Graphic Design End Term Essay

I think it is important to practice a lot per week. As an athlete, I have always believed that practice does make perfect. It allows me to work on where I am weak. Personally, I think that as long as you can handle a lot of practice and still have time to complete other obligations that you are doing the right amount but if you cannot get other things done then I would consider that excessive. If you barely do anything and you have a lot of free time, then I would consider that to be weak and not enough to create sophisticated work. I would situate myself in the perfect balance of doing a lot of practice but also handling all my other obligations.

Sophisticated is work that one can be proud of and feel like they have completed what they aimed to do. I think my icons on my last map are sophisticated. I worked hard on them because I really wanted to test my ability to create icons and show that there are more ways to communicate things compared to just writing. I feel like I achieved my goal and created a sophisticated piece of art.

I think I am very good at dealing with feedback. I take everything that is said about my work into consideration because I believe that is how you grow as a designer. Some of the most meaningful feedback that I got was how to make my tony pierce map have texture and for my decisions map, I loved talking in a group and getting feedback on how to make it easier to read and the hierarchy of it. I tried to incorporate all the feedback I got and I also wanted to use the feedback that others got as well. I wanted to fix and grow from the choices I made in my process of creating my maps.

I definitely think that the maps challenged me. Every map was unique and required different attention. The challenges I encountered on the first map was coming up with a topic. I had a hard time getting started but then I realized that I wanted to try more food trucks and that sparked the idea of taco food trucks along south first street. The ones I chose are the ones I want to try and see how good their tacos are. I think making it personal helped me get passed the obstacles. The easiest part was putting it all together once I had a plan for what I wanted. For the second map, the hardest part of organizing the information and trying to understand excel. I wanted to find a connection between the information I graphed so I gathered everything about entertainment. The easiest part of this map was the colors and the text. For the third map, the hardest part was deciding where to place my icons and how to set up the map. The easiest was making the icons and it definitely was the most enjoyable. I loved being able to create what I wanted to see and I am really happy with how it came out.

Outside of class, I am on the cross country and track team at school which requires hours of practice and dedication. I am on scholarship and have to do what is required of me to maintain that. I also do a lot of volunteer work and I am trying to start up my own organization to raise awareness for an illness I suffer with and so many other women do as well. Creatively, I have entered into a design contest and I submitted some of my work to an on campus magazine. I also help my mom, who is an interior designer, with her projects. I am looking for an internship so that I can learn hands on skills in the job environment.

My life outside of school definitely has an impact on my school life. I am taking 18 hours and its stressful and requires a lot of me. I also suffer from 4 stomach diseases which puts me in the hospital often and requires me to cram my work in sometimes. I have to go to physical therapy twice a week for one of my illnesses and I drive an hour there and back to do that. I have some personal issues at home that are affecting my family as a whole and I just always have a lot on my mind but I do the best I can to juggle athletics, academics, outside of class practice, sickness, and my social/family life. I think I have excellent time management skills because I always make sure to complete my work but I put in a lot of effort to make sure I do the best that I can. I am a perfectionist and I love to do well and I think I have an excellent work ethic though I have many things on my mind that I have to deal with every day.

The most ideal classroom environment to me is one in which everyone is excited and willing to work. I feel like the classroom environment this semester has been exactly what I like. I feel part of this class and I have gotten closer to my classmates that I would definitely consider them my friends. We have bonded over projects and I love that we all go through it together. As a designer, critiques and feedback are so helpful. I have anxiety talking in front of groups of people but I feel like I have gotten better because I am more comfortable giving feedback and talking about my work. I truly believe there is always room to improve and be better but I definitely think I am on the right path to meet my full potential. I know I still have a lot to learn but I am excited and ready to continue this journey.

These are the maps I designed: