What I've Learned

Well today marks the official last day of class. This blog is to show you all of my different materials and talk about what I have learned over the course of the class.

Here is a banner done for Will Campbell

Here is a very similar banner done for Robin Gosh.

What I learned: People really like small alterations. Save all previous work in it's original format (not just jpeg) so that the corrections only take a minute, and not seemingly, a lifetime.

Here is a timeline for a story on beer. I made it to match one of the graphics that Sam Hume did for the same story. See below:

Done By: Samuel Hume

 What I learned: Matching graphics look a heck of a lot better than graphics that are completely incoherent. Even when the client (or in this case fellow peer) has a very specific idea in mind, don't be afraid to sacrifice a few elements of  their idea for brand unity. Below is the original idea. As you can see I kept the basic layout, but changed all of the elements to keep it more clean.

Computer Image from Prezi.com

A banner created for the social media team

What I learned: Ideas evolve. What was originally a background full of dots changes to randomly dispersed dots to feel like coding, and then to follow the map pattern. Ideas are ideas. Some start off amazing and some start off so-so, but in each case evolution is good because it keeps you in touch with the project.

Thank you card to be distributed to guest speakers

What I learned: Even though there are people in your group that may have more experience than you, they aren't always right. When I showed this card to the group, they wanted the colours changed to mostly white and green. This was fine with me because I wasn't overly attached to the design, however the person I made it for preferred my colour choice and in the end that is what they went with. The client always gets the final decision.

Yet another banner.

What I learned: It's okay to push yourself to try new things. Drawing clouds by hand on photoshop and drawing the cn tower gave this image a unique feel. Because I did not use pre-made shapes, this banner actually made me feel way more artistic and I would say it definitely advanced my skills. It also allowed me more leeway to try new things. See below.

Comic con visual. 

What I learned: Drawing on the computer is fun! Not all images need to have the CN tower in it to be a part of emerge. Some people will be upset that they didn't come up with a cool idea, or that they don't get to work on the project with you. This project took me a while to complete, but because I took the time, I was incredibly pleased with the results.

My first really cool banner!

What I learned: Not all of my ideas will be used, both in the class and in the work place. Even if I think the work is fantastic, there will be others who just plain disagree, and that's the way it is.

 Preview ad for Emerge

What I learned: Some things that are really quite awesome on photoshop, or in a psd file, are completely different when turned to jpeg. So much for the beautifully glowing text. Ah well, you win some you lose some.

Overall you can see that I learned quite a bit throughout my time in this class. These graphics are in no particular order, but if they were you could see how much I improved, not just in design but in time management, etc. In the end I think it's safe to say that I have a lot of great graphics to add to my portfolio!