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Week 9

Over the past few weeks I have learned that graphic design is much more than someone designing a logo. I had no idea or even thought about how much graphic designers do. Without graphic designers we would not have logos, packaging, desks, chairs, cars, pretty much anything that we use today we wouldn’t have without graphic designers. I always wondered where the ideas for packing came from or how companies came up with designs for their products. I knew of course they were all thought of by designers just not graphic designers. Learning that everything we see or use is all thought of a graphic was eye opening. 

Learning about all the possibilities that a graphic designer has is pretty incredible. I am thinking of going into illustration or I would like to go into environmental design. Illustration because I love books. I read all the time and I always loved my books from childhood as well. I loved the characters and all the bright colors. I would love to bring joy to a child’s life. My second choice would be environmental because I would like to help find a way to help recycle trash or find a new purpose for it. Anything I could do to help the environment would be awesome. 

Learning how to better use the tools is also a major must. I have come to realize I am not as great with computers as I thought i was. But, I am learning the programs and I love them. InDesign and Illustrator are my two favorite Adobe programs to use.  They are user friendly and they don’t take long before you get the hang of what you are doing. They are a lot of fun to use and play with. I would love to learn more about both programs and find a job where I can use both exclusively.  

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Week 8

Going and looking through all of the portfolio pieces and looking at their artwork is pretty amazing. I can only think that I hope to be have a successful portfolio like them one day. It is hard to find fault with any of the pieces they showed,  but I did find one piece that I found a little strange. The piece is a design for Tropicana Orange Juice. It is a new design bottle for their orange juices. A new bright and colorful way to encourage people to buy it. The modern sleek edges and bright colors are really nice and vivid encouraging people to buy it, but i do not see how it is functional. How do you get a grip of the bottle to pour the contents of the container into a class without spilling it? The packing is very unique, but I don’t believe it to be functional. 

 Although I do not think this piece is very functional the artwork in designing this new juice container is beautiful. The time and effort put into the piece is remarkable. The amount of sketching out different designs, deciding what colors to use, how to layout the container to come together. I have some of these skills, but they are very little. I have some basic computer skills, working in Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, time management, planning and laying out my piece, eye for detail. I am also good with using color, Typography is still very new, but I do know a little about it. I can also use a sketchbook to layout different design ideas and write notes to explain where my ideas and inspiration have come from. Though I do have these skills I can greatly improve in them all. I understand some of the basic tools and work my way around Illustrator and InDesign, but I am no means a pro at either program. I could greatly improve in both and will do so. In looking, at other portfolios many have photos of their pieces or have photos to go along with their designs. I am quite good at taking pictures with my phone, but not anywhere near a professional level. Typography is another important tool I must work on to better my work. I know a little about many different aspects of design, but I am in no way a pro in any of them. I need to become better at all the programs and learn how to create websites. 

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Week 7

Breaking ethics for a job? Would you break your ethics for a client who asked you to create a logo or add for them?

My answer is no, I would not break any of my moral principals to work on a job that went against what I stand for. If a tobacco company asked me to create a poster for them and it was directed for children. I would tell them no. They can offer all the money they wanted to, but I would tell them no. It would eat at my conscious too much. I would feel tremendously guilty for partaking in creating a piece that would harm someone in anyway, shape, or form.  No amount of money is worth loosing sleep over a job that questions your ethics.

False advertising is lying to your customers. A corporation should never have to lie to people in order to get business. Lying is a horrible act within itself let alone lying to just sell a product. I do not know how someone could lie about a product if it could potential harm a person just for a quick buck. Money cannot be taken passed the grave. Money is a materialistic object that holds power because we say it does. In the end it is just a green piece of paper with a number. Money should not hold more value than putting a person’s life at risk. Just like the rope image above. It shows a person rock climbing with the rope. Well the image clearly shows that this product is ok for rock climbing, but in the very small fine print “not suitable for climbing.” Well why show the image of a person using rope to climb if it is not suitable for climbing? Why not use another image instead of a person climbing? Show an image that is being used to tie down a tent covering? If the object does not to what the image suggests then the designers are lying to people. We hold a little piece of the peoples lives in our hands when we design ads. Do we want to tell the truth about the object they are purchasing that could be harmful to them or others? Or do we wish to make a quick buck and lie that could potentially harm them or others? Just because we cannot see everyone who buys the merchandise we design logos or ads for doesn’t mean they aren’t real people. The consumers are more than just a “group”. They are every little bit the people we are. They have families and loved ones just as we do and they don’t want harm to come to them or their families. So why should we lie and make a design that bring harm to them? 

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Week 6

All three of these job postings and a few others I found all want Graphic Designers to have experience with Adobe Suite. The employers also want their potential hires to work well in a team environment, great communication skills, great understanding in typography, and so would prefer to have at least a year or longer experience in the field. 

For work experience,I have no work experience because I am in school learning what it takes to be a Graphic Designer. I do, however, have some experience in Adobe Suite (PhotoShop, InDesign, and Illustrator). I am better at Illustrator than InDesign and PhotoShop, but I am learning. With prior job experience in the service industry I have good communication skills. I work at Starbucks now and I communicate with people on a day to day basis. I also have good written communication skills. I can work in a team environment. I do, like to work with a group of people and I can work well by myself as well. 

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Week 5

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This piece is by the Medalist John Bielenberg. When you first look at this piece you see the bird in the left holding a twig, from there your eye travels down to the next bird, and so on and so forth. When you finally end up with the end of the bird flying into the circle heading to the nest. John also helps with eye tracking by placing a bold circle around the birds he wants you to focus on. After you have seen the birds your eye travels down to the word together. 

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Week 4 Post

This is my PhotoShop project of creating a magazine cover. I decided to have fun and use a raptor as my inspiration. “What if dinosaurs lived and became chocolatiers?” I had a ton of fun with this piece and chose to have fun. I combined my love of dinosaurs and chocolate into one. Our cover king Stan Malcolm the Chocolatier. What your eye catches first in this piece is the open mouth of the raptor leading you down to the bottom text. From the bottom article you go up to see the other articles in the magazine. Once you see the last line of text with ‘Stan Malcolm’ your eye travels up to the date then finally the title of the magazine and finally landing on the dinosaurs’ eye. The open mouth leads your eye in a circular shape to travel around the whole magazine. 

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My 3D Studio Max Tavern Assignment

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Week 3 Second Post

The art piece I am most proud of is one of final projects from last semester. It was in 3D Studio Max for the final we had to create a bar or restaurant design and lay it out. I have never used 3D Studio Max so it was a bit difficult to maneuver, but I trudged through the best I could. Using 3D Studio Max is very time consuming and you have to have patience to sit and manipulate different objects. I do have patience, but the repetition did get redundant and I began to loose my patience fast. Also I screwed up so many objects trying to get the correct design for my sign, chairs, tables, and the bar itself. I wanted to scream half the time. Even through all the frustration I still managed to push through cause after I found a design for my tables, chairs, and the sign slowly the tavern began to take shape and turn into an actual bar. Constructing and finding all the materials to bring the tavern to life took about 3 weeks maybe a little bit longer. For my final grade I got an 'A' on the piece and I was so ecstatic. The piece is still not finished in my opinion and I will be adding to the tavern.

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Week 3 First Post Subject

1. What is your favorite artistic media? A. Charcoal and painting. 2. How long does it normally take you to product a work in this media? A. Depending on what my design is it can take 1-4 days for a smaller piece and a week for a larger piece. 3. Name some of the tools you most commonly use. A. Charcoal, paint, and brushes 4. What are the costs of your consumables? A. Paint $5-$35, Brushes $3-$50, Canvas $30-$200, Paper $8-$50 5. What do you do with the piece once you have finished it? A. I normally put them in my portfolio to hang out and chill in or some I give away as birthday or Christmas gifts.

A piece of mine from a few years ago. Understanding of fabric and paper texture.

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List of my favorite medalists. Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson, Saul Bass, Armin Hofmann, John Maeda, Jennifer Morla, John Bielenburg, Gere Kavanaugh, amd Stefan Sagmeisten I chose, John Bielenberg's piece to be one of my favorites. I like the use of the monotone colors. He uses black, white, and different shades of gray. His work makes you stop and think "the future is bright. Change it." You think that the piece would be bright and colorful to show off that the future is bright. When really the future is only as bright as you make it. So his message can gets you to think.

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Week 1 Second post 1. What was the objective of this piece? A. It was a birthday gift to my mother fir her birthday. 2. How much time did it take to execute this project? A. It took me about 5 years to complete. Starting and stopping and redoing the sky a few times. 3. Did you come up with the original concept/ idea? If not where did it originate? A. No, it is a recreation piece of Van Gogh's Starry Night. I have always been curious about his technique of painting so I gave it a shot to see if I could. 4. Why did you make the choices you made in the design (cropping or color palette etc.?) A. I chose to put more focus into the sky in my piece since I redid it about three times till I was happy with the colors. I put minimal detail into the small village and crops. I wanted the colors and the emotion of the sky to be the focal point. 5. What was your thought process, and how does your creative process work? A. My thought process for my pieces of work are to go to the museum and surround myself with the Impressionists paintings. This helps to start the creative juices flowing. After I go home and sketch out new pieces of work then choose a medium and go to town. 6. What was the most challenging part of this project? A. Actually finishing the piece. It was tougher than I thought it would be. I started out the sky a lighter blue then I changed the blue to be more darker. The yellow in the sky was also lighter and mellow which I changed because it did not suit the painting or what I wanted. Also, getting the strokes in the paint was difficult I used a brush at first then switched to a palette knife to produce the rough texture of the paint. 7. How did you resolve this challenge. A. I forced myself to sit in front of my painting and finish it. Also I had spent 5 years working on it. Most of it was putting it off cause it was annoying me so I chose not to look at it.

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Week1 First Post Subject

My motivation for seeking a degree in Graphic Design was so I can work on book layout designs. I enjoy reading and making a book from the cover to the pages themselves. So trying to get a job where I can design books would be perfect.

My shortcomings that motivated me to get a higher degree is to get out of working at Starbucks. I enjoy working there, but it is not a career path I have chosen. I would like to get away from the crabby customers and their insane drink orders. 

I chose AiPh because it is a smaller institution. Also you are taught by professionals that are working in the field. So you can get the inside of what is happening now in the field.