Graphic Design Semester Reflection

I did three projects this semester is Graphic Design. The first project was a raccoon, the second project was an infographic, and then I ended the semester with a vectorized self portrait.

Raccoon

This was the first project we did in Graphic Design. The three parts of this project were the basic raccoon, the fall raccoon, and the postcard. The whole project took most of first quarter. I struggled quite a bit with this project because it was the first time that I ever did something this extensive in Adobe Illustrator. I had a hard time figuring out how to use all the tools, but ended up getting fairly familiar with the most important ones. Having a tutorial for how to create the raccoon was extremely helpful and allowed me to learn a lot without all the stress of trying to figure it all out by myself. This whole project just allowed me to get more comfortable with Adobe Illustrator in general and I think it was a great first project. Some feedback that I got was that it was a strong first project but I did have plenty of little mistakes throughout. The main changes that I made to this project were in my Behance post. At first, it was very sloppy because I didn't know what I was doing but I later changed it to look more professional. Overall, I am fairly proud of this first project, especially since it was all new to me and did not exactly play to my strengths.



Infographic

The second project that I did in Graphic Design was an infographic. For this project, we could pick any topic the interested us and make it into an infographic. I chose to do mine about journalism and how it has changed over time. This project took about three weeks. One major challenged that I faced was missing the first few days of the project. This definitely set me back a bit but I think I was able to catch up fairly easily. One of the parts that I missed was creating a wireframe, so I ended up rushing through that a little too quickly. Due to missing so much, I learned a lot about time management through this project. I learned that I need to get better at managing my time and prioritizing certain things over others. Of course, I learned a lot about Graphic Design as well. I used a lot of tutorials for this project so I learned how to really follow a tutorial. I also got even more comfortable with the basic tools and learned about more complex tools. Some feedback that I got was that my infographic was a little overly simplistic and that it needed more information. Again, the main thing I ended up changing about this project was my Behance post by trying to make it look more professional. Overall, I am not as happy with this project as I was with my raccoon. I probably should have done more research and put more time into coming up with a color scheme.

Vector Self Portrait

The most recent project was a vectorized self portrait. The instructions were to find a picture of yourself and then vectorize it using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. This took about two weeks. I had a really hard time with this project overall. My main issue was that I wasn't sure how to go about executing it. I tried to find tutorials but couldn't find any that made sense to me. I couldn't figure out how to create the small details and shadows one my face. Due to all of this, I ended up with a very simple portrait. I became a lot more comfortable with the pen tool through this project since that was the main tool used. The main feedback I got was that I needed more details on my portrait. I changed it a little by trying to add more details, though I don't think it worked out too well. Just like the other projects, I also changed my Behance post to look more professional. Overall, I think I did the best that I could, though I wish that ended up being a little bit better.

Class Time

I try to use as much time in class as possible making my projects better and learning more about Graphic Design. Most of my time is spent on Adobe Illustrator creating my projects and making them the best I can. Some other time is used doing research or updating my Behance profile. When I finish early, which almost never happens, I try to spend my time making my project better, making my Behance better, or looking at other people's work on Behance. Honestly, I don't do a whole lot of Graphic Design work outside of class. I have stayed after class to finish up projects a couple times and I have done some work at home if needed. Other than that, I will sometimes look at people's work on Behance if I'm curious about what other people are doing.

Strengths

One of my biggest strengths as an employee overall is that I am a hard worker and always find a way to get my work done. I maximize this in Graphic Design by staying on task throughout the whole class period and doing whatever I need to outside of class to make sure my projects get done.

Areas for Improvement

I have a lot of room for improvement in Graphic Design. I am not very good at it in general so I have lots of ways in which I can grow. For one, I need to improve my basic technical skills. I have never been very good with technology and since this is a technology based class I need to really work on that. However, I do think I have already substantially improved in this area. I also need to work on my ability to make things look nice in general. Again, I have never been good at making things pleasing to the eye and have not cared about it very much, either. However, this class has already made me appreciate good design more and has made me want to produce good design.

Summary

My favorite thing about this semester was the raccoon project. It is still the project that I am most proud of and I enjoyed being able to create it. I have also enjoyed being able to see myself improve in Graphic Design. At the beginning of the year, I had no idea what I was doing or why I was doing it, but I am now able to do more on my own and appreciate the outcome. If I could go back, I would probably change my infographic a little. I would mostly just do more research and try to make it more like I imagined. Also, I would try to collaborate with other people more and get more outside views on my work. The biggest thing that I learned this semester is that I am capable of creating something good and that I just need to have a little more faith in myself. One goal I would like to set for next semester would be to spend more time making my projects look how I want and not just do them to fill a requirement. All in all, I am glad I decided to take Graphic Design and I feel like I learned a lot this semester, even though it was extremely stressful at times.

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