Who Am I As A Graphic Designer

I started with the illustrative style website which I really, really struggled because I did not know how or where or how much I should put the patterns on. Also I did not understand how code worked.

But once I’ve completed the set of the same style poster, catalogue, tote bag. I had more of a structure what needs to be on my website. I used the template from one of our coding lessons, I started with just editing it the way it would suit my style. Adding all my own information, colours, font, images and gifs. Once I did that, I started to add more of what was needed, like the three columns, date, buttons etc. For the website, I kept changing the colours and adding more gifs, css effects on buttons as I went along. From my visit to Iceland on the information board there was a small box of “fun facts” kinda style information. There they told the story of the trolls. Which inspired me to have few side columns with fun facts about the place. To my website peers reactions were- the gif and the noise of waves sets a nice tone of voice from the very beginning. As scroll down they noticed the “fun fact” columns which they thought was a nice touch to involve the audience in and make it more personal to the actual home place of the folk tale. The gifs that have extra colours in their view complimented the page and gave more of a playful touch. When it came to the location they said how they liked that it was clean and the right use of image made a strong tone of voice for the website. The button that links to a video of the actual black sand beach, made it again really personal and made the audience see the place in actual movement. The borders around the boxes really relate to the rest of the body of work, it gives the “ripped paper” effect. However, the overall layout could be more evened out, instead of having all the heavy information on top and the clean “fun” part at the bottom it could be more mixed with each other.

I approached learning a little from the coding sessions, however in those I only learned how to edit code through CSS once it is given.

I did try and make an website from scratch, but I could not do it and got really frustrated.

So I used one of the templates from the sessions and slowly and carefully went through it and changed it to my needs. My colour scheme, my information, my images and gifs. Once that was done, I did start to understand how it works and the everything is connected, if you followed your code and kept it clean it became easier to work with. But when it came to making it all responsive, adding the brief requirements such as columns and buttons, I learned that from websites “w3schools” and “codepen”. Also when it came to having problems that I just did not understand, Patrick saved the day by helping me with code.I copied the code from these websites, piece at a time into a separate html file, where I edited for my needs and only then I put it into my actual code. Now if I had more time, I’m positive I could develop these skills even more and create an even better website.

But this was definitely a challenge and the only way I could learn it is by actually doing it and keep going back and forwards to fix all the little details.

In the last post I mentioned that I had a picture created/taken of what my exhibition would look like, so I’m just post here with the concept behind so that when looking at the work I’ve produced you can see the connections.

scanned more ripped images to use for the catalogue design. I had also created an actual visual image of what the exhibition would look like. That I also have hidden inside the catalogue along side the other images of the stories location. I used the same colour tones, the same font as the poster to keep the style and the tone of voice consistent through out. For my text layout instead of using the same style as the poster of making the font different sizes, I changed different shades/colours on the text to create the “louder vs quieter” effect. Originally I only had two folds, but I added a cut into my design to create the third fold. The paper I have used is hard enough to be stable enough as well as comfortable enough for it to be easily turn the pages with. The catalogue originally had two folds, but I made cute that creates.

My peers thoughts on the catalogue- It definitely connects with the poster design, it has the same style but at the same time it brings something new. They liked how the background ripped paper images are overlapping with the folds. And when you open the catalogue page by page and end up to the landscape collage, it kinda gave them an idea of what the place would look like but at the same time it left some room for imagination. The typography is evenly scaled, its not too big or small it flows really nice.

From the start when I still had my old design idea, I really struggled with the catalogue, the layout, typography folds, everything. I was really worried about it. However once I came up with my final idea, all that came naturally. And I actually really enjoyed doing it. I fell like it could be definitely something I could do in future. The skills I’ve learned on adobe programs from first semester helped me a lot, and I wish to develop those even more for further successful work.

For the past few weeks, when I’ve been in the library or the uni over the break, I noticed how when any course mate comes in, we can just talk about anything. It’s like no awkward small talk, but actually talking about uni work, real questions, struggles and critique on each other’s work if needed. That made me really happy. To think about from the start of the year and now, how we all have learned to talk to each other and help out. I do think big part of this was the trip to Berlin, after that there was no awkward small talk or just a fake smile and a ‘hi’. We doing it together!

I hope this continues to next year, because it would be so much easier to do work alongside people you know are going to be honest and will help you if needed.

Tuesday

I did come up with the poster idea and created it. I researched and made links to my exhibitions concept and what my target audience would say and react to my poster.

Wednesday / Thursday

Wed- I created the colour scheme for the catalogue but I really could not come up with creative folds. So I created a simple layout of the catalogue with only two folds (even though the brief required three folds) printed to see what could be changed and how I would interact with it.

Thu- I picked up where I left off, I was playing around with the folds and how information looked on it. Then I decided to make a cute which then created at the third fold and created a nice flow through the catalogue. Then I edited the information to fit evenly, and have the colour scheme and typeface that suited my exhibition style.

Friday - did not follow the plan I made

Saturday / Sunday

Sat- Made up for the lost Friday and created the front and back tote bag design.

Sun- I researched websites I liked and also inspected them on google chrome to start understanding how code works and what was the code used for the certain things that I would consider using in my own website.

CONCEPT OF THE EXHIBITION -In the story is says that the rocks are actually trolls, so when you stand by the beach and hear the waves and wind combined you should be able to hear the trolls longing for their homes.

The exhibition is going to be a room with projected wave videos, with loud sounds of wind and waves, with every person having read the story and listening o t waves to hear with they can hear them.

This poster is with the two posters I did before combined and refined. I printed off the images I wanter to use on my poster. Collaged them together to give a more playful and confusing look, but still recognisable. This fit really well with my concept of playing with peoples minds. Scanned the collage in, added an illustrative effect on it, and then layered it with text, creating the main characters of the stories out of different sized words “listen”. The words were different size to create the wave effect of being louder and quieter. The colour scheme I used was inspired by visit in Iceland and the photos I took.

I like this poster a lot more than the other two I created because as soon as I see it it reminds me of the actual place and I can hear the wave sounds over and over again in my head. Is it perfect. No, because I feel like you can always find things to change in your work and always improve it. If o would improve it I think I would play around with type more, maybe create the word “listen” as the actual ripped paper. But when I look back to when I started uni, I have definitely learned a new way to think when it comes to design and the programmes I used to create them. And just to think how my skills and way of thinking will be by the end of the university.

So what have I learned this year. A lot, a lot, a lot. To start, I now look at everything in a different view. I look at the colour choice, the font choice, the layout and only then I read the information provided. And I say everything because Graphic Design is everything. I knew when I started this course that this line of work is huge, the industry and the choices of what you want to do is massive. But still, knowing that we are basically done with our lectures for this year and that we have covered so much and there are still two years ahead is mad. How will I ever choose the one thing i want to focus on as a graphic designer.

I’ll start with something I will definitely not do. Coding and websites. That’s a no from me. I like certain rules when it comes to creating things, those are briefs, but with briefs there are ways to think outside the box and go further with your projects. Code, is a structure that you need to follow to create things, there are ways to create interesting stuff and design it, but you need to know the structure inside out. I personally like to work in a more free environment, where I can create things differently every time. I did enjoy the branding, posters, book design and typography. Now again, same dilemma as choosing what to study further a year ago. I like too many things. But I did have a small side project where I kinda got to do some branding for my friends new business and I enjoyed it a lot. I think I’m not enjoying the uni branding project because it’s in a group and people are just not as excited or showing interest in it and it’s making the whole project more of a I have to create it/do it instead of I get to do it and it’s so fun.

So when it comes to next year. I still don’t know what it is exactly I want to do. However I am really excited for the opportunity to do a placement. Today we had a lecture where we were told about a student who did not know what he wanted do so he did 2 different placements. That really inspired me. I want to experience more stuff, do a lot different things. I think it’s more to find out what I don’t like to do instead of what I like.

The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.

When I think of time, I automatically think deadlines. How was the first year of uni is going to be over. And how I did not manage my time well through bother the semesters. However I do think I did better the second semester, I started my projects straight away, but I did kinda lose all that energy and focus half way through.

So what did I worn in the last when it comes to time management? Well, I create a list of things I need to do through out the week and instead of following it I do everything at the end of the week and leave stuff for next week. At least I make a list...

What can I do to improve? Make a list but start with things I would actually enjoy doing and making the tasks from smaller to bigger. So I get use to sitting down and getting stuff done gradually.

This semester I was doing my Aad+vantage course, which if you didn’t gather from the title is photoshop. Photoshop is a massive program that I feel you can keep learned new tricks every time you explore it. I particularly like this program when I get to create posters or other graphic elements with my own photography. One of the reasons why I chose this as my advantage is because I enjoy photography and really wanted to learn more about how much further I can take my skill. The course lasted 6 weeks with a 2 hour session every week. To be 100% honest I only remember like 40% of what she thought us. Not because she was a bad teacher, I just remembered what I found really useful or interesting.

I was really intrigued by vector masks and how many different, even futuristic poster I could create with this. So of course I used it in my final poster.

Final poster. I wanted use my own photography in my design. I do these interesting shoots for a friends Instagram.The o my thing is they don’t have a brand or anything. It’s just for fun now. However they do have a cool name “Fallbackz0ne”. Me and the tutor discussed it and decided to use the name and the photography and create like a band. So I made a music poster!

I chose the image carefully, and the shapes in the middle to replace a play button. Then with the layers and different effects I created the main bodies in the image multiply. As the image already has smoke effect it set a mysterious tone of voice, by adding a black and white outside image, and the coloured layers inside creates an illusion of the bodies disappearing in the smoke. The geometric triangle shapes dominate the image. They symbolise a play bottom. Another cool thing about the background image is that one of the characters is pointing at the play bottom, as if he is inviting the audience to listen to them.

Next years Add+Vantage.

I think I’m gonna definitely stick with the adobe programs, because they are my biggest set backs when it comes to produce my work. I would like to actually continue with photoshop, but I don’t want to redo the same things all over again. But I know for sure I am going to stick with the programs, because they benefit me more than the other choices.

This was a struggle. This was another group project. So through all the lecture he had decided on our branding colours, typography, layout and basically it should of been playing around with all that to create fun yet still professional looking guidelines. So we each had our part to do. Few pages each, for more productive and equal efforts put into this piece of work. So when the time came, I was away for my birthday, but I still did my part. However others weren’t so committed to the project at that point. So we did not present and we did not have guidelines to present or to be inspired from for the projects to come.

After a while I decided that we need to have a group meeting and finished our group guidelines. From that point we started really working like a team. We finished our guidelines which now helped us to come up with our theme colours for our app design which was the next group project. So what I learned that we need to have a one and one meeting when it comes to group work in a less busy class room so we all can pay full attention to our work.

This is a group effort. So we started off by individually sketching out our ideas and then together choosing a design we liked the most. We combined multiple ideas together. And the next step was to create a digital logo from our sketches. Which i found a little challenging because I still haven’t mastered the programs, but I have my best shot. And we came up with this ugly looking logo, well at the time we liked it but we have improved it and compared to the first logo it is a big improvement. Our tag line is “Back to its roots”. So we felt like we needed the logo to make that connection. It is visible in our final design that there are roots coming out. I still feel like there is room to improve the logo. It could be more modern have a more natural feel to it. So I’ll see how I manage my time in the next few weeks and talk to my team about it.

So my friend has always been fascinated by art and when it comes to tattoos, I can say that she truly loves and appreciates that art form. She always wanted to become an tattoo artist, but she never truly perused her dream because there were other people pushing her to get an “actual” education and saying that a tattoo artist is not an career. For many years she believed them. Went to uni, tried to get an education that she never wanted or was interested in. But last year she quit all that and decided to go against everything others were telling her and believed in herself and that she can become the artist she always wanted to be. After many tattoo courses, she moved back to Latvia and now is opening her own business and studio where she is doing what she loves. It’s great seeing people close to you doing what they love and going after their dreams. So, so proud of her.

When it comes to opening her business I helped her with her logo and name. She started of with a very usual name “ LL Tattoo and Beauty” but soon I suggested to change that. She is really passionate about what she does, she also is a vegan and an activist. All her products that she uses are animal cruelty free and that is a big part of what she believes in. So I suggested to call her business something more her and original. So we came up with the name “Natural INK” now came the logo. Which also needed to be original and for her to actually like it it needed to be her. Years ago when she was doing stuff for school she asked me what sort of icon she was, for a project. I told her that she is this beautiful person that is really hard to get to know because she does not let her walls down easily, but once she does and you are friends she will the most loyal friend. So we came up with her icon to be a cactus with a crown. When it came to create her logo, this seemed to be perfect. So I created a logo and a side icon where she can use it for Instagram posts and sharing her information sharing, to keep the same professional theme. This was a small project, but it definitely was a great one. I was afraid from the start, because we have always been honest with each other and I was afraid that our style of creating a logo would not match. But actually because i knew her that well I was able to produce work no other person could. This was a great experience when it comes to having your friends as clients.

This is a slide form Malcolm Garrett’s presentation. I really liked how honest it is. It’s basically saying to get over yourself and get shit done. Which I will definitely print out and put on my inspiration wall. This text will help me when it comes to doing my uni work and thinking that I can’t get stuff done because I don’t have the skills. I will fucking learn them and move on.

This was a long, long lecture but definitely inspiring. Garrett is really passionate about his work and people, it’s shown when he talks about his projects and how excited he gets and how important it is for him. This is something I want to find in my career, to be passionate about what I get to do. There a lot of things I learned and will take a “mental note” of. Such as LEARN BY DOING. He talked about how when you produce a piece of work without any challenges you will never develop and just be stuck in the same workspace. But by going out there and doing stuff you develop your skills, your thinking and most importantly you develop yourself as a designer and a person. He talked about music industry. Specifically about when creating their branding. The design has to be simple and smart. To keep a theme of now and what is to come. Because when it comes to music you cannot predict what album they are gonna come up with in the future. This definitely made think about design in a completely different way, it made think a lot further and how one design can bring so much different elements. This is something I will take with me as I design in my future and wish I knew a long time ago.

I really liked how low key and honest he was, he was talking about how when he started to design editorial magazines he wanted each page have a different design and he told us not to do it. Because it is “fucking hard work”, not worth it.

Something that really made a mark is when he said that computers don’t kill paper it develops it. How now, yes we do our designs on computer but we still thing about how we gonna print it, we still design book covers, posters, magazines you name it. This is something that I still keep thinking about two weeks later how true it is.

He gave really good design advice. Such as when it comes to creating different things like city maps for daily use, before finishing the work make sure that the size and the actual sizing fits in its location. Always check everything. Overall I was really inspired from the work and the passion he had for it. I really wish, actually I will be as proud and passionate about my work.