What is Graphic Design?

    The first representations of graphic design can be seen as far back as cave paintings and tomb wall drawings of ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians. Graphic design is art with a purpose. The visual communication and expression of concepts and ideas is produced through various elements. It can be found everywhere: logos, websites, business cards, advertisements, book design, brochures, billboards, product packaging, posters, magazines newspapers, greeting cards! 

    The design process:

1. RESEARCH

    *set goals and context of the project

    *client background, product evaluation, gather info, context analysis

2. VISUALIZE

    *create a market strategy

    *creative brief, conceptual development, information architecture, market strategy

3. DESIGN

    *create the look and feel of the project

    *design sketches, design evaluation, client discussion, design interaction

4. CREATE

    *create the final product of the project

    *create prototype, finalize design, production, launch campaign 

    Above is the shirt design I've created for the final project. I chose this quote from Da Vinci because of its direct correlation to graphic design. This past month, I have learned the importance of having confidence in your work, and having the ability to "defend" or justify your work to clients. An important aspect of design is also being able to keep up with changes and trends, produce work based on what you've heard, seen or felt, and using your opinions to contribute to your work. 

    As a way to keep up with trends, I use Pinterest for my inspiration. I've been working on several projects lately for different clients, and I find it most useful to look at sorority/fraternity event shirts. The vibrant colors, attention to detail, and creativity really appeal to me. I saw a floral wreath on another shirt, a decided to make my own. The font compliments the floral theme, and I think it would look lovely printed on the back of a t-shirt.

    I enjoy graphic design because it develops my creative abilities. There is always something new to learn or observe. It challenges me to keep up with trends in design, and often work on tight deadlines. There aren't many boundaries with graphic design. I can draw inspiration from just about anywhere, and transfer ideas to sketches, onto a computer, and manipulate the Adobe programs in order to achieve the desired effect. After discovering the world of graphic design, I can't go anywhere without noticing it. 

Leadership Presentation & Guest Speaker

Today, eComm welcomed a guest speaker from Kansas State University to enlighten us about the importance of leadership and how to execute good leadership qualities through the use of famous Hollywood films such as Christmas Vacation, Finding Nemo, Gone With the Wind, Center Stage, Remember the Titans, and Forest Gump. From this extensive presentation, I have learned..

• to lead by example
• trust others
• do what you love, not necessarily what you're good at
• work hard
• use your resources i.e. go to others for help

Along with many other stereotypical leadership qualities you find on the internet, I was glad I was able to be reminded of these traits in a new fun and exiting way by watching video clips.

Infographics

The scope of this project was to broaden our abilities of creating purposeful infographics with the design process. The idea/concept for this project was presented to me in options of "how to make spaghetti", "hot to tie a tie", "how to plant a garden", and "how to take care of a pet".

I found the "how to plant a garden" most appealing, and decided to first go to Pinterest for inspiration before sketching. By pulling in a few elements that I thought would be useful, I started rough sketching for each type of infograph: typography based, image based, and non-computerized.

During the production, I used several tutorials for kerning text, as well as creating the mason jar with flowers from the brush tool. Along the way, I have learned the importance of receiving constructive criticism from my peers in order to produce the greatest works I could possibly make. Technically, I learned that the best way to transfer work from my personal computer to my desktop is to create outlines of everything, and then expand before emailing the Illustrator file.

Next time, I would allot more time to create and work with tutorials, but overall, I'm really proud of the work and effort I put into making these infographics. This project was really useful because I can apply it to the yearbook library that is currently underway.

Bill Brady Gallery and the Plug Project

For our field trip, we visited the Plug Project in the West Bottoms. Even though the Gallery had just been taken down, we were able to hear about the Plug Project's mission from Misha and Cory. We learned about how ideas are gathered and produced through a certain process in order to create the vision that the Plug Project has for their space. A mood board full of different pieces of work from various artists that may not be particularly famous cover a wall, but they all fall under one theme. Each new gallery has a different theme.

Then we went on to visit the Bill Brady Gallery. The space was amazing! Very contemporary: high ceilings, concrete floors, white walls, skylight windows. Our focus at the Bill Brady gallery was to be able to write about the art: describe, analyze, interpret, and judgement.

The name of the artist whose gallery was showing was Michael Manning, who expressed his work through a variety of digital and print media. TV's were hung from the ceiling vertically and horizontally, of all different screen sizes, along with banners and canvases of print media. It was a contemporary feel with exposed fishing wire and television cables. I also noticed a fan with a light-colored wooden chime hanging through the middle, and flowers floating in water. Manning used 3D looking textures and natural and organic shapes to create a calm mood, with a flowing and earthy vibe. The pieces that I found most interesting were the hanging ecosystems made by Manning's "salty" friend, Jeff Baij. These tiny, clear globes were also hung from the ceiling. They were filled with a layer of salt/sand on the bottom, and placed on top were a variety of organic objects: flowers, cactuses, plants, things I had never even seen before. The color and simplicity of these globes really appealed to me.

This gallery was able to create both the illusion of texture, as well as actual texture. The illusion of texture can be seen in Manning's print and digital media. Overlapping brush strokes and movement of water on the digital screen develop a cool effect. Actual texture can be seen with his clear coat of paint he slapped over his print media, as well as the rocks, flowers, stands, fan, wooden chimes, and hanging ecosystems that were displayed. All of Manning's pieces were full of light; the light of the digital screens, the water color print media, white surroundings, and even backlight screens. I like the way his use of light portrayed the organic and simplistic theme of this gallery.

I've never been the type of person to analyze the deeper meaning of artwork, but I like the way this gallery made me feel. When I first walked in, so many thoughts and questions arose in my head. What is the purpose? How are all of these elements tied together? What is the message this artist is trying to get across? Some of his pieces were such a complex combination of colors-- tints and shades and lines-- but others were so simple. It still confuses me of what is considered to be art these days. Laying rocks on the ground? I feel like anyone could do that. Scribble some brush strokes on a computer screen, then have it printed? I could do that too. But what made the trip all worth it for me was the screens with the flowing water and how it distorted the image of what was behind it. But maybe if I could figure out the message and underlying meaning, I would have greater respect for it.

Afterwards, we ate at the Peanut. I split a turkey sandwich with Emily and it was really delicious. It was an interesting environment, a little hole-in-the-wall type place that was a nice way to end our day.

Painting in Photoshop

This series of paintings started off with a tutorial. I learned how to make brushes according to the texture I was aiming for. I also found that it was helpful to work in layers. Once my brush was made, I used this paint palate below to experiment with mixing dry brushes with wet brushes as well as  heavy mix with light mix. I also had to adjust the load, blend, and opacity percentages. With certain brush tips, the path would get wider the longer it was used (as you can see in the palate below). Cleaning the brush, in Photoshop, basically means that you sharpen the tip of the brush. In my landscape, I used a mixer brush to create the variety of shades in the grass, trees, and sky. It was cool to see a digital piece of work look almost hand made, and I would love to learn and get better at creating brushes and brush presets for certain situations.

PowderPuff Tshirts

PowderPuff is a very special event for Junior and Senior girls at Olathe Northwest. It is an annual event that takes place during homecoming week, where the Juniors verse the Seniors in a flag football game. The game draws in a large crowd; the excitement is always high as people anticipate the bonfire, carnival games and food trucks that follow. This year I had the honor to design the Junior girls' team shirts. I went with the orchid colored shirt because it was unique. No other school shirt has been printed on such a lovely color like this one! I vectored a twist on the NFL logo to fit the Junior's graduating year- 2016- to take up the left chest design. Then on the back, I created a design inspired from a sorority event shirt on Pinterest. I enjoyed this project mostly because I was able to make it super girly with the font and color of the shirt! I faced some challenges with the two-color ink limit in order to keep cost down, but I got really good at using the Pathfinder window to subtract the front.

Raven Logo

This was a fun project I choose to do in my free time by helping out a teacher at ONW. Mrs. Potter is the interior design and fashion design teacher here at ONW. She addressed me about making a raven logo for her to use on a T-shirt in her boutique. I gladly accepted when she promised me a free shirt once it was printed! She really wanted the full raven body, which our school logo is the head only. Potter then sent me an old KU logo she really wanted it to look like, so in order to avoid copyright issues, I changed the direction of the bird, changed all colors, smoothed and changed the notches of the body path, and made different shoes. Then, in order to avoid copyright issues from the chuck tailors, I've added a NW in the logo circle for Olathe "NorthWest". The final project is shown below...

Gradient Mesh with Custom Graphics

I followed a tutorial to expand my skills with gradient mesh by creating the apple you see below. First, I traced an image of an apple with the pen tool. Then, by using the eyedropper tool and setting the gradient mesh, I was able to pull colors from the actual images to create a vectored apple that closely resembles a real one! I feel that this new skill set will expand my ability to stray from the cartoon like designs of solid colors (although sometimes solid colors are cool). Creating the gradient mesh was a lot easier than I was expecting, and I think I would be more willing to incorporate it into my future projects now that I know how quick it is.

The Anatomy of Font

Learning the anatomy of font is important when using typography skills, kerning, and communicating potential pros and cons of a certain font. The characteristics of these parts of text are what gives typefaces their character. My font is best described as rational, assertive, progressive, and disciplined. This happens to be a direct reflection of my personality. I am very articulate; everything needs to be even, symmetric, in its place, etc. I am reasonable and everything I do has a purpose. Assertive can sometimes carry a negative connotation as aggressive, but I also think its a great way to describe my positive, self-assured, and confident self. I like improvement in order to keep up with trends. This font reflects my personality with its clean and modern feel. I find the discipline in the tall, straight, symmetric, and constant shape throughout each letter. I like the predictability because I like feeling prepared.

Cubes

The first project assigned this school year is to master creating and manipulating cubes. My sources for learning everything there is to know about cubes is video #241 and #242 on lynda.com. This is what I learned to create using the tutorials:

Then, using what I learned and my previous knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, I extended the project to create the following:

And finally, I combined all skills and knowledge of patterns. I included light medium and dark tones in the color, used a repeated element of cubes that were made using primarily the line tool, rotate tool, copy, and stroke panel. It took a little bit of thought to figure out how the shapes would all flow together nicely, along with color (see below):

From this skill work, I learned three important things:

1. Since these cubes aren't literally 3D, in order for them to appear that way on a 2D screen, we manipulate lines, angles, and shades of color (lighting/light source). A 120 degree angle is used to appear as a 90 degree angle. 

2. Use cmd + J to join paths. It doesn't matter what angle or shape the paths are, as long as they connect at only one point on both anchors.

3. Use cmd + Y to put your computer into "Preview Mode" so that you are able to check that your lines are properly connected and lined up. It takes the stroke away momentarily.

A few other important things that I noted was that the eyedropper can be used to transfer a color pallet to the artwork by holding alt. Alt click while selected on the rotate tool is used to set the angles of lines. For this project specifically, it worlds best to turn align objects to pile grid "OFF", turn the bounding box "OFF", and turn smart guides "ON".

What is Graphic Design?

What: Graphic design is art with a purpose. The visual communication and expression of concepts and ideas is produced through various elements. Art.

 

Where: EVERYWHERE! Graphic design can be found everywhere: logos, websites, business cards, advertisements, book design, brochures, billboards, product packaging, posters, magazines newspapers, greeting cards! 

Why: I enjoy graphic design because it develops my creative abilities. There is always something new to learn or observe. It challenges me to keep up with trends in design, and often work on tight deadlines (even possibly for clients). There aren't many boundaries with graphic design. I can draw inspiration from just about anywhere, and transfer ideas to sketches, onto a computer, and manipulate the Adobe programs in order to achieve the desired effect. After discovering the world of graphic design, I can't go anywhere without noticing it. 

Final Performance Assessment

My task for the final performance assessment was to create a brochure cover for the eCommunication program to use to draw in new members. I wanted to use a chalkboard theme that has become very popular in graphic design. There are also many fonts that have developed along with the chalkboard theme. I created the chalkboard vector in Adobe Illustrator, and put the final product into Adobe Indesign. By using a mixture of fonts, banners, stamps, and border accents I think that I was able to pull together a montage of our eCommunication program. I was inspired by a grid layout that I came across in a magazine, and thought it would fit nicely with the requirements for the brochure cover.

Updated Personal Logo

This past week, my assignment was to recreate my personal logo from the beginning of the year. The purpose of this project is to show growth in creativity, skills in the Adobe Suites, the design process, and grow as a graphic designer. Below are the two logos I created in August. I like the simplicity, and people can identify me with the initials incorporated into them.

This is the mood board I chose to develop for my updated logo. I envisioned something bright and colorful, unlike my older logo that only used two colors. I did not want my name to be in the logo, but instead I wanted people to identify my logo through a symbol. I was inspired by animals to translate my personality through their natural behaviors, and what perfect combination of color and personality than a chameleon!?

My sketches were thought through with a sense of changing color. I varied which parts of the body I would use between the eye, the head and tongue, or the whole body. Color blocking was recently a popular trend in clothing design, and I wanted a way to incorporate that into logo design. That is where the idea sparked to divide the chameleon into sections, and by changing the color of each section, I was creating a sense of color blocking.

 I chose the chameleon because it represents change. It can change its body colors to adapt to whatever environment as a form of camouflage and protection against predators, or change its body colors to reflect the mood the chameleon is feeling in 20 seconds. The different sections represent the different parts of my life because I am constantly growing and trying new things. Originally I had a rainbow color scheme, but I decided to alter the color pallet slightly to a more pastel and girly tone. I love the bright colors because it reminds me of warmth. They are free-spirited colors. The chameleon can look in two different directions at once, and like myself, I am always multi-tasking! Chameleons are a very unique reptile because their tongues are two times the length of their body. Chameleons are super stealth because they don't have ears, but they aren't deaf. They can detect the sound frequencies and have ultraviolet vision, as well as normal vision! The chameleon is the perfect symbol of myself because they are independent right after birth. I am very independent, and sometimes I like to be on my own, but I will always have a family like the chameleon. This new logo represents my evolution.

Kerning

The term kerning refers to adjusting the space between letters. If letters in a typeface are spaced too uniformly, they make a pattern that doesn’t look uniform enough. Even though it may not be exactly correct, it looks correct and appealing to the naked eye. Gaps occur around letters that for outward angles or frame an open space. Kerning is usually done with letters in headlines and larger text, typically not body text. I put my kerning skills to the test using http://type.method.ac !

eMagine Media Festival

Last Saturday, April 5, eCommunication held their annual eMagine Media Festival event. Students in the area submit their work into different subcategories under Video, Animation, Graphic Design, and Web Design. I enjoyed volunteering and attending this event because it was a great source for inspiration. I was inspired to continue my education in Graphic and Web Design, and gave me ideas for elements that I might be able to include in future projects. Supporting my fellow eComm students as many received awards for their magnificent work was a great feeling. Everyone worked very hard to make the production a wonderful success. I am eager to see how we continue to improve as a program to make next year's bigger and better! The eMagine Media Festival was a great opportunity to show how talented our students are. Below I am photographed with Soloman Shields before entering the auditorium for the show!

Behind the Google Logo

Sergey Brin created the Google logo in 1998. He used the free graphics program GIMP. The Google logo uses primary colors, but the pattern does not go in order because, “Google doesn’t follow the rules.” The first three colors are blue, red, and yellow, which are the primary colors. However, computer software uses red, green, and blue color scales, which are the next three colors in the logo. Google uses the font Catull for its logo.  The creators of the Google logo wanted something simple, without symbols and bulky letters, so that it would be more versatile. The Logo is constantly changing for all types of occasions. The name Google comes from the mathematical term “googol” which is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. It reflects the mission to create a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web. The image below is Google's latest update to the infamous logo. Simple, memorable, and timeless.