Mood Board

What logo are you going to design? Elite Dance Team What questions do you have for the club/activity? Why won't you change our name to Elite Dance Team?!?! Summary: The Dance Team does all types of dances, from ballet, to jazz, to hip-hop--just about anything. We meet every Friday afterschool, with Ms. Finkelstein in charge. Although we do accept male dancers, this year we are a small group of females and we are from all different backgrounds. Our focus is to practice our performances for every Showcase. What are some adjectives that describe the club? diverse, fly, on-point, creative, modern, dedicated What are the qualities/characteristics of the club that you can represent through symbols? Through typeface? I can represent the dance team's association with music with music notes, stereos, and so on. I can also represent the aforementioned adjectives with a bold, slab serif typeface or script typeface.

Fonts Around the City

This is Sans Serif. I found this sign at the Uppper East Side Manhattan Shake Shack. This font seems appropriate, given it gets the point across--although maybe they could have been a little more festive and use a Decorative font.

This is Slab Serif Bold. I found this one at Times Square, advertising a sneaker brand, I believe. The font is very appropriate for the product, especially with the help of the lights which drew my attention.

This one is Sans Serif also. It's pretty self-explanatory where this was taken. The font decision is also appropriate given it's just a street sign. The architect must have been real creative, though. >_>

I am leaning towards a Slab Serif Bold, although the 'E' makes me consider this sign could be Oldstyle also. This was at Times Square to advertise some type of product, although I'm not sure what. It isn't very effective, given there is a letter missing.

Definitely Sans Serif Bold. This was also taken at the Upper East Side Manhattan. I would have chosen a different font for Starbucks, under the Decorative typeface simply to attract more customers. Although Starbucks probably wouldn't need it.

This is a Decorative font, which seems perfectly appropriate for advertising Chipotle.

Letter to Symbol GIF Reflection

The most frustrating aspect of Gimp: I found it almost virtually impossible to make my GIF come off as realistic (rather than like a cartoon). I had a specific idea in mind but I ended up making a lot of sacrifices because of the limitations to the program. This was especially due to the difficult task of transferring my sketches into Gimp form. The pencil/paintbrushes have a limit to how small they can get and it was difficult to draw without the lines coming off as wobbly. Gimp tools I feel most confident using now: After the project, I now feel most confident using the paths tool given I had to use it the most. I also find it to be the most helpful tool in the entire Gimp program for this particular project because it allowed me to draw as many curves as I needed in a clean fashion. Gimp Tool I wish I was better at using: The Gimp tool I wish I was better at using is the Ellipse Select tool. Although I was able to successfully use it to my advantage for my design, I feel like I could have taken even better advantage of it. It is one of the few tools on Gimp that can create rounded edges, so mastering that tool would drastically help me in creating my designs. If we ever do future projects using Gimp, hopefully I'll gain a better understanding of its functions. Types of projects Gimp would be most helpful for: The best function for Gimp, I've found, is photo editing. At one point I uploaded a picture of my sketch to go over it and it was so much easier to work with. The only reason why I did not follow through with that method was because the image was way too large. The project guidelines was to keep the image too 400x400, but the image was way above that. However, if I had my way, I would edit an already existing image rather than create it with Gimp. My design would have come out much more realistic given most of Gimp's tools cater to editing images.

Jamming Every Day

www.picasion.com

 

Beautiful.  Just beautiful.

 

1.      Describe the design process in the name design project. How was it helpful or not helpful for you?

      The name design process is as follows: the designer starts off with four separate sketches which represent them and his/her name, and then chooses one or combines those ideas in order to develop that style; then the designer makes photocopies of the new sketch to play around with ideas; after the designer decides on what represents them best, they are to go on to the final product on a new sheet of ivory paper.  One setback to this specific process was that it was time-consuming.  We were to have a specific amount of rough drafts to give in, which distracted me from getting that one design I had in mind right.  What was helpful, however, was the photocopying part.  I was able to reproduce the work that I liked without having to go through so much work again.    

 
2.      How does the name design represent you? What components did you use to visually tell the viewer about yourself? (Composition, font style, images, symbols, colors, etc)

I mostly focused on symbols which represent my personality.  The Japanese kanji and the anime-styled eyes represent the side of me that is a huge fan of anime.  The rose, on the other hand, represents my middle name in a literal sense, and/or can be interpreted as my romantic trait.  Using red for the kanji rather than the rose is also a way to throw the viewer off, demonstrating my unconventional side.  

 

3.  How did you create a focal point or emphasis in your design?

      I created a focal point by playing with color and line thickness.  The goal was for my name to stand out, so I used red, a color which pops out significantly compared to black and white.  I also outlined it with thick sharpie to add boldness.  In order for the rose not to get lost in the background with the eyes, I used Ms. Lee’s advice on shading in the background gray.  It was successful because the name and the rose instantly came at the viewer, as I wanted.  

4.  What was the most difficult part of this project for you? Why?

     The most difficult part of this project was using a limited amount of colors while still effectively creating a focal point.  I had trouble making the rose more modest compared to my name without letting it look plain or unfinished.  However, I realized that I can use white space to my advantage, in making a specific element stand out without overshadowing the focal point.

5. Are you satisfied with your project? Explain your answer.

       I am thoroughly satisfied with my final product.  The project is clean, detailed and effective in color.  It looks exactly like the way I had in mind and demonstrates my personality in multiple ways.

6. If  you can change anything, what would you change?

     If I could change anything, I would probably use a gel pen rather than a sharpie to outline the rose, simply because it pulls away attention from my name just a slight too much.

 

Someone teach me how to do this O_O

Experience in Graphic Design: 

The most experience I have had in graphic design is designing profile pages for network sites, and editing my profile photos with the help of engines such as Lunapic, Photoshop and Windows Live Gallery.  In other words, I have minimal experience.

Why Graphic Design is Valuable to Learn:

Technology is constantly advancing every day, every minute.  Therefore, it is important to understand at least the basics on technology in order to keep up with the present.  Graphic design is a form of technology which is quickly developing, and to know this field helps to expand both our internet skills and creative thinking.

Favorite Font Type:

Although most people dislike it, my favorite font type has always been Times New Roman.  It is clear, easy to read and a classic.  Example:

Expectations for This Course:

I hope by the end of this year to become more internet savvy and  perhaps decide whether or not I could potentially become part of the Graphic Design/Computer Science fields.  Hopefully I'll finally be able to understand how to create GIFs, play with HTML and maybe even have an idea on how to create my own website.