Carrer Goals

When thinking about what type of career I would like to achieve there are several different aspects that come into my mind. First would be location. I have lived in Kansas since I was 6, and I am ready for a change. Both of my sisters live in Denver so over break I got online to look at different possibilities for jobs. My search then became more specific on what the job in tailed, which brings me to the next aspect of what my function would be. One job that stood out to me was Design Research, making site maps, and wireframes. From a year ago I always thought I would have a specific interest in motion graphics. This changed when doing the research book and becoming more involved in IA. Also MX and Visual Advocacy helped me to determine that I truly love doing research. Setting up interviews with people and discussing with them about what the topic may be is also a part I like. Like going to Ivanhoe and recognizing problems within their community they need help with was gratifying. With the job I get, this is the type of outcome I am wanting to receive, to engage and help people. As a designer I feel like my strengths are within the first steps of the process, that being researching, coming up with ideas, planning out how to solve the problem. I am also beginning to realize I have a harder time working through some of the formal qualities, so perhaps working with a company that I could research wireframe and work with another designer on the formal qualities.

Places I want to look for a job: San Diego, Washington, Arizona

Another aspect would be to one day go to grad school and further dig into design research and information architecture. With design sometimes I feel like the further I get into this world of graphics the more information I want to grasp. After having a job for a few years I wish to go back to school to further my education and also give great emphasis on an area of design. Between now and the future I might realize that design research and site mapping is not something I would like to do, but applying for my masters I can perhaps focus on something different.

Quick Goals:

1. Company that is involved in their community

2. Outside of Kansas City

3. Working with a diverse group of people

4. Going to grad school

5. Freelancing within my community

6. Becoming more involved in AIGA

The people I work with will be very crucial too. Over the summer at AC, the people were incredibly nice. The team all work very close with each other and feed off of each other's strengths. This quality is probably pretty obvious, but in reality it makes a big impact to the designer. To find a company that I am comfortable with will help me build myself as a designer. I am also a designer that loves feedback and is always reaching to get better. For the people I work with, I will want them to push me to become better.

Phase 4

Phase 4 Janna

Lingo Link

Phase 3 Touch points

Janna (Phase3)

Through the last week I have learned a lot. More than what my community is about but how they will function with what I am designing. Every frame is crucial, because to make it consistent means you have to be more detailed than what is going on in my head as a designer. The trick, test it, with other designers, and most importantly with people who are not in design with you.

When I was designing I tried to think of different ways to show things visually. Based around when I was young and I had trouble in school, I tried to think of ways that I would of liked to learn information. Our next step is to narrow down what the key factors are within our new brand and apply those rules.

Simpatico Vote

Please let me know which one YOU think is the most pleasant.

Through the brand making progress I have shifted gears a little bit. From the Phase 2 crit, there was a lot of problems with the type lock up. From there I have swapped the typefaces, letting the Helvetica Neau be the Simpatico front.

Lingo Link: Cooking

Scenerio: Ethan plays the cooking game with Moises (his Madrid partner) to learn about each others cultural meals.

With our energetic colors I wanted to use them for the text. Hopefully to get the child excited about playing this game. In our logo type we have little colored dots. Through the typography I want to include that little detail.

The idea is to swipe from side to side to choose the game the game they want to play. However this isn't clear, but showing just the slightest overlap of the next game could help to indicate the "swipe" action.

I wanted to reference cooking books for this frame. The over lay is suppose to be the toolbar. In many of the games I have on my iPad, you click on an "home" button and it drags out.

I need to make the text more alive. It is looking a little default. I also need to copyright better towards the child.

Making the fridge was difficult. No where else is the there dimensional looking shapes. With the revisions I intend to put some more drop shadows throughout. I also need to think more about the type of layering that can happen.

One part I wanted to address is what kind of small animations that can happen. Like the glass pouring the tomato juice out. Or like the mixing frame, how does the mixture blend together.

Through the designing phase I wanted to keep in mind our audience. It is a bit tricky because to make a complete system, our group needs to make the system visually whole. However, for the iPad the direct audience will be the first graders. For Bethany's section the hub, is directed towards adults.

Re-Branding Simpatico

Ivanhoe Project Proposal

Ivanhoe Garden Tag

Wire Frames and Site map

Site maps-

these are not yet finished but will be soon

Show and Tell

Phonics Game

Cooking Game

Simpatico

Going into Phase 2 there was a lot of exciting possibilities for me to explore with the foundation that Kidwell provided for us. It became very clear on why the essence, attributes, and objective are so important. Before starting any "designing" knowing the content of your subject, and understanding the differences between these points is crucial. It was a challenge to come up with three different design solutions for branding. In the end I was very pleased with my results. By the end I was unsure about what direction was my "signature" one.

The first direction I struggled the most with. Perhaps because it was the last for me to work on, but every time I tried something I would get discouraged because I felt I already had something similar. The mark was very nice, it had that rhythm into being pleasant. By the end, the designed part was nice, and had the contemporary feel I was trying to achieve. However, when I would go over and over, there was lacking of that personal approach that I want to create.

The second choice had a nice concept. I wanted to look at all the different ways in which we dream. Whether that be somewhere you live, or just sleeping. There was an interesting twist when the crescent mark formed into an abstract cloud. One part I struggled with was getting the right colors. I would always come up with a dark blue and peach swatches. For this direction I wanted to move past what was obvious and focus on something different. When I matched the deep violet, it was the hunch I was looking for. Another issue I had with this direction was the photography. I think I focused too much on the content, and not enough on the treatment of the images.

I picked the third one because I felt it completed the attributes the most. Making the patterns was actually an accident. Originally I was just going to have a couple "i's" in a row, but once I started to really examine the beauty of Bodoni, it came pretty natural. It was good to be pushed into focusing on every detail of the brand. Through this process I had tried many different typefaces for the logo. I was drawn to Bodoni because of the dots on the "i's" and its smooth weight shift from stem to serif. How the slightest adjustment can improve (or decrease) the over all quality of the brand. Moving forwards there are many tweaks that need to be made to this direction. Perfecting the patterns is one, and working on the photography.

Janna (Phase 2)

Foreign Language Poster