16HOURS magazine

I wasn't sure if this is relevant enough for my blog, but I figured might as well share the news. One of my submitted photoshop edits was chosen to be featured in a design/photography magazine. Crazy. View the screenshots below.

I'm planning on buying it, since i've admired the magazine since they first launched it. I'll post it once it comes.

Self Reflection

Q: How do you think you are doing so far in your senior project and why?
I think I'm doing an AE job, if not already a P :D With my independent component, I'm putting so many hours each day, around 4 to 5 hours, and according to multiple people (Strand, Mimi, Cynthia, various seniors) it seems to be paying off in the overall product of my designing. I've gained a lot from my researching and have tried to apply it to all aspects of my thinking, not just when I'm designing. I've learned (a lot more) problem solving skills and have learned to be more accepting with other's ideas rather than my own (in yearbook, Model Assembly, various group work), which was hard at times. Overall, I feel that I have fulfilled everything that has been asked of me to do, but have gone more to not only put in more work, but also apply what I've learned to better fuction as a person at school with others.

Q: What one thing do you think you have done well on and why?
One thing I have done well with my senior project has been my overall enthusiam with the topic. I've really found my passion doing this and I'm really excited as to what work I can do to further explore this. With senior project, since it's for the whole year, I've tried to keep it as un-miserable as possible and in the process, I've made it so that I enjoy working with my project, and therefore produce quality work that I'm proud of.

Q: What is one thing you would like to improve on and why?
My puctuality. I've been really bad at procrastinating certain things, such as blog assignments, printing out the WB, finding research, starting assignments in core, etc. Senioritis is getting to me just a bit. I want to improve on that because being on-time and observing deadlines is a huge part of being a graphic designer. You have to meet deadlines for your clients or finish your work in a timely manner to make the client happy. For example, I was asked my Maria to design some flyers for her club, Know It Forward, and I didn't start on it until a week and a half later, which in the real world, would have lost me a client.

Also, my presentation skills. I freak out in front of people because I'm self conscious of speaking too quickly so then I completely forget what I'm talking about and etc etc. Refer to my 5-Minute Presentation Reflection. The two hour presentation would be a disaster if I don't improve on that.

Inspiration: Thanksgiving Break

Well, I'm starting off my Thanksgiving Break with the discovery of a beautiful blog by MichellesWork (http://michelleswork.wordpress.com/). I've absolutely fallen in love with what she does (added bonus: She's licensed by Urban Outfitters!). Here a a few of my favorites (also for my future reference because I know it'll get lost in my computer).

Science Fair Proposal

Hypothesis: If an ad for a product is placed near a related or relevant article in a magazine, then the company's revenue for that product will be higher.

Independent: Proximity of the ad from said article in the magazine. (EG directly next to, 1 page over, 2 pages over, etc.)
Dependent: Revenue of the product (in USD)
Control: Cooking Magazine

This connects with my senior project EQ because advertisements are a medium which utilizes graphic design, especially in magazines. Graphic design of ad really dictates the success of the campaign, which is typically why companies either outsource professional graphic designers to do the campaign or have an in-house art department. I was suggested to do the placement of the ads, and I believe it still correlates with the EQ because it's another factor which pulls a reaction (IE buying the product) from the reader.

How I will perform the experiment:
1. Gather a cooking magazine.
2. Determine which articles are the main focus of the magazine (the cover stories)
3. From there, determine which ads rose more interest, as well as the ads that were overlooked.
4. Determine the proximity of the ads that rose interest and the ones that did not from the articles that were pointed out in step 2.
5. Call the company and ask for their revenue.

I will use a chi squared test to determine the statistical validity.

Equipment that will be needed are:
-cooking magazine
-pencil & paper
-telephone

This will be a math and computer science experiment.

Concerns:
I'm not sure if the company will be willing to give me the information I need...

Inspiration: September to November

I've been really inspired lately from a lot of other designer's work. Since my computer is getting full of them, I figured I might as well post them here for future reference. I've collected majority of these from online design blogs that I browse daily.

What I've Learned So Far

Q: What have you learned how to do since you started working on your senior project?
Honestly, what I've learned since starting is how to be more patient with design. Multiple sources I've read, especially the design books, have stressed the importance of drafting, re-drafting, and re-drafting the re-drafts. They basically told me that in order to find what truly works in a design, I need to design MULTIPLE times, which really tested my patience.

When I usually design, I would get an initial idea and simply run with it without any thought of other ways to rework it or improve it. So practicing this was really irritating at times, especially after getting (mostly negative constructive) feedback from Elissa, Jocelyn (assistant design editor), Mr. Strand, Mimi Orth, Paul Ender, Dan Austin, and even Cynthia Schroeder (the day she dropped by). It meant sacrificing lunches and staying after school until 5:30 to re-design 90% of the original spreads in Strand's room (whose air conditioning has been broken for the past TWO WEEKS and gets to be, like, 137 degrees inside with (what feels like) no oxygen... with flies.) In the end, it'll pay off, though :D

My senior project so far taught me to change my attitude towards conceptualizing designs by designing multiple times and then stepping back to see what works, and what doesn't. I've applied this with yearbook, which really benefited in the long run because it (hopefully) will pay off in a more visually impacting book. On another note, it has also taught me that I can't be lazy.


Q: Post evidence of this accomplishment. 

Note: I've laid out all the failed yearbook spreads I've designed in the past week. Sadly (but thankfully) none of these will make it into the book. 

Another Note: This is just 1/4 of the drafts. The rest is either currently inside the yearbook room, or I threw them out by accident. There are also all the drafts that DIDN'T make it to the computer (I always do preliminary sketches on whiteboards and random pieces of scratch paper).

Q: What research helped you to do this and how?

I got the most input about this strategy mainly from the book, Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming, by Ellen Lupton. The book is mainly about the preliminary stages of a design project, in which one of the steps needed is to draft and draft and draft. One part of the book really helped me because it had a case study called Texturactive Identity, which took an in-depth look at the creation of a logo for the fictional company Texturactive. The graphic designers that were assigned to tackle the project of creating a logo for the company mocked up at least 10 different logos, each completely different from each other. They all looked beautiful, and utilized the meaning of the company name well, but the wow factor was lacking for some compared to others. From there, they stepped back and examined what strategy(s) worked the best and created the final product from their consensus. 

I have now applied this strategy to yearbook as well; last week, the division pages for the book were mocked up and resulted in 9 different spreads. We hung up all 9 (including the 2 we designed at Yearbooks@theBeach in August) and stepped back, picked apart each one and looked for what worked and what didn't work. We came to a consensus on combining the looks of two different spreads together. Ultimately, we came out with a stronger design than if we had simply stuck with just one.

Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

I plan on applying my graphic design techniques to the place where I first acquired them– yearbook. Since I'm design editor, I get a heavy load of designing and conceptualizing the spreads. Currently, because it is the beginning of the year, my main responsibility is to design the theme-centralized spreads (including cover, endsheets, division pages, senior section) and the coverage/content spreads (academics, student life). What I design this deadline will determine what the entire book will look like, so I feel that this part especially fits my senior project well because this will be where I apply the "creating things stemmed from an idea" aspect.

I plan on meeting the required 30 hours by working in elective on Tuesdays and Thursdays on the designs. I will also work after schools whenever possible (most likely everyday) since the workload and deadline will call for that. I usually stay after school designing from 1:30 until 5:30. Again, because of my job, I'm mainly on the computer designing so sidetracking or additional duties are not an issue. In order to present evidence of this work, I'll be keeping a log every day I'm working as well as keeping each and every draft, which I will print out at the end of each work day. (Because we start yearbook in August, I have not had the chance to save the preliminary drafts for some, but I will for the new ones that will materialize throughout this deadline.)

This study will relate to my EQ because at this stage of the yearbook, my entire goal for the designs is to make an impact on the readers (students, you, etc.) who will eventually receive this book in May/June. The entire point of yearbook design is to draw the reader in to reading the copy and admiring the photography, and the first step in order to do that is to make a strong first impression. Yearbook design is simply an extension of graphic design because of this, and this will help my discover more answers because I'm getting first hand experience through trial-and-error.