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Mastery Journal Reflection (Design Research)

Design Research was a great course. Design Research reinforced my knowledge in designing webpages. I have been creating websites for 7 years now and I have managed to build great websites. In part one of the course, I had to research the event, the target audience, and the charity that I have named “Save Sea Turtles – Concert by the Sea” where I have to create wireframes, sketches, moodboards, and prototypes of the website. The reading material for the course was from the book written by Jason Beaird and James George “The Principles of Beautiful Web Design” I have read all three editions of the book so I had a good idea of what I needed to do in building the moodboard. I have to admit that I had some issues verifying what was needed to build the moodboard. After looking that the video lectures and a conversation with Professor Argo, I was able to build the moodboard effectively.

Moodboard Number 1: This moodboard has been designed to reflect the sea turtle conservation efforts. I have to use the underwater sea colors and the colors of the sea turtle shell. The adjectives that I have used are soulful, majestic, and endangered. Soulful was used to describe what I felt when I picked this image for the moodboard describing something that is worth saving. Majestic was my impression of something that moved so well underwater. Endangered is the condition of the sea turtle species. The music genre that I am using for this moodboard is the smooth jazz experience. I find smooth jazz to be soothing and relaxing.

Moodboard Number 2: This moodboard has been designed to reflect the sea turtle conservation efforts. I have to use the underwater sea colors and the colors of the sea turtle shell. I have used the adjectives graceful, aquatic, calm. Graceful describes the way that the turtle swims. Aquatic describes the way that turtles remain underwater for long periods of time. Calm is the way that you feel when you look at the sea turtle and what it is doing that is somewhat calming. The music genre that is used for this moodboard is Folk Music. It relates to everyone. The fonts that I have used is Azo Sans.

Moodboard Number 3: This moodboard has been designed to reflect the sea turtle conservation efforts. I have used the some of the colors from the Jamaican flag; Green, Red, Yellow. I have used the adjectives costal, strong, conservative. Coastal, due to the fact the turtles live in coastal areas like the island of Jamaica. Strong, due to the fact that they are very strong swimmers underwater. Lastly, conservative, due to the fact that while underwater, turtles are able to remain underwater for long periods of time. I have used the music genre of Reggae that also included the local reggae bands. The fonts that I have used for the moodboard are Mutant bamboo and Tahoma.

It begins with a story. Stories engage and connect visitors to the website. Usability is the key to a website success or failure. Usability testing is needed to make sure that visitors come to the website becomes customers in the buyer’s journey. In the book “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug goes over usability that is becoming the industry standard for web design.

Rather than just going over step by step I have display everything on the Behance site: https://www.behance.net/gallery/58071845/Full-Sail-University-Design-Research-MDM565-O. Please take the time to review my work. Special thank to Professor Argo for the pacience to work with me on my course work to get it completed in a timely manner. 

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Mastery Journal Reflection (Effective Copywriting)

This was indeed an interesting course. During this course, I learned a lot about how to develop an ad campaign for the Front Porch Coalition, a non-Profit organization from scratch.  It was a very demanding course, but the payoff was worth it, to be able to write effectively to communicate a single idea and to be able to influence someone to lend a hand or support your campaign solely off the information that was provided is a very rewarding feeling. I never like to write and I still don’t, but I know that I should always write or type out my work on a separate document, so my words are well thought-out or think of my words as pictures, which was discussed in our reading by George Felton (Felton, 2013).

The Non-Profit Organization I chose was the Front Porch Coalition. I have chosen this non-profit because I have supported them by building the organization’s website and assist the organization with technical assistance. 

Developing a persona for the Front Porch Coalition organization is important because it could be difficult to make that person a valid target audience candidate. Understanding the persona for the target market can make of break a company or organization. 

Effective writing requires practice and proofreading. This is something that I do not do well. So I will have to get used to writing. No matter how much I do not like it, writing will help you communicate your ideas and thoughts. Not to mention that it is one of the keys so graduating the program. 

As much as I hate sketching, it is a fundamental practice for drawing out your ideas before using tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. The smallest ideas of doodles on a piece of paper could easily be changed into something worthwhile.  If you have an idea or something just pops into your head write it down or sketch it out; it could be the starting point that you didn’t see before and could be what you need to finish a project or design.  

Reference:

Front Porch Coalition: http://fronporchcoalition.org

Felton, G. (2013). Advertising: concept and copy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Here are my two personas for this project:

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Mastery Journal Reflection (Brand Development)

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Mastery Journal Reflection – Defining Client’s Needs

In the course “Defining Client’s Needs,” I have learned a great deal about the importance of defining the needs of the client through design. In the Lynda.com course “Margo Chase: creative inspiration,” Margo Chase is a prestigious graphic designer and the founder of the Chase Design Group located in Los Angeles, California and New York. The Chase Design Group defines itself as a full-service identity boutique that consists of talented designers from many cultures and backgrounds. Margo Chase is a typophilliac who is very passionate about what she designs. Ms. Chase has been consistently produced and led award-winning work in many areas of design. Ten years ago, she worked in the music business as a designer working on projects for Virgin Records, Columba, and Sony that kept her busy for years. Margo now depends on her design teams to work with client’s brands and other projects.

As defined in Wikipedia, typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make a written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. I have learned the importance of typography in design that assists in the first impression of the message that you are trying to convey. In her Lynda.com courses, Ina Saltz gave excellent instruction on “Graphic Design Foundations,” “Typography: Hierarchy and Navigation,” and Typography: Color and Contrast” that reinforced my new skills in typography and enjoyed her exercises.

In defining the client’s needs begins with know what the client’s business needs through research. Researching the client’s business, marketing goals and objective, branding and design decisions can be made and implemented. Building my research library is an excellent idea that I will implement. I will archive my past work and put them in my folders on my personal storage device or use the Adobe cloud to store projects for use in the future. Behance.net will be used to highlight my coursework as well as upcoming projects that I will be collaborating with other students. I have to thank Professor Andrea Kratz for her review of my work and her insights in the live sessions lectures.

References:

Lynda.com. (9/4/2008). Creative Inspirations: Margo Chase, Graphic Designer. In Lynda.com. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from https://www.lynda.com/Typography-tutorials/margochasegraphicdesigner/685-2.html.

Lynda.com. (2/1/2013 ). Graphic Design Foundations: Typography. In Lynda.com. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from https://www.lynda.com/Graphic-Design-tutorials/Welcome/106698/121841-4.html?autoplay=true

O'Grady, J. V., & O'Grady, K. V. (2009). A designer's research manual: succeed in design by knowing your clients and what they really need. Beverly, MA: Rockport.

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This is my ”Mastery Journey Timeline.” For all of you who are visiting or just stumbled across this, I hope you read and enjoy.

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This is what inspires me.

Why Do We Fall? How do we keep moving forward and not back down from whatever you are trying to accomplish? You have to face forward. Abandon your fear. Don’t give an inch. This is what you have to do to win. 

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My Mastery Journey Learning Plan

1)    Papaly – www.papaly.com

Using Papaly bookmarking site, the first of some of my learning resources for my mastery journey. I have chosen the usual developer training sites such a Pluralsight, Lynda.com, Sitepoint, and Mapt by Packt Publishing. For my mastery of Internet marketing, I have picked Google Adwords and Google Analytics for resources for SEO/PPC and analytics. I have used Hubspot Academy for training in Inbound and Content marketing. I use MailChimp as the email campaign resource information.

Papaly. (October 24, 2016). Organize all your bookmarks into boards and categories. In http://blog.papaly.com/. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from http://blog.papaly.com/.

2)   Feedly –https://feedly.com/

Feedly allows me to create personal feeds which include the blogs that I enjoy all in one place. Most of my technical blogs will go here.  I will also merge my Internet Marketing blog site here as well. I have 200 blogs that span on design and development. It is a great tool that I will use in future courses and adding information as needed. 

Feedly. Organize, read and share what matters to you. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https://cloud.feedly.com/

3) My Personal Logo

A logo is a perfect way to identify yourself with a visual representation of who you are. It should describe you or the persona you should craft according to Greene (2012, p.155). It describes your brand and what your brand represents in the type of work you do. It should also be your digital signature. 

IAN PAGET. (23/11/2014). 5 tips for refining, perfecting & finessing a logo. In LogoGeek. Retrieved March 18,2017, from k/logo-design-tips/refining-perfecting-finessing/.

4) My LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malik-w-dixon-m-s-97bb3715/

I have had this account for about 10 years. I have more than +500 in my network and still growing. I update my profile when I am finished with the training on Lynda.com/LinkedIn by adding certifications. I will be posting articles from time to time. This is the great site to enhance and utilize information on the section “Strategies for Acquiring Social Intelligence” from Green’s book “mastery” (Green, 2012, p. 146).

Green, R. (2012). Mastery. New York, NY: Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group. 

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As a Media Design student at Full Sail University, my intentions are to further my education in the field of Media Design specifically learning to design products and services. I have already graduated from Full Sail University with a Masters Degree in Internet Marketing. I have found my way back to Full Sail University to learn more about design to better develop branding and design abilities to assist my business clients. 

After I graduated from Full Sail University as an Internet Marketer and combining my skill as a Front-End developer, I have learned the mechanics of assisting business and startups by providing solutions that they require to get conversions for their internet presence. By learning Media Design, it will assist me in packaging the businesses and startup’s brand.

One of my long-term goals over the next 12 months is to constantly hone my Front End development and my Internet Marketing by training along with my Media Design Masters degree curriculum. Working with my non-profit organizations will also assist me in sharpening my skills through website development and internet marketing solutions for them as well. None of this will be easy. I have to stay focused and stay on task. 

I hope to be the best in the software development, internet marketing, and soon media design not to mention being a great husband to my wife and father to my son.

Thank You for Reading

Malik W. Dixon, M.S.