End of Senior Year

Projects

Finish Magazine

We finished the magazine layout that we started last semester. We actually lost a lot of progress on this project as our server crashed and did not save some updates we had made. This experience taught me about the importance of having back-ups and copies of my work. We were allowed extra time to finish the project and I think it still turned out okay. 

Stuco Class T-shirts

I was asked by the Olathe Northwest Student Council to design class t-shirts for the school year. This entailed a design that could be versatile and be worn by every class in the building as well as staff members. I came up with many options and the council voted on this one as the shirt design we would sell and distribute. 

Youth Group Basketball Jerseys

My youth pastor once again approached me with the idea to design a jersey for our basketball team that would play other churches in the area. I again came up with many different designs and got a feel for what the players were wanting and expecting. The design was chosen by the pastor and the color of jersey and print was chosen by the players.  

Personal Branding

We were told by our advisors that it would be necessary to have business cards for our Senior Show at the end of the year. We were expecting this and many of us have been brainstorming ideas for our own brand for a while now. I struggled with finding a design that not only looked good, but that truly represents me. It took many trials and we all were in the same boat, but we helped each other and actually created a word bank for each student and wrote words that came to mind when we thought of that person. This helped multiple of us narrow down what we wanted to showcase through our logos. I love traveling and really have a passion for doing my work anywhere and everywhere I can. I wanted to show that aspect of myself through this design. Pinterest and other sites helped me narrow down how to do that: paper airplanes. I thought these looked fun and light-hearted but still got my point across. The rest of the design came from sketching that idea. The deciding of colors took another journey very similar to that one in that it was difficult for most of us to decide what color schemes represented us. We helped each other narrow that down as well and as soon as someone said navy for me I knew that was the color.

Senior Show

Senior Show is an event that allows us seniors in the eCommunication Academy to showcase our work from the last four years. We set-up a table that shows our personality and can hold much of our work. We get computers to show our portfolios as well. This is a large event that we put on each year and us students lead the process. Two of us from the graphic design class were chosen to aid in the planning process. We designed the promotion pieces such as the poster and brochure. We also made name plates and endorsement signs to clarify the status of each senior at the show. 

Crawling for Down Syndrome

We were asked to come up with a company that would sell or provide a product or service and design their brand. Around this same time I was approached by a friend of my father's to brand a fundraiser he was leading called Crawling for Down Syndrome, and I was allowed to use this as my project. This fundraiser was a off-roading event that donated their proceeds to research for down syndrome. It was not a new event, but each year that have had a different logo and they wanted to improve their marketing this year. They only needed a logo, poster, and brochure, but for the class we added web-ads, and infographic and more advertising. 

Class time

My time in class was spent focused on my work. I spent most of my time working on the computer or my laptop in order to get my work done on time. I also collaborated with other students whether through critiques or just asking for a second set of eyes. If I was ever done early, I first took a step back for a few minutes and came back to the project with a fresh set of eyes in order to see if any adjustments needed to be made. I am also the Editor-in-Chief of our school's yearbook this year which means that I spend an additional two hours in my school day working on graphic design and journalism. This has drastically helped in the improvement of my skills and my versatility.

Strengths/Weaknesses

Some of my strengths have been greatly improved this semester. As part of the committee that lead Senior Show we were supposed to be led by one of our advisors, but in the middle of the process she had a family emergency and was unable to be present during the rest of the planning. We were pretty much on our own from there. It was great to see each of us step up and work hard to get everything we needed done. I saw my time management improve even more as it was necessary to work on that planning while still creating the advertising materials on time to be sent to print and still working on a separate project for the class. Everything was completed on time and I think we all improved our abilities to work well with others. I have also improved on a weakness mentioned previously: my ability to push my creativity. This year has pretty much been one big work out for that part of my brain. I have had to manage designing for the class, yearbook, and internships which was not easy. But, I am very grateful for it all because I have grown a lot in my versatility and my ability to work on multiple projects while constantly improving.

Summary
I have loved my experience in the eCommunication Academy. It has helped me narrow down what I want to do in my future as well as improve my employment skills in general. I have had the experience of working with others, working for a boss-like leader, and many chances to grow in communication skills. I do not think that I would change anything if given the opportunity as I have learned from every experience and appreciate that. I am very excited to continue graphic design in college at Creighton because I know now that I love it and I can continue to improve.

First Semester of Senior Year

Homecoming 

The seniors were given a task to, in groups, design a poster, ticket and infographic to promote the 

Homecoming dance with the theme of Above and Beyond, and schedule of the week. This was the first project we began and we had the posters hanging up in the halls approximately two weeks before the dance. This was the first big project that we have done in groups so there was a learning curve to adapt to other styles, feedback, and collaboration. I definitely learned more about working with others on a project instead of just receiving critiques. This was also occurring while I was developing the theme for this year's yearbook. That means that my creative brain was fried. I learned to work through this and continue to push myself. We received a lot of feedback from each other, other groups, and our instructor during the process. The senior committee did choose our concept to represent their dance, which we are very grateful for. We then received a lot of positive feedback from other students and staff. We altered the layout infographic nearly at the last minute as it was not very creative and we had a new idea. I am happy with the outcome of the project, especially when consider the circumstance I was under.

Hand Typography Greeting Card

We were instructed to design a greeting card that could be for just about any occasion, but the focus of the card had to be hand-drawn typography. This required a lot of sketching out ideas and refining each one. I decided to create a Christmas card. After looking at all of my sketches, I decided that the most original and fun design I had come up with was for the saying "Have a holly jolly Christmas". I continued to refine the design and finally created an inked version of the design on a large piece of paper to allow a quality scan. I scanned in this design and then had even more touch-ups to finish on the computer. This project taught me a lot about hand typography and how to do it correctly. I am very happy with the outcome of the typography. I learned a lot and feel good about how much effort and time I spent cleaning up all of the letters and elements.

Be Kind Do Good
I was approached by members of Sophomore Committee to design a shirt for them that they would sell and encourage people to wear during our annual Week of Giving. They wanted this shirt to encourage spreading kindness and love around our school and communities. They decided on the saying "Be kind and do good". I sketched and designed a few ideas that I had, and let them choose or alter any they wanted. They chose a two-toned design with a heart in the background. I love seeing students and staff wear these shirts because I know my work is being used for a great cause.





Blood Drive Poster
I am a member of the Olathe Northwest Student Council and we hold the blood drives that occur every year. I was asked by our sponsors and president to design this year's fall blood drive poster in order to promote donations and spread the word. I designed a few differing ideas and asked the sponsors and board members to provide feedback. I was given great feedback and made a few alterations like lining up the text on the right to the bottom of the design on the left. I am very happy with this project. I think that the clean design grabs people attention and emphasizes the good that they could be doing by donating.

Week of Giving Spirit Days Poster
The week before our annual Week of Giving, some sponsors realized that we did not have a poster to hangup that would advertise the spirit days for that upcoming week. I was asked if I could quickly design one so we could get it print the next day. Designing a poster that I would be happy with in one day was not going to be an easy task. I did get a design ready to send in time, however I know that it was not my best work. They wanted the posted to have a fall theme so I focused on that and it looks childish in my opinion, but I got it done in time and the sponsors were very happy with it.

Fall Retreat T-shirt

I am very active in my church's youth group and we have a fall retreat every year where we travel to a nearby camp for a weekend.We have services, play games, and have a great time together as a break during the semester. Every year has a different theme and we are given t-shirts. I was asked by our youth pastor to design this year's shirts. The theme was "Be. Do. Go." and he wanted to play off of a mountain scene like Patagonia. I took to my sketchbook and put a few of my favorites and differing ideas on the computer. I got feedback from other students as to which idea was their favorite and anything they wanted to change. I then went to my youth pastor, gave him some updated designs, told him what other students liked and he picked a final design. I liked working with a client that did not know
 much about graphic design because it taught me how to gently guide them in a positive direction while still respecting their choices as they are the client. For instance, the colors that they originally had picked out were not colors that would together on a t-shirt very well, so I was able to show them examples and helped them choose a better color scheme. I am happy with the outcome of the design, especially compared to years passed. It's nice to hear the other students' positive feedback on the designs as well.









Exotic Espresso Branding
The scope of this project was to create a company and create branding elements for them based off of four items given to us: two letters, an animal, a mineral, and a number. I created Exotic Espresso, a coffee shop company, first opened up in Pier 39 in San Francisco. The animal I picked was lemur, which led me to the word exotic. The number was 39 which led me to Pier 39 in San Fransisco and the direction that I wanted to go for my company. The mineral was granite which sparked the idea of material coming from across the globe. Granite can be found almost anywhere in the world and can be found in many different colors and patterns, but is all the same quality, just like the Exotic Espresso materials. And the letters were D and B which led to the slogan “brew for a different beast.” After creating the company, we took to our sketch books and were to create many many logo ideas. We narrowed it down to our top six choices and did a class critique to better them. I finally chose a circular logo with the company name and slogan running through the middle. We then developed our company any further and created many elements: a letter head, business cards, an envelope, possible interior and exterior mock-ups, some sort of merchandise, uniform, and iPhone app. This project took quite some time as it had lots of different elements but I learned a lot about mock-ups and how to make sure every individual element still feels like they are from the same company. I am very happy with the way this turned out. I lie the clean design and I feel that I made every element flow together well.

Youth Group Basketball Shirts
I was again approached by our youth pastor. This time it was to create a design for our church's basketball team that enters a league every winer. This was to be place on a jersey with each players name and number on the back. I found a lot of inspiration, but did require a lot of feedback for a design that would be a very different task than I had tackled before. I asked him as well as some of the kids that I knew would be playing and got a lot of great feedback in terms of the type and feel of the design. The t-shirts are being printed and the league will start in January. I am happy with the design and am excited to see the jerseys in action.

Magazine Layout - Work in Progress
We have begun a magazine layout that will showcase a local designer. This project has already taught me a lot about interviewing and creating questions. I have done these before through yearbook, but it was a great experience to interview an adult working in the field that I hope to some day. We have been assigned to sketch out a fairly finalized layout over winter break and will finish this when we return.

Internship
I have an internship with B.Creative, a local design company. For them, I create weekly e-mail newsletters through Mail Chimp. These showcase one of B.Creative's client's products and specials. It is nice to have an opportunity to work with real clients and I have learned a lot about through this process.

Time Management
Whether on sketches, designing, mounting a project, or something for my internship, I am constantly on the move in class. I cannot remember a time this semester that I did not have at least one project in progress. However, if there was ever a time that I was not working directly on a project, I would say that I would be researching new ideas or learning new techniques through tutorials. Outside of this class, I have yearbook which is also very beneficial to my creative brain. Whether photography or design, that class advances my mind. At home I am always touching up projects or working on outside work. And if I'm not doing that, it's safe to assume I'm sketching new ideas or scrolling through Behance, Pinterest, etc. to find new ideas.

Strengths/Weaknesses
I would say that some of my greatest strengths are my abilities to manage time well since I have so many works going at once, as well as my curiosity that pushes me to learn how to incorporate new techniques and ideas. One of my big weaknesses has always been my ability to push my creative brain. This semester has allowed me to grow a lot in that aspect through having many projects at once that each require a very different feel and look.

Summary
I have loved this semester. I think that I have grown a lot and I have loved the many opportunities I am given to design for different groups in and out of the school. If I could change anything it would be to take these months slower as I am realizing how close we are to graduating and I want to truly appreciate the opportunities I have been given through this program. I am very happy to see my growth in this semester as well as through the years up to this point. One goal I have for next semester is to continue to design for many different types of clients and continue to push my creative brain even further before entering college.

Semester 2 Reflection

Technology 

Throughout this last semester of my junior year,
I have grown in my knowledge of technology. Through the assignment of projects that involve new tasks and exploring on my own, I have learned a lot about the programs we use such as Illustrator and, especially, InDesign. I would say that I have learned most about inDesign this semester because we have had many projects that required that program. From the menu design to the non-profit advertising campaigns to the client project I received of the ONW Literary Magazine, I have had a vast amount of experience with InDesign the end of this year. This was an important takeaway for me as it allowed me to grow as a designer and realize that each program really does have a special purpose. I grew as a designer and learned how to properly use columns and grids as well, which is a very helpful tool to designers. Early in the menu project specifically I realized that there really is a right way to use columns and grids and that none of us knew what it was. Through lots of questions and detailed instructions through Mrs. Burdolski, I had learned how to properly use this skill and have used columns and grids on many projects since then, including the Literary Magazine. 

Collaboration

This semester has brought to my eyes the importance of having mentors to look up to and learn from. I did not realize how much you can learn from an older/more experienced peer until this semester. Between the countless times Jaqcuelynn and Kacie, two seniors in my class, came over to visit with me, Jaqcuelynn creating the typography for my prom poster, and the amazing critiques that our class conducted, these older students have taught us all so much about graphic design and collaboration. This was a very important lesson for me to learn because I have never been one to take criticism well, nor have I ha an experience that I have been able to learn so much from a peer. This experience has allowed me to grow as a teammate and collaborator and I know it will greatly impact my experience in my later career.

Communication

Our class has conducted many critiques this year and this last semester and I think that we have all grown in our abilities to express our thoughts to one another. I know that I have been able to ask others for help, take their criticism, and give my suggestions in a much better manner than I did at the beginning of the year. Being able to speak more respectfully but still provide honest feedback and suggestions is a vital skill that will last a lifetime. I would not say that this lesson came with many challenges, it just allowed us to grow throughout the year without even realizing it. I know that learning how to correctly communicate with one another will allow us to be even better employees and even friends as we grow up.

Project Management 

I was given the client project of designing the ONW Literary Magazine, and in order to do so I worked with the staff of this publication and their instructor. While working on this project, I learned a lot about Project Management. I first met with them to discuss what vision they had for the magazine and show them some cover ideas. The meeting went very well and we agreed that the next step would be to send me all of the entries art and writing and I could start entering them into an InDesign document and begin designing. I was under the impression that they would send me the first semester's pieces right away and this second semester's would come later. However, this did not occur and I was sent all of the entries at a much later date and was given a two week timespan to complete the publication. This was an outside project that I had taken up on top of my in class work and study for AP Exams. Once I was sent all of the works, I sat down and scheduled the next two weeks of my life. I worked out how long I would need to work after school each day to complete this project while still allowing myself time to complete all other goals. I learned a lot about working with clients and time management through this experience, and I am happy to take this knowledge with me into the rest of my life.

Leadership

In this class that was mixed with both juniors and seniors we all held a different role. The seniors clearly taught us a lot and we juniors respect them a lot. As for us juniors we all took more of a place of students and allowed our minds to soak up all of the vital information we could from the seniors and Mrs. Burdolski. This semester taught me that being a good leader does in fact require leading by example and that every good leader also had to be a follower at some point. For next year we will be the seniors that the new juniors will be looking up to and learning from. And in order to show them good examples we need to be good leaders and show the same work ethic that the seniors showed us this year. I have always felt that  have a leadership personality and I like to hold that role. I feel that each of us held that role at some point this year, whether through leading a critique or aiding others with their projects or teaching them something new. Through each of us having that experience we each came to realize what characteristics we possess, and through witnessing the seniors, we all were allowed to witness solid leadership and collaboration.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I feel that a few of my strengths are time management and organization. I have always been very organized and always been able to prioritize and manage my schedule. Through this very busy and stressful junior year, I have learned that organization is just as important as I thought that it was. I learned this through any time that I attempted to have a link saved in an InDesign file and the moving the location of the image in my server, inevitably affecting the file. Time management has also been proven to be a very useful skill through my aforementioned Literary Magazine project and many other experiences this year. I would say that one characteristic I would like to gain or grow in would be being able to push myself creatively and not need to rely on the aid of others, especially now that the seniors are leaving I would like to gain confidence and allow my mind to wander through many different and new ideas for each project.

How This Will Help Me

It is evident that I have learned a lot throughout this semester and the entire year and I am very glad that I have. I am excited to use these newly found and developed skills throughout the rest of my e-Comm experience and bring them into my college life and later career. I cannot wait to put my growth in collaborating and communicating to the test with other groups of people and in other projects.

In Conclusion 

Throughout my experience in e-Comm I have learned a lot about each strand and working in this type of industry; however, I can say that this year is when most of that learning occurred. I grew as a collaborator and communicator, in my knowledge of technology and what being a leader means, and I was given amazing opportunities to work with clients. I am very thankful for the seniors and all that they have taught me. I am very excited to see how all of this helps me in later years. 

Semester 1 Reflection

Name Typography

For this project we were instructed to create 12 name plates that represented an aspect of ourselves based on how the name was presented. In order to do this we used downloaded fonts, manipulated fonts, and hand drawn type. The day it was assigned to the day it was turned in was about a three week period. As our first project it was good to start with a project that strongly pushed our creativity, even if that was a challenge. I loved learning more about typography and how to start with handwritten typography; I had not tried it before, and it was nice to be introduced to something brand new right from the start of the year. Throughout the project I was told to push my limits a little bit more and I think that that truly helped me grasp how to push my creativity to its limits. I  continuously altered my handwritten typography as I knew it could be better. I liked this as our first project because it allowed us to become aquatinted with the software again after a long summer. It also was a good way to get to know each other quickly.

Company Rebranding

After the name plates, we were told to find a company and completely rebrand it. For us this meant a new logo and new packaging. We started by sketching many many logo ideas, critiquing them, and altering them until we chose one final logo. Once we chose a logo and developed the colors for it we began to think about package design. We ended the project after two months by photographing our finished product in the studio and displaying them in the hallway of our school. I liked this project a lot as it was a new experience and it was a good feeling to compare the company that you started with to your final product and see the difference that our designs had made. It took me personally a long time to create a logo that I felt good about. In fact, the final logo of my project was never critiqued because I came up with the idea so late in the process. This project introduced us to creating logos and how to alter something that already exists instead of creating something from our mind. I learned a lot about hierarchy through the package designing and how the consumer should be able to see the brand before anything else on a package. My company was a juice company and i created each flavor to have a name that involved a pun. I liked this idea and originally had these names very large on the from of my bottles. I was told that the names being larger than the company's logo was confusing as that the first thought of someone seeing the bottle will think that the name of the flavor is the seller. I listened to this feedback and took into consideration hierarchy when I went to change my packaging.

Menu Redesign

We are currently redesigning a menu for a restaurant that already has a logo and an established brand. We were told not to touch the logo but completely recreate a menu for them. This is a fun project because we get to work in InDesign which is new to most of us. We are also learning more and more about columns, grids, and character and paragraph styles each day. These allow us to create eye lines that are pleasing to the reader's eyes.  Because we cannot alter the logo we are learning how to work around something that may not be our own or may not be a very good design. I like this project because it is very realistic in comparison to something we may get hired to do in the real business world.

Extra Projects

I have done a few projects that were not assigned in class as well as the ones above. I have created a poster for a fundraiser here at school and the graphics for a band documentary that our peers in the video strand are making, as well as a few video projects for some friends and my church. I have learned to work alongside peer for clients a lot through these projects and I like to be able to incorporate my photography into projects like I was able to do for the band documentary CD cover. 

Time in Class

In class I have had the opportunity to work alongside peers and get critiqued as well as critique them. I enjoy this as it allows more sets of eyes to see the work and talk about possible improvements that I may not have thought of. We also get to sketch and work on the computer in an environment that is very open and allows you to ask anyone for their help or opinions. We all have our own strengths and it is nice to have help understanding the software or gaining advice. When I feel as though I am done with a project, and I've already asked my peers or instructor for any advice, I turn the internet on sites such as Behance and Pinterest to compare my creations to items similar and see what others have been doing. I may change the font or continue to rearrange a design in order to see if any new ideas come to mind until I know that I must turn in my project and it s my best work. When I do not have a project or when I am not working on one, such as I'm at home, I often still look at Behance to see new project that people I am following have been working on and gain inspiration for new creations. I also work on my photography a lot and come up with ways to incorporate the two together. Improving my portfolio is always a goal and I can do so by adding to it as well as updating my Behance with new cover photos or layouts.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I think that some of my strengths are being able to take critique knowing that it may be my project, but this is a new set of eyes looking at the project, much like it will be viewed in the real world, as well as time management and working with clients. I have had a project already that the client had very specific ideas of what they wished the final product to look like and it was not what I had in mind at all; however, I worked with the client and gave them exactly what they wanted and in the end they were very happy with it, even though it was not what I would've done. I am also very good at project management in terms of organization - I have folders for everything and i know exactly where they are - and time management. I like to work on a  schedule and always strive to have my best work done when it needs to be done. However, something I can improve on is continuing to push my creativity. I feel that I am continuing to grow in this aspect, especially with this new menu design, but I have struggled with creating brand new ideas in the past.

This Semester

I have loved this semester because it has given me a good look at what it would look like to continue working in this industry after schooling. I do not know if i would change anything because everything that has happened so far has taught me a lesson and strengthened me as a designer and potential employee. Next semester I would like to take on more client projects and continue to grow my portfolio.

Name Plates

For this project we were told to create twelve name plates that represent a specific aspect of our personality through typography. Each plate is unique and each student's project is different as well. It's interesting to see the different traits that people chose to highlight and the different ways each person pursued the idea.

We started by hearing all the details of the project from our advisor and then looked at examples of the project from past years. We were told to sketch at least 36 sketches of 12 ideas, so three sketches per concept. I started by writing out a list of any attribute that I wanted to showcase and then decided which ones I could create a typeface that represented it well. Once I had all of the sketches finished and i decided which ones I would like to recreate on the computer, I took to Adobe Illustrator.

For some concepts I found fonts that were already similar to the look I wanted so I had to make only minor adjustments or additions. However, for others, such as the hot chocolate mug and tent, I had to create it all from scratch. Through this project I further improved my skills of working with anchor points as I did this on almost all of the concepts. I also got to start learning about bringing handwriting in to Illustrator. I did this for a couple of my ideas and I am excited to keep doing tutorials and asking questions in order to learn more and get better at it. We also had the opportunity too learn how to properly cut and mount our projects onto matt boards. This was good to learn as it helps keep the project looking professional and is an easy way to have all of the related work neatly in one space to see it all together.

If  could redo this project I would take more time on my handwritten fonts as I now have a little bit more knowledge. On the other hand, I think most of my concepts are done well and I managed my time very well. Hopefully for the next project I can keep my management skills and incorporate more aspects that I need to watch tutorials or learn more about in order to grow my diversity.

I enjoyed this project being our first one of the year as it got us started with a lot of creativity and allowed us to become more familiar with the setup of the class. It also let each of us learn more about each other

Magazine Cover

Each student needed to use an image of themselves and design a magazine cover centered around said photo. I chose to make my magazine to be an edition of Sports Illustrated. I edited the image so that my body would be seen easily and stand in front of the large text, as that is a consistent theme with Sports Illustrated. I chose fonts that would replicate the actual text on the real covers. I also wrote headlines that sounded a lot like real headlines from the past, but that still related to me. When every element was decided we put all of them into an InDesign document and created the final product there.

Individual Focus

For my individual focus project I chose to design text on high resolution images. I thought this would be a good idea because I love photography and this gives me an opportunity to use my pictures in this class.

This image I chose to go more simple because it has a detailed background. I thought that the title "Be Yourself" fit this image and the girl's personality as she is one of my good friends.









This picture I chose a detailed text badge to base my text on because it was a really simple image on its own. I liked the quote and I felt that it the badge was a good fit.

Chill Pill Packaging

This project was centered around practical package design and introducing 3D tools in Illustrator. It needed to be a type of pill that did anything we wanted it to. My partner and I chose to create the Chill Pill.


The process started with learning all of the key components of a package design: dyeline, bleed, and glue flaps. We created a blank practice design with the instruction of our teacher, and then created this project with all of the necessary components.

We created to possible design for the box; one with a pattern and one with an image. The designs both included the logo, a description of the product, a set of nutrition facts, and a barcode. Then, we designed a label that would go on the bottle that would hold our pills. We learned how to use illustrator to create a 3D shape and place images onto the shape to make an example of our pill bottle and package.

Forrest Gump Saul Bass Poster

To prepare for this project we talked about the work of Saul Bass and became familiar with his style. It consists of not a ton of colors, simple edges and pictures, and it either introduces a character or tells the plot line. We then had to choose three movies or TV shows that we knew a lot about and were wiling to re-do the poster for it. I finally decided to make a poster for Forrest Gump. I've always loved this movie and I thought of an idea for the poster very quickly. I decided to introduce the main character with my poster. I used his silhouette on his most famous spot through the movie (the bench) and put his tag line as well as a box of chocolates on his lap to show what kind of person he was and what was important to him. I put the feather in the background as a subtle touch that shows something that is a small, but important piece of the movie.

Illustrator

Blue Print Text

This one project was cool because I haven't used the gradient mesh tool a lot yet and this allowed more exploration with that. I like the final product because it looks like a real blue print title. I like the different lines coming out and the arrows. 

Trendy Lines

 This project was a mock website design. It started in Illustrator to design the lies in the back, and then moved to Photoshop to add the background and type. It was fun to explore more elements of Photoshop and was a cool new way to design a layout.

Messaging Men

This project was completely in Illustrator. This was my favorite project of the three as it had a lot of new things with pathfinder and gradients. I like the final product and the colors I chose. It showed new ways to use circles and ellipses.

Business Cards and Postcard

For my two business card ideas I wanted to go with a look that showed what my area of expertise was. When I looked on Moo I foud these images of chairs that had been minipulated in Photoshop.

I immediatly loved the idea and took to Photoshop to recreate it with one of my pictures. After trying a couple of images, including a portrait that ended up just loooking like the girl had been in a bad accident, I came across this image of rocks that I put a blue tint to and created this businesscard idea.

                       

Next I set out searchng for another wonderful idea. I found this and thought it was the coolest thing!

But as you can see, it didn't end up working too well. I decided that I couldn't find four images that I thought worked really well together. I ended up just playing around and ended with one idea with two color possibilities. I eventually decided on black as I thought it added more of an edge and interesting feel to the card. And thus ended with my second business card.

Next I tackled the postcard with an inspirational quote. I searched Google until I found this image of a lovely little owl tell everyone that we should try to have a goo da everyday. I loved it and immediately thought of my mom. She loves owls and i decided to make my version of the image into her favorite colors.

 

I really liked this project as I can use these busiess cards later in life and continue to change them as I grow as well. I loved the postcard because it was something I can send to people I know that has my name on it. 

Personal Logo

The personal logo design process started with research and sketches for me. I looked at what others were doing for a photography company and thought about how to make it personal for me. I sketched up some of my thoughts and chose a couple to start working with on the computer. I really liked the idea of a flat style camera as part of my logo, so I incorporated a couple of different ones. I finally decided on an idea I wanted to go with and then chose some fonts and colors I liked. It took me a long time to finally decide on what I wanted my logo to be..... and then still changed the font just this previous weekend. I wanted an easy monogram to go with my logo and to use as my google profile picture so I created that as well. I know I will constantly be changing and remaking this logo but for now I am pretty happy with it (even if the fonts aren't my favorite).

Photoshop Masks

This project on photoshop masks cleared a lot of things up for me. With the 'Scuba' image, we learned how to place a picture inside type using a clipping mask and linking it to the type layer.


With the corn we learned how to use a layer mask to apply a gradient (and other effects) to one layer and create a new color to part of the image. When doing this, we selected the corn and created a new layer of it on top of itself. we selected the new top layer and applied a layer mask to it. We then put a black to white gradient for the masks, and because of the "black reveals and white conceals" rule, the original yellow color was uncovered.

The little girl on the swing was given much more motion to her picture through a very similar process as the corn was given a new color. We jumped the layer and put a layer mask on the top layer. We then added a blur effect and decided on the radial blur with a 70% opacity. The layer mask was then also given a gradient, once again using the "black reveals white conceals" idea, we gave the
little girl a little more breathing room around her face.



For my personal image I used a clipping mask to place a copy of the tires horizontally inside the letters. I also used a layer mask to make the background black and white to make the letters and main tires pop more on the image.