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Week 14 (11/16-11/20)

This week we were asked to read chapter 17 which is on use experience specialists. This “UX” field is still very new and is evolving every day. Initially the designer’s job was to deliver the clients message to the consumer. Now the client’s message is persuaded by the consumers response and is altered using UX. My favorite artist this week was Bruce Charonnat. He started as a graphic designer and then started working as a user experience creator. He said that UX “is a much broader term then graphic design” (Bruce Chardonnat, Pg. 277). As a UX designer he tried to create a community built into whatever project he is building, and that is the driving force behind his work.

This week we finished our phobia typography project. My poster was based on Felinophobia, or the fear of cats. I finished meshing my hand made string type in photoshop. I also added my cat onto the end of the string, a paragraph describing the phobia and how to treat it, along with a UofSC Mental Health week logo. I tried to keep everything relatively plain, so nothing is distracting from the typography. Moving forward into our next project we are creating a book cover. I am not entirely sure what book I want to do; I have narrowed it down to Looking for Alaska, The Hunger Games, or The City of Bones. I have a few ideas for each book, on what I can do for the overall design. So, this weekend I will do some preliminary sketches and figure out what is the best option for the final.

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Week 13 (10/9-10/13)

This week we were asked to read over  chapter 9, which talks about Branding and Packaging. My favorite artist this week was Sharon Werner and more importantly her approach to client relations. I think something that we even touch on in this course that is very important is updating the client (or in our case the professor) on how the project is progressing and evolving. Like she said the design process is not magic and should not be presented as such. When working with a paying client it is important to get their feedback as much as possible, so they are happy with the final result. My favorite work of her presented in this chapter is on page 161, all of these animals built out of type is very interesting. The way she plays with size of shape and the density of said object really gives the animals some form and structure.

This week we started our one-week typography logo design. I choose Felinaphobia, which is obviously the fear of cats. This fear has a few common names such as ailurophobia elurphobia, and cat phobia. I choose this because I have a cat and I thought that was kind of ironic. I also decided to make my type of out string first. I would do it in a cursive formant and connect the letters together in photoshop. At the end of the work would be a loose string that wraps around the page and at the end would be my cat playing with the string. So far, I have built the letter forms and imported them into photoshop. They have all been masked so I can start merging the letters together to make Felinaphobia. As far as a type face for the body, I am not quite sure yet. Maybe I can find a similar cursive typeface to the layout of my string word. Honestly, I am a little worried about the quick turnaround. But I  still think that it will be a quality design by the end of the week.

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Week 12 (11/02-11/06)

This week we were asked to read chapter 4 titled, letters and type. This chapter deals with typography, lettering, and the designers who create them. It was mentioned that before these design technologies were available, designing type was a long and difficult process that took years of apprenticeship to learn. However, know with the wide range of tools designer snow have at their fingertips its much easier to get started. My favorite artist highlight was Rich Roat and House Industries. I love the way they play with type and combining simple patterns to create a unique design. I also enjoy their color pallets; they are pretty muted colors and its very peaceful to look at.

This week was our final week on project three, our 6-page magazine spread. I have been saying this a lot, but it is very hard for me to put more white space on the page. Once I adjusted the size of my body type and fixed the leading, I had so much negative space to play with. So, moving the text, and photos around to take up the space was a challenge for me. Once all of that had been set, it gave all of the elements on the spread more room to breathe. So, it does not feel as clustered and overwhelming. Also, altering the flow of the body paragraphs gives a smoother flow to the order the reader views the text. I have been hoping for some more peer review, but it has been minimal the past few weeks. I hope that my spread fits all of the requirements for the project. However, I am very happy with how this turned out and I can’t wait to show my Paramount peers.

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Week 11 (10/26-10/30)

This week we were asked to read chapter 8. I really enjoyed the reading this week. It was a nice reminder that there are still doing positive things for the world. I have never really thought about designers in nonprofits before. So, it opened my eyes to some new opportunities for internships and jobs in the future. My favorite designer was Mark Randall and the Worldstudio Foundation. I really enjoy the way they utilize minimal typography to enhance their design. They also have very great choice of color pallets. The designers in this firm sound very busy a lot of the time but feel fulfilled giving back to their community.

This week in terms of design we continued to work on our magazine spreads. Honestly, I had a very hard time leaving white space. Once, Professor Nace said the body type could only be 11 points I had to adjust. Doing this gave me plenty of white space, and it helped me fix some formatting issues. I am going to continue to alter and adjust components of my design, I think specifically the flow of the body text. I also realized that my large photo is not as high resolution as I thought it was originally. So, I am going to go back and find another option. Other than those issues I think the formatting is coming together and is becoming more consistent. Overall, I am excited to get some more feed-back on my project and I’m excited to finish it out. Plus, I will get to show this to my friends who performed with Paramount!

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Week 10 (10/19-10/23)

This week we were asked to read chapter five” Making Logos and Marks”. The author says that there are many styles of logos, icon, or images that fall under these categories. However, in order to be a logo, the icon must attach itself with a company or idea. My favorite artist was Mark Fox I liked how he touched on the idea that talent means nothing if talent refuses to work hard. Also, all of his icons are very clean and visually impactful. When Mark starts a project, he begins by looking through the client’s perspective which I think is curtail in any design.

This past week we continued working on our magazine spreads. Firstly, I set up my grid and placed my photos within the grided guidelines. This gave me the best framework to start implements text into the rest of the negative space. Once I started placing text in, I realized I was out of text before the spread ended. So, I decided to add captions to each photo giving the reader a little more insight into the topic. Moving forward I would like to add some contrasting colors to highlight the starts of the paragraphs. I want to explore some boarders around the images or possibly the whole spread. I am waiting on some feedback from peers, but once I have that I will be begin to do further editing.

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Week 8 (10/12-10/16)

This week we were asked to read chapter 11 which discussed every changing design world, and how designers are adapting to that change. My favorite designer this week was Petrula Vrontikis. She strives to stay out of the box and to continue fading new mediums and how to implant her design into space. Her artwork is always centered around experience and how it effects the user. She believes that empath is a “designer’s secret weapon.” It allows them to connect to their client or audience and really access the emotion behind the piece. I enjoy her definition of “creative ambidexterity”, and how working towards this creates a more well-rounded designer. I think I have been working towards that goal by trying to learn as many different medias and mediums as I can. Such as printmaking, graphic design, photography, cinematography, and dance.

This week we began working on out magazine spread. I choose to showcase Paramount Winter guard, a competitive winter guard organization for Atlanta, GA. I have performed with them since 2019, and I have grown to love the group and all of the people in it. I choose to highlight a lot of different performers within the spread to give a strong visual representation of the activity. After some research I decided to choose a non-serifed, and mostly uniform font. Looking at their graphics and social media content, it is clear that this is a similar font choice to their brand. Blue is a frequently used color for their brand as well, so the color pallet I choose was mostly monochromatic. However, I would like to add a few orange elements in there just to make some more important ideas pop. So far, the spreads are coming out well, the hardest part for me at this point is trying to get the text to fill the columns correctly.

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Week 6 (09/28-10/02)

This week we were assigned Chapter Three which discussed the different types of partnerships and their pros and cons. There were a lot of very interesting ideas and pieces of work in this chapter! One of my favorites was Hjalti Karlsson and Jan Wilker. I really enjoyed their work in this chapter, I think being able to work in a variety of mediums is very impressive. I think their approach to their partnerships within the studio is fair and effective! They understand how each other works in their environment. While also keeping a very steady line of communication on projects. I think this model of partnership is a good tool for any studio or freelance design group to utilize. In order to create a more cohesive work environment.  

This was the final week for our graphic design history poster project. I have continued to work and refine my Craig Frazier poster design. Through my research through interviews (audio and written) and his website, I have found a lot of respect for him and his unique creative process. I went through many color pallets options. I knew I wanted the illustration of the man to be in shades of blue. So, I altered the background many times to see what made all of the elements more cohesive. I decided that a muted green and yellow orange were my best option. I watched our professor’s videos and she said to have white space for our typography, so I ensured that there was plenty of breathing room for my body text. I got a lot of feedback from my peers which I found super helpful in my design process. I think that their outside perspective really helped me improve over the final week of this project. Overall, I am pretty pleased with my final Craig Frazier Poster, and I have a new favorite designer.

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Week 6 (09/21-09/25)

This week we read chapter 2 in our course text. It discussed different paths of a designer’s career when it comes to working with or without a studio. It seems the most popular designers started working under someone else. Learning real work skills, refining their work, and gaining contacts within the industry. My favorite designer of the week is Lynda Decker. I have a great interest in photography, so it was very interesting reading about how she approaches her design process. Moving forward with my education and career I would love to work in a design firm. I think that the experiences I would gain would be beneficial to my career in the future.

This week I continued to refine my poster art. After some research about Craig Frazier, I learned that he creates his graphic illustrations through paper cutting. He said that he would not design anything that he “couldn’t create by hand.” Which I thought was super interesting. He creates many different styles of art like illustrations, posters, sketches, and graphic design. His ability to create these diverse pieces is very inspiring. In my poster I hope to touch on some of his education and background. While emphasizing his numerous art styles and mediums. Within my poster I will try to incorporate Frazier’s ability to alter reality. His perception of the world feels very light and airy, almost like a dream like state. Frazier also uses light as a motif within his work, and I hope to utilize that as well. In my poster I want to mimic is style of altered reality. So, the light source will be shining onto blank books. But within the reflected light is where the text will be. I really want to incorporate his simplistic style and clear color pallet within my design.

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Week 5 (09/14-09/18)

This week in chapter 15 the author interviews many web and mobile app designers. The first few strictly talk about the transition between print to online sources, and how these designers found their way into this community. One note that really stuck out to me is how important typography is to each of these designers, and it’s a crucial part of a good overall design. My favorite designers of this week were Nicolas Ledoux and Pascal Béjean, they focus on book publications on iPad. They talk about how they continually have to push the envelope in order to stay up to date with new technologies. Part of this process for them includes learning many different skills so you can work in a variety of fields. This also allows them to more easily problem solve their own inventions and ideas.

This week we are transitioning into our history poster project. I have chosen Craig Frazier, who is a graphic designer and illustrator. Posted above is an image of one of his illustrations taken from his website (craigfrazier.com). I decided on this artist because of a few reasons. I love his approach to simplistic, yet impactful artwork. I enjoy his unique and hand-crafted approach to his illustrations. Also, his ability to have an understanding of many different mediums. In some interviews he says he tries to skew what we would normally see, just slightly to provide a new world and perspective. He also describes his work as light and soft. Moving forward I would like to focus on his illustrations within this project. Utilizing some repetitive motifs in his work such as silhouettes, men in suits, and the use of light sources. In his illustration work this is no typography, however when we look at his poster work it is present but very minimalistic. His placement of type is usually at the top or bottom of the poster and is secondary to the image or illustration. We have not been given specifics of what is required for the poster project yet. So, this week I have been researching the different designers suggested to us. After I decided on Craig Frazier, I have begun to start picking through his work for inspiration and looking for interviews or videos of him to gain background information.

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Week 4 (09/07-09/11)

This week assigned reading was all about Editorial design, its mediums, job opportunities, and viewpoints from those who work in the field. When speaking on the topic of jobs, the author describes a sort of job hierarchy. Most people start as an unpaid intern or junior designer and can work their way up the corporation. This sort of entry level works is what helps the employer to decide the workers competence. I really like the work of Len P. Small in this chapter. His main focus for his monthly science magazine is illustration. He strives to create content that is able to reach his audience through print but also media-based interfaces.

This week I began to finalize my last three squares. It was a little difficult to “simplify” my subject, because it is not a very complex shape to begin with. I began playing with how line weight can imply form and depth to “simplify” these basic shapes. I made many edits of these final squares. Focusing on what could be eliminated or change while not affecting the overall composition and design of the final logo. Another concept I worked through was repletion of form and how that created a more fluid and organic look for my final logo.  The most difficult portion was the tail on the end of the toy. It is a felt kind of material that has a lot of layers. Working through different designs of that form, I decided that layering a cursive typeface would be my best option. My goal was to create a balanced image, while juxtaposing the curvature of the balls and mouse with the straight and rigid pole.  Overall, I am very happy with how this first project turned out. I really tried to push what I could achieve within each square and I think I have improved over this short time period!

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WEEK 2 (08/31-09/04)

This week’s chapter interviews a variety of illustrators and dives into their experience and viewpoints. It was very interesting to see the different styles, and mediums these artists were working with. The one thing all the artists had in common was that they never restrained themselves to just one form of art. They all dabbled in other processes involving photography, film, animation, design, etc. My favorite artist from this chapter is Neil Gower. During his interview he talk about his struggles with “imposter syndrome”, which is something I definitely relate to. However, he doesn’t allow his fears to restrain or define his work. Reading over his process and how he stays motivated was very inspiring. I also really enjoy his style of illustration and lettering.

This week I continued to work on my sketches for project 1, squares D-F. Square D was the most challenging portion for me. My object that I choose is already made up of some pretty simple shapes. It was hard to create something that was visually pleasing while also trying to stay true to the form and structure of the subject. I really enjoyed square E; I was able to play around with the shapes of the cat toy. To do this I tried to focus on how the shadows and highlights of the object could be presented in a way that suggested the entire structure. I can improve on even tapering out of my lines in these hand drawn squares. Some of the lines don’t transition as smoothly as I would like. Overall, I am very happy with how this square turned out! In square F it was interesting seeing how the use of different fonts effect the way you see the form. I enjoyed exploring what type faces worked best for each part of the cat toy. I visited Professor Nace in her virtual office hours this week. She likes the direction my project is going in so far; I hope to can continue creating quality work for this class!

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WEEK 1 (08/24-08/28)

This week’s chapter dove into what is graphic design, and the many opportunities lie in this ever-changing field. I am not entirely sure what specific field I want to go into. However, it was very encouraging to see that my options are not limited as far as finding a field in which I can use these skills in! My favorite artist they interviewed in this chapter was Arnold Schwartzman! I really admire his ability to continue to push the boundaries of his artistic style. His story of working through adversity and being able to build such a wide range of skills is inspiring. As far as my studies go, I have been spending a lot of time refining my skills in the areas of graphic design, film, and photography.

This week I began working on my first three squares for part 1 of the Image Generation project. I decided to choose a cat toy as my subject because I absolutely love my cat and she has become a huge part of my life! For my line art I decided to keep it clean and simple while also staying true to its accurate form. In my stippling portion I really tried to include depth within the image by following the shadows and highlights within the original image. In my critiques my peers said some of my strengths were the values withing my stippling sketch, as well as the cleanliness of my line art. Moving onto square D and E, I want to push what I do with the geometric and requirements. The subject I have chosen is more minimalistic, so when I translate it into simple geometric or organic shapes, I want to ensure that it does not look flat or boring. Overall, I am happy with how my work is coming out so far! I am excited to continue to refine my skills in sketching, Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign throughout this semester!

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08/21/2020

Signed Syllabus for Arts 245 Fall 2020