Internship for Gracie Greene

Gracie Greene LLC

My expectation was to learn how to apply my design skills to an environment where design’s are a need. Let alone practice my skills from research, production, and presentation.

All of my tasks in the internship was to find a way to execute the means of media and understand what is the company’s intuition and mission for the consumer.

First Step: Research.

Human trafficking is the problem that this company addresses awareness for, however I needed to do my research about human trafficking and why is this such a world wide problem.

For those that do not know about this hotline, It’s an actual organization that helps. If you’ve experienced it, or know someone who is in danger of being trafficked within the United States, speak up, and don’t hide. It’s a life that needs help more than you know.

Doing some research shows that there are cases here in New Jersey. This is info was found on humantraffickinghotline.org.

Now you may be thinking, what is actually Human Trafficking? Human trafficking is any sorts from labor work with no papers, prostitution, and drug selling. However what makes more of a problem is that people sell themselves to make money in ways that is dangerous and life threatening. As you see in the chart from website, Sex trafficking has the most calls, because that is where human trafficking happens the most. This data convinces me that the problem is always reoccurring, and hard to manage, because I am sure that even though calls are made, only a small percentage are actually reported.

We do have laws for human trafficking, however, how can you stop a criminal from committing such crimes? People have a census which figures who they can get away with such crimes, and thats because they collectively invest their work of finding people, who are vulnerable, and need to feel important. I call them silent criminals, because they aren’t the ones being victimized, they are just doing the business end.

What makes me furious however is the fact that these criminals have the nerve to traffic young innocent children, especially if the child is an orphan or a runaway. These criminals will make the child or an illegal teen feel special, and then force them to be a victim of prostitution.

Countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Malaysia have some of the highest rates for human sex trafficking, because the poverty level is very high.

As you notice from this graph, Asia-Pacific leads over the develop counties just by a hair, which means the United States are not far from it. We have a problem with immigration work, but they have a problem with money in general. Because to make money in those countries are very hard to come by, and some people result to selling themselves, which is absolutely insane to think about.

Now, we know that is a problem because people are supposed to live a life where problems should be fixed, but sometimes people who are trafficked suffer through problems that others cannot even describe, or compare themselves to, or people genuinely just don’t give a fuck (I’m sorry, you can excuse my language).

This victim’s story is basically what’s wrong with how people can be. I for one would think of trying to actually give her someplace she can rely on, however some people in other areas would be more about “how much do you charge?”

Women are victims more than men, which I will stand by, because men feel they are  inferrer and hold this position of dominance, as it’s a part of their figure masculinity. In this case, I believe it is not, because no man is better than another, and no man should feel they are better than a woman. If a man respects women, and not think of sex most of the time, I think this problem would be less.

Blame human male nature…I think not. Men have a mind, and I think if they are smart enough which I hope to be, would think of considerable consequences, that could happen not to them but to the girl in the situation.

Human Sex Trafficking leads not only selling for money, but rape and murders.

If you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend it. No spoilers here, because it’s not about sex trafficking, however it’s about a child, and the effects it has on other people. You might get mad at the situation, but realize that it is a problem and its real life. The story “Hope” is based on a true story, and it has a great lesson to learn from.

Ashton Kutcher is a huge advocate to fight against human trafficking, because he is active within the community, and the voice for those that deserve the life that they deserve.

www.thorn.org

I support him in every way, and actually because of this, I wanted to take action and try to incorporate their ways to Gracie Greene and the Giving Three Foundation.

The reason why I wanted to produce a research portion for Gracie Greene was because there has to be a solution on how to aid, or mention the problem to the general audience. I also wanted to find the problem regarding market strategies, and solutions so I would know who are my target audience and focus groups are.

I also felt this is necessary because the CEO (Cathy Zahn) of the company also never fully did her research on the marketing side, and how to tackle obstacles when it comes to marketing a cause or problem.

My focus.

Since day done of the internship my focus was about her mission to combat Human Trafficking, therefore developing impactful images for her instagram was a way I could impact her viewers and followers. However her focus was trying to increase followers, In all honesty, yes insta-famous is a goal for a lot of people because they are able to be known out there in the social world. The problem with this was her image. Her instagram is a personal account, which means people are following her for her, and not the company called Gracie Greene.

This is where things get a bit confusing even for me, and from what my colleagues noticed about her instagram. What is she about? People are nosey, and they want to see everything that goes on. Bad thing about this, is publicity can deteriorate ones self being. She would have to give up a lot of time devoting a full time face for herself on instagram. This is where I come in, my problem with this are the fact the posts do nothing much. She would receive maximum 20 likes, no one follows or responds.

A tactic we tried was a free give away, the reason why is that people would sign up of a free give away and could possibly spread the information virally across the social platforms.

Algorithms

Instagram has a wild algorithm where people would have to focus on post about 2-3 average per day. However, she was afraid of losing followers and it happened. She also advised me to stop posting so much per day, and maybe once every other day. Problem with this is inconsistency, and inconsistency would drop on posts and aesthetics of her instagram. Therefore her instagram is not strong enough to gain the recognition for other followers.

In so, Cathy had collectively told me not to post impactful things on her instagram, but more focused to products. In so, I incorporated some of my friends and did model/product photography. A lot of people seemed to gravitate to those images, however still within the 20 like mark. Her goal was to reach up to 100+ likes per image, however her followings were a lot of older and not younger people. She also had her own ratio where you shouldn’t follow more than your followers.

Like is this necessary?

Unfortunately yes this is necessary, because 100+ likes would mean a lot with the ratio of 100:300 so at least 300 people take notice of your product or mission as a company.

Therefore, any form that increases views or likes, will help spreads the word, and hopefully will increase the sales for Gracie Greene. We just need to solve the algorithm and type of posts for her instagram.

Brand Identity

However first off was figuring out how was Gracie Greene identified to the general audience, focus groups, and target audience. This is heavily important as much as the cause because if I found out what the market audiences are, then will know how to take action producing my designs.

Problem was, Gracie Greene has no brand identity. I asked my manager, “What is your brand identity?” She hadn’t gone that far into her company. Therefore this was hard, because no identity affects everything. How are people supposed to know who you are if you no identity, especially if you call yourself a brand. Her logos was one of the properties that was misunderstood by many, people like it, however it was identifiable.

I looked into brands such as Louis Vuitton, Coach, Channel, and Gucci because she calls herself a high fashion bag company, but she is no where near in competition with these brands. Her mission as a company is supportable, but she has two things going on. Her foundation which is called The Giving “Three” foundation stands for education that supports a school called the Zahn School in Cambodia, however the problem with this is that she is saying that is the mission of Gracie Greene, but the Giving “Three” is the ones responsible to provide educational needs and awareness fo human trafficking. Confusing, but when I sum it all up, her bags would mean, products that supports a cause. So why such a long narrative to explain? because she has no identity.

No identity is bad because, that explains her problem with instagram. How can you pin point the focus groups, or your target audience if you cannot identify yourself as a brand? This was something I had to figure out and come up with a solution.

Therefore this set back the instagram posts, and also some promotional campaigns for herself because, she also was frustrated the fact she never thought about all elements of marketing and designing your market.

Second Step: Design the Look and Feel

BEFORE we move into this task I had to centralize her brand. Therefore Cathy and I were conversing a lot on a meaning. “what is Gracie Greene providing to the commerce and e-commerce society?”

Her original was ” Burlap Inspired Pillows and Java Totes for Education.” This was the companies slogan and was on her business card.

Essentially there is nothing wrong with it, however because of the research that I have done regarding my question “What is Gracie Greene providing…” She no longer sells pillows, and she doesn’t like the word totes because she doesn’t just sell totes. She was meaning to change her slogan because she was not married to it, therefore we had to come up with something else. Why is this important? Because, what does Gracie Greene mean exactly and that it does something which was, “Inspiring others to give back.”

Gracie Greene inspires its consumers to give back to fight the problem of human trafficking. This is what Gracie Greene does, she gives back to the Zahn School which is ran by the Giving Three Foundation, to promote education. Education is the key to keep people knowledgable and a give them a chance to understand that there is a life out there without being sold, or human trafficked. Gracie Greene does just that.

Now that we figured out Gracie Greene, it was time to establish the identity, and this is where the logo design came in. So the original design of Gracie Greene is very nice, however something was a bit off about it. Because I have enough to understand design, this was an area I am comfortable in, I was able to revamp her logo, and keep it the way it should be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design Problems

This is the original logo design for Gracie Greene. Design wise there were a lot of interesting flaws. However, the worst flaw the the fact that Cathy did not have the PDF file for this logo, which means, the designer didn’t provide her the rights for the logo. That to me was a red flag, because I had no file to work with but a JPEG. JPEG files are image files and not a vector file, so I had to take the image, and vectorize it.

Once I took the image to illustrator, I laid the image out on a grid. I found characteristics and similarities to 3 different typefaces; Baskerville, Bodoni, and Didot. Why? Because of the design of the letter forms.

After thoroughly understanding the logo, I proceeded to create make some optical improvements. However keep the characteristics, and at the same time make things like the terminals and counter be a bit better.

The differences are subtle however, my point was not to change the logo entirely, and make a whole new one. I like the elegant take Gg has, which is a great mark within itself. The logo took me 2 weeks to really make sure everything was right. I used the Golden rule for designing this logo, and not just some random typeface, I also manipulated the terminals and the tail to echo each other, and the transitional section are equal to equal amounts. I also took into consideration the weights, and counter graded them to be more precise.

This is Gracie Greene’s new logo. And I proudly say I created it. The original designer was unprofessional and not keeping the files, but a way to show, I can do just as good as the original designer, if not, a lot of others say that it’s way better and that it makes more sense to be a logo or mark.

The next task was the name for this logo, and I created this as well, because optically the original one the top words from the bottom words were not the same point size.

You that moment where designers get annoyed? Yeah, that was happening to me. Horrible typesetting of the name makes me flip, and digest BAD design. Now, I am not mockingly say I have better designs that the original, but in this case, I genuinely agree with my selfish, cocky ways that I easily can make this better.

This is the original word mark for the logo design by the original designer.

Yeah, W T F?????

After working out a grid, and not changing a lot with the type. This is how I tackled the  situation, and was trying to solve a better solution for the word mark. The problem is the letter “I,” because it created a huge letter gap between the “C” and the “E.” However, it’s just a matter of optically creating the word, so that you read Gracie at that point. If you read GRAC “I” “E” that looks bad, therefore I had to make it work.

However this was my solution.

I create red boxes behind the letters as a way of placement areas. The typeface that I used for this design is SF Pro Display, however the vertical displacement was set to 95%. Why? because I measured it to be close to the original. Like designing “Gg” and keeping the same characteristics was key to keep the brand identity.

Cathy, was more concerned about the weight of the original design, therefore I increased the weight of the font to be a little bolder, but not. Instead of using a thin weight which is what most high-end fashion places tend to use, I went for a regular or roman weight for the typeface so that it feels heavier but not.

In this typesetting I also made sure that Gracie is the same point size as Greene, or vise versa. I didn’t want to have 2 different point sizes, because Gracie is not more important that Greene, nor is Greene more important than Gracie. They have to be together like twins, and a family, with the right space in between to have that personal space. Now, some of them are clingy like the A and the C but that’s because they “Are” “Clingy.” Lol I am trying to bring some type humor. Anyways, moving forward, I was feeling that this optically works and the fact that the letters are placed the way they need to be.

Therefore this is the final look.

 

What I did change in this one was “A,C, and I” had to come together to make Gracie readable.

Re-Design learning process

If we was to take the original design and put it next to mine, you will see that the problems from the older design were solved in the redesign. A re-design to my understanding is not changing the whole design to be a new one. I learned that taking the flaws and improving it to be better and clearer is more important than designing a whole new logo. Why? because it will take a lot of time.

However in a different case scenario sometimes there is a need for a new logo design, and it’ s probably because there was no identity made with the original logo. I will explain this further for the Giving “THREE” logo design.

The Giving Three Foundation

The Giving “Three” Foundation is a foundation that is supported by Gracie Greene, which funds a school called the Zahn School in Cambodia, and is a non for profit organization.

The Giving Three Foundation is a supportive factor for Gracie Greene’s brand identity because without the foundation, Gracie Greene would have no purpose. However the problem was that this foundation has its own mission, which is inconsistent with Gracie Greene. That is a no no, because then you own two separate things.

If Gracie Greene and the Giving Three foundation is to be together, they need to work together as a family, or a strong and healthy relationship, ideally. But like nothing is ideal, but we have to make it look ideal, and this is where I had to come in.

Cathy, was not married to her old design for the Giving Three, because it looked fairly outdated. Since the Gracie Greene is a bit more modern and moving into the fashion trend, Cathy was in the motion that she wanted the Giving Three to have that same overall look and feel. Therefore back to the research board I go.

Now, in all honesty, foundations support a cause, a purpose, and a problem that needs to be fixing, however I wanted to know how the name was created the Giving Three. (Mind you the first time I saw it, I thought it was Tree and not Three, just saying, and I might be a little dyslexic lol. I am not sure.)

Cathy loves her daughters and she has Three of them, and her daughters help her a lot with Gracie Greene. So because she loves the fact that her daughters support her and she does the same, she named the Giving “Three” being the “Three,” meaning for her daughters. I thought hey, you know thats a really good way to make a foundation. Cathy wanted something closer and something resembling her in logo, which means I would have to re-design the whole thing.

As I mention re-designing is not necessarily meaning to re-create something new to establish a brand identity, however in this case scenario, The original design meant nothing close to Gracie Greene, nor did it feel like it was family.

This is her original Giving Three logo.

Now, there is nothing wrong with the logo itself, however the problem Cathy had with this, was that it wasn’t moving in the same direction as she was.

So… I decided to give this a try.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the logo was re-worked many times, providing 3 different compositions at a time. She loved the first one, but she Really loved the second and third. She liked the bluish colors but she wanted green. She also didn’t like the lighter green because she was worried that it might be too light for her tastes. She likes the more modern approach for the last design, however she didn’t like the pin wheel effect the hands were creating. she likes the more Circle, or creating a circle was more whole, and together. Therefore I kept forward with the last design, and made a simple yet workable mark.

The Three hands represents her daughters, and how they represent the foundation’s name, and the typeface change was Cathy’s decision to be more modern.

And this is what I decided to provide for her foundation.

So why did I do this? More research about Gracie Greene within itself, Gracie Greene is also a green company, by means they use organic and vegan materials for their products. This means that they are very environmentally sound, and at the same time hold properties that caring for the environment really matters. To design something that has double representation, is something that I wanted to accomplish for this new mark.

Three hands still representing the foundation, but also the fact that Gracie Greene supports going green and being eco friendly with their products. The circle motion is no longer like a pin wheel, but more like they are coming together to support each other. Therefore the design is that, and Cathy absolutely loves it. She says just this alone means so much to her, and her representation of giving back others like Gracie Greene.

I also did design the name for the foundation as well, and I kept it simple yet sweet.

Now because of my slight dyslexia, I made the “Three” more prominent, and the green relates to the mark itself.

Cathy likes the fact that Three is important, because she would also have moments where her audience would mislead to a giving tree, because of the book the giving tree. But, because Three is made clearer, people actually read this as the Giving Three Foundation and not the giving tree foundation.

Overall

I helped Cathy realize the importance of brand identity and consistency between the two organizations and companies, because she was learning where she was falling out off the grid for her brand. She was telling me that she was really appreciative for the designs that were provided for her, she couldn’t wait for the other tasks that needed to be handled as we discussed.

Third Step: Social Media Marketing

Instagram marketing or social media marketing, was also one of the tasks that I was responsible for. Increasing followers, and posts, and to be interactive with the social media community. The goal was to essentially build the instagram for Gracie Greene to establish a social media brand identity, with the hopes to improve the following, and social network.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were the posts and styles that I was providing Cathy on her instagram. We promoted up coming events like the Faces not numbers auction event. And, I also asked my fellow colleagues to be models for me for product give away shots. I also created a collage opener for the Faces Not Numbers event. and many more just inspirational quotes to post in her instagram.

This was supposed to be my main task for the internship, however I became her visual brand designer instead, because her market and graphic designer, “Kristine,” granted me access to do all of her social media platforms, including Facebook.

However, Cathy and I had a meeting to discuss about how she can improve herself within the company, because she was worried that her image wasn’t being shown out there enough. Therefore her instagram also had another focus which was her brand image. So to solve this problem, I would post images but add the Gg logo on the bottom so that her social media community would understand that, the images were Cathy’s and spreading her brand around.

Now that we have her brand stamped on most of the posts, she was still missing something for her instagram, which was stories. People love knowing what’s going on with who, and where, and their stories, so… I got Cathy to learn how to create stories. I told her I would create the stories, and I did a couple using different images, however the people that follow her, “Follow her.” Because, I am a male, nor am I Cathy, posting a story would be more about her, and people actually loved that. But she also didn’t have the time to, so she barely posted things about her business.

I created some impactful stories for her instagram, but she was concerned about it, because she wasn’t too sure about the message being sent. I did this human trafficking story using these screens.

She was afraid that her audience wouldn’t like it, however it had a total of 40 viewers.

People sometimes like stories, and if you can tell a good one, they will be engaged with it. I got her to understand that she needs to create new stories, and not be so repetitive because, different stories keep her viewers engaged and fresh.

So now we got to boost up a little portion and voice herself within the social media network, it was time to try to gain followers. Followers will trickle down the way and tell other people to follow her, however her motion with the followers was to boost up sales, especially for the dead months. Cathy was facing a problem where she couldn’t sell any products for a while, because she didn’t know how to promote her merch.

Therefore this is where I developed a free give away sales tactic to increase followers.

This image was a sneak peek at her free give away for a wristlet, however she only had 7 likes. It definitely was not my image, nor was it the placement of product. It had to be something else. So…I went back to a drawing board, because people were not interested. Cathy cannot afford to give away her more expensive bags, so she was hoping a free wristlet would be great, and she had the budget to do so.

Research to improve image.

What I did here was talk to a friend of mine, who was really into social media marketing and brand image, and she gave me some pointers on how to improve and hopefully get more followers. She took a look at her instagram, and said, “What is she about?” This was a flaw, and she told me that she was not clear about her instagram. She also suggested that I was to focus on Gracie Greene being a B2C company, and show off her bags more. My friend who helped me was helped a start up company like Gracie Greene gain over 500 followers within 5 months, thats a ratio of 80-100 followers per month give or take.

I relayed the information to Cathy, and So we began to push more product shots.

This was my friend that helped me with the information, and she was happy enough to model one of the bags for Gracie Greene’s spring collection.

This image was actually super active because 2 micro influenced companies responded.

Therefore we were posing into the right direction, however more work needed to be done.

I was planning to continue more instagram posts, however the algorithms were hard to maintain. Instagram tends to change trend for posts, and sometimes posting 2 or 3 or more would be a bit pushy. So limiting to 1 post per day, to 1 post per week. The numbers of posts were decreasing because of the number of other work that was handed over to me.

Aside from designing the logo, I was also in charge of creating the design for the event called “Faces not Numbers.”

This flyer that I designed was inspired by Cathy from her description. I designed the Word title, and she LOVED it. The logo at the bottom is also my re-design, and overall was a great opener for her event.

This event is a fundraiser event collaborated with Project Kind to give back to the community and help spread awareness. The goal is that the event will fundraise both organizations and help them push for more things to provide the need and fix the problem of both Homelessness and Human Trafficking.

I designed this post to fit within a square because she could use this for her instagram, as well as an E-vite (electronic invite) so that she could use it for the event.

Now she has about 200 people attending her event, and hopefully more as the time goes on. The event is not till June, but getting an early heads up is always nice, because there can always be other ways to keep promoting the event.

Contribution: More Projects

Business card Re-design

One of the other things was taking the time to re-design her business cards. This was a very very long process as it involved a couple re-productions. Cathy’s old business card didn’t match her brand, and the fact that the new logo was re-designed, she wanted a business card with the new logos, of both Gracie Greene and the Giving Three.

First draft

 

 

 

 

This was the first product for her business card. As you can tell it is the first one because the giving three foundation logo was not changed yet.

Cathy did have these printed, however there was a huge drawback. The type were super small. This was my fault. Everything else was fine, however the type was really really small. So small that Cathy had a hard time looking at them.

So, Re-redesign was needed again.

Mock up and print.

Cathy really liked the the one all the way to the right, however she wasn’t too sure about the Giving Three logo next to her name. As you see, I was still figuring things out.

This came to a final conclusion when I decided to give her a design that works.

Problem was that she owns two things, a B2C business, and then a Non-Profit organization. Others will think, well, that shouldn’t be too hard to fix because all you have to do is put it together. Correct! but she didn’t want it to be together, because she each have a different thing one is selling merchandise and the other is funding a school. She had a long description in the first business card, however business cards are supposed to be short, simple and how to contact. She wanted to add a small description because she feels that it matters.

To be honest here, I had to put my foot down, and be a designer. I told her the purpose for the business card was to pass on your info, and that if others want to know who you are more, they can look you up on your website or social media platforms.

 

 

 

 

She was worried more about the context of the card, and I was more concerned about the function of the card. She was always changing things, and I learned something very valuable from here. Sometimes the design that works is what’s final, there is always more to improve…sure, but once something is final, thats it. Putting your foot down on something is very, hard to do, and telling the client that it works, which they will never understand, has to be the way it has to be.

Cathy was always changing her description, which 1, hurts brand identity, 2 confuses you audience, and 3 people will just through it away or not even bother reading the description in your card. All a person needs in their card is your basic contacts. Once the brand is established, and if you tell them who you are personally, that business card becomes a memoir of how they can find more information about you.

Therefore 2 things, into one, is easy, placing them, was a different story.

Then again Gracie Greene is the most important because that supports the Giving Three only makes sense that the hierarchy for Gracie Greene has to be more prominent than the Giving Three.

Final design

 

 

 

 

Here, as you can see both logos are being used, and the type are a lot bigger than the first print.

She also had a comment about “Are the Font sizes 10pt?” So I explained it to her and showed her the point sizes. I told her that 10 point would be the ideal, however because you are working with a vertical business card design, this is what will work. The printed mock ups were exactly at these point sizes and they were fine. Any smaller would be like the first print, but this is the break down to the point sizes.

I told her what I designed will be and should be final, because this systematically works for a business card. Any more, then you’re into the realm of a description card and not a business card.

No complaints, however I am producing these for her for free, and a lot of people, were saying to me “You should’ve gotten paid for the re-designs.”

I understand what other’s have been telling me, and that yes my time is valuable, and that we hone a skill, but to the general body of people. They wouldn’t understand where we as designers come from. They expect us to make something, and put things together, when they do it themselves and make us look like we are too technical.

Technicality and Technique go hand in hand, better practice improves the technique which implicates good, and strong design. Everything else would be flashy.

At this time, this is where I was beginning to experience a moment where designers are sought out to be people that produce just designs, and can crank them out like Speedy Gonzales, and thats fact. The expectations by people are so high, they don’t understand the concept of why things are the way they are, and how they are supposed to be.

Problems that I helped.

1. Research data for more understanding
2. logo design
3. Brand identity/brand image
4. Social Media branding and marketing

Final Project: Gracie Greene and The Giving Three Foundation marketing and design system.

So, this is my last and final project to pass on to the next intern. Apparently I am the first to do this, and I Cathy loves the idea, because I am leaving her a system where the next intern can pick up from. There is no square 1 scrap from zero, as I told Cathy, the next intern is basically getting an instruction guide created by me step by step to help you. I am not leaving the internship with just my designs, I am establishing a mark so that other interns can push forward with and help grow Gracie Greene.

I wanted to provide this to Cathy, because she stands for a good reason, and I support her LLC, and to where it’ll be in the future. Just to leave a part of what I’ve done shows her professionalism and leadership skills which offered her more help if needed even after the internship is finished.

Overall I am truly thankful I was able to be apart of this experience. I learned so much, as it taught me how to produce designs that help. Yes, sometimes you have to put your foot down, and thats because sometimes they just need to listen to you because it’s for the best for them. Researching always helps not matter what, I had no step by step guide from a designer but just do it, so I had to figure things out for myself. I could be more focused on social media marketing for Cathy, however marking her voice a bit more with my designs, is something I am proud of.

Emaan Khawaja is the Intern after me, and because of my great remarks and deliveries, I am not leaving her empty handed. I passed on my info to her, and the creations will bloom from there.

The Design System EST. May 15, 2019 – Current

THESYSTEM

Thank you.

 

 

 

Creative Coding by Weeks

Coming into Creative Coding, my coding knowledge was very basic. I only had a small taste of coding, coding interfaces, however never really understood the meaning or translation of codes. Therefore my interest for coding was very high and I couldn’t wait to actually learn coding.

Week 1

During week 1 the material was fairly basic stuff, like creating shapes, the canvas/platform/stage that the code will be in, however learning these materials was a great warm up.

Mondrian Code

 

The first assignment was to generate a code of the famous art piece called Mondrian.

However at first I was like, eh…this is easy, but was the assignment was actually pretty tedious because I wanted to be very precise and exact with the coordinates. Therefore figuring out the coordinates for the Mondrian was kind of hard but eventually got it.

I figured out the coordinates by doing a little bit of math, calculating the point of the x, and y access, then the size of the rectangles. For an example the big red rectangle starts from x point 65, and y point 60, x being the width (left to right) and y being the height(up and down). From here I was able to figure out the size of the rectangles using trial and error, of how big and tall the rectangle is.

The reason why I chose to do the lines after I figured out the rectangles was because I could place the lines over the rectangles to cover the rectangles to hide any overlapping. I don’t know if that was how we were supposed to do it, however it worked.

Week 2

Week 2 was about learning how to make the mouse interact with the code and what is random.

This week was actually not hard at all, because it was simply knowing mouse movements. Since we pretty much know that mouses can move up down side to side and vertical, it was as simple as using mouseX being anywhere in the x axis and mouseY, which is anywhere on the y axis.

Random means what it is, random, and with random I learned that I could change colors randomly. It looks pretty cool, but also bit crazy as well. Sometimes looking at random colors make me feel kind of excited or like I am going to have a seizure. Haha but not intentionally though.

Moving Spider Box

This assignment was kind of tricky because when I first did it, my lines to the box didn’t line up. However with some tweaking of the coordinates, I eventually figured it out. To be honest sometimes I find myself messing around with the code to understand it on my own. I did have the book, but, I wanted to try to figure how my code works, because only I know how it’ll work. Common sense right?

This is where I was also able to understand that logically why the codes work the way they do. I realized from this point of the semester that coding is logic, little bit of math, but mostly logic, and common sense. For an example in this assignment I figured out that the lines start from 0,0, however end up to the coordinate of each side of the box. If the x and y of the line does not meat to the box but 0, then the ends will not connect. Therefore finding the coordinate of each point of the box by subtracting and adding points I was able to connect the line to the points of the rectangle.

PMouse

This assignment was learning how to create a drawing like in those painting kinds of programs.

To be honest the only part that was a misunderstood was how to create the point from big to small, and I accomplished that by dividing the stroke with the mouseX and mouse Y for the strokeWeight. Other than that, this assignment was pretty easy for me.

Randomness

Now this, random assignment was random! As the image shows, random lines and random dots are appearing with random colors, however there was a split between the middle.

I remember that this meant I had to figure out the points not to cross over. So I started by cutting the canvas in half. Then I figured out the center point of the canvas, and built the random effect from there. The trick with this one was figuring out the center, and letting the random happen. Easy, but wasn’t so easy.

The reason why because at first the lines would only happen on one side for me, and the ellipse would be too high. However I fixed it by playing around with the x and y and got it to work.

Week 3

This week was more learning about how to create a class in and the “if, and else if” statements.

Dot appears in box

One of the assignments was to have the box appear only as the mouse rolls over to the next bock.

I got this to work by using the “if” and “else if” statements. I was saying that if my mouse was to move this in coordinate and that coordinate the red ball will appear, else if not then the ball will not appear.

Piano Key Pad

After the first assignment this was the same but instead of a ball the whole column will change color. Therefore I used a full rectangle to fill the box.

Dot appear in columns

This assignment was pretty much using the first assignment and second assignment and having them work together.

Ball bounce in 4 corners

This!!! was yeah…this was when the if and else if statements were getting pretty nasty at me. The challenge for this was not having the ball move, but as the ball hits the corner, it changes color. I found this kind of hard because speed was now introduced, and I had to make sure the speed works with the “if” statements.

The code that makes this happen is:

x=x+xSpeed;
y=y+ySpeed;

// side to side motion
if ((x>width) || (x<0)) {
xSpeed=xSpeed*-1;
fill(r,g,b);
}
// up and down motion
if ((y>height) || (y<0)) {
ySpeed=ySpeed*-1;
fill(r,g,b);

The conditional statements mean that if x which is the x axis with the speed traveling on the axis is greater than the width of the stage, or which is “|| ” x is less than 0 on the coordinate, then the xSpeed is the the motion by negative 1. This was the motion that the balls will move on the x axis.

That goes the same for the Y axis as well. Because my fill for the balls were randomized, the fill is added within my if statement because if the ball reaches the coordinates of either the width or height of the stage, but less than 0 it would bounce back, and change color as it hits 0 on the stage.

Therefore that is how I got the colors to change as it hits the corners.

This assignment probably taught me the most, because of the conditionals, of “if” and “else if,” because logically if something works then something should happen or else not. I had to tell myself that a couple of times. I read the book a lot and looked on youtube as well just to help me with this assignment.

Mini Project

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This mini project was easy but tricky at the same time. Why? because I was learning loop. Loop works to where instead of applying individual ellipse, I was able to have the loop produce the amount of ellipses that I needed.

This is the code for the loop.

void draw(){
background (255);
// nested loop

for (int x=width/6; x<width; x+=width/6){
for (int y=height/6; y<height; y+=height/6){
fill(0);
noStroke();
ellipse(x, y, 50, 50);
}
}
}

So to explain; using “for” which means, for every x axis the width divided by 6 spaces will have something repeated or looped right across the full canvas and are evenly spaced as well. This is the same as “for y” where the thing that appears are ellipses and they have 6 spaces in between. Phew!!!

They are looped infinitely, which saves me time so that I don’t have to place each and every dot in specific coordinates, where the “for” statement does it for me.

With that code I was able to generate all the other different codes, and have different effects like random sizes, and as my mouse rolls over the dots something happens whether it’s bigger or smaller using the distance function.

The “dist” function works by creating distance that if my mouse rolls over the distance will change in that coordinate

code:

if(dist(mouseX, mouseY, x, y)<DS/2){
DL=60;
ellipse(x, y, DL, DL);
}else{

Explained: so if the distance that my mouse moves on either x or y axis, within the x and y coordinates of the dots, the dots would get bigger because the distance at that point is less than the distance of the small dot.

Distance or “dist” is a function pretty neat, but we just need to understand that distance works on something like a z axis, to have that front and back kind of space to have something feel moving either away or towards you.

Translator

My concept for my translator was to create an interface that works like an app. The languages i was planning to use was Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and French. However I eventually changed French to be Thai because I wanted to keep the an overall asian language.

This the final production where it says I love you in the beginning and then as you hover over Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Thai, the words would generate the language of how to say I love you in those languages.

The image in the background was produced using illustrator, and converting it to be a JPG.

This is the language generator:

boolean E= true; // English language
boolean J= false; // Japanese language
boolean C= false; // Chinese language
boolean K= false; // Korean language
boolean T= false; // Thai language
PImage cloudy; // the name of my image
PFont font1;// font chosen

So the booleans are set to a function that something has to either be true or false.

If I didn’t set the booleans to all false the languages wouldn’t work.

Generative Poem

This project was actually pretty fun.

This project was more so about generating type, like the translator, however using a string of words and generate as you press the mouse.

So the concept was inspired by a photographer Araki, who is known to take photographs of bondage, sex, or eroticism, which can be very poetic in a sense that we sometimes relate poems to experiences or love. I also love his photos because they are different from a lot of people. However I took his image, and transformed it myself using photoshop, bringing out colors of vibrancy. Once I did that, I had to try to make sense of the words chosen for the strings, so that when the poem generates, it makes sense.

I also steered away from things like “pussy”, or “fucking”  because it would be too gory and very unpleasing. However using words like “urge” or “libidinous” would sum up feelings and thoughts of something poetic and sexy at the same time.

I also went this route because I wanted to get messy, and not always be so timid, and show off that I can expand creativity a bit farther than what I am normally known for. Therefore getting away from my comfort zone in this project was the kind of push I needed, so that I am not so straight edged.

Final Project

These are my project proposals, the first ones that we see were my basic ideas that I had in mind, however after doing further more research I found that maybe using images sound and video, I could create some kind of active visualizer in processing.

One of my ideas was to create a visualizer that is about fashion culture in NYC, however I changed it, because I was inspired by the Chinese Urban Culture.

Therefore when I was walking around NYC and going through China Town, I felt a strong Chinese American vibe that I liked, so I started shooting photos. One of the photos I took was a girl walking through China Town wearing some piece of urban fashion. I sneaked the shot without her consent, however it was very street style photography. This was a perfect shot, and I knew I could use this for my final project.

I edited the photo using Lightroom, Illustrator, and then Photoshop.

I  added a text in Chinese saying “stamp-collector” in American, however in China this is a slang term that I found on the net that actually means a female with lots of experience with men. So she is kind of a slut, haha. No offense to her, but her make up was kind of slutty, and I didn’t want to catch that. She was also kind of following me through China Town, so…yeah…not interested in that. She also ate at the same place as I did at Nam Wah dumpling house in China Town, but I think she was with friends. This was odd, but weird which therefore made me think…what kind of song to use.

The song I used for this project took a while to decide on, but I found a song by a Chinese rap group called “Higher Brothers.” The title of the song is called We Chat, and just by watching the music video on youtube, it was about using We Chat to connect with girls.

We Chat Higher Brothers Featuring Keith Ape Music Video

The video has a strong street urban vibe,  which matches, but I wanted to add another element and that was video in some way.

Remember how I was talking about that girl weirdly was kind of around the same area I was in, made me think of asian girls doing like this flirty dance but, kind of weird so, but it was hard to find a video that would match the song. Till I was looking for gifs, then I found a girl, that was so odd but it worked.

Her dance was so hilarious I had to use it. I knew if I added her in the visualization piece, that would increase a level of engagement and entertainment as well for my audience. Hahaha and oddly enough her dance matched the song in some way.

I also added another video of a different girl, because she was also interacting the same way as the other girl was. They would add humor to my piece, and I will argue that they match to the song as well.

The final product was everything into one, however I also added some coding visualizations like a star stream effect, and a sound visualizer that is tied to be a music player.

The star effect was generated to be mouse interactive so that you could use the mouse to change the speed of the stars as they are moving towards you. This was the finishing touch that I decided to add to the visualization as something you could interact with in my code.

Overall I actually loved this project because I was able to play with different programs to produce something in code. I used Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, and I could possibly bring this to aftereffects and add a different camera dimension to it, which maybe could be more so developed for a portfolio piece.

 Overall Experience

The class I have to say was super fun. I actually found that I really like coding. I also loved the fact I can take something from a different program, add it into the code, and then export it, and re-edit it again in a different program. I also learned a lot in this course about logic, and how as I am becoming a designer, it is only common sense to think logically in design. Therefore not only was the class fun, extensive and challenging, but also having to learn a great lesson in design.

I highly recommend people should take creative coding, because learning something new is always a challenge and fun, because unicorns are hard to find hahaha.

Interface Design.

Project 1

This project was to develop a new interface for Degree Works of Montclair State University. The goal was to re-design it to make it easier for students to use. Make it more understandable, and look better.

This is degree works. It’s basically a degree audit where students check their degree status. Now this is my degree audit, and noticed a lot of of problems. One of the major problems is the information. It is thrown right at you, which is overwhelming, and hard for a new student to understand. Also the it is very alarming because the color red is used and it can be very alarming. The bad thing about this is red is associated with stop, alert, or a warning sign. That is pretty harsh and some people may not like it. The other colors like blue, yellow, and green are kind of unrelated data. Therefore I need to fix that.

One of the major form of research I had to do was doing a couple interviews. The reason for doing so is because I had to collect some data from people. With these collection of people I would be developing my persona.

User Interface Degree Works Re Design

This document shows questions that I asked, and the tasks that I had my interviewees do. With the data that I collected I was able to find similarities and differences. With that I was able to develop my personas and the scenarios.

Scenarios

Now it was time to create my designs.

Billete_Degreeworks_Redesign_Part2_Personas_Infographic

These are my sketches that I produced to show how will I be designing the interface.

Comps.

Final Production

Billete_VCDS320_Project1_Degree Works Re Design_Final

This PDF is the collection of everything for my first project.

 

Project 2 App Design

This project is to develop an app that will help someone with his or her day. We had to base this app for NYC and I had to figure out what people need. This was a hard question because, NYC has a lot of things. However from some experience and what my friends always wish they had, they told me that they wish they had more time to do things in NYC. So I was thinking really hard what to produce. Something that would save time for people. Especially because people are always rushing in NYC, I figure why not make an assistant that helps people get ready before they go out the door. Which means I wanted to design an app that deals with dressing up in the morning.

There was a couple problems with this idea, and that was why would someone want to use it. And the answer is simple, Save Time in the morning by having a closet ready for you to use and dress up without having the hassle of figuring out what to wear.

Therefore the app is a clothing app, but more of an assistant that helps you customize wardrobes for yourself so that you can get ready faster in the morning. I wanted it to be some what fashionable, at the same time be user friendly by any age. Because NYC is one of the fashion capitals in the U.S. I figure people in NYC also dress for some kind of occasion, weather it is for work, school, going to a bar, weather because that is a huge thing, and maybe a just don’t care dress day, or give me a new look and feel day.

The app has it’s faults don’t get me wrong. However I loved doing it, and I definitely wouldn’t mind working on it more so that I can produce a fully solid app.

Billete_DigiClo_Final Design_VCDS320_User Interface

 

Type II

Type Book specimen.

So, as I was designing my typeface. I was always thinking, how can I make this a dope font. Another thing was how can I give this font some personal character. If you checked out my previous blog of my typeface development. I also wanted to make sure that the typeface that I was developing was to be readable, you it can be used as textual, and is clear to understand. And I think that functionality is where it is worth, and that will make it super cool.

Therefore with those characteristics became the name -> DOPE but let alone pronounced as dopey. I wanted to give it a 2 style meaning, and read as dope, but dopey like Snow Whites 7 dwarfs. I didn’t do this intentional, however it just clicked. You know when you do something and something clicks? Yeah that’s what happened.

Moving forward, I had to design a booklet that would best describe my font. However, I had to think… “What makes my font important?” Therefore I wanted to do a teaching method, not to show importance, but maybe to help my viewers see what my font can do. Basically show it off. I designed my font right? Then why not show it off.

Therefore planning is key. I was thinking, ok…only use my font to its potential. Have it be the star. I also was thinking, “I want it to transition like many great typefaces.” How can I do this. Therefore I mad my booklet be designed so that you can see and read my font in all different directions. Tricky, but I think I could do it.

This is a digital rendering of my booklet, however, after discussing some design issues with my professor, I had a lot I should fix and change. Also one of the biggest things I was missing was imagery. I had no images to help describe my font.

This is it’s preliminary stage, not my final stage. The reason why is because I had to fix some things, but its almost there. The idea is to have a teaching method as I mentioned before, but at the same time it can be read, it transitions well, and also in all directions there is something happening, showing off my font. Dopey who is the one of the seven dwarfs from Snow White fill the imagery perfect because I took the illustration but also changed it into a bit map, kind of bringing an originality to the image. Dopey who is one of the most shy, unheard dwarf, was also the favorite amongst the dwarfs because he was a cute figure. My font has it’s dwarf like qualities, especially in my italics, and also the fact that it looks very delicate and kind. Also because my font is it’s own character, so is Dopey.

This is my final design. The reason Why I chose the colors I chose was because Red is a good color to teach, and also to show importance of my font. I think a great contrast is purple for because it’s royal, and also a nice color to work with. I also wanted my font to be big because I really wanted to show off my font. Not having to worry about the others as they work as descriptions.

This is the rear of my booklet. I added the name, and the artist of the font as it is very important, and it works. The colors are very vibrant, and its so dope, just like my font.

50/50 Collage

So my idea was to create a piece that in today’s society people experience. The reason why is because people experience different things day to day, regardless they do nothing.

Therefore I had to gather materials.

These are just a jumble of materials that I found at my trip to English Town. I had more, however I was thinking of challenging myself and that was to use a minimum of  3-5 images to make a collage. I was more so about what can I do with just that minimum. What Kind of situation can I narrate to my audience. I know a collage you can use as much material you can use, but, why not right?

In process, I had to think what will my focal point? At the same time look at the images I wanted to work with, which are the images shown. How can I use them and at the same time narrate the system.

 

These are another set of scans that I took from the materials that I found. What I really liked about these images were the sketches. However, the sketches were mechanical. Not to say that they weren’t great, But! I have to say it was a challenge to use something mechanical as these sketches.

Comp.

So this is one comp that I produced. Using Katherine Hepburn. What Love about this image was the delicate texture the dress of the of Katherine, but that Umbrella, was kind of a problem. I didn’t want to take it off, because it was a part of her outfit, therefore I used a letter in it. The reason why I did that was to create an output of a vow. as it has a V shape cut out. The face coming off of Katherine is her mysterious point, and a hidden view behind it. The image I used behind her face is a photo slide that is of hong kong, so a place. Therefore with these collectives, I was creating an image of marriage. Why? marriage is delicate, has hidden emotions almost scary, and the fact that a letter could mean a written vow.

I could just use this but, I wanted to add something since the back seemed so bare.

These are my final collage posters that I designed. I like them because it’s elegant yet interesting to look at. Yes they are minimal, but something about minimal for me works. Using a selective amount of images and then trying to play with only so much was a challenge. I could’ve done more, but I wanted to show more with less. Overall I actually loved this project. I would definitely like to work with other images, and maybe play with it more.

 

Here to There

Take a trip with me. Find out why I love my home, and why people say “You are so lucky that you live in Hawaii.”

Why here to there?

I am born and raised from the beautiful island of Oahu Hawaii pronounced Oh-Ah-Hu Ha Vai Ee. The sometimes the “w” are pronounced as vuh sound only if it’s connected to with a “why sound.” Spelled “wai.”

Going back on track why here to there. Well I moved from Oahu Hawaii to New Jersey in a pursuit for opportunities and to further my studies. Oahu has it’s own Hawaii University, however I was up for something new, and for some life experience, therefore that is why I am in New Jersey. Do I plan to live here? No, but I will not be moving back to Hawaii because it is too expensive and not enough opportunity to make a living there.

However I still say it is one of the best places to visit, and I know Hawaii is definitely on the traveling list to visit for most people out there. Since I am a local of Hawaii, and I know a lot about the culture there, why not do a here to there project on traveling to Hawaii through my own eyes. Staying away from touristy things to do, but more what I do to grab a whole urban culture that Hawaii has to offer.

I was a break dancer when I was in high school, and one of the things that I love about it is the whole hip-hop urban culture. People would not expect Hawaii to have an urban culture but it really does.

Huge murals like this are commissioned by people and are done by professional graffiti artists that are local based in Oahu. These kinds of murals are statements that people of Hawaii are unique and have a voice in the Urban culture. We are not just about beaches, and hula dancers, but also striving to make ourselves known out there in the world.

This video is what Tourist want to know, see, and do. Don’t get me wrong, this is my home, but there is a different side to my home. This side is what people do not expect to see or learn about my home. My home has it’s hardships, and has it’s times of bringing where we are today. We are changing, advancing, and still, only exploit Waikiki, why? Because that is what people want to see and do in Hawaii.

This video, alone tells you and explains to you the birth right of Hawaii. OSNA who is a local rapper, as you listen to him, he speaks a bit of pidgin “local slang/broken english,” which is definitely a language that outside mainlanders will not understand, because it is so different but not ghetto at all.

I was called out in class your spelling is really bad. I will take that, and that is because English was not my first language. Local slang dialect “Pidgin,” is and will forever be. Mainland has ghetto talk, being “RATCHET,” mines is Pidgin. The urban culture of Hawaii is like those to be different and needs to be spoken. I grew up living in the suburbs, true, but my family also started working for people in the plantations picking pineapples, sugar cane, and coffee. Mainland people only see Hawaii as beaches, surfing, Luaus (Lu-aous) and flowers. While every time I come home, all I see are people making a name for themselves to be known that Hawaii needs to be voiced and be taken more seriously.

My life in Hawaii is hard. It is expensive, I have relatives that work 2 to 3 jobs just to get by. I lost my house at one point, because California banks were claiming my house, and my kicked out family I was in Jersey. Homelessness in Hawaii is a big thing. It is urban, and it is definitely what makes Hawaii misunderstood for being paradise.

See, through my eyes from growing up there, I am here on the mainland trying and making myself be known as someone from Hawaii can be taken seriously and I know there are many people like me who think the same.

For my here to there project, I want to do a traveling project or app, however what will be in the app are not tourist attractions but the real face of Hawaii. The urban culture of living, the music, even the fashion.

This man his name is Ryan Arakaki. He is one of my friends and training partners at my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu home school Mad Tiger Academy. He is one of the founders of a urban street wear company of Hawaii called In4mation. He has been in the urban street wear for a long time, and started from skating. Like “Supreme,” which is primarily a skate brand, made it into mainstream clothing to high fashion. Not saying that In4mation is at the same level as Supreme but they have their industrial and common grounds of the urban society.

I also struggle with this, however I am Filipino. People automatically assume that just because I am from Hawaii, and born in Hawaii, mainlanders automatically assume I am a Hawaiian, where in fact I am not. This falls into the stereotype, of mainstream media. For an example Moana. So an aspect that I really want to add to this idea of creating my app, are the facts that the people of Hawaii are not all Hawaiians. The people of Hawaii are definitely the ones that are misunderstood, and the facts about going to Hawaii are not entirely true.

My journey from back home is coming home to where I feel like I am with family, friends, and actually feel like some place I belong. As side from that I also experience hardship, culture, voice, and at the same time and Aloha (Love, respect, and Life)

My idea for the app is that I will have locations for people to visit and experience the urban side of Hawaii, and not only the beaches, but the culture, the people, and the art of Hawaii that the locals love to express.

I will always, and forever keep the spirit of Aloha with my designs. Coming from a small island to the mainland is a challenge. Like anything in life, it still is. I grew up understanding true Japanese culture, not the anime. But bowing, respect, taking off shoes before entering a house. Greeting the elders first and helping the host in their home. Also organization, and placement to utilize minimalism at it’s respected space. Art and Design come to me as the Japanese culture is, and that is Natural. Aloha is also acceptance, and learning to make yourself better.

 

VCD311 Text and Image Booklet

Primary Research

These are some direct research that I found both interesting and inspirational. However using this for my primary research as a basic template guide for my layout. Especially the first image and third image for some placement ideas.

What I like about it is the images are big, and some of them fill the page. The third image is one direction I was thinking of taking to bring out the quotes of my speeches. However, some of the quotes were too long, so I don’t think I could do that. However still a nice spread, and layout to keep in mind for myself as I plan to design my spreads for my type and image booklet.

I also do think maybe if I was to understand the wants and needs of a book maybe I can design the booklet to be interactive, and at the same time historical. The fact that teens are very image based, I want to have images that are going to do that in my design.

Image/Video Based

I know this is a rap video, but I am looking at images and how they are working. haha. because this book has to appeal to the younger generation of teens, I know in today’s age the whole HYPEBEAST scene is real. Therefore this is very influential to my booklet because teenagers who are in high school are always listening into some kind of crazy things now days.

I want to have my book have that real raw image, playing with different things like effects and highlighting things. Basically kind of making a music video of my booklet. Kind of tricky but I think if I play with my images I can do that.

This video has some reference of high school, and really shows how crazy, wild and playful things can be. I am not paying attention to the lyrics as well, but really going direct with imagery.

I find this helpful in some way to help me create the direction that I need, because I kind of know how to layout type on spreads, but both image and Type, I had to figure that out the hard way.

Image and Type working together is kind of tricky especially with the imagery that I am producing an imagery of a music video as my theme for this project. Like how will I create a well thought out project, that will provide my readers (teens) be involved with my book.

Graphic Tees are a great way I can learn how to play with images for the younger scene. I do think that my focus for this project is to really know how to play with the images. If I work with the images I think I can create something that will produce an image that will not only inform my reader, but also have them engaged.

Another thing to address in this project are “COOL” things that are “LIT” for them. Teens have an attention span of has been quote for quote 10 mins to 15 mins today. Sad..but true and that is according to www.opencolleges.edu.au and that is because kids have many learning interests, and distractions that it’s very hard to keep there attention. Paying attention to a lecture, or a book for a teen are somewhat not interesting. I for one, am guilty and I am not blaming it on technology, however I blame it on the amount of distractions of wants versus whats important. This is another challenge that I really think is important, because teens are growing up in an era of more and more media, and why read a book if you watch the video right?

Addressing the Problem.

My problem that I will be facing with this project is how can I actually have my readers view the book like a music video? Also because my speeches are long, monotone, and not that fun as music videos are, how am I going to do that? Should I re-design the speeches? I have a limit to the amount of paper I will use. I also have to think about cost, time and production as well. Therefore should I keep the speeches in it’s natural paragraph form?

I think that if I was to create my idea of a music video, I would have to treat the speech like lyrics, highlighting some important aspects, but then again running into a problem of having a long quote. And I think its because of my choice of speeches, therefore I think I didn’t think that through.

How can I fix these problems? These problems besides, space, and placement is the least of my worries, but addressing the spread as a music video concept idea, having a long speech will be tricky.

Another problem that I have to figure out, but I probably cannot do is the fact that Teens have a short attention span. They will spend their time looking at social media, rather than reading my book. Another is if the book is not playing music or a video they will not read it either. Unless it’s an assignment assigned my the teacher to actually read it then I can probably get the attention. But, that might not be the case because the importance is not there.

Working to fix

Ok. So we addressed the problem, now how will I fix this? So I am thinking of actually using my images as the base of information. Having to design the images to look “LIT” will hopefully keep the teens interested. I am willing to play with the images, really devoting time to them, because I think hype, fashion, music and memes will keep the teens engaged, and especially because all teens at the age of 14 – 18 will need a lot of imagery to keep them focussed.

These are my sketches and thought process. My creativity was sparking as I was not trying to design my images, but trying to work with the problems that I found. Not focussing so much about the spread, but using the spread like it’s a tablet, or a screen of some sort, but information and historical as well. I wanted to point out trends, and points of attractions as they are distractions of a teen who has problems of paying attention. I wanted to structure my ideas as loud and obnoxious as teens can be because I was once there. I always felt I was invincible, like nothing could hurt me, and like nothing could stop what I do.

 

Preliminary comps

First Draft This is the PDF of my first draft. Still working things out

Second Draft This is my second draft. Hopefully getting there.

While producing the drafts I was trying to keep the motive of creating loud images, hopefully striving for meaning, and emotional. I am playing with different layers as well. Trying to be bold, and creating almost a zine like quality as well. I know teens don’t mind zines, because its short, fast, shows lots of images, and that is all they pay attention to the most of the time.

Therefore I had to create a really crazy cover.

Now the title of my book is called “The Voice of Our Leaders,” based by the Presidents of the United States of America. I wanted to illustrate the fact that we the people have a voice, and that presidents are used for our voice and to point out events of history time, and place. I wanted to show color, but also using dark, desaturated colors and black outlines as and adding texture to create this feel organic, and history related. Teens love things of striking, in your face things, so why not do something like this making a huge impactful cover. If you noticed my sketches, it shows a that I am using the images as language, and also using the text as the image as well. Therefore I wanted to show that off in the cover as well.

Final Production

Billete Type and Image Booklet VCDS311

This is my final production. I feel as if I can do more, especially because I feel the imagery is ver different in some areas, but asl because I was dealing with production, ink, and cost for the real world of design. Overall though, I actually had fun creating this booklet because I was really learning how to work with the images and as well as working with the text. Having to work together combining the elements is very tricky, and also staying with the theme of a video aspect is hard to do because its flat and not screened.

If I had more time, and if money, or cost was not an option I would definitely go crazy making this book. But with restrictions that I had to work with it was unfortunate.

VSCD 311 Project II Text-Only Booklet.

Direct Research.

 

Doing research on books and learning about the design of books for me was really interesting. Starting from old fashioned, to modern design I was begging to like the Old fashioned style more. Especially because the goal for this text only booklet to have a scholarly mind-set.

From observing Old fashion printed books I realized that the spread meant to just be text. There are no pictures, however some old books do have some illustrations as well, The focus of text is using a typeface that is not only easy to read, also this classic style, therefore using a typeface that has a serif would be best for the design.

 

This is some typographic designed spreads that I found interesting, because it’s using type as design, and not images. I actually like this general concept, however using a design like the second and third image may not be appropriate for the style of my booklet.

I feel I am leaning a lot towards a clean and simple design, nothing so drastic with the type because a scholar only cares about the content, and not how cool the text looks. However maybe a concept for my title? I’ll think about that more.

Related Research.

 

In relation to books these are some Magazine spreads that I have found. What is interesting about magazine spreads is that the flow of text is very wide, and utilizes the whole real estate of the spread. This is definitely something for me to keep in mind, however could be an influence in my design as well.

Although what I really like about magazine spreads is that they are able to use text flows to it’s advantage. The space is not so limited like a book, but maybe potential ideas for my text and image booklet instead. Therefore I could use these kinds of ideals.

Now the booklet is about speeches. And the speeches are either from presidents great public speakers. So I have to pick kind of a general theme for the speeches. The speeches were already given to me, however I wanted to do some other research, about the speeches, and found the ones I wanted. I picked to do speeches from presidents, because I feel they were important people, and that their speeches did some kind of change to the society.

On the Challenger DisasterPresents the Revolt of his OfficersThe Gettysburg AddressI Am Profoundly SorryWe Choose to go to the MoonFor a Declaration of War Franklin D Roosevelt

These are the speeches that I have chosen to use in my Booklet. The reason Why I picked these speeches is because they all were impactful, yet meant something in history. Therefore I want to inform my ready that these speeches are history, and they marked events that we will always remember.

Inspirational Research.

 

These are great encouragement elements that promotes the development of speeches. How it should sound, the voice, and how the audience can be engaged to it. this is inspiring because it helps me figure out whats the purpose of this, and who am I persuading? This will help me develop a concept as the speech is laid out in the spread.

Concept Development.

My concept is to develop a booklet that is made for a serious reader. Therefore being strict on leaving the body text as is, and treating it as real text, and not having loud and obnoxious things that disrupts the text flow.

I would also love to have this be a form of historical events that you have to read to find out what they are. Therefore informal yet minimal.

My choice of speeches are a bit long, however thinking of production cost and print, I may have to think about those odds, because lets be real, its kind of hard not to go over board on things, I just need to remind myself about it.

These are just some sketches I did to show that I am thinking about text layout, and spreads. The reason why is because It’s good to think about how the text will work on the pages. Also trying to see or figure out a design layout, that could help me design something that is not just historical, classical, and minimal, but somewhat interactive as well. So maybe splitting the texts, like in the 3rd, 5th, and 7th layout maybe a direction that I like.

These are some practice layouts that I came up with. From taking doing these practice layouts I more so thinking about the grid, and flow, but not necessarily thinking about a certain design spread. However while I kept trying and trying, I found something that I more so leaned over to. And the spread is the Second image on the top right hand side.

What I like about that particular layout is that, it has a nice design idea, and at the same time has a some interaction so that the reader starts from one thing, and move into the meat of the context. The title should definitely stand out, as I realize that, however, not be so over dramatic as well. These are just more tastes, and thats because I am fairly OCD when it comes to placement of things or objects, hence placement of text lol.

This is one of my first preliminary compositions. As I had my booklet reviewed by my peers, as well as my Typography professor, to give me insights on not just how to improve the booklet, but to make things better designed. What I took from the notes were helpful, however, maybe just for some people don’t understand why I did certain things. Therefore for the next draft before the final print out, I then fixed those problems  that my peers mentioned, and hopefully worked out a little better.

So there were still some minor problems. Mostly grammatical problems, and readability problems. However thats a pretty good sign for me that it’s nearly finished. Also as you may noticed I changed the title, from “The Presidents of Your Speeches,” to The Voice of Our Leaders. I figured out that speeches sounded redundant, and it has speeches, but what exactly are speeches? Most speeches as I found in my inspirational research, are there to motivate, persuade, inform, and have a purpose. Most time speeches are made or spoken by leaders as a voice of the people. Therefore since the Presidents of the United States are the leaders of the United States, and people listen to them, gave me the idea of the voice, not just only by the presidents, but as they are the voice of the people as well. Its more impactful in a way, and its way better than just saying that its a book that contains speeches. Therefore I had to dig deep.

Going back to my design checklist, I had to re-think about my whole entire concept. Does it convey the message that I am going for, from the old title to the new, I’d say so, with the design, how is it better than the previous spreads or are they the same. To be honest Not much has changed, however, paying attention to certain detail, was key, having the right size of a margin, having the right size of text for easy readability is definitely taken to an account. Fixing things like placement, and sensibility to the design, makes it work, not just as a booklet, but also as a thoroughly, and thoughtfully designed booklet. I wanted my viewer who is a scholar to know that the book is more than just a book that contains speeches, but contains events of history that impacted the society. My hopes for impaction is the statement of titling, and using an entrance or starter before the true begging fo the speech.

This is an example of what I mean of creating that impact feeling, however being modest, but classical about the speech. Casually creating something as simple as this is a nice way of starting the true speech from the introduction.

Overall I believe that this booklet has design, but also am confident that the message of the speeches is true to a scholar’s needs of text and flow.

Typography 2 Low Res Specimen

The first step I took before I started to sketch is actually start thinking about how low res fonts look like, and how they are structured.

What is really interesting about these images that I found while researching, was how the structure is based. Structure is technically based by understanding how the characters or letters look like, and how they function with each other. One important thing that  I understand is that a character has to definitely fit into a family of letters with similar characteristics. Characters that look different makes the who font family look weird, however I didn’t know until I started to create my own fonts.

Now, My goal is to design a text style font, because I like clarity. However not saying that the single locked ones looked generic but I also want to construct a font that has some kind of elegance to them or have a sexy appeal. I love letters, and I love how they look. I also love curves especially in a woman. I think of letters as pretty girls, that have sexy feet, legs, a nice height and especially some thickness. Therefore taking a look back at calligraphic style letters, and how they are structured, at the same time add my touch, maybe what I need to create this sexy text style font that I want. Almost like a hot female super star, model, porn model, or just a sexy ass model with really nice cha chas. (I am just trying to bring some humor do not get offended)

Ok back to seriousness. Lets look at how I am tackling this idea.

This is my first take to design my characters. As we see some problems in consistency, and somewhat proportions. I also tried to tackle how can I essentially make my characters stand out, as suppose to fit in.

This is my UPRIGHT letter design.

As we can see, I am using something called a semi-serif. The reason why I wanted to use a semi-serif instead of a serif, is because semi-serif has a this elegant touch to letters. It also adds this moving forward motion that I really like about it, and also making the eyes move the direction I want the eyes to move.

This is my italic version of my font. I ket a lot of the same characteristics as my Uprights, however using a sharper and pointier approach. From studying my calligraphy style writing, italics are not slanted, otherwise my characters will look oblique. My goal for creating my italic is to have a a sharper look, at the same time keep the same characteristics. This sharper and pointer look will bring out the character’s motion with the semi-serif to trick the eye of the characters looking like it is essentially slanted. 

This is my font being digitized for the first time in illustrator.

This is my upright design, however this was the first time using the FONTSTRUCT to develop my font. However there are somethings that I like about it, and somethings that I don’t. The good thing is that you can see your font work was type, and you can go back in and edit if you feel something has to be edited or changed. However the problem with this is that you don’t get perfect circles like how illustrator has it. Even though illustrator will take a while for us to develop or digitize our font.

 

VCDIII Project 1 Research and Concept Development

RESEARCH

The importance in knowing how to follow directions and to make directions, is a key point that helps understand this project. Therefore I had to start by researching about directions, and how its created to direct someone.

https://www.thespruce.com/step-by-step-basic-cake-recipe-304553

This direction created is made so that a person who has no experience in making a cake is able to make one by following these steps. The steps are thorough and thought through, explaining the importance of doing what needs to be done. Therefore a lot of organization in writing and carefully explaining not only want is happening but what is going on.  The pictures provided are also described, however is what or how the cake needs to look like, as well as the process in development.

This is kind of like how we designers build or create our designs for people. However the challenge is definitely how can we accurately do so.

I unfortunately know how to follow directions more than make directions, therefore it will take some practice for me. Because the big question also is how can I make what I am directing better than other directions. Are there any flaws, is there a “MISS direction?” This is important because we can fall into a trap or be directed wrong to do something, and that is  HUGE no no. Therefore looking for good directions and how they are structured are important. Because once I know how to accurately write directions then the design of this project will be easy to design, because I will also be directed by my own self.

However lets study more, and take a look at more directions and steps.

I truly found this helpful because like giving directions to someone that needs to go somewhere is helpful. What I learned from this was the questions that can pop up about the directions. Questions means of uncertainty or means of is it actually where things need to be. Therefore in creating directions, you’d wanted to be trusted that your information is purely accurate and is what it is. Directions is DIRECT, to the point and factual. False directions is not factual and is not something you’d want to follow otherwise serious consequences may occur.

This is for some humor. But still interesting because kind of like if you do something wrong. haha

However, this all relates to the “How to…” project because we are designing steps to either make, create, or do a certain task. Therefore taking strong views how to make the process better we need to look at these possibilities, because they are all support base for this project.

I actually like this video, because its informal, very easy to follow, and you can actually understand whats going on, then try if you actually understand what is going on.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2013/07/31/5-ways-to-tell-if-the-advice-youve-received-is-wrong/#57b270394666

The link from Forbes is an interesting article about false/ or wrong advice. This an important point because from reading the article, tells you to follow your instincts and also to check if something weather it’s advice or direction is credible, because means of trust to your source. I like part 4 because it explains the point of credibility, and if you do agree with with something not credible or not qualified you will be receiving the wrong information at the same time running around and around guessing what are you doing wrong. Therefore teaches us how to carefully choose who to listen to and check if they are actually true or not, which means research first before doing so.

https://www.inc.com/jeremy-goldman/what-to-do-when-your-organization-is-headed-in-wrong-direction.html

This article is an interesting article also with the points of changing your directing if you see that you are doing something wrong. I basically got from this article and is to learn how to test your ideas first before making anything final. This helps avoids flaws, and means you can now successfully direct someone that he or she needs to go or do. Interesting read, especially step 2 where shows how a company named Odeo saw that Apple was becoming better platform, therefore changing their direction which is now Twitter. Interesting because this shows that if something like Apple is always in the lead, shows you how you can either change or turn around for the better, or make things better.

Now that I have discussed how to produce directions, lets take a look at how to design directions, because this section is also important.

The importance in the design, is to back up what you have directed, because lets say the photos or images don’t match the direction, well then that needs to be taken cared of, otherwise you viewer will look at it and say, this completely wrong. This is not also the only problem however, and that is “HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR DIRECTION.” You also want to design something that makes the viewer stop and look at your direction. What makes them look your design. Also why? why this? Is you viewer wasting his or her time looking at your design? Could he or she learn what you are directing from someone better? These are important questions that you have to think about why making your design because people take time to look at things.

value-of-time

This article is a great article because it explains the value of time, and how to value your time. Truly an interesting article, because time and money management is someones forever question, because time is money right? What I learned from this article is really about how time affects money, and how you can manage it with simple variables and logic. However what struck an interest for me was the fact that people take time to read articles like these, and what makes it worth their time, and that is to learn something new, or something of interest. For an example if you want to learn how to cook you watch cooking shows, follow recipes, and take the time to sit down and really get to know and understand what is actually going on here in that moment. I also thank Professor Jun Hierholzer for opening my eye to how important a persons time is, and to value that, and make it worth while for that person. Striking the question “Why is this important?”

Now that we have a view of importance to the design, lets take a look at how directions are designed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Numbers are a great way to show how steps should be followed because, it gives it a sense of directions. Therefore adding numbers to the steps can help direct the viewer how to follow the direction and not a different organization.

This is a different take other than using numbers and letting just the image describe how to draw eyes. You can tell because how the sequence flows. This is a creative approach how to determine using images to go with direction, and let the images be the direction. I  think of this direction to also be something called a tutorial. Tutorials are very good, and tutorials show how to do something or use something. This is a great asset for creating directions because tutorials have to be extremely detailed.

This a tutorial on how to use the new adobe program Adobe Xd which is made for designing web, and interface. HEAVILY useful and great because I love designing interfaces.

This is interesting because this is a game based on how to follow directions. Hence “how to..” HAHA funny watch, but good. This also shows how images tell the viewer what things are, and not. Very interesting, because the images can be either seen as one thing versus the other. This means make sure you choose the right images to go with your direction otherwise people can get mislead.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

My how to project is based on “Self Defense.”

My credibility is that I have been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu since 2008, and I am a purple belt which means I am eligible to teach people techniques of self defense. Of course if you are a black belt you are more credible to teach people, however purple belts in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is considered upper belts, and we are in charge of the white and blue belts. We can also teach classes, and we can also help coach in competitions. Because of our ranking we are able to even train with black belts and trade techniques. To other forms of martial art such as Karate, Kempo, Judo, and Taekwando, in actuality a purple belt in brazilian jiu jitsu is a black belt to those martial arts because of the training and time it takes to get a purple belt. We are also considered junior masters in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Therefore I picked self defense as my “how to..” because I know how to defend and also am able to demonstrate and teach you effectively and credibility. If you need proof. you may also contact the black belts that I train under to understand my credibility.

Eric Goo Black belt Head instructor/professor of “Mad Tiger Academy BJJ ” He is my main  coach, and Mad Tiger Academy is my home academy for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Started here when I was 19 years old, as a white belt, blue belt, and now purple. I am also in pursuit for my black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, however it takes time, patients, and lots and lots of training.

Julio Galarza Black Belt Head instructor/professor of “Momentum Brazilian Jiu Jitsu” This Academy owned by Julio, is my second home when it comes to training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Therefore I come here to continue training with great people, athletes, and knowledge.

Now that you have seen my credibility, you can in-trust that I understand the techniques better than a white belt and a blue belt. I have a basic understanding of a black belt, however they know more because they are black belts. I train under black belts and help coach and teach the white and blue belts to understand techniques better.

However for this project my main goal is to show only self defense, with steps to help someone with no or little experience how to defend themselves.

What is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

This video is a summary of what Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is roughly about, however there is more to it, because watching it is definitely different than actually practicing or training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. But, the reason why I picked this video because it grabs the attention for self defense concept only, which is primarily what my “How to..” project will be about.

This is also to show how effective Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is, and how self defense is something over looked by most people especially women. However law enforcements like these officers here understand control and use techniques from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to restrain and maintain control in the situation. This is a scary situation however important aspect to know how self defense can help save your life one day. Not saying that everyone will get into a situation like this, but everything is unexpected.

Things like this can be unexpected.

Rape! HUGE issue especially for women, and with some understanding of self defense and possibly know how to defend from predators like this can save your life. Not just women get taken advantaged of but children, little girls and boys, even men or teenagers are victims of assault, rape, and attacks. It is a dangerous thing, and a scary thought, however its out there. All it takes is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Another form of assault that are sometimes un noticed or seen are bullying, or even abuse. There are people out there that are abused a lot, which needs to stop, and I consider this the first degree for learning how to learn self defense.

I wasn’t abused, but like most kids when they are young, we were bullied, pushed and didn’t know what to do. The good thing about learning self defense and NOT FIGHTING, is that you will actually learn that you can handle the situation, and be confident. I have met many people along the years who were bullied also, because they took a self defense class or train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class earned their confidence back and also was able to get their life back to where they needed to, to restart and make a better one. Ultimately a life changing experience.

In conclusion the I hope I have convinced you the importance to know self defense. I hope I can reach that goal to teach someone self defense not only to know how to defend, but also to instill a self confidence back into a person. There are those out there however take this and use it for their advantage, and no thats not my ultimatum. However you can learn how to defend yourself from those possible aggressors or attackers.

Now, there are some problems that I know I will face in teaching certain techniques to you. Problems such as space, time, and possibly no money. This is material problems, now some mental problems and physical problems do occur as well, such as; injuries, coordination, depression, emotions, being scared, lack of confidence, or even to people the lack of interest. These elements of problems can still be ruled out by their own mind, and that I cannot change. However the people that I do hope to grab and talk to are people who need closure, who need a way to feel better about themselves, and want to protect them from harm and danger from predators. These are the people who I am talking to, therefore my voice has to be somewhere to push you and at the same time insure you security. I have to explain my steps carefully and as informal as possible for safety reasons and so that you can understand why  you must learn those steps before moving on.

Also the style that I will be explaining things is the same style as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt instructor teaches their students techniques. Everything is detailed to a “T” and every move means something.

The questions I will be facing for this project are “HOW WILL THIS BE BETTER THAN OTHER SELF DEFENSE APPS OUT THERE?” “WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?” “WHEN CAN I USE IT?” “IS IT FREE?” “HOW CAN I TRUST THIS APP?”

My solution for the first question is to be completely detailed as much as possible. In comparison to other apps out there about self defense they aren’t very very detailed. I will not only describe the positions, but also pin point every detail why it is that way and why its important.

My solution to attract viewers is to voice out the reasons why self defense is a great tool to know in case of an attack from a predator, or aggressor. Therefore my hopes is to use colors that is attractive, and at the same time use the right font that is very directional and at the same time speaks of importance.

Answers for the next set of questions and that is you can use it anytime, when ever you need to just to keep in mind and to incorporate a secondary visual aspect for your own self knowledge. The app will be free, and updated adding new set of techniques. No need for purchase because there will possibly be accessories you will want to but not necessarily need to buy, however benefit you. I will list them for you, but those are all optional because the app will not provide those, hence being very step by step tutorial based. You can trust this app because I will have a professional black belt instructor walk step by step on how the techniques will be explained. Therefore get the stamp of approval from a will experienced and trained black belt from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

My system.

1. Create the word document with words explaining the techniques.
2. Test and check them to show that it works. Look for flaws
3. Create the final document and explanation
4. Design the app.
   1. create logo with name
   2. Typeface “hierarchy”
   3. Images
   4. test again

This is my word document, for now. I will also have this reviewed for flaws and effectiveness.

Billete_how_to_proj1_self defense

Once everything works properly, creating the design is the last step.

So far I may think of doing something close to these styles of layout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like the first one because it has a nice style using the images and text. Kind of shows me an idea that it doesn’t have to be actually pictures but illustrations. At the same time looking at the placement of typography to essentially be a caption of the the images. I also like the second image because its easy to follow, and has that aggressive, yet protective sense to it. Therefore maybe using this as an influence in color and layout style for my design, because instead of using illustrations, I could generate icons instead. Icons are good because it doesn’t have to show gender, age, and sex. Therefore might also be a good idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With these images I am looking at possibly influential typography, fonts and style. I really really like the asian oriental feel, because something oriental is like original, so that might work. I also like that samurai image but interesting play with western style typefaces. Maybe not, but figured be interesting to put it out there. However the image is cool, and has a nice effect to it. Maybe that could be a possible style of image i could use instead of illustrations. The last image is fairly sport related, the reason why I picked this image is because sometimes people do forms of martial arts as a form of exercise. for heath benefits and life.

OH! that could strike a motive of interest, people are always looking for a way to better their way of life and health. Weather its dieting, or exercising. This just gave another answer to “Why is this important?” And thats its good for health. Learning self-defense is good for your health mentally and physically because you can loose weight, eat healthy, gain back confidence, and give yourself a better start in life. Man, this just hit my creativity bell. hah!

I will use health, and lifestyle as my inspiration for this project.

This is something close to design style, very clean, especially the typeface. I know working out doing anything fitness is hard to influence someone to do, IF! they find it hard to find time to do. So maybe something like this but adding images can help get this across. But man I found it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore, influence for this project health and lifestyle. Motive is self defense. colors I are from these images that I picked here. I am looking at healthy food choices to influence my color palette. Therefore I am actually picking colors that are close to the Açaí (Ah-sa-yee) bowl. There is a meme that Açaí is the fruit that gives you Brazilian Jiu Jitsu powers haha. Therefore my color palette will come from there. Fruits also give it texture, however maybe not for this project.

This texture of a really roughed up training belt is the perfect influence in texture that I am imagining because this can also help with that image of protection. There are different color belts as well, but because people trust a black belt more than a purple belt as myself even though I call myself an açaí belt because its purple and the Açaí is purple. Just another meme. Anyways I like the texture of the belt because its rough yet timid. And anyone that has a knowledge of martial arts is considered a bad ass.

Sketches and Name development.

I would just name it how to…defend, but doesn’t sound important, nor does it match with the theme of health and lifestyle. Therefore, I’ve been trying different names, and thinking a lot. The questions I threw out for myself to develop the right Title or name for this app are; “Whats a catchy yet simple name?” “Is it matching to my idea of health and lifestyle?” “Can it be used for defense?” and lastly “Will it be able to boost someones confidence?”

As you can see from my sketch book I came up with the name “Get Up.” I really like how this sounds, especially its encouraging, and also I can do many different variations of this. The title is very flexible, and getting up to do something takes a lot to do, especially when learning how to cope with things in life. So to eliminate the questions it is pretty catchy and simple, straight forward, and up driven, also for health and lifestyle as I mentioned before it is encouraging and pushes for a better life at we know how its hard to restart and get our lives back together, and all you need to say is GET UP! When your down in the edge thinking you cannot get to where you want to be, that words of encouragement saying GET UP! are what some people need. When your fighting, when you feel like everyone or everything is against you; “Just get back up and do it.” Therefore the title “Get up,” is not perfect, but works for what it is. There is only one draw back for this name, and that there are many titles or apps with the name Get Up, so how can I make this about self defense? Well the full title is Get Up: The Defense App. That way you could distinguish what kind of app is this for. Because sometimes people associate this to an alarm clock or something.

From coming up from the title, I decided to do some rough logo sketches for the app.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These rough sketches show a lot of my thought process in coming up with the potential icon/logo mark for my project. As you noticed I picked a triangle to be the most decided shape because in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the strongest shape is the triangle, which stands for base, stability for all sides, everything is equal, pointed angles for 3 points of attack with every angle. Therefore the triangle is one of the strongest shapes that I was going for. How ever takes some creativity to make a triangle match the title of the app. Therefore I was trying different shapes like a cross, also looking at some Japanese styles of Samurai prints, all influencing my logo development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were the images that inspired and influenced my designs. What I really liked about these images are they were able to give me choices and interesting takes of utilizing the triangle as something of icon. The Gracie family, who are one of the founding families of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu uses the triangle and makes it stand for Gracie. While training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I’ve gotten to understand the meaning more, and therefore I will be using a triangle for this design.

Inspirational outlook for my design.

Why Nike you ask? Nike has been in the health, fitness, and lifestyle. They have done many influential campaigns in the world. Everyone out there has or wants a pair of nike shoes, and it goes with their statement. “Just Do It”  Watching these videos are shows not just creativity but driven goals. Their style of typeface from an old school to new school shows versatile and adaptive qualities. Definitely something inspiring for me, and I am sure their commercials have been that way since I could remember them “Be like Mike.” That whole campaign to buy their Jordan, because if you buy the shoes you are able to play basketball like Michael Jordan. Ah…I remember that, I even wanted a pair, but being a kid, and a family not having much money, made me understand hard work, and determination. Oh well…but now I own 1 pair, and rock it pretty hard haha.

Another inspiration is anything that helps the society.

The reason why I like this to help me design my project is because theres a moment of just taking the time go out of their comfort zone and do something nice. These homeless people that they do cuts for have issues, weather they are financial, mental, or just to be wanted to be accepted in the daily society. Inspiring and also somewhat needed to see.

Producing the System.

Some things to keep in mind as I am producing the system, are how can I design the system so that anyone can use it to develop an infographic, app, or a website. The effectiveness of producing the right system has to be thought out so not only I can understand it but others too. This is a step by step tutorial thats one aspect. Another aspect this is about self defense.

Billete_VCDS311_Howto_Project1_System

I was thinking about using illustrations before, but doing this project I came to a conclusion that Photos are the best way to depict my instructions. Also framing the photos in a box to give highlight the image, as well as adding the directions on the side to as a point of narration.

The color palette comes from the açaí color scheme. The dark velvet color, a nice red to complement a vitality and life effecting. The white as space but also for clarity. Black for knowing that this is coming from a black belt instructor as well. A nice wheat color and grey for the box containing image and text to highlight its features.

I also came to a conclusion about the logo design for this project to essentially bring out that its about self defense, but also have steps involved within the triangle. The triangle is used as a frame, placing “Get Up” within the triangle, also creating steps, and the Triangle creates a G, for Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as well as the G for Get with the Red arch tip for Up, to get up. This took a lot of time and thought to the production, and as well to match the self defense aspect of the How to.. project.

I also wanted to have that Nike aspect where they use thick lettering to their adds, and designs. Therefore I Nimbus Sans was the choice for this project. Originally I had wanted something that was fairly traditional, like a Helvetica font, however what made me go into the condensed look for typeface was to that it worked for Titles or Displays. Also longer X heights for that Up moving typeface.

From picking the images, typeface, and color scheme, became the finished product for the system. As you noticed I really wanted to bring everything together, however if you were to take the system apart, you can still follow it, and is very directional itself. The colors are listed in order from most used to least. The boxes form a system of itself to show the importance, and details. The typeface can work in all areas, both small and big. Images are photos of a black belt expert that knows what he or she is talking about. Also you can use it if you were to highlight a video to perform the technique. Overall this is my system, and the goal is for me is not only show you the steps, but also direct you so that if it was to be taken a part, put together, works either way, also if you were to bring it to make a website, mobile app, infographic, or even a poster, you can follow the styles and make it happen.

 

 

 

 

 

Project 3 Kiosk Concept and Development.

Before we get into my designs and things, lets talk about the project itself. The project is to design a kiosk for the Visual Communication and Design Major. I have to research about the program, and then incorporate them into a design that I could use to create and design a kiosk. Now this is a group project for me, and what’s really great about this is that I am able to see what my group and I have and create something of similarity to theres.

However lets look at some research I found about the VCD program at Montclair State University. 

http://www.montclair.edu/arts/art-and-design/academic-programs/undergraduate-programs/visual-communication-design-bfa/

This explains the program from what we do and what the program has to offer. However if  you would like to find out more click on the link and that’ll directly bring you to the Montclair State University’s Visual Communication and Design major information.

 

these are my notes from class to help me give an understanding of what needs to be done for this project. My notes help me develop my concept because these are my guidelines to follow. Without these guidelines given from my professor, I will be lost and not have an actual, or properly scaled thumbnails.

Let me further discuss my vision. So one of reasons for thinking the way I am thinking is due to the Professor’s interviews about the program. I had to interview or get something called original research to gather more in depth information and definitely a more one on one feel to how the professors understand and think about the program. How ever so far I’ve only interviewed Professor Inciong (Director of the program) and my own professor for this class, Professor Luttropp.

I really learned so much from these professors, and they have great voices of guidance for they really care about the program. Professor Inciong describes the VCD program as Thoughtful, Craftsmanship, and Process based. From professor Luttropp’s Intro courses we learn that VCD is a process and I remember him saying that, however VCD means to him as what it stands for Visual, using images, or images, Communication where it a lot provides information, and Design because everything works in a cohesive order. However he also described VCD as a way of communicating with words and images so that the information given is easily understood. Now with that being said one of the duties of the professor is not only to educate us as their students but instill us as Seeds.

This thought stuck with me because it made a lot of sense. I found out about graphic design from a community college professor telling me “Hey you know if nursing doesn’t work out for you, think about graphic design.” She planted a small seed inside of me, and now look at me, I am pursuing my BFA degree in Visual Communication and Design at Montclair State University. One of my plans is probably pursuing my masters in GD but for now, this is my focus. Both professors also said something to me that influenced my thought process and that is the passion for design, and that is in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Therefore from architecture, industrial, fashion, and interior design. And I sure hope they see that I really love doing this, and I really love to design.

Moving forward is to develop some sketches.

 

This is a little more extension of my process because I was able to think in different angles from softwares being used in the program, to my thought of how tall it should probably be, all the way to incorporating my seed idea with MSU, with VCD also. The concept idea and goal for me is to inform someone that has no interest about the program become interested into the program. Therefore the seed is probably my best idea that I have at the moment.  However I am not completely done, because this idea I hope to pass on with my group members because its something of that is able to grow into and be able to plant more seeds to the students of the VCD major.

My Preliminary Comp stages

These sketches are going more towards a vision that is influenced by the studying the Mid-Century Modern Design with architecture and furniture. At the same time Keeping my concept of the seed idea, designing a seed while using the Mid-Century Modern design influence is going to be quite a challenge. However my attention to detail is all in the overall structure. I took some of the stylized legs, and as well as the oval shaped and curved shapes that the mid-century modern design has.

 

The elements I took from these were the pointy structure and the use of curves, also having a abstract-ness of this era. My goal is not really to build a model that is Mid-Century Modern Design, however have the overall characteristics of this era. According to my research the Mid Century Modern started during the 1950s, and then became one of the most influential styles of modern design post WWII.

https://freshome.com/mid-century-modern/

What I really like about this time period of design is the use of abstract shapes, and colors. The colors are almost not so desaturated, but more pop sparkle and wham! So brights like Reds, Oranges, and Bright Greens. However in a more classy and sleek look, I realized that the colors were very subtle. Like there blues, grays or darks were DARK.

Therefore here is my development of a system, that my group and I decided to follow.

We developed this system based by shapes, materials, and colors. We wanted to pick a nice typeface that matches the era, therefore we all decided to go with a Futura typeface. The typeface was a well thought out typeface because it has a great text weight, and a subtle weight for titles and subtitles. Also because Futura looks likes it matches from that era as well, therefore a perfect typeface for this project. the next area I think took the longest was finding the right color scheme for the project because Montclair State University uses a red, but we needed to find the right red to match MSU and the ere, therefore that deep red almost close to burgundy or maroon fit fairly well. As for the whites grays and blacks, are meant to be a part of the primaries because its a very subtle color and easy to produce niece spaces within those colors. The secondary colors is a mixture of colors that we found stood out to us, because the red orange, green and yellow are nice colors that are used in pattens and also furniture designs. The textures and materials were important as well, because some of us are doing metal, or has transparencies and maybe thinking of using glass. This adds an amount of elegance and high value to the design, however a lot of mid-century modern design also use wood as well. These are also great construction materials because they are able to create shapes that we want for our project. The shapes portion is to give us a sense of understanding the kinds of shapes used doing the mid-century modern era. A lot of round edges, and a lot of circles, ovals, and abstract rectangles and squares. Therefore this is the system we decided to go with, which contains elements to help guide our project.

Preliminary Comps

These are my preliminary comps for this project. As you can see I kept the seed concept. However it wasn’t chosen for the final. There wasn’t major issues wrong with the design, although from the class and professor, it wasn’t capturing the Mid-Century Modern idea. The design was more futuristic, almost star-trek like, therefore it didn’t fit the qualifications.

Not all bad news thought, because my LCD user interface design is actually nicely done. My group will be utilizing this as something we could incorporate to the final design. I actually love doing web design, and hopefully learning how to make apps, and motion graphics, therefore this is my strong point for this project.

Overall I am very happy with the decision because I learned a lot, especially how to be detail oriented. What I like a lot about my design is the fact that it’s clean, neat, and detailed. Something I was really trying to aim this whole semester. Every time I proceeded to make my projects, I try to be very detailed because if one thing is off, I only did 90% of the work and that 10% is missing. Sometimes that happens, but that just means I need to be careful and not miss anything. I can’t wait to produce the final. Be sure that this collaborative work will be “FIRE!” haha.