First Semester done!

Ok ! wow where do I begin, well I am proud to say I have finally finished the first semester of the third year!! High five digital media class!!! We are so close to being done!So I would like to give some reflections on this semester .

I found this semester to be filled with a lot of brand new types of design that I have never done before. Interface design was one of the new realms of design that I have never even touched before. Its definately called interactive for a r

eason.It focuses so much on guiding people from page to page by using an organized simple approach.Its definately alot more to keep into consideration when designing a page.Organization of information, consistency  is so crucial.The whole technical aspect to this is a whole new language to comprehend and with more practice, I hope to not be so intimidated and overwhelmed by css and html.Im very undecided still if I would like to pursue website design heavily after school? Its hard to say I have found designing websites to be new and different but I dont know if its my thing. I guess I will have to see with some more practice and knowledge in the world of website design.

Corporate identity was another class that overwhelmed me a little bit. Designing logos is a brand new thing for me and looks alot easier than it really is to design.It really follows the whole idea of eliminating a design down to its core essence you could say.Visually representing the tone and feel from a company. It takes alot of thought and background information on a company.When it comes down to it, logo design is not easy. Its important to have some experience with it as a designer but I dont think it would be my speciality.

Animation definitely got more exciting this semester in the types of projects we did.Instead of just building simple everyday things like we did last year, we actually got to apply the things we built into designs that we created ! It was also pretty exciting to learn actual animating! I new animation was alot of time and work, but wow I didnt know it was this much work !I have a whole new respect for companies like pixar.

My last class that I had was my option class that was intro to video.At first I found this class to be a little long and boring but once we got our first commercial that we had to film I found it a lot of fun to edit! I think I do have a little bit of a thing for filming and editing. Theres something about editing moving things that excites me.But the down side to this is the amount of work and time and reliance on places. climate, and people that this kind of thing takes. Anyways it was definitely something different and new to try and I enjoyed it.

So there you have it,my last semester in a few short paragraphs. Over all it was a semester filled with fresh new types of design that I didnt know about before  and Im glad I got to learn !Now I just have to get through next term and done I will be !!

Dress to Impress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I have been thinking lately that I have been so focused on graphic design, which is good because that is what Im going to school for and hopefully working towards a career in after I graduate. But I do not write about graphic design today in my blog; I plan to plunge into a different type of design not only for the sake of a refreshing change, but to keep eyes and ears open for other types of jobs in different types of design for after school.Because who knows where any of us will branch off into when we’re done.

Anyways the type of design that im very fond of and admire just as much as graphic design is fashion!!! Now I know fashion and graphic design have their similarities, they both evolve and change rapidly in society and they both surround people pretty much everywhere.The thing I love about fashion design is that it visually represents someone’s identity, its a good indicator of what type of person someone is.Whether they are dressed in a paper bag or wearing brand name clothes from top to bottom.By seeing someone’s style shows others how they respect themselves and how they want others to see them.So you got the spill on how important clothing is in our society and how it reflects everyones visual identity.But I think fashion is so much more than just peoples identity, it is an art form on its own.

Just like any other type of design, its design is made for a reason and for a considered audience.Only instead of putting this design on a computer or paper, it fits onto people to represent the design for an audience.When we design things in the graphic world, we never make any random out of the blue decisions, it all has to make visual sense and be for an intended purpose. This is made so clear in fashion design because if fashion designers made random decisions like that the consumers would be the ones to pay, or not to pay if the clothing had no visual appeal for its audience.Like any type of design fashion goes through its trends and thats a very important consideration for fashion designers because without the consideration for society and our time, their designs will not sell and without the consideration for an audience what is a designer?Not a very good one thats for sure.

I guess my interest in fashion design comes from my admiration for colors and different textures.I love the endless combinations of what you can do with an outfit! A nice article of clothing really works in relation to many other things, including jewelry,makeup, and hair.Of course many of you know this, I think this might be my inner fashion nerd coming out ,but when I see someone who has the potential to look their best I want to put them down and turn them into a goddess !Not everyone knows how to look their best and that is what fashion designers, and makeup artists, and hair stylists are here for!! Just like if a company doesnt know how to brand themselves correctly to an audience ,graphic designers rescue them from the visual crisis that they are in.I believe fashion rescues people and restores their beauty by using an art form thats dynamic and forever changing.

I found newyork magazine very informative and interesting on the latest fashion news in the states check it out!

http://nymag.com/fashion/designers/

prada.com is also a very appealing website that portrays alot of prada’s work and what they do for clients and people who just love their stuff!

http://www.prada.com/

Anyways I hope I gave people a nice refreshing read into a type of design that influences who we decide to represent ourselves visually to others.Clothing not only makes up our visual identities to others , but it is an art form that uses people to portray the art.

What Happens Next?

So I was thinking lately with all the grad show hype and portfolios , that we will be done soon! For me its going to be such a shock to be done school and actually work towards an actual career with what i’ve learned thus far.All the design majors are having a grad show coming up in april and I have to say im a little nervous.It will be the first time that I will be showing any of my work to the public and having the industry come in and judge every piece of our work really scares me.I probably shouldnt be scared but I guess its everything  hitting me at once. Knowing that I will be done school and actually applying my skills to get a good job will be a change but it will be good and refreshing.I may be a bit nervous for the change, but I am so much more excited.School has been an interesting learning experience and journey, but im so ready to work my way up in the actual industry. Im thinking of traveling for a bit and applying for jobs in other countries such as Australia.I cant see this being a bad move and Im thinking I will give it a shot.It will also be a good chance for me to visit family and make some new friends so why not?!Its hard lately because with all the constructive criticism I have become very hard on myself with many of the projects that im working on.This may explain nervousness for the grad show,but I really hope to overcome this being to hard on myself attitude that has over come me and just relax and be confident in myself and my work for the upcoming year.

Anyways I know all of us are getting excited and a bit nervous for the workworld so good luck to everyone and dont give up if things dont always work out in the workworld.

Heres an interesting website I found for graphic designers to find jobs online!http://www.creativejobscentral.com/graphic-design-jobs/forum/index.php

This one is also a great online community for graphic designers to find jobs and information on all types of graphic design.http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/jobs.html

Keep it Simple

Its easy to see that many different graphic designers have strengths and weaknesses in different areas of design.Some people strive in illustraion , others can work wonders with a paint brush in their hands, and others have that eye for pure simplicity in modern design.Its interesting to see every graphic artists style to their work. Ive always enjoyed painting as a kid, the thrill of splashing different colors on a page and experimenting with the million different ideas in my head still excites me to no end.But I have to say after learning what I have learned throughout my two years of school, I have come to appreciate and admire the simplicity of modern age design.As I look through pages and pages of various work from different designers throughout the world and time, I have come to admire and be inspired by the most simpelist yet effective designs.A good example of modern and cutting edge design would have to be Swiss design.Its probably one of the worlds simpleist and effective styles of design.

I love the clean sharp modern type, and the colorful popping imagery that is used in swiss design.Swiss design focuses on the grid system and effectively breaking it.Many of the designs use colourful photographs and large and small type relationships at different angles.It focuses primarily on communicating information to the audience.

One of my favorite swiss designers that is well known for his effective swiss design is Joseph Muller Brockmann.I love the simplicity of his work. I would have to say it is the opposite of dull and lifeless.Every design has a statement that screams out at you when you look at it.Many of his designs have a geometric structure with splashes of different color combinations and shapes.Its bold,simple and eye grabbing. Just the type of design that keeps me on track when my work gets overcrowded and noisy.

Go here to learn about swiss design and why it is so important for all areas of design today.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/17/lessons-from-swiss-style-graphic-design/

This is a blog that focuses on Swiss design as their inspiration.

http://www.swisslegacy.com/

Heres some examples of Swiss graphic design!

 

website inspiration

So as many of you know, our digital media class has started learning website design.Our first project is designing a website for a cafe called Cafe Artesano.At first when I was faced with this project my mind seemed to go blank when I was thinking of designs for this website.Website design is so new and different for me I didnt even know where or how to start . So like many people do when clueless for idea, I looked on the net and tried to find some interactive inspiration!

I came across a website called www.1minus1.com,its a company that designs websites for different companies. I thought it was a really well developed site. Not only is the layout and design of the website appealing, but the navigation is very well structured and the website does a very good job of explaining who they are and what they do. They also provide a very good portfolio with a diverse selection of websites.

I also found a website called www.bluegelmedia.com/websites.htm that sells tons of different websites and also has a very diverse portfolio. I found them very  cutting edge, interactive and modern.They have many 3d websites that use  flash, therefore they are more interactive and dynamic than most 2d websites. I found when looking through all of them the importance of a dynamic and visually interesting websites.

This is one of the portfolio pieces from www.1minus1.com.

Immersed in Design

I have come to appreciate ,and become highly critical of the graphic art that surrounds us in society.Unlike before I started school, not so much.Lately I have been looking at different websites that bring together all different types of design such as architecture, fashion, graphic, product,and digital design. A really helpful website I came across was www.dexigner.com.It has tons of information, job opportunities, and the latest design news feeds you could ever imagine and all being on one website.I think its so important to keep up to date with the design world so we as designers can be aware of the different changes that affect our work.Being more involved and communicating with companies and designers more will also help land a good career after school.Anyways this site is awesome for keeping up to date with the many different aspects to design in the industry.

http://feeds.designcollector.net/graphic-design is another fabulous website that stores different medias of design such as graphic, motion, interactive,photography, fashion,product, and architecture and interior design.Like dexigner, it has loads of news feeds and information on the latest design trends in every category of design, but it focuses more on the actual art work and design pieces.It is a more visual based website that provides the best finished artwork from every area of design.I found this website overwhelming and inspiring at the same time as I looked through page after page of the most freshest modern graphic designs. For inspiration (which many of us need from time to time), this website has the most diverse selection of examples to choose from.

Anyways after looking at these sites,they have really helped me sustain a fresh new outlook when I design things. Also these websites helped me with being more informed in the design work world.There is so much to look at and read, I found it hard to not take my eyes off each page. I hope these sites broaden your design perspective like it did for me!

This is some of the graphic art I found on feeds.designcollector.net. In the graphic section they have everything from logos, cd covers ,photography, and different types of artsy commercials or music videos.

Practice Makes Perfect

Graphic Design has been a hobby and passion of mine for quite some time now and being able to study it and pursue it as my career both excites and scares me at the same time.In the last 2 years at Grant Macewan, I have observed that repetition and practice of the programs is not stressed enough.

What makes studying graphic design so different for me, is that instead of just reading and understanding the topics, there is also the visual understanding of how things go together. The visual understanding really is key to being a good designer, without any consideration for space, elements, placement, and colors, there would only be a scattered mess of objects that would be of no interest to any client. I know for many graphic design students including myself, there is so much technical, and visual information being thrown at us in such a short time span; it can be overwhelming sometimes to be faced with loads of new information, and sometimes we feel we might burst from stress.

I feel that practise and repetition of the programs should be enforced more than it is right now, because of all the different information being thrown at us from one program to the next. The technical advancement for graphic designers has skyrocketed in the last 10 to 20 years and we have so much to choose from when designing with a computer. In this day and age its pretty hard to go without a mac if your looking for work. So with new technology comes alot more knowledge that we have to absorb if we want to be able to use any of it for the things we design.

Because design is more hands on then just reading material and understanding it, design students need to be practising these programs every single day to really master them for our career’s. Many teachers forget that it is our first time with these huge and info loaded programs, that they speed right through the practice process and expect us to remember the steps the first time we learn them. Not only that, but we also feel stupid for not always remembering how to do something. www.edufire is a helpful website because it offers online one on one help sessions for graphic designers, so if we feel were not getting enough practice and review at school, we can always have professionals help us out online. Another great website is www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk, it is like an online community for graphic designers to communicate, post jobs and resumes, and to share thoughts and ideas to many graphic designers around the world.

Of course it is important to play on Adobe in your spare time, but if we are paying for school I believe that we should be getting the most out of our money and education by developing a strong base by learning the many components of these programs repetitively until it is ingrained into our heads.Anyways, I know there is a lot of help offered on the net for these programs, but I hope teachers can just take into consideration how huge and intimidating these programs can be sometimes and remember to give us the time and practice we need to master the basics first.