MY FINAL PROCESS

All of the readings were unique in their own way. Each one took a different angle about design and the history that comes along with it. You have "walton" who has a very outdated sense of design that goes back to earlier years (which is still important to be introduced too but not very useful now a days.) Then you have Bruce who talks about the attitude of design, andrew who talks about the development of design, meredith who talks about how modems aren't valid anymore and the history that goes a long with it, and of course me who has no idea because I'm just a beginner! Each article/person has a different aspect that relates somehow to design today. Everything they each have talked about has had an influence on either a designer or a design itself and i think that is such a wonderful thing about design. What people have to say and the type of designing that they do impacts the future and gets across a message to thousands and thousand of people. These articles spread a wide variety across the design world and without even one of them it wouldn't be complete. You need the past of design, you need the development, you need the history, so you can bring those together and come up with the future. I think that design thinking comes from the designer itself. I think to truly understand design and think like a designer, you have to be one. The beauty about that is most everyone can design even if they don't realize it. Design can be how you put your magnets on the fridge, or how you doodle on your history notes, or even how you put your food on your plate. Design is so simple yet can be so complex and i think that is one of the beautiful aspects about it. GRAPHIC design may be a little different but DESIGN in general is in anyones hands. It comes from inside, you just have to pull your creativeness out that everyone has a little of and just express it in a certain way. My personal design process has been a great experience. I have had all different types of teachers guiding me and teaching me. I have had a variety of teachers which relates back to the variety of articles, all of them are different but are all so important because of the range of knowledge and design techniques. This 224 class has really broadened my thought process and my thinking. I have thought about the BIGGER picture and have let my mind be more free. I love how you (luke) don't tell us what to do or give us strict boundaries on projects, you want us to reach deep down and design something completely on our own. You are there to guide us and give us advice but you never tell us what to do or how to do it which is really good practice for design careers ahead. I have learned to design with people as well, which i think is tremendously important because most jobs now a days you DO work with several designers on a project and you need to learn how to communicate and take criticism. Another thing i have learned (a great opportunity) is working with an actual business "transition projects." I have never done anything like that before and it was great practice for me to put myself on the line and design something that they needed. I did have a partner that helped me but baby steps are better than nothing! I think i have come out with 3 great projects from this class and I'm very happy with where i stand and how far i have come in just 2 terms! I hope to keep progressing and I'm going to take everything from this class and apply it to my future. 

MY article - GRAPHIC DESIGN: tools of the trade

In this article it talks about the future of graphic design and where it is going. It states that by 2014 the job positions will open up by 15 percent because of how many businesses need web design, advertising, marketing, and publishing. Think of all the businesses out there that need advertising such as big corporations or even small local ones that just need a brochure made to get their name out. Everywhere we bike, walk, or drive design is always around and someone has to be the one that does it. The articles talks about how once you break into the field of a design career you'll need to pursue continuous learning opportunities to maintain an advantage. Staying on top of your field such as updated software, emerging styles, and the constant shifting marketplace are very good to be aware of for success. The article also talks about how great of a job it can be because you can use your creativity and what you love, but get paid a decent amount as well. Your options are endless with this career because you can go into many different types of fields, different types of advertising, or even start your own business! Once you get that degree the ball is in your hands and you choose what you want to do with it. After reading this, it reassured me of how much i WANT to be a graphic design artist and how i eventually want to rise to the top and help small companies get larger by promoting good advertising. I want to help them and make an impact on their success. I want to feel that accomplishment and i hope one day i can do that. I know its going to take hard work and it's not going to be easy but I'm willing to work hard and put my best foot forward. 

This is our second brochure we did (the main one) that is not only volunteering but about location and what "transition project" actually does for the people in need. 

This is our first brochure that is just for volunteering! We took are own pictures which i thought turned out pretty cool. 

Here is our frustration on the re-do project (the brochure for transition.) We had some fun playing around with it. 

Here is part of our process for the second project. This is our map before we actually designed it into the bike wheel. 

Kaitlyn showing off our transition project wheel as well! 

Me holding our second project, the transition project wheel

Kaitlyn and and I getting ready to take some dinner pictures for our brochure! 

Transition Project

Kaitlyn and I did our project on transition center which is located downtown on Glisan. We went and visited the center a couple times to get research about how they organize their program. It was my first experience their and i was very impressed with the way they have it set up and the passion they have for helping homeless people get off the streets and start their lives. They truly want to help and I think more people should be involved in volunteer work and donations because a little bit goes a long way. Around 9,000 people a year get homes and jobs just because of transition. We decided to make our project on a bike wheel representing the circle of homelessness that people get trapped in and cant get out of. Also representing transportation to commute to and from a job that helps protect the environment. We gathered all are research that we got from visiting transition and put them into categories throughout the bike spolks. We did bright colors so that it would catch peoples eyes and make them want to come over and look. I think that it is a great way to get your voice out on subject that you truly care about because so many people ride bikes and even people who walk by can look and read what is important to you. If i had 30, 000 dollars to go towards this problem i would promote transition advertising on as many peoples bike spolks as possible so we could spread the word about how much one person can make a difference! Phone numbers and even website addresses would go along way so people can atleast check it out and see if they are interested. I would love to see 9,000 people turn into a lot more because their are still plenty of homeless people who need help by the ones who are ABLE too and who have an income. As far as working with Kaitlyn i dont have many complaints at all! She is wonderful to work with and she has also opened my eyes on a lot of issues about homelessness. She is reliable, she is creative, she is easy to work with, and she works hard! What more could i really ask for?  We are doing are re-cap project together and I'm really looking forward to working with her again! 

Towards Relational Design

I thought this article was very interesting to read. It's pretty amazing to see all the perspectives of design in general and how it has grew and changed throughout the years. The first phase being more suprematism, futurism, and constructivism, a way that allows us to speak of a "visual language." I personally think that is what design is all about, finding a way to speak to your audience through your work of art. The second phase is more about its symbolic value, its semantic dimension, narrative potential, and its essential context. I think that this phase is very important in a designer because you need to see the whole context, the whole picture when you are trying to get your "message" or "designs" across. The third phase being more tightly linked to digital technologies, the internet and the computer started becoming huge and taking over the design field. I think it has become a great thing because it gives designers a way to work fast, easy, and efficient instead of doing everything by hand. All forms of design produce effects, some small, some large just like it says in the article. Design has become so far and has become extremely important in ways of advertisement and just visually catching ones eye. Every business (big or small) and corporation needs design to bring attract people and give it a overall branding to invite you in. I think its cool to hear that over 100 years of experiments design explores the realm of context through social, cultural, political, geographical, technological, and philosophical ideas. The diversity has become so far and i think having that diverse mind makes for a good graphic design artist. 

Meredith Davis

This article confused me, I felt like there was a lot of rambling and it was hard for me to fallow. What i did get from it was Graphic Design has been taught the same way for many years but technology has been changing drastically so it is off balance. The teaching methods for Graphic Design are behind and not caught up to how life is today. I'm not exactly sure if that is what she is saying or not and thats why I'm interested to talk about it tomorrow so i cant fully understand her point. I don't have any links because I'm still not positive on the issue that is being discussed. I know for me Graphic Design is being taught several different way by different teachers. I have one teacher saying "never do this" when thats all my other teacher wants to see! The teaching methods can be so different and I have gotten confused and even second guessed myself because I don't know what's right and wrong anymore. The best way that I learn is when someone shows me how to go through a process step by step so I'm retaining it. I am a beginner in Graphic Design and I need to be shown what to do and how to do it before I go off on a project independently. I'm very curious to see what the class says about this article because I would like to understand more! 

GROUP PROCESS

When this project got assigned i was extremely happy to be a part of a real event. This was not only my first event project but also working with six other group members. It did get challenging working with so many different ideas from so many different kinds of people but overall I thought we did a great job! We didn't assign different parts of the project to certain people, we all just put our heads together and came up with the concept, sketches, and designs together. The hard part about that route was not everyone got to do as much as they wanted because one or two main people did the work while the others were just like "put that there" or "no change the color on that." The good part was we all knew our concept and what we wanted our finishing goals to be so we were all on the same page throughout the project. As interesting and fun as the project was I wouldn't want to be grouped with six members again (thats why Im really looking forward to the homeless project.) We all worked together nicely though and we all gave input so what more can I ask for? I learned how to work with people and communicate well so we were all on the same page throughout the process. I think communication is very key when your working with others and i realized that through this process. I also learned how to work quick and efficiently because we did only have two weeks to finish! In a career with graphic design i think there are going to be times when there will be a tight time limit and you will need to be able to crank out a project in a small period and it will need to be just as successful as if you had all the time in the world. Overall I thought passion for fashion was a great project and I worked with some outstanding designers who had great ideas. I would eventually love to do something like that again by myself so I could use all my ideas and concepts (this is me just being selfish) because there was so much I wanted to do but with six people sometimes I couldn't get all my ideas across. I thought for only two weeks we did a damn good job together! Thank you group! 

Here is a more funky poster that hayley did that I love! i think the yellow is a really strong color that we should of stuck with. 

This is another one that I had done with darker purples and pinks just to tone down the baby doll look from the last one. 

I went home and messed around with more girly colors because personally thats what catches my eye as a woman. I feel that pink and purple also scream the color fashion but I think it might be too much on the girly side? 

Just messing around with color options 

This is the rough draft of our poster in progress. We incorporated the mannequin, the birds, the stage flowers, and the title "Passion for Fashion." 

FINAL HANDBILL - I think we could have gotten a little more creative with the handbill but it helped that we cut it into a shape of a bird, i think that will catch peoples attention  

FINAL WEBSITE! woo hoo! I'm pretty happy with this end result 

second attempt of the website - looking better but not there yet! 

first attempt at the website - not looking very good yet 

ride side panel for the stage 

Here is what we came up with for part of the stage. We incorporated our two main colors of green keeping that background white and simple.  

flower ideas for the stage - We wanted to keep it simple so the main focus was on the models going down the runway and there wasn't to many distractions. 

Here is the title with color - we chose green because of the sustainability aspect of the show and also because green has always been a color of fashion as well. I think the bird next to the title is very strong and has a strong inviting feel. 

  PASSION FOR FASHION! started messing around the font and how we wanted to present our title 

birdie ideas!! 

Here are the swallows wrapping the ribbon around the mannequin (where the inspiration of cinderella came into play) 

first sketch idea that incorporated the mannequin with the swallow 

Going back to the idea of cinderella and the birds wrapping the ribbon around the mannequin we thought that we should incorporate the bird as our main logo because it is a sustainable fashion show and represents nature, peace, and sense of fashion as well. This swallow is very feminine and welcoming and that is what we were going for to draw all kinds of women no matter the age. 

Here are two ideas for mannequins that my group new we wanted to incorporate into are main idea for "passion for fashion." Our inspiration came from cinderella when the birds were wrapping ribbon around a mannequin. We thought that every woman no matter the age could relate to our idea since a mannequin does represent fashion and childhood memories. 

An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

After reading this article my first thought was how these steps sound like 43 lessons to life. I agree with most of them strongly such as, allow events to change you, forget about good, think with your mind, and remember. These are good phrases to go back and read every now and then and reflect on your life while its speeding by. I think that most of these "lessons" can relate to your job as well. For me personally, i always want to be growing, learning, making mistakes but succeeding in the end when Im a graphic design artist. I think this article speaks to me and Im going to apply a lot of the knowledge from it to my work in design. 

First Impression

Going into this class (art 224) i was not really sure what we would be doing and what projects we would be working on, but i was impressed the first day. I'm excited about the projects, they seem interesting and very productive. I think the fashion show is a great idea, my group gets along well and we have all came up with some good ideas that has got me excited for the business school to look at. I'm looking forward to this term and hoping to get a lot of knowledge and creativity under my belt!