#tiary

first of all, i am studying and working an 8-5, as well as working as a dance instructor twice a week, so i've been strapped for time for a while now. lately A Lot Of Stuff has happened that is keeping me extra occupied, which ngl sucks. being creative is a much needed outlet for me, and i don't have the a) brain space and b) time for it anymore and honestly there's days where i feel i'm gonna burst outta my skin. (not to mention that some encounters really did take a spring out of my step when it comes to putting all my creative work out there at all and no matter what, i can't seem to get over it.)

so, i bought and fixed up a car (read tin can, but it's MINE) for myself after years of having gone without one. important, because i was commuting to work 4 hours each day and that's finally been shaved down to 2 hours.

my hope was that that'd leave me with some time to get some painting, writing or vp in every now and then, but the reality is that all that did is leave me with 2 extra hours for errands each day and there's no room for anything else left in between.

i'm the sole breadwinner for a three person household, two of which have gotten way too comfortable relying on me to do everything for them (they're also both 30+ years older than me. dw i am not ranting about partners or children. it's super complicated). that whole situation came to be because i've been sort of acting as their caretaker ever since i was a teen (sudden illness struck one of them 15 years ago and the other is too incompetent to care for them, so i'm making sure they both don't mess up their life entirely).

anyway even with all of that, they somehow DID manage to fuck up their life even more and the house we live in is currently being foreclosed on.

so. lol. at the moment i'm apartment hunting. not just for myself but for the both of them as well, because i know they won't look for one themselves, not even if homelessness is on the horizon. they're low income, 60+, unwilling to take care of their own affairs and also own a large dog (that i'm also taking care of but can't take with me unfortunately). it's difficult as all hell to find anything at all.

adding to that my mental health and health took a nose dive (i had emergency surgery for organ failure a couple years ago and in the aftermath we found leftover traces of a mystery infection that didn't give me trouble back then, but lately i'm worrying it's about to flare back up with a vengeance. we had to quadruple my regular dosage of my meds.), and i'm mostly just exhausted and brain fogged all day long. currently trying to get this bitch diagnosed.

the good news is, HRT is on the horizon and i have an appointment with a counselor regarding the depression/burnout/total creative block coming up, so things are hopefully on the rise.

tl;dr all of this is part of me taking huge steps towards disentanglement and getting them professional care instead, but it's taking a LOT out of me. i hardly have time to come on here anymore, and i hate that i'm missing out on all the stuff you guys have been putting on my dash.

so this is a lot of text just to say that i didn't evaporate on the spot or died or anything, i'm still here and i'm hoping to get involved with the fandom again in the near future.

I don’t know if you know this about me, my darlings, but…I’m picky. I know what I want and what I don’t want. When I shop for jewelry, I often find myself wishing a certain piece was half an inch longer or a quarter inch shorter or a slightly different color.

Tiaryis a dream for particular shoppers like me. Every single piece of jewelry they offer is handmade  and customizable: you can order it…

This summer, I had the opportunity of interning at an advertising agency known mostly for its impeccable SEO strategies. Although I had recently graduated from Full Sail with a Master's of Fine Arts in Media Design, the internship inspired me to re-enroll and increase my knowledge of Digital Marketing strategies. One of the things that I noticed immediately was how much the concepts, terminology, and assignments were not new to me. Because of the internship, I found that I comprehended the assignments on a much deeper level. At the same time, I realized that my love for and passion of the digital marketing industry was completely warranted.

Because of the internship and the Digital Marketing Fundamentals course, I truly believe that I am instilled with a strong (and knowledgable) foundation in Digital Marketing. Throughout this course, I increased my knowledge of digital marketing strategies, digital marketing terminology, and metrics. One of the areas that I feel as if I have benefited from the most was the creation of a digital marketing strategy for a company that I selected. Through this course, I began laying down the foundation for enhancing the digital marketing strategy and overall brand for Trees Atlanta. In doing so, I also got the opportunity to analyze competitors, and get to know Trees Atlanta on a microscopic level.

The Digital Marketing Fundamentals course has been the perfect beginning to not only creating a powerful digital marketing strategy for Trees Atlanta but also allowing me to be a seasoned professional within the Digital Marketing industry. I benefited a lot from the Lynda tutorials and weekly reading assignments. As I progress throughout my career, I intend to always be able to revisit the resources and assignments that this course has provided me with. I plan to always be able to use the competitor analysis assignment in order to analyze the competitors of any brand that I am working on optimizing. Additionally, I will continue to benefit from reading and responding to the discussion posts of my peers. This has helped me internalize explanations other than my own. It has also given me the opportunity to explore additional options. In a digital industry that is constantly changing, this skill will forever be one that I should constantly utilize.

Although we’ve commeeeee to theeee endddd of theeee roadddd, still I can’tttt let you goooo *In Boys II Men voice*

Wow. I honestly can’t believe that this journey is finally coming to an end. It’s hard to believe that graduation is only 2 days away! As I look back on my creative journey and look forward to my professional career, there are many things that I’ve gained from being a part of the media design program. This post highlights how each course contributed to my personal and professional growth as a media designer. It will also expound upon how these courses aided in the construction of my thesis project.

Mastery: Personal Leadership and Development

This course was a true gem. I’ve always felt as if it was the perfect way to start off graduate school. Through the reading assignments, turning point video, and research done in this course, I learned a lot more about myself, my passion for designing, and what I’d like to do with my life following graduation. This course reiterated that I was exactly where I needed to be. I remember a particular assignment that required us to answer a lot of questions about our upbringing and journey prior to enrolling in this program. This assignment was an incredible eye-opener for me. My excitement for this program grew immensely while taking the Mastery course. One of the biggest things that I both learned and grew increasingly excited about was the opportunity that I would not only be learning more about design, but I would also be learning much more about myself. Now that is a quality that is priceless.

Defining Client Needs:

Prior to this course, I knew that it was something that I desperately needed. I needed it back then, I needed it now, and I would need it forever. For this reason, this was one course that I really looked forward to. I enrolled in this program because I wanted to know much more than the things that I had taught myself. I wanted to know the professional side of designing. And this course was the perfect example of this. Although I had grown up doing web design and working within the media industry in one way or another, I had never learned what contributed to defining a client’s needs. Therefore, this course was (and is) essential to my journey as a media designer. It helped me set the foundation for all successful media design projects by instilling the ability to determine exactly what it is that clients desire when they come to me for a project. One of the ways that this course helped achieve this was by giving us the task to pick a city and map out every aspect and important characteristic of that city in order to create logos, toolboxes, and a well polished brand later in the program.

Design Research

This course expanded my knowledge of web design. I had entered this program with some coding experience under my belt, but this course proved that there was a ton of additional information that I still needed to know. For example, creating web comps was a great way to map out the elements that I wanted in my website. This course allowed me to exercise the importance of doing research and applying that research to make my design solutions fluid according to its brand. One particularly beneficial asset of this course was examining the resources. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is a resource that I will use throughout my career. This is because it provides the guidelines needed to make website functional, visually appealing, and effective.

Organizational Structures

This course was the most difficult for me. I often felt frustrated because I didn’t understand the software needed to create the motion graphic. I also expected my motion graphic to be as good as others (for example, Julia Royal), and I seemed to not be able to allot enough time to figuring out the software. I did, however, learn a lot about After Effects. It helped me grow as a professional because I know that anytime I am given a task, I can always go out there and watch tutorials and practice until I learn. I also know that I can get better with motion graphics the more I study and practice the software.

Design Strategies & Motivation

This course truly showed me the value of reiteration. Although I thought it was annoying at times, the reiteration process helped me grow as a designer and a professional. It gave me time to think about my design solutions, internalize feedback, and apply new revisions. As a result, I created design solutions that were stronger. As a professional media designer, I will plan to constantly reiterate.

Design Integration

In this course, I began to further explore the idea of inspiration to the media designer. It was the beginning of an important realization that a lot of designer’s work comes from reiterated or reinterpreted past projects rather than being newly introduced to the world. With this in mind, this course helped me to further explore the idea of innovation and test the boundaries of how I could innovate my own work. I also dissected how my innovations can influence the future of the design industry.

Multi-Platform Delivery

This course built on the understanding of inspiration. The Mastery Paper in this course was actually one of my favorites! I also worked on more reiterating. I ended up perfecting the promotional video for my charitable sea turtle event, and learned that I was pretty good at creating videos. This course allowed me to take the material that I had learned in previous courses and apply it to another format of visually telling a story. It will help in my professional career any time I may need to create visuals in the form of videos.

This course also helped me understand the importance of delivering solutions on multiple media platforms. As a media designer, I will be designing on multiple platforms. Therefore, understanding these platforms and how to best manipulate them will be pivotal to my success and ability to assist clients.

Measuring Design Effectiveness

This course was incredibly informational. In it, I learned a few methods in testing how effective my design solutions were. I created a survey in which I asked questions that would prompt the target audience to give their thoughts on the project. The responses both confirmed, and refuted some of my design choices. As a result, I was able to make relevant changes in order to make my design solutions more effective. In the professional field, I will also work to test the effectiveness of my design solutions by utilizing the material I’ve learned in this course.

Presentation of Design Solution

In this course, I was tasked with proving my claim to mastery in the four degree learning outcomes. In order to do so, I needed to revisit my work throughout this program and choose solutions that would convey a visual story that supported these claims. It was a fun and rewarding course because I got to make a website and revisit my past work. Revisiting my work helped me to see how far I had progressed in this program. This course also served as a means of highlighting exactly why each course and its relative projects were essential to this program. By using the projects to explain and support the degree learning outcomes, I also learned how to articulate and defend my design solutions.

Each course contributed to creating my thesis project because it provided the means for me to explain exactly how I mastered the four degree learning outcomes. For example, in the Brand Development course, I created toolkits that represented Kyoto as a brand. The design solutions in this course were utilized to support the argument that I had connected, synthesized, and transformed. Another example was the ability to solve problems. This came in a number of course through the requirement of me internalizing feedback and reiterating my work. Each course was essential to this program; it was the thesis that served as a representation of my ability to internalize and apply the assignments and resources given along the way. I was also able to use my ability to synthesize, research, and defend my arguments as a part of the thesis project. These are all skills that I learned throughout the courses as well.

In the final course, I’ve created an experience map which documented my journey throughout the program. As illustrated by the images below, I had high points and low points! Overall, the experience was a true blessing and I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity. I am proud to be a media designer and happy with my decision to attend Full Sail.

It’s seriously surreal to be nearing the completion of this program. The Presentation of Design Solution course proved to be one of the most crucial assets to the Media Design program. This was only partially due to the creation of the thesis project, however. Most of the importance of this course was behind the process of actually presenting design solutions. I mean, it sounds like a given because that’s what I’m here for, right? Isn’t the goal of a designer to present design solutions? It’s neither as simple as it sounds, nor as simple as I had initially thought that it would be. I honestly hadn't realized the complexity of the presentation until this course! 

The first key takeaway that I'm leaving this course with is the importance of telling a visual story. While this characteristic is a key asset towards creating design solutions that encourage audience participation, it hits home for me on a much deeper level. This is because aside from being a designer, at the root of my core, I am a writer. This concept, has allowed me to merge two of my passions into one, ultimately creating strong and effective design solutions. As this course and it’s resources have reiterated, the ability to visually tell a story is one tactic of being able to convince others. This is a skill that I plan to continuously work on throughout my career as a media designer. One of the best ways that this course has helped me strengthen my visual storytelling skills was through the creation of the thesis presentation. The following images represent the ability to utilize resources, and synthesize information to create a powerful visual story. These images depict the Connecting, Synthesizing, Transforming page of my thesis presentation. The page effectively combines relevant examples of being able to connect, synthesize, and transform design solutions. In doing so, it provides an example of the ability to tell a visual story that is convincing and a representation of my mastery of this degree learning outcome.

Another key takeaway during this course was the importance of displaying my “design thinking.” More specifically, accurately providing relevant captions and explanations for my design solutions. This is a concept that I slightly avoided in many courses because I felt as if it took away from the presentation of my designs (I honestly thought a lot of it looked really ugly, and/or that people didn’t want to read my thoughts). However, I’ve learned that the ability to walk someone through the process it took to reach my design solutions can be a strong representation of my ability to solve problems and consistently create effective design solutions. With that being said, I was slightly confused with the Behance and Mastery Journal expectations throughout this program. I thought the Behance was intended to be the portfolio and the mastery journal was intended to serve as the means of explaining the design process. It was difficult for me to explain the process on Behance because at times, I merely wanted to treat it like a portfolio. However, I’ve learned the importance of this and it contributes to the idea of being able to visually tell a story. Here, I combined the ability to tell a story with the visual display of my design solutions, learning that I can incorporate both without jeopardizing the quality of my design projects. The following images are pulled from my Behance and highlight a few examples of this concept.

The third and final takeaway that I will highlight is the ability to choose only design solutions that are the most effective. This is because I often struggle with narrowing things down. I’ve always been the type of person that wants to include everything. Throughout this program, I have struggled with the ability to be able to tell what solutions were most effective. A huge part of this problem has been my ability to differentiate between my own personal preferences and the preferences and requirements of the audience and/or client that I am designing for. Many times I believed that the solutions that I found more visually appealing (or those that I was personally proud of creating) were the solutions that were the most effective. However, this course has reiterated that I must go beyond my own thinking and preferences and always focus on the client and intended target audience. One such example of this was through identifying which projects represented my ability to solve problems. In my initial draft of this project, I chose a personal problem (which I honestly thought was a client problem). After instructor feedback, and a deeper look into this project, I was able to identify a problem that the client would present with my project. From there, I was then able to address and explain how I worked towards solving these problems. 

The Measuring Design Effectiveness course has proved the importance of testing the success of design solutions. Prior to this course, I had never realized the option nor importance of conducting questionnaires and surveys. 

This course provided the opportunity to receive insight in a way that was much different than the insight received in prior courses. In prior courses, the primary source of receiving insight for our design solutions consisted of a series of instructor and peer feedback and suggestions. This course, however, presented the opportunity for each media designer to actively create a means of testing design success in a fashion that might actually be utilized within the actual industry: through conducting a survey. 

The design solutions that I chose to move forth with for this course were the advertisements created for Loggerhead Cove. By conducting the survey, it was revealed that although the colors, fonts, and copywriting were appealing, the overall effectiveness of the advertisements could be stronger and more convincing. This was proved by the number of responses that were received in relation to the call to action and the eagerness to attend the event. 

The images above support the analysis results that suggest the call to action and overall effectiveness of the advertisements could be stronger and more convincing. 

Connecting, Synthesizing, and Transforming: 

This course relied on a number of resources that dissected various methods of testing design success. Utilizing these resources was a pivotal aspect of creating surveys that were not only user friendly, but also relevant when it came to extracting vital information about the effectiveness of the project. Both the creation of the questionnaire and the construction of the research paper presented a number of connections that were made in order to transform and elevate these advertisements to professional levels. During this course, I used a lot of research material from the resources that were used in prior courses. For example, a strong connection that aided in the synthesis and transformation of this project was last month’s research paper on inspiration and what it means to the designer. The idea of taking already created concepts and reinterpreting them or presenting them in new ways was the driving force behind creating the final design solutions for these advertisements. 

Problem Solving:

In this course, many of my problem solving solutions came through writing the research paper. Intended to evaluate the questionnaire process, the research paper provided a detailed analysis of the responses that were received. The research paper also required that I address the areas in which my design solutions were less effective. For example, after receiving results that suggested that the call to action could be stronger, I provided a revised solution that would encourage more of the audience to be eager to participate. As highlighted in my research paper, creating a stronger call to action and making more people want to attend the event could be achieved by actually connecting the target audience members to the event and visually painting a picture of the effect that their participation would have on sea turtle relief efforts. Because the advertisement’s call to action connected the headlining bands to sea turtles (and the event overall), the advertisements did not tug on the emotional heartstrings of many of the target audience members. For this reason, less people felt convinced and inclined to participate. 

Another means of problem solving came through creating the questionnaires. I truly took the advice received from the professor and stayed away from demographic questions. Demographic questions would prove nothing about the effectiveness of my project. Therefore, I solved the problem of extracting as much relevant feedback as possible by constructing questions that would force the respondent to address specific elements of the advertisements. In doing so, I also used the sources in order to construct a variation of questions. This actually introduces innovative thinking and acquiring competencies.

Innovative Thinking & Acquiring Competencies:

When it came to innovative thinking, I went out of my way to make my questionnaire innovative and effective. From “Creative Research,” I learned that different questions help solicit different types of responses. For example, while closed questions help solicit factual information, attitude questions solicit a respondents’ opinions towards particular situations (Collins, 2010). I studied these question variations and constructed similar questions when creating my own questionnaire. This not only presented an innovative questionnaire, but it also allowed for responses that were relevant and directly addressed the effectiveness of my design solutions. Additionally, my questionnaire was engaging and included all types of questions and option choices.

The advertisements that I created for Loggerhead Cove were innovative as well. They took a commonly known concept of “talking trash” and connected it to ocean pollution. These ads took the alternative style of indie-rock bands and related them to sea turtle relief efforts. 

One of the major innovations and acquired competencies was creating advertisements that were actually representative of ads that would be placed in a magazine. This is because the initial creation of these ads looked too much like posters. Therefore, I had to research, revise, innovate, and elevate the advertisements in order to make them more indicative of the magazine advertisements that I intended them to be. I did so by including a description and a call to action.

This image was created as a mockup and is intended to display the final design solution digitally in action.

As highlighted in “Design Management,” creating effective and innovative design solutions involves more than merely making something new; Instead, it requires the development of concepts and strategies that are better (Best, 2016). This course has fully allowed me to internalize this concept. Besides, this also supports the argument that I included in last month’s inspiration research paper: designers don’t always create new things, instead, they take previously created design solutions and find new ways to interpret and present them.

As I continue to move forward as a media designer, I plan to constantly revisit the concept of the questionnaire in order to test the effectiveness of my design solutions. I found the resources on measuring design success to be extremely beneficial and will often reference them throughout my career. 

- References (below): -

During the Multi-Platform Delivery course, I set out to enhance the brand characteristics of my fictional sea turtle charity event, Loggerhead Cove. One of the first things that I wanted to do, was to create a series of advertisements. The idea for these advertisements was sparked from a desire to make a powerful statement through my use of copywriting. Because sea turtles are often negatively affected by the abundance of ocean pollution, I wanted to experiment with the topic of “talking trash.”

I chose three variations of advertisements for this project. “I Talk Trash...It Saves Lives,” “We Talk Trash...It Saves Lives,” and “Let’s Talk Trash...It Saves Lives.” This decision was multifaceted. On the one hand, the idea of “talking trash” is presented as a pun and references the importance of addressing the issue of ocean pollution. On the other, utilizing the different introductions (I/We/Let’s talk trash) was intended to be all inclusive. For the targeted audience, this choice was a representation of any and everyone associated with the event. It represented the headlining bands included, those behind the orchestration of the event, and anyone supportive of sea turtle relief efforts. It also aids in helping the viewer see themselves as a part of the change that is needed.

Initially, I felt as if the words were so strong, that they should stand alone. The following images are of my first revision.

In designing these advertisements, I chose to highlight various bands in order to not only symbolize the headlining bands performing, but to also contribute to the alternative vibe that I wanted to convey with the copywriting and font choices. 

I utilized the color scheme of the brand by overlaying the images with an opaque color selected from my mood board color palette. The use of the “Rockout” font heavily contributes to the alternative mood that the copy is intended to convey as well.

Upon receiving feedback for this round of revisions, it was suggested that I incorporate some type of informational blurb that explained the subject matter of the event, the importance of helping sea turtles, and how this event (and headlining bands) are significant. I was told that these looked a bit too much like posters, and didn’t necessarily come off as the type of advertisements that I intended for them to be. It was also suggested that I adjust the position of the logo and add a call to action.

In order to solve these design problems, I set out to create advertisements that were more functional. So in my next revision, I included a section at the bottom of the image that explained the subject matter and the event relevance. It also includes a strong call to action by encouraging viewers to take the pledge at the website. Additionally, I placed the brand logo at the bottom of the advertisement. The following images are of the final revisions.

My next goal in enhancing the brand characteristics for Loggerhead Cove was to address the promotional video that I had initially created. When I first created a promotional video, I had little knowledge of using Adobe Premiere Pro. My first revision was also intended to be indicative of the original Sip and Paint event that I had created with this event. The brand, the message, and its characteristics were not cohesive. On a design level, the video also wasn’t an accurate depiction of professional skill. The text and information was a bit too fast, the message was unclear, and it lacked a call to action.

In order to solve this design problem, I set out to make the promotional video as representative of the brand as possible. At the same time, I wanted to highlight the headlining bands, but also illuminate the importance of the subject matter: sea turtles. I chose to utilize the relevant colors included in the mood board as backdrop images and the saturation choices. I also chose images and videos of bands and sea turtles that seemed relevant to the brand. I slowed the text down and eliminated the areas where the information was too wordy. I also added a few effects in order to enhance the quality and visual appearance of the video. With this revision, one of the most important things that elevated this promotional video to a professional level was the inclusion of the new, effective logo and a call to action. The final video is below.

Connecting, Synthesizing, & Transforming:

During this course, I utilized prior resource material provided in past courses. For example, one of research papers involved an in depth look at inspiration for the media designer. In the process of researching and gathering information for this project, two things were further reiterated: the often non-linear design process, and the notion that designers merely receive information already presented, and reinterpret and innovate it. For this paper, I used inspiration from Margo Chase’s Creative Inspirations interview on Lynda. Writing this paper helped set my plan for this course in motion. Through utilizing past resources, I was able to grasp a deeper understanding of the media designer and his or her duty to their clients. In doing so, I set out to transform my design solutions in order to elevate them to professional levels. One of the main ways I needed to achieve this was by revising my projects so that they could be more cohesive. I wanted to have my entire branding consistent and effective.

Problem Solving:

Aside from taking inspiration and innovating it, the problem solving needed in this course was in relation to my fictional charity event, Loggerhead Cove. In my prior course, I had changed the name and event type. I made this decision in order to make it easier to have a cohesive and effective brand. Before, the idea of a sip and paint was not only translating well through my design solutions, but it also took away from the bands and subject matter. Therefore, in eliminating this aspect, I was able to focus solely on the sea turtles, and how this event intends to benefit them. 

While in this course, I solved the problems of coherency, clarity, effectiveness, including a strong call to action, illuminating the cause, and having a fluid brand. Not only were my design solutions indicative of my mood board, but they also effectively representing the Loggerhead Cove brand overall. 

I solved problems with my advertisements and took them from mere posters to effective functional ads. I also solved problems within my promotional video and took it from being inconsistent to a strong representation of my event and brand overall.

Innovative Thinking: 

The research paper sparked my desire to further my innovative thinking. During this course, I wanted to take this innovative thinking to another level. In prior courses, I had chosen to create strong branding characteristics through my use of copywriting within my advertisements. Specifically, I exhibited innovation by taking the idea of “talking trash,” relating it to my brand characteristic of the “alternative style,” and using it to promote the idea of eliminating ocean pollution.

Acquiring Competencies:

This course has been one of the strongest for me. Although it was a course in which I wasn’t given any new assignments, the process is one that I will carry with me throughout my entire design career. I have acquired competencies through maintaining the diligence and passion to get to know the software. At times, I had to put in hours outside of the classroom in order to teach myself how to bring the visions I had to life. I also learned not to be afraid to fail. Most importantly, I learned the value of reiterating my work. This is one of the things I initially feared when starting this program. In life, at times, I may have been too sensitive and taken feedback personally. In this course, and this program overall, I have amazed myself at my abilities to receive and incorporate feedback. This is one quality that all designers must possess. Being that I will be creating solutions for clients, I have to be able to absorb feedback at all times. Not only that, but I must also be able to apply it.

This course has taught me the value of continuously reiterating my work. I have truly learned that the design process is often nonlinear. As I receive feedback and new inspirations, it is always possible to revisit design solutions and try out new things. This is particularly important to realize as Media designers who aspire to work within the professional media and design industry. This course has given me a first-hand look at what it might be like to work one on one with potential clients. It’s also given me the courage to not be afraid to fail, to see successes as failures, and to constantly search for new answers.

As I continue on my journey as a media designer, I will continue to be brave in my pursuits. I plan to increase my knowledge of the software and tools that have been presented, but I also plan to constantly revisit some of my design solutions in times where I may have been re-inspired.

I see the value in designers like Margo Chase and her Chase Design Group. I appreciate their insight, their design process, and their diligence to pass the torch and keep the exciting world in which right and wrong answers cease to exist alive.

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