TasteBuds final synopsis

During the course of creating the TasteBuds initiative with my classmates, I have learned a number of valuable things. I have always known that I would learn much, even through the most discouraging or frustrating times, but it is harder to really realize as much as try and force yourself to think that way while you’re going through it.
Working with a real-life client while in junior year of university has been priceless; I do not now nor have ever doubted that. I have always been told about “clients”, though, that scary thing out there that we would one day be forced to work one-on-one with and create something appealing for. It sounds prestigious, or at least I think I have always felt that it did. I think that in a way, it is. It is helpful to know how things will sometimes flow once we get out of school and are freelancing or looking for a job.
Working on the Identity Standards Guide, I was able to gain some more experience in InDesign, which I don’t feel like you can ever acquire enough of. I was also given the opportunity to learn about choosing colors for a brand or logo or initiative or anything. PMS and CMYK and HEX are all things that seem unclear to me still, even though I have spent a fairly large amount of time getting to know them. Our relationship is just still slightly shaky because I don’t know how different people or different parts of the project will react to them. I have, for the most part, discovered which facets of colors are used for which kinds of projects and materials, though.
Overall, it was most exciting to me to see the relationships being built throughout the class along the way of this semester. I feel that we really have built better relationships; I feel the need to check up on people once in awhile and make coffee cake in order to help the “family” along. Cheesy, but true; and definitely a positive thing, I think. We know how to work better not only with a large group of people, but with our classmates. I feel that that has been the best thing about this semester.

packaging project synopsis

Although I had many problems with the packaging project, I can finally feel encouragement knowing the things that I did not do correctly, and knowing that I would be able to fix them now.
From the beginning of the project, I think I began to run into mental walls, which blocked my memory of coding xhtml and styling it. I’m not really sure why this happened, and as is evident in the final finished materials, it was painful for me to try and fight through. It is somewhat a mystery why this happened, I think that it had just been too long since I had coded a website, and I must have blocked part of that information out of my brain. Unfortunate. I had a clear idea of how I wanted the website to look from the beginning, which, I’ve realized, is something that will usually hurt, instead of aid, you. I didn’t let myself think past that idea, and that package, and I feel that possibly if I had, I could have finished properly.
I wanted my website to be simple, as is the original intention of much of my design. I feel that I met that goal in my greyboxes and mock-ups, but had a major problem coming up with any color to add into the design.
I think that my main problems popped up solely in the coding and styling. I feel that the design could have worked if it had looked as I designed it to. I have learned how to organize myself more clearly from the beginning of a project, because I feel that this is key. I feel that if I am organized from the beginning and know where everything is and is going, it will be easier to code. The upside of this project is the fact that I feel more confidence now, and feel that I have definitely learned from my mistakes.

final project synopsis

I feel slightly fulfilled to be finished with this website, not because it looks completely professional or even because I feel like it is sufficient to make live; I am simply proud of the fact that I made something that works on the browser, and that it looks almost identical to how my greyboxes, mock-ups, and original ideas did. It takes a lot of my brainpower to start working on something like coding a website from beginning to end, and although I know that I still have not figure everything out (or even a fraction of everything), and have not figured out how to make code beautiful in every case, it took me awhile to get into building it, and awhile to keep myself working on it, before I really got into making it work.
I know that there are many things wrong with it, both with the back-end part, and pretty purely asthetic problems on the front-end part. I know that I used too many divs, and on one hand am kind of sad that I learned about them, because it’s almost like I fell into love with a chain smoker or something. Bad news in some cases; it is just really addicting, knowing that you can always control or tweak the smallest characteristic if you use them.
I created a portfolio website, though, and feel like I can stand pretty strongly behind that as an assignment. Like I said, I do not think that I feel comfortable enough yet to put something like the assignment live, but I would like to attempt to make a better one that could live online.

Coptix visits

During the web design class periods on the 14 and 16 of October, listening to the people that own and keep Coptix running was a fascinating privilege. While I feel it would have been incredibly useful and meaningful to our class whether we were without a teacher or not, I feel that it was an excellent way for us to use our teacherless classes.
On Tuesday, Josiah, Bekka, and Tyrick came and spoke to our class, telling us of their field experiences and showing us their websites and photoshop comps. Josiah, of course, told us about his experience of being the Creative Director of Coptix, which is impressive. I feel that when someone gets very far in the art/design world without some kind of collegiate training, there is something big to be said about them. I am impressed with Josiah because he went to a university without any kind of graphic design program, and although he wholeheartedly claims to not be a graphic designer, he still runs the show and has the final word.
It was really helpful to see graduates from our program building websites in photoshop. I consistently feel discouraged because of my amount of skill (or lack thereof) in web design, but it is encouraging to hear that some of the graduates from last year felt the same as me before working at Coptix. Hearing them talk made me exteremely grateful to be in web design this year and to know that I am bettering my skills and chances of job once i graduate.
On Thursday, Daniel and Melinda came to talk and discuss web design with us. Daniel is a html/css genius, but probably one of the most encouraging things about anybody speaking to us was Daniel telling us that we just simply must find our niche, and stick with that. Although he studied graphic design, he also claims to not be a designer, but has the mind for the coding side of web. While the way his brain works will forever be impressive and seemingly unachievable for me, he has probably had experience thinking the same thing about creative designers.
That is probably what I will absolutely, without a doubt, always remember about Coptix generously coming to hang out with us. The fact is, if we were all purely css/html minded, the world would not be so beautiful. That characteristic comes from the creative artists and designers, which I think I am proud to be a part of.