kwilkinssvad-gd

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

This semester was probably my favorite class so far. I was able to tap into so many creative sides- not only website design, but packaging, branding, concept creating, and collaboration. I learned how to animate GIFs, make mockups on Adobe Dimension, learned how to make components on Adobe XD, create websites from scratch, illustrate, and created products/companies/ideas by myself. It was hard trying to brand something new each week, but I look back and am proud of all of my work. My favorite inquiry was Reneau, the reusable perfume bottle service. I thought that it was a really unique idea and think it could help reduce waste. It was also fun to illustrate perfume bottles and create a pattern that was Parisian. The hardest project has been Welcome to Design because I wanted to fully flesh out the website, do a good job, have a consistent theme, create fun components and graphic elements, and have each CTA work. I have a lot to learn in the UI/UX department, along with branding but am glad that I feel really comfortable with Adobe XD now. 

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

Longo Workshop

I appreciated Nick’s presentation because he went through all of his special techniques that make his company special. I had never heard about brand archetypes, so hearing him explain that was really cool. For a brand, it’s the euphoria of finding a character that fits the ideal part of the company. It’s the same feeling when we find out our enneagram or myers-briggs test results. 

I also found it interesting when he showed the mood board of inspiration because I find it really hard to find one singular theme that I expect the client to like. Every time I make logos for someone, I make around thirty options, which can be overwhelming. It’s due to the fear of being embarrassed that they won’t like any. Nick gave good advice on picking out two or three big options in full mockups that he thinks would actually work, and presenting them in a way that makes it look real. 

Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon

I think this was an interesting event to attend, as I had never realized that editing Wikipedia basically was like editing a blog. I always thought it had to be academics and then some random high schoolers adding in a random fake sentence, rather than something that people do seriously. The tutorial was pretty easy to follow and the music in the background made it fun. I think if we were able to prepare material way ahead of time, it would have made it easier to engage in the process.  Or, if we all chose a topic to research and then talk about our findings and then post it, would’ve made editing a lot easier. 

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

Inquiry 5

This was an exploration into software I haven’t really ever used. Most of the time, I was frustrated with the program, and the restrictions that Photoshop had that didn’t exist in Illustrator. I had to teach myself the basics of Photoshop while also learning an intermediate skill, which made it harder. The process was cool to look back at, and see an actual GIF come to be. My dad once told me about when he saw his first GIF in the 80s, and how technology has made it SO much easier to animate. 

Tumblr doesn’t let me add videos with images, so each GIF would have to be a separate post. Here are the frames from the bike GIF that made up three seconds of content. As I said in my presentation, I was fascinated with the fact that Disney animators would create 14,400 + frames for a 10 minute cartoon. I feel like I found a staircase that could lead me into another technological realm.

I really wanted to focus on light and perspective to shape the movement, rather than just drawing lines to depict movement. I also changed colors slightly to show the effect of the light.

Media #5

This podcast kept reminding me of how clothing has been less elaborate throughout the decades, to appeal to more people, cost less, and appeal to culture. I think logos reflect this as well. 

Rebranding of logos is always a double-edged sword because the nostalgia and memories associated with the company/organization/product feels like it has almost disappeared, and that the identity has changed. But on the other hand, it does show that brands are keeping up with the times and not getting left behind. What once was cool, becomes common, becomes out of trend, and then is outdated. The key is figuring out what is ahead of the times.

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

This was one of the best and quickest learning periods for me. After watching a few videos on YouTube, I quickly got the hang of Adobe Dimension. After each rendering, my laptop sounded like it was a jet plane because the fan was so loud. This was an exploration into a new program that I had never used before (well, I have. But it never looked decent). 

Since Dimension is stock mockups, it was really cool to see how easy it is to manipulate designs on products. In Illustrator, I’d always have to transform the text/illustration myself, so this saved me So. Much. Time. 

I decided to do renderings of things that I could actually see in Blum, based off of what was available in the free templates. Blum sells merch, but it sits there for weeks because it doesn’t sell, and a better design would get it off the shelves. I consistently asked myself, “Is this instagrammable? Would people want to post how cute or modern this product is online?” 

Media #4

Page 31 talks about settling on black and white by the way it strengthens the optical play between the words. I’m a big fan of black, white, + one color. A fatal flaw of mine is that I always end up choosing the first design first, and most of the time don’t even try a different route. I can’t believe that Schraivogel planned out so many different posters that all looked awesome, and still scrapped them. He said that they were “too limited of a viewpoint.” My question is how the heck does he know it’s a limited viewpoint? 

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

Inquiry #3

I realized that I go to coffee shops way too often, run into so many people that I’m friends with, and find community in these spaces. It’s vital to keep small businesses alive, especially during COVID. The rebranding was due to major frustration with the lack of information and accessibility that Blum had for its patrons. The website no longer existed, and the only way to view hours was on Facebook, or it sent you to a delivery site to view delivery details. Creating a website specifically to allow the user to see important information that would actually influence customer sales was necessary. 

Blooming, plants, flowers, and eco were all themes that came to mind. Green is a staple color in the interior, but is lime green. Aesthetically, patrons nowadays wouldn’t want to wear lime green t-shirts. Dark green, sage, medium dark green, and a pop of orange were chosen because of the nature influence. Coffee shops are known to be hubs for meetups, classes, work, and reading. Creating a calming color palette, while appealing to the customer, and reflecting how the coffee tastes, all were priorities. 

By doing the website first, it allows for rebranding of the whole company. I’d like to see how this furthers into a complete revamp!

Media #3

It’s interesting to hear about creating based off of anger and that the underlying issue has caused them to explode. Personally, I like to design exciting, happy, eye-catching, wondrous design, rather than design based off of my emotions. I did like his comment that he ran to creative work because it’s a place of non-judgement. I think I did the same because I had done field hockey, dance, weightlifting, show choir, mathletes, honor societies...etc and found that I was constantly competing in every aspect of my life. I wanted to create something that no one else could create, and design is the space for that. 

Workshop

I sewed a lot of clothes in high school, but had never attempted embroidery because I felt like it would make me seem like an old woman. This was easy and fun, and I got to create my own embroidery rather than go off of a template!

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

This project was a fun spin on something that I use every day. Inspired by Glossier, I realized that most popular perfumes have a pinky peach tone, so I decided to use that color scheme. It was also inspired by a Parisian cafe, where the tiling on those floors can be seen throughout the website. I had difficulty with Adobe Dimension, but the mockup was supposed to be as minimal and simple as possible to reduce waste, but durable enough to go through mailing & be reused multiple times. I love the creative freedom I have to run with a project at full speed and see where it takes me. 

The design matters podcast had some interesting talking points- I honed in on the “if it doesn’t ship it doesn’t count” because I do a lot of personal work that is rarely seen by anyone else, and never printed out or hung up. On almost every project I work on, it never feels finished or good enough, so I don’t print it out. Seth Godin also mentioned how he got really bad feedback from people who cared about him, and I resonated with that. Both of my parents are business-minded, my sister is in medicine, and my other sister is a fellow creative. I trust my creative sister’s opinion & advice probably more than the rest, but sometimes she isn’t always right. I have to go with my gut if I’m questioning it. 

The Focus on the User workshop helped me understand the mindset of the designer, and it opened a creative space for me to brainstorm and create. I had never really thought about packaging targeting a specific demographic, but I have thought about Apple’s “experience” when opening up a new phone or laptop. 

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

Inquiry #1: 

Originally thinking of doing a baby mobile, I considered buying felt and string to create it. But, since it wasn’t hardware, I turned against it, and decided to buy 7 rings and a carabiner. It reminded me of my babysitting days where I would see the mom give her child her keys to rattle and play with, which was incredibly dirty and dangerous. But I did understand the other side of being in a public place and getting side eyes and angry looks from the people around her from not being able to quiet her daughter who was in pain from her teeth shifting. If I could combine the two, I would have a great product. 

The minimalist blogger mom was the ideal target, since they would be the ones buying it. Its color palette is soft enough to remind you of babies, and neutral enough to be for a boy or a girl. My favorite concept in the whole project was the cloud pouch that could assist in cleaning the rings. If I could change anything, it would be the shape of the key ring, and a revamp of the site that I built. Since the website was built really fast, I would go back and edit it to look more like a shopping website rather than a one page scrolling blog. This project did feel like a more realistic version of working at an ad agency by creating content quickly and designing fast on short deadlines. 

99% Invisible: 

I think that it is very interesting to use every day packaging to reach a huge group of people who aren’t involved in the issue. It reminds me of products like advertisements on shopping carts where everyone has to go, and most everyone will see the ad for the whole shopping trip.  Since it was a unique idea to add the Rock the Vote to the back of a longbox, it caught on well because it was a tangible “thing” that the listener could hold in their hands that came from an artist that they liked, and seeing that it was important enough to the artist to include on an album! 

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

This project was the easiest and also the hardest. Creatively, I didn’t have to come up with artistic pieces for the site since they were already done. It was very easy to get frustrated with this because I had never used it before. I’m so used to illustrator and the ability to click and drag that I would try the same movement at least ten times before realizing that it’s not allowed. I spent a ton of time just trying to figure out div blocks (lol). But, this is definitely something I could see myself using in the future to design websites for people- a double whammy sort of deal. It’s got me thinking of combining both illustration/design and web design into a career. 

Since I used a template, not much truly changed as I was working through the website. It mostly was just figuring out padding/margins and how to size the image correctly, and have it load in preview in the correct spot. It did frustrate me how in the designer, everything was centered/level, but then when in preview mode, everything became really wack. I had to keep going back and forth and it felt like everything looked “off” in designer. I think if I had had a tutorial on the basics and then a practice go round, it would’ve helped a lot! Overall, I liked this portion of web design, and think it is useful for future students. Thanks Meena for a great semester- I learned a lot!

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

Project 3

Inspiration ^

Starting this project, I immediately thought of rural areas, where bear wrestling would take place. I felt like I had a lot of ways I could take this, but I thought that I would try to appeal to someone who still participates in the act. I originally went for a nature color palette, and realized that it wouldn't stand out. Red, blue, and tan just kept popping up, and it was colors that I never use, so I thought I'd run with it.

I learned that you're supposed to start with mobile and move to desktop, and more about the importance of legibility and drop shadows. My style is more illustrative focused, so I tried to include that side to keep the viewer engaged, and keep my aesthetic in the finished product. I struggled trying to fit textures in without making the web design too overwhelming. I feel comfortable with the basics of XD, but get flustered when trying to incorporate movement/hidden gems in the site. One place I can improve in is the color scheme- I have a lot of colors in my site (red, blue, tan, black, white, grey) because of all of the illustrations. I needed to make sure that the illustrations could be seen and understood clearly, and being against colored backgrounds made it difficult.

#blogpostproject3

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

I thought that this process became easier the longer I worked on it. I struggled with the color scheme and making it family-friendly. The original website lacked an exciting element- every page looked the exact same with very simple elements. The logo was hand drawn, and the neon purple cheapened the organization. By choosing colors that reminded me of dog commercials (Blue Buffalo dog food, K9 Advantix commercial), I thought that would bridge similarities. The softer colors made it more welcoming and not to harsh on the eyes. 

I didn’t log how many hours I spent on the redesign, but it was definitely over 45 hours, which is a lot more than I was expecting. But, whenever I work on something, I want to complete to the point where I am proud of it and would put it in my portfolio. I think spending that much time made me feel like I understood the basic elements of XD. Since I attended all of the office hours, I felt like I received good feedback to maximize the ability of the user. 

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

Project 1 was definitely interesting as I had never done Adobe XD before. At first I was extremely confused on how it worked, and had to get some extra help on that. I think this is super useful for interface design, but I don’t really know how to connect the coding portion to the interface- maybe that will be something I learn later on this semester. Something I learned was how to create links on the prototype portion that allow the user to navigate through the website. Interface-wise, I think it would be much easier to navigate if there were multiple pages rather than a single, long page. 

I decided to go with this theme as an editorial approach because I wanted it to be on the more serious side, and thought that the color scheme worked well. I got the inspiration on my flight from Los Angeles (I was there when the project was assigned), and thought it was a little more modern and adult. 

BLOG POST #2

[kwilkinssvad-gd]

Starting a new software was a little bit intimidating, but I quickly figured out how useful both CodeAcademy and Figma are. Ryan, Rebecca, and I were assigned letterformarchive.org to study the setup of the site and how the navigation was designed to be as seamless as possible. Because our website was much more expansive than other websites, we decided to divide and conquer. I went through the News tab and put every link as a new box with a corresponding label. Ryan did a different approach of saying what the element was and making a large list. Once I got the hang of it, it felt very similar to Adobe, just simpler.

In regards to CodeAcademy, I found it to be very easy. I’ve taken three coding classes at USC, so the setup of HTML and CSS come naturally to me. It was good to receive a refresher on tables, lists, images, divs, and links. It will be interesting to see how I can connect the coding portion and the XD portion to make a good site. 

BLOG POST #1