding ways to create questions that would be interesting and engaging for a defined group.  For these reasons, there were three takeaways that I learned from this course when discovering solutions to the problem.

The first takeaway was analyzing the problem.  By collecting information from the media project, I can be able to identify the strongest areas and weakest areas that would have the possibility to authenticate a creative solution.  In other words, every question should serve as a purpose to provide valid information for accurate results.  Similarly, I began to evaluate on which type of questions that would unlock the intended audience’s innermost thoughts, get the answers that I need, and help segment a customer base (Uwem, 2017).

The second takeaway was creating effective questions. In fact, the format of the questionnaire should obtain insight and desires of the target audience (Visocky O’Grady, 2009).   Furthermore, in the aspects of getting an increased rate of responses, I tried to generate an idea to have a variety of different questions that would lead to a shorter time rate to answer every question without losing the purpose of the survey. Remember, the objective here is to get into the customers’ heads and find out their deepest cravings (Uwem, 2017).  With this in mind, the questions should be short and simple to the point that addresses one issue at a time (Collins, 2010).  The questions have ratings between “1’ as not so very well and “5” as very well.  Additionally, there are other questions which have options such as  “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree” to give a recipient a choice on what they believe.   Furthermore, some questions have a link to an image to create clarification on the question.  Use language and terminology that the respondents will understand (Vannette, 2015).

The third takeaway was having creative confidence. Creative confidence can become a discomfort quickly fades away and replaced with new confidence and capabilities (Kelly, 2012). I knew by having the fear to achieve a goal to reach out to people to get responses to the questionnaire would become a challenge. However, I started to send links to social media like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to promote the survey. At the end of sending out the survey, I had the total of 11 responses and was proud of myself to reach out to the people.  As a designer, faith can give abilities to work on fighting the weaknesses and improving strengths (Banks, n.d.).  Also, it will gain knowledge and experience in new areas that could master a skill (Banks, n.d.).

References:

Banks, P. (n.d.). 10 things will happen when you stop limiting yourself. Retrieved from: http://www.lifehack.org/345621/10-things-will-happen-when-you-stop-limiting-yourself

Elmansy, R. (2017).6 steps for effective critical thinking. Retrieved from:http://www.designorate.com/steps-effective-critical-thinking/

Collins, H. (2010). Creative Research. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/design/9782940439676

Kelly, T.  & Kelly, D. (2012). Reclaim your creative confidence. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2012/12/reclaim-your-creative-confidence

Uwem, Z. (2017). Survey Questions that work: How to unlock your customer. Retrieved from: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/survey-questions-that-work/

Vannette, D. (2015). 10 tips for building effective surveys. Retrieved from: https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/10-tips-for-building-effective-surveys/

Visocky O’Grady, J. & O’Grady, K. (2009). A Designer’s Research Manual. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/graphic-design/9781592535576

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM650 Multi-Platform Delievery

This course has reflected on research, inspiration, and problem solving towards redesigning Rainy Day Toys’ brand identity presentation.  The main problem was trying to find a connection between the target audience and brand identity.  It had a lack of information and the design itself was becoming more and less visually appealing.  Looking for fresh and unusual formats in terms of layout and design is a key skill when it comes to creating visual impact (Mahon, 2010). In fact, the goal was to research and define the target audience to help elevate the design concept. Also, it was based on how to communicate the brand attributes and building upon consistency and simplicity.  Clarity allows the audience to understand what is trying to help them to achieve (Wong, 2017). By defining the target audience, the target audience to connect with the brand is parents and grandparents ages 25-64.  Knowing the target audience that is intended to communicate is just as important (Lewis, 2017).  Similarly, by researching about communicating the intended audience needs effectively, it was found by seeing how the product could benefit from parents and grandparents for preschool children.   In effect, when a child is engaged and playing with wooden toys will increase imaginative play and ability to learn. Furthermore, the brand attributes would be fun, playful, energetic and creative to best convey a joyful experience for parents, grandparents, and children.

Research

The brand identity model was inspired by Kapferer Brand Identity Prism. 

Brand Identity Model | Tool(s): Adobe Illustrator | September 2017

Inspiration was finding different examples to collect ideas to solve the problem.  Inspirations can come from online and offline sources to find creative nourishment (Malamed, 2015). In the same way, being inspired to create mood boards is to get the visual direction for the brand identity presentation. Also, the visual elements make up the mood boards are color, typography, and texture, which shows the whole look of the presentation. The goal was to communicate towards the target audience through fun and engaging designs.  

Inspiration

The goal was to achieve an engaging and fun tone to communicate to the target audience, parents, and grandparents, ages 25-64.

Mood boards (Original & Refined) | Tool(s): Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Illustrator | September 2017

Problem-solving was using research and creating a solution. Instead of starting with a problem, design thinking starts with observation (Kliever, 2015). In other words, having the understanding of the culture and context of a problem on what a person needs. (Kliever, 2015). In experimenting the ideas, it came to a decision to create an Interactive PDF that would help any reader to be more engaged and attracts more attention visually than a regular presentation.  In fact, Interactive PDF can give crisper images to greater control for branding and identity guidelines (Hollis, 2013).   In creating the Interactive PDF, the goals was to make sure it was simple to read and fun to navigate throughout the presentation.  Navigation reveals content that tells what it contains (Krug, 2013). Additionally, a clear and well thought-out navigation is the best opportunity to create a good impression (Krug, 2013).    The solution was finding that connection to the brand identity of Rainy Day Toys by breaking down through color palettes, typography imagery and the vision of the brand.  Furthermore, the goals were achieved because it took critical thinking, research, reasoning, and inspiration to help solve the design problem.

Problem-Solving

It was the strategic way to create an Interactive PDF based on inspiration and research.

 Brand Identity Presentation | Tool(s): Adobe Photoshop & Adobe InDesign | September 2017

In the future, I want to continue to understand the creative process in detail and learning to be more innovative in more projects.  For instance, during the research phase of the design thinking process, the goal is to understand and empathize with the people for whom you’re designing (Follett & Treseler, 2017). In the same way, I want to take the step-by-step creative process that would help define the target audience to create a connection between branding and design such as style guides.

Reference:

Follett, J & Treseler, M. (2017). How to apply design thinking in your organization. Retrieved from: https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/how-to-apply-design-thinking-in-your-organization

Hollis, S. (2013). Powerpoint vs. PDF. Retrieved from: http://www.offwhite.com/blog/87/powerpoint-vs-pdf/

Kliever, J. (2015). Design thinking: Learn how to solve problems like a designer. Retrieved from: https://designschool.canva.com/blog/design-thinking/

Krug, S. (2014). Don’t make me think. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/web-design-and-development/9780133597271

Lewis, J. (2017). Tips on knowing your target audience. Retrieved from:http://smallbusiness.chron.com/tips-knowing-target-audience-communicating-within-organization-36023.html 

Mahon, N. (2010). Basic Advertising 02: Art Direction. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/graphic-design/9782940439447

Malamed, C. (2015). Visual Design Solutions. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/e-learning/9781118864043

Wong, E. (2017). Simplicity in design. Retrieved from: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/simplicity-in-design-4-ways-to-achieve-simplicity-in-your-designs

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM620 Design Integration

 This month’s course has been a learning process.  It began with understanding creativity and creativity process.  Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality (Naiman, 2017).  Also, Linda Naiman states (2017)

Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions.  Creativity involves two processes: thinking, and then producing (Naiman, 2017).

The creative problem in this month’s course was defining the target audience and creating a logo that is effective to represent the brand.   The brand identity is what it makes it instantly recognizable to the consumers and the audience should associate with the brand identity with the product or service (DeBara, 2017). In fact, the advantage is building customer’s loyalty and determines how the customer will perceive the brand (DeBara, 2017).  

When the research and generating ideas is complete, it was time to plan out the design for the logo and its identities.   The brand attributes were vibrant, playful, fun, and vintage that would push the identity further. First, having ideation methods that include brainstorming, sketching ideas, adapting a tried-and-tested design that already exists in the original design that has the necessary needs to create it.  (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).  For example, it was time to re-sketch and refine the design of the “rocking horse” and finding the strongest idea to design.  The better a designer drawing skills, the better the ability to work out ideas and visually solve problems (Glistschka, 2013).    It was taking the strongest idea and evolving into exploring different shapes and colors that would be easy to recognize and make the message effective.  The winning design is typical that most closely meets the significant part of the project (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).  As well as a successful design that is simple, relevant, enduring, distinctive, memorable, and versatile (Airey, 2014). In connection, creating a moodboard that can help clarify project goals and finding the strategic direction to meet those goals  (Jenkins, 2015).   In creating the whole brand identity of Rainy Day Toys, it was creating a brand book.  A brand book can be a great reference tool that can maintain consistency and ensure the brand looks and feel the same (Chan, 2016).  The brand book has components that contain how the logo should be used and specifics of it identity such as the brand vision, typography and color palettes.adapting a tried-and-tested design that already exists in the original design that has the necessary needs to create it.  (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).  For example, it was time to re-sketch and refine the design of the “rocking horse” and finding the strongest idea to design.  The better a designer drawing skills, the better the ability to work out ideas and visually solve problems (Glistschka, 2013).    It was taking the strongest idea and evolving into exploring different shapes and colors that would be easy to recognize and make the message effective.  The winning design is typical that most closely meets the significant part of the project (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).  As well as a successful design that is simple, relevant, enduring, distinctive, memorable, and versatile (Airey, 2014). In connection, creating a moodboard that can help clarify project goals and finding the strategic direction to meet those goals  (Jenkins, 2015).   In creating the whole brand identity of Rainy Day Toys, it was creating a brand book.  A brand book can be a great reference tool that can maintain consistency and ensure the brand looks and feel the same (Chan, 2016).  The brand book has components that contain how the logo should be used and specifics of it identity such as the brand vision, typography and color palettes.

For the future as a designer, it would be the best strategic direction to take ideas and work up through stages from research and design refinement to produce a successful design. Working up a design idea involves the continued refinement of the artwork and the message it communicates (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).   Also, having more creative confidence that would drive to make things, to test them out, to get it wrong, and to keep on rolling, secure in the knowledge to innovate along the way (IDEO.org, 2015).

Final Logo/Logo Sketches

Logo Finalized and Logo Sketches | Adobe Illustrator| August 2017

Moodboards

Moodboards(Series) | Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator | August 2017

Brand Book

Front Cover 

Page 2-3

Page 4-5

Page 6-7

Page 8-9

Back Cover

Brand Book | Adobe InDesign | August 2017

Prototype (Closer View)

Prototype Collage | Adobe Photoshop | August 2017

References:

Airey, D (2014). Logo Design Love. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/branding/9780133812589

Ambrose, G & Harris, P. (2009). Basic Design 08: Design thinking. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/design/9782940439386

Chan, S. (2016). How to create a brand style guide. Retrieved from:https://99designs.com/blog/tips/how-to-create-a-brand-style-guide/#essentials

Debara, D. (2017). What is brand identity?. Retrieved from: https://99designs.com/blog/tips/brand-identity/

Glitschka, V. (2013). Learning Logo Design. Retrieved from: https://www.lynda.com/Illustrator-tutorials/Foundations-Logo-Design/112674-2.html

IDEO.org. (2015). Field Guide to Human-centered design. Retrieved from:https://www.ideo.com/work/human-centered-design-toolkit/

Jenkins, S. (2015). Moodboards for Web Designers. Retrieved from: https://www.lynda.com/Web-Prototyping-tutorials/Moodboards-Web-Designers/383665-2.html

Naiman, L. (2017). What is Creativity?. Retrieved from: http://www.creativityatwork.com/2014/02/17/what-is-creativity/

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM615 Design Strategies and Motivation

The three main things that were experienced in this course this month are human-centered design, stages 1-5 of design thinking and adapting design mindset.  On the topic of learning design, a design is a process that turns a brief or requirement into a finished product or design solution (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).  In applying to my revisions to the Rainy Day Toy logo design, the Design committee had stated, “ logo exploration was too similar and seems to be more of an illustration than a logo itself.  Furthermore, a defined stage is to understand the problem and recognizing more developed solutions (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).  On the first revision of the design problem, it was figuring out rather or not to refine the original logo or brainstorm and create new logos to push forward the brand message.  I started to research and finding inspirations to answer to my problem.   In the research stage, human-centered design is all about talking with people about their challenges, ambitions, and constraints (IDEO.org, 2015).  Based on IDEO.org (2015) “ secondary research can base on online to reading books could help ask the right questions (IDEO.org, 2015).  At first, the solutions were to take what I researched and create from that idea. The first revision was taking a visual element like an umbrella and simplified the logo.  Based on peer feedback, the logo was still busy and need to differentiate from the idea of an “umbrella”.

Original Logo

Rainy Day Toys’ Original Logo | Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop | March 2017

Sketches

Sketches | Pencil and Paper | July 2017

In this next step, I started to research and re-think my design ideas based on taking away the umbrella and used different visual elements such as wooden toys.  As a design progresses, it will become clear whether there are any misunderstandings or shortcomings (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).   I took the logos and started to contrast shapes and colors to create a distinctive and simple design.  Working in only black and white can help create distinctive marks; contrast emphasizes the shape or idea (Airey, 2014).    Before making the decision for a chosen logo, I begin to have conversation starters.  Conversations starters can begin in a dialogue and create a goal to encourage creativity and outside-the-box from the people you’re designing for (IDEO.org, 2015).   For the final revision, it was the winning design that met brand attributes energetic, playful, vibrant and simple for the select stage (Ambrose & Harris, 2009).

Logo Explorations (Full Color/Black)

Logo Explorations | Adobe Illustrator | July 2017

Revised Rainy Day Toy Design

Revised Logo Design | Adobe Illustrator | July 2017

Adapting design mindset, such as creative confidence and learn from failure had helped me out with this month’s experience.   Creative confidence had helped me open my mindset to design possibilities and create solutions to design problems as I go.  Learning from failure plays a component in the human-centered design. In addition, failure can help get it right when it’s wrong on the first try (IDEO.org, 2015). The human-centered design approach puts people and their experience at the center of product and service design. (McKinley, 2016).  Turi McKinley explains (2016) “ in part of the human-centered design approach, seek out opportunities to learn from people who expect to use the product and service” (McKinely, 2016). For the goals for the future, I want to continue to learn and explore in designing for any project.  Also, I want to begin to be open to other design perspectives to find different ideas to any design challenges faced ahead.  

Inspiration 

The design comes with various problem solving, knowledge, discipline. I am very inspired by design and what it takes to have creative motivation. 

Abduzeedo. (n.d). Daily Inspiration #1131[Digital Image]. Retrieved on: July 30, 2017, from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/276901077059457195/

References 

Airey, D. (2014). Logo Design Love. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/branding/9780133812589

Ambrose, G & Harris, P. (2009). Basic Design 08: Design Thinking. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/design/9782940439386

IDEO.org. (2015). Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. Retrieved from: https://www.ideo.com/work/human-centered-design-toolkit/

McKinley, T. (2016). User-centered Design Overview. Retrieved from:https://www.lynda.com/Creativity-tutorials/User-centered-design-overview/433738/462425-4.html?org=fullsail.edu#tab

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM570 Organizational Structures

Motion Graphics are similar to infographics, but they use video footage or animation to create the illusion to motion (Visually, 2017).   Motion graphics has played an important role to promote the company’s brand to short films through visual elements. Visual Elements combine with imagery, icons and logos, and typography. Motion graphics can use to for all sectors of social awareness programs to entertainment sectors (Jennifer, 2009). Also, motion graphics are way far better in attracting an attention of the viewers than static pictures or graphics (Jennifer 2009). Adobe After Effects is the industry standard for motion design and effects and allows you to create visual compositions (Robinson, 2012). In fact, After Effects has the purpose and usage of 2D or 3D animations.

The three takeaways from this course are the 12 Basic Principles of Animation in Motion Design, After Effects and Premiere Pro programs, and communicating design through content and sound. 12 basic principles of animation in motion design are

Squash and Stretch (adding exaggeration to an object in motion)

Staging (establishes mood and create focus)

Straight Ahead Action & Pose to Pose(technique of drawing for each pose) 

Slow In and Slow Out (picking up momentum with full speed)

Arc(someone shoots an arrow and rarely flies completely straight)

Secondary Action(primary movement in the motion of a person walking to a bird flying)

Timing( essential aspect of the way frames are drawn)

Solid Drawing(enhanced level of realism to the skill of drawing)

Appeal(character can be ugly or evil with certain level of charisma that makes sense to the story)

Exaggeration(every action, pose and expression is taken to the next level)

Follow Through and Overlapping Action(having body parts and appendages drag behind the rest of the body) (Pannafino, 2015)

I learned that each principle of animation can have the quality of communication. For example, according to Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv(n.d.), one of the animations, Carrier, it was created for a logo and main title sequence(Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, n.d.). The title sequence is reversed the scale relationship between the people and ship and features the six character of each of their personalities (Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, n.d.).

After Effects are made up of six key components: compositions, layers, animation, effects and 3D and rendering (Robinson, 2015). I learned that After Effects contains layers that would help organize the files and building up elements to create the animation. The animation is made up of effects that are used to enhance the attraction to the viewer. Also, by rendering the animation is has the capability to bundled composition files for  M4V or MOV files. Premiere Pro is a popular edit to everything that is short and simple to large scales(Kennedy, 2015).  I learned that Premiere Pro takes the time to understand and being able to control multiple sets of files at a specific time. In my opinion, Premiere Pro is less complex and more difficult to creating and deliver a certain message through motion design.

Visual communication isn’ t just trying to grab attention. It’s all about designs, your passions, your ideas, and finding the best way to communicate with the world (Taylor, 2013). Through experience in this course, as a designer takes different approaches to communicating content and audio through film or video. Ashley Kennedy explains (2015) a different emotion thus a different result(Kennedy, 2015). It is important to provide context and relationships between people and environment, or when to use closeups to heighten emotions or provide detail (Kennedy, 2015).  In a video aspect to create a “social object”, a viral video is a “social object” that is a vehicle for conversation and shared conversation (Schreiber, 2012). A person can like or even love the brand, however, brand videos transcend to sell and establishes the brand as a storyteller.

As a designer, I want to continue to learn about Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro. I want to continue to learn to communicate more through my design and videos.  From present and future, being able to take any brand and enhance it.

Turtle Boogie Down

Turtle Boogie Down’s Logo | Tool: Adobe Illustrator | June 2017 

Final Moodboard | Tool(s): Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign | May 2017

Logo Design & Sketch | Tool: Adobe Illustrator | June 2017

Turtle Boogie Down’s Promotional Video | Tool(s): Adobe After Effect, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop | June 2017

Inspiration

Leupold, J. ( n.d.). Do the Wagner[Digital Image] Retrieved from: http://leupsi.com/portfolio-item/do-the-wagner/

I am inspired by this picture because every movement and emotion communicate a message for each scene.  

Reference:

Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. (n.d.). Carrier. Retrieved from:http://www.cghnyc.com/motion-graphics/carrier/

Kennedy, A. (2015). What is Adobe Premiere Pro?. Retrieved from: https://www.lynda.com/Premiere-Pro-tutorials/What-Adobe-Premiere-Pro/434066/449441-4.html#tab

Kennedy, A.(2015). Introduction to Video Editing. Retrieved from:https://www.lynda.com/Premiere-Pro-tutorials/What-editors-role-storytelling-process/193836/369149-4.html#tab

Leupold, J. ( n.d.). Do the Wagner[Digital Image] Retrieved from: http://leupsi.com/portfolio-item/do-the-wagner/

Jennifer, A. (2009). Top 8 Importance of Motion Graphics in Animation. Retrieved from: http://www.webanddesigners.com/top-8-importance-of-motion-graphics-in-animation/

Pannafino, J. (2015). 12 Basic Principles of Animation in Motion Design Retrieved from: http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/12-basic-principles-animation-motion-design/

Robinson, I. (2012). What is After Effects?. Retrieved from: https://www.lynda.com/After-Effects-tutorials/What-After-Effects/97575/105001-4.html#tab

Robinson, I. (2015). Six Foundations of Afer Effects. Retrieved from: https://www.lynda.com/Video-Compositing-tutorials/six-foundations-After-Effects/437367/442378-4.html#tab

Schreiber, C. (2012). 5 Best Practices for Creating Viral Branded Videos. Retrieved from: http://mashable.com/2012/04/04/viral-brand-videos-how-to/#B_nfoSln2Zq3

Taylor, A. (2013). Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/animation-and-3d/9780240811819 

Visually. (2017). What are Motion Graphics?. Retrieved from:https://visual.ly/m/what-are-motion-graphics/

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM565 Design Research

As James Beaird and James George states (2014) designing a website can be a double-edged sword. The process falls somewhere between art, science, and problem-solving. As designers, it is important to meet the available needs for the client (Beaird & George, 2014).  The design process is made up of discovery, exploration, and implementation.  Discovery is a meeting with potential clients and learning about what they do. It is important to take the clients' interests and establish communication for an effective design. On the other hand, Exploration is the process to take information from the client and analyze, dissect, and experiment. The main process in exploration is known as information architecture, IA for short. (Beaird & George, 2014). Information architecture is applied to sort out the content and foundation of web design. Implementation is the start of building up a layout from one of the previous design process, exploration.  

As I applied these elements into my moodboards, wireframes, and comps, I learned to take feedback from other classmates. I took the process to understand their point of view and applied their feedback to my designs.  My confidence was tested in the process; it was my responsibility to narrate through theme and style that any intended audience can understand.  The point is not that we should add stories to our sites to ensnare narrative-starved readers. The point is the reader’s journey through our site is a narrative experience. Our job is to make the narrative satisfying (Bernstein, 2001).  I explored, analyze, and created wireframes and sketches for my layouts. As a designer, I took what I understand and enhance my design every time.  It is the overriding principle- the tiebreaker when deciding whether or not a design works or not. In other words, it means that as far as is humanly possible, to take a look at a webpage and it should be self-evident and self-explanatory (Krug, 2013).

Moodboards 

MoodBoards |May 2017| Tool(s): Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign

MoodBoards(Revisions) |May 2017| Tool(s): Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign

WireFrames and Preliminary Sketches

Wireframes/Preliminary Sketches | May 2017

Design Comps

Design Comp Part 1 |May 2017| Tool(s): Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign

Design Comp Part 2 |May 2017| Tool(s): Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign

In previous experience with web designing through Adobe software Dreamweaver, I wanted to learn more about coding and designing content. Design Research had helped me understand about usability, functionality, and content of any website. By having a nice design site is great and all, but it really doesn’t matter all that much if your site doesn’t function well (Turner, 2016).  However, if a person creates a website that works and presents information well, but looks ugly or fails to fit the client’s brand, no one will use it. Overall, it is important to keep in mind that design is about communication (Beaird &George, 2014). Currently, in web design, I want to research and continue to explore other websites' content.  In connection to researching and exploring other websites’ content, I am aspired to persevere and continue to create websites through coding and web design software applications.

Web designers are responsible for creating a website that is engaging to current and potential customers in order to enhance a company’s online presence (Paladin, 2017). Also, they can corporate copyrighting and graphic design as well. From the experiences in this course and applying it to my future career, I want to give stronger communication abilities to interact with colleagues and clients. My short-term goal is to produce excellent eye for design and ability to have the knowledge to understand design elements. In the meantime, I am yearning to corporate website design ideas that can bring effortlessness and user friendliness toward my websites and design comps.  Even if there is a difference between the layout of the homepage and rest of the site, a cohesive theme or style should exist to help the hold the design together(Beaird &George, 2014).

Zimmerman, S. (2012). Web Design Humor [Digital Image]. Retrieved May 28, 2017, from: https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/web-designer-developer-jokes-humour-funny/

Inspired by this comic cause in the beginning of the course, I was in the same boat as the two female characters in the comic. Now at the end of the Design Research class, I am able to comprehend and apply it to my ideas and future designs. 

References:

Beaird, J & George, J. (2014). Principles of Beautiful Web Design. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/web-design-and-development/9781457174353

Bernstein, M. (2001). Beyond Usability and Design: The Narrative Web. Retrieved from: https://alistapart.com/article/narrative

Krug, S. (2013). Don’t Make Me Think. Retrieved from: http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/web-design-and-development/9780133597271

Turner, A.(2016). 10 Web Design Trends you can expect in 2016. Retrieved from:https://thenextweb.com/dd/2016/01/01/10-web-design-trends-can-expect-see-2016/#.tnw_2vzOfXk5

Paladin Companies. (2017). Web Designer Job Description. Retrieved from:http://www.paladinstaff.com/jobs/careers/web-designer-job-description/

Zimmerman, S. (2012). Web Design Humor [Digital Image]. Retrieved May 28, 2017, from: https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/web-designer-developer-jokes-humour-funny/

[srejourneyofmastery-blog]

MDM555 Effective Copywriting

This course had been a turning point for me. I learned from the reading, Advertising: Concept and Copy by George Felton, designing, and researching; and made it to the next level of critical thinking and creativity.  Felton (2014) believed that creative skills, like any others, will improve with practice, and creativity follows (Felton, 2014).  The three things I took away from this course and applying to my future as a media designer is learning about copywriting such as taglines to call to action, learning about the non-profit organization, Equality Now, and creating swipe files, personas, and testimonial ads.

Learning about Copywriting

I learned so much from copywriting such as taglines to headlines that would help the brand. I did not know copywriting plays an effective role in the design and for the brand’s personality and tone. It takes a lot of research and knowledge to create a message that is significant to the public. The first job as a copywriter was to understand the character of your client’s brand (Felton, 2014).  Also, advertising plays a role in marketing the brand. It is like a form of persuading the people to understand a message that represents the brand itself. There are characteristics of creating the copy, such as the headline, the copy, tagline, and call of action to create the brand’s language and imagery.  

The lowdown on copywriting [Digital Image]

Inspirational Piece. It is very funny because, similarly, I thought about copywriting.As I learned about copywriting, I understand in depth how important is copywriting for the brand. 

The Creation Process

Edward de Bono (2014) states:

“The purpose of thinking is not to be right but to be effective. Being effective does eventually involve being right but there is a very important difference between the two. Being right means being right all the time. By being effective, it means to be right only at the end. The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar there is to new ideas. It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong than to be always right by having no ideas at all” (Bono, 2014).

As creating a swipe file for inspiration, it helped differentiate how each brand uses words to help communicate and value their brand towards their target audience. It took researched to keep myself confused and to solve the advertising problem.  The specifics of the advertising problem will help center the person’s thinking.  How someone thinks through an advertising problem comes from the nature of the project. It can lead to certain directions –and give an idea (Felton, 2014).  In connection, learning about the non-profit organization, Equality Now, it helped me to understand their voice, personality, and purpose.  Felton (2014) believed that a brand believes in things beyond a simple well-made product, for instance, bigger possibilities and responsibilities to pursue and accept. It believes in more things to become worth believing in (Felton, 2014).   Equality Now had a specific target audience which are young girls and older women.  By creating personas, I can understand what image and language for the brand to decide what approach I can use to create testimonial ads.  I chose the age between 18-35 to have it more of a logical approach.   As creating testimonial ads, I learned from the overall experience successfully. I was able to specify why copywriting and advertising to create the brand’s image is important.  It was a challenge to not overthink the concept but finding the solution.  It is important to suspend judgments and be a critic later.  By having lateral thinking, it is defined to generate a variety of approaches from different starts to half-ideas (Felton, 2014).

Target Audience Profile (Personas)--(1) | Aamira Ali | April 2017

Target Audience Profiles (Personas)--(2) | Olivia Gomez |April 2017

Testimonial Ads

Testimonial Ad based on Abuse (1) | Tools: Adobe Lightroom, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe InDesign| Equality Now: Justice for Girls Campaign| April 2017

Testimonial Ad based on Abuse (2) | Tools: Adobe Lightroom, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe InDesign| Equality Now: Justice for Girls Campaign| April 2017

Testimonial Ad based on Abuse (3) | Tools: Adobe Lightroom, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe InDesign| Equality Now: Justice for Girls Campaign| April 2017

References:

De Bono, E. (2014). Advertising: Concept and Copy.  Retrieved from: https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780393733921

Felton, G. (2014). Advertising: Concept and Copy. Retrieved from: https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780393733921

Sothern, E. (2017). The lowdown on copywriting. [Digital Image]. Retrieved from:http://emmasothern.com/

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Mastery Journey Reflection: MDM530 Brand Development

Getting a large diverse group of people to agree on a single new global identity, the designers has to be a strategist, diplomat, show, and even a Svengali

                                                                                -Paula Scher  

Hello,

In design management, the need for experienced design directors to join senior management team to oversee and build a brand. Also, according to Wheeler (2012), experienced design directors should manage the design group and identify specialists unless needed (Wheeler, 2012, p. 114). The companies who value design which tend to be more successful in the areas of marketing and communications. In the brand identity programs, it thrives towards outside firms to have the right qualifications, experience, time and staffing.  However, the outside companies have a problem containing internal groups.  Internal groups can make things happen and have the approach to connect with external firms for questions, clarifications, and other circumstances.

The internal design team has the characteristics being managed by creative or design director. It has the ability to commit to brand identity standards to open channels of communication with senior management and within the group. However, one of their biggest challenges is lacking the clarity about the brand. It was one of Margo Chase’s challenges with Starbuck’s internal design department. Chase didn’t want to change the purpose of the brand but wanted to dissect the essence of Starbuck’s brand and determine what the brand is made up and define.

Maturity model for design management connects with Chase, according to Wheeler (2012), internal design departments drives company priorities and brand vision and lead to a development of brand standards (Wheeler, 2012, p. 115).  Chase created a consumer style guide, a guide for other people to give an asset to them and create products that fit well with the brand and logo.  In the connection, in the Strategists and Advisors level of the maturity model for design management, having to set priorities and efforts to base on brand knowledge. The design department can design and execute and measures effectiveness to add value through best practices.  Chase and their design department had to use their knowledge by style explorations to logo deconstructions to know what they need to know about which product would look like for Starbuck’s brand. 

The three main takeaways I learned from this course and how they are most important to me as a media designer is:

•   In the beginning of the course, from Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler, I learned that the brand ideals such as flexibility, value to commitment have the responsibility to determine brand identity on how creative a new product or service looks like to repositioning a brand. It is important because as a media designer, I can use these terms to create a brand to figure out particular ideas on how the brand values determine the company.

•   I learned from Sean Adams’ Foundation of Branding for Designers on Lynda, Adams (2015) believed the brand is created in the consumer’s mind.  Every point of contact a consumer has a company has a brand perception (Adams, 2015). It is important to me because a brand is a communication and message to the consumer.

•   Lastly, in Design Management by Kathryn Best and the Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier, Kathryn (2006) states that design can create value through innovation, improved functionality, visual differentiation and positive customer experience (Kathryn, 2006, p. 34). In the Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier, Neumeier (2005) states an unfocused brand is a brand that doesn’t stand for anything. A focused brand knows what it is, why is it different and why people want it (Neumeier, 2005, p. 44). This aspect is important to me as a media designer because creating the branding identity presentation and finding the differentiation between the direct competitors; it was important to research on what each brand stands for, why each brand is different and why the brand aim towards certain primary audiences. (Such as Modström target audiences are young women and Rainy Day Toys‘ target audiences are parents, grandparents, and preschoolers.

Rainy Day Toys Brand Concept

        Rainy Day Toy Rebrand | Tool(s): Photoshop and Illustrator | March 2017

                                     Font Selection for the logo: Foo 

                   Style and Logo Explorations (Inspired by Sean Adams)| Tool:   InDesign | March 2017

                 Color Palette | Tool(s): Illustrator and Photoshop | March 2017

Rebrand and Competitive Company

My rebrand company was Modström and I have to research and determine the differentiation between Modström and other direct competitors. Brands need to demonstrate their difference and make it easy for customers to understand that difference( Wheeler, 2012, p. 44).

   Competitor’s Analysis | Brand: Modström, Direct Competitors: Minimum and Morgan (Morgan De Toi) | March 2017

                              Modström ReDesign Sketch Ideas | March 2017

References

Adams, S.(2015). Foundations of Branding for Designers: What makes a brand?. Retrieved from:https://www.lynda.com/Design-Color-tutorials/What-makes-brand/363131/380164-4.html

Best, K.  (2006). Design Management: Creative Edge Classic. p. 34,44. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/-/9782940439782/knowledge/34?bookview=search&query=34

Neumeier, N. (2005). The Brand Gap: Creative Edge Classic. p. 44. Retrieved from:http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/branding/0321348109/differentiate/ch01lev1sec4?bookview=search&query=44&reader=html&imagepage

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Mastery Journal Reflection: MDM525
 Defining Client Needs

In defining client needs, a designer can develop research and critical thinking skills, concise presentation, and design.  A designer has the capability to research design solutions to be able to communicate with their targeted clients. The important step of cultivating an environment of research, it is the main key to aim and provides documentation that can support design decisions (O’Grady, 2009).  By nature, designers are visual people. Designers can communicate through the use of typography, color, and imagery (O’Grady, 2009). In reference to Margo Chase, in learning to understand the client needs, Chase chose to develop her own brand identity to create a presentation and unique designs for her targeted clients.  In my opinion, as a designer, a person can take visual aesthetics and critical thinking skills to inform and inspire by being visual and verbal connected to a client on a professional level.

Hierarchy and Navigation | Shakespeare’s Play Announcement | Tool: InDesign | February 2017

Color, Contrast, and Scale | Getting Type to Pop (Grand Canyon) | Tool: InDesign | February 2017

Nigel French’s Challenge Exercise (Re-Design Posters) | Tool: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop | February 2017

Romeo and Juliet Posters | Tool: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop | February 2017

I have learned and been inspired by this course.  Throughout the course, I had accomplished my goals by improving my visual designs and decisions for client needs.  First, I want to mention that Margo Chase had inspired me by using design solutions and research to help communicate through my designs.  In using visual elements of typography, I already had expertise in using typography and imagery. However, by learning from this course, it had helped improve my typography skills by understanding that type plays a vital role of media. It could form a critical impression about a message (Saltz, 2013).  Also, good type choices can add a powerful boost to the information and become more visible and easily accessible (Saltz, 2013).  Layout and composition had significantly helped my visual design. According to Sean Adams (2013), balance and tension can create viewer’s interest. Contrast and scale between large and small elements can create an interesting composition (Adams, 2013). Lastly, I learned from this course is being able to network and communicate with my fellow classmates and others. For example, by creating and turning in my finished projects, I received feedback which gave me more insight to produce a better design and improve a concise presentation.  

Adams, Sean. 2013, 31 October. Foundations of Layout and Composition. Retrieved from: https://www.lynda.com/Design-tutorials/Foundations-Layout-Composition/135095-2.html

O’Grady J & K. 2009, 1 February. A Designer’s Research Manual: Succeed in Design by knowing your clients and What they really need. Retrieved from: Safari Books Online

Saltz, Ina. 2013, 1 February. Foundations of Typography. Retrieved from: https://www.lynda.com/Design-Typography-tutorials/Foundations-Typography/106698-2.html

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This Inspiration of the week is About Typography. Typography can describe and create an image by expressing a mood to every word.

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My Inspiration of the week.

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Mastery Timeline

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Month 1 Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership

Goals/Strategies

Figure out and jump start my path to my dream career

Improve and produce more skills 

Overcome Emotional Pitfalls (Conservatism and Impatient)

My strategies 

  As a designer,  I want to know more about myself to determine what I would enjoy and excel in it. 

 I have to set goals and take steps and utilize resources. 

Month 2     

Defining Client Needs

Goals/Strategies

Applying Network Skills

Ability to connect and understand my clients

Leadership skills

My strategies  

I am aiming to establish trust and connect to the client needs.

Month 3 

Brand Development

Goals/Strategies

Improve Designing skills*

Learn Marketing/Advertising Skills

Ability to find my own Career Identity  

My strategies 

The tactic is to experiment and be able to connect with the targeted of the public to the fashion a work of art

I want to be able to find and focusing on my targeted audience. Also, I want to research to identify my identity and who I represent.

Month 4 Effective Copywriting

Goals/Strategies

Establish Visual Communication Skills

Ability to use good content to become a good writer

Produce User experience skills

My strategies

By producing marketing skills, I want to create elements which are original and flexible by switching one perspective to another. 

I want to learn Ideation techniques to create a creative concept

Month 5 Design Research

Goals/Strategies

Ability to create  Creative Strategies through research 

Able to Conceptualize and make design decisions 

Create Research FrameWork to help with ideas problems 

My strategies

I want to accomplish levels of energies and master the basic focus on higher matters.

Month 6 Organizational Structure

Goals/Strategies

Ability Execute Details and generate structure

Generate a Creative-Active Phase

Start a Plan of Action and use different patterns of thinking

My Strategies

I want to establish a solid foundation and use resources to strategize solutions based on design decisions.

I want to handle intellectual challenges. 

I want to manage and develop a step-by-step method to find design possibilities. 

Month 7 

Design Strategies and Motivation

Goals/Strategies

Accomplish Knowledge of Marketing/Advertising

Created a Social Platform* 

Manage an Organization and layout of visual designs 

My Strategies

I want to already establish a role marketing and branding and clearly defined through a targeted audience.

I want to set and expose an effective message through social media. 

I want to use active imaginations to naturally absorb information and generate possibilities.

Month 8 Design Integration

Goals/Strategies

Adapt to have an open and fluid mindset 

Capable of having an advantage of two connected fields, graphic and media design and connecting possibilities

Enhancing Visual  communication 

My Strategies

I want to deal with certain changes in my career. In the process, I want to able apply and gain more knowledge

I want to research design content and function

I want to have the visual approach and manage useful design ideas.

Month 9 Multi-Platform Delivery

Goals/Strategies

Connect and Contact with Designers

Develop a Small Clientele 

Learn to use Professional Presentations

My Strategies

I want to strategize to seek out meet-up groups and join design organizations.

In order to develop a small clientele, I have to become approachable and carry business cards.

I want to present verbal and visual skills and organize a structure to entertain ideas.

Month10

Measure Design Effectiveness

Goals/Strategies

Accomplish knowledge of Design Strategy

Design Thinking

Embrace my role as a Designer

My Strategies

Using this approach, I can find better solutions to my design, research, and produce critical thinking skills.

At this moment, I would be able to think outside the box. I want to establish another plan of action. I want a plan to consists possible obstacles and able set goals in a different perspective.

Month 11

Thesis: Presentation of Design Solution

Goals/Strategies

Approaching Professionally

Accomplish Network Skills

Accomplish Visual Elements 

My Strategies

I want to be able to have expertise in my career.

I want to be able to have network full of similar visual designers.

Month 12 Professional Practice

Goals/Strategies

Improved Art Portfolio

Accomplished Plan of Actions

Graduate/Have a Masters Degree/ Great Job Opportunity

My Strategies

I want to have a portfolio full of visual aesthetic during and after Full Sail

I want to accomplish ALL my goals while I am pursing my MFA.

I want to have my degree and have a open opportunity for employment.

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My Logo (Shawniece. Raqual. Eppes)