Beginning Graphic Design in Sophomore Year

Back into Graphic Design

For the past couple of weeks in Graphic Design we have been closely following tutorials in photoshop to learn the different tools and features.

In this image I removed the tag from the
 coat to make the image appear more professional.

Skills

We mainly used things like content aware fill, spot healing, and clone stamp to seamlessly take out different things from photos We did about ten different assignments  with these tools and to show them all would make my post cluttered, so I've only shown one example.

This one took a while; there was a lot to
 be done, and it needed to be done correctly.

Collage

The biggest project we did by far was the collage, where we took three images of a girl and made a senior photo-type collage of her. We had to do things like remove backgrounds, restore broken parts, resize awkward proportions, and even join two backgrounds together.

I chose a more nature oriented theme for my challenge.

Challenge

Our last assignment was a "challenge". We were given an image of a model, and were told to use what we learned in the videos to create a unique edit of the model. We could use any pictures we wanted, and were only limited by our imaginations.

Valuable information

A lot of what I learned from the video tutorials felt important, but what I found to be the most helpful was learning how to use layer masks. I knew about layer masks but I never really learned how to use them and how useful they could be. You can use them to show certain parts of a layer and hide other parts, so as you can imagine, it was very nice to finally get to use layer masks.

What would I do differently?

If I had the option to do all of this again, I would have gone back and watched more closely in the videos. Most of the time I was working with Photoshop and the video open side-by-side, so I was working along with the video. Maybe if I had watched the video first, and then went to work and referred back to the video when I needed help then I would have learned more, but that's just me.

What would I leave unchanged?

I really liked how the tutorials were set up, so there's a lot I would leave the same. Maybe have more of a choice for what we got to edit, then these tutorials would be more interesting.

Overall these tutorials were very useful, and if you are planning on going into a career involving photoshop then these skills could stick with you forever. Nothing felt like it didn't make sense or wasn't necessary.

Reflection Over e9

This blog post is dedicated to reflecting over what has happened over the past first year of my time in e-Comm. It will be long but it's good to reflect over what has happened, especially when you learn as much as I have in only a year of high school.

What have I learned?

Over the past year I learned many things about how to create digital media, such as videos, websites, animations, and graphics.In regards to animation, I learned first, how to use Photoshop and how to set it up for animation, and then I learned different techniques of animation. In video, I learned how to take different shots properly, and then edit those shots to make a video that looks nice and makes sense. We did web throughout all four quarters, and in web I learned how to use Dreamweaver to make html and CSS codes to make a website that has a good color scheme and doesn't look like a mess of poor coding. In graphic design, I learned more about color theory and how different elements of design work together to make something that looks nice.

How did I learn this?

I learned by listening to my teachers when they were giving demos and writing notes. I used my notes to help me along when I eventually got to make my own project. When I forgot how to do something, I could just look at my notes to help me figure out how to do something.

Why is it important?

This is important because these skills will help me through my next three years of high school and eventually help my in a computer career if I should choose one. These skills are also nice to have if you just feel like creating something, like I really like to use Photoshop to make different things like phone backgrounds and gifs.

What are my strengths and weaknesses?

I feel like my strengths lie in using Photoshop, whether it be for animation or graphic design. Photoshop was just made really easy to use, unlike Illustrator , which I feel like it was almost made to work against you, I'm so bad at it. I feel like I do an alright job in web design stuff, and video was never really my favorite thing.

What am I doing with what I have learned?

Most of what I do with these skills involves making edits and gifs in photoshop. I like to do this for things like different video games and T.V. shows and post them on websites like Tumblr and Twitter, or Facebook if I feel like showing my stuff to my family. (I'm not on Facebook, like at all.)

What would I change?

I would kind of like to change how we're taught. Sometimes teachers will sit there and demo for the entire hour and have us take notes, and it's just about as boring as watching paint dry. I appreciate being able to take notes, but maybe we could work WHILE the teacher demos, and take notes as we go, so maybe we have something more interesting to do? It's hard to figure things out because not everyone learns the same, but these are just my opinions.

In conclusion,  I really enjoyed my first year in e-Comm. My favorite part of e-Comm has to be working with Photoshop, since it's so easy to use and you can do so much with it. I feel like I've learned a lot, and that these skills will be useful in the years to come.

e-Comm Final Project: Product Creation

Color Vision Logo

Over the past several weeks we worked in groups to come up with a product and make graphics (logo, business cards, coupons, etc.) animation, website, and commercial to advertise our product

What was our product?

My team's product was a pair of glasses that allows people who are colorblind to see in color. Our team name was Color Vision, and we all worked together to make different attributes of our product.

Where did we excel? 

I felt like my team did best on our graphics. We each worked on different graphics, while I made the logo that would go on each of our different kinds of graphics.

Glasses made in SketchUp

Where did we struggle?

I felt like my team struggled the most with communication. We had group members that were gone often and we neglected to communicate that we would be gone, which made our group a little behind.

Things I would change or do differently:

Our group's commercial

I would really like to have the option to choose our groups; I didn't know a lot about the people in my group and being a shy person, I didn't open up a lot to them which I feel was a disadvantage.

How did I improve?

I feel like, despite being incredibly shy as previously mentioned, I did become a little bit better at working in groups. I have never liked working in groups because I'm one of those people who likes to have things my way, but I had to deal with that and go with other people's ideas.

Photoshop Projects!

So many new tools!

We recently did four different, yet similar projects in photoshop to get us used to some common tools in Photoshop. We really made use of the clone stamp tool, and magic wand tools, which are some of my favorite tools to use.

 Project 1

Our first project was to crop a picture of our school that was provided to us. After we've cropped it we would then put a semi transparent logo for our school over it, and then an acronym for Olathe NorthWest.

Project 2

our second project was to edit different colors into a monarch butterfly's wings. I chose pastel colors, because I think they're easy on the eyes. After we chose our colors, we used the clone stamp tool to make the butterfly look like its flapping its wings.

Project 3

The third project was to use another pre-provided picture of our school, and this time use the text mask tool to have a selected area that says "Northwest". After we've inverted the selection, we needed to use the gradient tool to make a blue and black gradient around the letters.

 Project 4

The fourth and final project was to make a collage of different areas in our school, and our mascot, the raven. We used the layer mask tool to make the pictures look like they were floating over the school. We also had to use the clone stamp to take out some cars and light poles that looked out of place in the photo.

What did I learn

These projects taught me very basic, yet important and widely used tools in photoshop. These tools are very important to making even the simplest edits in photoshop.

Invasive Species Website

For our web portion of 3rd quarter we made a website which showed the different invasive species across the united states. We were given the pre-written information and logos to put into our website, but the rest was up to us.

Body, with matching color scheme

What's new?

We used Adobe Dreamweaver to create our website. We followed a series of videos in order to learn new ways to make styles in css, and edit html coding. One of the first new things we learned was how to create a header, footer, body, and sidebar.

Sidebar with list of links

Sidebar

One of the main things I want to talk about is the sidebar, since so much went into it. For our sidebar, we learned how to use css and html to make a sidebar with styled links in a list. 

Color Scheme

For the color scheme of the website, I had to find colors that matched. I couldn't just choose a bunch of random colors that I liked, but looked terrible together. The colors have to go with what the website is trying to advertise, and the colors need to belong together.

Much of this was new.

Basically everything I learned to do in the process of creating this website was new to me. I had never learned how to make a footer, header, sidebar or body. I had never learned how to make a stylized list of links. This was almost all new. I did apply some of what I learned last quarter from making my own website, but that had been a while ago, so I had to re-learn some things as well. It wasn't hard; just very new.

The Orthogonal Cube

Orthogonal Cube

A super cool shape

The orthogonal cube is a super cool shape because it's so simple, yet incredibly iconic. It's sleek, an easy to make.

I'm not just going to talk about a shape, though

I really want to talk about the e-Comm. program and how incredible it is. In e-Comm you lean a ton about how computers work and different careers involving computers, such as animation, graphic design, web design, and video.

You start out in one of those strands, with web design put in throughout the program, and learn about that strand for a quarter, then move on to the next after that quarter.

Computer skills are important

You really learn a lot in the quarter you have with each strand, and sometimes you use skills from one strand, and apply them to the next. Even if you don't plan on going into a career based around computers, these skills can still be useful to know. Maybe you're making a business and you need to design a website, or a logo. Maybe you need to make a commercial for your business with an animation in it. You can also use skills from video to make that commercial.

Don't take special programs for granted

These programs are so helpful. From e-Comm. to Animal Health, all of these 21st Century programs can help you find a career, or provide job experience. It's smart to get into a class or program that provides real life experience and skills, because in the long run, you really will find those skills useful.

Introducing my personal logo

Finally!

I know; it's been three quarters of the year and I finally have a personal logo. Not my decision. This logo will later be made into a favicon for my blog as well, rather than some random image I found on Google.

Any meaning behind this?

Tons! The main thought I had for this was the idea behind the Japanese lucky cat, and how they're meant to welcome someone into a home or business. The shape the cat is holding is the coin in the traditional Japanese lucky cat, but min is larger, and has my initials on it.

Color choice?

The colors are meant to be calm and welcoming. The choice of pastels, I felt, was a good one because pastels are commonly used in things such as a child's room to make the room give off calm vibes. The pink represents love, youth, and passion, while the yellow represents sunshine. The white means purity, and is another calm color.

Why a circle?

Circles tend to represent coming together, or unity. I really liked that idea along with the soft, rounded edges to go along with the already calming colors! The spiral, which was also rounded with soft edges, is also the cat's tail, which comes around the entire circle.

Is it finished?

Most likely. I had several different ideas, both in my sketch book and on my illustrator art board. I'm pretty happy with it right now, but logos tend to change, and mine is likely no different.