I have been studying Massimo Vignelli since the beginning of December. I like his art work and it inspired me to continue using his work as an example. I used his work to inspire my poster by basing it off of vibrant colors and the Manhattan street signs. When writing "Mass" at the top I chose colors that would stand out on top on the black background because Massimo Vignelli believed in a severe color palette. The address at the bottom is in circles to show Vignelli's Manhattan street sign design.
My research
After studying Vignelli for so long i've noticed how seriously I take what he says. He believes in the functionality of design and I feel like I have started paying attention to that in all of my work.
Creating my 20 sketches
I found when I was looking at Vingelli's work I could think of more designs for my poster. I ended up making 23 sketches because Vignelli had so many great idea that I felt Like I could use as a influence in my work. I feel like my poster speaks Vignelli and I did well with sticking to my sketches.
Process in Illustrator
I made two designs in Illustrator but this one was my favorite because not only is it Massimo Vignelli but it also has a little nit of me in it. I liked making this clean and concise and I am proud of how well it turned out. I never really had any big problems while I was creating it in Illustrator.
Conclusion
I really liked being able to make a poster based on Vignelli because I belie he can teach people a lot. I love hoe clean his designs are and I find his work relaxing and original.
This video was very well done. The shots were nicely put together and showed the uniqueness the
song.
The shots switch very smoothly and make the video look nice. There is a nice variety of shots. The story the is being told is that the main guys girlfriend broke up with him and he is embarressed that she broke up with him so he tries to convince his friend that she died so he doesn't have to admit that they broke up. At the end of the video she appears and he gets exposed because she's not actually dead. The six shot sister comes in handy in this video because you need variety. the creator of this video did a really good job with creativity. Overall I thought the video was put together very well and I think that the creativity was above and beyond.
A poster should portray a message and should be functional. It can give information of any subject but its worthless if it isn't clear and concise. The poster should appeal to all sids of someone. It can't just be visually appealing you need to make sure your audience connects with it so you can get your point across clearly Nearly all posters go un noticed due to the lack of visual interest. the poster should be understandable and interesting. The audience should feel intrigued after reading it.
Lettering
Lettering brings your poster together. It should be easy to read but visually interesting at the same time. It should be well in size and color so it can be used as part of the picture rather than words on a page.
Shapes
the designs must be clear and understandable from a respected distance. The designs and shapes on the poster should correspond with the message that it is trying to convey. It should be able to be read quickly without any difficulty.
Color
Color emphasizes the importance of the words on you poster. It can express mood, weather, rhythm etc. Color helps communicate the message of the overall topic.
I learned that in order to have an effective end result you need to have a clear and concise poster that is functional above all. I believe that this article helped me prepare for the future because it showed me that I need to pay attention to detail in the art itself and that every piece of the work matters not just the design.
For this project we made a feature story over a person of our choice who attended ONW. It took us about two weeks to complete this assignment. I faced challenges with my video looking grainy. I wish I would have been able notice the grain while I was filming so I could have changed it. From that experience I learned to check my videos to make sure it looks and sounds the way I want it to look. I was told it was very visually appealing and that I needed to make it more impactful. I changed the voice overs to do so and I feel like it made the impact that I wanted it to make. Overall I really enjoyed this assignment because I got to do something I'm passionate about while filming something that my best friend is passionate about. https://youtu.be/QMgIOXfV5LI
Kim Peek feature story
I a=made this feature story about my Mom. It took me about a week to finish it. I am pleased with what the out come of this project was. I wanted to have my little sister in the video but she didn't feel comfortable talking about my moms cancer. I think that I made an impactful video that my family can hold dear to them forever. I learned how to change plans during this assignment. I Had to adapt to the situation and I had my Dad step in for my little sister. I was told to add name titles to the video so you knew who was talking. https://youtu.be/PL-sLP8LFFA
Barbershop Quartet
I am most pleased with this video. I worked on it with Nick Johnson for our classes ONW NOW. This was different from the other assignments because it was a news story rathe than a feature story. I had to use mostly medium shots because of this aspect. I feel like it would have been a lot better if it were a feature story because it could have more variety. A challenge I faced with this video was that the groups Bass, Evan Calkins, had bronchitis so he couldn't be there to sing and film with the rest of the group. I enjoyed listening to the boys sing and I hope it made our students aware that ONW isn't just sports.
Time Management
I feel like I use my time better in this class than I have been doing in my Graphic Design class. In times I have finished early I usually help my friends with questions they have on their videos. If my boss asked me to enhance my video I would have a friend give me feedback on my video and I would make re-edits depending on what they say. I take all of my videos home with me to make sure that I get the desired grade and impact that I want the video to contain. I also make videos for fun in my free time. For example, I made a "Vlog" or a video blog of the Beauty and the Beast Tech Week. I edit the videos and post them for my friends and fellow cast members to see.
Strengths
I would say I'm good at making my videos visually appealing and interesting. I film things that I am interested in so that ONW NOW isn't just sports because I know people want to hear about other things. I think that I am creative and I bring something different to the plate in our class.
Weaknesses
I would say that my friends are my weaknesses. I talk to them to much and I get distracted and i can't let that happen. I do my best work at home where I am completely focused and relaxed. I need to just plug in my headphones and work on my videos to make them the quality I desire for my projects.
Summary
Although Convergence isn't what I am interested in, I can say that I enjoyed this semester a lot more then I expected to. I wouldn't change anything about the semester because I learned so much about video, premiere, and how I should act to get my projects the way I wan them. Overall, I feel like i learned a lot about journalism and how to work the technology. Next semester I hope my skills in Premier Pro grow and I want to get the full entertainment experience so I will stay focused and work hard. As of right now, I am debating between Entertainment and Graphic Design so I know how focused I need to be because next semester is the deciding factor for that strand I'll choose to go into for the next two years.
The first thing I did in my Sophomore Graphic Design class was learn the basic skills of photoshop. My favorite piece I did from the tutorials was the challenge piece. All it told you was what you needed to change about the photo but no directions on how to do it. I really enjoyed it because it tested my abilities and it was a lot of fun. This is my landscape man. It took two or three days for me to finish this specific piece because I was still learning how to use photoshop while I was creating it. I used photoshop tools to replace the clothing items he was wearing to different landscape pieces. The most difficult part was doing it without direction given, but thats when the collaboration skills came into play. When one person in the class figured out ho to do a certain portion they helped everyone figure it out. I changed the way the shirt was multiple times before I turned it in. I feel like it helped our class bond and be able to count on each other and feel comfortable asking each other for help.
Illustrator Raccoon
This was our introduction to Illustrator project. We used a detailed tutorial to make a raccoon.
This project took about a month to finish. Some of the challenges I faced were simple things like not knowing how to properly using tools or using them wrong. I feel like this project helped me a lot because I fell very comfortable in Illustrator now. I learned how to make simple shapes into a new object. I was told that the class liked my creativity. I changed the way my raccoons eyes were set because it made it older looking but it still had the cuteness factor. I enjoyed the Raccoon project because it was let us have artistic choice even though we were following a template.
Raccoon Postcard
We took the simple raccoon to the next level and we made a postcard of our choice. I chose Valentines day and used handwritten typography. It took about 3 weeks to a month to finish this project because of the amount of detail needed to make it as good as it could be. I learned how to have an artistic vision and to stick with it. I really liked this project because I could put a lot of me in it. I learned how to create hand written typography and that was my favorite part of the assignment. Overall I liked creating this design and it is one of my favorite assignments yet.
Infographic
I made my infographic about people in ONW theatre who want to pursue theatre as a career vs. people who do it just for fun. I am pleased with this on because it is simple and pleasing and I enjoy that about it. It was hard filling the empty space but I collaborated with my peers and we decided that I should make the Brooklyn bridge then turn the opacity down. that is my favorite part of the infographic. I was told to add banners to all of the heading but I felt like the Broadway heading should be special so I left it how it was. I really enjoyed this project and it makes me really like all the things you can do with Graphic design,
Time Management
I fell for the most part that I used my time very well in my class. At the beginning go the year i talked to my friends quite a bit but I've gotten better because I know that if I'm focused I get more quality work turned in. To stay productive after I finished my projects I try to help the people sitting next to me, I move on to the challenge piece, or I blog about what I had just done. If I got done early with a design that my boss gave me I would look up other designers and see if they had anything to bring to the table. If iI had no luck with that I would make sure everything was polished and perfect before showing it tony boss/ client. Most of the time I send myself the projects so I can do them at home. I also practice at home and just experiment in Illustrator.
Strengths
I am very creative and I find it easy to come up with designs. I think that I produce good and different designs. Overall, I am proud of what I have created this year. I think that I have gotten better with focusing through the talking going on around me. the designs I produce are very me and I find them appealing. I would also say that I am good at hand written typography. I make sure my work shows me in it and even if I am supposed to be following a template that it still is unique and different.
Areas of improvement
I feel like I need to stop participating in the talking that goes around me. I see that it brings down my grades in this class so I will stop letting the behaviors happen. I believe I need work in photoshop because all we did with it was the beginning of the year. To help me gain skills in photoshop I can work on tutorials at him to help me.
Summary
This semester I loved getting to now my Graphic Design class and being able to feel comfortable with it. I really loved Mrs. Smith because she always has a positive outlook on our designs and is so willing to help and she really wants the best for us. I would like to make sure that I stay on task more often next semester. This semester I learned a lot about the power of design and what effects it has on the world. In my most recent project about Massimo Vignelli he said, "If you do it right It will last forever." I really find that impactful and I will always have that in the back of my mind when creating a design. Next semester I hope to continue to learn how to use illustrator and I really want to show my artistic ability. I'm excited to continue my knowledge and be able to help the people around me.
In my feature story I interviewed my mom who beat breast cancer. I had her talk about her situation and how she stayed positive through it all. I feel like I didn't really have a narrative lede but I had a shot of my mom running with the leaves and it symbolized life and improvement for my mom. If I were to do the assignment again I think I would have had more of a narrative lede that hooked you into the story. I feel like having my dad be my second source really complimented the video because its a perspective of someone who loves her like no other and it shows how we all were able to stick together. I feel like without the his interview the story would have just been long. I feel like it added the emotion it needed to add to make the feature story special. I enjoyed getting to see my mom running and I really love that she's so positive and let me make my story about her. I enjoyed being out side shooting my video because it helped me find a lot of aesthetically pleasing. I find editing really peaceful but for this specific piece it was really hard to get through it just because of all of the emotions. I didn't run into any problems with editing or shooting so i very much enjoyed making this feature story. I feel like I got a lot of compliments and as much as I like that I wish I could have had more critiques so I knew what to fix. Overall I enjoyed the assignment.
I chose ONW students interested in Broadway fro my topic because I am passionate about theatre so I wanted to see others who have the same passion as I do in one neat place.
I Made a GroupMe of the Olathe Northwest Rep theatre class and I had the members like a message for what ever option they wanted to pursue. I took the results and transferred them to my infographic.
I started with just a rough sketch of what I wanted to do. At first it was just a lot of different theatre things scattered around but then I decided there was too much and it needed to be more simple.
When I put it in illustrator, I decided it was too plain so I created the Brooklyn bridge and I added banners to Broadway Bound. I only added it to Broadway Bound because when I added it to everything else it looked too cluttered. I also thought Broadway bound was the most special so i thought it needed something special added to it.
I got feedback saying I needed to add banners but i didn't feel like it would look the way i wanted it look if i added it.
I learned a lot of project management through this project and I think i found my love for graphic design in it.
