End of Year Reflection - Graphic Design

Over this year I have learned a lot in both strands of my e-Comm classes. In Graphic Design I learned lots of communication and project management skills as well as a more in depth knowledge of some programs in the adobe suite. There are five main categories that my learning falls into, the guarantees of e-Comm.

Technology 

Throughout this course I have gathered an extensive knowledge of photoshop and illustrator. I learned about these programs through tutorials we did at the beginning of the year and through experimenting during projects. The tutorials taught me finer skills of each program as opposed to the general skills we learned last year. For example the illustrator tutorial where I made a raccoon taught me more about the pathfinder panel, anchor points, and how to scan text into illustrator.  Experimenting during projects taught me skills such as how to make more realistic mockups in photoshop. Sometimes during projects this knowledge comes from trial and error. This is important because to be a good graphic designer you need comprehensive knowledge of all the programs you are going to work with.

Collaboration  

During this school year there are many times we had to collaborate. We worked on our infographics with a partner and we do regular critiques during projects to get feedback. During our infographic project were partnered up so that we could continuously get feedback on our projects. If we had questions or ideas we wanted to test out we would talk to our partner to see what they though. We also collaborate through small group critiques were we talk about the strengths and weaknesses of our designs. Collaboration is an important skill because many jobs require group work. Also, every project is after stronger after getting a second opinion.

Communication 

I have strengthened my communication skills through critiques and working with my table group to make our projects better and test our ideas. During a project if someone comes up with a new idea they express it to the person next to them to see what they think. Overtime this makes everyone at the table better at communicating with each other. When we go to critique our designs we have to work on effectively communicating what we think of the other persons designs. This has taught me that you should speak your mind because even if your not "right" you could have a good point that someone else needs to hear. This is important because if you don't speak for yourself no one else will.

Project Management 

I learned a lot about project management through this course. I learned that sometimes you have to not be such a perfectionist about a project and just get it done so its on time. I also learned that even if you think you are done you can always work on the project more and you might come up with something you like even more. I learned this through my company rebranding project I thought I was done with my logo concepts but then I kept working one and it evolved from the logo on the top to the one on the bottom.

Leadership

I learned leadership skills this year through helping to lead my groups critiques when possible and by helping the people around me. When I was working with the people around me I lead them through the steps of how to do certain things in illustrator of photoshop to make there project look like they wanted. I also tried to take a more active role in critiques by trying to get all group members to participate. Through this I learned leadership isn't alway about talking a lot and taking charge it about helping others to learn. This is important in any job you take they will need leaders.

Strengths and Weaknesses 

Some of my strengths in this course are collaboration, working hard in class, and marking sure all my projects are presented professionally. I have improved my collaboration through this course by working with students around me. I have improved my project presentation on behance drastically from the beginning of the year to now and I plan to keep improving it over the summer. One of my weaknesses in this class is time management. As I stated before sometimes I take too long on somethings so I have to rush others. I plan to work to try and improve this next year.

In the Future  

Looking forward I will apply the skills I have developed this year to my next two years in graphic design and to my life I will use my technology skills for any time I need to design a poster, t-shirt, letter, or any other item. I will use my collaboration, communication, and leadership skills for all future group projects and eventually in my job.  Project management skills can also be used in the previous situations as well as in individual projects. All the skills I developed this year will help me succeed throughout life.

Conclusion

Since the beginning of the e-Comm program I have grown, both as a designer and as a person. This program has let me make new friendships with people I never would have met otherwise and develop skills that will be helpful in my future. If I could change one thing about this year I would make is so I had more time to do more projects. Overall this year in graphic design has been great and I can't wait for next year.






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