Jonah Ahrens' Blog

1. What did you learn? I learned how to use the various printers/machines in order to create the merchandise I desired, a poster and stickers.
2. What was easy? The easiest part of this project was deciding what the merchandise was going to be centered around/based off of. The logos and posters used for the merch originate from my own social media brand online.
3. What was challenging? The most challenging part was the process of learning how to create the stickers I desired, and how to use the Cricut machine. It too a lot of trial and error in order to get the result that I desired.
4. How could your submission be improved? I think my submission could be improved by figuring out a method to make my poster more clear and crisp. It looks good the way that it is, but the quality of the artwork could’ve benefitted from an upscale.
5. How could the professor improve the assignment? I think the assignment could be improve if there were video demos for some of the machines used to create merchandise, just so that there’s a way to go back and look at the correct method.
6. How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?  I now have an understanding of how to use the Cricut Maker machine and the Canon poster printer, so in the scenario I’m working on a project in tandem with those machines in the future, I can apply that knowledge.
7. How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you? I watched this video that walked through the steps of the Cricut Maker simply, and made it very easy to understand how to use it: https://youtu.be/dnHleVqPRgU?si=6OuP_0arraK1TkBx

With this being a summative project of everything that I’ve been introduced to up to this point in the semester, there wasn’t much for me to learn. It was definitely more of just taking the concepts that I’ve already gotten a handle of and applying them to this last creation.

With this stamp collection, it was really easy to come up with four subjects of interest that represented the city of Buffalo as a whole, and to stylize them in a very creative and unique way. If there was anything that was challenging, it was narrowing the list down to just 4 entries, as there were many other different idea and directions I think I could’ve gone in.

If I could improve my submission, I think I could’ve spent more time cataloging through different fonts to make these stamps pop more. I’m satisfied with the ones that I ended up choosing, but I think there was possibly even more (if allocated more time) that I could’ve chosen from.

I believe the project could’ve been made even better if students were possibly given the option to combine two different places. Perhaps the scale of the project would increase, but putting two places that really differ from one another together could be a fun twist on this project.

Using different elements, pictures, fonts, and effects on the stamps in order to create a cohesive project that showcases a place like Buffalo in frames is a great set of skills that I’ll be able to take forward with me through this experience.

One reading that I really enjoyed reading was this article: https://www.canva.com/learn/how-different-fonts-speak-to-you/ Breaking down how each font creates a different feeling and vibe really helped contribute to my search for the correct fonts for each stamp.

Finding new and inventive ways to make a nursery rhyme be visualized with just words is a really intriguing project. It allows for some real creativity to shine through with the ability to use different fonts and different fills on those fonts to make separate verses really pop and stand out from one another.

During the process of this project I learned how to manipulate fonts in different ways, such as thinning letters or space them out. The most challenging part of it all was trying to not be repetitive in my designs, but it was also fun to try and come up with new ways to make each frame stand apart.

I think if there was anything that could’ve been improve from the project, it was that I don’t feel I even touched the surface when it came to discovering different fonts that each allowed for different effects to be performed with them. If there was anything that could be improved for the project in the future, I think allowing for more than one universal font to be used in different frames could be a lot of fun.

If there’s ever a future project where I am required to make a graphic really pop with words, then I’ll be able to draw back to this typography activity to help me out.

I really liked this blog post: https://creativemarket.com/blog/what-is-typography. It gave me a really good understanding and foundation of typography as a whole, and benefitted how the final product came out.

Being able to visualize a metaphor into something of your own is a very fun process. Since I was working on this project primarily in Photoshop, it gave me a lot of creativity in using different filters and effects to create the perfect concept. Photoshop is something that I would definitely consider myself more efficient in than Figma, but there were still a few things that I learned through trial and error, such as layering and cutting out different parts of an image.

While I’m sure for some being able to find a good metaphor to dabble with may have been a struggle, this one came right to me while I was brainstorming.

The idea of placing the globe into the palm of a person’s hand is pretty self-explanatory, so the most challenging part of this whole project was conjuring up or obtaining a background that I thought really fit the scene; and I think I did so with the image of space.

If there was something that I think I could improve with this image, it would probably be making the palm and the globe on top of it looking like it came from the same image. To me, I think I can tell they are two differently cropped images placed into one shot. It isn’t jarring, but it could be improved. The only way that I believe the professor could improve this assignment for next time is showcasing even more of the ideas and images that other students created, I think it could really be more of a creative spark for current students.

This project could really help me moving forward because if graphic design is really an avenue I would like to continue to go down, then I’m going to need to be able to combine images into one complete project such as in this display. John Saito’s article detailing how metaphors can add to your designs really put into perspective how detailed, yet simple to understand my project needed to be.

While with this second project I am getting more and more comfortable with the basics of Figma, there are just as many new skills that I’m learning, and that continued with this project. The important skills that I picked up doing this was how to use linear and radial fills, and the different relationships between colors themselves (complementary, analogous, split-complementary, and triadic).What was most easy with this project was using the different shapes to construct different objects such as buildings, fish, or planets; now that I’ve gotten accustomed to parts of Sigma, that part came easy to me. What was definitely most challenging was being able to apply each color theory to their respective environment; it tested my creativity and ability to be able to integrate them effectively. I think some frames could be improved by adding more detail, such as the barren landscape in the Arid Desert or the buildings in Urban City. I think this project could be really improved if there were more landscape choices to choose from, maybe scenes like a jungle or forest. Using the color knowledge I’ve gained from this project will surely help in the future to flesh out another project’s look and make it pop. An article that gave me a better understanding of color while working on the project was Cameron Chapman’s article that detailed areas such as color families, and primary and secondary colors.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Early Sketches

Reflection:

Learning the figma software for this first project has been both challenging, while at the same time a very enjoyable experience. Getting my feet wet in the software before immediately being tasked with illustrating a nursery rhyme was a large jump, but a relatively seamless step to the next level. Throughout the creation of this project, the biggest thing I learned was how to make each frame stand out, rather than looking orderly and symmetrical. For instance, when I first made the the fifth frame, it was perfectly centered and all within frame; but to make it pop more, I rotated the image and scaled it up, making it look much more unique. Coming up with all the other illustrations that would be translated to the frames was by far the easiest part of this project, I was able to let my creativity go to work to represent this nursery rhyme in a distinctive fashion. The most challenging part by far, was preventing myself from repeating the same gestalt principles in the frames where lines from the nursery rhyme repeat, and being able to come up with something new. Within this challenge, I feel that my biggest weakness with the whole project was lack of complexity with the designs. I don’t believe that any of the illustrations are substandard, but rather a bit simplistic and something I could improve going forward. I believe I got so caught up at points in creating varying principles, that I didn’t make them as detailed as I could’ve. I think that one way this project could potentially be improved moving forward is if perhaps students share each others precuts and gave their own personal critiques; it’s good to have a fresh perspective on a project that requires creativity like this one. An aspect that I’ll definitely take with me in future projects is the use of the ruler tool, that way I can track whether or not my placements of objects are correct or symmetrical. A reading that definitely helped in this project was the reading by Steven Bradley that described the gestalt principles in depth; it gave me a better understanding a what I should be projecting onto the final project from my brain.