Fourth Interview Questions

I plan on interviewing Chris Green, a graphic designer with over 15 years of experience at Tetra Tech in Pasadena. If I can, I would like to interview Michelle Bandach, the owner of one of my all time favorite design blogs and a designer herself. (It's one of the links on the side. I don't remember which one.)

1. What common characteristics, if any, do successful graphic designers possess?
2. What steps do graphic designers need to take in order to produce successful work (i.e. ad campaigns, etc)?
3. What are the most important questions should graphic designers ask clients?
4. What important skills must graphic designers learn which are not taught in classes? 
5. What skills in general are important for a graphic designer?
6. What is the best way for one to conceptualize an original concept?
7. Is drawing inspiration from past designs looked down upon? If so, why? If not, what are the best sources for these?
8. Are there any characteristics that are common among successful designs (i.e. ad campaigns, award winning publications, etc)? If so, what?
9. Is there a set "design process" which all designers follow? If so, what and elaborate. If not, why?
10. What is the biggest factor to take a design from good to great?
11. How do designers get inspired? How do they maintain the motivation and inspiration throughout the design process?
12. What is the typical day for graphic designers? 
13. What is the biggest challenge being a graphic designer?
14. I recently had another interview with graphic designer Sylvia Ly. She mentioned that the audience plays a huge role in determining what a design will be. Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
15. She also explained that Web Design is a popular field for designers to go in. What differences in skill are there between editorial designers and web designers?
16. When is a graphic designer considered "successful?"
17. What key things do you think are essential to designing? Are these standard among all designers?
18. What resources do good graphic designers utilize in terms of inspiration/creating the actual work?
19. What characteristics are necessary for EVERY graphic designer?
20. What's the difference between digital art and graphic design? Does one need to know digital art in order to be a graphic designer?

Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

1. I plan on mainly practicing my technique on Photoshop, since that is where I have the least knowledge. Plus, my research towers indicate I don't have a lot of research on the actual technique required to be a successful graphic designer anyways. I will go and buy tutorial books and will work on the lessons they have whether they be photo editting or typography or effects or such as.

2. This should reach 30 hours of work since I've done these tutorials before and each one is about 1 to 2 hours of work. Since I will have an entire book to work with, I don't think this will be a problem. I will divide the work to maybe one lesson a day or every two days depending on my mood... All the work completed will be kept in a folder and I'll print them out/PDF them for evidence if necessary.

3. This relates back to my EQ becuase this allows me to experiment hands-on different techniques to make my designs more eye-catching. Also, because one of my possible answers is knowing the ins-and-outs of the software being used, it fits perfectly. Also, because my skills as a graphic designer are in reality limited to publication design, since that's where I've been trained the most, this will allow me to become more creative with more mediums other than just editorial.

Independent Component 1

Log of 30 (or more) hours of work:

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Evidence:

Due to on-going technical errors with the printer in Strand's room, I was unable to get the final printouts of the first and second deadlines. I was, however, able to dig up some of the drafts. First and second deadline is 100% complete, though! I didn't think of the idea of taking screenshots instead since I was panicing about the printer. Also, the whole "yearbook needs to be kept secret" idea kind of applies too... But here it is! 

Cover

Front Endsheet

Back Endsheet

Division #1

Model Assembly

Senior Projects

Frist Page of Senior Section

The rest of the drafts of first and second deadline

Literal:

(a) I, William Lam, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) I worked on designing our school's yearbook. This includes, but is not limited to, designing templates, laying out spreads, Photoshopping photos, touching up photos, cutting out photos, headline packaging and other typography, teaching the staffers how to design, inputting photos, writing captions, putting together mods, taking photos, and gathering "inspiration" from other designers. In all, this includes about 48 spreads, or 96 pages worth of content completed (halfway done!).

Interpretive:

I say my entire component has significance because I'm constantly doing hands-on work and practicing my design skills. I have applied many of the techniques I have researched, such as designing for your audience and different ways of organizing information, to my work in yearbook. My component is direct application of my entire senior project in terms of design techniques as well as learning how to operate the programs needed to become a successful designer. I stay after school almost everyday from 1 to 5 working on spreads. It demonstrates (more than) 30 hours of work because designing requires strict attention to details, which means multiple hours of working on the same thing. Overall, my labor in the independent component is significant because I apply what I learn from research every time I'm on the computer working.

Applied: 

The independent component helped me answer my EQ because it allowed me to gain hands-on experience on designing for a specific audience I.E. iPoly student body. The theme of the book required deep digging in order to successfully connect with the student body in order to have a chance at an impacting design. Without that and without an audience, my work would be insignificant because I would then be simply designing for myself, which goes against the purpose of a graphic designer. My third interview, graphic designer Sylvia Ly stated that graphic designers are like messengers; they mold a message according to the preference of the receiver in order for the message to be well understood. My independent component, working on yearbook, allows me to do just that. My designing is not according to how I want things to look like; rather, how my target audience prefers things to look like (through utilizing trends that are popular among current high school yearbooks.) Through my independent component, I was able to see that the first key to impacting an audience is to know your audience thoroughly in terms of history, taste, attitude, idealisms, culture, etc.

Presentation 2 Rough Draft

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