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Stranger things

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P Style | KNSCRY ©

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rain in tokyo

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Our playground.

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Where did all the time go?

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Final Mastery Journal

Personal Development and Leadership

Within this class was I was able to gain a better understanding of myself and the “why” I was pursuing this degree. This class and the reading material we were required to read allowed me to learn more about myself and the level of ambition that I display in excelling in all that I put my mind too. This initial introduction to the MDMFA program was something that was needed in order to stay focused and motivated to excelling In the classes to come. At the end of this journey, It can be said that this class increased my own confidence in myself to look at the idea of more complex sides of creativity and dive in “head first.”

Thesis Project - This course helped in keeping me motivated through the thesis project completion. The Thesis project was one of the most mentally taxing pieces of work throughout the MDMFA program and with that being said, keeping in mind that strong level of “grit” kept my focus on completing the project and completing it to the best of my ability.

Greatest Triumph - the beginning of my future.

         2. Defining Client Needs

Defining client needs allowed me to understand the client and the role the client serves within the creative space. This allows me to understand how to interact with a potential client, the specific questions that I as a designer must ask to develop the best product.

This class taught me the basics of Brainstorming. Utilizing word-maps to develop sketches rooted in prior research.

Greatest triumph: The use of word-mapping and sketch to achieve what would become the Kyoto, Japan project used throughout my Thesis Project

3. Brand Development

Personal & Professional Development - This course was my first deep dive into the world of design. The utilization of color pallets, typeface, imagery, mood-boards in order to communicate a specific direction to a client was a major point of interest learned through this course.

Thesis presentation - utilizing these skills allowed me to gain a better understanding of the ways in which I can communicate a design. This course granted me the knowledge used in my thesis project to communicate the purpose of each idea and design solution.

Greatest Triumph - learning how to take a rough sketch and illustrate this digitally and develop a toolbox, hosting all the solutions and the key assets associated with it.

4. Effective Copywriting

This class was a particular challenge because it challenged me to write in “shorthand”. In other words, to bring across my point utilizing imagery and very few words. This allowed me to begin understanding how to give a brand a voice for their audience.

Thesis presentation - This course allowed me to better explain, how in which my projects were able to utilize the voice of the brand to communicate with the particular target audience or persona.

Greatest Triumph - Developing a design that was both uniform in the message and the visuals used.

5. Design Research 

 This was a fun course because of our dive into the nature of web development.

Thesis Research- Learning how to properly conduct research into the reasoning behind the imagery, and web layout structure.

Greatest triumph- using illustrator to design a comprehensive web design for a “client”

6. Organizational Structures

In this course, we learned how to properly add animation behind our thoughtful designs, and create a promotional video utilizing the animation graphics.

Thesis Presentation - Allowed me to use this piece of the project as one of the best ways to show new competencies learned through the program.

Greatest Triumph- Utilizing adobe after effects  to create animations

7. Design Strategies and Motivations

In this class, we worked hard to develop a schedule in order to complete and reinvent our projects to produce stronger results

Thesis project - Re-organizing and development of projects

Greatest Triumph - Re-creating a logo that better conceptualizes a brand’s voice and message.

8. Design Integration

Design integration was able to allow us the opportunity to utilize that many skills learned in our past classes in order to assemble all the necessary components for our thesis project. It also introduced the idea of human-centered design, opening my mind to various design approaches.

Thesis Presentation - organizing and re-working various project for full conceptualization.

Greatest Triumph - The Kyoto, Rebrand project was able to grow and become a stronger piece of design.

9. Multi-Platform Delivery

Worked within Adobe Illustrator to fully develop a color and asset version of the Kyoto Rebrand Website to create a prototype mock-up.

Thesis Presentation - allowed me to gain a better understanding of my own project and what it had the potential to become through focus and design understanding. Ultimately I used this project to explain a great deal in my thesis project.

Greatest Triumph - Produced a Proper mock-up for the Kyoto, Japan rebrand project.

10. Measuring Design Effectiveness

This class focused on the actual effectiveness of the design. This is particularly useful in understanding how far a design can reach amongst the target audience and what exactly is an effective delivery system.

Thesis Project - Gave me a better understanding of how to be selective with my design information only including the important points.

Greatest triumph - conducting a full survey and analyzing the information to draw conclusions based on data.

11. Presentation of Design Solutions

This class was by far the toughest within the program. This class looked to teach me the idea and practice of piecing proper rationale behind particular design solutions.

Thesis Presentation - Working with a website builder to develop a full working presentation website.

Greatest triumph - Clearly presenting rational behind my design solutions, backed by data and research.

12. Professional Practice

Learning about the ethics that should be followed by media designers.

Thesis Presentation - remembering to cite sources.

Greatest Triumph - Mastery Experience Journey.

Below Displays my experience map. I was looking to show the trials and tribulations of my personal successes and shortcomings throughout this program. The sun in the back of the mountain was my own representation of the project that influenced me throughout these courses, The Kyoto, Japan project. It has truly been an exciting climb and I look forward to climbing higher. 

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Mastery Journal

These last few months have been extremely difficult, to say the least. The preparation for a huge project on top of outside work and responsibilities give me some of the greatest understanding of the demand of this profession and the time it takes to deliver a quality piece of work. 

Research is the core behind any good or great design. Throughout this month, I can truly say that I have become highly proficient in the art or research and reasoning. The primary focus of this month was to comprise all of our designs and research from the beginning of the year. We were to then drive these project and present our best case as to the nature of the project and the specific goal it was meant to meet. Research through every aspect of the process was done in order to meet this goal. 

One of the most rewarding and tedious processes was our Kyoto Rebanding Website.  according to Best (2006), “Good design or project managers educate clients in the ways that design can help business compete and add value to their products or services” ( p 80). The focus of this project was to take the concept of increasing tourism to Kyoto, Japan. Having made the discovery the many people are reluctant to travel to places they have no knowledge of. I took this direction and added the room or place to educate the traveler. This project pushed my way of thinking to new levels and thankful for learning the process to make me a better design professional

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Mastery Reflection

The purpose of the questionnaires as it pertains to design is to asses the practicality of the design and how it exactly resonates with the target audience. We learned a lot about the use of surveys and how to administer these surveys in the best way in order to have the best turn out. 

I personally had difficulty gaining a large body of respondents in order to gain a more concrete level of data to provide but I only focused on the results I was able to acquire. The feedback given was very useful and constructive. I was able to understand a little more on the work that goes with creating a full design for a client as well as offering a better and working concept for a future client. Looking forward I now know what more can be done in creating a better functioning design, which will, in turn, lead to better results when conducting surveys. 

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In this course, Multi-Platform delivery, our goal is to continue with our task of rebranding. This month we were to dive further from where we last left off and continue our designs. Utilizing the idea of "simplicity" known throughout Japanese culture, I wished to add these elements to my mood board and web design mockups. I then pushed into wireframing for my web design looking to keep this simplistic nature throughout the body of the web design while making the design attractive and focused on the overall goal. My professor warned me about the dangers of "boxology" when reviewing my wireframes and suggested I use a different approach when forming my web design. As such, I looked to improve this design my picking another element of my mood board and form the final design you see. Picking from the circular elements was the next best thing and as a result, created something new and added a unique element to my web design. With this iteration made I believe that I have gained a new confidence in my work. Seeing this design come into conception only pushes me to continue my work.

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Mastery Journal Reflection

Working Through this assignment has been a true challenge. When researching Kyoto, Japan, I found various aspects to the city that was not only rooted in tradition but also carried modern features as well. The goal of my logo was to conceptualize these features, making the logo simple and memorable as on may look to it and see this approach

Problem Solving - What design problem were you solving? What design problem does the medium you designed to solve according to the industry? How did you solve the problem? (***Remember - a design problem is not the same as a technical problem***)

- The original problem that is being worked through on this project is “how do I attract individuals to this city, through design?” In the original design work coupled with the mood-board, I do not think that I was serving the greater good of the brand itself, only focusing on one attribute. With the new design, coupled with this new mood-board,  I hoped to capture not only the modernized aspect of the city, but also show that there are traditional attributes as well, and through the mood-board wish to illustrate a simple idea of the colors and tone of the website the audience will be visiting.

*Before Logo and Mood-board*

*Updated Logo & Mood Board*

Innovative Thinking - How does your work compare to others in the industry? How did you approach the subject of innovation? How is your work innovative?

I would like to think my work is innovative because of its ability to move outside of the medium it is based in. I wish to conceptualize the feeling of Kyoto, Japan, a city that is based within its traditions but also shows elevated levels of thought toward its future. I believe that through my approach, this design has achieved this representation. 

Acquiring Competencies - What did you learn overall throughout this process? Any new software? Techniques? Skills? Explain.

I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the programs of InDesign and Illustrator. Most importantly, I learned how to better take criticism. While this is a benchmark concept in the world of design, having worked on a concept and gaining confidence within this design was a set back of mine through this month, having to rethink and reapproach a concept was a frustration but undoubtedly made me better.

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Design Strategies and Motivation

In this course we revisit the old designs and concepts form the past and refocus or selected projects and combined them with recent concepts learned to push the design forward to new heights.

We first began studying the various design methods and strategies, that, as designers, we may come across in our various fields of work. We then transitioned into our work in preparation for the development of our thesis project. We were tasked with taking a project from our past and looking to push it forward creating a new iteration and even adopting concept we learned to this project in order to achieve something new.

my chosen project was our Brand Development city project, working on the City of Kyoto, Japan’s Modern Culture. My Goal is to create a proper style guide and push this design further in the realm of web design mock-ups. 

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Mastery Organization Structures

In the first two weeks of this month, we began studying the concepts of both developing and implementing motion graphics to our growing skillsets. First studying the principles of Adobe After Effects and then finally applying the knowledge gained to our logos and developing a motion graphic within the look and feel of our developing concert.

The next phase was to develop a motion graphic video that would not only be attractive to our target audience but also convey the message of the concert. 

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This project was the first practice at developing a web design for what would become a benefit concert for sea turtles, focusing on formulating this concert around a specific genre. The genre chosen was based on a soulful and smooth R&B concert for the public. 

As you can see above I worked to create a simple web design in order to not only capture the process of creating such a website but also the development as well. Through the use of blurred texture and color, I was able to develop these comps. 

Having researched various job descriptions the this month’s course was great in gaining the practice of developing a website from a creative process. The next phase would be to learn and more into the aspect of UI/UX design to better accompany my growing skill set and development. 

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Effective Copywriting Reflection

This week had some of the most challenging aspects of the learning curve that I have had to learn through my current course objectives this month. This week's goal was to not only cure the simple problems of our advertisement copy but also make them in some fashion similar and concise to the message of the non-profit business we chose. The re-designing of the copy was the most difficult to work through because of the lack of knowledge. This required me to do more time with research and practice in order to get to the final product that I was able to produce. George Felton(2006) spoke in chapter fifteen on a few points of being creative in a time of difficulty. A few key points were based on the creation of a routine. A routine through the creative process in order to develop a solution to both common and not so common problems. The next concept the stuck out in this particular chapter was the utilization of basic techniques in order to discover both common ideas and ideas that could lead to new discovery. The utilization of the "free association" to push and drive creative ideas forward is a tool we were able to have practice with in order to discover new and original concepts. The final concept that's stood out to me was the idea of suspending judgment. In this month and the few months that have past, it was a true and continuous challenge for me to focus on removing those judgments away from my better judgment when developing ideas. These tools will help me push forward as a future designer and will move forward in these practices in my next course.

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Strength: Taking advantage of tutorials from designated school resources such as Lynda.com and recognizing when I need help in execution. Throughout this month, there were tough concepts to grasp when looking at such early concepts as InDesign and color theory and application. Through our various resources such as various articles and sources material, I was able to gain more understanding of these concepts and worked diligently to successfully practice these new skills. The ability to show evolution and skill growth in the adaptation of new skills and disciplines is another strength I was able to continue to progress this month. Through the study of color palette and design, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of color and the use of color in a logo design set. I was also able to gain an understanding and practice in the program, Adobe InDesign and develop Brand Toolboxes to highlight the different aspects of the design and brand. The last Strength I considered was the ability to quickly adapt to new skill sets and design programs. This was my personal favorite of my strengths, through this month and the task required, I was able to pick up new skills used in the industry. Through these new skills and disciplines, I can continue to practice and develop these skills for the future.

Weakness: My first weakness would be the application of color theory. Colors theory, the use of complementary, and even triadic colors schemes gives me trouble when needed in demand.  I found that when dealing with coloring my logos, I would have my own vision for the color, but the use of utilizing the complimentary color to the main color or even the use of a single color and the utilization of whitespace, proved to be a weakness that I will work to develop into a strength and I progress. My second Weakness through this month was the utilization of Adobe InDesign and Layout design. Through this section of the program, I found myself wanted to do more with very little knowledge of how and very little time to execute these visions. I worked my best to develop a layout for my toolbox that spoke to the target audiences of my Kyoto designs. I will continue to push this new skill and practice in order to create better layouts and designs. My last weakness learned through this month was my usage of time management. When learning new disciplines and programs, this requires time to not only study but the design and redesign again until one finds a design that fits into the parameters needed. I have to continue to practice this in order to better comply with my own personal needs as well as the needs of my designs.

Threats: My threats for this month would include, other classmates prior or more experience levels of both InDesign, toolbox design and industry experience. My next weakness was my fellow classmate's better grasp of such disciplines such as color theory and the application. My final Threat is time management.

Opportunity: The opportunities to address my threats are clear. I must continue to take advantage of the Lynda.com resource that we have at our disposal in order to continue to develop my skills in order to best serve myself in the future. An opportunity discovered through my second threat is to continue to practice the disciplines of color theory and application and the Adobe InDesign program. I need to continue the process and development of layout design and content placement. An Opportunity shown through my last threat was to adopt a better sense and utilization of my free time in relation to my outside work and endeavors.