#9

For senior production, our group is responsible for making diplomas, invites, and programs. We have finished all the designs including the stuff needed for graduation. 

These past few weeks, my roll on the team has changed from creating designs to finalizing\editing designs made by Ashley. There really was no challenge other than figuring out how to use size and line thickness to make text more interesting to read and playing with color to make text easier to read. My roll has also progressed in double checking spelling errors for names made on the diploma. While I may have not created the designs myself, I feel they look stronger with my editing. There was trouble, however, with adjusting the size of the text sop it doesn't look cramped; but we wouldn't minimize it too much or it will make the invite unreadable (it's already on small enough paper!!). Before this point, we did not have any invites or programs to work with. We weren't working as diligently because of AP exams and classwork outside of senior production. Working with the team has been rougher than most weeks; we've had teammates not pull their weight and waste time playing games rather than improving and creating better designs. Most of the critiques were given from Buhner since we had to go to him to get designs\information improved. We had issues with unnecessary information, spacing, and conflicting words such as "graduating" on he invite. Apparently, this conflicts with actual graduation and creates confusion with parents as to thinking that the academy graduation is the official graduation. Most of my alterations to the design, I ran by Ashley, Alisha, and Claire. I just needed some second eyes to make sure the invite is readable and not boring to read. Are the designs easy to read? Does the word "graduating" on an invitation bother you? Does it create confusion?

INSPIRATION:

69Pixelz is a digital pixel artist who uses bright colors and pixel media to convey the retro video game style seen in game companies such as Nintendo and Namco. They have a very technical style and create psychedelic illustrations. x

HelloMarine is a Brighton based illustrator and printmaker that uses designs appealing to adults and children.The work utilizes technical drawing whilst emphasizing elementary color to create a simplistic and modern look to her visuals. x

End of Senior Production #10

My roll on the graphics team is pretty significant as I have contributed in 4(5??) designs: Tickets, Lanyards, Invitations, and Programs (Academy and Senior Production). I have been pretty versatile about what I did in the graphics team, I took on a more creative roll in designing the tickets and lanyards. In designing these, I had to think about making the designs look cohesive yet original on its own.

 For example, I made the tickets look like remotes so the printed graphics don't look like the posters and t-shirt designs slapped on different sized papers. I am proud of it conceptually and of the design.  The lanyard design was just me opting out of taking the easy route and just slapping a TV on the lanyard. With the tickets, I struggled most with fitting the text onto the ticket because there was so much information. I also kept getting the size of the ticket wrong so I had to keep altering and redesigning areas of the ticket; which wasted a lot of my time. Typography problems also arised with the lanyard designs when the static in the bathroom made the text hard to read.  Throughout this era of the graphics team, I had to learn to let go of designs I liked in sacrifice of a better composition.

Program

Invite

 In the graduation designs, I took on a less creative roll and dealt mainly with the color schemes, formatting, and the typography of the back of the program and invites. This particular part was challenging as I am not at all familiar with text so I am very pleased with how dynamic the text ended up looking. I basically emphasized key words using different fonts, line thicknesses, and sizes so invite holders can recognize the purpose and important details of the Academy Graduation. The color scheme and formatting was what I dealt most with in the program. Pulling colors from the front of the program did not work well with the text so we had to tweak colors and gradients so the names could be readable. The program looks dark and elegant and I am very proud of the "VPAA" text at the top because I had to vectorize the letters and manipulate the lines to make the text more fluid as opposed to the stoic yet cursive preset font.

This semester, I feel that I have developed more as a designer. I have found myself designing around efficiency; I have pulled ideas from my old work, and used copy+paste more times than I have ever plagiarizing an essay (kidding). I also feel comfortable now working in groups for these types of projects; I have had to rely on my teammates to do things on illustrator that I had no idea how to do. In retrospect, I am proud of my designs; but do you think they could have been better? How could have these designs been improved? Also, what graphic designers should I check out? It's hard to find graphic designers that AREN'T illustrator based. 

On Wednesday, I went to the Dance Strand performance and I was pleased with what I saw. I loved their use of visuals and audio to make their conceptions clear to the audience. While some performances were underwhelming,  was amazed by the different themes the dancers have brought in to their performances. My favorite was the dance with "Desparado" as the song (simply because I love Rihanna).

INSPIRATION:

69Pixelz is a digital pixel artist who uses bright colors and pixel media to convey the retro video game style seen in game companies such as Nintendo and Namco. They have a very technical style and create psychedelic illustrations. x

HelloMarine is a Brighton based illustrator and printmaker that uses designs appealing to adults and children.The work utilizes technical drawing whilst emphasizing elementary color to create a simplistic and modern look to her visuals. x

Working on Graduation Designs

For senior production, our group is responsible for making diplomas, invites, and programs. We have moved on from Senior Production commissions and have started on the programs and invites. So far, I have reworked Ashley's design into a program and altered the typography in the invite to eliminate the block-y look the text had.

The size of this invite is 4x6 . I have given emphasis on the "2017" and "Visual Performing Arts" as I see those two words are the most notable phrases here. I've also rid of the original shape that "A reception will follow" was in as it looked cramped and added a ribbon instead. I've also continued the pomegranate line work more towards  the top to encompass the information. The changes here are very subtle but I believe they have made the invitation look overall, more successful.

With the program, I altered the color scheme and did the typography for the title, "VPAA". I had to experiment with different sizes of each individual letter and widths. The lettering looked more successful with lowercase letters for the "paa" part because they showed more swirl between the letters as opposed to the stoic, uppercase letters.I also continued the pomegranate flower outlines toward the center to make to guide the eye around the page so there is some sort of movement in reading the names. Overall, the most difficult part of playing with this design was making colors work and not draw attention away from the names.







Throughout the process, most of the feedback was given by Richburg and Buhner. For the invite, we had to make the words on the page read the way we want it to be spoken. We were also given corrections by Buhner to not refer to the class as "a Graduating Class" as it creates conflict between school graduations and academy graduations. He also warned us about the red-to-white gradient and how the names could vanish towards the bottom and make some parents upset.
As a group, we have been slacking because of AP exams and our core classes; also throwing in senioritis into the mix, it has been a struggle to keep up with deadlines. There's really no controlling procrastination, other than to push ourselves to finish our work.

How do the designs look?
Does the pomegranate flower line-work in the back resemble lightning strikes too much?
Will the design strike our guests as classy?

INSPIRATION:

69Pixelz is a digital pixel artist who uses bright colors and pixel media to convey the retro video game style seen in game companies such as Nintendo and Namco. They have a very technical style and create psychedelic illustrations. x

HelloMarine is a Brighton based illustrator and printmaker that uses designs appealing to adults and children.The work utilizes technical drawing whilst emphasizing elementary color to create a simplistic and modern look to her visuals. x

Long Story Short Production Designs

For senior production, I was put in the graphics team; they are in charge of making posters, t-shirts, and any other printed materials needed to supplement the overall performance of Senior Production. I have been tasked with designing the tickets and lanyards so far. After finishing the visuals for Long Story Short, I will tackle stuff needed for graduation.
Planning this project was not as complex as I thought it would be; or maybe I was not as immersed in the planning process as my team members... My contributions to the designs however were supplemental. The graphics team has moved forward with Claire's idea of using the retro TV as the logo for Senior Production. I though it would be smart to make the tickets look like remotes to keep all the visuals from looking the same whilst still being consistent with the theme.  Most of the challenges were embedded with the layout of the ticket and how to fit text in without compromising the legibility. It was also a challenge to communicate with my team members since we are working while a class is being taught in the computer lab; and I feel nobody wants to talk to each other. Although, we are a strong team since our designs are getting done quickly.
The tickets have just been completed and are ready to print as well as the lanyards

. The tickets are made to have an arcade look to them to fit our quirky, retro, technology look. They are 1/3 of a 8x11 in. sheet of paper. They are print ready and the design is final.

These are the lanyards; I could not decide on which design I liked best so I submitted both for Richburg to choose. The first lanyard is more cost efficient with the white background but the second lanyard makes more sense as a design than the first one. 

The transition from Senior Seminar to Senior Production was quite smooth in my experience. In our teams, it still feels as if I am working by myself but with the direction of Richburg and with more guidance from my team mates since this is OUR project. It was easier making designs with it being from the directions of other so I do not have to rely on concept.

CRITIQUES:

-The text was hard to read with the static in the background. To fix this problem, I added a blue layer on top of the static and dropped the opacity. I also dropped the opacity of the static to bring it back a little since it took too much focus on the piece (this also alleviates the ink shortage were having).

-Originally, there were more colors in the remote as I was hoping to push the 1990s-2000s arcade vibe but my groupmates pointed out that the color scheme was not consistent with the TV so I ended up limiting it so the visuals are better tied together.

Which lanyard design is best?

Should I get rid of the static or does it not attract to much attention?

INSPIRATION:

69Pixelz is a digital pixel artist who uses bright colors and pixel media to convey the retro video game style seen in game companies such as Nintendo and Namco. They have a very technical style and create psychedelic illustrations. x

HelloMarine is a Brighton based illustrator and printmaker that uses designs appealing to adults and children.The work utilizes technical drawing whilst emphasizing elementary color to create a simplistic and modern look to her visuals. x

Senior Thesis Complete....Not Really

January 11th was the time my thesis project was SUPPOSED to be complete; however, I have fallen behind tremendously. Most of the hand-drawn elements (the portraits) are complete but were the most time consuming part of my project because they were so large (14-15 in. length). While I did get a lot done, I still have to figure out what I am going to do with the background because with the recent critique, I was told the "static" in the background was too distracting: and I agree. I decided to replace the background with white foam board. I also have to finish coloring in the objects with the figures. 

Display

• The two end panels are 18x24 in. and the middle is 9x24 in. 
•  The piece will be on a wall in a stacked fashion 
• No mat needed because white foam board is sturdy. 

I am most proud of the technical skill I was able to showcase on this piece, especially with it being on a large scale. I did not expect the drawings to turn out so well but I also expected there to be more drawn elements on the portraits since I painted over sections of the figures. This work showcases my drawing skills at best.

Group's Critiques :

•  the first panel with David lacked some principals of design. There was no showcase of depth or things running off the page. 
• the background was too distracting because of the stark contrast between the drawings and the black. Their suggestions were to lighten the colors and even start out new with the background.

90% of the problems I have encountered had to do with the portraits. They were very time consuming and I had to compromise some areas I wanted to draw in order to get this project done. I originally was not going to add any paint on David but his physique was too intricate to draw in such a short amount of time.

• To create my original static background, I originally sprayed a cylinder with a sand texture and used that as a stamp as an attempt to recreate the gritty texture of static. Is there another method I can use that could recreate with texture better?
• Should the background be colored or should I stick to the black and white scheme?

Artistic References and Research

John Baldessari: My favorite conceptual artist. He uses art as a vehicle to push ideas. His work is more concept based than technical based but he has inspired me to make my art look a certain way.

Caleb Hahne: Colorado based artist, style very much embodies John Baldessari but is more technical and design based. His works reveal human perceptions throughout society and tackles a minimalist/contemporary feat.

Technology Enhanced Formative Assessment. (x)

The Role Of Communication Technology in Adolescent Relationships And Identity Development. (x)