#arts102

Arts 102 blog post 6

Chapters 16 E-commerce

Discussion of the e-commerce marketplace, Etsy, Middle Blue, Mouth, and others.  They talk about their jobs and how they have found their way in the design world around internet commerce and marketing, more about platforms, typography, and interfaces. Some about branding and how to get hired, to be a part of the design world.

Etsy is well-known, Middle Blue is sort of familiar from somewhere, I know Mouth from a family member who sent us gift certificates from them, had a wonderful time shopping and enjoying the variety and names and labels.  We have since used them as gifts for others.

Ends on-site navigation and interworking with specialist leads into the next chapter.

Chapter 17 User Experience Specialists

Human-computer interaction.  Macworld 1983, desktop publishing.  Things that have changed: user interaction and delivery of messages or content, interactive interface, periodical view to multidimensional menu interaction, layers, and levels.  

Danone, labels, and branding, adapting to new and youthful audiences, maintaining a traditional audience, humor, and mobile apps. Evolution of material from hardcopy to digital, will things only be digital? I think not, but some companies seem to prefer only digital.  In line with user interfaces mostly digital reports for companies and materials for consumers.  Available in hardcopy also. Lots of mobility and the use of intuitive interfaces, marketing, and prompts. Another says they aimed to bring user interaction and interface to a hardcopy printing “on demand” high-quality, low-tech books as the consumers desired.  This method of printing as needed, I like and it keeps the print world alive, I love the feel of a paperback novel over a hardback one and digital is in between its own thing, with the ability to have any book at our fingertips anywhere we have our tablet or phone is sort of fun, and safe feeling, though I have a habit of saving digital things that I don’t need in digital space.

Chapter 18 Geeks, Programmers, Developers, Thinkers

The various parts that make the digital design world. being able to see the bigger picture, and not getting lost in the details and programming language.  Zooming out.  How programming is a part of the bigger picture, jobs that are more programming-oriented, and their importance. Applying “algorithmic thinking to solve design problems rather than analog”.  The importance of programming and being able to adjust designs as needed for new breakout ideas.  

Chapter 19 Making Choices

Basel.  The introduction of this chapter covered a lot of things that I have been thinking of lately.  I am currently in a BFA program for 3-dimensional art, but I have been a professional artist for about 17 years. And while attending I found this design class to be really fun and a good choice for a career.  Tempting to switch and apply to the BFA program in graphic design and illustration.  However, I also really enjoy all the traditional mediums and studio experiences out there.  Putting ideas that I have painted, tattooed or illustrated into a 3-dimensional representation is really appealing.  But so is the playfulness of the design suites and problems tackled in computer-based graphic design.  I hope to continue to apply my analog methods and new Adobe suite tools and knowledge to use in a job, while I continue to trudge along to graduate school and MFA following.  Perhaps some travel and tattooing maybe this residency I have applied for will work out.

I know this, this chapter after all the others is a really good one for anyone thinking of getting a degree in the arts, or graphic design.  

The Final Project in the class is a book of all the projects and blog so far, we are to use any or all the tools a design a complete book with cover chapters and colophon.  No limits but there are rules about subject and page bleed, neutral space, and some others.  Writing is involved in the discussion of the visual content. I have yet to put the colophon together and add details to the rest of the book, I have been busy with my kid and work and school balance, no excuses I know but that is life.  

I have some screenshots of the project which is the final in this class.  Sort of a portfolio.  Thanks again for reading and I hope you look me up sometime at www.joshjakubs.com or Google The Three Roses Tattoo SC.  

This week we submitted project 3 GoTv poster, as well as started project 4 Logo marks. I believe my presentation went well for the poster project. I created it using adobe illustrator. I chose a quote by Martin Luther King, and representantes the quote using another common quote, “hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil,” because of being ‘silent about things that matter”, I also chose to use skeletons because that what are bodies become when ‘our lives end.’ I drew out the skulls and hands while adding colors using organic shapes. I chose a bold text type and the background a gradient blue. The women’s nails are red and the skulls are a prominent white; to represent the colors of the flag. I had a hard time choosing the background because I didn’t want to take away from the text and illustration of the poster, so I went simple. I quote I found from the reading by Richard Wurman that ties into this project, “You should use words when words are better; you should use pictures when pictures are better. And you should marry them both when thats better.”

I’m excited about starting Project 4, Creating a logo seems fun especially choosing our own two characters as the theme. We started with a thumbnail sheet and a concept matrix which I’m not best at simple sketches. I chose Snoopy and Charlie Brown as my two concept characters. I started on the concept matrix; I found on google a website about the Peanut characters, this helped a lot which themes of my two characters. I didn’t draw much on my concept matrix or thumbnail sheet. Once I got my idea I like and knew I could create a fun logo using shapes with, I stop drawing.

This class, overall, was really enjoyable and I feel like I learned a lot. I think the biggest things I learned were adding new steps into the creative process and learning new Adobe Applications like InDesign.

The last project went by a lot quicker than I thought it would. I remember checking the schedule and thinking I could take it easy for the rest of the semester until finals week came along. The design process took up a LOT of time, and, if I'm being honest, I'm still not 100% satisfied with the end product. As all do, with hindsight, I would have done things differently down to the first project. I think my favorite thing about my classmates' projects was their cohesiveness and consistency between their projects. That, in turn, gave for a very consistent and well-flowing process book. I have always had an erratic and inconsistent style in my art, so I know it couldn't have been helped for me, but I do think I did the best with what I had. Although not 100% satisfied, I think I did well and I am not dissatisfied with what I ended up with.

Moving forward, I believe the skills I learned through these projects will be useful in my future.

As of now, I'm currently working on my final project for arts102, which is basically a portfolio/process book of all the projects we've done in class.

My process for the front and back covers of this book was to combine the shades of a monotone color with regular and irregular shapes. The monotone color is for the outside of the piece because I didn't want those pages to fight for attention with what's inside the booklet, which are my projects. A variety of shapes and shades create a simple yet unique cover for the booklet.