Graphic Design Performance

     Over the last semester, we have completed so many projects and learned a lot. From Nature Man to Infographics, we learned of diverse techniques, styles, and programs. As a review and reflection, it's always good to look back on your work and try to improve. I'm going to revisit a few of my favorites.

Past Projects

Nature Man

     Nature Man was one of the first projects we did, aside from practice lessons. We were tasked with taking a profile picture of a man and editing it to a theme of our choosing. We worked on it for about a week or two, taking our time but also multitasking with other things. It was definitely hard starting out with only rusty knowledge from the previous year and the small lessons we had to complete, but still it remains one of my favorites. One of the hardest parts with this one in particular was the hair. Detailing every last strand to be live the waves was hard and taxing. Still, it payed off in the end by creating almost a misty aura around the end.

     I learned not to always stress super minuscule details or else you'll take too long. While paying attention to detail can be important and valuable when creating a coherent and quality piece, you don't always need to zoom in to incredibly small sizes and make everything perfect. Sometimes, the rough edges add to the picture. I was given tips on how to make the hair look better, and shown how to blend pictures into each other to help them flow. That helped when one of my images did not fit right and I had to take another one and stitch them together.

     I did change my idea a few times, particularly with the jacket. The idea I had started with was somewhat fuzzy and seeing it actually created was not as expected. After much fiddling around with the appearance and positioning, I got closer to something likable. At the beginning, my impressions what that Graphic Design was stressful as we worked to create our Nature Men, but throughout the projects, I learned that you don't need to stress as much if you try your best and pace yourself.

Landscape

     The landscape project was essentially stitching many pictures together to create a whole new landscape, be it realistic or fantastical. This project was maybe two to three weeks, definitely a little longer than some others. What was challenging for me what blending all the objects to look like they're actually being lit up by the sunset. A bit harder than that was the planet and moon in the sky. The planet was especially hard because of the way it would disappear over the horizon, not to mention there were not many reference pictures to go off of.

     I learned how to manipulate layers to make them blend better and to highlight portions that are brighter than others. Honestly the mass-layer mask manipulating was suggested to me and it greatly helped the feel of my picture. I did make a few changes to my original vision because a few of the elements were a little too ambitious for our time frame. Mainly it was just another planet in the sky and a ring of light (like the Aurora Borealis). This project helped me appreciate the class a little more as I saw what my knowledge could do to just a couple of unrelated images.

Infographic

     Finally, our most recent project was the infographic. We started the very first elements of research about a month ago, and in between projects we worked up to creating it. While we have yet to reach the final product, this has been a fun project where we could research and teach about something we enjoy. My biggest challenge with this project was being too wordy with my design. An infographic shouldn't have that much text, but I struggled with whittling it down. I learned not only about my topic (cat breeds and patterns) but more about formatting and color schemes.

     The advice I was given on this one was to include as many graphics as possible, and I am happy with that outcome. I have several small diagrams and example pictures, as well as background graphics and colorful details to spice things up. My original idea included a lot more words and explanations, but I have since cut much of that out. This project was also fun, and a change from the normal pace of things.

Productivity

     While I admit there have been times in class where I got little work done, or was slow, for the most part I try to stay busy doing something. A little while back I started a side project to work on in free time (not that I have much anymore) to employ everything I learned and try to make a complex piece as a surprise for a friend. Generally if I am working on a project but don't have much of it to work on, I will try to enhance little things or zoom into the details and fix them. There's always something that could be better, so I typically fix those when I have a dull moment.

     Outside of the class, I haven't done a whole lot. I have worked on smaller, easier projects and marked pictures that I could edit. I have also payed attention to other peoples' works of design either how they could improve or how I could try something they did. Besides that, I am usually busy with other classes or typical out-of-school activities.

Strengths and Weaknesses

     Personally I think I am alright at editing, particularly with creating whole new content or mimicking than Frankenstein-style stitching pieces of other pictures together. I pay attention to detail and constantly ask myself how to fix or better things. I usually have creativity and ideas to spare. I hope to become better so I can challenge myself outside of school and busy myself with fun side projects.

     My areas that need improvement would probably be meeting deadlines, blending, and spacial awareness. There are a few projects I struggled to get done in time. Blending images is also a struggle, particularly in small spaces with little room to work. I am not that bad with spacing, but sometimes I will set something up and it won't fit or work and I'll have to readjust. Compared to the other two, this is a lot more minor.

Summary

     All in all, I enjoyed most of the projects in Graphic Design. Many of them were enjoyable and/or produced quality images/collages (for my skill level). It was interesting making the transition form Photoshop to Illustrator, as many of the control were different. After this semester, I can probably say I prefer Illustrator. If I had to change anything, I would try to remember all the little lessons better because I often forget parts of them and have to remind myself several times.

   
What I learned in total would probably be to not underestimate or overestimate myself. I should take on challenging projects, but don't dive into something I don't know how to do. Next semester, I hope to improve my time management and overall skill set. In all, I enjoyed this class and value what I learned.