Semester Reflection of Graphic Design

Semester Reflection of Graphic Design

    Coming into graphic design this year, I was expecting sort of the same thing as last year. But once I got here it was a lot different. I was a lot more pressured this year, which helped me buckle down and focus on my designs compared to the laid back feeling of last year. I really liked some of the projects. Especially the branding project where we had to create our own company and design the logo and implement it into bill boards, business cards, etc. Just the thought of creating your own company logo sounds pretty fun but, you had to do more.

     Probably my least favorite project was the one where you had to use a quote and implement it into three photos that all had to go together. That project to my was just complicated. I spent most of the time figuring out what kind of picture I could make with that quote and in the end, my final product wasn't even that good. I definitely did not like the outcome of that project. But, for the most part, the projects gave me a challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

    I had major trouble in figuring out Adobe Illustrator. We rarely used it last year so when I came into this class again, It was like learning a new thing again. I think the design where I felt like my talents showed is the Homecoming poster. The theme was "Trick of the Lights" which is basically like a dark, whimsical theme. My poster was based off a tarot card from the novel The Night Circus, I hand drew the middle area with the magician and the wand and I added a hot air balloon and stars in the background. I felt really proud of that piece even though it was very invigorating and it ended up not printing right. The photo of it is to the right. 

   I learned a lot of things when it comes to Illustrator. Seeming how I basically learned a new piece of software in a short amount of time I feel like I did pretty well. One thing I'm very glad I learned was to sketch more. Last year I usually ended up only having one idea to go off of but this year was completely different. Especially for my homecoming poster I had over twenty sketches. I never knew how important it was to sketch until this year and that really helped the development of my designs. 

I plan to improve a lot next semester. I definitely got to work on my communication with my peers. This semester I had one or two people I would collaborate with and I need to improve that. Another thing, is displaying my designs to a group of people. I'm a very bad at public speaking and I start to stutter when I'm up in front of people. I also feel like I need to up my software skills for Adobe Illustrator because right now I only know the basics. My skills are caged because I don't know the program that well. Not knowing the program also affects my time management because it takes me longer to complete something and when you're on a timed schedule, it's troubling. I look forward to a better and more enjoyable semester of graphic design in the year 2016.