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.

7 / 27

We all parted our ways today. Many of us left for the airport at 3 am and left a few of our new friends back at the hotel for they had much later flights. We said our goodbyes to those this morning after an awesome night last night chatting in the hotel dinner over wonderfully greasy chicken strips. We had a lot of time in the hotel to look at the shops as well as have a wonderful 4 am chicken sandwich from a McDonald's - BTW there is apparently no where in the world that can mess up a classic McDonald's fry and for that I am grateful. There were many of us shared a flight to Amsterdam and said our final goodbyes there before heading our separate ways. As we landed in Amsterdam, however, we realized that Marlee's flight was already boarding and we would have a rushed goodbye. After seeing her off, the rest of us headed for a Starbucks that we saw while running to her gate earlier. We appreciated our first classic coffee shop drinks in two weeks and soon said more goodbyes. I was luck enough to have Randi on one more flight with me before we were all alone again. us two went separate ways at JFK. I had two more flights and it wasn't until I was sitting in Minneapolis waiting for my flight to KC did I realize how ready I was to be home. I was suddenly exhausted and constantly on the verge of tears due to said exhaustion mixed with eagerness to see my friends, family, and dogs. Arriving in KCI and seeing my mom waiting for me lifted so much weight off of my shoulders that I did not even know was there. I had not felt home sick the entire trip, but in that moment I was glad to be home and so incredibly excited to share my many adventures with all of you.

It was hard to leave all of these amazing people but I know that we will keep in touch and hopefully meet again soon.

7 / 25 & 26

25th 

The 25th was mostly full of a 10+ hour car ride with many stops to rotate seats and grab snacks on our way back to Dheli.

26th 

This morning felt like a continuation of yesterday with a five hour drive to the Taj Mahal. Once we arrived though, we were amazed. There's a reason it is a world treasure. It was being cleaned this day so we were also able to see that fascinating process, and whether scaffoldings covered the front up or not, it was beautiful. We were led on a tour and were so blessed to learn the in-depth history of the magnificent building and surrounding gates. After the tour (pictures inside were not allowed) we took a few more minutes to photograph the gorgeous architecture and headed through a few shops for souvenirs before going back to our vans. 

7 / 24

Today was our last day being with the Anganwadi kids. It was so great to work with them. To have the exchange of us teaching them math and some of our games and them teaching us new games and helping us learn about their culture was just amazing. I saw so much growth in Anish especially who did not like math at all and had a very hard time with it in the beginning, but by today he had improved so much and he seemed so happy about it; that was a great experience for me to be able to teach him and see the progress he and the other kids made in just a week.

We traded drawings and said our sorrowful goodbyes and eventually headed back down the incredibly steep hike for one last time. We were just a little ways down the hill when we heard Anish yell for me saying "I'll miss you, Chelsea". My heart dropped and I teared up as I yelled back "I miss you so much already, Anish". He had clearly gained a liken toward me throughout the week and I loved to have him hanging out with me. I am going to miss him, Shriya, little Puddy and all of the other kids so much. It truly has been an amazing week learning from them.

After dinner we left for a local dog shelter and hospital that rescues injured and stray dogs and prepares them for adoption. These dogs are sent back into the streets if they do not take well to domestication, but most are prepared to be sent into life with a good family, whether local or international as many are adopted from Germans, Canadians, and Americans. It took many of us a lot of will power not to take one home with us right then and there.

For dinner we were treated to a delicious full Italian dinner made by Anaise, the Italian student with us on the trip. We all played group games afterwards, including mafia and then headed off to our rooms to pack up are bags and get ready to leave for Dheli in the morning. 10 hour car ride back, yay!

7 / 23

India fun day! This is the day when we get our saris back, get henna done, watch a Bollywood movie, and learn Bollywood dancing!

After our Anganwadi work in the morning and lunch we all lined up to collect our saris and try them on. I picked a blue and gold patterned fabric and it fit like a glove. We all came outside soon and got in line to have some henna done by Priyanka and her friend who often do it professionally for weddings. I was lucky enough to be early in the line and was able to have mine dry while we watched the Bollywood movie - which was very long actually very good - and I didn't have to worry about the paste getting on my sari during pictures later.

We went up to the roof after everyone had gotten some henna done and the little spat of rain stopped, only to be greeted by a beautiful rainbow! Which we immediately took advantage of and lined up in color order by our saris and Rahit and Rahul took some pictures of us. After the big group shots, we all took single portraits along with smaller group pictures with our friends. It was so fun to have time in all of our gear and taking pictures with new-found friends.

When the light was too gone for any more good shots to be taken we headed downstairs and met up with Aman, from the sports camp, to learn some dance moves. It turned into more of him dancing in the middle of us attempting to copy him in a circle surrounding him. We did a few songs learning from him and taking turns in the middle until we decided it would be fun to teach the Indian staff some of our moves! So we turned on the Cha-Cha Slide, Footloose, and ended the night with a classic: Party in the USA. It was a really good day just hanging out with some amazing people and immersing ourselves in this beautiful culture.

7 / 22

We get to visit Priyanka's family farm today! It's the only local organic farm and their entire goal is to be completely self-sustaining and they hope to never have to go to the market. Their money comes from their rice farm that they harvest and sell but closer to their home is a very large area full of different trees and plants growing all types of fruits, vegetables, and spices. All of students spent most of the morning and afternoon sitting in a little clearing that looks over the rice fields just taking in the scenery and enjoying each other's company. They served us wonderful hibiscus mint lemon tea in the morning and we got to enjoy mango slices right off of the trees in the afternoon, with a wonderful curry and salad based lunch in between.

While at the farm, my capstone group was given the amazing opportunity to interview Priyanka's father about the farm and how and why his family started it so long ago. He spoke so passionately about his farm and his goal to be self-sustaining and healthy for his family.

Later in the evening we were treated to s'mores and a bonfire in the clearing There was a girl from London that was very concerned that we were having an open fire in the middle of a field since she had never been to a bonfire, being from the city. There was also a girl from Italy that had never had a s'more and was quite disgusted with the sweetness of them. Those were both fascinating experiences for the rest of us!