The New New EQ

So I updated my blog to show my new EQ. With it comes new answers and new research. Without doing any actual research though, I think I have one answer that I can find research for.
Designing a spread is hard work. Not everything looks good. For example, would you buy a yearbook when every page looks like this?

I wouldn't. I prefer when it looks good; something more along the lines of this.

The quotes from Seriah and Pinto are missing here, sorry about that mistake.

So, by implementing a bit of know-how and some design, you can make a mess look pretty good.

What is the answer we get from all this? White Space. Having some empty space helped this page out A LOT. That is one possible answer to my new EQ.

Upgrade!

An extra post just to get it on the board that I now own Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator CC for the very expensive price of free. I am now one step ahead of everyone in yearbook that only has CS6 and two steps ahead of our school that only has CS5.

EQ

1. I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

2. State whether or not the following EQ's follow the rule of three and why.

a. Yes, it follows the rule of three. It is a question that requires research into the topic to find different ways of losing weight, It allows you to back up those answers with information, and the format is fine.

b. No, it does not follow the rule of three. The formatting of this question is wrong and it doesn't make obvious sense.

c.  Yes, it follows all of the criteria for the rule of three. The formatting is great, there are several different hairstyles and different types of people, so it is open ended, but finding research might be a little difficult. Not impossible, but not easy.

d. No, it does not follow the rule of three. This question is not open ended and it seems like there is only one answer to it.

3. What aspects of graphic design as a whole are most important in making an everlasting impact within am audience?

Vector Art vs Pixel Art

So, I found this article that basically told me the pros and cons of pixel art & vector art. In case you don't know the difference, pixel art is normally done in Photoshop and is what pictures use. You manipulate little pixels to your liking. Vector Art is better done in Illustrator. You use the pen tool to manipulate lines to the shape you want.
The biggest con when it comes to vector art is that adding in little details is strenuous work. My latest piece for my Independent Component 1 blog will show it soon when I update it. Making a flat image requires almost no effort, but when making realistic objects, prepare for a long journey of blood, sweat & tears.
The biggest pro for vector art is that no matter how zoomed in you are, there is no pixelation. Since vector art is just mathematical lines, you can make it as large or as small as you wish since no matter how zoomed out or in you are, you can always go further.
Pixel art is basically swapped in that its biggest pro is easy manipulation of realistic objects whereas its con is that if you zoom in too much, depending on the DPI of the photo or file, you will eventually hit pixelation. Here's an example of one of my designs in pixel and vector form.

PIXEL

VECTOR

The New EQ

So when I first came up with my EQ, I thought up of a really shallow question: "What part of a design is the most important in making an impact to the audience?" Not only is it very wordy, it's pretty shallow. After thinking over it a bit, I came up with a new working EQ: "What aspect of graphic design is most important in impacting the audience?"
With this new EQ, I have new answers which is what my presentation foundation is all about. Hopefully this new EQ will be my final one or will be close to it since I really like it.

Research and Working EQ

1. What aspect of graphic design is most important in impacting the audience?

2. Two possible answers to this working EQ are:

• Typography is the most important as readability is necessary or else a misunderstanding can come across and void your entire design.
• Visuals are the most important aspect of graphic design since they are what the eyes are drawn to. If the type is legible but there are no visuals or they are not pleasing, no one will even give your design more than a quick glance.

3. A book that I have not cited yet has helped me in understanding design a bit more. It is titled Design Elements, Typography Fundamentals: A Graphic Style Manual for Understand How Typography Affects Design. It has taught me how important Typography is which is why it is one of my possible answers for my EQ.

4. My first mentor is Mimi Orth and my second mentor is Ron Martinez. With Mimi, we are working with the yearbook to see what we could improve on our design, see what works, what doesn't and how every aspect of the spread just works in unison. With Ron, I have showed him some of my designs which he has critiqued and help me improve them.

Possible Books

FINALLY. After about 3 weeks of searching for a book that I can read online using ProQuest, I finally found a couple books. The first is a book on typography by Kristin Cullen; Design Elements, Typography Fundamentals: A Graphic Style Manual for Understanding How Typography Affects Design. So far, its had quite a bit of good information, but I'm having difficulty deciding how to Cornell note it, so I might wait a bit before I cite it. The second book is by Fábio Sasso; Abduzeedo Inspiration Guide for Designers. The main difference between these books though is that rather than being text heavy, this book, so far, has just shown a lot of examples of great design. I probably won't ever cite it, but I'll reference it for future design work.

Independent Component 1 Approval

1. For my Independent Component 1, I plan to create an online portfolio in the form of a blogger. I will have my images linked and will have updates on different things I am working on. I will have a few yearbook spreads on there, some wallpapers I am making, and some posters I am designing for my room as well.

2. To show proof that I am working for 30+ hours, I will have screenshots and updates of the different things I am working on as I complete them. There will be a link on the right that will link to all my posts containing completed work. I plan to have around 5 or so pieces completed by the end of 30 hours.

3. I will show my peers and my mentors the designs. I will ask for feedback, so I will probably add some time to my mentorship with this component, but not all 30 hours as I will not be working hand-in-hand with either of my mentors.

4. (It's there.)

Second Interview Questions

1. My second mentor, interviewee for this interview, is Ron Martinez, my friend Ronnie's father. He is a freelance designer.

2. What was one of the first things you worked on as a designer?
Did design always interest you, or was it something that just came up in the recent stages of your life?
Did you take classes for design or did you just design and learn from feedback?
Why did you not pursue a main career in graphic design?
What is it like working freelance designer rather than for a company?
What do you think is the best design you've come up with?
What do you like about design?
What are the most important skills in being a good designer?

Blog 5 Project Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon
1. A positive thing that occurred during my mentorship was that I learned how to use Adobe Illustrator. It's the program I used to make my current blog background and it is used for vectors rather than pixels like Adobe Photoshop. Basically, that means that if you zoom in really really really close, it will still look amazing since there aren't blocks (pixels) that make up the image, but actual mathematical lines (vectors).

2. When I read many of the typography articles, many of which I have yet to use for research checks, it helps me understand fonts even more than I currently do. Some people think that fonts are not very important, but oh, if only they knew.

3. Everything. I know a few graphic designers, I have the programs and I have master race OS. Windows. Stay mad Apple.

4. I will never be able to actually shadow one of my mentors when she is not at iPoly. Mimi is unbelievably busy and travels often. The only time I get to mentor with her is when she comes to iPoly. ;_;

5. a. What part of a design is the most important in making an impact in the audience?
b. I plan on mentoring with Mimi Orth, Mr. Martinez, and, if possible, a graphic designer that Mr. Daly knows.

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. I plan to interview Mimi Orth. She is very knowledgeable when it comes to graphic design and typography. She definitely helped us when it came to designing for the yearbook and she was also the biggest factor in deciding one of our main design element for this year.

2. What do you think of the current design standard versus older designs?
What makes a design work?
What do you think we can improve on in terms of design?
Going chronological for out small school is quite the leap of faith. Any advice?
Why did you choose to become a Herff Jones Rep?
What are your thoughts on the field of graphic design?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Semester 1 ESLR Goals

1. My topic is Graphic Design.

2. By becoming more active within the school, I will become well versed in each of the four iPoly ESLRs.

Effective iPoly Citizen - I will continue to design the school yearbook which holds all of the best memories that we share as a school as well as a few personal memories. By doing so, I am effectively 'archiving' our school lives for everyone to see and enjoy. I will also tutor fellow students in Mathematics if I am asked to assist.

Effective Communicator - My communication skills have improved greatly during my time at iPoly and I have become a better presenter, but I could still use a little more work and will improve in the slight shakiness in my voice. I will act on this to ensure that my voice is heard and that when I speak, people will listen.

Effective Learner - Considering how much I learn about things outside of school, I don't know how I can improve this, but I can continue to do what I already do in learning outside of school and now I can take full advantage of my mentorship and make sure that if I have questions, they are answered. I will also continue to completely understand 100% of what I am taught.

Effective User of Technology - In order to become a more effective user of technology, I will use credited sites to find scholarly sources more often and take advantage of the resources available to me on the programs which I have at my disposal at any given time, such as Microsoft Office when at home, Google Drive while I am at school, or even Adobe products to design.

Summer Mentorship Component

Literal
1. Mentorship Log
2. Mimi Orth
(626) 798 1680
3. What questions did I have during the mentorship?

• How do you choose what type of fonts work well with each other and what how can you identify legibility without needing to print?
• How can one successfully integrate different forms of type in their designs to help a reader in diminishing the 'fear' when seeing large blocks of copy.
• How can you design photo packages that not only help with the flow of the page, but also don't draw away from the impact of the dominant photo?
• When receiving critique, how do you decide which elements stay and which change based on critique?

Interpretive
4. Graphic Design is a job that is far more difficult than people seem to imagine. Countless hours of hard work go into designing some of the best looking ads, magazines and yearbooks. Inspiration is key in making a design and you should ALWAYS have some sort of inspiration rather than designing out of your own head unless you are the next GD prophet (Pro-tip: You probably aren't.)

Applied
5. Graphic Design has interested me ever since I learned how to use Adobe Photoshop during my Sophomore year. Since design interested me so much, I learned about GD in magazines and in different publications and joined Yearbook to test my skill. I was introduced to Adobe InDesign which I became proficient in. I still have much to learn, but Graphic Design is definitely a field which I am thinking about as a side job. (Pay is far too low for my goals.) This mentorship helped me improve my skills and lock in this topic for my Senior Project.

2013 2-Hour Presentation Reflections

Literal
  1. I saw fourteen presentations during these last two weeks. The presentations I attended are:

• Gina - Cinical Pharmacy
• Clara - Special Needs Behavioral Consult
• Teo - Real Estate
• Xavier - Web Design
• Nicole - Forensic Photography
• Valerie - Dance Choreography
• Amanda - Film Directing
• Taylor - Arthoscopic Scope Surgery
• Rachel - Deaf Culture
• Johanis - Mexican Folk Art
• Alissa - Molecular Biology
• Evan - Foley Art
• Alexis - Teaching Mathematics
• Stephany - Graphic Design

  2. I have a few questions about the Senior Project. Some of these include:

• What are the requirements are for the presentation?
• How many mentors are required?
• How is everything graded?

Interpretive

  3. Based on what I saw during the presentations, I would say that the most important part of it all is making sure you enjoy your topic and know everything about it.

Applied
  4. I am considering doing graphic design since I enjoy designing wallpapers and random logos and have worked on projects for people as well. Since graphic design is quite a broad topic, if I must, I can specify and decide on the typography aspect of graphic design or the actual logo design of graphic design.