Reading Response 3

This last section is similar to the first two as it is an assortment of different ways of thinking, but it is different with the more hands on, "get down to it" approach. One of the first ideas given, sprinting, is all about getting a bunch of little different ideas down on paper as fast as possible and then going back and picking any good ones out to incorporate into the project. this method is basically how I work most of the time and usually works for me.

The branding section of this was also very interesting to me as I am a huge fan of all things branding. I love the way a brand flows from medium to medium. If I product has been branded well, I can't help myself. With my love of branding however, it is one thing that I am dreadful at. For some reason consistency in design has always been a struggle for me, when creating a set of pieces or even the times I have dabbled in packaging design. But this section is definitely one I will be bookmarking and coming back to in the future.

As a whole the book was really well done with exactly what I needed from it without being overly preachy or one directional. I would absolutely recommend this book to any fellow designers especially those having trouble with ideas.

Reading Response 2

I really enjoyed this section of the book and I imagine I will be returning to it at some point. The title of this section is How to Get Ideas, but reads to me as, "What to do if You're Stuck". The section is just a list of different ways to go about solving your design problem and examples to go along with them. Most of the examples are really cool and interesting, helping to really drive the point home and  show how the different methods actually work. Some of my favorites are the Everything from Everywhere and the Visual Diary. I think as a designer it is dangerous to go about a problem in only one way and in only one angle. It also helps when working on an idea to take a step back and take a break from the idea to come back later with a fresh state of mind. working on multiple ideas can help to be that break. It also allows for other ideas, possibly better ideas, to incorporate themselves from both pieces, helping to better both. The fact that the book has so many different ideas and methods to work with, the amount of examples really help to nail down multiple different ideas for a piece.

This section was absolutely beneficial if for nothing else to give examples of beautiful design works by professionals in the industry. But of course the section was much more helpful and could be a useful tool in the future.

Reading Response 1

This has absolutely been one of the better graphic design books i've been introduced to. Most books that I've been in contact with have told me how to go about designing and ways of designing, but to me this  never made a whole lot of sense as designing is all about having different and new ideas and expressing those ideas in the way you see fit, not how some books tells you to. So instead of telling you how to design, the book goes though different methods of brainstorming and thinking about the problem, leaving it up to you to decide how to tackle the problem.

The only problem with this book I can see so far is me. Ive never been much for brainstorming and I love to start a design work head on immediately roughing out a design in illustrator or on paper.  I'm not saying i'll never try these brainstorming techniques, I definitely will, especially when I am stuck or know immediate ideas come to mind. I am also aware that your first idea is usually not your best idea, and I often do multiple roughs for a single project, which in a way is my own sort of brainstorming.

Elizabeth Jefferson- Dating Strategy-Final

For this final project I struggled to figure out how to organize and represent my feelings about dating. In the beginning I did not initially know what direction that I wanted to go in and I had to do a lot of brainstorming. I started by looking at other students work to get inspiration but I still felt a little lost in creating ideas for this project. I started by sitting down and writing down some of the important dating rules that I like to follow in my personal dating life. I was having an argument over text message with my boyfriend during the time period that I was creating my poster, and I think that my mood and anger at the time influenced my poster. I was in a bad mood and it helped me make my poster turn out to be a little cynical and negative. My poster turned out to be about “how to not get you heart broken” because I was in a sassy mood. Overall I am happy about how my poster came out however I am not normally that cynical about love and relationships.  

Watson Final

Alexandra A+D Gallery Visit

Art Directors Club Annual Awards Exhibition

For this assignment I went to the Art Directors Club Exhibition at the A+D Gallery located on 619 S. Wabash Ave within Columbia College campus. It was my first time attend this showcase and I was very impressed with the work featured there. All of the design work were generally ads or commerical design work that took on a different dimension in communicating the brand or message of the product. The design work that stood out to me the most was executed for MT Masking Tape company in Japan. Instead of creating ads or even a digitial campaign, the agency decided to create an experience for their target audience by creating a graphic landscape using the product itself. In the first picture there are several shots that reveal how the tape was used to engage the audience. The decorative tape was used to transform spaces such as trains, a pier and even the exterior of a car. This communicates strongly to prospective consumers that MT Masking Tape could bring any object or location to life with its' vivid patterns and textures. Through viewing this work, it definitely broaden my perspective on the types of mediums I could use for future design work.

Emily Ryan - Dating Strategy - Final

For this final dating strategy project, I wasn't initially sure which direction I wanted to go. I thought about how my own personal dating style I feel is pretty indefinable, and that I haven't had any experiences that were truly traumatizing yet, knock on wood. So I did some research online about dating nightmares and came across some pretty hilarious stories. It got me thinking about the insane things people do when they are dating, and somehow I got on the idea of Disney Princesses. Honestly I think that came completely out of left field, but I went with it. I thought... "What did those princes really do to make those princesses fall in love with them??" And I chose some semi realistic ideas, and some outlandish ones for some humor and balance. This poster follows a few guidelines I set for it. First, the 'dating strategy' for each individual princess is listed in chronological order from when they were made. Second, each color and font also corresponds with the individual princess. It is geometric, because I did want to be able to convey the message clearly, but while also being expressive with typography. I was going for something humorous with this project, because in my own opinion, you should have fun and you can't take dating too, too seriously!