Last Week

As this class is coming to an end, I think back about what I have learned. First doing a creative portfolio, although it is fun, you tend to actually put blood, sweat, and tears into the project. I loved creating it, putting my ideas together, however I am glad it is over. We as designers will never feel like our work for ourselves is good enough. Or at least that is how I feel. I  feel like it is harder to come up with a great idea for myself, because I have so many of them. Next thing I learned was that you need to cut distractions from your work life, otherwise you will never get anything done. Lastly, I learned that when it looks like a lot of work, I need to just brake it down into pieces and then it doesn't seem so bad. 

This class definitely put me to the test, with two new projects to get complete, two resumes, three portfolios, and online work as well. Needless to say I  worked my butt off, and I am proud to say that I got most, if not all, of it done. I came up with ideas that I believe are amazing, however putting them together took more time than I thought. I learned to work with power tools, which my fiancé thinks is very dangerous. Lucky for me he was right there making sure I didn't cut a finger off, or screw my hand to the board.

Well I need to get back to work, so until next time.

xoxo

Shelby

Creative Portfolio

Hello Everybody!

This week has showed me to buckle down and really get going. Last night I have managed to finish my created portfolio, and let me tell you I love it!! Though I was cussing at my computer most of the day I have manage to get the printer to work for me and make the files that I transfer to my fiancé's computer work. It only took the whole day but hey it looks good. However I did manage to cut up a few fingers but that's the fun right?

Now I still have a few things that need to be finished and I will be working my butt off to make sure that I have everything finished for people to view on Thursday, however I have to get to work now.

xoxo
Shelby

Interviews

This week has been different, I guess mainly because I had to interview two designers, which can be scary. Then I had one interview where I was the interviewee and it was a design interview. First off, interviewing people isn't as hard as I thought it would be, I like being the one asking the questions. It also allowed me to learn a few things from designers. Like I learned about portfolios, not what I thought I was going to learn but what they thought about them, and what should be in them. With interviewing them I learned that people don't always get to their dream job right off the bat but they work towards it. It is amazing what these guys do in their every day lives and like everyone else they had to go out there and meet people to get where they are now. However the scary part in this was actually emailing them to ask if it they would mind me interviewing them, and waiting for them to answer. While in the back of your mind your thinking, did I explain who I am good? What the interview is for? How I even got there information? It is scary but lucky for me the designers were really nice and really helpful.

Now for the worse part of the week, being the interviewee. I have only been on one interview before and that is it. I wasn't sure what to say or do even. So I talked about my work, what I love I do, and the passion for what I do. Lucky for me, it seemed to come across to the interviewer, that I was passionate design. I guess I will just have to wait and here how I did later. Anyways I have to get back to work.

xoxo
Shelby

Long Time No See.

It's been a long time since I have been on here, so I guess I will catch you up on what has been happening in my life, design wise. Lately I have been designing most of the stuff I plan on using for my wedding, invitations, guest book, centerpieces, all the way down to how I want the pictures to look with the angles, dresses, bridesmaids, and groomsmen. I also have been asked to create and maintain a website for Claywell Trucking Inc. but as of right now I have not had the time to start the project, lucky for me it is my fiance's parent's company, so they are understanding that my time has been cut into with school, and work. Anyways, now that I am back at school, and I get to start working on my portfolio and it is kind of scary but I am excited to start showing off the work that I am proud of.

In this class I feel like there are so much to get done, like I plan on making a Facebook page for people to see my work, and be able to contact me. I was asked for a You tube account, but I haven't used one yet because I never thought I would need one to upload videos. Well I have a lot that I need to get done before I head to work, so until next time.

xoxo
Shelby

Getting There One Hair At A Time

As we hurry to the end, I am ready for it to slow down. This statement is said because I still have twenty seconds left to a thirty second animation. Needless to say I did not believe that it would be this hard to make little characters move, and let alone make other things go with it, and make a story to follow. I feel like I am lost in the world of animation, I create something but then it goes wrong and I delete it and start over again. Not to mention that the scenes option is not working for me. I can't seem to get the hang of it. Maybe it's just not my week.

Though I would love to stay and type some more I really need to get back to the process of creating my little short animation, and as always pulling out my hair. However I am all ears for anyone that would like to help.

xoxo
Shelby

Learning A Little

After two weeks of consistent hair pulling, you will be amazed to hear that I still have hair left. However, I have learned to master movement, or at least I seem to think I have. After last week dealing with a twenty second commercial I am hoping that this 30 second short animation will be much easier, which I am thinking that now that I know how it works it should be.

I believe this will be easier because I finally bought the book for this class, and too my surprise it has some very useful information. A few examples are a premise, it helps solidify the plot and its intent. Before I wouldn't have even thought about a plot when creating a twenty second commercial. With that thought in your head, you need to think about where you want your commercial to take you. What your message is going to be about, and how are you going to show your message in your animation.

I also learned that if you can first visualize what the main scene does and plan what is going to happen than you will create a solid animation. A few other things I need to keep in mind is that when creating an animation, if you are not sure how things are meant to look than try acting them out to see movements. You can also reference pictures or videos to also see actions in motion.

Those are just a few things I have learned, so until next time.

xoxo
Shelby

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

The quote "May the odds be ever in your favor" is what I think about every time I open up Flash. I know that this sounds crazy but it's true. You never know how Flash is going to be with you from day to day, you just have to hope that it is a good day and that Flash will be your friend. Let's just say I must have the odds in my favor because Flash has been pretty good to me lately. I have learned how to slow things down, with Flash, not my life.

I have realized that as long as you take your time with what you are doing and take a few minutes and walk away from the computers than everything will work out in your favor....well most of the time. This program does help you learn how to pull out your hair and also learn how to take a few deep breathes, I am not sure if that is what it is supposed to do but it's helping me learn. That's a start right?

With that I will leave you to mass around with Flash, and as always "may the odds be ever in your favor".

xoxo
Shelby

Animation At It's Finest

This week I started my new class, which sadly deals with Flash. I know I should be happy that I am getting away from Photoshop for a while, however I am a little sad at Flash. Not because I think it will be to hard to work with, but more because I am stepping into the unknown with this on my heels.

Anyways, this week has be a little "interesting" to say the least. I have learned that Flash is a very temperamental program. It will like me one second, and then BAM! hate me. However, I have not given up. I am know on my third 6 second animation, and I am very proud of what I have come up with. I think that it is a work in progress and that it can only go up from here.

On another note, I am trying to learn how to draw in Flash, because I have heard that it is easier than using Illustrator, I don't think that this is so. Illustrator is great with the pin tool but Flash, I can't seem to figure out. I know you are probably thinking that this girl is crazy but I'm not. I am just a designer looking for a little advice.

xoxo
Shelby

This Class Was Great

In this class I learned a lot, more than I think I will ever be able to explain. However, I will start to try to explain most of what U have learned.

Starting with the fact that I learned how to even use Indesign in the first place. Before this class I only touched Indesign because of a project in my beginning classes. Let me tell you I never thought there was so much I could learn in such a little amount of time. I learned how to work with master pages in Indesign, add pages, create character styles, and paragraph styles that can be used any time and makes it easier o match up text. In this class I also learned how to be able to set up your pages to match up with making the dummies. This is not all though, I learned about print, and different kinds of prints and which ones are used now, I also learned where different design styles started and how far back in which they did start.

This is only the beginning of what I have learned in this class, it has been so much fun learning different things that I have never really thought was possible.

The Most Competitive and Dificult

I believe that advertising is the most lucrative niche in design because it is hard to e able to know what everyone is thinking. I believe that it is the most competitive and difficult because of all the people that want to get their hands in it. Like what was said in a lecture before, advertising is the most difficult because you have to know what will get people off their butt's and go but the products that you are trying to sell.

You have to e able to get into the target audience heads and sell them the product that you are advertising. You have to make people remember you either by making them laugh or by making them react to your advertisement with an emotion, whatever that emotion might be.

 This is what makes advertising the most competitive and difficult for people to master. Or at least it is what I think about this area of design.

Printing Vs. Printing

A question that people seem to have lately is why is some printing more expensive than other printing? I believe that a few things come into play when this is asked.

First thing is that the price may depend on the paper you want to print on. Like the weight, and grain, and size of the paper will or could make the pricing more in printing if the paper you choose to print on is more than the standard piece of paper.

Next could be the size of what you want printed, it could be more expensive if you want to print some thing that is twenty pages rather than something that is ten pages.

Finally the amount of colors that you want printed on your piece. Say you want something printed with ten different colors, that could cost more than printing something with just three different colors.

These are just a couple of things to keep in mind when thinking about print something with a print shop, than rather at home. I say that because if you print at home it is cheaper because you are using cheaper paper, and not getting the best product that you could be getting if you spent a little more money on it.

Life Changing Photography

I believe that photography has changed the world in many different ways, first way was, by what we talked about in class, people didn't need to hand paint people and have them sit for hours a day while the artist painted them. Photography was faster than having to stay in one place for long periods of time, however they still needed to sit there for a little while. That is a example of how they changed the world, but that isn't a big reason of how it did.

The most important reason of how it changed the world is different for everyone, but for me I think of how it made it easier for people to capture a moment in time. For that reason it was important because us as kids were able to see images for way before our time. It is like seeing is believing, because people made photography happen, we are able to see pictures of wars, old houses, pictures of art that we have yet to see in person. Photographic made it easier for us to see what other people get to see, and even a little about how they might portray things. These are just a few ways that I see how photography has changed the world.

HTML OPERATION

Yesterday I was thinking what an I going to create that says what I have learned over the past three months, then like normal my mind took a turn to the kid side of me and I started thinking about the games I used to play as a kid. Then the goes Operation came to my mind and how you have to pick the pieces of stuff without making his nose turn red. Anyways, I started think about how that might go together with HTML, CSS, and PHP.

So I looked up the guy that is on the box, and drew him (the best I could). Then I labeled where different tags would go in relation to the body parts. After that was done, I then put different tags on his body to somewhat look like the game.

All in all it was a fun way to show what I have learned over the past three months. I also hope it helps people remember where the tags go. Well thats it for now.

xoxo
Shelby

Better Than Nothing

This past week we had to create a website, Wordpress, about what we wanted to do after we graduate, how we are going to get there, and why. First I will start off with the fact that I had coded my wordpress site and it wasn't as bad as everyone thinks it is. The hardest part for me was the CSS and HTML coding anyway. But that isn't everything that I wanted to talk about, I wanted to talk about what I had to think about when thinking where I wanted to go after I leave college. It took a little longer than I thought it was going to when I want coming up with ideas.

In the end I finally found out exactly why I wanted to do what I want to do. I want to one day work from home because I don't want to give up my career when I have kids, I still want to be able to help bring in money for the family. I also want to be able to see my kids everyday, which is why I choose to work from home.

Then I had to come up with a few reasons of how I am going to get there, that one I already thought about. I will need to work from a design company to get to see how everything is done. Then I will need to get my name out there. Let people know who I am and how great I am going to be.

Well these are only little things that I came up with, but it is better than nothing.

xoxo
Shelby

The Craziness Of Valentine's Day

I am not going to set here and talk about mushy stuff that consists of I love this person blah blah blah. I really want to talk about ways for designers like ourselves to put our talents to good use on this holiday. For one why spend five to ten bucks on a card that has other people's words on it? We are designers, we can create our own card with words from our own hearts, true this will take a little thought behind it and I know most people just want to get through this holiday with as little as no effort but come on, it takes two seconds to tell someone you love them in a few words and the same amount of time to print it out on a nice piece of paper.

Also why go spend forty to fifty bucks on roses when you can spend twenty minutes on the computer watching a video on how to make paper roses, and just make a few of those that won't die. These are just a few ways that we as designers can put our skills to the test, so next time you are rushing to get a card or a gift in order use your designer skills.

xoxo
Shelby

Getting through the week.

This week has kicked my butt from the beginning and it hasn't really been because of design. I have gotten the flu and let me tell you it is not fun. Any how I missed a lot of class because of this, first I missed Tuesday because well lets just say I could get to far from a bathroom, then Thursday we were learning wordpress. Through once I get the hang of it I think it will be easy, I believe that getting there is going to be the hard part.

I decided that since on Thursday wordpress hated me I would read up on it and find out exactly how it works. I think this was a crazy thought at first because I am a hands on type of person, but I thought heck lets give it a try. Let me just tell you it was the wrong thought, I have never been more confused about an application.

Just because I haven't gotten the hang of this thing yet doesn't mean I won't, though I don't have much tell to sit around trying to figure it out. Well back to more research on this thing. Wish me luck.


xoxo
Shelby

Looking To The Future

Everyday I think about what new and cool things will be out next, I always seem to wondering "What if?" I know a lot of these what "if's" are mostly my mind just being crazy but this new project really has me thinking "what if" with technology. 

I have been wondering will they come up with phones that are super slim and small, or are we still going for the super slim but big? And what about the technology in the health care career?

This picture shows what the technology can become in the medical field, people predict that we should be able to take an x-ray with a tablet once technology grows a little more. But what about cell phones? Or even computers?

I believe that one day computers will mostly consist of small devices that are all touch screens, but then what about larger computers? Will they be projectors? If so how exactly will they work? I know there are already little trials of projector keyboards what will they one day proceed to full computer projectors, or just giant clear boards (like white boards) and make them into computers where all you have to do is touch them?? These are the things that I think about.

xoxo
Shelby

A little late....

I know I am a little late on this post and am deeply sorry, however I do have a lot to say and it's mostly about our new program. (This is mainly the part-time students that will get what I mean.) I came from the part-time class and I didn't think I would feel like I was thrown into the lions den with this class until now. I was used to doing good work but having two weeks to get through with it. I mean don't get me wrong I am still trying to put amazing work out there but I feel like I could be doing much better work than what I have being putting out.

I know that, possibly, some of the other part-time now full-time students might feel the same way that I do. I try to manage time better, I am trying to get more of my work done in my free time, but when my computer is about to seconds away from being put in the trash it is hard to do.

I know with time it will get easier and I will soon know this coding like it is the back of my hand, but it is taking a little longer to do with the short amount of time I have. Well again I am sorry that this post is a little late, I hope you enjoy reading it.

xoxo
Shelby

Getting Easier

This week has been a less confusing time, I have found out that I learned some things in high school that are going to help me through this next week, and that I am not so bad at coding after all. So let me start off with saying, thanks to my high school teacher for making us hand code forms and tables. If it wasn't for that I would be totally lost in this part of class. Also I am super happy that instead of having to hand code everything we get to use Dreamweaver!!!!! I am super happy about this, if you can't tell.

 Moving on to over news, I have no idea what I want to do my next website on, I think its because it just seems boring or it's because I haven't really taken the time to really think about what would be good to do a five page website on.  I guess I really need to jump on that because one, Thursday will be here faster than I want. And two I will need to do a lot of research once  again. Well until next time.

xoxo
Shelby

CSS v. ME

I never could have thought that CSS would be as hard as it is being for me. I try to get everything in order and act like I know what I am doing, but honestly I just want to pull out my hair from the stress this is causing me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would want to tuck my tail and run from this, but honestly I do. I think it is because there is so much to learn out there about this kind of stuff and even though it is really cool to think about everything I could be able to do in the long run, it still scares me with how much I don't understand.

Now we have this new website that we have to do, it is to inform people about Copyright laws, and these that people don't really understand about copyrights. Anyways, even though this sounds like it should be easy enough to find information to use in your website, it's not. It is also not cool to have to find out how you want to style the information that you do have. Anyways I have to get back to coding before I forget everything I read. Hope you guys have a great one.


xoxo
Shelby