Positive and Negative Sketch

This positive and negative sketch is my favorite sketch that I have done. It is basically an inverted silhouette. I shaded the entire page and then erased the shading to create lines. Basically it is not a sketch but an erase. The sketch is an image of power lines at a very weird angle. While I was creating it, I also made it somewhat abstract. This is probably why some people cannot clearly identify the image. This sketch really allowed me to be creative and make something out of the ordinary.

Fruit Sketch

This is a sketch of the outside and a dissection of a kiwi. The dissection sketch turned out really well. Contrast and detail made the sketch look more real and life like. The outside sketch lacked both of these qualities. Looking only at the outside sketch, I do not think it is easy to determine what type of fruit it is unless you are informed ahead of time.

Key Sketch

This is one of my earlier sketches I did of my keys. Before I started this I set a time limit for the sketch so that I could improve my sketching speed. My slow sketching speed is something I really wanted to improve. I set only 10 minutes for this sketch. It seems sort of like a long time, but I am a perfectionist and tend to sketch really slow. If I had not set a time limit, I would have probably spent twice as long on the sketch. I feel that this sketch is one of my better sketches.

Heritage Textile Pattern

This project was one of my favorites because I got to research my family heritage and create a design based on the culture. I really enjoyed creating my heritage textile pattern even though it took a while to figure out the design. My family's heritage is Irish so I went in that direction.

My final design came after throwing away five previous designs. Not being to thrilled with my quilt pattern, I really wanted to make sure my textile showed growth. So, if I was not satisfied with the design, I would alter it until I was satisfied. That meant starting from scratch five times. It was certainly worth the energy and time!

Single Pattern

Heritage Textile Pattern

(Click to Enlarge)

Concept Statement

Irish culture and heritage has been around for thousands of years. Ireland’s way of life is significantly influenced by the Celtic’s culture.

Ireland’s traditions are surrounded by Catholic ideas and figures. The iconic image of a shamrock was used by St. Patrick to help explain the Holy Trinity to pagans in Ireland.

The shamrock pattern repeated four times is the symbolic image of a four leaf clover and luck. The cross symbolizes the importance of the Catholic Church and patron saint St. Patrick. The Celtic symbol that splits the image through the middles represents Celtic’s influence on Ireland’s culture.

Quilt Pattern

In the process of creating my quilt pattern, I learned a lot about the different functions that Photoshop has to offer. I took normal pictures, nothing to special, and altered them in a way that no one could tell where the original image came from. Often times, I found myself not even being able to remember were they originated. After I experimented, altered, and messed around with different images and effects I, combined them all as one pattern. I cropped them, rotated them, rearranged them in a pattern, the end result was my finished quilt pattern.

Quilt Pattern

Individual Ideas

I feel that all the single images by themselves are interesting and I liked them quite a lot. However, when I put them together and made the quilt, I lost my fondness for the design. I think that when I was creating each individual image I was never thinking about making the individual images harmonize together, but I thought some of the images harmonized together but I thought it would look a whole lot better if I took out just one or two images and replace them with another image. That would change the look of things enough to make the images come together better in the quilt pattern. If I was to replace the rectangle shapes and just have the quilt pattern consist of triangles, it would fall nicely as one.

Making A Difference

As a designer it is always important to use my skills to help others and improve the world around me. Two design classmates and I got together last October to create something that would make a difference in the world.

Since it was near the end of October and near Halloween, we decided to create a device that could be used to distribute candy, one at a time. The device we created was efficient and able to preform the function for which it was intended. The only thing that I would improve is the visual design of the box. Most people do not read sign and usually ignore them. Since many people fail to read signs, and usually ignore them, it would have been wise to convey the purpose of the device with photos or simple drawings. The words may not be necessary.

Here is the write up that the group did to explain our problem and solution.

Click On Image To Enlarge

Design Dictionary

As a designer I have to begin somewhere. I cannot jump into things knowing everything. Learning the basics is essential to everything that I do from now on. My Design Dictionary shows my understanding of the Elements and Principles of Design. It gives me something to refer back to as a quick refresher when my brain cannot recall something.

To create the Design Dictionary, I had to first study the Elements and Principles of Design. The next step was go out and photograph the things in the world that showcase these Elements and Principles of Design. This was my favorite part of the project because one of my favorite hobbies is photography. The next step was to design the dictionary using the images I had gathered, the reason why each image fit each term, a definition of the term and a sentence using the term.

With all the trouble and technical difficulties of designing my dictionary, I was very pleased with the way that it turned out. My first idea was to use a gray background and white lettering. Those colors made sense to me because it would allow the images to stand out. I did not want to use any colors for the background or text because colors would alter the image's color to the viewer's eye. I soon found out that it is not possible to print in white ink, so I had to put that idea to the side until someone makes it possible to print in white ink. With that little set back, I decided to just make the design very basic, black lettering with a white background. Once I saw the finished project I realized the white background made more sense anyway. It really allowed the images to breathe and say a lot.

While the final product was printed and bound, I have created an image of all my Design Dictionary for everyone's viewing. Here it is. Click on image to view the full size. Enjoy!