When first exploring the .zip file, I was mainly looking through the people and their biographies, and I was having a little trouble connecting them all together (although they seemed like they all were leaders and  important, influential figures and/or advocates, especially related to education). The logos of universities and of the Fulbright Association also pointed towards something to do with education.

The document ED.doc displays the text that connected a lot of the information: it talks about the 39th Annual Fulbright Conference of 2016, which celebrated 70 Years of the Fulbright Foundation. On the fulbright.org website (/2016conference) under speakers many of the people and their bios presented in the Word docs are there. In relation to this conference, I think designing a program and schedule that presents information more clearly and visually than the one on their website would be a great thing for the conference. The one on their website is seems a little cluttered, uses different fonts throughout the chart, and is presented across three pages. The covers on their website for presenting the information for the Conference Program and the Roundtable Sessions seem to be from two different design points of view and working in slightly different systems. Creating a more cohesive presentation of information might be a good solution.

However other parts of the .zip file didn’t seem to fit in exactly with this specific conference. The Lists Excel file contains not only the Conference Committee, but the Film Festival Commitee, Art Exhibition Committee, Social Innovation Committee, and Cohen Lecture Committee. If this information covers the Association as a whole, I would want to create a more continuous, cohesive design system/identity for the Fulbright Association and variations specifically showcasing their many different committees, events, opportunities and programs.

I would apply this system to digital posters/ads/infographics, possibly logos for their social media accounts and layouts for their webpage. Because the Association is focused on international exchange and scholarship, I think a strong, clear, and interesting/bolder web presence would be very important.

1 I estimate that I have increased the number of hours that I spend working on my projects and other outside, personal projects by about 2 to 3 more hours per week. I think I have improved, but that I have not yet reached my starting goal of 3-4 hours, and eventually 5-6 hours or more. I think that increasing my hours has helped the quality of my work as well as the process; however, I believe the projects (especially the Weather Report Project) require more time than I have set aside (because of the facets of learning about and manipulating the program, planning the direction and overall product, and the planning and creation of the details that make up the whole). There was a lot of technical aspects and learning/exploration points to this project that also required more time.

If I had put more time into it, I would have added different aspects (changes in boldness, a minor floating effect with the balloons) and made the movement of text clearer, and maybe have made changes in color and typeface.

I have also been reading more Graphic Design blogs and exploring different websites (one of my favorites so far being Pictoplasma and the Pictofolio, where different invited artists share characters they have made).

2 I think my idea of “sophisticated work” has grown a bit over the course of this semester because of my exposure to my classmates’ work, outside work, and the development and editing of my own work. In my End Term Assessment in GDES1, I stated that “sophisticated work” has a strong sense of what it is, what is appropriate, and may be able to “stand alone”. I still believe this, and have added a little more to my understanding: “sophisticated work” also may connect to a deeper conceptual thinking than what it is (it displays with purpose, and not just to look a certain way).

3 I have learned more about the structure and abilities of Adobe After Effects (a program we had worked with last semester for our app design project in Image Methodology). I have also learned more about the ways the same information can be displayed in different ways in order to express or emphasize something new.

4 I think that I am still unsure about my ability to develop hierarchy through color, motion, font properties and scale. I had trouble deciding on these factors while also exploring the program. I think allotting more time for planning and working for this project would have given me more time to develop clearer hierarchies. I am also unsure about the order of my workflow when planning out and working with a motion project in After Effects (or other programs). While working on this project, I had to go back multiple times to change certain things in my previous turned-in LATCH’s while also working on the next LATCH, and my order didn’t seem very organized, so I’m wondering if there was a more effective way I could have worked. A third thing I am unsure about is where to start when looking for a typeface and type theory.

5 Two other projects that I have been working on are the Mark project in GDES 2 and my personal watercoloring/drawing exploration with my new art supplies I purchased. I think I  placed this project near the top priority for time dedicated to physically working through the project due to the steps it required. However, for conceptual planning, I gave more time to the Mark project because I think it required more overarching conceptual planning compared to the Weather Report. While the Weather Report could have a theme and common, consistent visual language, it made me focus more on the inward choices in relation to itself rather than to a past project. The Weather Report was a more independent project that did not need to relate back to other concepts necessarily, while the Mark project needed to connect back to the research and identity we were building for our place.

I have relatively placed my own personal art exploration at a low priority, but I think it would be interesting to incorporate my personal projects (drawings and paint exploration) into my assigned projects.

6 I think a majority of creative growth has to be from yourself. Inspiration and advice from professors, the public, and peers/classmates…but you decide to act on that advice and explore the possibilities. In ways I think people, experiences and past/present outside works can influence you indirectly without your conscious control (childhood, parents, primary education), but a lot of it comes from allowing yourself to be open to these experiences and explore. One quote that this reminds me of is: “Taking time to live life will only inspire your work” -anonymous. Education is also a large factor in creative growth in order to learn new information, concepts, and to gain new experiences from fellow students and professors, but again, in order to grow the creative-you you must be willing to be open to grow and learn.

As for responsibility for growth, percentage-wise, I think it would be 50% of self (including use of life experiences and personal inspiration), 30% of education and lessons/advice from professors, and 20% of classmate input and critique. (In the case of responsibility, I would possibly increase the self category to 60% because I do believe a lot of our growth relies on us.)