Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Semester Reflection

  Senior year Graphic Design. The semester has gone great overall. Been able to work on a lot of self branding/ figuring what your design process is. Started the year off with a typography project, using type to describe yourself. Worked on coming up with designs for the omecoming poster, also the Powderpuff game. Along with my favorite project so far which was branding an imaginary business, using four different concepts developed into one.

  Typography can be used in a lot of ways, but mainly to tell a story and get a point across to whoever shall see it. Which was accomplished. A total of nine different characteristics about yourself, which had to be a font that showed what it was, like one of my favorite things was Taco Bell so easily a font that had a Mexican restaurant feel, and incorporated a bell to complete the theme of Taco Bell. It was very free range, just needed to be your name and a characteristic that describes you.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/29604653/Name-Typography

  Homecoming has been the most challenging to come up with designs and for it to be "girly" and not to straight lines and jagged edges. Trick Of The Lights was the theme, and it needed to be elegant. I have more of a simplistic mindset that does not involve things to be "girly" and elegant. My ideas were good, could of been better but it was the best that I could come up with.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/29604505/Homecoming

  Once again the next project was another "girly" design, the Powderpuff t-shirt. Had to be football but not manly, since it was the senior vs junior girls. Pink colors along with light shades. No straight or jagged edges, and had to be somewhat common with current popular designs out there. Got the project done, could of been better.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/29604089/Powderpuff-Seniors-2016

  Barium Dog, an x-ray specialist. Is a company I came up with. Originally we had to write down four different things an animal, mineral, number, and two letters. I ended up drawing BL, Dog, 3, and Barium. Did some research and found out that Barium is given to dogs whenever they are getting an x-ray because it shows up where the blockage is. It had to include a business card, envelope, letterhead, billboard, building, app icon, and some type of promotional item. The logo is very simple, a dog paw on a black background to give the affect of an x-ray and Barium Dog off to the side. It went through many different changes before I developed the right one, probably had roughly twelve or so different ideas. Finally settled on the current design of the brand right now.


  Really nothing to improve, just keep doing what I have been doing. Maybe have a more open mindset on "girlish" projects, it is far from simple designing something that is based towards girls. Probably sketch with more detail, less scrambled looking ideas and more complete thoughts. Looking for to senior show towards the end of the year, people being able to see what I have been working on for the past four years rather than just the people in graphic design. Ready to finish this semester out and leading to a fresh start coming back from winter break.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/32088161/Barium-Dog?





Monday, October 19, 2015

Gestalt Principles

In the article, it covers a lot more than three key points. The six key points are similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure/ground and symmetry/order.


Similarity- The design has a constant characteristic that is carried out throughout the design.
Continuation- Wherever the eye is led through a line, curve or path.
Closure- Design is seen to be completely closed in, but may not be the case.
Proximity- Element is seen as a whole or separate pieces.
Figure/Ground- Use of light and shadows to create an image.
Symmetry/Order- Image is balanced and not disarrayed.


All of these are shown throughout the article. A message and idea is created with the design having a similar feel. Wherever the eye follows, is the start and the flow of the idea. Closure lacks with examples, the idea is explained but is not really shown with just the World Wildlife Fund logo. How the design is setup and looks, what goes together and what is separate is proximity. Black and white, shadows and space used to create an illusion is the figure/ground of the design. Most important is the symmetry of the design and the order, what comes first, what goes where all incorporated into one idea to show the whole point.

The author supports their points, some evidence/examples could be better shown and explained. Looking at the How Design article in comparison to this article, they show clearly better examples and go into describing the principles better. For example, closure- objects that are well known are still recognizable with still missing some pieces. The nail has been hit in the "Gestalt Principles" article but lacks in a few areas, some image examples lack what is described. Other than that it is well put together and gets the idea across.














Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Name Plate


This project was typography based, all about altering typeface. Had to makeup a list of 20 things about yourself, 3 sub ideas per topic. Then had a total of 60 sketches overall, and narrowed it down to 12 and recreated them in Illustrator. Thinking of the things about me was easy, drawing them out not so much. I am more of a put the design onto the computer versus drawing it out. Something I learned is that typography is key, it sells the idea along with whatever the background may contain. Also black and white being intentional versus just making it that way because it looks cool. If I did change anything it would be the Steelers logo inside my name, also the font. The point gets across but the font is boring and plain. I would make my Taco Bell font the same as it is and I really liked the way it turned out along with the Royals and Rock n' Roll font. On the next project I will defiantly incorporate typography into the project, placement and style of it along with how it contrast with the design.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Identity Package Design

The final project of the year, to create an identity package design. Consisting of anything that could self brand yourself with from shirts, buttons, business cards and so on.



Inspiration:
It all came from this. I was bored and started messing around, and this mountain like creation is what formed. Shows a simple yet powerful message, could be jagged rocks off the edge of a cliff or whatever the imagination leads it to.


Goal:
I wanted to create something geometric. Simple shapes consisting of a square and triangle. The colors fall together and create an interlocking bond. Pantone had just released the spring color palette at the time, which the colors I picked fall into the current "professional" standards. Red, light green, and green are colors that stand out and the shades I picked have a neon type feel to them, but not blinding. Goes well together with anything, any color. It consist of button's, t-shirt, business card, artist card, letter head, and a sticky note.


Font: Baron Neue







Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Gear: The Final Frontier

Gear For Sports

Logo:






Very simple, nothing elaborate but it gets the point across of who they are and what they do. Hidden message within the g forming the letter s, standing for their company name.



Brand:
Started in 1974, based in Kansas and still is today.
Now owned by the Hanes Company.
One of the most cleanest print shops in the business.
Put out 15,000 shirts a day.
In-house print shop.

Customers:

Under Armor




Gear For Sports








Champion






Identity:

"Guided by our GEAR values, we strive to be the leader in quality and delivery of our customer’s image through marketing innovative sportswear, accessories and services." Having some major well known companies, Champion, Under Armour and Gear For Sports owned by Gear and rolling out 15,000 shirts/articles of clothing a day. They show that through the many different departments of their business. Part of it is that they have a wall with the latest trends, keeping up to date with whats "fresh".Their graphic designers go out and take pictures of anything at malls/stores seeing whats new and applying back into what they may be working on. Also it was very interesting how they have their color palette displayed, two shirts showing all their colors on a light/dark variant. Also with their start being back in 1974, and being around today shows that they know what they're doing. Any company that has been around for that long, it shows that they are moving forward and keeping up to date with what is current. All of this shows their identity without really just sticking to them as Gear but to them as a company as a whole working towards one goal.


Website: http://www.gearforsports.com

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Icon Tutorial

Grid and eComm logo on server
Tutorials folder-> Flat Icon Tutorial folder

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Icon History



1981- Xerox Star used a graphic user interface introducing large, unicolor icons

1984- Apple released the Mac first commercial and mass produced machine that used designed icons and graphic elements (designed by Susan Kare)

1985- Microsoft and other companies released graphic user interfaces

Susan Kare also worked for Microsoft in the design of icons, so it’s not strange for the icons to look alike.

1991- Icons start to have colors, shadows

2000- Icons start to become what they are today (3d like)


2013- iOS 7 is released, Apple kills the realistic icons and everything went flat. And other companies started to follow.

Susan Kare interview

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Leadership Strengths

My top 5 leadership strengths are...

  • Adaptability (Relationship)
"You live in the moment. You don't see the future as a fixed destination." I am ready for anything that is thrown at me, is the way I see that. Which in most scenarios I am, a little bump in the road is not going to foil what is already going on. I do not see myself as a person who is gonna freak out if something happens while I am working on something, some people do and to them it is like the whole world just ended.
  • Relator (Relationship)
"Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know." That is very true about me. I am not big on being in a room full of random people I do not know. If your have 1,000 friends, do you really "know" them? That is like adding some random person on Facebook, that is not a friendship more of a "cyber-ship". I can related to my friends because I have know them for many years. 
  • Strategic (Strategic Thinking)
 "The Strategic theme enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route." To sum that up, I do not make things 10 times more complicated than it should be. It is thinking of multiple options to a scenario. Going into battle with a plan is better than going into battle and it being a chaotic mess. 
  • Responsibility (Executing) 
"Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion." Honestly I do not feel like this fits me at all. Yeah I get work done but I do not become emotionally attached to it as this describes. And it says something along the lines of "willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should" thats completely opposite of me. I am not the kind of person to overload myself with extra things to do. 
  • Futuristic (Strategic Thinking)
"You are the kind of person who loves to peer over the horizon." Somewhat split on this. With projects I usually have multiple versions of something before I decide which one best fits. An idea evolves to multiple ideas, so if considering that futuristic then yes. Everyday routine, I don't think 2 weeks ahead from now what I am going to be doing.


What I found most valuable is the fact that answering 20+ questions, it can generate what your strengths are. Most of mine were spot on, and I could relate to. Just a few (Responsibility, Futuristic) I was 50/50 some of what it described fit me perfectly and then the rest was somewhat opposite of how I think and do things. Anything with team or group projects I will just keep on doing what I did before, I do my fair share of work when it comes to projects. All of those strengths go together in one shape or form, they could change over time well maybe slightly.