Second Semester Reflection

So, this year in graphic design is just about over. Now it's time to reflect over all of the works that I have created throughout the second semester of my Sophomore year. 

Milton Glaser Poster

We started off the seamster by continuing on with our graphic designer we chose. We made a poster that advertised a new exhibit for our artist. I wanted to incorporate the iconic Milton Glaser swirls and the iconic shuttlecock from the Nelson, so I combined the two into the image you see on the right. I really liked this project and how it turned out. It got me interested in simplicity and creativity, as well as color and font. We were only allotted a few days to work on this project, so I barely got it done on time. Our next project expanded upon font.

Typography

The typography project focused on bringing out the art in fonts because fonts are art in themselves. We found quotes that we liked and then studied font psychology to find the perfect font to fit our quote. After doing this, we explored color psychology. We also learned about color schemes and how they can transform a graphic. I enjoyed this project and how it turned out, especially after seeing the progression from peer feedback and revisions.  This project took the rest of third quarter because of the many different aspects. However, it was very hard for me because it was difficult to find fonts that fit my needs, and I felt like it could have been even better. 

Combination Mark Logos

Next, we had our company rebrand assignment that took up all of the fourth quarter. We started by sketching many combination mark logos. Next, we chose are favorite six and created them in Illustrator and then added multiple color schemes to them to find the best look. I liked all of my logos, but I could only choose one to continue the rebrand process. I went with the top right logo because I liked the color combination and the hidden image in the name. I liked creating all of these logo. However, it was very time consuming and took a lot of patience and rain storming. 

Letter head

A letter head is a piece of paper that someone can write a letter or note on. It has the logo and company information on it, as well as appealing graphics.  I wanted to include electricity because it is an electric company. I added geometric shapes in the corners diagonal to each other for visual interest and included the plug from the logo on the back. I am not too thrilled with how this turned out because I think it's boring and sloppy, but it works as a letter head.

Business Card

Business cards have the same contact information as a letter head. I wanted to continue the theme of the lightning and gray background. I also put the plug on the back just like i did on the letter head. In the lightning bolt, I put what the company does. I like the way my business card turned out, but I still think it has room for improvement.

Envelope

Unlike the other two creations, the envelope does not require the contact information because that is written in the empty space. I left space in the center of the envelope for this very reason, but I still included cool graphics, being the lightning bolts. I strayed away from the gray theme I had going on because I thought that the white would pop more. I made the back yellow and continued it over to the flap to make it cohesive and have the front be more visually appealing. I also have my logo at the bottom. I really like how the envelope turned out because it is balanced and eye catching.

Time Management

I always used my time efficiently during class. I didn't wan to get behind, and, of course, I was excited to create stuff in Graphic  Design, so I wasn't going to slack off. When I finished early, I completed extra credit in Adobe Illustrator. An example of which is one of my favorite quotes (to the right). Outside of class, I was constantly looking at posters, commercials, logos, etc... to evaluate the graphic design elements.

Strengths and weaknesses

As a graphic designer, I really evaluate the meaning of the assignment. I look into the different form of psychology: color, fonts, etc... and I evaluate a message. For example, in the rebrand project, I made the abbreviation of All Current Electric into a plug to represent their electric company. However, I need to work on making my work look more professional and  learning more areas of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. 

I had a lot of fun this semester, and I really expanded upon my graphic design abilities. I wouldn't change anything about how this semester went because it went so well. I learned a great deal about color, type, shapes, how to use different tools in illustrator, the process of design, and much more. I am not taking graphic design next year, but I did enjoy learning about everything in it. 

Company Rebrand

All Current Electric's current logo

For our last project of the year in web design, we were to rebrand a local company that we thought needed a facelift. I didn't know which company to upgrade until I remembered that my aunt and uncle own a business here in Lenexa called All Current Electric. They provide electric service and repair. I went to their website and was taken back by their logo- and not in a good way. This is what their logo looks like right now- the same as it has for the 20 years that they have been a company. I knew that this would be a challenge, but I knew that I was up for it.

First, we sketched over 30 logos and combination marks and then chose our 6 strongest. When designing my logos, I tried to incorporate graphics that reminded me of electricity. I included plugs, outlets, and lightening bolts. I did this all in black and white to start. We presented these to the class to get feedback and altered aspects from the feedback.

Next, it was on to color. I looked into color psychology to create the perfect color scheme. I incorporated many color schemes including complementary, secondary, triad, and analagous. These are a few of them. I like the way the colors enhanced the logos. Then it was the hard part: choosing the logo to use for the rebranding.

This is the color combination I went with. I chose this color scheme because I like how the yellow represents electricity and how the black is a nice and cool contrast to it. In addition, I liked the idea of the hidden image/ message. The line through the 'A' and the 'C' and 'E' create a plug. This is an electric company, so I think this is a cool effect.

Once I had my logo in mind, I was assigned to make an envelope, letterhead, and business card. Each was supposed to be clean and represent our company. I knew that I wanted to incorporate lightning into my designs. For my letterhead, I created interesting geometric shapes in the corner to represent lightning. I supplemented this with a made up name, address, and phone number, which  I put in the upper right and my logo in the left. On the back I used the plug from my logo and made lightning come out of it.

As for my business card, I simply put my logo on the back, and on the front, I used the similar plug idea as in the letterhead. I also put the business information on it on the right hand side. For both the letter head and business card, I used the same gray background because it was a good median between black and white.

The envelope does not follow the gray theme, but instead has a bright yellow and white because I think it's more eye-catching. I used the yellow from the back on the flap of the envelope to make it cohesive. I continued the lightning theme by using white lightning bolts to balance with the white on the front. I put the logo in the lower left and designated space for writing.

Overall, I enjoyed this project. There was a lot of making different logos and color schemes which required patience and time, but it was worth it because I am very happy with how it all turned out.

Logos

Logos are used for many different purposes. As a result, there are many different types of logos, but all of these logos- as long as they are good- have commonalities. Good logo design follows a few rules. Logos should be easily recognizable, remembered, and recalled. They should be simple and unique in a way that represents the company or goal that it is for. Logos should be portrayed to the intended audience. If a company is for kids' toys, it wouldn't be a goof idea for a company to use harsh, dark colors and jagged lines, or a child might be scared away. A good idea would be to use warm, welcoming colors with rounded edges or even circles. These are good pointers to keep in mind when designing or observing logos. Now lets explore the different types of logos.

The different types of marks

hp is a lettermark

Lettermark:

letters that are shortened from a long name or word or are abbreviated. 

Target is a symbol

Symbols:

a mark without type. Symbols are simple, unique, and should be easily recognizable. 

Cocacola is a logo

Logo:

word or words in type.

Nike is a combination mark

Combination Marks

symbols and logos used together. Nike is an example.

Interesting Facts

Closed Gestalt:

A symbol with an internal vocal point seems safe and inclosed, while a logo that has many different lines going in every direction, is unsettling (this is called open gestalt). 

One Color:

Symbols should be designed to look good in a single color. Colors can enhance a symbol, but they should not be completely depended upon. Sticking to no more than two or three colors is a safe way to go.

Direction:

The idea that the direction of a symbol pointing upward or to the right indicates positivity and moving forward, while direction pointing downward or to the left indicates negativity or moving backwards. It is important to try to stay away from downward and left pointing directions.

Quotes & Fonts

Fonts are more important than you might think. They evoke different emotions and can tell stories. Fonts can be serif, sans serif, bold, italicized, thick, thin, big, small, swirly, boxy, welcoming and cautioning. To explore these different characteristics, I made four aesthetically pleasing typed out quotes. First, I thought of quotes that I had a connection to. I wanted my quotes to promote positivity and happiness. After I found my perfect four quotes, I started sketching out my designs, and then I started creating them in Adobe Illustrator. 

I chose this quote because it promotes positivity through a play on words. I wanted my quote to look happy, so I used a welcoming font for everything but the ‘B’ in ‘Be’ and the ‘t’/+, which I used a bold font for. I wanted the ‘t’ to look like a plus sign because it’s positive. First, I made it in black and white- as I did for all of my quotes- and then I added a color scheme. I made words having to do with blood red, and I made the rest white, so they popped on the dark blue background. I used red because, of course, blood is red. 

This quote connects to me because I play the flute, and I enjoy music. I think that this is a cute quote, and it went along with my quote scheme. I wanted to make this quote classy because when I think of music, I think of classical music.  I made words having to do with music, a cursive font, and I also made them the same purple color. All of the other words I used a simple, serif font, which I made the same blue color. I thought that the light blue and purple looked nice together, but as I found out later, there was a better color combination. I made the stem of the ascender of the 'h' into a music note likewise to the descender os the 'y'. I made a swirly measure of music coming off of the 'n' in 'note'.

I like this quote because I think that everyone should embrace their differences. I used simple fonts for everything except for ‘limited edition’, which I used a fancy, cursive font for. I also made the tittle (the dots) of the‘i’s into stars to make it seem good and special. I reflected the ‘r’ in weird to make it look weird. I wanted to make 'weird' look unattractive; I don't think that dark green is the prettiest color, so I chose it. I made 'limited edition' light blue because blue symbolizes purity and goodness. I decided to place my quote in a circle because it brought it all together, and I chose a deep purple for the background color. Now that I look at my color scheme, I don't like the color combination that much. 

This quote is very optimistic. I wanted to portray it in a positive way. I thought that a lot of the words could be represented in different ways. I used a font with arrows to represent direction words. For sun, I used a bubbly font and made rays of sun shine come off of it. For shadow, I used a font that had a shadow. I made the direction words a teal color, the sun yellow (of course), the shadow dark purple, and everything else pink. 

I got to present my quotes to my graphic design class, and they gave me feedback. They said that I could adjust some of my colors. Luckily, our next step in producing our quotes was to recolor them with different color schemes: Triad, monochromatic, primary, and complementary. 

I completely remodeled this quote because I thought I could make it better. My quote is a pun about blood, so I put my quote in a blood drop, and I used a red monochromatic color scheme to represent blood. I like the way it turned out, in this creation, a lot more.

I recolored this quote in a complementary color scheme. The colors really pop together.

This is my triad color scheme. I like how the colors look off of each other a lot more in this creation. However, now that I look at it, I should have made 'weird' in the color I used for 'limited edition' (and vice versa) because green isn't an as attractive color, and gold is like royalty.

I recolored this quote in a primary scheme because of the yellow in the sun. I kept the direction words blue, but in a different shade, and I changed the pink to red. I also added arrows coming off of the direction words to create an enclosure around my quote. 

This is what my four quotes would look like up on a wall. They all go together because they are quotes about positivity. Although they don't have the same colors, the color schemes work well together. 

Nelson Exhibit

To continue on our education of our topics, we pretended that the Nelson was hosting our artist/ movement's work through a new exhibit. After we learned about the fundamentals and psychology of posters, we were introduced to our new challenge: creating a poster advertising our artist or movement at the Nelson.

Luckily, I had already attained a substantial amount of information about Milton Glaser through previous assignments, so I did not have to spend a lot of time researching. I knew that before I did anything, I needed to get some inspiration, so I searched for Milton Glaser art. As I expected, a lot of what appeared was Glaser's iconic swirls. I knew that I wanted to incorporate swirls in my poster. I

also knew that I wanted to include a shuttlecock because the art museum has giant shuttlecocks out side of it.

I started off by sketching 20 sketches of what my poster could possibly look like. Through the first half of designing my posters, I was on a roll, but after that I started running out of ideas. Many of of my possibilities included swirls and shuttlecocks. I also had some with simple pops of shapes, the silhouette of Glaser's face, and the Nelson building. Looking at all of my roughdrafts, it was hard to choose just one. I finally decided that I would go with the coclorful swirls as the shuttcock with hands holding it.

I thought that creating this poster would be super fast, but it actually went to the last minute to make. I mainly created my poster by using the pen tool to trace out the shuttlecock and the hand. I did this in great detail. Afterwards I started making my swirls. I initially used the swirl tool, but after a long time I decided against it because they werent turning out the way I wanted them to. Instead, I used the pentool to draw them out myself. After I had my swirls, I chose bright colors and filled them in. Next, I used path finder to put my swirls "inside" of my shuttlecock. Lastly, I chose a black background and placed my graphics on top, along with the text.

I am very happy wiht how my poster turned out. I think that it reflects Milton Glaser's work, and I might even consider it to be my best work.

the Effect of Posters

What do posters do?

Posters are more than just pieces of paper. A good poster effectively conveys its message, whether the message is urging the beholder to purchase the latest cool piece of technology or informing the beholder about the importance of brushing your teeth. No matter what the purpose is, posters intend to manipulate our actions. Posters range from economic purposes to cultural ones, as well as political and social purposes; they enlighten and give us information, publicize/ advertise a product, and entertain us. Posters are meant to inform, stimulate, activate, mobilize, provoke, convince, and motivate. 

Poster Design

Posters communicate their message through picture and text, which in some cases is more effective, and in others, not so much. A poster is meant to be eye-catching and so incredible that it is impossibly avoidably. Different posters intend to draw different people in depending on their age, character, level of education, and mood. However, some poster designs are so irresistible to everyone which makes us ask: why? There is no answer to this, for it is impossible to explain design and its effect. However, color, composition, contrast, proportion, quantity, rhythm, dynamics, extension, etc... all contribute to how impactful a poster is.

General Demands

Posters should not be confusing. They need to be easily understood, with the message easily conveyed, and they need to be legible. Posters must be interesting and provoke the person who sees them. Because that's what posters' purpose is: to inspire someone to do something or learn more. A poster designer must keep in mind that a poster needs to be legible from a distance; this means that large shapes should be incorporated. Up close the poster should have detailing that does not take away or confuse from the main idea. In addition, posters should be memorable to the viewer.

Lettering

Lettering combined with picture has a strong effect. Lettering that is inside a picture implies that it is a part of the whole composition. As well as if it is similar in spacing, color, and size. Lettering should be concise and simple to quickly get across information.

Shapes

The purpose of a poster should be clearly executed by shapes. Shapes should produce a well composed surface that is very interesting and easily and quickly readable. Different shapes produce different effects: The diagonal shape and the rythmitzed form produces a dynamic effect, the correct trimming supports the effect, a lapidary shape of the picture can release a strong effect, horizontal and vertical shapes produce a static form, etc... Overlapping wording and pictures creates unity, increases dynamic and rhythmic effects, as well as the impression of depth and elegance of the poster. To emphasize the main point of a poster, it is important to place the main optic point in the center. The purpose of a poster should be erased of any irrelevant or superfluous details because these things derail from the significance of a poster.

Color

Color is an important element off an effect poster. Color expresses emotion. It is innovative, strong, fascinating, and expressive. Color, through its psychology, can clarify situations and evoke different emotions.

My Thoughts

There is more to posters than what meets the eye. It is amazing to see all of the key elements that make an effective poster. It is fascinating how color, shape, and text, three simple things, can be executed in such different ways to communicate a different message and stimulate people to do and think certain things. I will keep in mind that such simple aspects make a huge difference in the overall appearance of a project, whether it's a poster or any other kind of art.

Semester Reflection

The first half of Graphic Design has been filled with different projects and experiences. I have learned many new concepts and made many new things. 

Photoshop

collage

challenge

We started of the year by watching step by step tutorials over how to do an assortment of different tasks in PhotoShop. I learned many new techniques, skills, and tools, such as how to use the content aware fill tool, the spot healing brush, the clone healing brush, the clone patch tool, and the patch tool. After mastering these skills, we were challenged to make a collage and were told to be creative in making a picture with the a few given pictures. Although I did successfully complete these tasks, PhotoShop is not a favorite of mine because I find it very challenging and confusing. However, it is very useful to use for editing photos.

Raccoon 

Fortunately, after completing our PhotoShop unit, we were on to Adobe Illustrator. We were allotted several weeks to first create an adorable raccoon by following the instructions from a tutorial. The raccoon was not very difficult to make, but it did require many steps because of adding shadows and highlights. We then transferred out raccoon over to a postcard. We had to think of a topic that we wanted our post card to portray. Summer was just ending, so I decided to make mine Summer-themed. I created a lemonade stand, some trees, some butterflies, a big sun, and a friend for my raccoon. I learned many new techniques through this project which I utilized in future projects. In addition, this project really made me love Adobe Illustrator because I was able to really use my creativity to make a colorful, fun project. This project was also the first project was also professionally printed off to be a real post card which is very exciting. In addition, this was also our first project that we uploaded to Behance, a platform to discover and showcase work. I like Behance but not as much as I like Blogger. Find me on Behance here.

Self Vector

To continue on our Illustrator journey, we created a self portrait. We were not given any instructions to this except to use the pen tool. We first uploaded an image of ourself and then traced it using the pen tool. I started this project with no experience with the pen tool, and through a lot of mistakes, I ended with a really good grasp on it. I worked really hard and long on this project, and I am very happy with the results. I was aiming for a cartoon-ish representation of myself, yet I still including some shading and other minute details. Others made theirs look very realistic, but that wasnt what I wanted. 

Infographic

The Infographic project was by far my favorite project that we assigned with through first semester. We first learned about what makes a good infographic and found design inspiration. We then had to brain storm what topic we wanted to make ours about. I chose happiness. This project was the first project that required additional research, so we spent longer on this project than other projects. I had to spend a lot of time researching differnet facts and statistics about happinesss. We also had to cite our sources. For this project, I looked into color theory and fonts to portray happiness. I chose bright colors and a swirly font. I also had to look at my information and think of a way to portray this information. This project also forced me to design it symmetrically. Because my infographic contained so many little pieces, it was challenging to keep everything well puttogether, and it took a while to complete. I combined all of my previous skills that I has acquired from previous projects, and I also learned a lot about visual appeal. I am very happy with how it turned out. This was also the first project that we got peer evaluations on. My peers suggested that I change a few things, such as the background color. I changed this, and it made my infographic much better.

Research Paper and Powerpoint

For our very last project of first semester, we were told to choose a movement or person from a list to research. I chose Milton Glaser, an impactful Graphic Designer. Is dedicated a large portion of my time in class to researching my topic and wrote an essay about him. I had to put my essay in APA format which was new to me. Next, after completing my essay, I transferred all of my information over to a powerpoint. Our powerpoint was supposed to reflect our topic's artistic flare. I included many bright shapes and colors because those were apparent in Glaser's work. I think that my powerpoint could have been more official and clean. This project was a lot of work because I had to spend a lot of time researching and constructing an essay. 

This semester was very fun and educational. 

Happiness Infographic

Infographics depict information in an appealing and balanced way. There are many steps to creating an infographic:

1.) Establish your topic: I chose to do my infographic over happiness because happiness is important, and I would like there to be more happiness in the world. 

2.) Research your topic: I found statistics and fun facts about happiness through many different websites. Notice how they are all cited at the bottom of my infographic.  

3.) Create your layout (wireframe): Next, I created a rough draft on paper of my infographic. A good divider between each fact/ statistic is important to have in order for it to be organized. I decided to repeat smiley faces to create lines as my divider. For my title, I chose 'choose happiness'. I made the O's in choose eyes and happiness into a smile.. To depict my facts, I created the picture as it was described. For example, I made a happy old man for my "Happiness makes you live longer" fact. For my 20% statistic, I made it very large and put healthy things in it. In addition to my facts and statistics, I also included the steps to happiness at the bottom to show how to achieve happiness. I thought it was a good way to tie the whole infographic together.

4.) Put it all together on the computer: Once I was content with my rough draft, I transferred it onto adobe illustrator. I chose a color scheme that portrayed happiness I thought that bright reds and yellows did that nicely. In addition to color, I also found a happy, swirly font that reminded me of happiness. I made the word happiness yellow and bigger to make it stand out.

5.) Receive feedback: After completing my infographic, I had the opportunity to share it with my classmates. I described the details of it and why I chose to do the things that I did. They gave me feedback which I then used to better my finished project. The biggest adjustment that I needed to make was my background color because it was too dark to read the text on top of it. This made my infographic more appealing.

 

In the end, I think that my infographic fulfilled its job at depicting happiness. It has been my favorite project so far.

Raccoon project

After the Photoshop tutorials, came our long awaited Adobe Illustrator project. For our first project we were given a written tutorial of how to make an adorable raccoon.

 We first made the raccoon. The raccoon was not very hard, but the process did have a lot of steps. We added shadows and other little details that aren't very apparent but enhance the overall picture. Next, we were to choose from a plethora of different leaves and berries. Each choice came with a step by step tutorial of how to make it just like the raccoon tutorial did. I chose to make a branch with leaves. After this, we envisioned what we saw our raccoon as. I saw my raccoon as a boy, so I added a baseball cap and overalls.



After adding an identity to our raccoons,  we were told that the project was going to become a postcard. I thought that because my raccoon was wearing summer clothing, I should make my postcard have a summer theme. Then I got to brainstorming about what would depict summer. I came up with the idea that a fresh cold glass of lemonade was the best way. After making my lemonade stand, I thought that my raccoon was a bit lonely, so I added a girl raccoon. I gave her a bow and a dress (even thought the dress is not visible). My picture was cute, but it was boring, so I spiced it up with trees, butterflies, clouds, and a sun. Of course our postcards needed some words on it, so we  brainstormed what we wanted ours to say. We got to first write out our phrase on a piece of paper (I chose "Have a Sweet Summer" to go along with the sweet lemonade theme), next we scanned it into the computer, edited it a bit by adjusting the color and things like that, and placed it onto our image. Because the postcard is going to be printed off like an actual postcard, we had to include the back side. The format was already available in the server files, so all we had to do was add a little creativity to it. I wanted to keep it sweet and simple, so I just added a little pink oval along with a lemonade pitcher and a lemon.


This project is the first that was ever uploaded to our personal Behance accounts. Behance is a platform for people to share their artistic creations. It is a very slick and clear website that is also very professional. To upload our raccoon projects we made a long art board on Illustrator and laid out our pictures. I added a nice color theme to mine to make it more attractive. This is what is posted to Behance. I like Behance because it allows anyone to easily explore new ideas and inspires creativity. Find me on Behance here.

Photoshop Reflection

In Graphic design we started working with Photoshop. Photoshop is used for editing pictures, so that is what we did. We edited a wide array of pictures, after watching tutorials instructing how to do it. When Photoshopping an image, it is important to be as precise as possible, or it will be easy to tell that the picture has been altered. I learned this the hard way through editing the pictures.

Content Aware Fill Tool

We started off simple by editing out unwanted marks and scratches that were on the wall behind the man. This was done by selecting the marks with the content aware fill tool, and then pressed delete. It is a very handy tool because it gets the job done easily, fast, and well. This is my favorite tool that we learned this week because it is very useful and easy to use.

We then got the opportunity to better our skills by using the content aware fill tool once more. First we selected the logo on the man's surfboard, and then we moved it up higher on the surfboard. Because the bottom of the the surfboard is slightly a darker color than where the logo was moved to, we also had to adjust the background color to match. 

                                         Spot Healing Brush

Secondly, we used the spot healing brush tool. The boy had dirt splotches all over his face, so we had to remove them. To do this we used the spot healing brush. The spot healing brush requires a sample background color selection to accurately conceal the blemish. You just select the background color, and color over the dirt, and it is gone. I really like this tool because, like the content aware fill tool, it is very simple to use, does a great job, and is very fast. 

Clone Healing Brush

Next, the clone healing brush tool was used to remove a tag from the girl's coat. Unlike the spot healing brush, the clone healing brush selects the around colors automatically. All that needs to be done is draw over the tag to erase it. After this, we added some texture back into where the tag used to be. I could have done better with this step. My 'texture" turned out being very sloppy and unnatural looking, although it is not very noticeable if it is not zoomed in. 

                                Clone Patch Tool

There was a pole perturding through the man's head in this picture, so we edited it out. We used the clone patch tool to remove the pole and then go over it with the background sky color. If you look closely, the sky is a slightly different shade to the far left because I could have done a better job using the tool. This is a useful tool, but I'm not very good at using it. 

Patch Tool

The man had a political shirt stating that "everyone poops," so we removed it from the picture. This was done using the patch tool. First we drew around the graphic, then moved it to a space that was the color of his shirt. The tool recognized the color of the shirt automatically and changed the graphic to the color.

                                           The Collage

The most challenging of the Photoshop tutorials was the collage. It involved everything that we learned from previous videos and even threw in some new things as well. Too many tools and steps were used in the making of the collage to list. We started off with three pictures of which we arranged to look like it does to the left. This sounds simple but it was quite the process. We had to get another picture to continue her sleeve because it was cut off, expand the background/ scenery, and color in the sky. I did not do so well on expanding the background as you can tell by the obvious vertical line on the left hand side of the picture. This was a very frustrating project but was educational.

Challenge

Lastly, the class got to use our creativity and newly learned skills. We were given a photograph of a man, along with multiple scenery pictures. We were then told to let our imagination soar. I had no idea what to do, so I just winged it. I probably did everything wrong, and I couldn't even recall what  did, but in the end it actually turned out looking pretty decent.