Sophomore Portfolio Review

I would say that my most effective aspect of graphic design is organization, and for the most part, sticking to proper timelines so that I don’t feel rushed into creating something I am displeased with. For organization, I am constantly trying to see the project from a client’s perspective and organize how things should look and in what order accordingly. By understanding the timelines I have with my projects, I can better gauge the extent to which I can complete an assignment and not underestimate or overestimate what I need to do to the point that I have nothing to show my peers for critique. Critiques, too, are also especially helpful for me to hear from my peers to problem solve something that I wasn’t aware of as being ineffective or confusing, or by having alternate paths suggested that I can try for different end results. Hopefully each of these things are evident in the quality of my work and show that I have paid attention to detail and have taken projects seriously rather than completing assignments simply for the sake of a grade.

I believe that my strongest pieces throughout my studies as a graphic designer are my Zine project and Weather Report. In my Zine project, I feel that the strengths are in the emphasis of words that the layout and use of color creates when it is read. I designed each spread’s layout around the word or words that I wanted the reader to really feel to drive the point home. In the Weather Report, I would say that the strengths are the animation’s cohesion, or smoothness. Compared to the last animation project I did, the Interface App, I was much more familiar and comfortable with using After Effects to create smoother transitions and layouts. I think that there’s always room for improvement in my work, given other parameters or timelines, and the amount of familiarity I have with the program that I am using for a project. For example, I am curious to know how a different pattern inside the chromatic type might have altered the effect of the zine. Alternatively, what would a different sequence of L.A.T.C.H. structures, or different typefaces, have done to the weather animation? But I am proud of the work that I have produced thus far.

When I first began studying graphic design, I didn’t realize how much of it was dependent on choosing appropriate typefaces. Since taking several classes in which type is used for various projects in various methods, I would say that I have certainly paid much more attention to the typefaces that I choose now for projects compared to my work before. I still struggle with this occasionally, but I am at least more aware of the kinds of questions to ask myself when I begin to search for appropriate fonts. I start with the basic questions like whether a sans serif or serif font is more appropriate, and later moving on to more conceptual questions like how the typeface is supposed to convey the idea of what it is being used for (ie. informational versus entertaining). Additionally, I have become more comfortable with the idea of iterating and not simply deleting or “fixing” a single design. It has helped me focus more on the ideas conveyed within a project rather than getting stuck going down a single path and not correctly capturing the assignment’s objective and benefiting from the work I produced to get to the end result.

This is my Zine project. This is my Weather Report.