portfolio ‘09 caley brock
hope in darkness
This year my dad was diagnosed with cancer and his determination to fight and stay positive is the inspiration for this portfolio design. It is dedicated to him and all those who have and continue to fight cancer, including my Nana and Deddo. This hat was passed along to my dad by cancer survivors including Lance Armstrong and Wendy Chioji.
resume
Caley Brock 609 Avalon Blvd. Orlando, FL 32806 caley_brock@bellsouth.net Home: (407) 481-9952 Cell: (407) 403-2234 Objective To continue to become a better journalist and graphic designer by becoming editor-in-chief of the 2010 Legend Yearbook. Education Completed two years at William R. Boone High School Graduation date: June 2011 Weighted GPA: 4.7 Top 1% of class Relevant high school courses: French I, II, III; Writing I; English Honors Gifted I, II; Yearbook Experience/Skills • 07-08 Legend Yearbook Staffer, Boone High School • 08-09 Legend Yearbook People Section Editor, Boone High School: experience writing and editing captions and body copy, taking pictures, designing, using adobe programs, meeting deadlines and being a leader • Baby-sitting: children ages: 2-12 • Volunteer work: Green-up Boone, Project Xmas, Discovery Camp Work Crew, Summer Science Camp, assist Blankner School teachers, American Cancer Society Relay for Life Activities/Awards 07-08 Junior Varsity Soccer 08-09 French Honor Society 09 Journalism Honor Roll 09 Quill and Scroll 08-09 Math Club 08 Legend Yearbook Awards: NSPA All American 5 Marks of Distinction, CSPA Gold Medalist, Pacemaker Finalist, Silver Crown References Scott and Lisa Bell SLBell90@aol.com 407-893-9800 John Burke john.burke@ocps.net Lisa Sconyers lsconyers@cfr.rr.com
personal essay
If I am going to spend all my school day in one place, room 224 is not a bad place to be. Through the craziness, there is actually a lot of learning and growth. I pour all my time and energy into making this book, and the more I think about it, the more grateful I am for being a part of this program. On the technical side, my actual production skills improved from basic knowledge to advanced techniques. It started at Camp Orlando. This was the first time I worked on a Mac and now I feel very comfortable on them. I also learned how to batch, use actions and use the magic wand tool in Photoshop. I am now an expert in checking names and placing pictures. My knowledge of Illustrator was constantly improving. I have always been a strong believer in making every deadline and I continued to finish my work on time this year. I learned that it is much harder to make deadlines as an editor because I was constantly helping and worrying about the staffers doing the pages in my section. Time management and prioritizing became more important than ever. One of the hardest lessons I learned this year involved teamwork. I found it very hard to work together with my partner Emily. We had very different design and working styles and it was a struggle to make everything work. I learned that I need to better adjust myself to the situations I am in. This includes being less stubborn and knowing when it is my turn to talk. I need to keep open communication and drop the grudges. My business advertising sales were difficult this year, because although I got a full page contract signed, my contact was difficult to reach and it took a while to get him to pay. I learned that sales are harder because of the economy, but we should try to get payment when the contract is signed. Even thought the journalism ethics rules do not change from year to year, certain things were stressed this year. Accurate research is important to a good story. Names can NOT be misspelled in print. As an editor this year, I saw how important a dedicated staff is to having a good year and making a good book. If there are a few unmotivated staffers, everyone will suffer because deadlines will be missed and quality will be low. It then falls on the people who are dedicated to do the work. It is better to have a small dedicated staff than a big one that is unmotivated.
The biggest life lesson I learned this year is to enjoy and appreciate the people
I work with. When our advisor told us she was planning on leaving, I was overwhelmed because I realized how much I enjoy and appreciate her. Our whole staff should want to be with each other that much, because when we really enjoy each other, we will want to work together. I think that when our staff had fun things went smoothly. The more fun I had, the better I wanted to do.
One of the most amazing things about yearbook is that everything I learn in this class
can apply to the real world. Unlike what I am supposed to learn in other classes, the things that I learn in yearbook stick because I see how they apply to life outside of high school. It is an amazing thing.
refl ect ion 1
As my role changed from staffer to editor, my responsibility to the staff also changed. My dedication grew with my responsibilities. I was an asset to the staff because I was an editor of a major section and I had a significant contribution in making the book. I got all my work done on time and I was able to motivate others to do the same. I would not accept missing deadlines. I contributed to the design of the book by creating layouts for the people section and always sharing my point of view and creative ideas. I did my best to help both staffers with their pages and newspaper with interviews. The commitment I have to the staff is what allows me to work so hard. Yearbook is a huge part of my life. I am in the yearbook room before school, during third period, during lunch and after school. I was always available to answer a question. Yearbook is a priority and I could not be more dedicated to the program. This was apparent to the rest of the staff because I was voted “Most Dedicated� for our end of the year superlatives.
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2 n it o
My most significant piece of work has to be something that made a big impact on the whole book. Of everything that I did this year, my most significant piece of work was the quote page design because it was adapted and used for pages in the book beyond just my section. I started the design at the beginning of the year and as the design of the book became clearer, we applied fonts and colors to it. Emily had the idea for the headlines and we ran with that because it made the whole package look more interesting. Even though I did not create this myself, I had a big part in designing it. It was much more fun than difficult to make this design because it was one of the first things that I got to design as an editor and I was excited about it. One of the advantages of being a people editor is having the opportunity to design creative secondary coverage for the whole book. If I could do anything differently, I would make the quality of pictures better and put the layout in a library. When I gave the pages to the journalism kids, I learned how important details are. It was very hard to keep track of the details without having a library. I was very happy with the way the quote pages looked in print. I love the use of color and the interesting and funny questions we asked. I think the design is different from the year before and I enjoyed working on this design.
reflection 2b
I cannot put into words how grateful I am for yearbook. Not only have I grown immensely, but I can actually see the growth from year to year. This is the first year I was presented with real challenges. Most of these tended came with being an editor and I tended to get emotional. I think it is okay to be emotional because it shows I care, but I do need to learn to calm down. Last year everything went smoothly and yearbook was relatively easy for me. This year’s challenges made me stronger and I have definitely grown because of them. My actual portfolio design is more complex and sophisticated this year. I was able to be creative with photography and show how my Photoshop skills advanced by applying different effects and brushes to the pictures. Although last year my job was doing content and this year my job was design, the quality of my work has improved. It is apparent to me that this year I have a better handle on the “yearbook rules” with regards to writing, design and photography. I was able to show my creativity this year and that shows a lot of growth. This year I was presented with new challenges which forced me to grow. I had to learn through experience all about being an editor and working with others. I became more absorbed with the cult known as yearbook because I was more responsible for the end result. My friendships and the way I handle myself has also changed. I grew into someone who knows how to handle difficult situations, including unexpected computer and staff problems.
reflecti on 3
When we started designing pages my designs were all over the place. At first, we wanted a clean grunge style, but I had no idea how to translate that onto paper. I started with the profile pages. This first profile I designed was very simple (and very boring). I tried to make it look “good” by overlapping a picture and using a drop cap in the copy. I quickly realized that this was not up to par with the “Boone standard”. After Burke got completely frustrated with our lack of creativity, she showed the editors some magazine scans she had on the server. As she quickly flipped through examples, I saw one with a huge cob of a person, angled text and a graphic on the bottom. It was perfect! Emily and I got to work on adapting the layout for yearbook. Once we finalized the fonts, it looked great. The hardest thing was getting the right cob to fit the space on the page. The cob on the Jenny Chen page worked out really well. Because of this process, I learned how great magazines are for design ideas. I also learned that the picture and graphics can make the page. I think the whole process was worth it because I really like the profiles now. They fit the style of the book much better than they did when we started working on them.
reflection 4
My plate was completely full this year. If it is true that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, then by the end of this year, I will be superman. I was not expecting such a crazy year. Although it took me some time to sort out my problems and I do get emotional, I tried to handle the situations I was in to the best of my ability. My first yearbook problem was an underlying tension between me and my partner Emily. We did not get along. We both wanted to do different designs and then we would vent to our other friends instead of talking to each other. This was not a good decision on my part and I will take the blame for that. The sad thing is that it took us to the end of the year to fix it. I am glad that I talked to her because we have to work together next year, but I should have done it sooner. I learned that communication is vital to working with people and that sometimes it is best for me to change the way I work so that I can accommodate and work better with others. The next thing that left me distraught was when Burke told us her plan to leave Boone. I completely understood her reasons, but I still wanted her to stay and I was so upset. Since the beginning of freshman year, I wanted to be editor-in-chief with Burke as my advisor. I was so invested in the program and I could not believe what she was saying to me. I really should have tried to calm down, but I could not. I learned how much I love and appreciate yearbook and Burke. Enjoying the people I work with is so important and I am so lucky to have her stay. I also had a lot going on besides yearbook. I have six other classes with homework and pressure. My dad was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the year and he is always on my mind. It is hard because I do not always have enough energy to do everything. At the beginning of the year, I thought that the hardest thing that I was going to have to do was place pictures. Was I ever wrong. The people section was a challenge, but it was pretty simple task compared to everything else that I had going on. I grew a lot as a person this year and I think that I have gotten stronger. I got through the year and I learned from the experience because of the people who helped me get through it all.
refl ect ion 5
Half way through the year, I set four goals for myself for the second half of the year. Goal #1: Make every spread special. I think that all the pages were different but some pages stood out more than others. To me, it looks like I ran out of creativity or that something was missing on some of the pages. The pages that turned out great were the ones that I used content design or I put some extra work into. The profile of Jenny Chen was what the profiles were supposed to look like. The college guide page and the foreign exchange student page stood out as some of the more interesting and creative pages. I think that the spreads improved from where they were before winter break, but not all of them were special. Goal #2: Get everyone to make more deadlines. I met this goal by spending my class time with the staffers. Each time my pages went only one person did not make deadline. At the end of the year Olivia told me that the only time that she made deadline was when I was her editor. She congratulated me on being a part of her moment of yearbook success. To me, that meant I made my goal. Goal #3: Lead by example. I was very accountable and always got my work done on time. I always had a sense of urgency, but it was frustrating to try to get the rest of the staff to have the same sense of urgency. Goal #4: Have better communication with Emily. This was the hardest goal for me to meet. My communication did not truly improve until about a week after we got back from Phoenix. The tension between us kept getting worse until we talked and worked it out. I had better communication with Emily, but it was way too late.
cb
people section: underclass designs
deadline 1