Monday, June 6, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, May 30, 2011
No school today!!!
Hope everyone's having an awesome Memorial Day weekend! See you all on Wednesday! :)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
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...
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...
Monday, May 23, 2011
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
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:
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.
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.
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 :(
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 :(
Monday, May 16, 2011
Dreams
Week 8, Day 1
We spent the whole class period watching a movie called Dreams, directed by Akira Kurosawa. The movie is composed of 8 short segments, all of which are based on Kurosawa's actual dreams. Information about the movie can be found here, as well as summaries for each of the 8 segments:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_%281990_film%29
I did not like this movie AT ALL I found it extremely depressing and disturbing. Almost each segment of the movie dealt with death. It almost makes me wonder what happened to Kurosawa during his lifetime for him to dream such troubling dreams. Did he experience something that was that emotionally or physically distressing? Some of the segments in Dreams were so graphically disturbing that they actually left me feeling really paranoid. After class today, when I walked into the restroom, I was so afraid that a deformed one-horned demon was gonna jump out from one of the stalls and attack me. Yes, I know that this would never actually happen, but I'm just a super paranoid person who tends to have a wild imagination at times. This is the reason why I never watch horror movies; they make me really paranoid about the silliest things, like showering (I'll explain later) or staying in a room all by myself. I even refrain myself from watching commercials about horror movies; I always switch the channel or look somewhere else when such a commercial comes on. I still remember the time when I "accidentally" saw the commercial for The Grudge several years ago - for the next two weeks, I got really nervous everytime I stepped into the shower.
I wish we watched that documentary instead. Professor Moss gave us two options, but the majority of the class, myself included, chose to watch Dreams. This movie is gonna make me feel paranoid for a while. Maybe I should've looked somewhere else during the disturbing parts...
We spent the whole class period watching a movie called Dreams, directed by Akira Kurosawa. The movie is composed of 8 short segments, all of which are based on Kurosawa's actual dreams. Information about the movie can be found here, as well as summaries for each of the 8 segments:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_%281990_film%29
I did not like this movie AT ALL I found it extremely depressing and disturbing. Almost each segment of the movie dealt with death. It almost makes me wonder what happened to Kurosawa during his lifetime for him to dream such troubling dreams. Did he experience something that was that emotionally or physically distressing? Some of the segments in Dreams were so graphically disturbing that they actually left me feeling really paranoid. After class today, when I walked into the restroom, I was so afraid that a deformed one-horned demon was gonna jump out from one of the stalls and attack me. Yes, I know that this would never actually happen, but I'm just a super paranoid person who tends to have a wild imagination at times. This is the reason why I never watch horror movies; they make me really paranoid about the silliest things, like showering (I'll explain later) or staying in a room all by myself. I even refrain myself from watching commercials about horror movies; I always switch the channel or look somewhere else when such a commercial comes on. I still remember the time when I "accidentally" saw the commercial for The Grudge several years ago - for the next two weeks, I got really nervous everytime I stepped into the shower.
I wish we watched that documentary instead. Professor Moss gave us two options, but the majority of the class, myself included, chose to watch Dreams. This movie is gonna make me feel paranoid for a while. Maybe I should've looked somewhere else during the disturbing parts...
Reading Response #8: Stage 6: Communication pg. 141-168
The "Communication" stage has been the most enjoyable chapter to read thus far. Communication is an extremely important aspect of design. According to Aspelund, "designing is the art of communicating an idea, and communication is therefore a key issue throughout the whole design process." Presentations and discussions, whether they are large or small, take place from the very beginning of the design process. Communicating a message has 3 basic phases or moments:
Other aspects of communication include the information that is to be presented, the venue of the presentation, organization and quality of the information, and language (either emotional or informational). When making a presentation, a designer must be aware of structure, illustration techniques, and graphic design. A presentation usually follows one of three basic patterns: andante, crescendo, and forte-piano. There are various illustration techniques that a designer can use when presenting a project, such as pencil, colored pencils, pens and inks, markers, pastels and crayons, and watercolors. CAD programs, books and boards, PowerPoint, web pages, CDs, and models are methods that a designer should consider when presenting his or her project.
Aspelund compares a presentation to a performance in which a designer can prepare in the manner of an actor preparing for a role. To prepare, a designer must be familiar with the lines, the props and setting, the direction, and the motivation behind the presentation. Communication and presentation are areas that I really need to improve on as a graphic design student. I always feel that I do a crappy job at presenting my projects, which is mostly due to lack of preparation. I would put in all my time and effort into the project itself, without giving much thought to the actual presentation. More often than not, I would either stay up late or pull an all-nighter while trying to finish up a project. When the time came for me to present in class, I would be so brain-dead that I wouldn't know what the heck I was supposed to say about my project. I really need to learn how to manage my time wisely to prevent situations like this. After reading this chapter and realizing how important communication is, I know that I need to prepare ahead of time in order to make an effective presentation. I need to put in time and effort so that I can give good presentations on my future projects. It makes no sense to come up with a really awesome project when you can't even make a decent presentation about it.
- The encoding phase, in which the message is created using professional and medium-related conventions of language and image use
- The message itself, the form and content of what is shown; a product or construct that is created through skill and technical practices
- The moment of reception (decoding by audiences), in which the audience makes sense of the message and places it in context
Other aspects of communication include the information that is to be presented, the venue of the presentation, organization and quality of the information, and language (either emotional or informational). When making a presentation, a designer must be aware of structure, illustration techniques, and graphic design. A presentation usually follows one of three basic patterns: andante, crescendo, and forte-piano. There are various illustration techniques that a designer can use when presenting a project, such as pencil, colored pencils, pens and inks, markers, pastels and crayons, and watercolors. CAD programs, books and boards, PowerPoint, web pages, CDs, and models are methods that a designer should consider when presenting his or her project.
Aspelund compares a presentation to a performance in which a designer can prepare in the manner of an actor preparing for a role. To prepare, a designer must be familiar with the lines, the props and setting, the direction, and the motivation behind the presentation. Communication and presentation are areas that I really need to improve on as a graphic design student. I always feel that I do a crappy job at presenting my projects, which is mostly due to lack of preparation. I would put in all my time and effort into the project itself, without giving much thought to the actual presentation. More often than not, I would either stay up late or pull an all-nighter while trying to finish up a project. When the time came for me to present in class, I would be so brain-dead that I wouldn't know what the heck I was supposed to say about my project. I really need to learn how to manage my time wisely to prevent situations like this. After reading this chapter and realizing how important communication is, I know that I need to prepare ahead of time in order to make an effective presentation. I need to put in time and effort so that I can give good presentations on my future projects. It makes no sense to come up with a really awesome project when you can't even make a decent presentation about it.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
GAUGE presents: John Coy
My classmates and I attended the "GAUGE presents: John Coy" speaker event on May 12, 2011. I wasn't sure what time the event was supposed to start because the syllabus stated 7:00 pm, while the Facebook event stated 7:30 pm. I decided to go at 7 pm, just in case. When I arrived at the music hall, there were only a handful of people waiting in the lobby. The GAUGE president was there, and she told me that the event would start actually start at 7:30 pm. With about 30 minutes to burn, I decided to head to Juice It Up to get a smoothie. I had a coupon that expired that day, so what better way to spend that extra time than buying a yummy smoothie and getting a sweet discount on it? It was about 7:15 by the time I headed back to the music hall with my 24 oz. Congo Lime smoothie, and the lobby was getting full. Thinking the event would start at 7:30, I frantically drank my smoothie outside the music hall since we weren't allowed to bring food and drinks into the lobby. It was so darn cold outside! And genius me forgot to bring a jacket. So there I was, standing outside the music hall in a short-sleeved shirt, trying to finish a smoothie as quickly as possible. I was really surprised that I didn't end up getting brain freeze. I did finish drinking my smoothie by 7:30, so after I threw it in the trash, I walked into the lobby, assuming that the event was about to start. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Due to "technical difficulties," the event did not start until 8:00 pm. Man! I should've drank my smoothie slower! What a waste! I didn't even get to enjoy it that much because I thought the event would start at 7:30 and I wouldn't be able to bring my smoothie into the music hall! Okay enough about my smoothie dilemma - I'll move on to the actual event now...
There were still some technical difficulties once the event began, so Mr. Coy first took some questions from the audience. After those technical difficulties were fixed (by none other than Professor Moss), Mr. Coy was able to show his slideshow to us during his presentation, which was a relief because I tend to pay better attention when pictures are involved. Mr. Coy has quite an interesting background; he was the first president of AIGA LA, and he was the recipient of some kind of design award in 2010 (I didn't get down the name of it). Mr. Coy has a rather impressive resume as well. He has done projects for a wide variety of clients, including the Getty Museum, the UCLA College of Fine Arts, UCLA's Graduate School of Architecture, various Los Angeles festivals and concert halls, and South Coast Plaza. Mr. Coy also designed the logo for Washington Mutual, which I thought was really cool because it's such a well-known logo. I had no idea that Mr. Coy was the one who designed it.
Mr. Coy's advice for design students is "to keep tuning in to what feels good, what's really interesting for you to do." Like Professor Moss told us at the beginning of the quarter, it's important for us to find a passion for something because we'll find it much easier to enjoy doing it. Art is my passion, and I always find it exciting to work on assignments and projects for my art classes. Mr. Coy also told us to "pour your heart and soul into your work, care about what you do and show it." He told us that if we ever got into a so-called "designer funk," we should "get away from it and always come back."
There were still some technical difficulties once the event began, so Mr. Coy first took some questions from the audience. After those technical difficulties were fixed (by none other than Professor Moss), Mr. Coy was able to show his slideshow to us during his presentation, which was a relief because I tend to pay better attention when pictures are involved. Mr. Coy has quite an interesting background; he was the first president of AIGA LA, and he was the recipient of some kind of design award in 2010 (I didn't get down the name of it). Mr. Coy has a rather impressive resume as well. He has done projects for a wide variety of clients, including the Getty Museum, the UCLA College of Fine Arts, UCLA's Graduate School of Architecture, various Los Angeles festivals and concert halls, and South Coast Plaza. Mr. Coy also designed the logo for Washington Mutual, which I thought was really cool because it's such a well-known logo. I had no idea that Mr. Coy was the one who designed it.
Mr. Coy's advice for design students is "to keep tuning in to what feels good, what's really interesting for you to do." Like Professor Moss told us at the beginning of the quarter, it's important for us to find a passion for something because we'll find it much easier to enjoy doing it. Art is my passion, and I always find it exciting to work on assignments and projects for my art classes. Mr. Coy also told us to "pour your heart and soul into your work, care about what you do and show it." He told us that if we ever got into a so-called "designer funk," we should "get away from it and always come back."
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Reading Response #7: Stage 5: Definition/Modeling pg. 117-139
The "Definition/Modeling" stage of the design process talks about how to move a project from the exploration stage to a "more definite embodiment" in the physical world. This is the stage where a concept becomes an object, where a designer begins defining his/her idea in as much detail as possible and create a model to bring it into the world. The first step of the Definition/Modeling stage is to look at the constraints and specifications to see that everything has been addressed. Every designer must deal with the constraints and compromises of practicality and production.
All designs have needs, which must be met in succession. The following needs are listed in the order of priority:
When creating a model, a designer needs to take the following strategies into consideration:
All designs have needs, which must be met in succession. The following needs are listed in the order of priority:
- Functionality
- Reliability
- Usability
- Proficiency
- Creativity
When creating a model, a designer needs to take the following strategies into consideration:
- Dimensionality
- Functionality
- Choosing a Scale
- Choosing Materials
- Time Management
Monday, May 2, 2011
Reading Response #6: Stage 4: Exploration/Refinement pg. 97-116
Exploration/Refinement is the fourth stage of the design process. This chapter talks about how to explore and refine concepts to make them clearer. According to Aspelund, the "most recognizable method of exploring design is to visualize it through sketching and modeling." Sketches are used for two main reasons: to explore the possibilities inherent in the idea and to communicate the idea to someone. Aspelund talks a great deal about the importance of sketching, offering these following tips for graphic designers:
As a graphic design student, my art professors at CSULA are always telling me to sketch, sketch, and sketch. Sketching is a very crucial aspect of design because it helps bring ideas to life. My classmates and I are always told to sketch out lots and lots of ideas before starting on a project. That way, we'll have plenty of ideas to choose from when we start on our projects. But I don't think I do enough sketching though; I would just come up with one or two sketches and call it a day. Sketching is definitely something that I need to work on if I want to become a better graphic designer. I need to learn how to sketch quickly and constantly.
- Sketch quickly and repeatedly
- Sketch constantly
- Sketch large and small
- Avoid limitation; use different media
- Consider the purpose of your sketching
- Practice
As a graphic design student, my art professors at CSULA are always telling me to sketch, sketch, and sketch. Sketching is a very crucial aspect of design because it helps bring ideas to life. My classmates and I are always told to sketch out lots and lots of ideas before starting on a project. That way, we'll have plenty of ideas to choose from when we start on our projects. But I don't think I do enough sketching though; I would just come up with one or two sketches and call it a day. Sketching is definitely something that I need to work on if I want to become a better graphic designer. I need to learn how to sketch quickly and constantly.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
GAME DAY!!!!!
Week 5, Day 2
Today was Game Day! We spent the whole class period playing games. I brought a pack of cards to class but ended up playing Taboo and Trivial Pursuit (the Disney edition) instead. I’ve never played Taboo or Trivial Pursuit before, so it was really fun playing those two games for the first time. Taboo is a game that involves guessing the word on a card without saying the actual word or the five additional words that are on the card; saying any one of these words would be “taboo.” I had lots of fun trying to figure out what clues to give for each word in a limited amount of time without saying something taboo — the game definitely got my creative juices flowing! Trivial Pursuit is a game that involves answering trivia questions. The objective of the game is to move around the board by correctly answering trivia questions. We played the Disney edition of Trivial Pursuit, so all of the trivia questions were based on Disney movies. I’ve seen most of the classic Disney movies multiple times (I have a pretty big collection of Disney videos at home), so I thought playing this game would be a piece of cake…so not true! Some of the questions were super hard! And for some reason, I kept getting questions about Hercules and The Rescuers Down Under, which are movies that I’ve only seen once and don’t remember much about. My group members and I were laughing at how silly some of the Trivial Pursuit questions were. There was a question asking what kind of hat did one of the characters (I couldn’t remember whether it was the butler of the milkman) wear in The Aristocats. Does anybody actually pay attention to such minute details when watching a movie? I guess that’s why the game’s called Trivial Pursuit.
Game Day was so much fun! Professor Moss, if you’re reading this, can we please have another Game Day in class? :)
Today was Game Day! We spent the whole class period playing games. I brought a pack of cards to class but ended up playing Taboo and Trivial Pursuit (the Disney edition) instead. I’ve never played Taboo or Trivial Pursuit before, so it was really fun playing those two games for the first time. Taboo is a game that involves guessing the word on a card without saying the actual word or the five additional words that are on the card; saying any one of these words would be “taboo.” I had lots of fun trying to figure out what clues to give for each word in a limited amount of time without saying something taboo — the game definitely got my creative juices flowing! Trivial Pursuit is a game that involves answering trivia questions. The objective of the game is to move around the board by correctly answering trivia questions. We played the Disney edition of Trivial Pursuit, so all of the trivia questions were based on Disney movies. I’ve seen most of the classic Disney movies multiple times (I have a pretty big collection of Disney videos at home), so I thought playing this game would be a piece of cake…so not true! Some of the questions were super hard! And for some reason, I kept getting questions about Hercules and The Rescuers Down Under, which are movies that I’ve only seen once and don’t remember much about. My group members and I were laughing at how silly some of the Trivial Pursuit questions were. There was a question asking what kind of hat did one of the characters (I couldn’t remember whether it was the butler of the milkman) wear in The Aristocats. Does anybody actually pay attention to such minute details when watching a movie? I guess that’s why the game’s called Trivial Pursuit.
Game Day was so much fun! Professor Moss, if you’re reading this, can we please have another Game Day in class? :)
Monday, April 25, 2011
Google Searching = Eighth Deadly Sin?
Week 5, Day 1
Professor Moss wanted us to have a different perspective of the class today, so he decided to start class on the opposite side of the room. We were asked to move our seats to the opposite side of the table that we were sitting in so that we would face the back of the room. Professor Moss told us that we would have a game day on Wednesday, so we spent the first part of class talking about games. With the help of the class, he listed dozens of different games on the board. Board games, card games, strategy games, etc. We got into a long discussion about the game of Monopoly and how it relates to capitalism.
Professor Moss wanted us to have a different perspective of the class today, so he decided to start class on the opposite side of the room. We were asked to move our seats to the opposite side of the table that we were sitting in so that we would face the back of the room. Professor Moss told us that we would have a game day on Wednesday, so we spent the first part of class talking about games. With the help of the class, he listed dozens of different games on the board. Board games, card games, strategy games, etc. We got into a long discussion about the game of Monopoly and how it relates to capitalism.
For the second part of class, we looked at the pictures that we brought in for the Seven Deadly Sins. Our homework over the weekend was to find seven pictures, one for each of the Seven Deadly Sins. It was interesting seeing what images everybody came up with and trying to figure out what sin was being portrayed in each image. Some pictures were much easier to tell than others. Most of us had repeat images; Professor Moss said that this was the first time it’s happened in any of his classes. I guess some of us did this assignment the easy way, by typing in the name of the sin on Google search and selecting the first image that popped up, rather than looking at many different images and choosing the best one. Out of my seven images, two were repeats. Some of my classmates brought in stock photos, and we had a very brief discussion about that topic. Professor Moss told us that stock photos can look very unrealistic, and it’s always better to choose images that looked natural instead of posed. When I got home today, I saw an article on Yahoo about was about ridiculous stock photos. What a coincidence! We were just talking about bad stock photos in class!
I was hoping we could go over the homework that we had to redo over the weekend but we didn’t get a chance to. I was curious to see what my classmates came up with. Did we do the assignment correctly this time? Guess we'll just have to wait until next time. For now, I'm totally looking forward to Game Day on Wednesday!!
Reading Response #5: Stage 3: Conceptualization pg. 71-96
"Conceptualization" talks about how to bring ideas to life. According to Aspelund, a design concept is "an abstract vision that needs to become tangible." But how exactly does an abstract idea become tangible? By brainstorming, of course! Brainstorming is a process of spontaneously thinking and sharing as many ideas as possible about a topic without being judgmental. It can be a very effective tool that allows one to examine a concept and fully explore what it's all about. Brainstorming allows one to visualize a concept's development. Aspelund goes over rules on how to brainstorm successfully, such as focusing on having many ideas and encouraging the process of freewheeling.
Aspelund also presents 6 perspectives to consider when brainstorming an idea:
Aspelund also presents 6 perspectives to consider when brainstorming an idea:
- Description
- Comparison
- Association
- Construction
- Use
- Troubleshooting
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Visual Stories
Week 4, Day 2
Our homework for Monday was to find 3 unrelated images that would create a story when placed in a specific order. For my visual story, I chose a picture of a little girl looking at a Barbie doll in a store, a picture of a woman whose face was marked up for surgery, and a picture of Jocelyn Wildenstein, a woman who's had millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery done on her face in order to look "beautiful," but ended up looking like a monster. Look her up on Google and you'll know what I mean. WARNING: Nightmares may occur. Look at your own risk.
It was fun seeing what my classmates were able to come up with. Some of my classmates came up with really funny and creative stories, while some came up with visual stories that made absolutely no sense at all. Professor Moss posted up the visual stories that didn't make any sense on the wall, and as a class, we tried to figure out the story that the student was trying to tell. Then we were told to scatter all of our pictures on the tables and create new stories by mixing and matching each other's pictures. We ended up created some really funny stories.
Class ended with Professor Moss showing us a TED video about John Maeda, who's the current President of the Rhode Island School of Design. John's talk was about simplicity. He talked about how we, as people, want simplicity but love complexity. I thought it was really cool that John was able to create graphics just by scanning French fries and Cheetos. Simple, yet very creative. I totally want to try that approach on a project someday. I think I already have some ideas in mind. John used plenty of humor in his talk, which made the video very entertaining to watch. It was hilarious when he mentioned that his daughter once told him that he resembled the guy on those ...For Dummies books. They actually do look quite alike!
Our homework for Monday was to find 3 unrelated images that would create a story when placed in a specific order. For my visual story, I chose a picture of a little girl looking at a Barbie doll in a store, a picture of a woman whose face was marked up for surgery, and a picture of Jocelyn Wildenstein, a woman who's had millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery done on her face in order to look "beautiful," but ended up looking like a monster. Look her up on Google and you'll know what I mean. WARNING: Nightmares may occur. Look at your own risk.
It was fun seeing what my classmates were able to come up with. Some of my classmates came up with really funny and creative stories, while some came up with visual stories that made absolutely no sense at all. Professor Moss posted up the visual stories that didn't make any sense on the wall, and as a class, we tried to figure out the story that the student was trying to tell. Then we were told to scatter all of our pictures on the tables and create new stories by mixing and matching each other's pictures. We ended up created some really funny stories.
Class ended with Professor Moss showing us a TED video about John Maeda, who's the current President of the Rhode Island School of Design. John's talk was about simplicity. He talked about how we, as people, want simplicity but love complexity. I thought it was really cool that John was able to create graphics just by scanning French fries and Cheetos. Simple, yet very creative. I totally want to try that approach on a project someday. I think I already have some ideas in mind. John used plenty of humor in his talk, which made the video very entertaining to watch. It was hilarious when he mentioned that his daughter once told him that he resembled the guy on those ...For Dummies books. They actually do look quite alike!
Monday, April 18, 2011
It's Story Time!
Week 4, Day 1
Class started off with Professor Moss asking us to seat ourselves in chronological birthday order, with the Januarys sitting in the front of the class and the Decembers sitting in the back. This time, we were supposed to sit in a serpertine-like order. My classmates and I were able to do this very quickly and successfully; we definitely seated ourselves much faster than when we were asked to sit in first name alphabetical order a few weeks ago.
After the rearranging activity, Professor Moss placed everyone into groups of four. We were asked to each take out two items to use for storytelling. I took out a flashlight and a box of peach-flavored Tic Tacs. My group members took out a lip balm, a wallet, a sketchbook, a ruler, a comb, and pretzel sticks. We were given about 10-15 minutes to come up with a story that involved all of these items. My group members and I came up with a story about a girl named Samantha and her archnemesis Abigail. After time was up, Professor Moss asked each group to share their story to the class. Each group had a distinctly different style that stood out from the others. The first group came up with a murder story (which sounded like it could actually happen in real life), the second group had all four members taking turns telling the story, the third group (my group) came up with names for the characters, the fourth group moved each item around as the storyteller told the story, and the last group incorporated incredible science fiction terms into their story. I think the storyteller in the last group did an awesome job of telling the story, incorporating fancy sci fi words here and there. The whole class was amazed. All in all, I really enjoyed doing this storytelling activity. It was fun working with the people in my group and seeing what we could come up with using the required resources in a limited amount of time.
Our homework over the weekend was to come up with a short phrase and find 10 images that would change the meaning of that phrase. As everyone walked around the room looking at the pictures on each posterboard, we realized that no one actually did the assignment "correctly." Most of us just found 10 different examples for each phrase, rather than 10 different meanings. Professor Moss said that we were supposed to find 10 pictures that would change the meaning of the phrase each time. Because none of us did the assignment correctly, we all have to redo it again for next week.
Class started off with Professor Moss asking us to seat ourselves in chronological birthday order, with the Januarys sitting in the front of the class and the Decembers sitting in the back. This time, we were supposed to sit in a serpertine-like order. My classmates and I were able to do this very quickly and successfully; we definitely seated ourselves much faster than when we were asked to sit in first name alphabetical order a few weeks ago.
After the rearranging activity, Professor Moss placed everyone into groups of four. We were asked to each take out two items to use for storytelling. I took out a flashlight and a box of peach-flavored Tic Tacs. My group members took out a lip balm, a wallet, a sketchbook, a ruler, a comb, and pretzel sticks. We were given about 10-15 minutes to come up with a story that involved all of these items. My group members and I came up with a story about a girl named Samantha and her archnemesis Abigail. After time was up, Professor Moss asked each group to share their story to the class. Each group had a distinctly different style that stood out from the others. The first group came up with a murder story (which sounded like it could actually happen in real life), the second group had all four members taking turns telling the story, the third group (my group) came up with names for the characters, the fourth group moved each item around as the storyteller told the story, and the last group incorporated incredible science fiction terms into their story. I think the storyteller in the last group did an awesome job of telling the story, incorporating fancy sci fi words here and there. The whole class was amazed. All in all, I really enjoyed doing this storytelling activity. It was fun working with the people in my group and seeing what we could come up with using the required resources in a limited amount of time.
Our homework over the weekend was to come up with a short phrase and find 10 images that would change the meaning of that phrase. As everyone walked around the room looking at the pictures on each posterboard, we realized that no one actually did the assignment "correctly." Most of us just found 10 different examples for each phrase, rather than 10 different meanings. Professor Moss said that we were supposed to find 10 pictures that would change the meaning of the phrase each time. Because none of us did the assignment correctly, we all have to redo it again for next week.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Reading Response #4: Stage 2: Identification pg. 39-70
I found this week's reading, "Identification," to be rather tedious. This chapter was soooo incredibly long and sleep-inducing! It actually took me four sittings to finish the reading. Identification talks about constraints, which define the project as the idea or the solution. Little did I know, there are constraints for every aspect of design, including end user constraints (functionality and form, societal, safety), production constraints, designer constraints (information, time, materials, budgets), and responsibility constraints (unintended consequences, sustainability).
I like how Aspelund compares design to a river: both require constraints in order to have form and direction. If a river isn't constrained within its banks, then the water will end up flowing into unwanted places. The same reasoning applies to design: if a designer ignores constraints, then the project may lead into an undesirable direction, which could require the the designer to rework the project, or even worse, cancel the whole thing. Designers need to think of constraints as a "frame and guide" that keep them from going into such areas. Aspelund's design/river analogy definitely helps me understand the importance of constraints when it comes to design. A designer must stay within the boundaries in order to create a successful project.
I like how Aspelund compares design to a river: both require constraints in order to have form and direction. If a river isn't constrained within its banks, then the water will end up flowing into unwanted places. The same reasoning applies to design: if a designer ignores constraints, then the project may lead into an undesirable direction, which could require the the designer to rework the project, or even worse, cancel the whole thing. Designers need to think of constraints as a "frame and guide" that keep them from going into such areas. Aspelund's design/river analogy definitely helps me understand the importance of constraints when it comes to design. A designer must stay within the boundaries in order to create a successful project.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Words & Images
Week 3, Day 2
Our homework for Monday was to find an image, either from a magazine or online, and come up with at least 10 words/short phrases for that image. Each word/phrase should change the meaning of the image in a different way; they should convey 10 different emotions. The image was to be mounted onto a 15" x 20" posterboard, along with a clear sheet protector to insert the words in. After flipping through several magazines, I found an image of Mr. Peanut attempting to dunk a basketball and decided to use that for the homework assignment.
We started off class by presenting our posterboards. Everyone moved the tables and chairs to the back of the room and gathered in the front to view the posterboards. Professor Moss would take out the words from a poster and read each of them out loud to the class. Some of my classmates came up with really funny and clever words for their images. I immediately began to have doubts about my own assignment. I had struggled with trying to find words for my image, and I wasn't sure if I had did the assignment correctly. When Professor Moss got to my posterboard and started reading aloud some of my words, he exclaimed that they were "horrible!" I realized that I had focused on describing the image itself (with words like "athletic," "whimsical," and "funny"), rather than trying to express the meaning/emotion of the image. I guess I kind of misunderstood the assignment and interpreted the directions differently.
After about half of the students presented their posterboards, Professor Moss decided to shift gears and move onto something else. He brought in a dozen or so actual advertisements that featured thought-provoking words and images. I found most of them to be really creative and clever. We were then told to look at the advertisement that was posted on the board. It was a poster for Band-Aid that had an image of the Incredible Hulk's hand with a bandage wrapped around one of his fingers.
We spent the rest of the class period discussing this image, and how its interpretation ranged from "even superheroes get hurt" to "even God gets hurt." The God reference comes from the powerful glow and the hand position, which resembles that of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting.
Our homework for Monday was to find an image, either from a magazine or online, and come up with at least 10 words/short phrases for that image. Each word/phrase should change the meaning of the image in a different way; they should convey 10 different emotions. The image was to be mounted onto a 15" x 20" posterboard, along with a clear sheet protector to insert the words in. After flipping through several magazines, I found an image of Mr. Peanut attempting to dunk a basketball and decided to use that for the homework assignment.
We started off class by presenting our posterboards. Everyone moved the tables and chairs to the back of the room and gathered in the front to view the posterboards. Professor Moss would take out the words from a poster and read each of them out loud to the class. Some of my classmates came up with really funny and clever words for their images. I immediately began to have doubts about my own assignment. I had struggled with trying to find words for my image, and I wasn't sure if I had did the assignment correctly. When Professor Moss got to my posterboard and started reading aloud some of my words, he exclaimed that they were "horrible!" I realized that I had focused on describing the image itself (with words like "athletic," "whimsical," and "funny"), rather than trying to express the meaning/emotion of the image. I guess I kind of misunderstood the assignment and interpreted the directions differently.
After about half of the students presented their posterboards, Professor Moss decided to shift gears and move onto something else. He brought in a dozen or so actual advertisements that featured thought-provoking words and images. I found most of them to be really creative and clever. We were then told to look at the advertisement that was posted on the board. It was a poster for Band-Aid that had an image of the Incredible Hulk's hand with a bandage wrapped around one of his fingers.
We spent the rest of the class period discussing this image, and how its interpretation ranged from "even superheroes get hurt" to "even God gets hurt." The God reference comes from the powerful glow and the hand position, which resembles that of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Storytelling
Week 3, Day 1
Today's class started with a discussion of what makes a story good. Professor Moss picked me to come up to the board and, with the help of my classmates, write down the elements of a good story. We came up with about 30 terms: Beginning, Middle, End, Characters (Protagonist and Antagonist), Setting, Plot, Mood, Conflict, Theme, Humor, Fantasy, Romance, Tragedy, Suspense, Interaction, Relationships, Moral, Climax, Narrative, Rising Action, etc.
We spent the remainder of the class period by watching two more TED videos: Amy Tan and Elizabeth Gilbert. Unfortunately, after sleeping for only an hour this morning, I wasn't able to follow the videos since my mind was drifting in and out of consciousness. I'm going to have to watch both of these videos again before I can write anything else.
To be continued...
Today's class started with a discussion of what makes a story good. Professor Moss picked me to come up to the board and, with the help of my classmates, write down the elements of a good story. We came up with about 30 terms: Beginning, Middle, End, Characters (Protagonist and Antagonist), Setting, Plot, Mood, Conflict, Theme, Humor, Fantasy, Romance, Tragedy, Suspense, Interaction, Relationships, Moral, Climax, Narrative, Rising Action, etc.
We spent the remainder of the class period by watching two more TED videos: Amy Tan and Elizabeth Gilbert. Unfortunately, after sleeping for only an hour this morning, I wasn't able to follow the videos since my mind was drifting in and out of consciousness. I'm going to have to watch both of these videos again before I can write anything else.
To be continued...
Reading Response #3: Stage 1: Inspiration pg. 17-38
According to Aspelund, "inspiration can take countless guises and exist in many places." Inspiration, in any kind of form, is an energy that drives people to be creative and infuses their creations with life. As a design student, one of my biggest challenges is to find inspiration. Every time I am assigned a project, I would spend countless hours just sitting at my desk and staring blankly into space until I could think of an idea. I can't even imagine how much precious time I've wasted just by trying to think of ideas from scratch. I totally agree with Aspelund when he says that "inspiration is something that cannot be waited for - designers should always actively seek it." But how? How do I find inspiration? Aspelund says that inspiration exists in many places, but where do I start?
Thankfully, Aspelund offers tips and suggestions on how to get inspired:
Thankfully, Aspelund offers tips and suggestions on how to get inspired:
- Always remember that inspiration can come from anywhere, even the most unlikely source
- Look to architects, painters, wood-carvers, sculptors, filmmakers, musicians, etc.
- Keep scrapbooks and journals
- Always add to your knowledge of art, music, and film
- Make a point of experiencing, seeing, and listening to something new every now and them
- Engage in playtime
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Video: Scott McCloud on comics
During the end of class on Wednesday (April 6), Professor Moss showed us a TED video about Scott McCloud. Our homework was to watch the video again on our own, and make note of the things that we didn't understand. Professor Moss asked us to find 3 things that we were curious about and go research them. Here we go:
1. In the beginning of the video, Scott makes a funny remark about how he was the opposite of Dean Kamen: Scott is the comic book artist son of an inventor father, while Dean is the inventor son of a comic book artist father. This got me thinking, "Who's Dean Kamen? And what did he invent?" After doing a bit of research, I found out that Dean invented the Segway PT, which is an electric, self-balancing human transporter with a complex, computer-controlled gyroscopic stabilization and control system. The device balances on two parallel wheels and is controlled by moving body weight. Dean's father, Jack, was an illustrator for Mad magazine and Weird Science comics.
2. Scott makes a reference to Charles Babbage and how his steam-driven computers were never built. I found out that Baggage is considered a "father of the computer" and is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer that eventually led to more complex designs. Babbage directed the building of steam-powered machines that achieved some success, suggesting that calculations could be mechanized. His machines were among the first mechanical computers, but they were not actually completed, largely because of funding problems and personality issues.
3. Scott mentions the story of the Scorpion and the Frog, which I originally thought was one of Aesop's Fables. After doing some research, I found out that this story is attributed to various West African and European folktales, and is often misidentified with Aesop's Fables. Oh. So I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Mind maps.
Week 2, Day2
Professor Moss started class by showing us a YouTube video about AIGA, called "Get Inspired." After the video, a GAUGE member talked to us about, well, GAUGE. I already knew what GAUGE was all about, since I've seen many of their in-class presentations and posters around the Fine Arts building.
We were then introduced us to mind maps. A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas. Professor Moss showed us some examples of mind maps done by former students. I found a couple of them really funny, such as the ones on "What if there was an alien in my bed?" and the one about killer carrots. We were all given 30 minutes to create our own mind maps that focused on a "What if?" question. At first, I tried to create a mind map on "What if we could go back in time?" After writing down four thoughts, I couldn't think of anything else to put down. I felt that this topic was a bit serious and I wanted to create a mind map that was silly (like the ones for the bed-intruding alien and the killer carrots), so I decided to change my question to "What if SpongeBob SquarePants came to life?" From there, I was able to come up with lots and lots of fun and silly ideas.
We ended class by watching a TED video about Scott McCloud, which I'll discuss in a later blog.
Professor Moss started class by showing us a YouTube video about AIGA, called "Get Inspired." After the video, a GAUGE member talked to us about, well, GAUGE. I already knew what GAUGE was all about, since I've seen many of their in-class presentations and posters around the Fine Arts building.
We were then introduced us to mind maps. A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas. Professor Moss showed us some examples of mind maps done by former students. I found a couple of them really funny, such as the ones on "What if there was an alien in my bed?" and the one about killer carrots. We were all given 30 minutes to create our own mind maps that focused on a "What if?" question. At first, I tried to create a mind map on "What if we could go back in time?" After writing down four thoughts, I couldn't think of anything else to put down. I felt that this topic was a bit serious and I wanted to create a mind map that was silly (like the ones for the bed-intruding alien and the killer carrots), so I decided to change my question to "What if SpongeBob SquarePants came to life?" From there, I was able to come up with lots and lots of fun and silly ideas.
We ended class by watching a TED video about Scott McCloud, which I'll discuss in a later blog.
Reading Response #2: Introduction, Perspective, Exercises pg. 1-16
What exactly is design? Well, it's certainly not something that can be easily explained or answered with a simple defintion, as I found out after completing the second assigned reading. According to Karl Aspelund, a design is "a plan of action, created in response to a situation or problem that needs solving." Such a plan often needs to be laid out in order to be clearly understood by a viewer. Thus, designing involves forming ideas, planning and explaining the execution of those ideas, and making choices based on the evolution of those ideas that will lead to an end result. Aspelund describes designing as "a journey that has a number of stops and detours along the way." Wow...the whole concept of design is much more complex than I ever imagined! Before taking this class, I've always thought of "design" as simply an image/graphic used in the context of "Hey that's a cool design on your shirt!" and "I really like the designs on the cover of this book." Design isn't just something that appears on a poster (or a shirt or a book cover for that matter); design is a journey that requires lots of time, effort, and energy.
Aspelund compares the design process to a romantic relationship, which I find really amusing but helpful. I think it's very creative on Aspelund's part to use an example that people would be able to relate to in order to help them understand how each stage of the design process works. The design process consists of these stages: Inspiration, Identification, Conceptualization, Exploration/Refinement, Definition/Modeling, Communication, and Production. Aspelund explains what occurs at each stage by relating each one of them to a stage in a relationship. I really appreciate Aspelund's analogy because it definitely helps me understand the design process and how it works.
The assigned reading contains Aspelund's own perspective as a designer. He graduated from Wimbledon in London as a set and costume designer, and began his design career in theater working with musicals, ballet, and opera. Aspelund has also designed for films, fashion shoots, and exhibits. His varied experiences working in the industry led him to realize that all design follows the same process. I appreciate how Aspelund reflected his personal thoughts and experiences; his strong enthusiasm and passion for design definitely makes this book exciting to read...so far :)
Aspelund compares the design process to a romantic relationship, which I find really amusing but helpful. I think it's very creative on Aspelund's part to use an example that people would be able to relate to in order to help them understand how each stage of the design process works. The design process consists of these stages: Inspiration, Identification, Conceptualization, Exploration/Refinement, Definition/Modeling, Communication, and Production. Aspelund explains what occurs at each stage by relating each one of them to a stage in a relationship. I really appreciate Aspelund's analogy because it definitely helps me understand the design process and how it works.
The assigned reading contains Aspelund's own perspective as a designer. He graduated from Wimbledon in London as a set and costume designer, and began his design career in theater working with musicals, ballet, and opera. Aspelund has also designed for films, fashion shoots, and exhibits. His varied experiences working in the industry led him to realize that all design follows the same process. I appreciate how Aspelund reflected his personal thoughts and experiences; his strong enthusiasm and passion for design definitely makes this book exciting to read...so far :)
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sleepy...
Week 2, Day 1
I only slept for 20 minutes, so I was pretty much brain dead this morning. I had a super hard time trying to stay awake in class, but I'll try my best to reflect on what we did today.
Professor Moss shared with us his experience of not being able to "get into" a particular project back when he was in college just because he simply had no interest in it. The day before that project was due, he was inspired to make a completely different project, one that he really enjoyed working on. He brought his finished project to class the following day, and managed to overwhelm his professor. Professor Moss told us that it's important to find a passion for something because we'll find it much easier to enjoy doing it. After he said that, I started to think about how I used to be a Business Marketing major and how much I disliked it. I absolutely dreaded learning about economics and working on accounting problems. My heart just simply wasn't in it, so during my junior year, I changed my major to Graphic Design. I couldn't have been happier with this decision because now I get to learn and study something that I really enjoy. I've been in this major for about a year and a half now, and sure, I've pulled countless all-nighters trying to finish up art projects, but you know what? I've enjoyed every single minute of it, whether it was drawing, painting, sculpting, or working on computer graphics. Art is my passion, and it's what I love. I honestly don't mind staying up all night working on art projects - it's so much funner than doing homework for accounting! :D
We spent a good chunk of class time ranking the comic strips that we did for homework over the weekend (we were supposed to draw out why we chose to attend college) and discussing our reasons for ranking them the way we did. Class ended with a discussion of Seth Johnson's "I didn't know sh*t (until I started working)" lecture. This guest speaker event was held in the student union last Friday, on April 1st. The students who attended this event were asked to sit in front of the classroom and discuss what they had learned from Seth's lecture. According to my classmates, Seth took only one design class at Cal State L.A.; everything else was self-taught. Seth shared six points to design success, which are as follows:
I only slept for 20 minutes, so I was pretty much brain dead this morning. I had a super hard time trying to stay awake in class, but I'll try my best to reflect on what we did today.
Professor Moss shared with us his experience of not being able to "get into" a particular project back when he was in college just because he simply had no interest in it. The day before that project was due, he was inspired to make a completely different project, one that he really enjoyed working on. He brought his finished project to class the following day, and managed to overwhelm his professor. Professor Moss told us that it's important to find a passion for something because we'll find it much easier to enjoy doing it. After he said that, I started to think about how I used to be a Business Marketing major and how much I disliked it. I absolutely dreaded learning about economics and working on accounting problems. My heart just simply wasn't in it, so during my junior year, I changed my major to Graphic Design. I couldn't have been happier with this decision because now I get to learn and study something that I really enjoy. I've been in this major for about a year and a half now, and sure, I've pulled countless all-nighters trying to finish up art projects, but you know what? I've enjoyed every single minute of it, whether it was drawing, painting, sculpting, or working on computer graphics. Art is my passion, and it's what I love. I honestly don't mind staying up all night working on art projects - it's so much funner than doing homework for accounting! :D
We spent a good chunk of class time ranking the comic strips that we did for homework over the weekend (we were supposed to draw out why we chose to attend college) and discussing our reasons for ranking them the way we did. Class ended with a discussion of Seth Johnson's "I didn't know sh*t (until I started working)" lecture. This guest speaker event was held in the student union last Friday, on April 1st. The students who attended this event were asked to sit in front of the classroom and discuss what they had learned from Seth's lecture. According to my classmates, Seth took only one design class at Cal State L.A.; everything else was self-taught. Seth shared six points to design success, which are as follows:
- Tell your clients what they need.
- Make your own work.
- Do a lot with a little.
- Shut up and listen.
- Make things better.
- Be curious and never satisfied.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Reading Response #1: Front cover - xviii
The book that we're required to read for Art 220 this quarter is The Design Process, by Karl Aspelund.
The designs on the cover of this book remind me of Spirograph. A feeling of nostalgia swept over me just by looking at the book's cover, as it brings back fond memories of my childhood, when my sister and I would spend countless hours drawing different Spirograph shapes using our multicolored pens. Oh, how I miss those simple, carefree days.
The assigned reading consisted of the contents of the book, the preface, and the acknowledgments. The Design Process is divided into one introductory chapter and 7 chapters that correspond to the 7 stages of design: Inspiration, Identification, Conceptualization, Exploration/Refinement, Definition/Modeling, Communication, and Production. The table of contents is very neatly organized and easy to follow. The title of each stage is written in a different color, which makes it very easy for the reader to find a specific chapter. Each stage includes objectives, key concepts, exercises, and perspectives of actual professionals from the design industry.
From reading the preface and acknowledgments, it seems to me that Aspelund is very confident that his book will inspire design students and help them succeed. I'm excited to find out what Aspelund has to offer in his book, and I sure hope that his advice would help me improve and succeed as a graphic design student.
The designs on the cover of this book remind me of Spirograph. A feeling of nostalgia swept over me just by looking at the book's cover, as it brings back fond memories of my childhood, when my sister and I would spend countless hours drawing different Spirograph shapes using our multicolored pens. Oh, how I miss those simple, carefree days.
The assigned reading consisted of the contents of the book, the preface, and the acknowledgments. The Design Process is divided into one introductory chapter and 7 chapters that correspond to the 7 stages of design: Inspiration, Identification, Conceptualization, Exploration/Refinement, Definition/Modeling, Communication, and Production. The table of contents is very neatly organized and easy to follow. The title of each stage is written in a different color, which makes it very easy for the reader to find a specific chapter. Each stage includes objectives, key concepts, exercises, and perspectives of actual professionals from the design industry.
From reading the preface and acknowledgments, it seems to me that Aspelund is very confident that his book will inspire design students and help them succeed. I'm excited to find out what Aspelund has to offer in his book, and I sure hope that his advice would help me improve and succeed as a graphic design student.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Yay! New classroom!
Week 1, Day 2
We began the second day of class by moving into a new classroom. Art 220 will now be held in FA 308. I've had a couple other classes in this room before, and I like it a lot more than FA 320, our original room. Our new classroom is definitely more spacious. Oh, and it actually has chairs! No more sitting on uncomfortable stools! Well, not really. I'll explain later...
We began the second day of class by moving into a new classroom. Art 220 will now be held in FA 308. I've had a couple other classes in this room before, and I like it a lot more than FA 320, our original room. Our new classroom is definitely more spacious. Oh, and it actually has chairs! No more sitting on uncomfortable stools! Well, not really. I'll explain later...
Professor Moss talked about the difference between a thought and an idea. He also explained to us how concept development involves process: in order to develop a concept, we must go through a process that involves generating ideas and coming up with solutions. Everyone in class seemed rather tired and sleepy (I know I was), until Professor Moss told us to get up from our seats and sit in first name alphabetical order, with the A's sitting in the front of the class and the Z's sitting in the back. This surely woke everybody up, as we all frantically got up from our seats and scrambled to find out where the heck we were supposed to sit. The people whose names began with the beginning part of the alphabet had an easy time doing this, as they quickly sat down in the front of the room. Those whose names began with the later part of the alphabet seemed to have some trouble figuring out where to sit; I was one of those people. There was some confusion as to how the aisles should be alphabetically organized: horizontally or "S-shaped." I was the last person to sit down, and since there were no more chairs left in the room, I had to sit on an uncomfortable stool next to the edge of a table for the remainder of class. Lucky me. All in all, I thought we, as a class, completed this exercise rather quickly. I was wrong; Professor Moss informed us that we were the slowest of all his Art 220 classes to do this. We were then asked if we knew the reason for this exercise. I thought it was a way for us to get to know each other's names. Several of my classmates were thinking the same thing too, that this activity was an "icebreaker" to get us to talk to each other. Some of my other classmates suggested that Professor Moss made us do this exercise because he wanted to see the process that we would have to figure out in order to solve this problem. Nobody seemed to have the answer that Professor Moss was looking for; he finally revealed that the reason for this exercise was perception. He wanted us to realize how our perception of the class would change if we sat in a different part of the room. Well, I had a good perception of the class when I sat in a chair with a table, but everything turned negative once I sat on that uncomfortable, unfortunate stool...just kidding!
After the seating activity, Professor Moss went around the class asking everyone to formulate a "What if...?" question. I had several questions in mind, but I was the last person that he got to, and some of my classmates had already said what I wanted to say. As we neared the end of class, Professor Moss showed us a collection of images and asked us to say what came to mind for each image. Each image was drastically different in tone and subject, and Professor Moss explained to us how the visual evidence found in each image would help us develop our perception for that particular image.
Monday, March 28, 2011
First Day of Spring Quarter!
Week 1, Day 1
Today was the first day of spring quarter! My first class of the day was Art 220: Concept Development; this class goes from 8:00 am to 10:30 am on Mondays and Wednesdays, and is taught by Professor Jimmy Moss. I haven't had an 8 am class in 2 years! I actually had to go to sleep early (at 2 am, yes I consider that early) so that I would be able to wake up for class. I have to get used to going to sleep early and waking up early so that I would be able to focus in class and keep a clear mind. I am so not a morning person. I usually feel semi conscious most of the time. I really need to change my habit of going to sleep late, at least for this quarter.
Today was the first day of spring quarter! My first class of the day was Art 220: Concept Development; this class goes from 8:00 am to 10:30 am on Mondays and Wednesdays, and is taught by Professor Jimmy Moss. I haven't had an 8 am class in 2 years! I actually had to go to sleep early (at 2 am, yes I consider that early) so that I would be able to wake up for class. I have to get used to going to sleep early and waking up early so that I would be able to focus in class and keep a clear mind. I am so not a morning person. I usually feel semi conscious most of the time. I really need to change my habit of going to sleep late, at least for this quarter.
During class, Professor Moss discussed what we'll learn this quarter. We touched on the subjects of critical thinking and experimental learning. Professor Moss then announced that he had something to give to everyone...a Mandarin orange! One of my classmates walked around the room with a bag of oranges, asking each person to get an orange. When she got to me, I reached into the bag and grabbed what seemed to me was a "pretty" orange. But when I took out the orange, it was nowhere near pretty: the orange was irregularly shaped with a large, greenish gray blemish on the bottom, and the texture was rather rough and porous, which reminded me of someone with really bad skin. Professor Moss told us that we had exactly 2 minutes to describe our orange to whoever we were partnered up with. My partner was Sandy, and I described my orange to her first. I thought that this was going to be an easy task, but this was certainly not the case! I ran out of things to say after a minute went by. Describing an orange was a lot harder than it looked! When the 2 minutes were up, we were asked to swap oranges with our partners and repeat the same 2 minute description process. Sandy gave me her orange, which had even more blemishes than my original. Then the person next to me asked to swap oranges, and I ended up with a near-perfect orange. My new orange has a nice, round shape, smooth skin, and barely any blemishes. I like my fruit to look aesthetically pleasing, so you could imagine how happy I was to end up with a nice-looking orange. :) Anyway, Professor Moss told us that we were to do 5 renderings of the orange on 7" x 7" paper every week for 10 weeks, and turn in 50 renderings at the end of the quarter. Each rendering has to be done using a different tool or technique each time. Professor Moss told us that this is a perception exercise, and we should be aware of how our oranges would change in appearance over the course of the quarter.
I named my orange Juju! Juju is wearing a bow because she's a girl :)
We were also told to create and maintain a blog for this class throughout the rest of the quarter. I've never kept a blog before, so this is a brand new experience for me. I have decided to call my blog "Lorraine's Lair." Why Lorraine's Lair? Well, I've always been a fan of alliteration and I wanted something that would be easy to remember. Also, a lair is defined as a hiding place, and I consider my blog as a place where I can "hide" behind my computer and express my thoughts and feelings...
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