Shelby Charette

GDES 2313

Tuan Phan

December 13, 2016

I would consider over like 35 hours of practice per week would be excessive as a student because we have other classes going on at the same time as well as work. Obviously it would take a lot of time to make extremely sophisticated work, but I believe about 25-30 hours would make sophisticated work. It would give you time to create, as well as continuously revise. I believe I make good work, although there is always room for improvement. I usually do about 15 to 20 hours of work each week.

Sophisticated work is well revised, it is better than the work  you did before, and it grows in strength. I definitely think that in the maps, I did a lot more illustrations than I have before and that required a lot of trial and error. I also believe I had to work outside of the box a lot of the time. In the end, I believe that I grew because a lot of my designs had illustrations which I never usually do on computers, and believe that my work definitely became more sophisticated with this project.

I believe that all feedback is helpful, but there were some helpful hints that really helped in my designs. I really need to keep in mind the context that I use that are boundaries for my work to follow. In my graph map, I did not keep in mind that my spread was going to be used in a book. I learned that I need to be more meticulous and pay more attention to detail. Also, I had a comment on my map of the campus to change my colors, in order for it to be a more powerful design.

It was challenging at some points because there were so many things to keep in mind, that I got side tracked a lot of the time. Some what like there was too much to process, I would be all over the place. I would be designing one map and think of an idea for the other maps and then go do that idea, and then forget what I was doing on the other map. I definitely learned that time management is very important, and that I need to improve my focus, that was probably the hardest part. The easiest part I believe was coming up with good ideas for the maps, because we had free reign with our choices, it made coming up with ideas so much easier. I really enjoyed making the illustrations, it was challenging, but I really enjoyed it!

I went to Zine Fest, which was art related, and I really enjoyed it! I really liked seeing how people come together and sell their art, and it was really interesting seeing such a diversity in art. We all came together for the same reason, but it was all so different. Also, I went to the Andy Warhol exhibit opening party, which was amazing and a really new and exciting experience. I also go to a lot of museums on my free time. I definitely love involving myself in the Austin art community.

 A lot of things outside of school impact school work, although I make it a point to keep school as the most important aspect in my life, and I really try not to let things distract me. I believe I am a rather focused student. Although I do have some family issues I have been facing lately, I’ve been trying to keep focused.

I believe our TH108 classroom is an ideal classroom. The students, the teacher, the environment, and the vibes. In our classroom, people are comfortable sharing their work, we receive very good and constructive criticisms, and have all the help we need in order to grow as designers. I believe that the relaxed and welcoming environment really effect how we approach class. To me, it is not a normal class, to me, it is a comfortable place to learn, create, and critique work. I’m never not happy to go to that class.