Blossoming into a Designer by carla davila

Blossoming into a Designer By: Carla Davila

Introduction to Design 2015

Table of Contents My thoughts on the overview of Introduction to Design . . . . . . . . . .

D* School Crash Course .

Dot and Line . Expressive Text . Object Iterations .

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Designer Presentation .

Collaborative Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Book .

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21 .

My Thoughts on the Overview of Introduction to Design I learned a lot through the course of Introduction to Design. It definitely introduced me to parameters and making multiple iterations of one piece. This has taught me to pay careful attention to the details of my work. I learned that there could always be room for improvement even if I did not think so. Through the process of making multiple iterations I found myself coming up with better ideas to enhance the development of my projects; I also found that mistakes led me to better ideas as well. I thought the parameters to be very interesting as well as a foundation to the creativity that I could arise from them. Parameters are very helpful in preparing us students for real jobs. They are a placed as a boundary that we as designers have to work with in order to create a piece of work. My biggest challenge was the Collaborative Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book. My challenge within the project was not the Adobe Photoshop or InDesign; I understood how to work the programs well enough to accomplish what I needed to do. The struggle was finding the medium that fit the story. The story was about the war happening in Syria and how it affected a little girl and her family. My initial idea was to create the illustrations entirely on Photoshop; yet, after I had all the illustrations done I did not get a sense of completion rather I found they did not fit the delicate topic of the story. To fix this I restarted my illustrations and began drawing with Watercolor and black ink. I noticed that my new illustrations had a more down to earth look to them and I liked them a lot more than my previous illustrations. I was very happy that I decided to start over because I gained a feeling of satisfaction giving the story line illustrations that would justify the meaningful story. This was my biggest challenge but I also feel that it ended up being my biggest triumph through out this class. Introduction to Design allowed me to become confident with my work and the parameters set in place. Everything I learned will not only be helpful towards my future works but also helped me blossom my inner Designer.

D* School Crash Course How did engaging with a real person and testing with a real person change the direction of your prototype?

• Being able to interact with a real person gave me the opportunity to ask a lot of questions and get answers back on the spot, this was very helpful towards the direction of my prototype. Receiving feedback from the person who the prototype is going to be for is very useful because they can tell you what does work for them and what could possibly change to better accommodate their needs. • Example: Coming up with 5 radical ways to meet their needs gave us the opportunity to bounce ideas back and forth and I was able to see what had to be eliminated immediately in order to be able to continue with the prototype with the information that was helpful.

What did it feel like showing unfinished work to another person?

• Showing my unfinished work to my partner made me feel anxious. This was because the prototype could have been a lot more well prepared; at the moment it did not show all the details I had planned for it. • I was mostly worried about my idea not being able to be envisioned correctly or understood properly. Most of all, I was worried by work was not going to be taken seriously by my partner because nobody wants their work to be looked at as a joke.

What did you like or dislike about this process? What, if anything, surprised you?

• What I really liked about the D* School Crash Course process was getting to know my partner a bit more before I had to design a tool for her needs. Getting background knowledge about her allowed me to come up with good ideas right off the back for her and not just for anyone in the room. • I was surprised about how many ideas I actually came up with on the spot and how the time limit didn’t give me room to worry about the bad ideas. The time factor really made it an interesting process.

Design thinking is an iterative, self-directed process. Based on what you learned what would you go back and do next? What would you do over again?

• If I were to go back and do this exercise again I would really try to come up with more ideas for this prototype because I would have been able to receive feedback right away and then I would have had more options to pick and chose from to collaborate something better for the prototype. • What I would do over again is the manner in which I presented my prototype to my partner. I noticed my enthusiasm about the direction in which I was taking my idea • and details for it allowed her to better envision the prototype rather than me just presenting what I have and saying “It is what it is.”

Dot and Line What is your understanding of gestalt?

• Gestalt is an organized whole that is percevied as more than the sum of its parts. • It is the theory of visual perception on how people tend to group visual elements together. • Some principles of the Gestalt theory are: A) Figure/ Ground D) Closure B) Similarity and Anomaly E) Proximity

Choas First iterations of “Choas”:

Final product:

The simplicity makes this piece aesthetically beautiful for its representation of Choas. My thought process behind this representation was the different widths and lengths of each line and the manner they appear to be falling apart.

Joy First iterations of “Joy”:

Final product:

To me this piece represented Joy because it appears to be like the rays of the sun radiating outward and we tend to associate the sun with happiness. Was it difficult to represent ideas without illustrating them? Why or why not?

• It was difficult to represent ideas without illustrating them because a person’s brain automatically connects words and images so that they can be as closely related as possible therefore we tend to be influenced by clichés. How did this project change or affect your idea of abstraction?

• This project impacted my previous thoughts on abstraction greatly. I used to think abstraction was just a bunch of random lines that looked cool, now I understand abstraction to be representational of an object’s or an idea’s qualities.

Freedom

First iterations of “Freedom”:

Final product:

I used the continuation in this piece to represent Freedom. The larger grey circle is breaking off from the similar black smaller circles. The lager grey circle is also off the white square suggesting it is no longer apart of the other group of circles.

How difficult is it for you to make a “well-crafted object”? Would you rather make things quickly and a little less perfectly or spend extra time to get small details right? • It’s not difficult for me to make “well-crafted objects” because I tend to pay careful attention to small details and if I didn’t correct my bad craftsmanship it would bother me.

Rejection

First iterations of “Rejection”:

Final product:

I used the close promixity between the two black lines to suggest Rejection. I also made the size of the bigger grey circle a lot larger to emphasize the fact that it is not allowed to go through that open space like the smaller dot was able to.

Was it challenging to get excited to make work with such tight parameters? • Personally, I didn’t mind the tight parameters this project had, I found it even more inspiring to see what I could accomplish with such precise orders!

Expressive Text Lupton Readings

• I thought the readings were really interesting because I didn’t think there were so many factors that contributed in selecting a certain type of typography. • I never would have thought the manner in which letters sat on a line would affect the way we looked at a word or the way in which different typefaces would affect the appearance of a sentence • When I took in all the elements that had to do with typography, I was mind blown, of course there is history behind even the smallest concept but I hadn’t taken into consideration how much history typography actually had. • What Intrigued me was the way in which there is specific typography that was frequently used in a previous era and therefore we now relate those specific typography examples to have a strong connection and style from those pervious eras. • Also, it opened my eyes to all the elements of typography that has to be taken in to consideration for headlines in newspapers and advertisement of all kinds using certain typography to portray a topic in a particular way or grab the audience attention towards the right direction.

Hand lettering from my sketchbook:

Word Map

What, if anything surprised you about this project? • What surprised me the most about this project was how helpful the word map I created actually was for me. The word map allowed me to come up with ideas that surpassed the clichés. The words or concepts that I came up with based off of my chosen word, “Force”, were such as “Motion”, “Waves”, “Bold”, and “Violence”. I used those ideas to emphasis the meaning behind “Force” as well as to capture the way in which the word would communicate to others with clarity.

Did you expierence any challanges throughout this project?

• Yes, while I was creating one of my final four iterations, ink and watercolor paper. • I had previously worked with ink and paper that was not so absorbent as watercolor paper is so I was clueless to the fact that the ink was going to leak through under the tape I had laid down on the watercolor paper. • To fix this I had to cut the letterforms out in order to glue them on a black background free of unwanted ink marks. • After having fixed my work, I found it went in a more creative path than I had in mind and preferred it over my original idea.

First iteration:

Critque: (Ink on watercolor paper)

â&#x20AC;˘ The bottom of the letters donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really stand out with the black background.

Final iteration:

(Back ground edited on Adobe Photoshop)

#2 Orignal iterations:

(I took advantage of the Wave-like letterform to really portray the sense of forceful motion towards one direction of the paper.) Critque: • Clean up the background. • The loop of the “O” could curve a litte. • The top of “R” could face the “O” to connect more with the “O”.

(Black ink) Final iteration: I edited my iteration using Adobe Photoshop.

First itertation:

Critque: • Expand the depth of “R” and “C” • Fix minor smudges (Black Sharpie) Final iteration:

I used Adobe Photoshop to edit my first iteration into my final product. I also decided to use a light grey and a dark grey to emphasis the depth and focal point of the letters.

First iteration:

Critique: • The “ORC” looks really squished together. • The “halo” around letters is unresolved.

(black ink and charcoal) Final iteration: I decieded on the black background because it allowed the grey lettering to stand out more. I also gave each letter more surrounding space but I kept the same type.

I also embraced the bold letterforms through out the different iterations and I was surprised to see how well bold worked with a variety of typographies. Coming across that realization through the multiple iterations I created: I learned that one word can successfully be interpreted with a variety of type forms while holding different themes or vice versa.

Object iterations Continuous Line Drawing

Final iterations:

Samples from sketchbook:

What did you learn about your object through this process? Through the object iterations I began to notice specific details about the white Bengal tiger, like the fact that they have rounded ears and their stripes are usually grey or black.

Geometric abstract First iteration:

Collage First iteration:

Final iteration:

The media that was most challenging for me was the collage, it was really hard for me to find images that could represent the tigers fur.

Typography Collage

Samples from sketchbook:

The samples from my sketchbook were not representative enough of the White Bengal Tiger. The bottom iteration on the right corner looked too much like a regular cat.

Final iteration:

Using Adobe Photoshop I added black stripes and outlined the eyes and nose. I also added the tigers whiskers. This made it look more like the White Bengal Tiger while keeping the typographic background.

Master Artist iterations Inspiration:

JW and Melissa Buchanan Identifying major characteristics of their work: • • • •

First iteration:

I cut each piece out individually out of black and white construction paper.

Described as “funky junk” Colorful Unrealistic Paper cutouts

Final iteration:

I used Adobe photoshop to earse minor smudges and create different colored background that allowed the iteration to stand out more.

Inspiration:

Olly Moss Identifying major characteristics of his work: • Bold colors • Movie posters • “Cartoon-like”

First iteration:

Final iteration:

I used Adobe Photoshop to make the background grey inorder to allow the tiger to stand out more.

(Black ink in sketchbook)

Final product:

The final presentation format allowed each individual iteration to stand out because I chose a grid style that separated the iterations with negative space from their background, amplifying each one separately.

Designer Presentation Ruth Ansel

My designer was Ruth Ansel. What drew me to her as a designer was the different aspect she was taking in the design world, especially for being a female pioneer among graphic designers in the late 1960â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. I found it inspiring how she worked with photographers and other designers to come up with magazine covers that worked and were unique for their time period.

The cover above was photographed by James Moore in 1966 for Bazaars magazine. It was one of the first fold down covers. This was one of my favorite designs by Ruth Ansel because of the manner the images flow together while creating an arrangement that works while each images leads the eye to the next piece.

She worked with photographers like Richard Avedon and Annie Leibovits as well as Hiro while creating strong ties with them which allowed her to work with her partners further later on in life.

Collaborative Childrens Books What surprised me about working with my partner was how helpful meeting with her actually was. We ended up going through the text and she gave me background information about her topic that I wouldn’t have known without researching it. My partner’s strength was her ability to share her knowledge about Syria and the war. It helped me put the story in to perspective and really focused me in on the meaning the story had. The aspect that I found most challenging was trying to find the medium that best fit with my story line. At first I began creating all the illustrations on Photoshop but they didn’t seem right. Those illustrations didn’t seem to match up with the setting the storyline had. So, I restarted and began working with watercolors and ink. Samples of first idea: (Photoshop illustrations)

Final illustrations: (watercolor with some photoshop illustrations)

I ended up liking the new illustrations a lot more (the illustrations on the right). I combined some digital illustrations made with Photoshop and my watercolor drawings!

“Designers deal in ideas. They give shape to ideas that shape our world, enrich everyday expierences, and improve our lives. Where there’s confusion, designers fashion clarity; where there’s choas, designers construct order; where there’s entropy, designers promote vitality; where there’s indifference, diesigners swell passion; where there’s silence, designers lend voice.” - Ken Peters

Introduction to Design 2015