Portfolio Website

For Project 2, we created coded websites to showcase our portfolios. Nothing about this project was easy, to say the least. I encountered problems big and small that regardless presented the beloved question mark in a blue box error. I spent hours on zoom with Professor Dunkle to get through this assignment. We started by creating design ideas on Figma, but transferring those ideas to code seemed near impossible. I realized early on that basic is better. The easiest part was definitely creating a design on Figma. The only time I was able to figure things out myself when coding was at the very end. Once I was able to identify issues and know what to look for, it was way easier to find solutions. Early on, I would not have even known where to start when there was a problem.

I definitely learned a lot from this project. Prior to this assignment, I had practically no experience with coding. The closest I had gotten to coding before this was by a simple right-click and inspect on Google Chrome. I now feel confident in knowing where to begin, and how to create a basic website.

The only thing I think would have helped me throughout this project was if we had more class time. Had I not scheduled 4-5 zoom meetings with the professor, I definitely would not have been able to fully complete this project. In the future, I plan to use my knowledge from this project to further advance my skills. Now that I understand some of the basics, I would definitely like to build on them. I really enjoy web design and would like to have a good grasp on coding of all sorts. I also feel like I could easily understand more code language when inspecting a page.

Something that really inspired me throughout this project was the CSS-TRICKS article on responsive imagery. This was inspiring to me because it made me pay attention to details on a website that I normally wouldn’t and made me transfer that into my own website.

Overall, this project was extremely rewarding. Even though coding can be the most infuriating thing in the world it always pays off. I cannot think of anything else that can make me go from next level angry to extremely happy all within three minutes.

Project 1 – Music Player App // Tune

From completing this project I realized how much goes into the design of an app, and how difficult it is to create animations in a way that expresses my vision correctly. The easy part was just getting started but the more I worked on it the more difficult it got. I normally never run into any problems while using Figma, but for some reason everything that could have gone wrong did. I had a lot of problems with sizing, the option-drag function was glitching, and I had incorrect dimensions and did not notice until I thought I was done and tested the prototypes. Figma also had a glitch with creating the grid lines, so I had no way of checking if my work was correctly lined up or not.

I think if I had more knowledge on how to create certain functions and more advanced animations in Figma that my project would have been more successful in displaying what the app’s unique functionalities are. I think if we did another lab on animation using more advanced techniques I would have felt more confident in creating animations.

There were a lot of little things that I did not know about design like creating drop shadows. Completing this project made me consider small details that would improve my project, and gave me more advanced knowledge on Figma tools that will help me during future projects and work scenarios. Something that inspired my app’s design was the 99designs article “Skeuomorphism vs. Flat Design”. I liked how simplistic flat design is which made me want to focus on that in my design. Overall, besides the many issues I encountered with Figma while designing my music app I still really enjoyed completing this project. I put a lot of time and effort into this project and I am really happy with my designs and the functionalities of my app.

Project 4 – Nursery Rhyme Text

Project 4 was a fun project to work with new fonts and practice different text placements. I learned different ways to be creative when working with text, and really enjoyed the way that it came out. I also learned new tools on Figma, like the flattening tool, and how to “cheat” to move text.

I do not want to say that there was anything easy about this project because it really was not that at all. I guess I would say the concept of the project was simple, but carrying it out was difficult. Placing text seems easy until you try to be creative and mindful with spacing and colors, which makes it quite complicated.

I think some areas of my project were a bit chaotic and could be improved, I think I got carried away in some areas. I think it was easy to get stuck or overthink some parts. This project definitely challenged me to think differently and “not be a wimp” when trying and experimenting with new ideas. Moving forward in future projects I think I will be able to challenge myself more with text placements.

Overall, I really enjoyed completing this project and the way that it challenged me!

Project 3

Project Reflection

During this project, I became more familiar with the Gimp program and practiced thinking critically about my ideas. The designing aspect of this project was easy, but figuring out my idea, creating the pattern, and putting it together on Gimp was more challenging. I had to change my idea quite a bit, so it was a long process to come up with my final design. To improve my design, I could have really worked harder to get the background image clearer as well as worked more on my pattern. I also think I could have executed my idea better by becoming even more familiar with some of the Gimp tools, which I am still working on. From completing this project and the past few assignments, I have become really comfortable with Figma, and have learned new skills on Gimp as well, which can be used in future projects. Overall, I thought this assignment was a lot of fun and I look forward to learning more design skills, as well as program skills on Gimp and Figma.

Project 2 – Color

Working on this project, I gained a deeper understanding of the program Figma. I had used this program before in the past, but this project caused me to use more challenging tools to create different shapes and mimic textures. In past assignments, I had a lot of trouble with creating gradients on Figma. This project gave me a lot of good practice creating different fills, and made me more confident figuring out appropriate gradients. 

The easiest part of this project was selecting my color schemes and creating background shapes. This required minimal skill, and got me thinking about additional layers. The challenge was then adding effects and detail. There were many things I had the intention of adding but did not end up working out due to skills that I was lacking. With more familiarity of the program, I will soon be able to add more complex shapes and designs.

To improve this project, I could spend more time learning complex shapes. I think more practice with this could really add more personality and creativity to my project. What really helped me move forward in this project was having my screen mirrored with the Professor’s, and having him walk me through certain skills. I think without that I would have not been able to figure out how to create objects like the fish hook. 

It constantly amazes me how many different variations of projects that Figma can be used for. I have used Figma in the past for things like app and web design, and I love how much I can use the platform for. I think it is a really helpful program for mapping out my creative ideas which can be used in future projects and classes. 

Overall I thought this project was a really fun creative challenge, and I am excited to learn more complex skills in Figma.

Project 1 – Gestalt Nursery Rhyme

Jack & Jill

Throughout working on this project, I learned a lot about the Gestalt Principles and what they look like as well as represent. I will admit, some of the concepts were very hard for me to understand and differentiate among the others. Putting the designs into practice really gave me a grasp of what these concepts look like. 

The easiest part of this project was simply sketching and planning my designs. I feel like on paper I knew what I wanted my designs to look like, but getting them arranged on Figma the way I wanted to did not work as well as I wanted it to. There were many times I had to completely redesign and start from scratch in order to make my ideas work on Figma.

Although I did the best that I could as a beginner, I think I definitely could have gotten more creative with my designs. I really tried to keep things simple and not over complicated as to not confuse myself with the concepts. I feel as though it was hard for me to focus on the design concepts as well as the nursery rhyme itself. 

For next time, I think I need to try not to think so hard and put as much pressure on myself. I get confused very easily and I think I thought way too hard on each of these concepts. 

From completing this project and gaining a deeper understanding of the Gestalt Principles, I have definitely started to pin-point the principles in the real world. Being able to identify them in the real world, will give me more inspiration as well as a different perspective moving forward with future projects and assignments.

When looking for inspiration on this project, looking at the linked examples from students really helped. Although most of them seemed too complex for me, it gave me a lot of ideas.

Overall, I thought this project was a great challenge and really fun.

Final Project

See my project here!

For my final project, I had to create a movie that captures emotion. The emotion I attempted to convey was happiness. My project starred my dog Jazzy, at Ellicott Creek Island Dog Park. I did this by adding in happy music, to which I can imagine conveys the happiness Jazzy was feeling as she trotted around the dog park.

During this project, I enjoyed using each of the different programs. Creating on Garage Band, Adobe Premiere, and Adobe Animate was very interesting and fun to learn. Although using Premiere was enjoyable, I got frustrated towards the end as I kept receiving error messages. This made it difficult to edit clips. In addition, exporting the video caused it to look more grainy, which I was unable to fix. Overall, the project itself was very enjoyable.

My inspiration throughout this project was the article, “The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn’t“. This article was very interesting as it described the different career options in the music and digital fields, as well as the revenue acquired in each of those industries.

Unity Game

Project 3 was very complicated. Through the process of creating my game, I found it to be more complicated than I anticipated. At the same time, it surprised me how quickly a simple game could be created. I found that navigating the program was easy, and I enjoyed the layout a lot. Everything was right in front of me, so that made simple problems easy to fix.

Unfortunately, what I found to be a huge setback was how difficult it was to locate errors. That made things get frustrating very quickly, and I sometimes had to completely delete a file and start over. Had I had more time and patience, I definitely could have played around with the effects and details of my game more. Although the project was fun, I do not think I could have spent much longer using this program before I got agitated. For future classes and projects, I feel that it would be helpful to have an uploaded video regarding common errors and where to find them. For my own future assignments and work scenarios, I can use my basic knowledge of the program to either assist in projects or give input.

Nothing specifically inspired me but seeing my classmates’ work helped me a lot in fixing errors on my own game.

Project 2

https://www3.canisius.edu/~jaworowj/resume/

Project 2 was all about using the program “Brackets” to create our personal resumes.

Through the completion of this project, I learned basic coding skills on the program, as well as general knowledge on what goes into a website.

Coding can be very intimidating, and it is definitely not my strong point which made me apprehensive to start this project. To my surprise, this project was actually very simple and the program was easy to navigate.

The only thing I found to be challenging about this project was during times where I accidentally deleted something; I had no idea how to undo anything.

To improve my submission, I’m sure I could have put more time and creativity into selecting different fonts.

I was very satisfied with the assignment and have no further suggestions for future classes.

This assignment taught me that there are many different ways to create a resume, and that creating a web page is not as difficult as it seems. I also learned to look into smaller details like different fonts for headings and being more creative with my resume instead of the typical black and white Times New Roman set up.

I wouldn’t say a specific reading or video inspired me, but I can say viewing my classmates work inspired me to be more creative and not stick to professional business norms when creating my resume.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this assignment and feel that I learned a lot.