For this project, I designed buttons and packaging that reflected an aspect of visiting a location and experiencing it in a specific way.

The first location was the Blanton Museum of Art and the experience was wonder. To emphasize thought/ wonder over art, my directions brings viewers from the smaller art to the larger ones. This is where the title “Bigger Than You” plays in. Ideally, the viewer will end the directions in front of a very large art piece, thinking about it in some wondrous way. In terms of the aesthetic of the packaging, I tried to reflect the simple and smooth elegance that the museum has. My design isn’t highly sophisticated but with the references to the penny piece and the blue wall, there is more than just meets the eye.

My second location is the Barton Creek Wilderness Park and the experience is delight. My instructions focus on a lighthearted hike with a friend and observing what you can in the nature around you. To emphasize that there is more to see in nature, my button design is a photograph. I placed the button on top of the matching image so it blends in somewhat and makes you look closer.

For this project, I had to transform the aesthetic of a character by changing fill, stroke, and edge. This was done in order to learn the basics of Adobe Illustrator.

My designs aren’t completely exciting in any way but doing this project helped solidify my confidence in using the program. I chose to spell my name for no real reason other than I could. There is no concept behind this project to explain unfortunately.

For this project, I designed a short animation with sound that portrayed the constellation “Vulpecula,” a fox. This was done to learn the basics of Adobe AfterEffects.

I started this project by researching the constellation. Vulpecula was said to have been created by an astronomer and given no real story or context. Sometimes the fox is portrayed as carrying a goose in his mouth but some tell the story that the goose was eaten or flew off as time passed. Starting the creative process, I began finding “The Cosmos,” taking high quality scans of interesting textures to create “cosmic” backgrounds. After that, I began using AE, trying to create depth with a moving background and fading stars. To pursue the concept behind the lore, I drew frames that the animation would move through. I pushed the lore further by imagining that over time, the fox without a story became tormented, becoming a disturbed deathly creature, inspired by work I saw on deviantArt. To finalize this dark transformation, I used sounds that portrayed a happy beginning turned nightmarish.

Thanks to Karla G. for being my partner and finding good sounds for us to use.

For this project, I helped develop a video parody of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.” This was done to practice process, teamwork, and the one-shot film method. My part in production was the cameraman and editor.

Our thoughts behind this project were to portray a group of college outcasts traveling from party to party, not being accepted until the end where a large party ensues. I feel that process was heavily exercised throughout this project because working between two large groups, things were added, cut out, changed, etc. Not only was timing stressed because of the distance we needed to travel, technical skills were stressed as well. I used a steady-cam to help ease the movement of the camera but because we moved so quickly, its full potential was denied. In the end, I feel it was a decent video, given the time, meeting limitations, and resources.

For this project, I designed a book cover for the title “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” My images refer to a specific chapter I was assigned that focused on the hardship of learning a new language, and the trivial success felt when you begin to understand and speak the language less than fluently, but nonetheless, understand what you can.

This is one of the projects I feel I worked more on development rather than final product. Two of the images here depict my dog fighting for a stick. This reflects the struggle or hardship. Once she has the stick, she can’t do anything with it. But she still wants it. Winning the stick is a trivial success that I feel reflects the chapter.

The third image is of a lone white rose. The thought behind this one was that having one beautiful flower is a trivial success. A flower has no practical use, like being half fluent in a language, but nevertheless you feel proud of it.

James Chavez Sanchez – Book Cover

As you can see if you click the link to the final cover I chose, I created certificates with deprecating awards, such as “The Maybe Next Time Award” or “The Try Again Award.” This is an attempt to reference the futility of being half fluent, but also trying to capture the comedy in the chapter which ends with a misstated sentence.  I feel I could have designed the titles better but I was so focused on developing the imagery, there was little time for title design.

Link to Pinterest Board: https://www.pinterest.com/tokiwartooth988/crossing-a-frontier-is-quite-an-emotive-thing-to-d/

For this project, I curated a Pinterest board to the quote “Crossing a Frontier is Quite an Emotive Thing to do: An Imaginary Limit Made Material…” To me, the concept behind the quote was that a frontier can be anything where you are personally pushed to a limit; a point where you’ve stopped and are on an edge. Past this edge is a great expanse of exploration or opportunity. I explored this concept first by choosing images where physically, people were on the edge of a large expanse. Space helped me make the symbolism of a frontier visual. After this (because an expanse can only push so much emotion), I chose a few images that were closer, to portray the personal aspect more accurately. The Nazareth Benuzio image portrays the anticipation of crossing frontiers while the Nan Goldin image shows the physical stress frontiers can push on a person. The Julia Wang and Andrea Colombo images both depict the solemn sadness and fear frontiers can create.