Team Separation- Final video: Lauren, Jessica and Justin

the truth..

Truth of the matter is that in the beginning of the semester it was kind of mandatory that we do all those silly little exercises just so we could learn new things and start using new programs and all that nonsense. Well, it was like the internet gods came down and granted our wishes that we didn’t have to do those exercise anymore due to issues with the books site.

I couldn’t have been any happier when I found this out. I honestly thought there were a waste of time and for the most part stressing me out. I felt as if I was losing focus on the actual main projects that were due for a grade. When I was told that I didn’t have to go back and fix anything after the site was up and that if I didn’t start anything it was fine was almost like a weight lifted off my shoulders.

For the whole semester it might have been more worth our time to work on small actual projects like the brochure and poster to help build our skills for a grade instead of silly exercises. Even if we still just kept the main projects, didn’t add anything new and got rid of the silly book nonsense the semester could of went by a lot smoother and we would of got a bigger bang for our buck.

Between the projects and posting these blogs I feel as if that would have been more than sufficient for the course (which ended up happening anyways).

stormbraining!

First, a definition of brainstorming: a group creativity technique designed to generate ideas and solutions for a problem.

Brainstorming is a great tool, whether you are on the job or in school it’s an amazing way to get together and share ideas and bounce them off of other people or just with yourself. Another benefit of brainstorming is the ability to see more clearly why an idea may not work or why an idea is better than the first. With your mind working in over time thinking about a solution for accomplishing a goal it might be found more easily and quickly if you think it out.

Even if you don’t come up with a solution right away the idea is to get all your creative ideas flowing. If you come into a project with a blank slate and absolutely no clue on what you might want to do you are basically screwed and not being productive. If you are having issues with making a decision don’t be scared to ask someone else for an opinion, you never know what they might say could help you and get you on a better track.

By writing things down or creating a diagram you are helping yourself get the best ideas on the table and opening your mind to figuring out what would be the best ideas to try out. Also, when you are brainstorming don’t be afraid to keep and open and welcoming environment to people who want to help you and give you a little criticism and teach you new techniques.

There is always going to be something that is unavoidable but if you find yourself getting off track just re focus and start writing things down again to help get you back going in the right direction.

magazine layout say what?

When it comes to magazine layout I feel that cosmopolitan does an amazing job catching the reader’s eye and attention.

They do an amazing job at using bold colors and bold font choices. Everything and anything to capture the reader they do it brilliantly; especially if you are just in the store and you’re waiting in line and a cosmopolitan magazine and sitting there you can’t help but want to pick it up and see what is inside. The cover is always covered with bold color and bold font choices; the articles that are the juiciest always stick out the most and there is always an amazing celebrity on the front of it that just draws you in. It’s very admirable when a magazine isn’t scared to take chances.

Every issue is always different than the last; they aren’t scared to try new things and use different set ups for each story. You can tell that everything is chosen with such precision to make sure that each article goes along with the pictures and that the color scheme also makes complete sense. Cosmopolitan also isn’t scared to push the envelope especially since they are a racier magazine with their sex tips and all.

It’s a nice mix of a lot. Each page is filled with a wide variety of different articles which keeps the reader guessing on what will be next; whether or not you are interested in the magazine or just reading it to check out one story, you want to keep going to the end just to see what else could pop up and that in my mind is an amazing magazine that knows how to get their name out there and to stay out there.

When dealing with a successful magazine everything that goes into it is very important. To be on top and to stay on top you can’t be scared to take chances and use things that others would be scared to even think about. The design and layout can make or break you, this is why cosmopolitan is the number one woman’s magazine, because they know exactly what the reader wants and won’t stop till they get it right.

FIN.

Ohhh project number four how dare you give me trouble and creative block. Well as any normal person some things just don’t come as easy as others; I had created a first version of my brochure and just felt ok about it, it wasn’t anything great and didn’t really impress me, sooo I got rid of it!

I Completely started over and designed something that was 100% better than the first and really pleased me. Its colorful, very nice to look at, the right amount of text to get the camps point across, and overall looks like a real brochure. I am a perfectionist and wasn’t going to stop or give up until I felt deep down I had made something that others would like. Also I had an image of what the camps actually brochure looked like and I must say the one I made is way better and easier on the eyes.
Coming up with the topic was easy. Everything else was the downfall; as soon as I started going on the new brochure and pulled better colors from the logo and the grass graphic I used everything started to look amazing and how I originally wanted it. Everything I had written on the brochure we’re things I had already known about the camp from working there for 8 years! Working on things that are near and dear to you are way easier to portray. Sometimes I’m very indecisive and picky but in this case it really made a difference and I’m very happy with the outcome of the second brochure.

My main goal for this brochure was to make something that looked inviting that gave you the feel of summer and shows how happy this camp makes people.

c'est la vie

The semester is finally coming to an end, and I feel that I have learned a lot about many different things and accomplished many tasks. Ive learned different aspects of indesign, photoshop,as well as illustrator. When class first started it almost felt like a task to want to use these programs and actually learn all the different tools, but not its almost second nature when I open up the program I am very familiar with using them.

Every project was different from the last. I enjoyed learning new things and new ways to portray what I wanted to come out of it. Everything we designed I loved the task of doing, as a whole this class was a great experience and hope that everyone gets out of this class what I had. In my future my dream is to be part of an amazing marketing team where I can explore, learn and design more things. I will take everything learned from this class into my future. I have just received an internship with After Dark Events working with the marketing department. I am very excited to start working with them and learn many new things. Everything designed in this class will be put into my portfolio to show other future employers so they can get a feel of the things I have worked on.

This class truly helped to open my eyes to things I never thought I would be doing.

merp

At this point in the game everyone is finishing up their project four. I missed one day of class when we all started due to me forgetting I had traffic court (oops) but I was able to think of a concept I wanted my brochure to be on and think of how I wanted to design it. This wasn’t my first time making a brochure so I wasn’t worried about not getting it done in time. I did my brochure on the summer camp I work at in Rochester for kids with disabilities; it’s a place that is near and dear to my heart so it just made sense. I used direct information and pictures from the camp as well as tied in colors from the logo by using the dropper took to pull those out.

So far I have loved everything that I have created. It’s a relaxing and good feeling to love what you do and know that what you have done is done well. I have really enjoyed just making everything from start to finish and having someone beautifully printed out from FedEx and getting good feedback from their employees also.

As I said before I love just being hands on with things and creating things and being creative. It gives me a sense of relaxation to just play around with different software.  I have so much to show from my college career here at Buffalo State and many different things to show future employers which is exciting all in itself since many people can’t show one piece of work that they can truly say they worked hard on and having that show.