1 Where are you in your hours that you declared earlier in the semester? Looking at your work now, are your current accumulated hours enough?

My goal for expert hours this semester that I set in January was 8 hours per week, which comes out to 120 hours total by the end of the semester. Thus far, I have blown past my midpoint goal of 60 hours, leading me to realize that I was conservative in my goal-setting. As of today, I have accumulated 154 hours. These hours were spent working outside of class on course projects (the Blue Squares project, LATCH, and Weather Report), attending gallery shows around Austin (three SEU Gallery shows, one at the Blanton, and two at the UT Visual Arts Center), watching After Effects tutorials on Youtube and Adobe, and gathering inspiration and ideas for animation visuals on Pinterest, Dribbble, and Instagram.

2 Has your definition of “sophisticated” work changed from last semester? If so, how so? What is sophisticated in your weather report?

Yes, I have a clearer idea of what is polished work, as opposed to last semester. This semester I was far more on-top of projects than I was last semester, and was thus able to yield greater results. Since my time management was better, I was able to experiment more with visual possibilities and push myself, rather than turning in just the “standard” type of work that could be expected from anyone. I feel that the streamlined elements and  organizational qualities of my weather report are the most sophisticated part of my project. In particular, the map on my first LATCH sequence on the report, which included a map folding up out of thin air, was an ambitious goal that I spent a large amount of time honing so that it simulated a physical map. This was far more sophisticated than previous work I’ve done, in which I met the basic requirements but didn’t take any bold moves with projects.

3 Describe how the new things you’ve learned so far connect to what you already had coming into the semester.

I have a new tool under my belt in the form of After Effects, which has greatly changed the way I look at design. I’d previously thought of design as purely static, but I’ve now come to see that this is not always the case. Being able to create interactive elements, especially for the web and mobile platforms, is a major skill that allows the viewer to feel more engaged with the design. With this information in hand, and the prototyping skills I’ve developed with this semester’s projects thus far, I feel confident in pursuing a career in motion design. It’s piqued my interest and pushed my work in a way that I was unable to see as a possibility before being challenged with motion type. I have also learned about the LATCH acronym of visualizing data. Understanding these 5 principles of describing data will be useful for me going forward in my design projects. They serve as a reference point for organizing information in a way that is meaningful and useful. Looking back at projects in Design I, I can see how utilizing LATCH principles into my map projects would’ve greatly helped in how I attempted organizing data.

4 What are some things you are still unsure about in this project that you would like to know more about?

I would like to learn how to get more out of the After Effects program. I feel like I only scratched the surface with Ae on this project, and would like to learn more about how I can create elements within the program (instead of only manipulating/choreographing files I create in Ai and import to the program). I’d also like to learn about the range of tools motion designers use in their practice, and where After Effects falls. My understanding is that After Effects primarily functions as a prototyping tool, so I’m curious to find out what the professionals use to create the graphics used in animated films, video games, etc.

5 Assign a level of value to this project. Identify two other projects in your creative life and place this weather report relative to them. How close or far are they from one another? What qualities did each project have that the other’s didn’t that would rate them higher/lower?

Two other projects in my creative life at the moment are drawing explorations in Drawing II with Alex, and my branding project in Graphic Design II with Jimmy. All three projects feel as though they bear equal weight in terms of importance and relevance to my personal and professional goals, but they all serve to meet very different ends. If I were to relate their value one to another at the present moment, I would assign this project a value 7 (of 10) to Alex’s 5 and Jimmy’s 6. This project ranks higher than the other two due to three factors: 1) the deadlines were more pressing 2) it involved learning a new software and 3) it simply required more of my energy to make meaningful work. This project served to teach me choreography in motion design as well as a new technological skill, whereas my other two major projects served to advance my abilities within skills that have already been developed in my courses. My drawings serve to force us out of our comfort zones, and challenge us in how we approach drawing as a tool. My project for Jimmy’s class is a venture into identity branding, which, while it is a new type of design we’re exploring, relies on technology I’m already very familiar with.

6 Break down the percentages of what entities that create growth within the creative you. Am I part of it? Part of it is on you, right? Do you consider your classmates/friends as influencers on the course of your trajectory for success? At the end of the semester you will be evaluating me, but right now within your own pie piece, how much have you brought to the game? How did it end up that you brought that much?

I feel as though my growth development in this class was dependent upon many entities. My willingness to try new things and challenge myself was probably 50% of the process. Tuan was another 20%, as he was the one who assigned the parameters of the project that challenged me. My classmates and friends were the last 30%, as I got the most feedback along the way from them. My peers played a significant role in my trajectory for success, as I was able to watch their videos and learn from them as I worked on my own. I spent significant time in and out of class on this project, and do feel as though I’ve done my part in growing.

7 Ask me or express something, you feel like you can’t in class or even my office: http://tunarice.tumblr.com/ask (Links to an external site.)

(This paragraph will be on tumblr)

Feel free to add other dimension/criteria/rubric ratings that you deem important in the learning/changing process.