REFLECTION:

Project one was a very practical and exciting task, I really enjoyed the project as a whole - Starting the trimester with a practical and hands on task was really motivating and got me super excited for the rest of the projects and the content that we would be completing over time. I hadn't done any lion cut since I was in Primary school so it was really exciting and almost a new experience for me. I could remember the feeling and the action of the cutting of the Lino, however any of the tricks and the correct way of the cutting of the Lino was something that I had no memory of and was something that I had to quickly pick and begin for the project. I began the design process by first finding a font and then a letter and altering it to create a shape in which I liked and wanted to use for my Lino cut. After this I then created and cut out the lino and printed it onto some white paper as well as experimenting on images and magazines to see what the shape looked like with other symbols and imagery. I then converted the lino cut into an illustrator format and started working on the pattern side of the project. I worked on creating patterns and changing the colours for a while until I was happy with a single idea and design. Above is all of the deliverables for Project One.

REFLECTION :

Project two was probably one of my favourite assessments this trimester. I really enjoyed the freedom that we all had in the design process. It felt like we were already designing in the real world for a company, but we as the designer had all the power and the control in what the design criteria, ideas and brief was. I chose the packaging of the brand 'Evian' water, a bottled water company from the French Alps and has been around for over 230 years. I decided to do this brand as I am very passionate about the effects that bottled water packaging is having on the environment and also the overall design of the brand (like many other water packaging) is very simple and not very interesting or exciting at all. I wanted to revamp the whole bottle by adding colour and floral designs - linking back to the mountain range (French Alps). I wanted the label font to be simple and easy to read, but also interesting, organic and playful - I went with 'Manofa' in bold. I began the design process by starting with the font type and creating a label size and also a bottle design - which was a glass design. For the animation the text and the imagery used in the label design are what I wanted to include in the animation and then use opacity, scale and movement to create an animation to represent the brand. Overall I really enjoyed this Project and learnt a lot through the whole design process - Especially revisiting after effects.

REFLECTION :

Project three the 'ASRA Journal' was probably the most thought provoking projects for me this trimester, as the input of information and large usage of InDesign is definitely out of my comfort zone and something that I find quite challenging. It definitely came with a rough start as I had no idea on how to actually begin the design process. Once I had began the process the whole design concepts and ideas followed. I began the project by firstly transferring all of the given text and images into the InDesign document (that was designed and created by Sofia), once this had been complete I then started fixing all of the issues - Changed the fonts to the correct formats, corrected the spacing between paragraphs and text. Finding space for the images was another thing that I had to consider and work with. The whole process was very new to me, however I found it quite engaging and I became even more determined to create an aesthetic and well designed layout as I spent more and more time on it. Overall I really enjoyed the project as it taught me a lot about InDesign and all of its tools as well as was a little insight to what it may be like when working for a graphic design firm or another company and using information that has been provided and placing it into an adequate and well designed format.

This Trimester was my second one at SAE, this one was definitely very different to the first semesters. Not only was there no floods happening this trimester (of which was a major factor that contributed and affected the whole learning experience as there were multiple lessons off and it was my first time studying at SAE). This trimester I was more on top of my Learning Journal and projects, due to it being a bit more calm and less external impacts that affected the lesson/ teaching time.

The projects this semester were also a lot more difficult and technical. I felt a lot more challenged this trimester in many ways, especially the content and what was expected of us to know about the adobe programs. I am still learning and trying to find out ways in which I can gain more knowledge and up skill in my ability to use the adobe suite - especially AfterEffects and PhotoShop (these are the two programs that I find the most difficult to use - just because I hardly ever use them).

The first project that we completed was the lino cut, I found this project so much fun and I learnt a lot though this project. I generally find more hands on and creative activities/projects more enjoyable which tends to leave me with more knowledge and skills as I am more engaged and focused.

The second project was the packaging redesign - I found this one quite difficult, but really really fun. I enjoyed the freedom of this project and it made me really excited to one day maybe design packaging for a company or myself.

The third project being the ASRA Journal was definitely the one that I found the most difficult to begin - just because I didn't even know where to start. Once I had began the first design processes I found the rest of it quite easy and it all fell into place as I continued the project.

All of Racheals assignments were really great for me - as they helped me gain more knowledge on the programs and all linked in somehow to the main projects that we had to complete in Donnas Studio class. My favourite one was probably creating and designing the 'wobbler'.

Overall this trimeter was great for me in expanding my abilities and knowledge in the design realm. I found all of the projects engaging and I learnt different tools through each individual project. Creating the portfolio was probably my absolute favourite assessment as I know it will really help in the real world and after I have completed my studies for jobs and my designer self.