Projects | School Days

Three-Dimensional Type Project (May 22, 2008)

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:33:08 -0400

For this we had to create a transparent, three-dimensional piece in one ink, including information on the history of type. Images were allowed, but no more than two. I chose the history of the letter "E"; the text snippets are all little factoids about "E." (Did you know some guy in 1939 wrote a book that had no "E"s in it at all? There's actually a name for such a thing - lipogram.)

I had a lot of angst over this one; but once I'd decided to work with this design, it was pretty easy. I worried about a lot of things - the quality of my photographs of the final product, for one thing, are lousy compared to the photos of the draft that my mom took - but I find it an appealing little object. And it seems it was enough for my instructor, since she gave me full marks for the thing. I don't expect it'll end up in a museum anywhere; but I'm pretty pleased with how it all came out.

Completed for Design and Typography

Personality of Type (March 17, 2008)

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:29:34 -0400

The charter here was to choose a quote or an adage, and illustrate it entirely with type. Graphics were permitted, but only if they enhanced the message; they could not be the whole of it.

I had a hellish time coming up with ideas, and when I did most of the class liked one I really didn't! But my instructor liked this one as well, so I chose to develop it. It's actually growing on me with time; I think it would make a nice bookmark.

Completed for Design and Typography

Collage (March 9, 2008)

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:21:34 -0400

Our assignment was to choose a typeface, research the designer, and create a collage-type composition using type in different ways to suggest different textures. Our inspiration was supposed to be Piet Mondriaan, who I must say has done some pretty cool stuff.

I came to like this design better with time, although it was painfully difficult to get it all done properly! I learn more about Illustrator every time I go through something like this, though; so it's all helpful.

Completed for Design and Typography

Figure/Ground Promotional Poster (March 3, 2008)

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:15:59 -0400

The assignment here was to choose a subject and an appropriate font, and design a promotional or informational poster using a single letter as the dominant design element. The idea was to work in some figure/ground confusion with the primary initial.

I got good feedback on this, and I think it's OK; but there were a few in the class that looked like they were plucked right out of magazines or billboards! Mine is somewhat amateurish; but it works, I suppose.

I chose epilepsy for two reasons: first, because of Em's experiences with seizures; and second, because it's both her and my first initial.

Completed for Design and Typography

Anatomy of Type Diagram (February 23, 2008)

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:29:16 -0500

The assignment was to produce a useful type anatomy diagram that was also an interesting design.

This was not my favorite of the thumbnails I did, but my instructor liked it; and I have to admit it was the most unusual idea I had. I still think there is too much empty space in the middle; but in general I think it works reasonably well.

Completed for Design and Typography

Ice Cream Ad (December 14, 2007)

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:29:03 -0500

This project grew over the entire 5-1/2 week course. The charter was to create a design, including a logo, slogan, headline, and body copy, for an established ice cream manufacturer who was trying to update their image without losing their long-standing customer base. As it was an imaging course and not an advertising course, the instructor was quite forgiving about the advertising elements - but he gave wonderful feedback on the use (and abuse!) of Photoshop.

I'm not entirely satisfied with how this came out - my mom suggested some of the copy ought to go, and in the end m instructor agreed with her - but as an exercise in use of Photoshop, it was extremely useful. I'm still more comfortable in Illustrator; but I'm starting to get the hang of the rudiments of Photoshop. I have to admit, though, that I have at least as much fun playing with type effects as I do twiddling photographs.

Completed for Digital Imaging for Web & Multi-Media

Stalker Cat (November 23, 2007)

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:51:59 -0500

The assignment was to "create a surreal environment."

I don't know how surreal this is; but I wanted to use images that I owned. (The assignment stated that scans were OK too; but I wanted to stick with stuff I knew I had the right to fiddle with.) And I figure any time a cat is submerged in water, it's surreal.

The background is from our honeymoon, and is, I believe, Epcot center; although it might be Disney MGM. Em was taken from a shot we took in Sturbridge last year. The cat is one of my parents' cats - probably Leia, since she's got quite an ornery expression in the original photograph, and Leia doesn't like me much! - photographed by me when they were in Paris.

The composite is far from perfect. The lighting is off, the reflections are not quite right, and I need to keep trying different things for the ripples. But this is really my first serious attempt at this kind of compositing, so I'm not entirely displeased. It was certainly great fun to do.

Completed for Digital Imaging for Web & Multi-Media

Final Color Project (November 6, 2007)

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:16:00 -0500

I appear to have made a plate.

This assignment used 25 colors we had to come up with earlier in the week - our "personal color palette." Coming up with the palette was harder than doing the design, which I kind of like. I'm not really sure what I wanted it to represent - warmth, summer, the energy you feel on a sunny day. Plus I got to use my stars again. (That's three; I'll have to leave them out for a while!)

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Final Project (November 6, 2007)

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:12:35 -0500

This was the final project for my design class. There were no guidelines, other than to use all the principles we'd learned in the class. This, of course, made me paranoid about what elements I was and was not using, which meant composing this thing took AGES.

It's actually a variation on drawing I did last week. (I came back to it after a failed spiral thing with some hexagons.) I think I want to call it "Irrational Exuberance."

Completed for Fundamentals of Design

Triad Color Harmony (November 2, 2007)

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:11:12 -0500

See? Interesting, and kind of weird.

Somewhere in a closet I have a skirt in a paisley pattern with these colors. I suspect triads come and go in the fashion industry - I think it's hard to make them really work.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Analogous Color Harmony (November 2, 2007)

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:10:06 -0500

Definitely the least interesting of the bunch, and I spiffed it up a bit from the first draft. It's odd - in general, I like analogous the best; but I couldn't make it work with these colors and this design.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Complementary Color Harmony (November 2, 2007)

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:09:06 -0500

A psychedelic undersea creature.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Monochromatic Color Harmony (November 2, 2007)

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:06:22 -0500

Hold on to your hat; there are four of these.

The assignment was essentially the same as the assignment for my design class: create one design, and use four different color harmonies to color it. In my design class the harmonies were dictated; here, we could choose from five (analogous, monochromatic, complementary, split complementary, triad, and tetrad). I stuck with the basics, except for triad; I thought I ought to push the envelope a little. (We'll get to that one.)

This one definitely has a sea-creature flavor to it.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Color Harmonies (November 2, 2007)

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:55:43 -0500

The objective here was to use a single design to demonstrate four different color harmonies. I rather like the way this came out, and I received good feedback from my classmates; but my instructor took me to task for using black and brown. First of all: No black. Secondly: Brown is (sometimes) dark orange, and is thus fair game when using shades of orange.

I will probably blog about my intense frustrations with my instructor at a later date. I did reuse the star pattern in my final project.

Completed for Fundamentals of Design

Depth and Volume (October 26, 2007)

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:40:08 -0400

Here the task was to create the illusion of depth and volume. The instructor emphasized that a simple, correct solution was preferable to a complex, incorrect one.

This started in my head as giant strawberries tumbling down a hill. All that really survived from that concept is the flying ball, and the slightly squashed white ball (which doesn't really show - but trust me, it's a little compressed). All the lighting and shading was done with gradients; I didn't use any of Illustrator's rotate or revolve features.

All in all I like this one. It's a bit spare, and if I had more time to chew on it I'd probably add more gingerbread. But I'm pretty pleased with it as it is.

Completed for Fundamentals of Design

Texture (October 26, 2007)

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:10:40 -0400

The assignment was to create a field of texture using black, white, and gray.

My original was much smoother - more like corduroy - but it was deemed insufficiently 3D. After attempting a basket-weave pattern (cool, but very hard to "weave" realistically), I came back to the original, tossed a filter on it, and resubmitted it. I think it looks a bit like Berber carpet.

Completed for Fundamentals of Design

Vibration (October 26, 2007)

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:00:18 -0400

Once again, only rectangles could be used, this time to create vibration.

I probably should've stuck with two colors; but I was stuck on the idea of having more than one clashing combination. There are variations in both brightness and saturation against the blue - of course, some work better than others. My first draft was far more abstract, and I liked it better; but I was too chicken to expand it, so I ended up with this. All in all, I am not entirely displeased with it.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Depth (October 26, 2007)

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:56:38 -0400

Once again, rectangles were required, and color was meant to be used to create an illusion of depth.

Of the three designs, this one took me the longest, even though it is in most ways the simplest. I increased/decreased saturation and brightness in each step, but not uniformly - at the extremes, uniform steps end up looking too similar. I kind of like this one, simple as it is; I find the colors pleasant and soothing, and I like the symmetry of it.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Transparency (October 26, 2007)

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:52:00 -0400

This exercise required the use of colored rectangles to create the illusion of transparency. I took it to heart - I used no transparency effects in the software. Instead, each overlapping area is colored individually.

Originally the colors were much more saturated, but my husband took one look at it and said "Ouch." I softened it a bit. I'm reasonably happy with the design, given the limitation of using rectangles.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Informal Design (October 19, 2007)

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:24:57 -0400

So...I don't love this one. I redid it about seven times, and I still don't love it. It's better than it was when it started, but I still think it's too busy and too much the same.

The assignment was to create an informal design in black and white. The feedback given by the instructor made it clear she wanted all the space to be used, and for there to be a certain amount of balance. I think this achieves those things, but it's not terribly pleasing. In the real world, I'd have used a lot more blank space in an informal design.

Completed for Fundamentals of Design

Formal Design (October 12, 2007)

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:14:53 -0400

The assignment was to create a formal design using only black-and-white forms.

This started out much more psychedelic; but I like the way it turned out. I wanted to create something I could imagine repeating, like wallpaper.

I was pretty stressed out doing this one, after the uneven feedback I got this week - but in general it was well received. Additionally, having to align everything helped me learn a lot more about Illustrator.

Completed for Fundamentals of Design

Circles and Saturation (October 5, 2007)

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 20:55:11 -0400

The assignment was to create a design with circles of the same hue but different, evenly-spaced saturations.

I was quite worried I'd screwed this one up, because most of my classmates desaturated toward a darker gray rather than a lighter gray. As it turns out, my instructor said it was his favorite!

I don't love this one myself. Some of it is the color, which I don't much care for (one of the reasons I chose it). I do like the color fluctuation in the center caused by the background, though.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Circles and Values (October 5, 2007)

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 20:53:40 -0400

The assignment was to create a design using circles of the same hue but different, evenly-spaced values.

This one is solar-system inspired, and is my favorite of the three; but probably mostly because I love all shades of purple.

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Circles and Hues (October 5, 2007)

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 20:51:33 -0400

The assignment was to create a design using only circles of different, evenly-spaced hues at the same saturation. Done with Adobe Illustrator.

The instructor declared it "minimalist" and said he liked it. I did not volunteer that I'd been so intimidated by the designs of my classmates that I was a little afraid to venture far afield!

Completed for Digital Color Theory

Positive/Negative Space (October 5, 2007)

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 20:49:41 -0400

The assignment was to use simple shapes in black and white to create a design where foreground and background trade places. Done on Adobe Illustrator.

This one was quite difficult for me. My initial design was much simpler (I still like it better!), and this one has too much of a hub-cap feel for me to adore it.

Completed for Fundamentals of Design

Cat's Eye (September 20, 2007)

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 15:57:55 -0400

There was no assignment associated with this; but we had to put together a preliminary career portfolio. I'd planned to use some of the drawings I'd done for a life drawing class I took a long time ago, but they are still packed!

Done with Adobe Illustrator. About 98% of it is free-hand; I did correct a few of the lines at the corners of the eye, though. I don't think it's so bad for my first digital drawing.

Completed for Strategies for Online Learning