Strengths-Based Leadership

Top five leadership strengths:

1. Achiever (Executing)
2. Restorative (Executing)
3. Competition (Influencing)
4. Strategic (Strategic Thinking)
5. Focus (Executing)

Achiever:

This describes my drive and constant need to accomplish things. Every day has an agenda, and if the goals aren't met, I feel as if my day is incomplete. It helps bring me the energy I need to work long and hard hours on projects. It also is the source of my productivity. In groups, I am good at creating reasonable goals and making sure team members meet deadlines and produce sufficient work. Achieve is defined "to bring to a successful end; carry through; accomplish".

Restorative:

This describes my ability to solve problems/ come up with better solutions and ways to do things. I enjoy fixing things so that they can work again. I also find this problem solving trait arise in design, when I find all of the errors and find ways to tweak them. In groups, this would be my constant checking to make sure the team isn't headed for failure. Restorative is defined as "capable of renewing health or strength".

Competition:

This describes my constant comparing myself to others, in both the physical and intellectual sense. Even if I reach my goal, I always feel the need to be the best, be on top, and outperform my peers. It is also true that I like to participate when I feel I have a good shot at producing the best outcome, and avoid contests where winning seems unlikely. I always feel like when people ask me, "What did you get on the test?" I have to have a higher score. That's why I study and work so hard in school. Competition is defined as "the act of competing for some prize, honor, or advantage".

Strategic:

This describes my ability to sort through clutter and find the best route. It is a distinct way of thinking. It's a perspective that allows me to see patterns and play out alternative scenarios. This is my productivity, and a little of creating lists. I wouldn't say it's daydreaming, but I constantly find myself out of focus and running through dozens of different scenarios even though half of them aren't even plausible. Strategic is defined as "pertaining to, characterized by, important in, or essential to the nature of strategy".

Focus:

This describes my ability to set and reach my goals. My focus forces me to filter and prioritize what gets done in what order, and decide how it will help me reach my goal. The downside to my focus is that I quickly become impatient with delays, obstacles and tangents. I keep my team members on track by reminding them that if something is not helping us move toward the destination, then it is not important. I can study for hours on end if needed to. Focus is defined as "a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity".

Reflection:

I found that learning the importance of knowing and using my strengths to my abilities, versus trying to build strengths where I may be lacking, was most valuable from the activity of Friday with Mrs. Knight. I had an "Aha!" moment during the presentation when she noted that people with my traits tend to make lists. I make lists 24/7. I love lists and once she said that, it all made sense to me. Now that I am able to recognize my strengths, I think it will allow me to find a better position for myself in group projects. I think it would be best suited for me to take a position such as project management, where I can oversee the entire project to make sure things are on time, following guidelines, people are working together, the client is happy, and we are achieving goals we set for ourselves along the way.

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.