The weekly videos were such a great element as it adds an element of inspiration and expands our vision with what we are working on at the moment. I was so inspired by Aderson’s talk “Disruptive Wonder for a Change” it was amazing and she presented things that are not commonly seen. She constantly kept calling for pushing your limits as a designer and that’s what stuck in my head after watching that video.

On Exploration 2 there was an obvious influence I had and I knew I needed to capture that and explore it. I was so intrigued in the idea of creating a folded card and not only because it was such an interesting format but because I haven’t done anything like it before. Maybe it’s risky? I thought.. But then I decided let it be because that’s the only way I am going to learn for future projects.

This course has also taught me to be comfortable and that we are all learning. I didn’t quite feel that way when I was at university, I was scared to take risks and careful when doing something that’s considered different. The way this course is structured allowed us to be playful and stay playful through out.

Each day I get to learn about my own processes even when sometimes they just happen without me realizing, like second nature they happen without you even knowing. That’s why when we were introduced with the concept of “Flow” I was like ok so that’s what it’s called. It is the best feeling in the world to have such moments but when, where or why they happen I need to figure that out. I hope that I get to polish my skills interns of production and thought in order to translate my ideas in a better manner.

This form of design might be something that is familiar or seen nowadays but on those days this was new and never been seen before. It featured letters in an inconsistent typeface cut out from newspaper in the style of a ransom note and placed against the face of Queen Elizabeth. The use of humor here is evident as it is an obvious attempt of mocking the tradition, the intend here is aimed to provoke sympathy for the English working class and a general resentment towards the monarchy.

What was even more provoking is that the record cover was controversially released on the same day as the Queens silver jubilee June 11th , 1977. (Puppy)  It is amazing to see such work being produced during that time, which was a period of intense political uncertainties and instability which caused the Punk movement to arise and address the public’s voice towards the rules set by the monarchy.

Work Cited:

Puppy, Tony. “Sex Pistols – A&M Records – 1977” April 18, 2011. Web. February 27, 2013.

Giving a presentation was one of the things I had to work on during university, it was difficult to stand in front of a crowd since I don’t feel comfortable having all the attention in a room. Over the years, I am happy with the progress I made, who would’ve thought that as shy as I was back then that I would be chosen to MC an event with over one thousand employees attending. Some of the techniques that I always kept in mind is to make sure that I know what I’m doing, feel confident and make eye contact. When I think of good presentations, I think of Apple when they present a product to the public. I found an article written by Carmine Gallo in Forbes Website that provides some techniques followed by Steve Jobs who is one of the most innovative people in the world.

One of the techniques that I found interesting has to do with structure, it is very important to get the structure of the presentation right and have a balance. “Stick to the rule of three.” Gallo shares “Jobs instinctively understood that the number “3” is one of the most powerful numbers in communications. A list of 3 things is more intriguing than 2 and far easier to remember than 22. Jobs divided his iPhone presentation into three sections. He spoke about the iPod functions of the new iPhone, the phone itself, and connecting to the Internet. Jobs even had some fun with three. He stepped on stage and said, “Today we are introducing three revolutionary products. The first, a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second, is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.” As the audience applauded, Jobs repeated the three ‘products’ several times. Finally he said, “Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices, they are one device and we are calling it iPhone!” (Gallo)

This technique is very useful especially to not overload a section of the presentation with information in order to capture the audience’s attention and not get them bored.

Work Cited: 

Gallo, Carmine. “11 Presentation Lessons You Can Still Learn From Steve Jobs” Forbes. October 4, 2012. Web. February 26, 2013.

Values are important, it is what shapes us as individuals and as graphic designers. I believe that values find a way to be reflected in our work be it intentionally or unintentionally. It is what makes us unique, when I look at posters like this one above for examples It says a lot about the designer and his origins. The work you see is done by Reza Abedini a famous graphic designer from Iran known for his modern Persian typography. Abedini’s work gives a sense of where he’s from and aspects from his culture. even without having any idea about his country.

The issue of adaptation of different ideas in design is one of the most interesting issues we face as designers, especially with the digital age where we are more exposed to what is happening around us. This article gives a clear and concise observation about the mainstreaming and it left me wondering. I think this behaviors is very much evident in the fashion industry where sub-cultures play a role in the end-products and it is quite hard to track down the source of the innovators. Staring from runways in France and Milan and into H&M shelves to meet the demand of the consumers.

As displayed above, the author of the fashion blog La Mode Tribune the fame of Balmain (a clothing brand with an average pricing scale).

What can be worse than cheap copying of brand clothes? When girl can’t afford the real, I would say, Dior bag, she goes and buys a fake one just to have her own Dior. One who is honest with herself will go to TOPSHOP, ZARA or other shop similar to them. This is more honest. I’m not sure. The reason is that too many things we see in those shops are copied in their design from what people see on the runway. Sometimes it happens that not such cheap brands start to copy famous brands to make money and become more popular.

I believe it the thinking that comes from creating an original piece is lost when taking it into a new context. It provides a challenge and an experience to do so and designers need to experiment in order to create new ideas. (La Mode Tribune)

Work Cited:

Heller, Steven “Underground Mainstream” Design Observer. October 4, 2008. Web. February 19,2013.

La Mode Tribune. “Blaine Fame” La Mode Tribune.  live journal. Web. February 19, 2013.

It is also important to document or review on a later stage what we did with a project that was either successful or not as much. It will help us as designers to understand where to improve within a process or how can it be better for future projects. Many look at a project just for the time-being and move to another without looking back, I believe that it will benefit us to learn to document everything we do for our reference and learn from our experiences.

This process gives you a sense of rush and excitement when experienced and makes the project much more fun. It is great when it happens, on the other hand, I have worked on projects in a sort of systematic way. I know that the ‘flow’ effect doesn’t happen all the time (how great would it be if it did?) I never let that stop me from spending the same amount of excitement and focus channeled in a different manner as long as I know and be sure that the work I’ve put in is the best I can do.

It is a matter of adjusting yourself and most importantly loving what you do no matter what. We all have our good days and bad days and that doesn’t mean we do better here or poorly there. At the end of the day what matters is the time and effort put in and knowing that you are proud of what you have achieved.

Above is  a model of the steps I take with my creative process.

1. Description:

First of course is reviewing the design description incase I am provided with one or else create a description of a project that I intend to work on and this will act as a guide that I can always refer to at any point.

2. Brainstorming:

I have always enjoyed this process where anything and everything is possible and it is usually where random ideas are born and expanded into many different directions.

3. Research:

This is where I’d look up some concepts that I found in the brainstorming exercise like some links or connects and see how did I get to this point during brainstorming.

4. Refining ideas:

This process and research can happen together or one before the other, here I try to narrow my thoughts and focus on an area of interest.

5. Mock-up:

Another area I enjoy because I get to experiment and test approaches here, this is where the initial ideas come to life.

6: Critique:

I always love hearing what other people think of the mockup I put together, I believe feedback is always good. This will help understand how others view your work and gives you a better perspective of what you’re doing which will benefit the design at the end of the day.

7. Refine:

Based on the feedback, if there are any updates or changes to be made. This process can also follow up another critique and another phase of refining if necessary.

8. Execution:

Finally, getting to see the final design that I worked on is always rewarding especially if it came out of hard work and passion. It’s that sense of achievement you get after working and believing in a concept and carrying it out until the end.

This part of the process introduced me into new outlooks and new ways of doing things. I enjoyed recording my presentation although it was challenging as to make sure everything flows smoothly and my voice is clearly heard. The recording function in keynote is great and can be very useful, I never new that the process existed up to now and finally it gave me a clear vision by watching the presentation myself as to see it all come together.

I hope that whoever views the presentation is inspired in some way or learn about something they never heard about and hopefully gain perspective that will benefit them in the future.