Graphic design

Reflecting on Goals for the Semester:

My photoshop skills at the beginning of the semester were... rough to say the least. I was not aware of some of the fundamental skills of graphic design, and my first projects reflected that. As time went on, however, I slowly built my knowledge of photoshop and got more skilled at graphic design. There is still many things I do not know, but I am in a much stronger place now than where I was before. My knowledge of fundamental aspects of design were certainly more present than my photoshop skills at the beginning of the semester, but there was still room to improve. I think that I definitely improved my skills since the beginning of the semester. I am much more knowledgeable in how color impacts the mood of a piece, and how empty space is just as important as filled space. Overall, I am not a finished product as an artist yet. My goals were achieved, but that does not mean I am done working towards making my skills better. I feel good about what I have accomplished this semester, and am looking forward to where my knowledge of photoshop and the fundamentals of design take me.

The assignment that I am most proud of:

The assignment that I am most proud of in my semester as a graphic design student is my two movie poster designs. I believe that they were my best work as a graphic design student for multiple reasons. One, each design was radically different from the other. My "hysteria" poster was very dark, incorporating lots of subtle lighting and shadows. The overall feel of the poster was mysterious, with the images meant to be creepy and off-putting. That was in stark contrast to the "Bezos" poster, which had a pretty straightforward, albeit captivating, image. I also used several slightly more advanced graphic design techniques I havent used before, such as having a mask filter over the words so Bezos' head was only in the words. I also used a lot more advanced light and shadow changing on the hysteria poster. Finally, I played around with images from the internet on the two posters, something I had not done much before this project. I learned how to warp and move them around to suit my needs, as well as paste two images over each other and make it look like a cohesive whole. This project advanced my skills in both of these areas.