Weather Report

This weather report video allowed for us students to learn about the Adobe After Effects program and to learn about the importance of motion and latch location emphasis on designs. I choose to illustrate the weathers of the different cities on blue “cards” that moved around with the information on the screen so that there was not a lot of data cluttering the transition periods. I spent  a large chunk of time trying to make the transitions of the latches flawless and make the whole video have the same feel and speed throughout.

GDES 1-End Term Essay

Overall the work for the last three maps was a lot of time but in the end produced presentable maps for show. At the beginning of this project I did not spend as much time in the lab and spent most of my time looking at other graphs on pintrest or Google to gather ideas of what had been done. However, by the middle of the second map I was spending about 2 hours in the lab every day not including class time. After the “final” critic for the third map I was spending 3 hours in the labs on Monday and Wednesday and 4 to 5 hours on Tuesday and Thursday. During this time I would be going between the three maps so that I did not get annoyed with one when I would get stressed about something not turning out the way I wanted it to look.

When we did the first round of critics for all of the maps, my sophistication of my work was medium. I knew what I wanted all of my maps to look like however they were not at the level at all of a professional or to be presented. The time after the third map was very useful to me because this was when I did a lot of the biggest changes to my maps that moved them towards professional looking maps. I think that I was able to push towards to these more professional final maps because I was able to see my work against the other students of the class and was able to see what was and was not working with everyone’s work. In the end, I feel that the my maps are now real world presentable however I still do not feel that they are the best that they could be. The campus map (#1) is still having some trouble with the presentation and use of colors. The information map (#2) I feel is not arranged in the most productive and visual pleasing way. Lastly the decision map (#3) still has some cluster problems with the car names and the rest of the visual work. I will be working on this to see if I can do some final fixes before the final interview.

Dealing with feedback can be hard at times if you think that your design is amazing or if you know that your design is not up to quota at all. I feel that the critics that I get in this class, though harsh at times, is very informative and allows me to see views that I would not have thought about. I know that my final decision map would not have turned out the way that it did if it were not for Alexa Bogram who I asked opinions for outside of class. Although I know that I did not used or identify all of the critics that I was given, I feel that I was able to grow as a designer because of the ideas and changes made from the critics.

Me, as a person, is a very perfectionist person. I want everything to be perfect and right the first time that I do it. I have learned in this class that that will never be the case. However, this idea of perfection has pushed me to try and produce the best designs that I can. I have a high standard of my work and when it is not there is annoys me beyond belief, it encourages me to fix the design.

Some of the outside of class experiences that I have done has been searching through the Internet for ideas and seeing what other designers have done with their designs. I have also gone into see all of the art galleries on campus, although I was never able to go to opening nights because of work. Even so I made sure that I went and got to experience the works exhibited before the new exhibit went up. I also went with command G to Houston to attend the Zinefest down there. This experience was amazing and a most awarding experience. I loved this because I was able to see what I would be doing in my Image Methodology class but also because I was able to talk and have conversations with real designers who have experience and were very encouraging about continuing with design.

I am a bit of an emotional person in that I bottle all of my feeling inside from everything until it kind of explodes. Although it is rare for this to happen, it has occurred a few times when I have been working on a map and the map was not working out the way I wanted. When this happens I know that I have to leave the lab so that I do not mess up the map that I have and come back when I am more calm and able to make rational decisions about my design. I know that it is unmature to lose control of my emotions, however it is mature of me that I am aware that when it does occur I should not continue and calm my head before continuing work.

I am almost never the first person to talk whether that be in regular class or during a critic, however I try to always make some comment during these times so that I can get my opinion and voice out there for others to hear and possibly correct if it is wrong. During this project, I did provide critics during the actual critic time but I feel that I did a lot more critic during “free time” when me and others were just working in the lab at the same time and we asked for each others opinion. The fact that even outside of class we are willing to ask for others critics means that as a class I feel that we trust one another and the opinions that we give as designers.

As an overall grade for these maps, I feel that I did B level work. Four of the “Meta-Skills” categories I felt hat I was in the highest rankings. The other four “Met-Skills” were in the middles range. I believe that my use of feedback and challenge and level of work I want and approve of is very high. My use of time and emotion level at times is not at its best; these fluctuate depending on my mood and the time of the project. I need to get better at managing my time better and not letting my mood affect my work ethic.

 

Mapping Project: Cognitive Map (Decisions Decisions)

Decision Map

This decision map was the hardest of the three maps to do. I spent a good chunk of time working on deciding how the different decision paths would flow from  one topic to the next. I had to be aware of the design hierarchy between the design icons, the text, and the arrows to direction. I also spend a good amount of time developing ideas and designs for each decision so that it would be less of a reading map and more of a easy icon map.

Zine

This mini Zine book was a project allowing us students to learn about the printing from the Rizograph. I chose to work with two layers that incorporated scanned elements and hand drawn elements to enhance the “story” of the Zine. I focused a lot of my time on the hand drawn portions to embed the idea of the words so that they were creative but still legible. I also focused on the use of strokes and deciding colors for when the Zine was to be printed.