Sophomore Semester Reflection 2

This semester in e-Comm we have worked on many different projects. The infographic, greeting cards, and logos were a few of my favorites. We started with the infographic which was a very long process and took the last few weeks in second quarter and the first week of third quarter. During this project one of the hardest things for me was coming up with an idea and graphics for that idea. During this project I learned a lot about organization and how important it in graphic design. Throughout the project I received feedback about fonts and colors: initially I didn't want to change anything but after trying out the colors and size oI changed the color of some of the text and color of the background. For the most part my idea stayed the same throughout the project. In the end I really liked my infographic but I think I could have done more complex graphics to push myself more. 

Later this semester we worked on making greeting cards. This project took only two weeks, first we started with sketches, then we traced our ideas in illustrator, then we out are final cards into indesign to prepare to print them. One thing I struggled with was tracing my sketches because it was hard to trace the handwritten fonts perfectly with the pen tool. I learned how to use indesign while working on this project because I have never used that before. On this project I didn't get a lot of feedback from my peers, and I did not make any major changes I just changed some small details on the text after tracing it to make it look more like a font. Overall I was very proud of my work I think this is one of my best projects.

The final project we did this semester we designed and made logos. Since this project was at the end of the year we only had a week and a half. First we started by looking at logos from famous brand for ideas. Then we sketched out 30 ideas and had to pick five we liked to make on the computer. Then just like the greeting cards we traced them onto the computer. In this project my main challenge was finding ideas I liked at the beginning I liked a lot of my ideas but after putting them on the computer I started to like them less and less. From this project a realized how much I have improved my skills since graphic design last year just by noticing the difference between my logos this year and last year.  On this project I didn't receive any critique but I observed other and learned from them. I this project I gradually made lots of changes to my original ideas but changing two of my designs completely. In the end I ended u really liking all of my designs, but I think I could have picked a wider variety of color schemes. 

In class this year I think that I could have been more focused and used my time wiser, sometimes every once in awhile I got distracted and of task. That said I always got all my projects done to the best of my ability and in a timely manner. I did not work on graphic design much outside of class but I was always looking for opportunities to better my skills. For my brothers grad party I used my graphic design skills to edit pictures. In class I often observed others and asked for other opinions before turning them in to make my projects the best I could. Outside of class I do not I have any extra time because I am so involved but when I do have time I helped my brother with projects or got feedback on my own from him or my friends to better myself. 

In e-Comm I think more of my strengths are in video because I am very good at communication and organization. I am very good at leading a team to get work done and communicating with my group on scheduling. I have also helped with many outside of school projects for e-Comm like the fourth grade career fair and through those I have realized I am very good at talking to other and presenting information. As far a as graphic design I think I am really good at typography and hand lettering. 

On the other hand I know I still have a lot I could improve on in e-Comm. On of the main things I think I need to work on is staying focused. I loved to talk and am super outgoing which is a blessing and curse. I think if I would talk less I would get more done and generally have better projects. I also think I could work on my technical skills in some areas. 

In conclusion on e-Comm this year I have had so much fun. I have loved having an hour in graphic design to improve my skills because even though I am not going into graphic design I think it is a great life skill. I would not change much about my experience in this class in genera I did not love the first units but those were critical to learning the software. My goal for next year as I go into junior year and SID is to retain everything I have learned in e-Comm so far even though I my not be pursuing them I hope I can remember the skills I have gained thus far. As this year comes to an end I would like to think my e-Comm classes and teachers for everything they have done for me the past two years.