Extra Blog: Finishing Up

It's done. I'm graduating. Civil Engineering at CPP here I come. After this Evening Presentation, of course. I'm still quite lost on how/what to do, but I'll cross that bridge tomorrow. It's time to sleep for today.

Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

1. I am most proud of knowing my slides. In only a few hours, I was able to create a presentation from nothing and remember almost all the information on it. I am proud of this because not many people can do it.

2. a. P/P-
b. P/P+

3. A lot of things worked for me. IC1, IC2, Mentorship, Research and Interviews all worked for me.

4. (ESA did not work for me at all.) I would have calmed myself. When I present, I speak really, really fast. So much so that when I speak, I cut off about a minute every 4-5 minutes. My original time was 47 minutes for this presentation. When I presented, I believe I was around 32-35 minutes.

5. Senior project has been helpful to me by giving me a deeper understanding of graphic design and it has helped improve my design skills greatly. In the future if I do end up becoming a freelance designer on the side, I know I will always have this project to thank for giving me so many skills in white space, typography and color theory that I can apply almost everywhere.

Blog 21 Mentorship

Literal

• Done
• Ron Martinez - His House (Covina, CA)
• Mimi Orth - Yearbook Elective (Strand's Room)

Interpretive

The most important thing I gained from my mentorship experience was knowledge of how to improve a design. With Mimi constantly coming to help me and the other designers, we got constant feedback on our spreads and kept consistency and a good design template. This was the most important thing I gained because it has helped me work better with others and allowed me to take a leadership role as head design editor and making sure that designs are kept consistent.

Applied

What I have done has helped me answer my EQ by giving me answers and hands on experience that can support those answers. I got my answer 1 from Mimi, answer 2 from Ron, and answer 3 partially from Mimi. I received a lot of mentorship experience that support all three of the answers as well as a possibility for more answers, but they did not apply to yearbook very well.

April: Catching up

So now, I have to catch up on filling in my mentorship log. I've kept up, mostly.. I still have some things I have to add and some old things that I forgot, but I remember the dates and time. THIS IS WHY I NEED TO ORGANIZE BETTER!

Blog 20: Exit Interview

1. What is your EQ and answers? What is your best answer and why?
My EQ is "What is the best way graphic design can be used to augment a yearbook?"
My answers are:

1. White space can be used to augment yearbooks by giving elements on a spread room to breathe.
2. Color theory can be used to augment yearbooks by making the theme of the book stand out with an appropriate color palette.
3. Typography can be used to augment yearbooks by giving the book a personality through its use in headlines and copy.

My best answer is my first answer because it is the most important part of making a yearbook. White space is an integral part of making a yearbook. It is what makes a spread unique and what gives it its form. Without white space, most of graphic design would be useless. Typography would be worthless if you couldn't read it clearly. Colors would be difficult to distinguish if they were all clumped together without space in between.

2. What process did you take to arrive at this answer? 

I arrived at this answer while talking to my first mentor, Mimi Orth about some of our spreads. She talked about our white space issues and how they can make or break a yearbook. At first, I did not believe her. I thought white space was important, but I did not believe that having some errors in white space would quintessentially destroy our yearbook. After some research into the matter, I realized how wrong I was and how utterly important white space is in the creation of a yearbook. 

3. What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

I did not face many problems in this project, but the few problems I did face plagued me greatly. The biggest issue that stood out to me was finding research. Well not research, but different research. Typically when I look for articles about my three answers, they tend to be the same thing over and over and over again. There is some new information in every single one, but small snippets of useful information are not worth writing an entire cornell note paper on. I solved this issue by expanding my search to ProQuest and finding scholarly text rather than Google search articles. 

4. What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

The two most significant sources I used to answer my EQ were my mentorship and Cameron Chapman's article series, Color Theory for Designers. Mentorship was huge to me because I was able to receive so much information from both Mimi Orth and Ron Martinez, especially with the interviews. Without their help, I would probably be lost. Although color theory was not my best answer, Chapman's series of articles helped me understand color in a way I would never be able to by myself. I was able to understand the deeper meaning of each and every color and I was able to comprehend how colors work together.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
a. I, Nathan Mira, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
b. Ron Martinez, my mentor, helped me with my independent component.
c. Done.
d. I chose 5 color palettes and made different graphical pieces using those schemes. They aren't terrible complex because of time constraints, but they aren't absolutely terrible. Except those chips. Man those things are ugly.

INTERPRETIVE
I defend my work with the fact that it took a long time to do all that stuff and I did not fake any of it and the fact that I have pictures of the completed products with their layers here (below) and the actual files on my laptop. Sadly, this time I do not have any 'in progress' photos as I did with my first independent component.

Here are the five pieces with their color palettes either to the right or below the item.

Lava Lamp (1)

Cloak (2)

Xbox 360 Remote (3)

Sad Chips (4)

Patatap (5)

APPLIED

My component helped me answer my EQ because it gave me examples as to how color palette can affect a final product. Originally, some of these post cards had different color palettes, but after cycling through so many , I stuck with the ones I got because they worked the best. Imagine Chill Waters chips (gross, I know) with a red color scheme. It wouldn't work. With things like that to look at while working on this independent component, I got a better understanding of color theory, my second answer to my EQ, but sadly not the most important answer.

Finalizing that third answer

So I just realized I forgot to post this before the third answer blog post, but this post was dedicated to the possible answers competing for the 3rd answer. So yea.

So for my third answer, I have two possible answers and about two more that just suck. The two semi good ones are Visuals and Typography. The two ehh ones that I have are Design Flow and Consistency. Visuals are just images and typography is type, the two main components of a yearbook. I'm leaning towards visuals, but the answer seems too broad, so I might go with typography. I think I might just drop the ehh answers. They could work, but with research so hard to find in those two, there is no point in trying it.

Blog 18: Third Answer

What is the best way graphic design can be used to augment a yearbook?

Typography, the use of type in a creative manner, can augment yearbooks by giving personality to the headlines and copy throughout the book.

Typography can make legal documents less of a pain to read. One typographer turned lawyer implements it in his legal paperwork so that it is less of a hassle to sort through and the judge actually enjoys reading it. (ARTL 14)

Typography is an art; another element to implement correctly. You have to go through a long checklist before you have your type looking the way you want it. (ARTL 30)

Typography can make the main point even more apparent. By using the right type of font, you can solidify an idea. Such as using a cursive font for "Wedding Day" versus a death metal band style font. (ARTL 35)

Typography, an important aspect of yearbook today, is a cornerstone of modern graphic design that is currently heavily focused on in yearbooks today.

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. What are some traits that you believe are necessary in a graphic designer?
2. Does type ever play a role in your designs? Why?
3. What importance do you place on type in designs? Or do you believe it changes based on what you are designing?
4. When working on posters, do you ever come up with your own hand drawn font design, or do you stick to already existing fonts?
5. What importance would you place on photos in your designs? Why?
6. In some of your designs, are pictures ever the determining factor in how you make a design work?
7. Have you ever had to work with a design where only bad photos were available? If so, how did you deal with it? If not, how would you deal with it?
8. White space is pretty key in making almost everything graphical. Have you ever had to completely remake a design because some parts of your design just didn't fit?
9. What importance do you place on white space?
10. How do white space and typography work together on your posters? (How do you make typography work with all of the elements present on the poster?)
11. Does color play an important role in your designs?
12. Do you ever use color for its meaning (red for valentine's) or do you simply use it for being a nice color?
13. How important is color in your designs and why?
14. Have you ever had to make or work with a color palette? If so, how was the experience?
15. How many different graphic styles have you worked with? (Such as Minimalism)
16. Do you believe that a cleaner, emptier look is better for designs or should you have a nice amount of content?
17. What design style do you tend to stick with? Or do you mix it up/not stay constant?
18. When you look at [iPoly's 2013] yearbook, what are some graphical issues you see?
19. How would you have dealt with these issues?
20. Other than Typography, photos, white space and color theory, what are some other important elements in your designs?

Answer 3?

So we need more answers, and I have two options right now, but they are slightly difficult to word right and even harder to decide whether or not they are relevant. The first one is a throwback to my working EQ with Typography. It is an essential part of design. The second one is Photos. Making sure photos are good and proper and things like that.

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

 What is the best way graphic design can be used to augment a yearbook?

 

Color theory, the use of color for meaning, can augment yearbooks by using color on spreads to make the main purpose stand out using a theme.

Color Palette. Valentine's Day uses a red, blue, grey and yellow color palette. This is color palette is made using color theory to determine the meaning of each color at it's specific shade. (ARTL 30)

Color Association. The Halloween spread in the yearbook has orange as its main color. This is because orange has been associated with pumpkins which is associated with Halloween. (YRBK)

Color Mixing. Using several different color without any association to its meaning in color theory. For example, using red and blue to make a spread about soccer. (YRBK)

Color theory, though not the most important part of making a yearbook, can still play a large part in its creation.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1. For IC2, I plan to create different color palettes with various themes in them and create a small postcard using the template. For example, if I were to go with a Red, Yellow, Grey, Blue and Green color palette with a large amount of "wear and tear" (lots of shade) for an older look, then I would make a postcard of various ruins that primarily use those colors, therefore understand how to use color theory in designs.
As a visual, here's the color palette for Bungie's new game Destiny

"Like a 60's screen print that has been sitting in an attic"

and a "postcard" made using that same color scheme

2. In order to meet the 30 hour minimum,  I will start this component coming up with various color palettes, around 10, and picking my favorite 3 or 4 and making postcards from those.

3. This will help me with my topic even more by allowing me to truly understand how color palette is important to a design and how not every color palette can work for every event.

4. Aight, yo.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Literal
a. I, Nathan Mira, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
b. Ron Martinez, Freelance Designer.
c. Done. Both on the side where is says Independent Component Log and on my Independent Component 1 Blog
d. I completed 4 pieces of artwork for Independent Component. 1 Poster, 2 Wallpapers and an icon pack design.

Interpretive
My independent component was significant because it gave me experience designing and it gave me a chance to improve on many of my faults. I got a lot better as it went on. The evidence is all on my Independent Component 1 Blog located on the right side as a link.

Applied
This helped me understand the foundation of my topic more my giving me first hand experience in designing actual things for actual people and not just the yearbook which is relatively easy. For example, I don't use Adobe Illustrator for yearbook which is a key part of graphic design, so it helped me familiarize myself with the program in making my small mini-portfolio.

Answer 2 (?)

With Answer 1 over and done with, it's time to look forward and think about the next two answers. The third one is probably not going to come for a while, but for answer 2, I think I may have an idea....

COLOR THEORY!

Even though there isn't much color in OUR yearbook doesn't mean that good color can't make a yearbook look gorgeous

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflections

1. The thing I am most proud of in my presentation is my activity. The class seemed to have fun and they all had their own little creative ideas.

2a. P
b. All of the For "P" Consideration targets were met and I did fairly well in my presentation, keeping the audience moderately interested and engaged in the activity. I am somewhat sure I made time, but I am not completely positive.

3. Most things worked for me in Lesson 2. The activity, presentation and the like seemed fair.

4. I would have added the Elegance & Sophistication slide. I will for the Block presentations. I also would have printed out an 'answer key' for my activity.

5. I am fairly certain that answer 2 to my EQ will be "Implementing the Color Theory."

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1. What is the best way graphic design could be used to augment a yearbook?
2. What importance do you believe white space plays when designing?
3. How do you balance out your designs if you have several different elements on it?
4. Do you place more importance on type or visuals in your designs and why?
5. What role do you believe typography plays in designing?
6. What is your opinion on having color be a major role in your design, with companies such as Coca Cola?
7. Do you find large amounts of white space in certain company designs to add to the 'high end/expensive' effect that companies, such as Apple, are going for, or do you find that thinking to be unreasonable?
8. When you design, is there ever a go to design that you try to emulate, or do you start off every design fresh?
9. What designs do you look to for inspiration?
10. Does the layout of a design ever make an impact on you? Why or why not?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours

1. I am doing my mentorship at school during elective with Mimi Orth when she comes in every other Tuesday and helps us out with the yearbook spreads and hopefully soon with Ron at his home just learning his process and looking at some of his work and showing him some of mine.

2. Mimi Orth, Herff Jones Sales Representative, and Ron Martinez, a freelance designer.

3. 23 Hours and 30 Minutes.

4. For my summer 10 hours of mentorship, I went to yearbook camp. During the classes when I was getting lessons from the various teachers and Mimi, I was improving my designing skills and helping my fellow yerds in making the theme for this year, Today I.
For the other hours I have completed, Mimi has come in and helped us make the yearbook look better, giving us an outside perspective.

5. Aight, yo.

Blog 10 Senior Project: The Holiday

1. Over the break, I worked on updating my blog and thinking of answers to my EQ.

2. The most important thing I learned from what I did was coming up with one possible answer, white space. It was the most important because it gave me something to find research for. The source of what I learned was the Class of 2014 Best & Most Yearbook spread.

3. The person I would talk to for my new EQ would be Paul Ender if I could get in contact with him. He is a self-taught designer and a yearbook advisor. If I could not get in contact with him, I would talk to Mimi Orth, a Herff Jones Sales Representative that assists in the yearbook design process, or Ron Martinez, a self-taught graphic designer.