Jeff Murray

I typically find it hard to take a time to find time to let nature spark my imagination. I think generally inspiration hits me as I’m working through a problem or on a project rather than hit me as I’m out in nature. If I’m stuck on something I will often try to take a break from whatever it is to take a shower, play a video game, go for a run, watch some videos on YouTube, or even just to sleep. Through these breaks I often find a working solution.

As the weather has gotten nicer, I’ve been trying to bike to school as much as possible. I’ll listen to a podcast as I ride through West Lake Union. I find that, although tiring, I usually have more energy while at school and in the evenings to get through my course work.

The closest I’ve come to finding inspiration while in nature was a few weekends ago, I went for a hike with my partner and some friends. While on the trail I spotted a number of mushrooms growing from the trunks of trees or out of logs on the ground. For interactive design I am working on a project which involves probiotic soda which has been infused with mushrooms. It was fun to see something that I’m working hard on for school just casually growing in the wild. I ended up taking some pictures to reference when I made it home.

Overall, while I don’t typically find nature to be the my primary source of inspiration, I find that it is essential for me to take breaks and engage in various activities to help me find solutions and to recharge. The encounter with mushrooms during my hike served as a pleasant reminder for the project I am currently working on, and it added an extra layer of connection to the natural world.

The idea behind my campaign is pets caught in the act. The idea is to find images of pets in the act of doing something naughty or weird or funny to highlight what animals get up to when they think no one else is around. For colors I wanted something that would invoke the feeling of being caught “red-handed” or doing something nefarious, so I went with shades of red which would lean more towards the darker side. Then to contrast I went with a split complementary color scheme, a very light yellow-green and green-yellow, c0lores that should show up against a dark red background or image shown in night vision. I wanted fonts that would again invoke the act of catching someone in the middle of doing something they aren’t supposed to be doing, so I chose bold and condensed fonts, primarily sans serif, though I decided to throw in an small caps serifed font as an alternate option. For body copy I decided on two fonts, serifed and sans serifed options that should pair well with whatever headline font is used.

When I graduate from school I hope to be able to find a job without having to resort to of an agency or contract work. That being said here are some of the pros and cons I was able to come up with after our guest speakers from last week and some online research.

Pros:

1. There is a variety of work: it might provide opportunities to work on a range of projects for different clients and in different fields that I might not have found or pursued on my own. I could see this being advantageous in that I wouldn’t be suck on one project for an extended period of time.
2. Flexibility: contract working freelance might allow for a more flexible schedule, giving me the freedom to choose my own hours and more opportunities to work remotely.
3. Networking: Working with multiple clients could help to build a more diverse portfolio, gain experience, and expand my network of people I like to work with and who might provide more work in the future.
4. Higher earning potential: working freelance might let me choose my higher hourly rates or project fees, possibly earning me more than I might with a salaried position.

Cons:

1. Inconsistency: working freelance can be unpredictable, and may lead to periods where I’m not earning income between projects.
2. Lack of stability: Freelance work can be less secure than a salaried position, and I might have to deal with irregular workloads and uncertainty about future projects. Sometimes too much, sometimes too little.
3. Administrative tasks: I would have to handle my own administrative tasks such as billing, accounting, and/or legal matters, not to mention dealing with the hassle of self employed taxes, which can be time-consuming and distracting.
4. Limited benefits: working for myself or for an agency might not provide me with benefits like health insurance or retirement plans, which can be a disadvantage for some designers.

In conclusion, contract/agency work could be a good option for someone who enjoys variety, flexibility, and the potential for higher earnings. However, it also comes with some risks and challenges that designers should be aware of before pursuing this career path.

I attempted to use some of the branding elements from the Coachella festival to inspire my jersey. I used a free version of the Coachella font for the player names and numbers and then tried to match the roughness by altering the Firebirds’ logo. I then created my own brush in Procreate to make the lines of balloons, a detail I particularly liked from the Coachella website. The colors I chose because I couldn’t find any clear brand colors for the festival. I would definitely change the colors to match those of the festival if I were to come across them in the future.

Who are you?
My name is Jeff Murray. I am a graphic designer living in the Seattle area. I’m back in school right now to round out my skills and learn more about the best practices for the design process. I am getting married this summer and am getting super nervous as it draws nearer.

What is it that you want to do?
I want to work as a designer doing user experience/user interface design or motion graphics.

Why?
Because I love it! When working on projects for school I find myself getting swept up in the process of designing. It’s fun designing and creating and solving problems. I’ve been working as a designer or in design adjacent fields since 2016 and have yet to grow tired of it.

Where do you want to go?
I want to find a position where I can be financially stable. Something that will allow me to start a family and live comfortably with the people I love. It’s hard to see myself in a leadership position, but once I’ve developed my confidence I think I might find myself changing my mind and if offered a leadership role I think it would be pretty hard to say no to the opportunity.

What would you want to say?
Right now I mostly want to tell stories and solve problems for others. I like designing for myself, but without some level of guidance I find myself without direction and am more prone to loosing momentum. I want to be the person others turn to when then have a question or need something that looks amazing or when someone else isn’t able to solve a problem.

I found watching the videos from the CUT channel to be more difficult than I would have thought. I watch a lot of videos on YouTube during my free time and the types of videos CUT produces are very different from the content I typically enjoy. Scrolling through their recent videos I just found myself growing uncomfortable. Everything felt like it was meant to be edgy and going against the grain and I didn’t want to be part of the video participants’ discomfort. The videos I ended up watching were good overall, a bit emotional, and occasionally funny in a sometimes schadenfreude way.

My idea for a video SCC could produce is to have a number of people who have been randomly divided into groups of two (possibly three) be given a task to complete, such as assembling IKEA furniture, a Lego model, or something similar. The twist is that they are separated by a divider, one of them is given the assembly instructions while the other has to perform the physical labor involved but has not been given any information on what they are assembling.

I believe this could be an interesting experience for those involved and show how different people approach and solve problems differently. By having the participants interact only verbally they will have to be really cognizant of how they communicate.

For participants, I think using as diverse a group as possible would be most interesting. Pairing people of different beliefs, upbringings, ages, genders, disabilities, and more could potentially change the ways the other person in their group interacts with them and vice versa.

I am not sure how many groups you would need to participate in order to have enough footage to make a compelling video. The higher the number of groups the more expensive I could see this project being unless whatever is being assembled is disassembled afterwards (which seems like it would take too much time and effort, especially if you only have a single day of shooting). Potentially around five groups could make for enough diversity and representation among participants and lead to a good range of interactions and outcomes.

The event I found while exploring the metaverse was in Decentraland, LaLigaLand’s Crazy Golf experience. I couldn’t tell from the event wether or not the event was to usher in the Crazy Golf itself or just a new leaderboard feature. I’ll want to say that from what I’ve seen so far of the metaverse, I’m not impressed. I suppose there is a lot of room for improvement as technology improves to make the experience more enjoyable, but for now everything feels unfinished and unpolished. For me, the experience of interacting in the metaverse is everything I dislike about massive multiplayer online games (I’ve never been a fan of online multiplayer games because they give me anxiety) but without the stuff that makes it a game.

When entering La Liga’s online arena the I first thing I prompted to do was create an account or continue as a guest (I chose guest). I then had to create my avatar which I just randomized so that I could get into the Decentraland world quicker. Once I was in I couldn’t help noticing the difference between Decentraland and the world Michael Pierce showed us around. Decentraland was much more colorful and cartoonish. The avatars were more actual people rather than three dimensional skeching dummies.

La Liga dropped me into there welcome area which was mostly populated with none playable characters, most of whom you couldn’t interact with. I found the one NPC I could interact with who told me to explore and look for hidden shirts and that if I found them all I would get a prize. Not long after I found a pad that teleported me to the Crazy Golf course. It took me a minute or two to figure out how to play the golf course and then many more to finish all the wholes. I then teleported back to the welcome area where I found a 3D map of their locations. I went to the arena where another NPC told me to look for more shirts. This area had a number of issues, like people’s hair and eyes not loading and everyone in the stands turning to stair directly at my character (very unsettling).

I explored the rest of La Liga’s locations trying to find their hidden shirts and check off other items that had appeared on a list on my screen. It was probably the check list that got me to stay as long as I did because it gave me more of a reason to be there. Throughout my time in La Liga’s facilities I maybe saw one or two other avatars controled by actual people.

When it comes to the metaverse as a whole I see some potential, but it is nowhere near where it needs to be for me to want to actually be a participating member of it. I kept thinking of the dystopian book Ready Player One where the majority of the story takes place in a digital space, mostly because the outside world is such a piece of shit. Personally, I still prefer the real world and interacting in it and with actual people.

There have been many times over the years when I feel I have failed to perform well at a job or on a particular project. Each has been a learning experience and has contributed to making me the person I am right now. It’s hard to say if all my past failures have fallen into the category of Deliver Quality Work, Create and Foster Trust, or Add Value to the Production/Company/Idea.

I think the example that stands out the most would have to be my first full time job after graduating college. I had moved to the District of Columbia and found work as a receptionist for a massage therapy studio in Arlington, VA. I found out through working as a receptionist that there are a number of things I am not good at. The job did not offer much downtime or room to breathe. One minute I was answering phones, the next folding sheets, then pulling client files, checking in new patrons, and more, all while greeting and checking people in and out of their appointments. Now I know that I work the best when I can focus on one task for an extended amount of time. I can still manage to work on multiple projects, but jumping from task to task every few minutes is more than a match for me.

Needless to say, I was not great in this role. I was taken aside by our manager after multiple meetings to be informed that I has messed up in some way. I was trying so hard to keep up with my duties, but I still couldn’t make it work. I eventually left the company after getting my own massage therapy license.

I think one of the big things I learned through my experience working as a receptionist, though I didn’t realize it until much later, is the importance of hard work. Throughout college I didn’t apply myself well to the tasks and responsibilities that came with attending school and therefore my grades suffered and I had an overall bad experience with school. I mostly assumed things would work out, even if I didn’t apply myself fully to the process. This work experience helped to show me that I have to exert and commit myself to get the results I want out of my work, my personal life, and everything in between.