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[jgaulkesvad-gdi]

ARTS 245 / Day 9 - Chapter 9 and Public Awareness Poster Final

We are two days out from the end of the course and the final project being due. I am starting to wonder what I am going to do over the summer to keep myself busy and to keep my design skills in shape. I’ll have to find some projects to work on or perhaps come up with a few of my own for fun. I hear skillshare is a great place to learn about design so I might give that a try. Anyways, today I read through chapter 9 out of our textbooks which focused on branding and packaging. Just like logos or trademarks branding and packaging is extremely important when it comes to representing a product and/or brand. In my opinion, branding and packaging is very similar to logo design in the sense that both need to capture the essence of what ever it is that are going to be associated with. I feel that it can be very difficult to get the packaging of a product just right as I can go into any store and pick out hundreds of items with lackluster packaging with ease. There needs to be a balance between the logo and the packaging so that neither one over takes the other. This plays a lot into who is going to buy the product as well. I can think of a few times where I bought something just because it looked cool even if I really didn’t know what the product was. That just goes to show how far the look of an item can carry it.

I also was able to turn in the final draft of my poster for our second project. After some rethinking and redesigning, I believe I was able to create something that captured the idea I was going for.

I changed the idea a little bit from the last poster to this one. I wanted to show how the vaccine, since it’s creation, has proven to show the true nature of people as a whole. At work, I still see many people arguing about masks on a daily basis. There are people that hate them, people that will not go anywhere without them, and people who just do not care at all. I focus on the first two in this poster and show how they are not so different from one another. The monster here is supposed to show that the arguing and fighting will only lead to both sides being hurt in the end. Both people are different sides of the same coin and thus form to creat one monster from their shadow. I really enjoyed making this poster and I love how it turned out. I feel that there probably better ways to illustrate the idea I was going for but this is still a good solution. I am very much looking forward to the third and final project where we will be making a book cover for a book that we choose. I think I am sticking with “Old man and the Sea” as it was a story that loved when I was younger.

[jgaulkesvad-gdi]

Arts 245 / Day 7 - Chapter 2 and poster rough draft

For todays chapter in the textbook, the focus was on a topic that stresses me out a little bit. Chapter 2, titled “Starting a Studio or Working for Someone Else”, gives some great advice on what path to take as a new designer. While I believe that graphic design is the field that I belong in, I am not quite sure where I want to go with it. I have always had a love for clothes and shoes, so something in the fashion design world would be cool, but I also really enjoy making posters and logos. Personally, I have no idea how to run a business or where I would even start to get one off the ground, so I would probably go the route of gathering some experience on my own or with another studio. I have not looked too much into freelance work but I would be interested in giving it a shot later on down the line. I could work on my own time and it would be a great way to get my work out there. I still have a couple years left in school so I will have some time to narrow down what I want to do after I graduate.

I was able to make a rough draft of my public awareness poster last night and received some valuable feedback today in class.

The idea of the poster was supposed to highlight how people who want to wear masks and people who do not want to wear masks are getting no where by arguing with each other, and the anger is only going to hurt the both of them. I originally wanted to play with light, like have both sides shining a light on the other one revealing that they are the same. It was hard to see that idea working out in my sketches but I think that I may have to go forward with it. I poster that I have now is just a little to vague, and it is not as powerful as I wanted it to be. My classmates also told me that I should make the monster a lot more menacing and I completely agree. I want to show how important it is to treat others with respect and making that change with definitely help with that. I am looking forward to seeing how the poster ends up on Monday and hopefully it will convey a strong message.

[jgaulkesvad-gdi]

Week 6 -Typographic Grid and Poster Designs

So last week I accidently read the wrong chapter for my blog post, and this week I will be going back to read the chapter that I had missed. Chapter 4, Typographic Grid, is all about the grid system that is used frequently in the design world. These systems serve to make designs more accessible to the people that view them, and help to communicate an idea more effectively. I was somewhat familiar with these grids as I have used them in other projects such as the poster designs we are currently working on now. While the grid was incredibly helpful for me during my design process, I did not know the full use case of the system. The grid system is a common tool not only used by graphic designers but all designers. It can even be used for designs in two-dimensional or three-dimensional space. It was interesting to learn this and adds to the list of tools that are required to be an affective designer in the world today.

My designs for my two posters is what took up most of my time this week. I found my self getting really invested in them and making changes daily whenever I had a new idea. The designs changed quite a bit from what I had previously, but I think they came out great in the end.

The image above is a mock-up of the final designs of both the informational and conceptual posters. Last week, I felt the informational poster was too simple so I decided to do some redesigns. I think it came out really well, and the z helps to guide the viewers gaze so that they take in all of the information on the poster. I also did not like where my conceptual poster was at last week , so that poster got scrapped as well. For the conceptual, I decided to make a map layout with a big billboard or pin in the middle of the map. Rockwell is commonly used far and wide as a display font, so that is where the inspiration came from.

I had a lot of fun with this project and it might just be one of my favorites so far. I was not really stressed during the process either which made the whole experience and the designs better in my opinion. Hopefully, I will get to work on something like this in the future.

[jgaulkesvad-gdi]

Week 8 - Ch. 8, Kelly Walters, and Zine Process

For the past few weeks I have been staying very busy with various projects for school. It has been pretty stressful trying to find a balance in it all and I believe that it is starting to show a little bit in my work, especially when it comes to this weeks process images but more on that later.

Chapter 8 was the required reading for the week and it provided a lot of valuable information. The chapter focused on typography on our screens or more specifically how complex and important it is to maintain a typographic design when moving from a screen to a physical print. We all know that screens come in various shapes and sizes, and that the picture quality of these screens can vary drastically. As a designer, it is very important to know that the resolution of type changes depending on the amount of pixels are on the screen, If there are less pixels, then there is less detail and vice-versa. Anti-aliasing is a technique that is typically used to help with this issue as it gives the illusion of smooth curves. However, this technique has problems of its own as when the type is made smaller, it becomes more blurry. Overall, the chapter provides good information and tips on what to keep an eye on when moving from on-screen to off-screen.

Also, this week I attended a live meeting with designer, educator, and author Kelly Walters. In much of her work she focuses on race and representation in design and she continues to research and teach about the culture of various races in visual designs. Just like other designers before her, she provide invaluable information on the world of design and beyond. I personally found her stories about school and the time shortly after she graduated very intriguing. As a graphic designer in college, the thought of graduating has always scared me a bit. The fear of not finding work has popped into my head many times since my time at school and hearing her story helped to relieve some of that stress. I find it so interesting to hear how different artists started out. The stories they share, while similar in some ways, are often vastly different from one another. However, one thing they all have in common is that finding their individual style was the thing that paved the way for their careers.

Lastly, as I said earlier, I have made some progress on my Zine project this week. I have the basic format down for most of the spreads but I truly am not happy with where I am at the moment. I originally wanted to make my Zine in the style of an old journal with sketches and taped pictures in it, but my lack of knowledge with the software I am using is making it difficult to achieve that.

I ended up using the pen tool in illustrator for all of the "sketches" in the design. As you can see, it didn't turn out well. The sharp, geometric lines of the vectors do not look right with the old stained paper background. They don't really fit together at all actually. I also need to do some serious work with the typography and the layout of the images on each spread. Hopefully, I can manage to turn the designs around before it's too late as I would like to do the topic justice. I'm going to redo the sketches and play around with the layout a little more, and see what I come up with.

[jgaulkesvad-gdi]

ARTS 245 / Day 10 - Chapter 14 and Book Cover Project

Here we are, a day out from class being over. While this has definitely been the shortest course I have had throughout my time in school, it has been surprisingly helpful. I have never been hired to design something for a client but I would say the the process sis similar to this. Talking with the client about what they want, coming up with ideas, and then it being due a few days later, at least for smaller projects like posters or logos. It has taught me how to prioritize my time better and how doing so can greatly affect the quality of my work. So for that, I am glad that I got the opportunity to take this course over the summer as I do not think it would have had the same affect if I had taken during the regular semesters.

Chapter 14 was todays reading and it focuses on interactive multimedia installations and interfaces. From what I gathered, these installations and interfaces are designs that focus on provided a way for their audience to interact with the design. This can look like a piece that actually allow the audience to interact with it in some way or it can be as simple as creating a narrative that cause the audience to think and the stays with them as they leave. A consort that I found very interesting in the chapter is that there are some that believe that in today’s world, everyone is a designer. One of the artists in the chapter talks about how this statement is somewhat true but not quite. While there are thousands of tools and applications that allow anyone to design something and do it well, that does not mean that the design with be unique or that it will have an impact on viewers. Jerome Barendse, one of the founding partners of LUST, a multidisciplinary design studio, talks about how important it is for artists in todays world to find ways to diversify them selves from other designers. Do a lot of research and come up with an idea that is unique and powerful is the name of the game these days. I could not agree more with this as I see a lot of art work on social media from all kinds of designers. May of the designs I see look great, but that are so similar to the hundreds I have seen before them which really takes always from the art. That is why it is so important to creat something different and to try and reinvent the wheel, at least a little bit, every time you start a new project.

I have also started working on the final project for our course which is a book cover design. We were allowed to choose our own book covers so I went with the Old Man and the Sea. I read the book when I was younger and loved the story. It was simple but had a strong meaning and message behind it which was fascinating.

Since the book is simple when it comes to the story I thought that I would keep the cover simple as well, but make it inviting and intriguing. I love the simplicity and the color of the image in the top left and I fully plan to use that same color in my design. While m not sure exactly what I am going to do yet, I know that the font and back cover will be mostly that color. I will probably have something over the blue so that it looks like its in water. I also wanted to utilize inside flaps for the cover and create a lure for each of the main “characters” in the book. I will probably make one for the old man, the marlin, and the sharks as they are the most prominent elements in the story. The idea is really cool in my head so lets hope that it translates well on paper. I need to some more thinking about how to capture the theme of the story in the cover as what I have so far does not do a great job of that.

[jgaulkesvad-gdi]

Chapter 10 and Process Book

This week marked the beginning of the design process for our process book. Last semester, I took another art class that required us to create a similar process book for our final project. These are the same books that will be submitted for the GD+I portfolio review later this semester. Since I submitted my portfolio last semester, I have been working on improving it and have recently decided to start over as I just was not happy with what I submitted. I’ll speak more about that later but first I’ll say a little about the chapter I read this week out of our text book.

This week I read chapter 10 titled, “Case Studies in Typographic Design”, out of our text book. This chapter peaked my interest quite a bit more than previous chapters as it gave real world examples of problems that arise during the design process. The examples in the chapter are problems that designers are facing right now and this makes the information very important. Some of the examples the chapter gives are integrating type and images on posters, establishing a visual system to unify various materials, translating content to experimental form in publication design, and a few others. Overall, while it was interesting to read about some of these issues that designers face, I must admit that it makes me a little nervous. As a designer, you have to be able to think outside of the box and create new ways to convey your designs and this is not always easy. I think it is important to know that there will be obstacles like this but it is a little stressful to think about as a college student.

Now, going back to the process book, I recently made the decision to start over from scratch. The more I looked at my last process book, the more I wanted to completely scrap it. It just felt unfinished, rushed, and the spreads did not have a consistent flow to them. When I was trying to come up with a theme for the new book my dad gave me the idea of thinking about the pages as chapters in a book or levels in a video game. I want to show a little of my journey through the spreads of the book.

The images above are some ideas that I have for spreads in the book. The right image would be the front cover of the book and the left image is a couple of sketched for the inside spreads. Basically, I want to have a character symbolizing me going through each project/obstacle and growing stronger from each of those projects. I really want to go all in on this book and truly express myself like never before. I feel like this is the chance to really show who I am or at least a little about myself and how I think. I am still in the beginning phase of things so I have a lot more to think about, but I hope that I am able to make it happen. I just need to make sure that I am dedicating a enough time and energy to thinking this book through as I want to leave it all out there.

[jgaulkesvad-gdi]

Week 7 - Ch. 6 + 7 and Gil Shuler

This past week was a busy one. I read two chapters out of our textbook this week, we had a talk with poster designer Gil Shuler, and we began working on our next project which focuses on zines.

The two chapters that I read this week focused on the messages of typographic designs and the evolution of typographic technology. Both chapters were very interesting and enlightening, providing a lot of valuable information about typography. Ch. 6 went in depth on how a typographic message has the ability to educate, persuade, and inform viewers. It also goes over how a designer can practice on portraying this abilities in their designs. Ch. 7 went in depth on how technology used to create typography has evolved. The process overt he years has become much easier with the aid of various electronics such as computers.

Jut like the last artist talk. the talk with Gil Shuler was a chance to peek inside the world of a true graphic designer. Learning about Gil and his process of designing was incredibly beneficial. Getting to hear his stories about clients that he has had and obstacles that he has had to face will no doubt prove to be helpful in the future. It is clear to see that he is a master of his craft and that he goes above and beyond when it comes to creating for his clients. He is someone that I will strive to be like as I continue pursuing graphic design and I am grateful that we got the chance to speak with him through the school.

Finally, this past week we began working on our zine designs for project 3. The zine is like a slimmer version of a magazine, and we were tasked with choosing a topic. I chose nature as my topic and I wanted to make my in the style of older nature magazines.

These were a few of the inspirational pieces that I found when image searching. I have always been drawn to old-school designs such as these and would love to incorporate some of those elements into my zine. I am still deciding on what aspect of nature I will focus on but it will most likely have to do with North Carolina. I visited NC a lot as a kid during summers so there is a special place for it in my heart. Boone NC in particular was a huge part of my childhood and I have so many great memories climbing the mountains there. It would be awesome to create a piece that showcases the beauty of that area.