Graphic Design Final Reflection

Infographic

The infographic project was to create an infographic on a topic of your choice. I chose to do chocolate, because who doesn't love chocolate? This project took about 2-3 weeks to complete. It began with research on our topic. Once we had our research compiled, we began sketching our graphics for the project. After making a final sketch of our infographic, it was time to begin creating out graphics in illustrator. Once we were finished with the graphics, we put them together to make the final product. Some challenges I faced were finding a good layout that flowed, and creating graphics that all matched the theme of the infographic. Some new skills I learned were how to distort a circle, and how to trace with the curved pen tool. Feedback I was given was that my dripping font was too difficult to read and didn't fit the tone of the rest. So, I changed it to a different font that was simpler and easier to read. Overall, I am very happy with how the final product turned out.

Greeting Card

This project was to create a greeting card from our own lettering and graphics. It took about 2 weeks to complete. We started by finding what we wanted it to say, and sketching out how we wanted it to look. Once we had the best version of our phrase, we took a picture and brought it into illustrator to trace it. A challenge I faced was getting the pen tool to follow my wringing and not look distorted. A new skill I learned was how to make a brush stroke a gradient with colors of your choice. Some feedback I got on it was that I had too many seeds in my watermelon graphic, so I deleted some and made them bigger. I really liked how it looked after I changed that aspect. Overall, I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Event Advertising

This project was to create advertising for an event by and artist of your choice. Queen being my favorite band, I chose to do them. In full, it took about a month. Like many other projects, we started with research. After being knowledgeable about our artists, we began creating our poster. After the poster was postcards, then tickets. A challenge I faced was finding the right background color. Some new skills I learned were how to create a clipping mask, and how to create a bleed on an artboard. Some suggestions I got were to Use a dark red rather than a bright one, so that's what I did. Overall, I am very happy with how they turned out.

Time Management

If I finished early in class, I would work on my skills in illustrator. I've created a few projects for fun with extra time. I independently researched new tools in illustrator to improve my knowledge of the software. I always critiqued my work until I bought it was its best. Outside of class I like to watch videos of new things to do in illustrator. 

Strengths

I have improved a lot this year in graphic design. My knowledge of graphic design has expanded immensely. I've grown very fond of it, and I'm sad to be leaving it next year. Now having 2 years of eComm experience, I think my skills are much improved. My ability in collaboration and technical skills is much greater than last year.

Improvement

Although I have improved in some areas, some areas still need improvement. I still need some improvement in time management and little bit in communication. There is always more to learn. I will definitely keep working in illustrator and practice learning new skills.

Conclusion

What I loved most about sophomore graphic design was probably the photo manipulation. I really loved doing the panorama project 1st semester. One thing I would change is maybe leaning more of the tools in class. Next year, my goal is to enjoy my time in eComm, and be proud of everything I put out. Overall, I'm excited for next year, and I'm happy with how this year went.