Month: October 2022

This week we had the pleasure of having Jessica Aceti provide us with a pep talk on saying yes to opportunities, collaboration with fellow artists, and experiencing all aspects of your field. The talk was quite informative and reaffirmed the thoughts I already had on how I should be spending my time and creative outlook. I hope to carry this with me throughout my time here and into my career.

I do consider myself somewhat of a yes man. I am a social butterfly and enjoy going out with friends, so when invited to do so, I rarely miss the opportunity. That being said, on a more professional front, I tend to shy away from taking those chances. I believe this stems from an insecurity of my ability to preform. I tend to minimize myself and what I am capable of, so when presented with an opportunity I feel although I will be a hindrance.

Deciding to enter school for graphic design exemplifies this tendency but my perseverance to go and get what I want. I hesitated going back to school for a few years, constantly switching back and forth what would suit me the best. Graphic design was always on the forefront of my mind but I would compare myself to other creatives I know and often times felt out of their league and incapable of what they could ever do. What I never took into account was all the years of hard work they put into their craft, whereas, I am relatively new and still discovering what I enjoy doing.

The more time I spent around these creative though, the more I saw their journey and how they got to where they are today. This demystified my perception and encouraged me to follow through with my plans to enter the design program. I’ve learned to give myself space to grown and be alright with where I am at but have confidence in what I have already accomplished. It honestly feels like a ball rolling down hill and there is only more momentum to come. 

I hope to carry this confidence with me the next time I am offered a project from my friends or, better yet, an internship where I can incorporate what I’ve been learning towards real projects.

27OCT22

During our sit down with Joe Hallock from Microsoft, he introduced the idea of information quantity and audience specificity. Whatever project you are working on you will have to take into account the density of information being provided and how broad or specific the target audience is. A couple examples he provided include; a high information density/ specific audience student portal; a low information/ broad audience airport sign; and, a museum exhibit which would close to the center on either axis. Dividing work into sections like this provides a great visual understanding of what the final product should be and gives a clear vision from the beginning.

Currently I would say that the projects I work on during my free time would exist low to medium information density and for a broader audience. I enjoy combining multiple mediums into a singular project, oftentimes in the form of e-zines. These include photos I have taken, journal entries, videos, and other projects I have been working on. Because most of the content is visual, the information provided is through graphics. I also try to tell a story this way, which to be effective, has to be relatable to a broad audience.

Although this is the type of work I currently do, I would like to step out of my wheel house and have a position where I am working on higher information content while being even broader. I would love to work in print media, working on magazines and books. Although this is certainly similar to what I already do, working on projects that are totally mine makes it feel more as a puzzle as it presents more of a problem/ solution feel to the process. Additionally, the higher information content would provide a larger challenge for visual hierarchy, order of information, blocking and overall changes how you would go about the design process.

14OCT2022

To describe my first week experience with the graphic design program, I decided to create a stop motion collage to describe my initial feelings. I began with cutting up vintage Time magazines, specifically archetypal images that express themes of anxiety, collaboration, reprieve, and performance. After forming a collection, I animated the images into a stop motion video to present them in a story board like way. Finally I added the song Wish by Blood Orange, a song I think encapsulates the feeling of hoping for a better future, relating this to one of the primary reasons I joined the program.

Vimeo Link:

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/760195912

14OCT2022