World Pre-Pre-Premiere of my video!!!

Enjoy!! :)

Last day of (regular) class!

Week 10

Today was the last day of class before finals next week.  Professor Moss went over the things that are due on Monday (the final day).  He took out the cards that we wrote on from the first day of class.  He briefly read over some of them, before switching gears and asked us what we thought was good and/or bad about the class.  We went around the room, and each person said what s/he thought was a positive or a negative aspect of class.  Professor Moss also told us the importance of being proactive and entrepreneurial (how do you even pronounce that?!).  He told us that we should be our own bosses and be go-getters.

That's pretty much all we did in class today.  We were let out early to finish up our final projects.

No school today!!!

Hope everyone's having an awesome Memorial Day weekend!  See you all on Wednesday! :)

I've got a case of the final project blues.

Week 9, Day 2

Professor Moss ended class early today to give us time to work on our final projects.  We could either stay in the room or leave, so Sandy and I first got some breakfast at Carl's Jr., then headed over to the computer station at the Cross Cultural Centers in the student union.  Both of us had a couple of hours to burn before our next class started, so we spent that time watching the videos that previous Art 220 students made for their final projects.  Some of the videos were really interesting and creative, while some were kinda boring.  I am still not sure what to do for my final project.  I need to think of something fast because I don't have much time left...

Say what?!

Week 9, Day 1

Person A passes object to Person B and says:  "This is a what."
Person B takes the object and asks Person A:  "A what?"
Person A says to Person B:  "A what."
Person B:  "Oh, a what."
Person B passes object to Person C and says:  "This is a what."
Person C takes the object and asks Person B:  "A what?"
Person B asks Person A:  "A what?"
Person A says to Person B:  "A what."
Person B says to Person C:  "A what."
Person C:  "Oh, a what."
Person C passes object to Person D and says:  "This is a what."

...and so forth and so forth.

This was the game that we played in class today.  Everyone sat in a circle and after a couple of tries, we were able to pass one object ("what")  around the room.  But passing two objects ("what" and "who") around the room, in opposite directions, was much harder.  We tried many times but we just couldn' pass two objects successfully around the whole room.  Professor Moss told us that this was a communication/concentration exercise.  We need to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in order to succeed in the real world.

We spent the rest of the class period watching a video about Sir Ken Robinson.  He lectured for at least 60 minutes nonstop...60 MINUTES NONSTOP!  WITHOUT ANY VISUAL AIDS!  I almost died from boredom.  I'm sure Robinson was a funny guy, because my classmates kept laughing at what he said.  I couldn't understand some of the things that he was saying, since he had a British accent.  And no visual aids!  He should have at least shown a PowerPoint presentation as he talked; that would've kept me focused.  I tend to pay better attention when pictures are involved.  I did manage to get something out of Robinson's looooong lecture.  He said that "talent is buried deep and not easily seen on the surface."  It is up to us to discover talent.  Robinson gave the examples of Elvis and the Beatles; when they were young, people didn't think that they were very talented.  They grew up to be quite successful singers and musicians.  Robinson also said that the economy needed to do three things:  think differently, and see opportunities and take them; work in teams/groups; and communicate.

Reading Response #9: Stage 7: Production pg. 169-186

Production is the final stage of the design process.  This is where the idea becomes an object.  Bringing a design to production obviously requires interaction with the production team.  This can involve a number of levels, depending on the scale of the operation.  The designer needs to take on the responsibilities of being both a team member and a leader once a project reaches the production stage.  Since the designer communicates with many people on many levels, it is very important to establish good work habits and relationships with the team.  According to Aspelund, the virtues that combine the characteristics of a good leader with those of a good team player are essential because the designer must very often make a seamless transition between the two.  Working with a team requires the designer to have respect for the people that he/she is working with and respect for their abilities, experience, and opinions.  Everyone will have an opinion, so it's important for the designer to listen and respond, as often these opinions are based on experience.  Communication is a very crucial aspect of the production stage; effective communication is needed to ensure that everything goes smoothly.  Aspelund says that "respect works both ways, you earn it by giving it."  A designer should acknowledge the importance of each team member's contributions in order to bolster the pride they feel in their work.  A designer may also have to learn how to compromise.

A designer will pick up feedback from following his/her design through the final stages toward production.  Feedback comes from different sources; it can come from the client, the production team, the designer him/herself, or even from someone who has no involvement with the project.  Aspelund says that wherever feedback comes from, "let it inspire and energize you."  It's obviously easier to accept positive feedback, but negative feedback can be difficult to handle.  However, if treated correctly, negative feedback can energize a designer even further.  Positive feedback is good to hear and an excellent motivator, but negative feedback is more common.  As difficult as it may be to have one's work criticized, the designer must view this feedback as positive.  Criticism allows a designer to have the opportunity to learn how to improve his or her design.

As a graphic design student, I need to learn how to take criticism, however negative it might be.  I love receiving positive feedback on my work (who doesn't?!) - it gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment.  But I tend to get really upset and pissed off when someone criticizes my work.  I need to learn how to accept negative feedback, and view it as an opportunity to improve my work and as a design student in the long run.

Ones and Zeroes, Ones and Zeroes, Ones and Zeroes

Week 8, Day 2

The title of this post is sung to the tune of Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow." 

Professor Moss started class by writing these four numbers on the board:

1

10

11

100

?

He told us he heard something about these numbers on the radio this morning.  When he asked us what number comes next, my classmates bombarded him with different answers.  "101!"  "110!"  "111!"  "1000!"  We couldn't seem to agree on what the correct answer was , so Professor Moss separated the class, with the girls on one side of the room and the boys on the other.  Both groups were asked to come up with the correct answer, along with rationale, justification, and logic that explained the answer.  We were given about 15-20 minutes to discuss among ourselves, while Professor Moss left the room.  The girls came up with two possible answers:  101 and 111.  The majority of the girls thought that the answer was 111, based on the following pattern:

1

10+

_____

11

100+

_____

111

1000+

_____

1111

10000

_____

and so on

I personally thought that the answer was 101, based on what I learned about the binary system in my Art 322 class a few weeks ago.  And even if the binary system isn't used to solve this problem, the next number should still be 101, following the ascending sequence of numbers that contain only ones and/or zeroes.  Getzabel also thought that the next number was 101 too, but we took a vote and all the other girls decided that the number should be 111, so the majority won.

When Professor Moss came back, the girls were asked to explain their answer(s) first.  Astrid came up to the board to explain how we came up with 111.  After two tries, she was able to convince Professor Moss why 111 was the answer, by explaining the girls' logic and the pattern that we discovered.  When it was the boys' turn, things did not go as smoothly.  The boys came up with the answer of 101, based on the binary system.

00

01

10

11

100

101

110

111

1000

and so on

It took three boys to convince Professor Moss that 101 was the correct answer.  Professor Moss then told us that 101 and 111 were both good answers, and that this was an exercise in communication.  The lesson of this activity was that it didn't matter what answer we came up with, just as long as we were able to effectively communicate our logic, rationale, and justification to the audience.  This is very important in the design world, because we need to be able to effectively "sell" a solution to a client by explaining the rationale and justification behind it.

The rest of the class period was spent discussing what we thought about John Coy and his lecture.  Opinions about Mr. Coy were mixed - about half of the class liked his lecture, and the other half found it boring.  No offense to Mr. Coy, but I found his presentation just a tad boring.  The only thing that I remember from his lecture was the Washington Mutual logo, so I brought that up during the discussion.

By the way, our homework for Monday was to dream about the final project.  Before going to sleep, we were to think about all of the elements for our final project and try to dream about it.  I tried doing just that, but I didn't dream about the final project...I ended up having two nightmares instead!  I think that movie we watched on Monday got me really paranoid :(