Morgan LaRose

An experience that immediately comes to mind relates to a failure in delivering quality work. I took on a photography project that was to be shot entirely in medium format film. It was spur of the moment and the turnaround needed to be done within a month, it was also my first time shooting an entirely film project with no digital images to accompany so it was unknown territory in terms of potential issues that could arise.

Ultimately there were multiple failing factors. One was the quality of development from the place I had processed the film through; there were multiple spots where they had put clamps directly through frames that were key shots, very disappointing. Another issue was agreeing to the timeline of a month. Since I was scanning the film myself and then editing, everything took exponentially longer than expected. So not only were key images completely ruined in the development process, I couldn’t follow through on the timeline.

From this I learned that I need to be more realistic when setting timelines, this wasn’t the only project I was working on so it wasn’t realistic to shoot, develop and edit/deliver everything within a month. Also, I should have reached out to people for advice on developers to seek out someplace that would have done a better job. I think because I was in such a rush it wasn’t a consideration I had in mind. Overall, I learned a lot from this experience and it drastically changed my perspective moving forward.

Hard Skills 

Adobe Photoshop: Out of all adobe programs I’ve spent the most time on Photoshop with my background in photography. I’m able to use it for many different purposes, whether that be editing photos, putting together a poster, and many things inbetween.

UI/UX & Branding: These two hard skills are strong areas of mine largely due to being a hardcore empath, I find that I can intuitively problem solve. I find it very easy to consider the emotional response of users and the variety of emotions that could potentially be experienced and make decisions accordingly, I find that making these considerations below the surface truly allow the ability to fine tune a visual experience. 

Soft Skills

Empathy: This skill has come in handy many times when communicating with fellow classmates and when taking into consideration the needs of others within the service industry. I’ve found that it also translates well with user experience projects because I can easily visualize the potential needs of users based on diverse backgrounds of users.

Open-mindedness: When conclusions are drawn, that’s when curiosity dies. So I try my best to keep an open mind regardless of the situation and take everyones opinion or feedback into account when developing projects. 

Willingness to learn: I consider myself a lifelong learner and am always willing to learn something new if the opportunity presents itself. I’ve had many different jobs and a couple of career changes through the years, all of which were filled with many fresh learning opportunities. 

Skills I would like to develop

Time management & Effective Communication (soft):

I need to practice better time management that way I’m not neglecting other projects and tasks, more specifically I need to know when to stop perfecting something and consider it finished until the next round of review. Communication has always been something that I have struggled with at times, I would specifically like to hone in on communication within my presentation skills, that way I’m able to explain my projects more effectively and make sure whoever is listening understands where my ideas are coming from. 

Illustrator & Illustrator (hard): With both of these programs I would like to learn the tools more in depth and expand my skills set in order for them to become more intuitive. As of right now, I feel that projects take longer than they should because I’m not entirely comfortable and don’t have a solid work flow. I’m sure with time and continued practice this will be resolved. 

I couldn’t figure out how to get my video to upload so I’m posting the transcript of my pitch:

Hello my name is Morgan LaRose. I’m a UX/UI and identity designer.  I recently graduated from the design program at Seattle Central College. During my time there I developed an app to help traveling musicians connect with music venues in order to fully plan a tour. Both musicians and venues create profiles that showcase themselves, there is also a live booking calendar that shows availability of the venues, along with the ability for musicians to communicate directly with the venue book through the app. I’m very proud of this project.

In all my endeavors, I work hard to keep one-step ahead of my clients needs and desires, bringing a positive, problem-solving attitude to any challenge. I’m a thoughtful and conscientious lifelong learner, and always seeking to expand my professional network. If you have any projects that you need help with, please keep me in mind.

I would like to produce a book compiling my Polaroid photographs I’ve taken over the past 10 years. It wasn’t my initial intention to produce a book with these, but I feel the images I produced are worthy of being presented in a book.  

The timeline would be roughly 2-3 months. I would have to re-scan every image to make sure they’re in a uniform format and to make adjustments in photoshop if necessary. I would then stylize and compile them in indesign. I’ve thought about including poetry as a text element, not on every page but something sporadically placed throughout the book. I would have to go through some of my notebooks and figure out what to include. 

The main cost would lie in printing and actually producing the book. I would like it to be something that aesthetically is worthy of being on someone’s coffee table, so I want to produce something of quality and interesting detail. I’ll print a small run of the books to see how well they sell and if successful I could always print more. I’ll need to talk with folks that are familiar with the printing/publishing process and figure out what would makes the most sense.

A recent experience where I had to make a pivot to accommodate circumstances that I did not predict was working on a project for Jason’s indesign class. The parameters of the project were to select a typeface that represented a plant or animal of my choice, seven letters or more,  and create my interpretation of that plant or animal. I could only use those letters only to create my interpretation in illustrator. 

I chose the Maranta plant, also referred to as a prayer plant. I have one and I enjoy the texture of the leaves, with pops of pink pinstripes within. It seemed pretty straight forward, use each letter of the plant name and create shapes using the blend mode or a variety of brushes etc. Once I opened illustrator and started messing around, I soon realized that I chose a very difficult subject to create in this format. I thought for sure that I’d be able to at least get the foundation of the plant set up with letters rotated or blended together, but I was having difficulty with the contours of the leaves. I wasn’t getting the amount of detail I was seeking and nothing was layering together the way I thought it would. 

My pivot turned into completely scrapping what I had already messed around with and choosing a different type face that was smoother than the previous. I then created my interpretation using solely brushes in order to get the detail I was seeking. Luckily I was able to figure out that blending together a letter was able to give me somewhat of a solid line, and then I turned that into a brush to give a solid structure for the pink pinstripes. I then used the scatter brushes for the remainder of the project, which was highly time consuming. Overall it turned out with the level of detail I was seeking, but there are some adjustments I would like to make after looking at it for a while.

These are images I photographed for a fine dining pop up event. Guests chose from a 5-course dinner with hand selected coffee pairings, or a 5-course dinner with full coffee, cocktail and wine pairings. Just 47 tickets were available to the public. It was hosted in the previous roasting space of Stumptown, where the space was transformed for one night only into an extraordinary pop-up fine dining restaurant. It was staffed by a team of service professionals united from throughout Seattle’s thriving food, spirits, wine, and specialty coffee communities.

My approach shooting these images was to create somewhat of a macro-photographic experience without actually using a macro lens. I wanted to capture the delicate nature of the dishes being served, subtly including the surrounding environment. All the lighting used was what was available in the environment so I definitely had to move plates around to get what I was looking for, as well as make adjustments editing in photoshop.

My strongest first impressions of the photo/video industry are the similarities in crossover to design, specifically in terms of what you’re capable of doing. The first example that comes to mind was our very first presenter, Paolo Tossolini. His work opened my eyes to using different means of equipment in unique ways that are unexpected and highly inventive. I’d heard of the Matterport system prior to his presentation and I’d only considered its use for housing and real estate purposes, but after seeing his work and hearing his perspective of generating ideas it completely changed the way I view possibilities in equipment/programs. It was great to see something that is typically used in one setting for other experiences that take you far outside of the box. This gave me the impression that opportunities are only limited if you make them that way, otherwise if you’re experimenting with ideas and keeping an open mind, possibilities can be unlimited; it’s really changed  the way I approach many projects at this point. I felt it was also a great example of using both worlds of photo and design in a truly unique way. 

This past week was my first week of narrative filmmaking and it opened my eyes to the world of video for the first time. I was surprised by what I learned: each camera angle serves a specific purpose of drawing the viewer in and telling a story in order to evoke emotion and comprehension. And now it’s challenging me to approach these projects in the same manner which is a whole new adventure.  It’s exciting because I can tell that I’m already taking this knowledge and starting to think in a completely new way for myself. Even when watching show and movies I can’t help but pay more attention to all of these elements. I don’t know how I’ll use this knowledge down the road but just having it will certainly benefit me at some point or at least give me better insight.  

Overall, what I’m finding is that there’s plenty of crossover in both industries. I didn’t think that this would be the case when I initially started the program because my mentality was that they’re two completely separate industries. Of course they still can be in some ways, but depending on my approach there’s a lot of crossover that can be highly inventive and almost untapped. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what challenges I’m able to overcome if I keep an open mind and consider the vast possibilities that could potentially include crossover of both realms in my work. 

Think Big: 

This is a principle that seems to come most naturally to me. I’ve always been somewhat of a dreamer and thinking big has never been an issue when I’m feeling properly supported. A recent example was thinking big on a project for school; at first the idea seemed unclear because it almost seemed like a big idea that might be “too big,” too complex and many minute details to figure out in order for the project to make sense. But once the smaller details were worked out the project began to thrive and take on an identity that really set it apart. I look back on this project and feel somewhat proud because it shows that thinking big can bring big results when there’s persistence and you’re able to maintain the vision when working out the difficult details. 

Deliver Results:

A recent example of delivering results was when I took on the role of Inventory & Delivery manager at my current job. Leading up to this, the coffee shop I work at seemed to be struggling with maintaining inventory and it became obvious to customers that this was becoming a regular issue. Not only were customers frustrated, but the frustration amongst the staff was becoming increasingly obvious, especially when being put in the position of dealing with customer backlash. Something needed to change, so I suggested that I take on the role, since then many of these issues have cleared up. The staff is much happier, as well as customers, and it sends a clear message that once a problem arises the willingness to solve that problem is there. 

Learn and Be Curious: 

This is a principle I value in many realms of my life and one that has gotten me through some tough times. Whenever I feel like learning and curiosity has left the room, I have also left the room so to speak. I lose purpose and focus all at once and feel completely lost. This has become a huge indicator for me when knowing when to move on and start anew, something that hasn’t come naturally. I was somewhat raised to tough it out and keep pushing through even if difficulties arise, which has led to some pretty terrible situations of feeling as if my entire identity had disappeared. I’ve come to realize that sometimes knowing when to move on is the best thing a person can do for themselves. If learning and curiosity is no longer present, then it’s time to move on. 

Frugality:

This would be the most difficult principle for me to adopt because I don’t currently believe frugality is something to strive for when being creative, especially if I were working for a multi-billion dollar corporation. I believe investment in time and money is key to building long lasting, high quality relationships in order to fully understand a customer base. Providing high quality products that are well thought out and that have long lasting impact, not only is beneficial for the customer, but also the surrounding environment.