Mastery Journal

My name is Sandy. I’m a Graphic Designer. I live in Florida. I’m fun, easygoing, and a simple girl. Check out some of my work! Instagram: sandycurcioart My Portfolio My LinkedIn My Behance

[sandylcurcio]

Professional Practice Reflection

Overall this past year in the MFA media design I have evolved so much as a media design professional. My vision and expectations of the MDMFA program were absolutely met with the amount of knowledge and research that was ingested to us. In Mastery Development and Leadership we were asked to write our expectations for the program and we wrote our first graduate research paper. This class was really impactful to me because it was the stepping stone that started off my mastery journey.

 In Defining Client Needs the technique that stuck with me the most was being able to rationalize my research and designs. We were asked to create an expressive and freeform vision board for a city. Brand Development proceeded with developing a logo for the city we chose the prior month. We were tasked to create multiple sketched renditions of a logo and create a final vector logo. For this first semester, we continued with Effective Copywriting. We created an ad compilation based on an assigned organization. This course really made me practice my writing and overall editing.

 In the beginning of semester 2 we started with Design Research. We worked on creating a stylesheet, vision board, and infographic for a specific city. In organizational structures, we worked on creating a motion graphic video and learned the techniques on diegetic and non-diegetic sound. During Design Strategies and Motivation we researched and developed content for what would be our community identity projects based in our local community. This project was pretty hands-on and I loved researching and coming up with content for a local region.

 In Design Integration we created problem and solution statements for our identity project and a creative brief with these potential identity solutions. I dove into research for this month and was really captivated with rationalizing my thoughts with conclusive cited research. For the last semester, we started with Multi-platform Delivery where we finalized the brand identity project with logo, and collateral.

 After this proceeded with Measuring Design Effectiveness where we created a survey questionnaire and an infographic displaying the results. This project was a great way to test out the design decision made for the specific target audience. Throughout all of these courses, they molded my design research and skill to create a mastery level thesis. By being able to dig deep into my research and rationalize my design decisions from scholarly references.

 I look forward to moving on in my career and look back at my time at Full Sail with great pride because of everything I learned and the way I evolved so quickly as a designer during this time.

Experience map during the MFA media design program.

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MDM690-2.3 Mastery Reflection

The three main takeaways I would like to take with me after graduation are fist how to be a compelling storyteller in all aspects written or design. Second, to comprehensively and analytically look at content so that I take it all in and last to be able to turn everything off and just write to my heart's content. All these takeaways are extremely important because they will not only make me a great designer but a thoughtful one.

Sketches of the layout concepts for my Thesis

Connecting, Synthesizing, and Transforming Thesis page

Innovative Thinking Thesis

Solving Problem Thesis

Acquiring Competencies

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Infographic for University Park Questionnaire

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Multiplatform Delivery: Mastery Journal

The material throughout the month of the Multiplatform Delivery course exceedingly tested my knowledge on overall branding and cohesiveness. I was able to create a group of streamlined assets that exhibited the overall branding, voice, and tone of the community I revamped, University Park. Some of the concepts grasped were to be able to communicate and effectively come up with a rationale on why I was making certain design choices. Being able to explain your choices and communicate the reasons why you as a designer are making these choices is extremely effective when you have to explain to an audience who have no experience in design or branding. We learned about the importance of research and how to back up that research with a compelling argument.

Neumeier argued the following about branding, “Like building a cathedral, building a brand is a collaborative effort” (Neumeier, 2006). What Neumeier is saying is it involves extensive and analytical research. In addition, making sure that research gets tested, data gets collected, and that it reflects on what the brand identity is when it finally gets delivered.

Logo Concept Sketches - Week 1

Full-Color Logo Lockup | Week 2

Final Media Assets - Week 3

Brand Identity Guide | Week 4

Connecting/Synthesizing/Transforming: Some of the research I conducted and utilized to arrive at my design decisions are being able to effectively communicate with the millennial audience through print media. Doherty argues the following about printed materials, “Despite the distrust, Millennials increasingly prefer printed material, such as books. In the same vein, 82% of millennials read direct mail, and 54% of them look forward to receiving hard copy catalogs” (Doherty, 2018). The basis of Doherty’s argument is that printed material is still very much alive within the millennial audience. The use of this asset will not only create a lasting connection to the target market but also leave a trusting impression.

Problem Solving: The design problem I was trying to solve was attempting to rebrand a community in the eyes of its primary demographic, millennials. The solution created for my problem is a modern and refreshing approach. This was accomplished by creating assets that communicated and conveyed the audience messaging and style. For instance, using the clean design on signage and implementing technology into that signage.

Innovative Thinking: My work in comparisons to others in the industry is innovative because I decided to take a completely different approach to the community’s current theme of ‘horse town’. I went with an innovative and youthful tone to the brand to convey the audience’s interests and particular styles, using a gradient color scheme, sans serif font, and a clean and unique logo.

Acquiring Competencies: I learned that the branding process overall for any project can be long and taxing but making sure you’re always coming back to that vision board and where you saw it going initially is important in staying consistent as a brand.

In conclusion, my overall experience with the course was great. I have had such an amazing time creating content, researching and being able to fully dive myself deeper into the rationales of my design work. This is what the program absolutely focuses on and I think it makes me a better designer when I’m able to really dig deep into why I made a certain decision and being able to explain that to someone who isn’t familiar with the brand makes it easier for them to understand the process.

References

Doherty, S. (2018, February 21). Why Print is Motivating Millennials. Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.mimeo.com/blog/print-motivating-millennials/

Neumeier, M. (2006). The Brand Gap: How to bridge the distance between business strategy and design; a whiteboard overview. Retrieved November 20, 2018, from https://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/branding/0321348109

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Design Integration - Reflection

    Overall the material this month was immensely captivating. I was able to work on a project that wasn't just interesting but something that was close to home and a lot of fun to research for. Some of the concepts I learned were the difference between problem statements and solution statements. Being able to understand the difference is essential to a designer, also to not take terms so literally. We learned about the importance of research and how to back up that research with a compelling argument. Design is such a misconstrued word to people who aren't familiar with it. This course has really taught me to dig deeper into those rationales and really understand what I'm writing and how to effectively find meaning in that rationalization.

Bainbridge and Millman say the following about design research:

Ethnographic research involves rigorous one-on-one conversations and observations with consumers in their everyday surroundings, be it at home, at work, shopping, in a bar and so forth. This approach helps marketers and designers understand consumers on a much deeper level than any other qualitative research technique.  (Bainbridge and Millman, 2015)

What Bainbridge and Millman are trying to argue is that being able to understand your end-user, audience, persona, etc. is what good design, branding, and marketing is all about. While doing my research for this project this quote really stuck out to me because it's so essential for the designer to be in that audience's shoes when coming up with these solutions.

Solution Statements - Week 1

Vision Board Week 2 - First and Final Draft

Connecting/Synthesizing/Transforming: Some of the research I conducted and utilized to arrive at my design decisions are being able to effectively communicate to the millennial audience through social media. Abramovich acknowledge the following about social media advertising, "Ads on social media, according to the report, play a big role in customer acquisition" (Abramovich, 2018).  

Problem Solving: The design problem I was trying to solve was attempting to rebrand a community in the eyes of it's primary demographic, millennials. The solution created for my problem is a modern and refreshing approach. Throughout the research and development process I conducted interview findings from some of the targeted audience in the community. They noted, "having more nightclubs, bars, fun things to do", "more fun things to do fo college students". Thus, backing up my solution to create a younger and fun approach to the rebranding of Davie community to University Park.  

Dynamic Vision Board - Week 3

Innovative Thinking: My work in comparisons to others in the industry is innovative because I decided to take a completely different approach to the community's current theme of 'horse town'. When I first started this project I was very excited to be able to redesign something that was so close to home. It made the research and development process more involve because I was able to get real live data.

 Final Design Brief - Week 4

Acquiring Competencies: I learned that the research and development process is long and arduous. Granted we as students are given a month or a week to complete something that's supposed to take at least a year to complete. Being able to explore my community and create something new for it was a first for me and rewarding as well.

      Additionally, my overall experience with the course was great. I have had such an amazing time creating content, researching and being able to fully dive myself deeper into the rationales of my design work. This is what the program absolutely focuses on and I think it makes me a better designer when I'm able to really dig deep into why I made a certain decision and being able to explain that to someone who isn't familiar with the brand makes it easier for them to understand the process.

 References

Abramovich, G. (2018, March 27). Survey Says, The Best Place To Advertise To Millennials And Gen Z Is ... Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.cmo.com/adobe-digital-insights/articles/2018/3/22/state-of-digital-advertising-report-summit18.html#gs.g35k53

Debbie Millman & Mike Bainbridge. (2008, February 22). Design Meets Research. Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.aiga.org/design-meets-research

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Mastery Journal - Design Strategies

Overall the material this month in Design Strategies really pushed me past my comfort zone. Originating and coming up with content for an Identity Development project takes a lot of grit, research, and hard work. People generalize designers in thinking they do only one thing and the great thing about this school is that they really broaden our horizons to what is possible with this degree and skill. I’ve learned so much the last couple of months in this program. It’s really taught me to rationalize and be able to really think through on the design decisions I’m making.

Identity Development Research: Cooper City

Identity Development Research: Hollywood 

Identity Development Research: University Park

Identity Development Research: Demographic Area

CONNECTING/SYNTHESIZING/TRANSFORMING: The research I conducted and utilized during my time in this course to arrive at some design decision had a lot to do with personal experiences and undergoing through the interviews that we were assigned to do. It helped me create a more concise persona event though it isn’t something that was required to do. I skimmed through a lot of research about my own city and neighborhood. For instance, this area was named after the city’s founder, Joseph Wesley young and it was dedicated in March 2007. It is noted, “Hollywood is approximately 30 square miles in size and is Broward’s third-largest municipality with a population of roughly 143,000 residents” (“About Hollywood”).

PROBLEM-SOLVING: The design problem I was trying to solve was more about trying to convince the client that this Identity Development project was a good idea to begin with. I divulged data and research on the demographics in the surrounding neighborhood. Using that data, I was able to create a pitch that perfectly summed up the inhabitant’s pains and gains with a swot analysis.

INNOVATIVE THINKING: The way I approached this subject in an innovative way is by giving a voice to the people who experience that region every day. Using their opinions, I was able to come up with a problem statement along with questions that tailored to what they look for in a thriving community.

ACQUIRING COMPETENCIES: Overall this course taught me a lot on how to effectively communicate my ideas through an elevator pitch. Along with creating underlining data that is essential when presenting this pitch to your specific audience. They want to essentially know what is in it for them and this data is extremely important because of that.

References

U. (2019). About Hollywood. Retrieved April 4, 2019, from https://www.hollywoodfl.org/993/About-Hollywood

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Week 4 - Story Journal

This week I reflected on my last week at work. It was a sad week because it was one full of goodbyes and full of lasts. Though I started this job about a year and a half ago my coworkers became sort of my family. I mean I practically saw them longer than I saw my own family. It’s crazy how the people at work sort of become part of you. This job really let me spread my wings as a designer. I started this job as a Marketing Assistant with no idea on just how much I’d be doing. I learned so much and was able to use my full design skills in a lot of projects that I ended up managing. I was able to understand the printing process and how to get the artwork printer ready. This week made me appreciate the fact that I get pretty lucky with jobs because I’m able to find these great positions and find that later they are so hard to leave.

I noticed that there is a theme throughout this journal and it is family. Family is something that’s always been extremely important to me. Whether it’s my work family or my actual family it’s the relationship I treasure the most.

An emerging story kernel that I see from this week’s journal could deal with family. There are so many stories to tell when it comes to family. The drama, the comedic moments, and the moments that just make you cry. Family is such an essential dynamic in storytelling because it really is what kind of forms you.

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Organizational Structures: Week 4 Mastery Reflection

     Overall the material this month was quite challenging, incredibly engaging, and I was able to understand the After Effects software more effectively.  Some of the concepts I learned were creating a dynamic vision board by using movement and non-diegetic sound. Being able to understand movement and the way movement works together with a brand also helped in conveying the message of my assigned city’s brand. 

     We also learned how preparing a storyboard for your motion video always makes the process of creating it easier. The same way with design there is a research and development process that must be done to create a compelling motion.

Liz Blazer says the following about storyboarding:

As you begin the process of storyboarding you’re creating individual frames of action. You start out rough and gradually add needed details. This process ensures the story is first understanding and then allows you to add the nuances that make the story more complex and interesting. (Blazer, 2015)

We reviewed diegetic and non-diegetic sound, the non-diegetic sound is the sound whose sources isn’t visible on screen, like a commentary and diegetic sound is the latter, ambiance or someone speaking directly to someone.

Motion in Context Video

Dynamic Vision board

Storyboard

Connecting/Synthesizing/Transforming: Some of the research I conducted and utilized to arrive at my design decision is the way that kinetic typography can grasp the audience’s attention and how the city of Pretoria’s brand can benefit from it. Van Leeuwen and Djonov argued the following about kinetic typography, “Many writers see kinetic typography as restoring to writing the expressiveness of speech and voice quality” (Van Leeuwen, Djonov, 2015).

Problem Solving: The design problem I was trying to solve was attempting to convey Pretoria’s brand narrative through a motion graphic using kinetic typography. The design problem for my selected medium brings a good solution according to my industry because in using kinetic typography to depict the brand’s narrative it makes for a more lasting memory. Brownie emphasizes the following about Kineticism, “Graphic design critic Michael Worthington (1998, p.9) observes, “In a time-based medium, type has additional expressive qualities, additional layers of significance” (Brownie, 2014). I solved the problem by creating an engaging kinetic typographical motion that engaged the audience and tied into the brand’s theme.

Innovative Thinking: My work in comparisons to others in the industry is innovative because I decided to focus my city’s narrative on a less common themed brand to a more academically inclined description. When I first started this project, I knew I wanted to do something completely different that isn't a common approach with the city of Pretoria. Throughout my research of this city, I saw much information regarding the Industrial Research side of it, so I knew this is what I wanted to explore. Using kinetic typography in an innovative way to depict the narrative of the city is something that isn't common.

Acquiring Competencies: I learned that the motion graphic process is long and a bit tedious especially if you want to produce something with quality. I had explored After Effects before and made a couple of motion graphics during my undergrad but this project assisted me in delving deeper into the program, and I was able to learn a lot.

    Additionally, my overall experience with the course was great. I wouldn’t personally choose to explore group projects again, that par was somewhat frustrating. After this course, I hope to delve myself deeper into motion graphics, though it was tedious it is something I thoroughly enjoyed.

References

Brownie, B. (2015). Transforming type: New directions in kinetic typography. Retrieved March 20, 2019, fromhttps://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/novasoutheastern/reader.action?docID=1868824

Leeuwen, T. V., & Djonov, E. (2015). Notes towards a semiotics of kinetic typography. Social Semiotics,25(2), 244-253. doi:10.1080/10350330.2015.1010324

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Wk3- Story Journal

This week I reflected on what my week looked like and how hectic it is. Though, I was able to reflect on my future and where I see myself after I finish school. What will I do with all of my free time? Other than designing and perfecting my practice of course. For such a long-time art has always been my creative output and it’s always been my escape; lately, it’s my work and school. I wonder if it’s something I’ll want to do with my free time. Don’t get me wrong I love being a designer though times it gets exhausting and pretty extensive I don’t see myself doing anything else other than this. I am excited to see what the future holds and with starting my new job soon, I’ll be able to branch out into an industry that’s entirely new for me. Granted, I’ll still be designing, but it’s going to a nice change of pace.

I noticed that there is a theme throughout this journal and it deals with the future, specifically mine. I wrote about imagining where I see myself after I finish my masters. Writing these story journals have helped my creative process and put things in perspective. The future is something that can be so daunting to some and even me at times, but it’s something pretty exciting when given a chance to clear your mind and explore it.

An emerging story kernel that I see from this week’s journal could deal with my future. Where my life will lead me to as a designer and how this new job will help open many doors that weren’t there previously. I was also able to relax a little by going to the beach that led me to think of my future. Sometimes clearing your head and being able to unplug is the best way to get your creative juices flowing.

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Story Journal Week 2

This week I reflected on what it meant to be a designer. I feel extremely lucky to be able to create the things that sort of pop into my head. I thought about how amazing it was to be able to be the lead designer of a whole festival. Storyfest is a literacy festival that the library where I work at hosts each year. This year I created all of their signage, banners, programs, posters, website, and any marketing assets that were used. It was a nice feeling to see my work make a little bit of a difference.

I noticed that there is a theme throughout this journal. I wrote a lot about how my experience as an artist has molded me into a great designer. It gives me the ability to look at things in different perspectives and being able to put yourself in the audience’s shoes is something that is really big in the designer world. I’m glad that I’m able to get out of my head a little bit and see a different view every now and again.

An emerging story kernel that I see from this week’s journal could deal with my experiences as a graphic designer so far. The art and skill that graphic design entails is so huge and often gets misconstrued to creating a logo or graphic and it’s so much more than that. It’s having the ability to see the bigger picture and that not everything you create is for your satisfaction, it’s in fact intended for the audience. 

This is something that I’m getting accustomed to in my current position because I want everything to be calculated and I want to be able to control the look and outcome of it and it doesn’t always work out the way you intended it to. You kind of just have to go with what the audience wants and that’s okay. 

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Story Journal - Week 1

This week I noted a lot about Storyfest and food. I realize that work and food experiences really do inspire me to be creative. My position as Marketing Assistant has me doing just about everything creative you can think of so it really helps that I can use everything I’ve learned at Full Sail in real-world experience.

I noticed that there is a theme throughout this journal. I wrote a lot about my food experiences. I take those moments extremely seriously, I love connecting with my food and creating a permanent memory.

An emerging story kernel that I see from this week’s journal could deal with food and an out of this world experience.

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5.4.2 Mastery Journal Reflection

This past month in Design Research we thoroughly immersed ourselves into rationales and being able to come up with research and references for our design decisions. Our assignment this month was to essentially work backward and come up with a style sheet, vision board and infographic based on our narrative of an assigned city. After researching this city, I would be creating this branding campaign for Pretoria, South Africa. It is a picturesque city known for its landscapes and natural beauty. I knew I wanted to stray away from this specific view and focus more on the academic, research, and industrial side of Pretoria.

Based on my research of the city I realized two synthesizing concepts, I was able to come up with something innovative and avoid the common themes for this city. Branding this city, I knew that being able to communicate the message for my narrative was going to be complex because of its common nature-themed branding. I originated this idea from a single quote, “Pretoria has a reputation for being an academic city with three universities and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research” (Katakura, 2016). This ideation process brought me to my solution to creating a unique campaign for the city of Pretoria.

For problem-solving, I was trying to unite the youthful and intelligent audience that I was targeting with bold and educational themes. The problem, how to come up with a set of assets that emerged two different things.  I was able to channel industries such as Microsoft and Adobe to come up with a solution. Their values and missions envisioned much of what I envisioned for the city of Pretoria. The following quote inspired this solution, “Meaningful work, constant learning, brilliant people, and a community guided by core values that promote quality, creativity, and opportunity in everything we do. There are so many reasons to bring your career here” (Adobe, 2019).

For innovative thinking, I was able to come up with a fresh approach to branding this city. I avoided the typical nature themes and came up with a new narrative for this city as well as coming up with unified assets that evolved from the city’s personality.

For acquiring competencies, I learned not only how to come up with rationales based on research but to also be more thorough when explaining a design process. For instance, the choices I made and why I made them like using squircles or rounded squares. I learned to also be more thorough when looking at my final designs (i.e. spelling, spacing, and the minor things one tends to forget). Overall this course has really impressed upon me just how important it is to have a rationale for your design decisions especially when it comes to educating someone who isn’t familiar with the brand.

These were visual examples and tone based on my research that I was striving to portray in my narrative.

This was my style guide for Pretoria, South Africa

Then came the vision board.

Infographic Sketch

Final Infographic for the city of Pretoria.

References

Adobe. (2019). Careers. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from https://www.adobe.com/careers.html

Katakuru. (2016, November 25). Pretoria General Information. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from http://katakuru.com/pretoria-general-information/

Lonely Planet. (2017). History in Pretoria, South Africa. Retrieved February 06, 2019, from https://www.lonelyplanet.com/south-africa/pretoria/background/history/a/nar/47aa4cde-8b6f-44d3-be94-8452374e286d/355618

MacGregor, K. (2010, May 23). SOUTH AFRICA: New university clusters emerge. Retrieved February 04, 2019, from https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20100523104119724

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Effective Copywriting- Project Reflection

     This month throughout the effective copywriting course I gained great insight into the do’s and don’ts of copywriting. We reviewed how to write effective and powerful headlines that capture your target audience’s attention. Along with that, how to effectively write the body copy and call to action in an advertisement. It became apparent that copywriting went hand in hand with coming up with a cohesive brand identity and being able to effectively communicate in the voice and tone of the chosen organization, Global Fund for Women.

Felton discusses it in the following:

Whenever a Client’s brand talks with consumers — whether on the company website or its annual report, app, blog post, tweet, email blast, tang tag, package copy, t-shirt, slogan, piece of street theater, banner trailing behind a plane at the beach, or simply the joke on the napkins store, no matter what the message is, or where it appears, it should represent the brands personality and speak with the right voice. (Felton, 2013, p.93)

When researching the target audience profiles, I learned to put myself in another person’s shoes. This particular assignment gave me a better understanding of how to comprehend the consumer and really put myself in their perspective. Figuring out what their hopes, dreams, pains, gains, and daily lifestyle habits are made me hone in on a clear message that could be delivered to them successfully. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs helped me align my target audience profiles to the perfect consumer. Felton argued this in the following, “The idea that a product can solve more than one problem at the same time, is owed to psychologist Abraham Maslow” (Felton, 2013, p.22).

Target Audience Profiles:

Furthermore, after completing the 6 sketches of testimonial ads I was able to come up with clear messaging for the campaign. The testimonial ads that were sketched were from the point of view of the extreme user, just plain folks, CEO, expert, and historical figures. To come up with the concepts I researched throughout the organization's website and articles and created mind maps to see the ones that were the most impactful. From those mind maps derived the concept sketches. “Using mind maps helps you to consider as many different design directions as possible, and at the stage when they’re most needed. It’s a relatively straightforward process of word association” (Airey, 2015). The reason these particular ads were chosen is that they tied into the voice of the Global Fund for Women’s brand by using empowering words of positivity. For instance, “When you put a group of WOMEN together you get a lot done.” This headline embodied the organization's mission and values. It is noted here from the Global Fund for Women, “We are a global champion for the human rights of women and girls” (Global Fund for Women, 2018).

6 Sketches:

Final Ad Comps: *added the fourth comp based on the recommendation of Professor Rogalle

The 3 initial comps were chosen because they were the strongest ones that aligned with the Global Fund for Women’s brand identity. I developed the connections to my target audience by using language that is relatable and understanding to them. Nate Elliot argued it in the following, “If you want to create messages that resonate with your audience, you need to know what they care about” (Elliot, 2017).  For the 3 revised comps, I created unique solutions by creating memorable and empowering headlines as well as a unique design approach to how they were each laid out. Three takeaways that I have learned in this Effective Copywriting course that I will apply to my career as a media designer are writing effective headlines that inspire, making sure that any copywriting aligns to a target audience for the said brand, and backing up that information with research.

References

Airey, D. (2015). Logo design love: A guide to creating iconic brand identities. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.

Felton, George. Advertising: Concept and Copy (Third Edition), 3rd Edition. W. W. Norton & Company, 20130805. VitalBook file.

Global Fund for Women. (2018, February 16). 8 ways you can be a champion for women & girls. Retrieved January 31, 2019, from https://www.globalfundforwomen.org/champions-of-equality/#.XFT3sM9KhZ0

TheIuvo. (2017, August 16). How To Adjust Your Language To A Target Audience – TheIuvo – Medium. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from https://medium.com/@theiuvo/how-to-adjust-your-language-to-a-target-audience-d39aa36fa5a

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STRENGTHS

The strengths of this board overall really have to do with the feeling it gives you when you first see it. I wanted to maintain the character of it without being cookie cutter style. I wanted a clean, welcoming, friendly and unique layout and design. I think I was able to accomplish that not only with my layout but my colors as well as my typography.

WEAKNESSES

The weaknesses were the fact that I had to start over completely because of how I misunderstood the project. There could have been more time put into this and thought. Though I do think that it represents the brand well, there is always room for improvement.

OPPORTUNITIES

The opportunities are the fact that I was able to learn so much from Reykjavik. The city really is beautiful and being able to do a mock project on this progressive city really made the time in this class more enjoyable.

THREATS

The threats for this project were my time management and not being able to dedicate my full time on this project because I had to rectify what I originally had which turned out to be more of a style guide than a vision board.

STRENGTHS

Overall I was extremely pleased with this vision board. My intent was for it to feel for a younger audience. Additionally, I did get critiqued that everything was good other than contemporary but I think what was misunderstood was that contemporary meant more like 20th-century art or modern art. The vivid and bright colors are what was meant to be contemporary.

WEAKNESSES The weaknesses I would say are whether or not it was understood that contemporary meant more of a style for vibrancy. My rationales were mostly the same but I didn’t really find a place for them in these designs without it getting too distracting with a block of text so I opted to leave them out of these designs.

OPPORTUNITIES

The opportunities from this project I would say were the amount of creativity that I was able to use. Professor Katz gave us a chance to express ourselves freely and I thought it was satisfying and relaxing to finally be able to be freely creative after a while of not being it. THREATS

The threats to this project were not being able to find the right imagery that would explain the underlying tones of this brand.

STRENGTHS

This was another vision board I was extremely proud of. The textures and emitting those strong characters is really something that depicts this brand great. Using positive imagery to back up those statements also helped. The logo represents the brand well and I wanted to the right assets to show that.

WEAKNESSES The weaknesses I would say were when trying to research how to actually depict these words, that came to be a little difficult. Finding the right shapes and events textures came to be rather challenging.

OPPORTUNITIES

The opportunities from this project were that I was able to learn about a lot were the history, folklore, and mythical stories of Reykjavik. It truly is a city full of rich culture and beautiful history and its something that I wanted to portray in the images. THREATS

The threats to this project were not having the allotted time because I was under stuch tight pressure.

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This past month has been a whirlwind. I've learned and taken in so much information. This information will be useful to me in my current position as a graphic designer and for my future. For instance, recalling on the information on Branding and how it involves much more than a logo. The thought that a brand is more of an emotive essence. Remembering Neumeier's quote, "Traditional views of design were to identify, to inform, to entertain, and to persuade. With Branding there’s a fifth, to differentiate”, on the Brand Gap.

The threats for me this past month have definitely been time management and being able to organize my time. Working full time as a graphic designer and going to school at the same time for my master's is something I signed up for but it has been challenging. Time is just something I'll have to organize better moving along. I know it can be done because I did the same thing for my undergraduate, just got to recollect myself and push through.

The opportunities I would say are the new skills and knowledge I've taken in. Each live session was so full of information and I learned so much from them. The critiques throughout the month have also helped me better understand what is being requested of us during the projects. It really helps my work get better and lets me see a different point of view on my work.

The strengths I would say are how well I've been able to apply the information we've learned to the projects. Having experience with branding and campaigns from work I've taken a seamless understanding of what it actually is. The fact that Branding is more of an emotive feeling with the consumer and being able to share this information with my peers.

The weaknesses have again been my time managing skills. It's tough to fully give 100 percent to something when your mind is somewhere else. Especially dealing with work and the holidays. It's our busiest time of the year at the library I work at because of the number of holiday events we have, which cause me to miss live sessions and those really important lecture times. Though, having them available as a recording is incredible and does make it easier on me when trying to understand a project.

Overall this month is something I'll take along with me from knowledge, to critiques and to the vast amount of thought that really goes into branding. I am aware of that firsthand as I've seen a brand go from paper to fruition and it's great to see that work come alive in the branding. This course also took me back to my visual arts roots. I never thought it'd be so complex to work on a vision board. I thoroughly enjoyed that process.

References

Neumeier, M. (2006). The Brand Gap: How to bridge the distance between business strategy and design ; a whiteboard overview. Retrieved November 20, 2018, from https://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/branding/0321348109

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The first week of Branding brought us to choosing our final logos and exploring typography. These are the final logo choices I decided. I thought them to be the most unique. I chose the salmon because of Reykjavik vast resource of Atlantic Salmon. I kept my shape angular and within a rectangle or square for most of my logos because Reykjavik is also known as the happiest country world because of their equality and conformity based on my research. This is what the meaning of the square and rectangular shapes are so I thought it to be the most appropriate shape. For the first typeface, I chose clean font faces with plenty of kerning. I was intending to depict the purity and cleanliness of the river. 

For the second logo variation, I was inspired by Icelandic Stone and its very angular shapes. At first sight and without explanation and based on critique it’s not very apparent so I’m unsure if I’ll continue with this variation or maybe I’ll try to further develop it. The last one is derived from horns of a Viking and also within a square to depict the equality and conformity of the country. 

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The Final 7 Logos I decided to explore further. These were all created with the research I did on Geography, Modern Culture and Traditions.