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My First Blog Post

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Our first slice was done with blue M$M’s and we used it to represent closure. We did this by having the M&M’s fill in the edges of the corners. This has the viewer fill in the space themselves. The M&M’s are in the corners and those are the most important parts of a shape, and that is why we are able to fill in the shape mentally. The next slice we did was proximity and this was represented with the green M&M’s. We showed this by placing all the pieces evenly apart and filled the space entirely. The viewer can tell exactly what space is that slice because of this Gestalt principle. The slice with red M&M’s along the edge is showing Continuity. This is shown because the red outline goes all the way around the outside of the slice and is evenly spaced out. The spacing is key to this because the viewer may not be able to notice the shape as a whole is it is uneven. The symmetry slice is the orange M&M slice. We decorated the entire slice with a symmetrical pattern, we did this by having a line down the middle and reflected the design on the left to the right side. For Common Fate we decided to use the brown M&M’s. Common fate is when you see a grouping of objects moving together so fluently that they are considered one. This is common with geese flocking south in the “V” formation, so we tried to represent that on the slice with M&M’s. Our final slice was us trying to show relative size. We used the yellow M&M’s to represent this section and we did this by having two pillars different size. We made one bigger than the other to show depth. The entire cookie also showed a form of Gestalt, that being similarity. Each slice was given their own color so when the viewer looks at the whole pie they will easily see all six unique slices. This was a key element because without clear clarity of each individual slice we would have failed at our task. However, we have six very defined slices that are easy to see.

When making our cookie, we decided to slice the cookie into 6 different sections. Each section was covered in its own M&M color, representing a different section of Gestalt Theory. We struggled a little bit with some of the designs, like the Common Fate as stated in class. However, we came up with creative ideas for each slice and the pie as a whole. When making our pie, we all sat around together and decided which idea would be best. If we had more time to continue this project, I would do a couple of things differently. I would try maybe adding different types of candies and perhaps colored frosting for each section. It would also be really cool to bake a different cake for each slice and dye it the same color as the frosting. I think this would add more to the pie, visually.

Skills Resume/Infographic

For this week’s blogpost, we made infographics for ourselves and our skills. My skills include art, design, music and technology. For each of these skills, I have included a little decal or icon, to further show what they are. For the art section, I have a paint palette. For the design section I have a computer with some design tools featured on the screen. For my music section, I have a music note and for the technology section, there is a computer screen. These small images help the reader differentiate the categories even more than with just the headers.

Additionally, I included a hand drawn image in the background. I created this image, which is a silhouette of myself, a while ago and have been including it in some of my personal design work ever since. Thinking it would look nice and give me a color palette to work from, I included it. However, to not take away from the information, I turned down the opacity and left it in the background.

I think the most noticeable feature of my infographic is the color palette. There is sharp contrast between the black background and the bright reddish pink of the lettering along with white text. It is eye-catching and engaging, in my opinion. The easiest way to read, or take in, the infographic is to simply start from top and read down to the bottom. There is no tricky, visually complicated layout of information. I tried to make it as easy to read as possible.

The first section is about my skills and what level I am at in each. Using this as my opportunity to incorporate a bar graph, which was similar to one we saw in class, I used bars to show my level of experience in each skill set. To avoid confusion, I placed a key below the art section to show what the bars meant. Additionally, I included some of the classes I have taken during my time at Roger Williams University. The other graphs are shown at the bottom, highlighting my level of interest in different areas as well as my experience with Adobe Creative Cloud apps.

My call to action is definitely my social media links down at the bottom under Contact. It has the platforms I show my artwork: my Instagram and website I created. The main idea is to get employers, or clients, interested enough to look for a contact. Once they have found it, they have more information about how to reach me and where they can see more of my work.

When making this post, I didn’t really know where to start. After looking at some examples of Infographic resumes on Pinterest, I started having some ideas. Some challenges were definitely the layout of my graphic and the font I wanted to use. I settled on Helvetica because of its’ universal appeal and sleek look. I did not want my graphic to be too visually overwhelming and thought Helvetica was the perfect fit. Overall, I enjoy looking at my design and hope future viewers will too.

Cited: Icons

https://www.flaticon.com/categories

Computer graphic – smartline

Paint Palette – Freepik

Computer – Eucalyp

Musical Note – Gregor Cresnar

Open Book – Zlatko Najdenovski

Infographic

For this week’s blog post, I decided to track how much water I use in a day. Usually, I am aware (to a degree) of how much water I am using, or how often. However, after this week’s post, I am surprised to see the actual numbers. I guess I was more aware of how often I was using water, not how much. After using the websites, provided I did the calculations for, roughly, how much water I use daily and the ways average people can save water through some helpful tips.

For this week, I made my sketches digital. I played around with different colors, layouts and images. All of these aspects follow a common theme: water. I really only used blues and images of water and the Earth. By making my sketches digital, it was easier for me to explore different layouts that may be more beneficial to the viewer. I tried different variations of splitting up the information. Some ways I split it up were by color, location on the page and different orientations of the information. When making all three posters, I kept in mind how it would flow, as the viewer, and how cohesive it would look.

Once I decided what my information would be, I focused on the look of the posters. As a graphic design student, I had a lot of fun with this. I have never designed an infographic before and was eager to try. However, I did make some decisions going into the process. I knew which fonts and colors I wanted to use Helvetica and earth tones. The only variation in typeface was in the bright blue poster, where I used a more decorative font. I am not sure how much I like that poster, but I still have a more decorative font choice a try.

As for the most successful graphic, I think either the dark blue or white poster is the most successful. There is more variation of color in the dark blue poster and there is color variation and blocking in the white. I think that these two would be the easiest for the viewer to understand because it makes the information load a little bit smaller and easier to understand. I there had been no color blocking or variation, like in the bright blue poster, it would be far more difficult for the viewer to follow and could possibly end up leaving the viewer uninterested or confused. I would consider this use of color blocking and variation my a-ha moment because it allowed me to fully understand how the viewer may feel looking at the poster. As a designer, sometimes I get caught up in the aesthetics or look of the poster and forget to keep the viewer in mind.

Overall, I was very interested in learning about my water habits and creating these posters. A challenge for me was definitely creating the charts. I did not have difficulty finding the data, but as a very infrequent Excel and Google Sheets user, I had difficulty inputting the information into a chart. It took me a couple of frustrated tries, but I eventually got it and ended up using four charts. I think the sun chart, or the purple chart, is the easiest and best chart to show my data.

Website used for data:

Website used for research:

website used for data: water.usgs.gov

Shepard Fairey Exhibition

This week, I attended the Shepard Fairey pop up event in Providence. It was quite interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was the perfect day to go. I went on Tuesday right as it opened around 12:00. It was rainy and cold: a perfect day to visit an exhibition. I got to Providence early, so I decided to walk around a bit, even in the rain, before I could go to the event. As I was walking around, I noticed how much of Shepard Fairey’s work was plastered all across the area. I have added in some pictures of little moments I had noticing his artistic presence in Providence. After taking a picture of the first photo, the one of the two men on the wooden board, a man stopped me to ask me some questions about why I took the picture. He asked me if I knew the men in the photograph. After telling him that I, unfortunately, did not and that I simply knew the artist he smiled made some more comments about the piece and we parted ways. It was a brief exchange, but I kept thinking about our interaction as the day went on and I had a couple of questions of my own. Did he recognize the artist too? Is he a fan, or not? Did he think I knew the artist? Was he looking for more information about him?

Nevertheless, I made it to the exhibition. There, I noticed some interesting things as well. First and most prominently, I was the youngest person in that room by far. There were maybe six other adults there, all of whom looked forty or older. They seemed to be captivated by the works and I must say, I was too. I did not expect the pieces to be as large as they were. As we’ve talked about in class, Shepard Fairey did a lot of stencil work and screen printing. I have taken screen printing before and know how difficult it is to master such exact precision while maintaining the necessary steps for screen printing. I was blown away by the size of the art and by how large his screens must be to accommodate for the size.

Seeing all of the pieces together also shocked me. I had seen most of these prints before, but not in person all lined up next to each other. They all followed the same theme of social justice but seeing them and reading about them in person moved me more than simply looking at a screen ever could. Additionally, I did not know that Fairey also created pieces using old metal signs and that he made prints on a far smaller scale too. Overall, this experience was very interesting to me and I had a lot of fun visiting Providence and seeing his work in person as an artist myself in Rhode Island.

**There wasn’t really any swag to take from the exhibit, so I took a AS220 flyer and a handout for the exhibition

Explanation Graphic

For this week’s blog post assignment, I focused on the Breathing Process. This poster is designed to target ten-year-olds. This could be used in maybe a health class when learning basic health or perhaps, when learning about the dangers of smoking. It is a simplistic model of a very complex system.

I chose to incorporate this simplistic model for a couple of reasons. The first being the target. Since this is targeting ten-year-olds, I decided to lessen the massive information load that could have accompanied this poster. It is difficult enough for kids of this age to pay attention to subjects that interest them more than health. The simplistic and almost bare boned approach to this poster is to accommodate for that.

This poster focuses on the basic elements of this process. After reading about it myself and watching videos regarding all of the steps that go into the actual process of breathing, I decided to focus on a the most basic and important steps. In my flow chart, you can see that it starts with inhaling through the nasal cavity and ends with exhaling though the same cavity. I focused on two main processes within the larger process of breathing: inhaling and exhaling. Inhaling, or breathing in, begins the entire process, followed by exhaling, or breathing out.

This whole process ends by turning oxygen (o2) into carbon dioxide (co2). We take in oxygen when we inhale and we release carbon dioxide when we exhale. There are far more miniscule processes that occur along with this. However, in an attempt to not overwhelm the viewer and to ensure that I would have enough space on my paper, I stuck to those few processes.

To highlight the differences in the two, I color coded them and changed the type of line they both produce. Inhaling is a solid, purple line and exhaling is a dashed green line. Additionally, I included some brief background information, in simple terms for a ten year old to actually grasp with ease, to each part of the figure.

When designing my poster, I had a couple of layouts in mind. I was originally going to focus on the processes in the lungs. I even drew out the entire rough sketch of the lungs, ,before realizing it needed more. I also was going to try focusing on the nasal cavity and the processes happening at that end, but again felt there should be more. In the end, I ended up combing them and having a full shot, covering all the bases of the process as a general diagram. This, I feel, gives a better overview of the entire process without seeming to informational and doesn’t turn the viewer away. It does not have clutter that may turn off a viewer.

Overall, I am pleased with the way my poster came out. Some of the shading in the lungs and Trachea are hard to see, but the lungs are green and the Trachea purple. I kept it minimal in an attempt, as mentioned, to be as receptive as possible to my target viewer.

Websites:

https://www.anxieties.com/57/panic-step4

Explanation Graphic

For this week’s blog post, I chose to explain the voting process. In an attempt to make it understandable for children and younger audiences, I did a broader depiction of the voting process. This is meant to get younger viewers to start thinking about the voting process and to teach them how easy it is to do.

These are the basic steps of voting. For my research, I mainly used my past experiences as I am 21 and have voted multiple times. As a rough overview of my diagram, I included the minimum requirements for voting, registering, going to the designated polling/voting place, placing the vote and helpful reminders after completing the vote. Again, this is less complex to be understood easily by younger viewers. This may even be helpful for older viewers who have never voted before.

For the more stylistic components of my diagram, I included small symbols that are rough representations of how the screen looks in the voting booth, the voting stickers, the booth itself, any paper that comes with registration and so on. Additionally, I used our patriotic colors of red, white and blue. I found this fitting for a place like Bristol, which is so patriotic there is a red, white and blue division down the streets. The limited use of color has many reasonings behind it. I wanted to keep this theme of patriotic within my graphic, but after doing so, I noticed something. It was less overwhelming to read and take in with essentially, only two colors within the graphic. Often I can find myself distracted with too many symbols or colors. So I am pleased that I avoided this even by accident. To make the graphic seem more visually engaging and fun, I added in embellishments to the title.

To relate to the use of Schriver’s model in my graphic, the word and image combinations allow for the most information without overwhelming the viewer. As these will be younger viewers, I tried to keep the wording brief and as understandable as possible. As I mentioned earlier, I included small representations of what the new voter might see or encounter during their voting process. The words along ith that will provide the viewer more insight as to what to do when they look into voting or reach their local polling or voting place.

As mentioned earlier, I tried to make this graphic as easy for young viewers to understand. The age group looking at this poster have four to eight years before they can even register to vote. This is meant to get the viewer thinking about what it takes and how easy it can be to place their vote. Teachers can hang this poster in their classrooms as they go over the full voting process with their classes. This can prove to be particularly in middle school civics classes. Hopefully this poster will spark the inspiration to be more involved with politics and the entire voting process for our younger viewers.

Comic Strip Blog

Nancy Comics:

10/9/19: The transitions used in this strip are mainly subject to subject and then moment to moment. In the first transition Nancy and her friend are simply talking about the ringing cyclist while walking. We first see Nancy in a solo frame then her friend in the next frame. The final frame is a wider shot of the two of them and the cyclist behind them. The change in the shot types signifies that time has passed since we started the comic and to when we acknowledge the cyclist behind them.

https://www.gocomics.com/nancy/2019/10/09

10/24/19: The transitions used in this comic strip were only subject to subject. Between Nancy and the Teacher, there is little to no movement other than the slight raising of Nancy’s eyebrows. The only changes at all are in the dialogue and showing who is speaking.

https://www.gocomics.com/nancy/2019/10/24

Personal Strips:

For my personal strip I created a story about a surprise birthday party. It begins with an opening shot of a front door. The next is a close up of the doorknob. This is to signify that someone is going to open the door. This transition is a moment to moment transition: one moment you are approaching the door and the next you are reaching for the knob. The next frame is the door opening. This is also a moment to moment transition. You are going from turning the knob to actually opening the door.

The use of the moment to moment transitions allows for more suspense in my strip. There is little to no text used for this exact purpose. It is mysterious and suspenseful this way. We do not know the background of the people throwing the birthday party or the person whose birthday it is. The only thing we know about is that there is a birthday and a birthday party. We also know that the person who owns the house is wealthy. There is a big front door with steps leading into a big living room. There are floor to ceiling bookshelves, pillars and a fireplace.

By limiting the amount of text and background information, there are more questions surrounding the strip. I did this in order to engage my reader. I wanted them to ask the questions like: “Who is having a birthday?”, “Where are the people?”, “Is anyone going to show up?”, “Is it a surprise?”, “Is this person scared?”, “Are these people wealthy?”, “What do they do?”, “Is this a family? Friends?” etc. I thought that making my readers ask more questions would be helpful in order to engage them. Additionally, by using closeups and moment to moment shots, the amount of mystery increases. I do not believe that I would have been able to achieve this type of mystery I had I used other frames.

My strip is a simple strip, however, it is filled with suspense and mystery even without type and people. I did not use them because I am not good at drawing people and figures, but also because I wanted to see how bare-boned I could make my strip and have it make sense. Usually, I am known for how much I talk. I am a “Chatty Cathy” so this was a bit of a challenge for me. I also used a lot of colors in my strip. I wanted to add detail to the images when there is not really much detail to the story. I added different color books and I also added soft colors to the walls inside and out. The images seem whimsical in addition to mysterious. The swirls of the door, above, achieve this idea of whimsical-ness.

I liked the idea of not adding any text or people into my comic. It keeps it simple, yet engaging. I am pleased with the way my strip turned out. The amount of detail and color is new for me in my drawings. Usually, I end up frustrated or aggravated and give up. However, for this blog post, I am pleased with how it turned out.

Map Blog

For my map, I drew my daily commute to work. I work at the Hotel Viking in Newport. On average, it takes me anywhere from 25 to 35 minutes to get to work and to get home (individually). It looks like a lot of turns and twists, but I am mainly on the same road for the entire trip. I travel the East Main Road to get to Newport. Additionally, I am usually leaving my house, around 6:00 am.

To draw the actual map, I tapped into my muscle memory to draw it. I take this route all the time. Sometimes, I don’t really think about each and every turn I make, I just end up at work. This is thanks to my muscle memory. I separated it into sections, starting at my house, up past Cumberland Farms on Metacom. I split up the commute into towns: Bristol, Portsmouth, Middletown and Newport. Drawing the rose compass was a little difficult. I know that for most of the drive, based on maps I’ve seen before, I am headed south.

For the colors I chose, there isn’t really any meaning behind them. I did split up the towns into different colors to show their difference. I decided not to add any other landmarks, other than the Mount Hope Bridge because it is the most prominent and really the only landmark that I pass on my commute. There are some stores that I recognize, but not enough to know exactly where they are in my commute. Therefore, I decided to let them out.

The turns are mostly bends in the road going south toward Newport. I really only make a couple of actual turns. I make three coming out of Hopeworth, one after the Mount Hope and three in Newport as I approach the hotel. To help the eye follow my commute, I have added in arrows to show the direction I take. Those arrows are right next to the dark trail showing the way to go. There are other ways to get to the Hotel, West Main Road, but I feel that this is the quickest, and choose to take this one every day.

Because I take it every day, I has become a second nature to me. I have only lived at this Bristol residence for about four months, worked at the hotel for three, yet it seems as familiar as my town back in New Jersey. I have considered trying a new route, but at this point, thanks to my muscle memory, it would seem odd or out of place. I also find it interesting how quickly I developed this muscle memory to the point where I can draw a map out with ease to show how to get there. I did not really have to think much to plan out the turns and bends of my commute. The difficult part about mapping out this route was to split up the towns into the correct sections. I feel like some of it may be off or wrong, but I think I captured it as accurately as I could.

Luggage Tags

For this weeks homework, we had to create luggage tags using basic shapes and our initials. I liked this exercise because it made me think about shapes and letter forms like I really hadn’t before. I hadn’t thought about the way a C could fit into a hexagon, or how that may look in a sketch. I tried to sketch as quickly as I could, thinking of as many shapes and ways I could morph the letter C or O. The more structured shapes were definitely harder than rounded shapes. I often found my way back into drawing more rounded shapes, like a circle or something similar. However, I really did try to branch out and use more symbolic shapes to highlight some of my interests. I included these interests in a list along with the sketches, showing my complete though process. With these more symbolic shapes, I tried a rocket ship and a planet to show my interest in the Solar System as well as on a paint pallet and brush to show my interest in art.

By sketching quickly, I thought about the way the letter forms would fit into the design. I just thought of the form and fit the C into the design wherever I could. If I had more time to finish, I think I would try to incorporate the C into the more symbolic shapes. I feel like it would add to the design more than just adding a C on top of the image. I would really like to try this in the rocket ship shape. There’s so much more I could add to that design to make it interesting, just by changing the shape of the C. There are some more adventurous letter forms in the top tags. There are hexagons and other various shapes that have a C that bends just as the shape. There interesting to look at in black and white, but I would like to try and see them in color.

Overall, I really enjoyed this exercise. I like experimenting with shape. I had never really tried it before like this. My forte in design and art is in color. I like to look at the way color interacts with each other and I never really explored shape in this way. How shapes interact with each other, including letter forms. Typography isn’t really a strong suit of mine either, but I found it easier as I went through this homework. I was itching to get to the coloring stage, but I still tried to focus on what shape I would use. After this exercise, I feel more comfortable with creating my own letterforms. It was far easier than I had thought and was always something I shied away from. I was worried the letters wouldn’t turn out the way that I wanted them too, but as I quickly sketched, the bends of the letter C just kind of fell into place. I ended up picking two rounded shapes, but if I tried it again I would try more adventurous shapes.

Photo Blog Post

1: Color

I chose the front of my notebook for Citizen Designer for my color photo this week. It’s a dark green alligator print notebook. I chose it because of its color. I’ve never really had a color notebook this shade or pattern before. I find it really eye catching especially because of this pattern. We’ve been discussing in class how our eyes are trained to not only process color, through our cones and rods, but pattern as well. I felt that this really captured both the idea of our eyes being drawn to color and pattern pretty well.

2: Line

For my photograph for line, I chose a blow up of a panel in a dock found at Colt State Park. I found how the divisions in the wood were so perfectly straight and parallel to each other that it almost looks smooth. By looking at these straight lines, and only straight lines, my eyes can take in enough stimuli to create a texture I can almost feel. I chose to keep it blown up to focus on a singular pillar, or post, but the entire dock also is perfectly proportional and straight, which I also find eye catching. Again, I notice a pattern within the dock and its post. A pattern of straight lines.

3: Shape

My shape photograph is a photograph I took at work. I made a heart design out of rose petals for a guest who had gotten married that day. Not only did I find the colors of the petals interesting, but I noticed all of the different shapes the petals made. They are all different in the ways that they fold and bend and really present themselves. Some only fold partially while others completely fold over, so they look like semi circles. They all work together to form one big shape: a heart. A heart was the goal. How well it was achieved, is a different story. Nonetheless, I felt it captured the sense of space very well.

4: Relative Size

For my picture for relative size, I chose a picture I took of a stress ball globe in front of Colt State Park. It may not look like much, but as I held it up to actually take a picture for my color photograph, I noticed how large it looked compared to the background. Obviously, the stress ball is much smaller, as I can hold it in my hand, but in the picture, I looks like it can cover up a large part of the water behind it. I found it interesting because it looked like I, quite literally, held the world in my hand for a moment.

5: Division of Space/Structure

This is a quick snapshot of a section of my bedroom wall. It is a collage of photographs of my friends and family. There was a hand drawn chalk image I created in the middle (it unfortunately fell down). However, I have always looked at the way I positioned these pictures. I placed them at random around the drawing that fell. I tried to space them as evenly as I could. The small divisions in between the images are all meant to be around the same distance no matter the rotation of the image. One day, I’ll hang up the drawing and complete the section of my wall, hopefully maintaining the division space.