Step and Go

We're gonna step and go! *starts singing Japanese lyrics I can't understand*.

I'm really happy right now. Why you ask? I finally finished my assignment one hour before the absolute deadline. I'm actually pretty proud of my work considering I procrastinated for 2 weeks. Shall I show you? I think I shall. Well, let me tell you about it first. So this assignment was a "self-reflective paper". We had to think about the one thing that inspired us to pursue a career in graphic design. I picked CD covers. For a while I really, really wanted to work for a band and make their album art. I guess I would still like to along with other things... The only restrictions for this assignment were the word count (750 words) and the page dimensions (letter size). I mostly took pictures and added effects via indesign. Without further ado, my assignment submission!  *claps*

So this is my inspiration page. I like this the most out of the 2 pages.  It has album art from The Used's In Love and Death and Billy Talent's Billy Talent II. I chose these as inspiration because it was so different from the other CDs I had. Especially the In Love and Death one. I was actually inspired by that album's art the most when I first saw it in grade 9. 

Hurray for text-wrapping! So this is the reflection part of my "self-reflective paper". 750 words is kinda difficult to fit into one page. I had to reduce the point size to 9 points and keep changing the typeface to make the body of text more legible. 

Curious as to what it says? 

The first thing that inspired me was CD album art. In particular, the album art for Billy Talent's second album, Billy Talent II, and The Used's In Love and Death. The CDs I usually owned mostly featured a few snapshots of the band or artist followed by the lyrics. It was often redundant and quite boring to see. In ninth grade, I saw the album art for In love and Death. Therein lied illustrations, handwritten lyrics and aspects of collage. I never saw anything like it. There was some sort of integration of methods to create something interesting.  At the time I knew very little about graphic design. I was actually in a visual arts program then. But it was then where I thought, wow. I would love to do this. 

So I worked throughout high school thinking about how I could possibly make my work stand out enough to be displayed in something like a CD album booklet. My drawing skills improved and I planned to somehow have visual art in my career. In tenth grade we had to take those tests that suggested what kind of career I should consider. Somewhere in the list I spotted graphic designer. I looked into it a bit but it didn't really catch my eye, or interest at that moment. At some point I decided to go into architecture. Despite my poor mathematical skills, I tried pursuing it. After a year of math and physics, I realized that architecture wasn't for me. I then turned back to graphic design as an option. 

It wasn't until my last year of high school, working on my school's yearbook, where I became highly interested  in graphic design and truly considered it as a career. While making the yearbook, we learned to use software as well as learn printing and typographic theory. All of which I found to be extremely interesting. Despite the high stress levels near each yearbook submission deadline, I still enjoyed doing the work. I realized that I really wanted to do something along those lines because I enjoyed doing something during a time where very few would. 

When asked why I wanted to become a graphic designer, or what I would want to do once I graduate from this program, I still think about those CD booklets. The visual aspects within those booklets were certainly different than the norm and that's what drew me to it. Those aspects are what I was finding in, and expecting of, the YSDN program and I have indeed found them within it. Design in general is continuously pushing boundaries and constantly creating something intriguing. Although we get assignments and guidelines on completing it,  that in no way hinders the creativity of the designer. In design, with one problem comes countless solutions. 

By taking this course, I was able to look at the different aspects that make up design. In my last year of high school, I thought design was made up primarily of technical aspects like the proper tracking within a word or proper leading within a paragraph. Yet though each lesson I learned there was so much more. We learned history, linguistic origins and theory. It allowed me to analyze and question the designs we see on a daily basis and what others have seen in the past. Design is not just text and image. Through my lack of education in this field, I believed that for a long time. I learned that the analysis of design goes far beyond what we see. We have to look at the social and historical connotation of each piece to fully understand it. We discover the designer's intentions and the audience for which it was intended. Each class I was able to learn something new. Even if I saw certain images or heard about certain theories before, I was able to have gain a broader understanding and fuller appreciation for them. 

Overall, I highly enjoyed this class. It allowed me to have a different view on my surroundings and to question them. Each class I was able to learn something new. It brought a new element to design altogether;  more than what I expected design to be. I'm not only learning how to use design software like a pro, I'm also gaining more and more knowledge to better my way of thinking and approach to design. This class has surely prepared me for the years to come in this program and my eventual venture into a graphic design career. 

Isn't it oh-so-intersting?

...

Alright! Onto watching D. Gray-man! Oh how I've missed you... although I watched 3 episodes last night.  Oh how addicted to you I am. 

I'll most likely be done the series by Friday. Then to reading the manga and spewing out fanart! 

The End.