What Is Graphic Design Part 2

Graphic Design is communication. Look up Graphic Design and I promise communication is just as present as shapes or images.
A brief history of graphic design dates back unto the prehistoric times with cavemen drawings, using those drawings to communicate an idea.

Here is some brief history of the beginning of branding with Graphic Design from http://www.designhistory.org/Symbols_pages/Branding.html

"By the 1970's businesses were convinced of the advantages of a comprehensive professional image, or corporate identity, in the market place. Graphic designers were engaged to design logos as well as write and produce standards manuals that instructed corporate employees in the proper application of the logo, recommended typographic treatments and color palettes."
The components of a successful Graphic Design piece is using the Principals of Design and the Elements of Design. The Principals of Design include Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, and Proximity.

Next with all of the Principals of Design congruent now step it up to use the Elements of Design. Line, Color, Shape, Texture, Size, Space, and Value can be used to take a great design to an amazing design. 

Being a graphic designer takes much understanding of what Graphic Design is and what the client is looking for. Being a graphic designer is more than just putting images together to make something. It's using the elements of design to make that "something" stand out. It's explaining why you chose the colors, shapes, and type. My t-shirt design I wanted to stand out. I wanted the megaphone in the first design to be red because red stands for energetic and having a megaphone in your hand requires you to be energetic and graphic design is a megaphone for ideas. I chose a megaphone because it's manual. You have to turn on the megaphone in order for it to be useful to project your thoughts and words. You have to turn on your understanding of graphic design in order to successfully communicate what you are trying to do. The next t-shirt I wanted to create my own type in order to show that the design has to be original. The diamonds are coming out of the megaphone because the speaker has to be perfectly clear in their communication. I wanted those colors of yellow and blueish greenish because when those colors are put together it means peaceful and creative. Both aspects you need to understand with graphic design. 

What Hollywood Taught Me About Leadership

This past Thursday during a study hall we had the opportunity to listen to a guest speaker, Ben Hopper, from Kansas State University talk about something that was near and dear to his heart. Leadership. This seminar was important for high school students to listen to because in a 21st century program leaders need to step up and understand how to be a leader and one of the forms that we watch is movies. Ben Hopper did an excellent job at using movies, vocabulary, and engaging topics for high schoolers to understand and take away from. I am excited to be a part of the K-State Family that puts a high price on leadership.

How To Infographic

Over a period of two weeks I looked and worked with infographics. There were different topics I could choose from and I picked How To Build a Tire Swing. From there three different types of infographics had to be done- image-based, typography based, and sketched. My process included hours of research. What the goal of an infographic is, what does a successful infographic look like, how should I acquire steps in order to accomplish a goal, etc. Looked at what placement was best for which steps and what images. I learned along the way that in order to make a successful infographic more show than tell. Triggering off the text an infographic should still get the message across. Professionally I learned that deadlines are very important in order to get correct and good feedback. I participated in the critique but others were not finished in time so they were not able to get the valuable critique. And also some challenges I face is continuing my mission of coming up with an original idea. This still needs practice in order to create great original designs. Something different that I would do is ask for specific critique not the marshmallow fluff that seemed to be going on which is not a bad thing but in order to become better students should be able to say the hard things to each other. And I would allow more time for the creative part of making the infographic rather than rushing. I would continue to do the critique in anything that I do. Get feedback for my t-shirt designs because no one is meant to design alone.

In explaining my design 
I chose blue and yellow for somewhat complementary colors and Good Year (tire company) has their colors as blue and yellow and it is an infographic about TIRE swings. Here was the original sketch idea.

VML Visit

On October 10th my graphic design class and I visited VML. We had a Q & A question with Aaron Evanson the executive creative director. Here are some of the things I took away from the session

-Being good at one thing is beneficial

-It is important to maintain mind, body, and soul in a healthy state

-Portfolio work is more important than the education

-Do something unexpected in your designs

-When working in a group 1 person in charge

-When in charge be as clear as possible in your directions and expectations

-Keep track of what you are doing 

-Get inspired 

-Be able to defend your design clients

Most of the questions I asked were about leadership and being able to maintain a healthy team to work with. VML has many big clients and are very inspirational. One day a year all of the branches close down and they go out and serve the community. That is what the picture below is showing. Using the hashtag WeAreVML members uploaded pictures of their serving experience.

Field Trip 10-27-2014

On Monday my graphic design class went to West Bottoms in DownTown Kansas City, MO. We toured a blank exhibit called the Plug Project and the Bill Brady building with an exhibit. Even though there was no art being shown in the Plug Project I learned so much from talking to the curators. And then looking at the art in the Bill Brady building.

Above is the whole piece. Below are pieces of the piece hehe.

Plug Project-
The two curators had many jobs including the shows being put on in the Plug Project. One of the lessons the curators kept reiterating was that being a graphic designer you don't have one job. Another thing that inspired me was taking international problems an starting a small movement to solve them. In Newspapers the talk about art has diminished. The column about art and artists and reviews of shows has disappeared that means the traffic, talk, and movement of art has become very little. Artists need that talk and movement of art in order to survive and thrive. One of the solutions the Plug Project had was a newspaper called 8 1/2 X 11. A piece of paper which isn't ideal with a newspaper or magazine but the thought was "How can the plug project make this affordable and available but not make it look like a sheet of paper?". And branding the newspaper as 8 1/2 X 11 already upscales the idea of a regular sheet of paper turning into so much more.
Bill Brady-
Describe:
The name of the artist is Michael Manning
The artwork is digital media and print media
Major events going on with the exhibit is the release of the iPhone or the rise of technology. Technology then separates us into our own worlds. Presented by his friend Jeff B.
Literal Objects
-Movie Players
-Televisions
-Wires
-Fishing Wires
-Globes
-Fan
-Rocks
-Twigs
I first noticed the fan that had a wind chime in the middle of it. I noticed it because I found it interesting that with a constant stream of air the sounds the chime made were always different.
The elements of art texture and shape were used a lot in this piece. Banners and streams and televisions used different textures. There were no two colors the same except in the giant art board of print.
The visual effect or mood of the work is challenging. I think Manning is challenging the viewers of his art with an abstract and tying them together. Challenging the rules of nice and neat art with differences in his.
Analyze:
The separate elements are organized by distance or what is projected on the screen. All movie and all separate there was never another art piece touching another. He is using the illusion of texture to make the viewer think and understand that maybe the illusion of art is not the same as the actual art.
Manning used a constant stream of light to light his piece. But there is light in the screen. But they are all at a constant level of light.
Interpretation:
I believe Manning is trying to state how we all live in our own different worlds. And you don't know what someone else is going through until you gain a new perspective. Like you can't see a television screen unless you are in a prime position.
I had value to this piece because it relates to my life. In high school it is so easy to get lost in your own life and not think of others.
I have feelings of blunt truth. I wish live were different and we didn't live in other worlds.
The other symbols would be the different banners hanging down and the texture Manning is using and the different colors. There was none two the same.
I think he made these artistic decisions to make a statement and to make us think about our own life.
Judgement:
I think this work has an intrinsic value because it conveys an important social message and once you get thinking as to why he did or that you never stop thinking about what it means. And I think it challenges us to think about our own lives.

Painting On A Computer

Painting on a computer. This has been my dream since I realized I was lacking talent in the hand talent of painting. Making realistic looking painting with a click of the mouse. There are a few terms that make this dream a reality. Customizing mixer brush settings, cleaning the brush, mixing the colors, creating a custom brush preset, and using wet and dry brushes to blend color.
First this painting is going to occur in Photoshop (which I need to get more familiar with and this tutorial has succeeded in doing).
Customizing mixer brush settings-
First, within the paintbrush tool there is a mixer brush setting. Click on the mixer brush in order to use these new settings. In order to do that the artist must turn on the brushes window. In window> brush. This allows you to pick from different brushes and edit the brush's settings. Such as how to tip will wear away, thickness etc.
Cleaning the brush-
In the mixer brush there is such a choice as clean brush in the option panel above the artboard. Of course the mixing brush mixes the dry, wet, and background colors and so if the artist does not want those  colors used anymore the artist can clean the brush so that it is not tinted with any other colors. With the new Photoshop like I have on my MacBook (if using Photoshop through the Adobe Cloud) there is a symbol of a paintbrush with a line through it and if the artist holds the cursor over the symbol it says "Clean brush after each stroke" and the artist depending on the effect of the painting may not want that on.
Creating A Custom Brush Preset-
Within the brush window the artist has turned on brushes can be edit and created as a new brush. Edit the settings of a preset brush to customize and make it your own then in the corner there is a post-it note with a corner folded up-that is the create new brush button. And I would suggest giving the brush a new name.
Using Wet and Dry Brushes to Blend Color-
A dry brush would be a normal paint stroke used in real life or in illustrator. This dry brush does not mix colors but simply sits on top of a background or another color. The wet brush takes the color assigned to them through the foreground and background colors in Photoshop and blends them with the background or another color. That is how the artist would get a gradient looking color, or the blending of light and dark colors. Such as the first painting there was trees and using a light and dark green painted through the dry brush and blended them using a wet paint brush. Also I used it to blend completing different colors to create new ones such as blue and red to create purple.
Here are the paintings created in Photoshop. For my first painting I did not realize how important it was to pay attention to the strokes made by the brush. The strokes made during your painting is important for making your painting look realistic.

I then painted a landscape of my own. And I used my strokes a little better this time and wanted to create the illusion of wind blowing through the field. 

For my own art I chose flowers. With many different shades of pink it was a little difficult but I will get better at it with more practice. 

This was the first assignment in the Photoshop painting before I started on the landscape. Understanding the different brushes (examples above the paint tubes) and learning to mix the colors (the painting palette). 

q1 Final

I am interested in graphic design because I want to pursue a career in this field.

I started the Watermelon Bust t-shirt before the summer of last year. During all this time I have been tweaking it and manipulating it in order to please my client. The communication between my client (t-shirt chair at a fraternity at K-State) and I  was probably the most challenging. I wanted to stick to my original idea of the negative space for the watermelons however, the other members of the fraternity wanted the veins to be filled and it was a tradition to have blue highlighted in the design. Outcome is you need to make the client happy even if you don't agree with it. Client relations is super important for a job in the graphic design field. 

Again the client at K-State was wanting me to design 3 t-shirt designs. One about football, another based off the boulevard logo, and a free design. One of the take aways would be I need to be original in my designs. That is one of the things I continue to work on. 

My client was Senior Committee or the Senior Girls for powder puff. One of the big takeaways would be DON'T LOWER THE OPACITY FOR A T-SHIRT DESIGN. I lowered the opacity on the front pocket design and boy no one told me what that would do. It was printed with little checked spots of white. Just chose a lighter shade of the color. 

CONCLUSION:

1) Improving as a student: I sharpened my vector skills and deepened my knowledge of illustrator. And better understanding of what to do when designing t-shirts.

2) Future/ Long Term Learning: I was recently accepted into K-State so I am going to enroll in their graphic design program and start there.

3) Questions: COMMENT BELOW :)

4) Thank you for reading!

Handglovery

Type has personality too. I took a test online that said "What Type Are You?" Of course it's not your dating type but actual typography hehe. The mysterious online gentleman asked a series of questions and based on your answers you would be assigned a font. My answers were emotional, assertive, progressive, and disciplined. I was then assigned this font.

This matches my personality because I enjoy minimalistic things. And this font is very minimal and straightforward (assertive). It is very interesting and pleasing to look at (emotional). And the font has straight lines throughout (progressive). And the font does not have any unbalanced aspect to it (disciplined). I also learned the anatomy of fonts. Knowing the anatomy is important for better understanding a font. Such as my font that I was assigned. The eyes and bowls are square and there are very few ascenders and descenders. I chose to do my name in Times New Roman because I could not find my font for free online and TNR demonstrates the anatomy of type better.

Gradient Mesh

Gradient mesh creates more realistic colors and 3D. Three things I took away from this is

1) Create Outlines- Making a font an object to edit and credit new lines or letters

2) The cmd+eye dropper tool- While using the eye-dropper tool I pressed cmd button and temporarily switched to the direct select tool.

3) Custom Graphics- Using gradient mesh you can create custom graphics.
Using the Create Outlines tool you can manipulate text. Three most important things while doing that process is
1) Us the direct select tool to manipulate one point
2) Hold down the shift key to move a point but still proportional to the letter/shape.
3) Toggling from the direct select key and the black arrow tool you can select the whole letter and move it up and down.
My own gradient mesh I used a coffee cup. I personally enjoy coffee and enjoy dunlin' donuts new dark roast coffee. I also enjoy coffee mugs. I also enjoy hot coffee in the fall/winter as it will fall upon us soon.

Cubes

Good afternoon my fellow bloggers and readers,
I have recently learned in my graphic design class how to create orthogonal cubes using the line tool. We had three assignments. 1) Follow the Deke's Techniques Tutorial on Lynda.com 2) Expand on the tutorial 3) Create a new design
Here the product of the first design.

One of the take aways here was that Cmd+Y keyboard shortcut. This allowed for me to see only the anchor points and paths of the cubes. I chose these 3 colors because I wanted the viewer to get a sense of a rubiks cube. Next image is from our own creation. Still using the techniques of the tutorial but making it our own. 

A big take away from this is the Cmd+D command. The duplicate command allows images and shapes to be duplicated exactly how it may be rotated. I wanted the viewer to get the sense of being in a beehive. The squares reminded me of a honeycomb. Next image is another tutorial. Here a big take away is the rotate tool. You can have the rotate tool and copy the shape you are rotating. Also you can duplicate the shape and have the same rotation and the same gradient throughout. 

This gradient tool created an optical illusion. With our squares we created guides to make the shapes. 

What Is Graphic Design (2014-2015)

As a senior in high school I have been involved with the e-Communication program for 4 years. I have held the focus of graphic design for 2 years, now I am trying to pursue a career in the field. Which of course I now have to know the answer to the question "What is graphic design?"
Graphic design is using shapes, images, and type to create an image which will portray a message. Right now I am employed as a t-shirt designer so I am using minimal shapes and type in order to display a message of an event or a cause. Being a t-shirt designer has allowed me to better answer the question and understanding of "what is graphic design?".  In order to create a message of an event I have to be wise in the amount and size of shapes and type. In t-shirt designs you can't make this extravagant image and then print it on a t-shirt, you have to constrain the design and get the message across in the simplest most understanding way. I hope throughout my senior year and my college career I will fully understand and impact the graphic design world. "In graphic design you have to do what is smart, right, and interesting."

e-Comm Brochure

Our e-Communication final was a brochure. The brochure was supposed to resemble a magazine and demonstrate and tell who e-Comm is and what we do. My original thought or idea was based on this brochure.  PLEASE CLICK ON PICTURES FOR BETTER VIEWING

I loved the idea that the NTU program made a mark on the school. I wanted to display that message. And that is what e-Communication is! e-Communication gives you the opportunity to leave your legacy at Olathe Northwest. But that is also if you put in the time and work to do it. That is where the YOUR is for. You can make your mark by all the videos, animations, designs, or websites you create and display but you can also make your mark by goofing off during class. e-Communcation is what YOU make it. So based on that idea I put this first design together. I did not want one student to be featured such as on a cover of a magazine because e-Comm is not one person. Also I used feathers because our mascot is the ravens. I chose that font because it some what resembles the idea in my inspiration. 

The e-Comm would be the front cover and the student would flip the page and on the other side of the front cover. I showed my graphic design teacher this idea however it did not meet the requirements of the magazine cover. So I decided to take this idea to another level. 

I changed the feathers to be black because our mascot is the raven that has BLACK feathers. And then I put the idea of making your mark into a display that a magazine cover would use. I put a white border around the cover so there would be no bleed for the print. I used the dark blue cover also for our school colors and to have a pop of color. I would like to continue working on it so it becomes even better. 

Personal Logo

{Please click pictures for better viewing}My graphic design teacher assign us to tell our story by design a personal logo. I created quite a few different logos. However, as I looked at them none of them told my personal story or what my goals were or where I could be going... I looked at others personal logos through the internet so I based my design on other logos. You could probably imagine the dilemma. So I continued to search and I found a design for a food company.

I saw this design and for some reason it appealed to me. The cursive and the swirls above the words seemed to work and balance the design. 

During my freshman year of high school. They also assigned this task of creating a personal business. I used my initials ED. And of course when you design projects you have to edit, edit, edit. So I used that idea of my two initials and came up with EDIT designs. The name of this website. Hehe. So I used the inspiration of the eat! logo and the EDIT designs name. And here is the finished project. 

And then to earn extra credit I created a business card. 

The outer circle of the logo contains my first place vector art. I thought it would be a good conversation to have with a client as to why that was the color/background of choice. 

Can You Kern?

My graphic design teacher had assigned us to do a kerning game. At first I had no idea what kerning was or what it meant besides providing space in between letters to make them more spread out... (mostly to fill up space). But through the game I realized that it is more than that. Kerning has to be balanced between all letters. And most of the time our brains can space things out pretty well but it seems that the computer can do it better. Kerning interested me so I, of course, decided to google it. The definition of kern in google is:
verb

1.

adjust the spacing between (letters or characters) in a piece of text to be printed.

Next was a wikipedia cite about kerning. They also informed me that in a well-kerned font, the two-dimensional blank spaces between each pair of characters all have a visually similar area. And that there are kerning values for every different letters. So after finishing this kerning game my score was an eighty-six. Of course needing to improve on my even spacing between letters.  

eMagine

On Saturday April 5th Olathe Northwest High School hosted the 10th annual eMagine.
eMagine is a media festival that high school students can enter their art for web, animation, video, and graphic design. The categories for graphic design are typography, manipulated photography, print media, and vector graphics. I entered in all of them but I reached the top five in the Vector Graphics. Vector graphics is tracing or drawing art, photographs, items, etc. on the computer. Vector graphics is necessary for many graphic design students. As I got the news of the top 5 vector graphics I started becoming nervous. They showed the top five art and I thought I was surely going to lose. They announced 3rd and 2nd place. And as the suspense grew and they announced first place and I won! I won a certificate and a pixel art piece. Here is a picture of me and my award. And also the piece that won first place.

Saul Bass Inspired Movie Posters

My class discussed this week Saul Bass and the elements of a great movie poster. We needed to create a movie poster inspired by Saul Bass. The creative boundaries were the movie before the 1970s, 3-5 colors (2 of which are black and white), and 2-3 "things" that tell the story of the movie and create a design. I chose the movie Mary Poppins. I was inspired to do this form the recent release of the "Saving Mr. Banks" movie. My design includes the pattern of Mrs. Poppins purse being the design of the umbrella, the oh-so famous umbrella, and the lesser known kite tail. The kite tail signifies the last song that Mr. Banks joined in with the children. In "Saving Mr. Banks" the song "Let's Go Fly a Kite" is when the writer of Mary Poppins leaped for joy!The writer did not want Mr. Banks coming off as a mean old man but she for Mary Poppins to save the father, not the children. That is why I decided to make the umbrella have the tail of a kite.
In Saul Bass's poster for "The Shining" he places the image of a face into the text. Just as I have placed the texture and pattern of Mrs. Poppins bag into my umbrella. I included the kite tail for the same purpose Saul Bass created a money sign in the "Bonnie and Clyde" poster, to tell the under lying story. Please click all for better viewing.

Google.com

The project was to google google. Here are some interesting facts I learned about Google. 

In 1995, the creators Larry Page and Sergey Bin met at Stanford. In 1996, BackRub was born. This search engine operates on Stanford's severs for more than a year. 1997, Google.com has begins it's journey to worldly association. Named after the mathematical term "googol" the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google reflects Larry and Sergey's mission to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web. 2000, They  announce the "Mental Plex": Google's ability to read your mind as you visualize the search results you want. Thus begins our annual foray in the Silicon Valley tradition of April 1 hoax. 2011, The "Google Art Project" lets you virtually tour some of of the world’s best museums and explore high resolution images of tens of thousands of works of art from 40 countries. The famous logo is made up of the colors, red, blue, yellow, and green come from the primary colors and primary numbers. 2,4 repeat colors. The logo is also created by the Cantull typeface designed by Ruth Kedar. 

Consumption

How do the things I consume reflect my personal story?

Well one of the things I consume on a daily basis is my family. I cherish my family and the laughter and joy they bring to my life. I cherish my family because I know that no matter how many friends or boyfriends I may lose my family will always be there. The most common and typical family life includes fighting, arguing, or annoyance but, my family is blessed to be founded on the grace of God. This grace allows my parents to have patience with my sisters and I. The love that my parents show teaches my sisters and I to love each other and others around us. That is why I cherish my family, because of the grace and God-filled relationships we possess. Those relationships can never be replaced.

Another thing on my poster is minimalism. In a world today that is full of multitasking and constant activities it is refreshing to look at a poster with minimal designs on it. I cherish minimalism because it reflects that you don't need to have a lot of "patterns", "type", or "shapes" to be beautiful or unique. Minimalism reflects the simplicity of what most of our society needs.

These things reflect my personal story. What I consume is what holds my heart. Most of what holds my heart will fade away like clothes, superheroes, nature, music, friends, or magazines; however, I have decided to enjoy them and the life that I have been blessed with.

PLEASE CLICK POSTER FOR BETTER VIEWING.

Field Trip 1-23-14

Last Thursday my graphic design class and I took a field trip to downtown Kansas City. There we visited the Kemper, Kansas City Art Institute, and City Ice Arts. At the Kemper we looked at their main exhibit of Dressed Up showing through April 27th 2014. In their Dressed Up exhibit many artists are featured. One of my favorite pieces from one of Neeta Madahar's collection is this photograph. Looking at the photograph in real life the trees almost seem detached from the piece. Please click on photographs for better viewing. 

Next we visited the Kansas City Art Institute.

The difference between the work and the determination of college students and high school students are magnificent. We took a tour of the freshman building, the animation studios, and the graphic design department. The atmosphere was one of learning and creativity. The talent and determination was so inspiring to me. The Institute teaches students the past techniques of their program before proceeding further. The last stop we had was the City Ice Arts. In the City Ice Arts Miles Neidinger was their exhibit. Miles Niedinger was inspired by the idea of consumption. His main structure as shown in the picture is made out of household objects such as straws or tin foil. 

These artists and exhibits inspired me to be creative. Of course that sounds cliché but I also came to the realization there is no wrong way to do "art". From structures of straws to photos of our friends, our creativity allows us to be the best person we can be.