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Final Blog Post

School’s Out Forever!

I cannot believe that in one short week school will be over. Life will begin and the job search will be on. I am excited, terrified, and sad. I had a really great time here at VIU and I will miss my school routine, all my cohort friends, and learning about such a fun topic in school. Of course, learning about graphic design will never stop, but I definitely enjoyed taking the classes.

The course of Portfolio Studio proved to be very productive and practical. After completing it, I have built myself a personal brand and created the materials I need to help me get hired. The website is especially vital. I also am still incredibly stoked on my business cards. I definitely have enough to last me until a re-brand. I am also grateful to have the professional looking photographs to use, even though I hate the haircut I have in them.

Looking at my branding I love it! I think it is visually striking, attractive, fun and appealing. Above all, I think it represents me, my personality, and style very well. I am grateful for all the lead up we had. The surveys were particularly helpful in developing my visual identity. I do unfortunately have some problems with my logo. They are purely technical. Firstly is the fact that I think it really shines against the dark background, but in many applications, it will have to be placed against white, which in my opinion lessens its impact. The second being the outer glow. Although I think it adds a lot, I realize it complicates the application of the logo a lot. Luckily the business cards that use the effect came out really well, so I am holding on to it for now.

I really appreciated the structure of the course. The “work at your own pace, but get this stuff all finished” approach works really well for me. It made the pressure less intense. The blog posts provided good motivation to get work done every week. Overall I am pleased with what I produced in this course. I still don’t know if I should put my photo on my resumé. I would have to redesign it at this point to fit it in. But looking at other students resumés with photos, I think it looks really good.

I also am extremely grateful we got to dedicate so much of class to planning the best grad show we could. I can tell its going to be a fabulous event that will blow all the past ones out of the water. So thank you for giving us that exciting opportunity.

The next steps for me are to find work. I have already seen job postings on LinkedIn and Dribbble. Could you please send me a legit invite to Dribbble? As far I can tell I’m only a partial member or something. My plan is to travel to Asia for at least a month, and when I return go hard looking for jobs in Vancouver. Freelance for sure, but my goal is to be hired by a design firm. I would also settle for a company’s in house designer. My goal, for now, is to live in the city and work as a graphic designer and illustrator. Until I go on my trip after convocation I am going to soak up these last months with my friends in Nanaimo and just enjoy it all before it’s over forever. Looking back I can’t think of how this degree could've been better. I would recommend the VIU Graphic Design Program to anyone. It rocks! Thanks for being a large part of my Education Sebastian, you are a great instructor.

Portfolio Blog Post #10

Display Board Draft 1

In my opinion, this was one of the hardest documents I have created. I am by no means married to this version of the display, but my first draft is complete.

It's hard to believe that we are designing a layout to literally show our best work from the last four years. The entire degree in one panel. It is daunting to try to and choose the 5 best pieces to represent my education and where I am as a designer.

I also need to see how others in the class treated the description flags. I am not sure if I should go more specific or not. Right now they seem redundant to me.

After lots of consideration, I settled on the pieces to include. I know there is still work to be done though on the layout itself. When I look at as a whole I think the work is good, but there is just so much going on. There are lots of small details and images competing for attention. I’m not sure if this is good as it would provide lots to look at for the grad show guest, bad as the display appears cluttered. I think hearing feedback from the class will help influence my second draft.

Also, the screenshots make lots of the images look low res, but they actually aren't. The PNG file I tried to export from InDesign was too large for Tumblr.

Portfolio Blog Post #9

Writing about my work The newest addition to my branding process was to populate each of my web pages with accompanying text. Check it out at danielkellydesign.com This task ended up taking much longer than I had anticipated! I wanted to strike the right balance between providing context and information without being boring or creating a chore for the viewer.

I ended up including a few main points. The title, year, and if it was a school project, the class. I then took a paragraph or two to describe the project. The description was finished with the software used to create the project. I am still unsure if I was too brief. I do not know the ideal amount of information that a potential employer would want when viewing a portfolio. I liked how the example shared in slack was very concise and let the images do most of the talking.

Of course, my website will continue to evolve and change as my career search continues. For now, I am satisfied with how my website appears and I feel it is ready to start sharing.

Portfolio Blog Post #8

One Month Until the Grad Show

After reviewing my brand system it was clear some minor changes had to made, especially for the logo image on my website. It also made me realize the major issues with the branding I have created.

I love the neon aesthetic I created for my playful and energetic logo, however, its best version only appears against a dark background. In almost every application of a brand system, the dark background will not work. Resumes, cover letter, invoice and website all need a predominately white background. I took some time trying to get a version I would place against white that I would like.

The filled letters are too jarring and abrupt. They do not resemble the true logo and it seems too basic. I settled on keeping the outline. The original outlined version I had without the outer glow used the darker tones from my brand colors palette. When I rendered a version using the lighter ones I found I liked it better. I followed the advice to left align the letters to fit better into my website layout and the website version of the logo was good enough to publish. I can't say I love it though. In my opinion, the logo only looks really good with the outer glow against the dark blue. For these reasons I’m thinking I may be in fora re-brand on the not so distant future.

This past weekend I took a trip with VIU Campus Rec for a two-day surfing trip in Ucluelet. It was absolutely amazing. The West Coast and Pacific Rim National Park Reserve are simply breathtaking. I don't make it out there as much I would like. Because I was gone all weekend, I did not find time to get much work done. This week will be a game of catch up for me.

Portfolio Blog Post #7

Personal Brand System

Up to this point, I have applied my newly designed logo to a business card, invoice, resume, and letterhead that is still under development. I have established an online presence at danielkellydesign.com and have also created the custom email address [email protected]. I have branded my updated LinkedIn profile as well. I am also hoping to create a Dribbble account soon, as I have heard there are many benefits to having one of those.

I think the brand system is coming along. The hardest part is definitely the website. I am not entirely sure how much content is enough versus too much. I will have to keep it current as well, updating it regularly. I am not sure whether to have each project standing alone as they currently are, or sort them into subcategories like branding, poster design, infographics, etc.

I am happy with my business cards. I think I need to tweak my invoice a bit more to match that sleeker aesthetic. I am also considering putting my SHIFT portrait on my resumé. Is it a good idea to put a photo on my resumé?

I am feeling a lot more established after putting together this brand system. I feel like I have taken a big first step towards getting myself out there.

Portfolio Blog Post #7

Designer Portfolio Review

It has now been one week since our awesome portfolio review session at Input Logic. Firstly, I was very impressed with the space. I think it is incredibly cool we have such a current and cool co-working space in downtown Nanaimo. I would really love to go back there.

Starting off, it was nice to hear everyone’s introduction. I was excited to see four VIU GD grads working a successful career in the industry, and also to see how many working professionals came out to help us improve our portfolios. It was really remarkable.

Having the group conversation it was valuable to hear Reese’s experience and the steps he took to get where he is now. That is one thing I am most intimidated about: how to get started. I would ideally move to Vancouver. I would love to find a job working in the city, but I am imagining I will be working a generic job and freelancing for a while. Whereas he had a goal of working in UX, I think I would like to do illustration.

I had a really wonderful time in my advising session with Stephanie. I enjoyed putting on my professional hat and taking the time to explain my work to someone I didn't know. I did my best to be relaxed and come across purposeful but still friendly. I think I did a good job. Stephanie enjoyed my work and commended my effort. She offered the advice of playing up my tendency to lean toward bright illustration with clean lines, poppy colours, and fun graphics. I agree it would be cool to establish a style in that way, although it would have to be for specific applications.

I think it would be a good idea to put together an illustration focused portfolio, creating more illustrative content to publish online and to somehow finance an iPad for myself to expand my illustration ability.

At the end of the session, we each had each other as Instagram followers which is cool! Overall I really found the Advising Review to be helpful and fun. I am grateful we got the opportunity to do it.

Portfolio Blog #6

Portfolio Review Prep

I have been hard at work filling the portfolio templates for Monday’s review session. Here are some screenshots of the portfolio. I have created 8 pages overall and I hope it’s enough. The template was definitely a big help. It made it easy to layout each page consistently. Thanks for that. It was difficult going through everything I have made and settling on 8 projects. Although I understand that it is wise to make a portfolio specific to the job by showing relevant work, I decided that for this general review I would try to go for variety. I have: Infographics Ads App UI Packaging Posters Branding Album Artwork Museum Display

I think I selected a good collection of work that showcases my design skills. I have all school projects with the exception of one freelance project. I hope that that is okay. I am excited to hear what industry professionals have to say about my work.

Portfolio Blog #5

Personal Logo Edits

Here is round two of my personal logo design. Based on feedback I have created versions that do not use the outer glow for ease of use. I also changed the flamingo to have a more defined beak and head. The vertical logo changed as well. I am really liking how this branding is coming along. I think that it is super high energy and fun. I think that it represents me well and maintains a level of professionalism.

I have designed a business card as well. I included a URL, so I suppose the next step is to actually create and populate a website. I don’t normally see a portrait on a business card, but I think it’s working? I’m not sure if I should include it or not.

Finally, I have included a look at some of my sketching as I had not put it up on the blog. The first page was facing mainly on my tropical birds idea. based on the outside-self surveys. The second set of sketches were created after I had made my neon city mood board. I decided to combine the two ideas and settled on the neon flamingo direction.

Portfolio Blog #4

Moodboards

I created based on two color aesthetics I felt represented me based on the research from the past couple of weeks. Neon and Pastel. The Neon City Pop moodboard features exciting and bold visuals. I am very attracted to the high energy and intense colours. I think there is a ton of personality in this mood board. Some of the feedback I received is that the mood established is too dark/ edgy to represent me. I agree somewhat. Looking at the images I chose, I would focus on the more positive images. I would have my branding more inspired by the portraits, neon, fireworks, rather than the potentially unsettling nighttime city street. I want my brand to be bright and electric, but not scary or rough.

For a different approach, I chose a pastel color palette as inspiration. I am very partial to these visuals on the Clean and Candy moodboard. I think they are beautiful and I absolutely love the aesthetic of the solid pastel background with a colorful item featured. It is clean, fun and very contemporary. This style is lovely, but I am not sure it has too much personality to bring to the table. I think it has a lot to offer aesthetically, I just need to find a way to make it more unique to me.

I am leaning more towards the Neon City vibe, just toning down the edginess and keeping it positive.

Blog Entry 4 is Behind Schedule!

Normally I like to have my blog posts ready before Sunday, but I will have to rally to get the assignment finished before class. In addition to working 13 hours at my abysmal grocery store job, and 5 hours volunteering at the Mariners game this weekend, I was tasked with a load of Freelance work. Last weekend I was contracted by digital agency Van City Studios (https://www.vancitystudios.com) to design a new logo for American non-profit organization Conservation Lands Foundation and their volunteer organization Friends Grassroots Foundation. Definitely, the biggest job I have done so far. What is featured above is what I have worked on this weekend, and is being sent to Van City Studios after the first round of client feedback last week. (I had a whole other set last weekend!) This job has proven very difficult as the client asked for a lot. Each brand needed three logo concepts. Of the 6 concepts, I had presented last week, four were completely rejected. Following which they requested three separate type and color treatments for the two approved concepts. I was forced to return to the drawing board for four of them, and then produce three unique iterations of each concept!

Many of the designs I rendered did not even make it to what I am showing to Van City. Although it was hard work with a tough deadline, I am excited to be doing work like this. I have found no time for homework this weekend.

Portfolio Blog Post #3

Creative Brief

This assignment is really making the whole graduation and finding work in the real world thing seem so much more real! Writing this was a decent challenge for me. It was difficult to come up a list of with the real value I would bring to an employer. I’m trying to make myself as ideal as possible while still being truthful. I believe that the things I wrote are accurate of me. I think they represent actual benefits I would bring to a job. I hope they aren't too generic sounding.

The previous worksheets definitely helped me solidify my direction. Based on my reflection and the insights of others I have definitely settled on a direction I am going with my brand. Fun and lively. I have left an impression of positive energy and creative uniqueness on my peers, and I hope I can continue doing this in the future as I am working. I think my brand promise needs some workshopping. I think mine is still a bit too generic. I'm not sure how I can stand out, but still, deliver a promise I can keep. Is “Popping visuals” enough? I think it sets the right tone, but I don’t think it would differentiate me enough. I will continue to think about that. I do like the alliteration of “crafted with careful consideration.”

This exercise really did help me find out some quality material to put in my brand when I am actually applying for work. Which is so soon! Oh my god! Ah!

Portfolio Blog Post #2

Outside Self

The Outside self survey was a great learning experience. Although it was very valuable delving into my own self-perception, it was much more interesting to hear what my fellow cohort members think of me as a designer, professional, and person.

I tried to provide questions that would give me a good idea of my perceived strengths, weaknesses, and overall presence. I borrowed questions from the textbook’s example as well as making up a few of my own. After receiving the results back, I am mostly happy with the information gleaned.

My first question simply asked for attributes, almost all of which I have recorded in the PDF form. My most common response was energetic, closely followed by unique. I would agree with these responses. This part was nice, glad my classmates are picking up what I’m putting down. It was nice, but not surprising to see that they were all positive attributes. When I was filling out similar questions on other’s surveys I also kept them positive. I think we are all too nice to say negative things unless outright asked.

The strengths part mostly mentioned the design skills of lettering and illustration as well as the work skills of presenting and teamwork. I think these are areas I want to focus on in my job search, so I am glad the class thinks they are areas of strength.

The section where I asked about weaknesses was probably the most valuable learning taken from this exercise. Nearly every person who completed my survey told me that my projects/ colour palettes/ aesthetic is too unchanging. I am designing within a niche that not varied enough in style. It was described as “fun” “colourful” “Disney” “not professional” etc. I can understand where all these suggestions are coming from. I do need to challenge myself to create more serious work that strays from my comfortable bright candy castle aesthetic.

I really messed up when I asked the class “what colour best describes me?” without including the “…and why?” Everyone just gave me colours as answers. It was left up to me to interpret why they choose the colours. Based on previous answers I think I was able to well enough. In my animal question, I got Peacock, Parrot, and Bird of Paradise among others, so I figured tropical bird would be the best overall result. It was due to uniqueness and colour.

My final question that did not make it onto the PDF asked: “What prof am I most like?” I got results saying 50% Sebastian, 37.5% Nancy, and 12.5% Ellen. I like that.

Portfolio Blog Post #1

Inside Self

I may be hard to market. Trying to accumulate information about me that makes me attractive to employers is not an easy task. What makes me stand out? Uhhh, idk.

Filling out this PDF and following the textbooks suggested exercises were helpful. Breaking it down into sections makes it a bit more manageable. At the same time, I don't know how good this truly is. Looking at the list of core values and narrowing down from 12 to 6 to 3, I was left with Belonging, Courtesy, and Fun. Is this good? Are these marketable core values? I am questioning whether my first pass truly revealed accurate core values. I may have to revisit that.

The things that make me stand out? That needs work too. Although dance is truly one of my passions, I don't think that is gonna get me hired anywhere. I have to choose points that will actually appeal to an employer, even if they are my true passions. Like SkillShare for instance. Could that be a passion? NOt that I have actually used it. I should, and then an employer would see the benefit there. Finally experiences. I couldn't think of any valuable life experiences that seemed relevant. I just went with resume material. I feel like this wasn't what the worksheet had in mind. I have never had a table at a craft fair though.

Looking overall at the completed PDF I think I at least have a place to start, and admittedly, a better understanding of Inside (my) Self.

Design Thinking Blog Post #10

Design Thinking Blog Post #9

“Circular Design”

The concept of Circular Design involves designing with the intention of keeping the product in a cycle. In other words, it shouldn't be made, used, and disposed of, but rather continue its life. In this day and age of environmental crises left and right, I’d say this is an incredibly important concept for all designers to be mindful of when creating.

Sustainability should be a the forefront of all new designs unless we want that oh so infamous plastic trash island floating in the ocean to continue its growth. To me, the only true sustainable design would involve organic materials. If it can be used and then consumed or broken down into the soil, it is truly a circular design. From soil new organic material is cultivated. Plastic and metal products can be re-used, recycled, and reimagined in different ways, but they are still taking up space in the environment. To have all products fabricated using only organic and plant-based materials as part of Circular Design would take an incredible amount of work, money, and consideration. It is unrealistic. I think the most effective way to introduce Circular Design into the mainstream would be to start making all product packaging out of easily biodegradable, water-soluble, edible or vegetable materials.

I didn't really see a lot of that in the into to Circular Design though. So maybe I am confused about what the real topic is, as I found the video to be very vague. My takeaway is, however, that this is important stuff. Don’t design pretty garbage, design a sustainable thing.

Design Thinking at Work

How can designers use design thinking in their own practice? Well, they should already be doing this, their profession is in the freaking name. This type of thinking is supposed to be used by designers by default, and now, the mainstream is finding success by applying to other areas.

Design thinking is at the basis of all design. From poster graphics to UX-UI to packaging, it outlines a process that focuses on the end user. Considering the audience first, then the main problem, and then prototyping to achieve the best solution results in a successful outcome…we hope.

To use ‘Design Thinking’ in their own practice and process, a designer must apply concepts suggested by the design thinking method, which is very similar to the ‘Design Process’ or ‘Design Method.’

To emphasize, one must understand their users. This could involve surveys, field research, reading other’s research and putting yourself in the figurative shoes of others.

To define, one must have a firm understanding of the problem they are setting out to solve. For instance, why is this brochure being re-designed? To attract a larger demographic? To sell more whale watching tours? To apply a new brand? To stop attracting old people? When you truly understand the goal, you can focus on creating the most appropriate solution. Research is a good idea.

To ideate is to not go with the first idea that comes into your head. A designer must brainstorm many possible solutions to maximize the chances of coming up with a winning solution. This is where the iconic sticky notes come in. Just write down and sketch out ALL the ideas. To narrow down from a big list is better than developing just one good idea.

To prototype, a designer can apply their idea. Creating roughs, renderings, wireframes, sketch-model mockups, and drafts. Seeing the work in context helps gauge its effectiveness.

To test is to implement the design and see how it does! Were you a good designer or not?

Design Thinking Blog Post #7

Our Users

Whenever we begin any sort of design project, the first consideration should always be the user. I feel like a constant theme we have looked at throughout this degree is empathy. Empathy, considering the needs, wants, and desires of the user, is really the key to good design. If the solution is not addressing the needs of the user, it is not truly solving the problem.

To look at empathy through the lens of event planning seems relevant to my role in the grad project. Who are our users? The graduates, their family and friends, and the special guests including a speaker, VIU faculty, and hopefully visiting community designers. How can we create an event that addresses all of these users and gives them the best experience possible?

Hugely important is the venue. This event space must be large enough to accommodate the group comfortably with enough to feature 13 graphic design displays, room to walk and mingle, a table for food, a bar, and a presentation “stage” with a screen for projection. The space needs to carry a professional and comfortable atmosphere appropriate for a celebration of four long years of hard work. For example, the VIU lower cafeteria would provide enough physical space, but it would not provide the desired atmosphere.

The graduates need a platform to display their work, the families need the opportunity to appreciate the success of their student, the guests need the chance to get an idea of the style and talent of each graduate. Everyone needs to have a pleasant evening.

We can accomplish these goals with careful consideration when planning the event. We need the right attire, food, music, displays, branding, speaker, presentation, guests, and space. There are a lot of variables to consider, but if we keep our users in mind, this event is sure to be a success.

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