Collaborating in a Group

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This week in digital image editing, we are to create a poster series in our groups. The hard part was collaborating our ideas and putting them together to create a cohesive design. We each have to create a poster with similar colors, similar text, and a similar layout, but the contents of the poster are what we each individually get to express. This is more of a learning experience because when we get to go out in the field, depending on where we work, we will have to collaborate with other fellow designers.

Therefore, I did some research and decided to compile a list of ideas on how to improve collaborative works so that every person gets to put in their input and become satisfied with the output.

Split up the workload among the group equally
Have each member have a role in the group
Make sure to have a way to communicate with each other in case you need some extra time to get ideas finalized
Check up on each other’s progress
Reach out to help your fellow members, don’t just assume that they will be able to do everything, what if they need help but are afraid to ask?
To contradict the one mentioned above: Don’t be afraid to communicate with your team members if you are stuck and need help.
Offer constructive feedback, don’t sugar coat everything and say “it looks nice!”, because no one will improve by being told just that.
And lastly, but most importantly, be respectful to each other. You can offer constructive criticism, but know not to cross the line that it becomes rude.

Final Thoughts on Intro to Graphic Arts Class

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Like any other end of the month, I find myself impressed by how fast time flies as I have finished another class. This time because the start of the class was a little complicated due to the hurricane happening around Florida, our deadlines for projects were tight. Deadlines are a huge part of working in this industry, so I felt that trying to finish those 3 projects within the time frame of a month is a learning experience in it of itself.

The projects consisted of a travel poster, a cover for a magazine issue, and the recreation of a movie poster. I was satisfied with how my first two projects turned out. I was disappointed with the outcome of my movie poster. I knew that I rushed it, but since I have a busy weekend I would not have time to work on it so I had to make it look at least decent within a day. And even then, the poster could have used a lot of work. I decided to do my movie poster on the movie 27 Dresses.

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Now, I won’t be putting my recreation of it here because we had to use ourselves for the cover and again mine could still use a lot of work. However, if you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend it!

Overall, I did enjoy this month’s class and am looking forward to the next class!

How a Part Timer can gain Graphic Design skills in everyday encounters

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This past month has been hectic for me. Currently, I have 3 jobs for the remainder of these last two weeks of the month.

First and foremost, I am a Graphic Design student meaning time management is a huge skill to have when juggling school and work. Secondly, I am completing my last 2 weeks of service as a part-time worker at the first job I have ever gotten which is at an ice cream parlor. I worked there for exactly 1 year, 1 month, and 2 weeks and got promoted this year in July as a Shift Leader. Now if I got promoted why would I leave? Because I realized that the job was great to start, but I need to gain more work experience and skills to grow as a person. I gained some confidence there and learned the ways of customer service, but being there was preventing me from growing further because I did not get to meet new people or gained any new skills. The third job is the one I am currently training for as a cashier at a place I cannot say, but the atmosphere there is amazing as everyone treats each other like family.

Now you may be asking, how am I giving you this information relating to the topic? During my time training as a cashier in the third job, there was a phrase that the hiring manager said that stuck with me. “Build a network. Getting to know people and introducing yourself to your coworkers will help you build a network here.” This is a part-time position as a cashier, but the reality is that building strong relationships with people you meet will help you in your future endeavors. Building a network is important to Graphic Designers after all that is where a majority of getting work will rely on.

So don’t think that because you are working part-time and not working as a Graphic Designer while studying Graphic Design is a bad thing. Take it as an opportunity to build your social skills and build up a network because in the end sure you can have the best design ever, but if you don’t know how to market yourself or have a network, your design will have a high chance of not getting noticed.

What is Graphic Design?

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If you think about it, Graphic Design is all around you. Did you see a billboard advertisement driving down a highway? Did you notice the color of your gum wrapper or what joke it may or may not have? Did you take a business card on your visit to the dentist? Whether big or small a Graphic Designer was in charge of designing those. The design could be as big as a billboard or as small as a gum wrapper, but the importance of the design is still there.

Graphic Design is essentially an effective way of visually communicating an idea, concept, or message. Graphic Designers are in charge of creating designs that are easy to understand, effective at carrying out its message and importance, as well as keeping the audience in mind, and effectively carry out the needs of their clients or supervisors. It is a very important job especially since a major area of Graphic Design is an advertisement. As a Graphic Designer, you need to capture people’s attention with your design, making them inquire more about the product, service, or cause.

Graphic Design has an abundance of opportunities from animation, video production, illustrations, and so much more that I cannot wait to learn more about!

Intro to Graphic Arts and Design

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Ideally, I was supposed to post this blog last week, but because my life has been hectic these past few weeks it seems I will just have to post 2 blog posts this week to make up for it.

This month I started my class of Introduction to Graphic Arts and Design. For those that may be wondering, shouldn’t you be stating with that class first? You see, my class schedule was changed around due to issues, and so I started taking my general education classes completely online. When I started my major classes I was thrown into the rotation of classes with my first class being Digital Video and Audio Editing. The way my university works is that we take one class a month, so that students may focus on that one class. Thus, here we are with my new class for the month being Intro to Graphic Arts and Design.

Since this is technically the first introductory class, blog posts were not a requirement for this month. However, I decided to continue boggling once a week for this month because I want to keep my blog consistent. Being as I am late on this blog post I will keep it short and continue to talk about a better topic in the next blog post.