Personal Project Review

Homecoming is right around the corner, and as e-Communication students, we were approached to create a poster for the dance. The client expressed the importance of conveying the theme "Trick of the Lights" as well as color scheme (black, white, and maybe a hint of red). This piece needed to be visually appealing and easy to read for a student passing by in the halls.

With quick deadlines and turnaround time, it was important to stay on schedule and follow a strict process. I benefitted from working on my personal laptop because I was able to work from home as well as in class. Pre-production began right after meeting with the client. The client provided a Pinterest board in which I took notes on the style and feel, in order to convey a similar depiction in my work. I also looked for other similar Pinterest boards, key word searched the internet, and browsed through Bechance for ideas. I took all of these ideas and grouped them into different concepts. This then lead to twenty completely different sketches. The process of sketching allowed me to stretch my creativity a lot further than I'd ever imagined. From there, I choose two of my best sketches and took to the computer. Immediately I knew which project I wanted to push. It didn't take long for me to put together my design, however, every time I printed I ended up back on the computer making edits. This process of refinery was also very helpful thanks to feedback from my peers. It was such a good feeling to finally send it off to print. It was an even better feeling to cut and mount my work neatly on display for the client.

Along the way, I learned a new process of design. I had never sketched so many different ideas for one project. And along each step of the process, I received feedback from my peers. I learned how to manage tight deadlines by working on a schedule (and the importance of sticking to it). As far as technology goes, I learned the importance of using full black which is 100% key, compared to the registration black that uses a combination of CMYK and ultimately increases the cost of printing.

If there were one thing that I could do differently, it would be to find a way to implement a little touch of red into my design. After seeing the work my teammates were putting out, the pieces with even the slightest red stood out a lot more from the rest.

If there were one thing that I could do the same, it would be to take my time on cutting and mounting. This is such a vital step in the process of presenting the final piece to the client. Even the slightest uneven or jagged edge could make your project unappealing.

Before this project, I would have gone straight to the computer and designed the first thing that came to mind. However, I'm glad that I was forced to sketch multiple ideas, and I will continue to implement that step in my process in the future.

Overall, I selfishly wish this project wasn't a class project because at the end, the client only chose one poster out of twenty. Mine sadly wasn't chosen, but that will hopefully encourage me to push myself on future projects.