Day 19

Final day!! 

Today was the last day of Art 220 Concept Development. We concluded our class by celebrating and watching the videos we made about sustaining the earth to become a better place. Everyones videos made an impact, and it made me think twice about the lifestyle I have. I gained many skills from this class, like working more as a group, problem solving, and the many alternates in finding solutions as a group. My favorite problem solving obstacle we had to face as a class was the one where we played the game with this is a "who" a "what" a "bottle", etc. It was fun and challenging at the same time, but it made me realize we really need to work together to complete the game. 

Here's a link to the video I made for class. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6LPpDxhCmg

Thanks Jimmy for the great class! 

Day 18

Seriously the question of what a designer is a question of controversy. Debating between a secretary of the English department can "design" a flyer and call her a designer is the right label. To an extent there is a design but it does not necessarily mean its done correctly using one serif and one san serif in a layout, or any other detail we pay attention to when designing a flyer.  In class we agreed that design consists factors of unsightliness, desirable, commercially successful, viable, and adds value (sometimes). Ultimately, design creates visual communication that is pleasing to the audience.

The Sirken Robinson TED TALK was something I won't forget, he is a very intelligent yet comical speaker I have watched on TED. What I gained out his talk was that creativity is as important as literacy, people grow with creativity. He also brought up the obvious question I have always asked myself and others around, why is art/dance always on the bottom of the totem pole?? It's the creative things in life that make an impact in peoples life as well as the basic things like Math or English. Why not give the same emphasis to art/dance as given to the basic fundamentals, shouldn't everyone get that chance? 

Day 17

Little rant in the beginning of class really caught my attention today, since I never really thought of why people buy Apple products. My response, why not. It looks cooler than a PC, its fast, I feel connected with my society,  the graphics are amazing for designers, and the list goes on... 

Watching short films on what AIGA is, is really informing and I didn't really know about it till now. I would see posters and signs around the art building and would just brush past them. Now that I have a brief background knowledge on what AIGA is, I want to get involved and see what I can gain out of it and what I can input into the graphic design world. AIGA originally stood for American Institute of Graphic Arts, but now its considered to be known as Professional Associating of Design. The oldest chapter is the LA chapter. It was founded by 14 people in 1914. It consists of 22,000 members, 64 chapters, and most of which are college students. The benefits designers gain is a sense of community, a place to share info, understand one another and respect. 

All this information was presented to us through lynda.com, I urge everyone to check out this website, its very beneficiary.  

Day 16

Today in class, we watched a short film about "Relative of size of things and the and effect of adding another zero" by Charles and Ray Eames  that was narrated by James Franco. Charles and Ray Eames are known to be a famous design team. I had seen the clip before in middle school, high school, and when I went to PCC. For some reason I can't stop looking at it even though I have seen it numerous times. Everytime I get a different message out of it.  The message behind it is simply beautiful and genius. I would have never thought of representing the universe the way it was presented to get a feeling of relative size in such detail. 

Now thinking about the final project, how or why does the topic I chose make a difference in sustaining the earth in a positive way? This is just one of the questions i thought of when I finalized on what my topic should be. Who my audience is? What visual material am I going to use? What song is going to be playing in the background? These are the problems I need to find solutions to. Let the brainstorming begin! 

Day 15

3 SHOT STORY...

Thinking of a story and relating it to an audience to understand the concept is complicated to represent in 3 shots. Hence the problem we had to solve in class today. We divided into groups of 3 and had to work together, and come up with a story line in 30 min. Afterwards the class had to decide which 3 shot story communicated the best. Whichever group got the most tallies, that group won a prize. My group was the fortunate group to win this contest in class since we had a clear simple message in our 3 shot story. It was about a man and a woman meeting, falling in love, then having a family of their own at the end.

We were introduced our final to create a 2-3 min video that has to do with sustainability with the earth, people, or/and environment. Im thinking of doing something that has to do with water or air pollution, I'm not sure yet. 

Day 14

Can you say mind blown? Todays introduction problem solving game was intense. It's a type of game where all of us need to work together and listen to one another to make the game flow without messing it up. Object of the game... LISTEN and pay attention to your surrounding and try not to get distracted. Communication is key in any group problem. 

Planning out a brief is what people use to communicate through paper about their company/project. Time, context, and ethics are valuable in this process. It is all about the experience a designer creates to keep the client/ audience satisfied. Designers like us should use a method known as S.W.O.T. Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threats. When thinking of what to write in a creative brief.  

Day 12 &13

Game Design Critique Days

During these two days, we spent a vast amount of time on everyone to give them feedback on their game concept. I'm grateful for having two days to do critiques because these critiques we do in class helps each of us grow individually as a better presenter and self confidence in our work. even though talking in front of the class can be nerve wrecking sometimes, I gain a lot out of it. Giving criticism is the best advice to give to people, saying it looks nice does not cut it, it does not help the person you say it to because it can always be better somehow. 

From the critiques I received from the class i learned that I need to be more patient with my audience I am selling my game to. Being clear, precise, and to the point is my goal in a presentation.