Adobe Illustrator - Typography (Line, Shape, Value)

My least favorite Illustrator project was the typography project. The task was to choose and expressive photo of ourselves and use typography to outline it 3 different ways. The three photos were to include Line, Shape, & Value. I found this project extremely frustrating and time consuming mainly because of the vast number of fonts and their variants. It took me about 5 1/2 hours to complete all 3 photos. The photo I chose is one from dinner on our Cruise in May. My grandmother stuck a spoon on her nose to "show the family her talent" and the entire family (including me) followed suit. Of all typography photos, the picture highlighting lines was my favorite to do, as I felt it to be the most creative.

Adobe Illustrator - Logo Design Concepts

This project was our first in Adobe Illustrator, and quite honestly the most disastrous. I was extremely enthusiastic about the project until I was placed into a group were group synergy was not at all exercised. My team members were extremely late to class, putting much pressure and stress on me to complete the task. Other groups had the advantage of multiple brains focusing on the task, while I was left to design & present a logo in less than 3 hours. Although I'm not 100% pleased with the way the logo came out, this project did give me a better understanding and grasp on the elements in Adobe Illustrator. For the Starbucks logo I kept with the brown and green theme, and tried to anchor the bean using the typography of the word Starbucks.

Web Design

Our last Photoshop assignment was to re-design a website that features Native American Jewelry. CherokeeJewelry.com was a poorly designed and laid out side requiring out attention. In the design I created I wanted to showcase the beautiful Cherokee Jewelry but also include a simple and easy to navigate layout. The Design I finally chose combines these elements, and features a piece of Native American jewelry as the navigation buttons along the bottom. This project was also a favorite Photoshop project as it brought in an element of web design. If I presented this website to the owner of Cherokee Jewlery, I feel as if I would have a good chance of him chosing it.

Dreamscape

Imagination & Childhood wonder are topics that I'm truly passionate about. I believe that in today's society we're too focused on individual success, and that we've lost the innocence that we once possessed as children. In order to portray this in my Dreamscape I chose two images which compare and contrast nicely. The background image I chose was John Lennon's memorial at Strawberry fields. I chose to overlay this image with images that evoke childhood memories and emotions....namely Cinderella's Castle. This Dreamscape was partially inspired by my 4th trip to Walt Disney World last summer with my girlfriend. For me, I can appreciate Disney so much more now that I'm older, and understand the work it takes to create and sustain such high standards on a daily basis. The photo of Cinderella's castle was actually taken last summer with my digital camera. The sunflower in the upper right hand corner signifies a "sun," ...perhaps in the eyes of a child, and how they perceive the world around them. The John Lennon tribute in the background also has strong symbolism, as it relates to the famous song.

Time & Place Project

My favorite Photoshop project was the Time & Place project. The object of the Time & Place project was to find a photo taken in a different decade, or in an odd setting. The photo I chose is a famous photo that was published in the New York Times-Herald in the 1930's. The photo is of construction workers eating their lunch atop a beam during the construction of what is now the GE building in Rockefeller Center (New York, NY). I had my girlfriend take a photo of me sitting atop bleachers in similar dress and was then able to Photoshop myself into the older black and white photo to replace the man fourth from the right. The most difficult portion of this project was matching the quality of the older photo.

Magazine Project

The assignment for this project was to create a magazine layout. The magazine layout pictured above is the first draft. The object was to create a magazine layout using Adobe Photoshop and incorporating all elements that would be found on a magazine cover already published. I chose to create "Cruiser" Magazine because in early May my entire family (17 of us!) went on a 3-night Bahamas cruise to celebrate the 80th birthday of my grandmother. This project was originally going to feature a picture of my grandmother winning $1000 at the slot machine, but the file was not large enough and became pixelated.

Warhol Inspired Dogs

This project was the first I have ever created in Photoshop. It's obviously inspired by the works of Warhol. This project was enjoyable because we were able to experiment with filters and other preset options in Photoshop. Although this was created on the first day of class, I'm still proud of the way it came out. As a side note, the dog pictured is a Welsh Springer Spaniel, a very rare purebred dog.