Semester Reflection

As a fourth-year e-Communication student, this year in particular was very different from past years. Our new Junior and Senior graphic design teacher exposed me to new methods right away. I have since begun to use a design process, work on my presentation skills, and have a better understanding on the production and print side of the industry. Since August, I have completed two t-shirts: one for the Senior powderpuff team, and another for a suicide prevention awareness memorial golf tournament. With an emphasis on typography, I have completed a series of twelve name plates, and a series of three art boards expressing a given quote. Other projects include branding for a mock-company and several elements for the Olathe Northwest High School homecoming dance.

In the beginning, I had a hard time conforming to a new learning style. I was never used to working on projects as a class. I now realize that it has helped to push my creativity, and be able to pull inspiration from other people's works and make it my own. Another benefit to working on the same projects as my peers is that I am able to receive better feedback when we critique because they understand the purpose of the assignments.

Our group discussions and critique time is a big part of me learning to problem solve and move along in the design process. For example, when I was working on the powderpuff tanks, I took my classmates' advice and ended up changing major elements such as the colors, diction, and fonts.

I really felt like I grasped the design process when working on the mock-company branding. I started with sketches of the company I thought I wanted to pursue. Then I chose a few of my best sketches and developed them in Adobe Illustrator. Once I printed off my concepts for critique, I hung them up on the wall and took a step back. That's when I realized the importance of having contrast in logos and having hierarchy in type. So I nixed the ideas and went back to the drawing board. In a nutshell, the process consists of lots of sketching, developing one or two of those ideas on the computer, get feedback, narrow it down to one solid concept, and multiple revisions. This is the process that worked for this project in particular. I may need to adapt it for other projects in the future.

An important technical skill I have learned this semester is how to properly mount my work on matte board. This is important because if I ever need to present a physical portfolio, all of my work will look clean, presentable, and uniform. The process of mounting often relies heavily on sending files to the print shop correctly (with all marks and bleeds present). Using the T-squares and an exact-o-knife, I am able to cut straight lines. Mounting with spray glue also keeps the edges from warping and peeling up.

As a Senior, I have been able to help my classmates. I help Morgan a lot by showing her some of the keyboard shortcuts that I often use. I have also helped her with a gradient glow, clipping masks, and refining paths.

Next semester, I want to improve and build up my client-based work. Now that I have finished several in-class projects, I hope to get more opportunities such as the memorial golf tournament t-shirt. I want to improve my Adobe Indesign skills, as in learning how to set up different documents with margins, bleeds, and grids accordingly. I hope to learn more about the knife and scissor tools in Adobe Illustrator, and what types of application that they would have.

For a full view of all of the work that I have completed this semester, please visit by Behance portfolio! https://www.behance.net/jessicarichards1022