My First Semester of Graphic Design

         This semester in graphic design, I learned about the importance of taking your time while working in photoshop in illustrator through three main projects.

First, we worked on creating a panorama in photoshop. We were to create a theme using ten images. It took a lot of time and my layers menu was chaotic, I couldn't even navigate it myself. I used adjustment layers to change the colors and white balance so that the image would highlight the pinks and blues. I used layer masks, and then the brush tool to get rid of things I didn't need. I used clipping masks when I needed to get rid of a larger area. In total, it took me about a week and a half to think of the idea and put it into photoshop. I didn't receive very much feedback during this project, but I was told by others that they liked how it was coming along. After this project, I took away a new understanding of photoshop that I later applied to work outside of eComm.

       The raccoon was a bit more difficult because it was an introduction to new tools that I hadn't used before. It was a lot of using shapes that I edited using the direct selection tool. This assignment took me more time due to the usage of the pathfinder tool, which, for some reason I found it the most difficult part of the project. I didn't really like this assignment because there wasn't any room to be creative with it. I had to follow the rules when I wanted to branch out and create my own thing. Although I did take away a new understanding of tools in illustrator. I don't think I'll continue to do "digital art" in illustrator because I've learned it's not one of my strong points. 

      Although I'm not finished with my infographic, it's probably one of my favorite things I've created this year. I like the freedom of getting to create my own project from start to finish. It's taken me the past month, and after we return from break I think that it'll only take me a class period because all that needs to be added is text. The biggest challenge in this project was using the pen tool, although I have adapted to it and I think that I'm getting better at using it. I've asked others for feedback, and I'm either told to move something or change the colors a bit. I have made some changes to the color scheme, as my original idea was more of a Tiffany blue, but now it has darker tones to match with the other colors. I'm really excited for the result of this project. 

      In class, I'm on task and productive, also leaving time to talk with others or take a break from looking at the computer. When I get behind on a project, I come in and work on it. I also recently got Adobe software at home so I'll be able to work on projects and advance my knowledge outside of class. As a graphic design student, I'm always willing to listen to feedback and use different colors, fonts, and tweak my project in areas that need to be fixed. I need to improve my skills technically most, because there are some areas illustrator and photoshop that are a bit blurry to me. 

     Overall, my favorite part of this semester was working in photoshop during the challenges in panorama. I liked combining different images and adding filters to make them all one, uniform picture. They're also the favorites of people I've shown my work to. I wouldn't change anything about this semester and I hope to go into next semester with the same work ethic and illustrator strategies! Next semester, I hope to learn more about the technicalities of the "designing" Adobe software.