I feel that 10 hours of work would be excessive, especially for someone that has a job and 5 hours a week would be required to create sophisticated work. During the beginning of the semester I was spending about 3 hours a week doing graphic design work, and that was mainly because I was balancing two jobs. Towards the end I actually started working less hours on one of my jobs and that’s when I started spending 5 hours a week working on graphic design work.
The next level would be me going back into my work and applying the skills that i’ve learned thus far and adding it to those projects like the symbols. The next level for the maps, would be adding paths to my first map project, and color coding some of the buildings. Adding icons to my pies in the receipts map, and making my social media map bigger or increasing the font since there is a lot of information it is hard to read since the font is small.
Some meaningful feedback I got was adding paths and how I should remove the black dots from it as they are unnecessary. For the receipts map it would be adding icons to the chart and maybe a percentage so it is easy to identify which wedges correlate with which expense.
The hardest part was in the beginning because I didn’t know a lot about illustrator so I had a hard time making my symbols, and designing it how I wanted it to which is why drawing them first on paper really helped. The easiest part was in part coming up with the idea, like the symbols and especially with the maps I found that I had the ideas of what i wanted in my head, almost like a visual picture that i had, it was the execution part that was difficult, transferring the idea from my head to illustrator. The most enjoyable part was seeing my designs “come to life”. For the symbols I liked seeing them on the wall all printed and in vynel paper. And the maps seeing them on the wall for critique was rewarding.
I attended the Risograph Lab Lecture series, I was not able to attend the last one because I had another commitment that day. I enjoyed learning about the designers in residence here at St. Edward’s and about the work that they have done since they’ve graduated. I also enjoyed learning about the designers that were brought in like Lindsay Staar.
Balancing two jobs while being a full time student was definitely difficult. I would be at work in school during the week being a graphic designer for Campus Ministry, then during the weekends I would work at Casa de Luz. I didn’t realize it at the time but I felt like I was always working and never had enough time to do the work for all of my classes. I ended up seeking counseling which helped me get things in order and lower hours for one of my jobs which improved my overall health and work in school.
The most ideal classroom environment to me is listening to soft music while working in a location with a computer and good lighting. Not being rushed or pressured by anything, the classroom being completely silent so everything is focused on just work. To me being part of a class is always being on time, and present. Learning from critiques while contributing to them as well. This semester I did try to listen to music during work days as I feel that it helps me and appreciated what others had to say about my work on how it could be improved. I do think that I could have contributed more to class discussions and during critiques, I am naturally a shy person and I think that’s what got in the way of my participation during critiques. Looking back I think I flourished the most when I was at either the library or a coffee shop. In an environment that I can actually work and there are people around me working as well. There were times when I tried to work at home but couldn’t because I felt comfortable and wouldn’t have the motivation.
overall i enjoyed this class, i feel that i learned a lot of new skills. I also appreciated the pro tips that you gave us through out the year they really helped. These skills i will be able to take with me to graphic design 2 and advanced type. I look forward to seeing how my work will improve from now to the end of they year. Thank you!
-Diana