Final Project

The link to my final project for the Concept Development class.

Just in case it doesn't work, here's the Vimeo version: http://vimeo.com/38713538

Thurs, March 15, grading systems, more final project info

On Thursday, Jimmy went over the course syllabus again. He told us about the importance of our school's Learning Policy and our classes "learning outcomes." I kind of wish I had considered this ages ago, especially during those times I've thought that the classes I was taking wasn't helping us really learn any sort of way. Aside from that, he went over a bit more stuff that was on the course syllabus. Why though? Why on the last day of class before finals? Well, he then told us what he wanted on Final's day, and proceeded to tell us his previous grading system. His previous grading system, as he described, seemed a tad complicated, but from what I understood, he would rate the project or assignment from a number scale of 1-5. He would also include notes on what needed improving or possibilities of making it better. The problem with this method of grading was that a lot of people would end up believing that if one would receive a 3, it would mean they have received a "C," when in actuality, it just means you're doing "average."

I think in my own way, I had found some sort of way to understand Jimmy's earlier methods of grading. I thought that maybe it wasn't Jimmy's grading method that really seemed too complicated to understand and that maybe it's our original grading system that's been wrong this whole time. What do I mean? Well, in elementary school, I learned that getting an "A" meant you were doing excellent work. You were doing work that exceeded the outcome. "B" meant that you made a few mistakes but the work was still excellent. "C" was always marked as average. Yet everyone would receive an "A" because they've either completed to work, despite it being excellent or exceeding the outcome. Though the elementary grading systems can't really be compared to a college leveled grading system, the general idea is still there. So the question I ask is: Is being average so wrong? It's true that we're supposed to try and aim for that "A," and that we should always try and exceed out expectations. But what if that "A" bar has been lowered by so much that to get there, all you needed to do was do "average." Maybe I've confused my readers, but just ask yourself: "What if?" "What if... getting an A only meant to match the following criteria? And that matching the following criteria was simply meant as 'average.' What if 'C' was really meant to be 'A'?"

 I also couldn't help but think how awesome it'd be to get written feedback on ways of improving because we all do learn from our mistakes, especially if it's pointed out to us. Though it would be time consuming and hard to keep up with everyone, especially if the class is as large as ours. (Our class has about 26+ students)

He went on to tell us the pros of his new method of grading. Us not really knowing how we're doing has an emotional influence on us which can help or hinder us. This all then came together into an assignment. We are to write a one page self assessment on what grade we think we should be getting in the class. The paper would not influence the grade that we'll be getting in the class, though he wants to understand the nature of how we're doing in this class. I'm actually finding this assignment interesting because if ever I were a teacher, I'd want to how my students consider themselves to be progressing in class. Especially when we've never really received an actually written grade the assignments we turn in. It definitely would make reading student's papers more fascinating-- not that some already aren't, I'm sure.

The very last thing we did in class was discuss the difference between Art and Design (communication). We came to the conclusion that design was to solve problems, where as art isn't necessarily problem solving. Someone also mentioned that art sells itself whereas design sells something else. To emphasize more on the difference between art and design, designers solves problems not for ourselves, but for a potential audience. And normally when there is a problem, the problem comes from your client in order for you, the designer, to solve, thus... a Designer (for Communication).




Adj:
Excited - happy with a lot of energy
Pleased - satisfied
convivial - friendly
Iridescent - colorful
Insidious - harmful

Tues, March 13, Modern Dog Design Co. and final

On Tuesday, Jimmy talked a bit about the AIGA event that they had on Saturday. He talked about  Robynne Raye, who was a special speaker at the Portfolio Event, also the founder of Modern Dog Design Co. He explained to us that what makes Modern Dog Design Co. so successful is money. They do work for corporate. This company designs many types of things, from products to simple posters. I remembered something interesting Jimmy said, which was something like this in not his exact words: "Though corporate pays a lot, it's not a lot of fun. This company enjoys doing posters--Not a lot of money or no money at all, but a lot of fun." I liked what he said here because every now and then, it shouldn't be just work we don't really enjoy doing but we do it to pay the bills and stuff. But on the side, there's always the fun stuff.  

After coming home from school, I took the time to look through Modern Dog Design Co.'s website and though they work for several corporate clients, a lot of their stuff is fascinating in it's own sort of way. I think my favorite piece is this: Go Intercourse Yourself and this: Ramen Soup Packaging. When stumbling upon these two products, I was surprised by how such a successful design company would make such silly (yet awesome, in my opinion) product designs. Their logo headline even says, "Tons of shit delivered daily." I suppose my point here is that Modern Dog Design Co. seems like an awesome place to work at.

The second half of the class was dedicated to working on the problems we were having with our final projects. Jimmy gave us the advice that a computer is not a creative tool. It's a production tool. So before starting the project at all, it's important to brainstorm first or to know what you're doing. (Thus the project brief.)

He gave an example of making a tagline for our video by using one of a student whom volunteered to what her video's tagline was. We spent some time trying to make the tagline better. The original tagline had been changed to: "Different than your local art school." But we were to make it better. Not many were successful by the time class was over. But the point of this short exercise was for us to critically think: How would we make this stronger and more focused. Something we should keep in mind.

 Adj:
Hungry - wanting to eat
Visual - seeing
 Passive - steady; not doing anything

Thurs, March 8th: What if...?

On the way home from school, a friend and I (we're both in the same Art 220 Concept Development class), were discussing "What if..." possibilities. The reason for this was because in class today, we did an exercise where everyone in the class had to come up with a "What if..." For some of the what ifs, we took the time to discuss further upon it, thinking of the possibilities that would arise from it. We even learned fascinating new facts or would be told interesting articles or studies upon certain what ifs.

After coming home from school, I would do my regular check ups on facebook. This is my honesty. At the very top of my newsfeed, someone had posted an article on "6 Terrifying New Creatures Science Just Discovered." You'll not be wanting to be eating or drinking anything if you choose to click on the link provided. But it certainly got me thinking: What if... humans have been trying evolve this whole time, by being born with a third arm, or a tail, or wings? But because we see these as deformations, we would have these surgically removed. I once had a professor who told us he was born with a tail but had it removed. I'm a tad skeptic on whether this is true or not, but I wouldn't doubt that there had been other cases like this. Ah! But the point is, after today's class, I feel that my mind has been opened up to more possibilities. Can a mind have suddenly increased it's creativity levels? If so, I think mine has just gained 100+ points, leveling up to a new level--In game terms.

Tues, March 6th, 1,10,11,100

Today's class started differently. Every morning, we would sign in on a sign in sheet but today, we were to individually instruct the next person what to do for the sign in sheet. The instructions were to sign in like we normally do, but to also write down an adjective of how we were currently feeling. We were not allowed to repeat an adjective that was already written though.

By the time the sign in sheet was complete, Jimmy saw that there had been three people who wrote down the same adjectives. Jimmy then proceeded to tell us that this was a communication exercise. It was similar to our previous exercise of "This is Who" and "This is a What." He then talked about Visual Communication, breaking down the words and explaining "Visual" and "Communication" separately by describing the written texts of "Visual" and "Communication."

The second part of class was another group exercise. We had previously been told to divide ourselves into two groups. Each group had to have the equal amount of males and females. The task proved to be fairly simple. I think the reason for this was that we had become used to reorganizing where we sit or having to put ourselves in groups.

After separating into two groups, Jimmy wrote on the black board some numbers in this sequence:

1
10
11
100
?

We were to figure out what the next number would be and discuss why, so that we could later explain our reasoning for our numbers.

Within our group, one of the students came up with a number, mostly because he had searched it on the internet. Of course, we were then told not to use the internet. The next number we came up, about four of us had chosen this number, it being 111. One of the four students explained to the group that the reasoning for this was because it was a pattern. From what numbers that were given to us, we saw that from "11", "1" another "1" was placed after 1 to become "11." And for 10, we saw the same pattern but with a "0." So from 10, it became 100. So it would be logical that the next number, "1" would be placed after the previous given "11," thus becoming 111.

We came to an agreement that the number would be 111. Jimmy then told us that he was going to choose one of us to explain our reasoning so that everyone in our group needed to be able to understand and explain it properly. Everyone in the group then looked at me, making a high assumption that Jimmy would choose me to explain. So the group then had me explain to them why our next numbers would be 111. I had explained it fairly simple, all who had seemed to understand. Jimmy later then came up to our group and asked me if I was ready to present. I don't know why but I kind of freaked out. Maybe I was intimidated. But I sunk into my chair and squeaked, "Um, no?"

 I'm not sure what changed his mind but he moved around the table and asked two other students who were fairly quiet as well. A different student was chosen.

We had to prepare her to be able to explain the numbers to us. She struggled and didn't seem confident but eventually her words were enough to convince us that she was ready. When the time came to present our number and reasoning, some information was left out. The other team who had gone before us had seem to have presented their number well, explaining to us that it was a pyramid. Their visual representation was something like this:

      / 1|  \
     /  1|0| \
    /   1|1|   \
   /    1|0|0   \
  /     1|1|0     \

The pattern was that the number sequence in the middle would change from 0101 where the numbers on the left would remain all 1's and the numbers on the left would remain all 0's. It had seem to make sense to us at first. But it wasn't until Jimmy asked our team to figure out their next number that we realized that it was impossible to figure out.

 Both teams had presented both numbers nicely visually. But the communication didn't work well. So what I took from Tuesday's class was the difference between Visual and Communication, as well as having fun with teamwork.

Adj:
congruent - agreeing
dreamy - unreal, daydreaming
 illusory - imaginary

Thurs, March 1st, John Maeda and Finals

On Thursday, we were given a video to watch from Ted.com. Before watching the video, Jimmy briefly went over how Ted.com came about, created by a man named Richard Saul Wurman. He also talked about a woman by the name of Maria Giudice who went out and built her own foundation. After he finished telling us about these two amazing designers, he gave us some more of his words of wisdom as well as some things to always be thinking about. "Who do you want to be today? Know what you want to do. Find yourself. Build your own foundation." These were just some of the wisdom he had given us.

The video he had us watch from Ted.com was another Ted speaker by the name of John Maeda. The video can be found here: John Maeda on the simple life. John Maeda talks about simplicity and complexity. He talked about the importance of simplicity but also adds how we love complexity. The video goes on about John's own life, eventually pointing out that simplicity is about enjoyment. I found the talk enjoyable and interesting because he also points out statistics towards life like brain strength, physical strength, vision, social responsibilities, and wisdom. He points out that wisdom is always going up.

After the video, we were asked if we wanted to watch another video on John Maeda. Majority said yes. So we watched another video afterwards, a lot of it mixing in with the first video. By near the end of class, we were given time to work on our final though about 75% of the class had walked out to protest for Cal State's budget cuts. Since there were only few of us left in class, we took the time to film each other and take photos of each other for our final.


Adj:
Predominant: most common or important
Inescapable: incapable of avoiding
Stupendous: astounding

Tues, Feb. 28th: Brief review and Final Project ideas and Discussions

Today in class we briefly went over the essential things that were needed for our final project and then we did a review on the things we had learned throughout the class. We listed several topics with great emphasis on visual literacy. There were many more things that were listed but it is quite a long list. Since we had only briefly gone over many of these topics, Jimmy suggested googling or wikipedia all of these if we wanted to learn more.

After briefly going over the topics we had learned for this class, we were given time to work on our final project. A lot of us moved into groups to discuss amongst each other the ideas that we had for the video, that is our final project. A lot of us had different opinions that a one minute film was a lot or too less of time but we all agreed that it was going to be a lot of work.While discussing ideas, we discussed problems that might arise when doing the film. We did make friendly conversations amongst each other. After class, I noticed that students were walking together whom I normally didn't see walking together. So I suspect that this class has allowed students to bond together in a new found friendship.


Adj:
Auspicious: promising success
Copious: plenty
Adventurous: seek adventure

Thursday, Feb 23rd, debates

On Thursday, Jimmy talked about our final project for the first half of the class. During the class, one student had said that fear causes one to not do anything and another student spoke out in disagreement by stating that fear pushes one to do things. And Jimmy had found this fascinating. Somehow the class became sort of a talk show where Jimmy was the talk show host asking questions to the two students in disagreement. The rest of the students became the audience. He eventually had four students take one side and another four students on another side as to debate with each other. One of the students had tried to prove her point by stating one thing that causes the fear of not doing anything is was because of the fear from the unknown. Another student proceeded to give an example of fearing to do work because of not knowing what to do. Another student then debated by using the Concept Development class as an example that because of the unknown, it was pushing him to do more work. There was then a discussion amongst other students who also agreed that the concept development class was a very different experience towards how their other classes were. I also agree with the majority of students that spoke out. That the class was significantly different from previous classes that I had taken. This class is very philosophical towards finding yourself that also allows you to critically think about reasons towards certain subjects. Reasons and solutions that might help towards your own projects or own self. Another student also mentioned that there was a lot of psychology usage in the class. A question of psychology and design then arose as to how they were related to each other, which had several reasons such as how design focuses on trying to find a solution towards a problem. Normally it would be a visual problem that would require one to see so to fix the problems, one would have to think about a person's cognitive ideals for a solution. The debate eventually ended and we were to discuss what we found for the Graphic Design Option at CSULA. 

Adjectives:

Dynamic - energizing, changing
Majestic - impressive, magnificent
Eerie - creepy, spoky

Tues, Feb. 21, "This is a what." "A what!?"

On Tuesday, Jimmy had the class sit in a circle to discuss the Gauge event that everyone had gone to on Thursday. The discussion was interesting to hear other people's views on the event. Some had negative views and others had positive reviews. I found this interesting because I myself had found the event had inspired me towards my future and to hear that others had thought differently. For example, I had found Kali Nikitas's stories interesting and inspiring whereas another student had found that there wasn't really much to this event. From her experience, she had gone to other previous Gauge events where speakers had given their life story so it was all the same to her.

There was something later that one student had said to try and relate to the event that had Jimmy input his own words. The words were certainly something to think about. The student had found and stated that it seemed to her that most people in Los Angeles were always about "go, go, go." Meaning that most people would always be in a hurry for certain things and that the pressure is always there, like the pressure of getting a house. Jimmy objected by stating that most people weren't always like that especially since Los Angeles very large. He eventually pointed out that this need to always rush and the pressure or stress coming from our minds is all internal. That it could only be ourselves to make us feel this way. It made me think about all the things that I've been stressing about and wondered why I've put this load on myself. It was strange to have something pointed out to us that's right in front of us and yet not have realized it all this time. I feel like his words had changed the way I now think about things... For now at least.

The second part of class was very, very enjoyable. He gave us a game to play. Since we were already all seated in a circle, he pulled in another chair between two students and demonstrated how to play a game. The game starts off with one leader who has two objects. He or she can choose to call the object a name but lets just say for now that one object is called "Who" and the second object is called "What." So he or she would hand one object to his right or left, saying "This is a what." And the person being handed the object must ask, "This is a what?" And the leader must confirm by saying, "This is a what." Now, with the second object, he or she must turn to the opposite direction from which he or she had led with and now must hand the second object off by saying, "This is a who." If any one of us were to mess up, we were to start from the beginning.

When the game first started, we practiced with just one object first until we succeeded one round. Then we proceeded on practicing with two which proved to be greatly difficult. But all the while, there were much laughter amongst us as we tried to figure out ways of getting around the problems we were having. Eventually, Jimmy came in and informed us that we had been playing the game wrong. We had started the objects at the same end but by different people, despite them being near each other. The objects were to start initially from only one person. We continued to have problems so we changed our words from "who" and "what" to "he" and "she" but that proved to be just as confusing since the words were similar. We were finally successful when we used the words "dog" and "cat" and boy were we proud. When we had finished, we had brought our hands to the center of the circle and yelled our team number with enthusiasm. I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever laughed so much in class this quarter till we played this game.

Now, what were the possible purposes of this game?

During the game, Jimmy had also suggested that we listened carefully towards the person handing us the object. It was a simple suggestion but very much needed. In the game, we found ourselves relying more on the patterns of the words so that we wouldn't have to listen. Changing the words several times had helped us adapt to relying on listening rather than the usual repeated patterns. Listening carefully is certainly an skill asset that one would definitely need in the future especially towards their clients. One could also say that this game was also to help us communicate with each other. A lot of us who didn't normally speak aloud spoke to suggest things on making the game simpler for us to accomplish. And of course, I'm sure the game was also meant for us to have fun since there had been a great amount of laughter between the students in the group.


Adjectives:
Surreptitiously - done stealth like or in a secret way
ostensibly - pretend
impeccable - perfect

Thurs, Feb 16th: Presentations pt.2 and creative briefs

Thursday was a continuation of presentations for our game concepts. Similar to Tuesday, it was more critiquing of our presentations. I think the second round of people who presented had more confidence in their presentation, possibly from preparations or taking note towards what people had critiqued to others on Tuesday. There was one presentation that seemed to get a bit of argument from one of the students. The student had criticized the presenter for having been too sarcastic about his game but he hadn't been. He had been trying to use humor to keep the audience interested. But it was later though that the student critiquing was being criticized for his own way of critiquing for it had been... rude. His order of words certainly made a difference.

When it had reached my turn to present, I had been quite nervous. However, I took the time to try and write down what I had planned on saying the previous night. Though there were quite a bit that I missed on explaining my game concept that I had wished I had explained but when questions came around, I was able to explain it a tad more. I remembered when one student asked something, I remembered crossing my legs without realizing it. No one had pointed out my stance since my presentation had finished but I had felt the need to guard myself against this student's question. So I learned that I should probably try to avoid doing.

Another thing that I learned from Thursday's set of presentations was choices of words to use to ending your speech. A simple "Thank you" or a "Thank you for your time" was enough rather than "Any questions? Comments?" which I sometimes also find myself doing for other presentations. It's something sometimes one would forget when someone is nervous.

The second part of the class was dedicated to creative briefs. There were several examples he showed us but basically it would describe things such as how you would want your audience to feel, think, know or do. Jimmy mentioned that when he would do briefs, he would first meet with his clients then write it out, then show the brief to the client and the client would change a few things, send it back, you edit it and it basically becomes a contract. This is certainly very important to remember because I had a friend who had graduated with a degree in animation. So she doesn't really know the design process but she's a very talented artist and can creatively come up with a good design through her artist skills. She had worked under a company who basically screwed her over because there had never been any contract. So this information is definitely something I'd always remember especially after hearing about such a bad experience from a very good friend.




Adjectives:
Succinctly - to express with little amount of words
Dowdy - lacking style; plainly dressed
Effervescent - highly enthusiastic 

Tues, Feb 14th, AIGA and Presentations

In the beginning of Tuesday's class, there was a student from Gauge to talk to us about AIGA. To be honest, I wish he had gone more in dept into what benefits AIGA provides. He did go into the basics of it's benefits such as things like StimuLatte and events where you can communicate with other designers from other schools to see what they're doing. It was later though that Jimmy Moss told us that most of the things he listed were free. But after being told about it, I did take the time to visit the AIGA website and my goodness! Did you know they even give you discounts for health insurance!? Just seeing that was enough to convince me to pay 50 bucks--discounted from 95 bucks!-- to join AIGA. Not to mention that you can find AIGA design jobs or internships as well as a whole bunch of other benefits! I feel like I'm accidentally advertising AIGA but hey, why not? It seems like a great thing to be a member of. I'm not even a design student and I feel convinced to join!

By the second half of the class time we had left, we had presentations for our game concept ideas. Our previous assignment had been to refine one of the nine concept ideas. We were to make it better and presentable. So we did. We were then to critique our peer's presentation itself and not the concept. I had found this very beneficial to us because there aren't too many classes that requires us to present in a professional manner. Though I've had done many presentations in front of a class in many of my previous class but they had all been informal and simple. For these other classes, it didn't seem to matter if we were constantly fidgeting or saying "um" a bunch of times, or just simply reading off a sheet of paper. But for this presentation, everything mattered. Our speech's pace mattered, our volume of our voice mattered, eye contact mattered, our stance mattered, our body language mattered. Even the way we designed our presentation mattered.

There was only time for about five or six people to present. There were several things that I took note of when people were being critiqued on their presentations like body language. I remembered one student who seemed fairly confident in her presentation. Her voice was firm but she gestured a lot. I think she was the first to present. And at first, it was difficult for the class itself to critique our own peers. There was a lot of complementing and more questions on the game itself rather than the presentation. Then Jimmy proceeded to tell us about constructive criticism. He had mentioned how people at CSULA are quite kind to each other especially to our peers and I don't disagree. But he also said that constructive criticism is something we all needed to learn in other to better ourselves for the future and to learn. Because really, we're all learning from each other. After that, critiquing seemed to come a little bit much easier amongst the students.

There were a couple of observations that I hadn't even noticed until other students pointed out. For instance, there was another student who's idea was brilliant. I even thought her speech was good. But a few people pointed out her body language. She had her arms crossed unless she was pointing out something. She also had her legs crossed as she stood. Jimmy mentioned that the stance was telling the audience that you're not open to suggestions when you do this. Or that you're trying to protect yourself. I had noticed I had done this accidentally later on Thursday. But more on that later.

There was one more observation that I found helpful. She was the last to present for the day but she was quite nervous. She spoke really fast. By the end of her presentation, Jimmy spoke to her in a very smoothing gentle voice, asking her to take a moment to breathe. Now, if you've never met Jimmy Moss, Jimmy has a very loud voice. It can be scary at times but really, he's just excited. So for him to speak in a gentle soothing voice, it was very calming. But his simple request from her to ask her to breathe I think was enough to make even some of the audience relax a little. Sometimes when the presenter is tense, the aura sometimes seeps out and becomes contagious almost. It happens vice versa too. It happened after the first presenter had finished. A lot of us had become tensed up from the critique that the vibe also affected the next presenter. So by the last presenter, Jimmy told us that sometimes he liked to relax his shoulders before speaking and to just take a deep breath. I had found this really helpful because later on Thursday, I had done the same and found it quite relaxing. It didn't take away all the uneasiness that I had but it was enough to get me through just fine.



Adjectives:
burbly - uttered with unrestrained enthusiasm
etheral - delicate; heavenly
sedulous - working hard

Tues 2/7, game day

Today, majority of the students brought many different types of games for class. We started the class first by listing out a bunch of different games and then went into details for one game as an example of purposes. For example, why was this game created? What is it trying to teach us? An example that was used in clads was the game monopoly. It was made around the great depression, in a slight way of making fun of the rich. It also served as a purpose to teach people about capitalism, which our country runs on.

The rest of the day was dedicated to playing the games we brought in. It was up to us to decide on which games we wanted to play but eventually we were to switch off with a different group of people to play a different game. So the first game I played was the game I brought from home. The game is called "apples to apples." this version was a smaller version to play to go. So the game consists of two colored cards, a red and green card. The green cards are all adjective words. The red cards consists of random nouns or noun phrases. Each person is receives seven red cards and the first person to go draws a green card. Everyone except the one who drew the green card chooses only one of their own red card from their hand that they think would fit for the adjective, and places it face down. The person who drew the green card then picks up the red cards and chooses which card they feel should be chosen. The first person to gain a certain amount of green cards, wins. Depending on how many people are playing, the amount of green cards needed to win changes. We were then to refer back to the game and ask ourselves what it was that made this game fun. With apples to apples, what made the game fun was the humor. Sometimes when an adjective appeared, it was difficult to choose a noun to fit the word. Sometimes the word chosen are completely ridiculous, enough to make one laugh. This game uses humor a lot in order to make it fun.

After playing this game, we moved on to another game. It was a word game called Boggle. It was a bit fun for the first few rounds but after the fifth, we kind of just got tired of it. This was probably because the interaction between playing wasn't very social. We would spend three minutes in silence writing as much words as we could in order to win. There wasn't much socializing amongst each other so I found that a tad boring. We then switched to UNO which was more amusing. Though we didn't say much when playing the game, the constant push towards trying to make the other person to lose was amusing and much more fun. It was a lot more tense too because you don't know what card the other player has.


There was also something that Jimmy said today opened my eyes. He had written on the board instead of homework, something else. He had said to the class that our work should not actually be work for us and that it should be fun for us. Otherwise, what the heck are we doing here? His words were certainly enough to make me think twice before complaining about "work."


 Adjectives:

Intense - strong pressure
Awesome - impressive
Fresh - new

Thurs, 2/9 Game Concepts

Today in class, we had a sort of a kind of critique session on the homework we had to turn in that day. Our homework had been to design nine different game concepts. It wasn't really a critique but more of a close up presentation where everyone in the class was looking at your work while you presented your nine concepts. Jimmy Moss would then either say it was a good idea, or if it needed more work, or if the idea was boring or had been done before. Before we started though, he went into a lecture of writing words next to a drawing that weren't necessary. Jimmy told us about words that compels us to write down when it's not needed. He had mentioned this after noticing that someone's drawing of a die had the words "dice" above the drawing. The drawing of the die, however, had been already obvious to it's audience that it was a die. As artists, we should be able to draw or design something clear enough that it wouldn't need words. It made us more aware of our drawings and what things we would write down because after he said that, everyone started shuffling through their concepts to see if they had written unnessary words to describe our drawings.

The first person who had their concepts laid out on a table for all of the class to see, it felt terrifying to see some of their ideas get shot down. As he went through the ideas from students who had done nine concepts, he gave out a lot of pointers and advice towards ways of presenting, especially when it got to my turn. I think though that I'm just not too used to speaking aloud that I had quite a problem pitching my idea. He mentioned at one point that when pitching an idea, you're to use something called an Elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is to simply define what it is that you're trying to pitch. I think that I found this difficult because it was something I never practiced. I also had a really bad habit of saying words like "um" "just" and "like." Something I ought to practice not doing.

I remembered also that a student who presented before me when handing his concepts to Jimmy, he had said that he had been afraid of what Jimmy would do. Jimmy then proceeded to tell us to not be afraid because though he seemed harsh now, he can be quite gentle talking to you one on one. He encouraged us to speak with him. He also informed us that other clients can be worse, which is something that I don't doubt. The same student, when presenting, had variations towards some of his ideas, which Jimmy liked and showed that when presenting ideas of variations of ideas, you could pitch it in the way where you would mention that the idea could also apply in different ways.

In a way, I was glad that he had gone through our concepts the way he did. It helped give an idea of how clients can be in the real world as well as giving out pointers towards presentations. 




Adjectives:
Inopportune - caught at a bad time or inconvenient time.
Generous - kind
Cozy - comfortable

2/2 A Pie Chart's Title and a video: Sir Ken Robinson

Today, during the first half the Art 220 Concept Development class, we had our homework up on the push-pin boards. When all our work was up, we took the time to look at our classmate's work and their interpretation on process mapping. In my previous blog, I had mentioned that we worked on making a process map in class on "How to get an 'A' in Art 220." This became our homework, to make a better version. When everyone had finished examining everyone's work, Jimmy pointed out one of the maps.To be specific, it was a pie chart of what percentages were needed to receive on certain tasks in order to get an A in the class. Jimmy then asked for the whole class to agree on a title for this particular pie chart. He had stepped out after that, and students began suggesting titles. This experience was similar to Comic assignment that we had previously done. I had reflected about this experience on my Thursday, 1/19 blog entry, but once more, there was student who seemed to dominate on trying to find a perfect title for the chart. There were several times that she lead and spoke out. We eventually, listed about three or four titles by the end and later choosing one.

What I did experience differently though from the previous Comic Panel exercise we did was that I honestly didn't realize how much fun I was having. I remembered laughing because someone had suggested a silly pun for a title which I really loved. I'm the type of person who enjoys many types of humor. But while in the process of this enjoyment, I hadn't even noticed that Jimmy had returned to observe us. And I remembered hearing someone say, "Eight people having fun." I'm not one hundred percent sure it was Jimmy who said this so I won't assume that it was. When our time ended, Jimmy then gave us a talk on what he had examined from us. He mentioned that only a few of us were having fun and there were several people not interacting, possibly because of students who had dominating personalities. I didn't disagree. While we had gone through titles, I had suggested one title to be silly and obvious as a joke. And I thought that what title would be best but a broad and obvious one. So I had put out the suggestion of the title "Pie Chart," that was immediately shot down but another classmate with a dominating personality. Her reply made me feel dejected some how.

The second half of class, Jimmy showed us a lecture that Sir Ken Robinson did to talk about his book, "The Element." The element is about why it is that so many adults have no idea what their true talents are and the importance of this. I found the video very inspiring so I really recommend anyone to watch this: Sir Ken Robinson, Hammer Lectures

The reason why I found this video inspiring is because always there's something inside me asking me if I'm making the right decision. But he mentions how people have had jobs where they truly didn't enjoy, despite the amount they get paid because it wasn't a matter of money. It was a matter of personal fulfillment. I also found the video an eye opener. A lot of us don't realize the problem we have in our systems like how we encourage more towards some sort of academics like an art career versus a doctor's career. Or that college degrees are like any sort of currency that would eventually devalue. Or how we sometimes take for granted our own capacity. There were a lot more eye opening subjects he had discussed but I feel like these three stood out the most to me because I find myself reflecting upon the previous steps I taken to getting where I am now.

College had always been encouraged from near the beginning of time of starting school. I was never really told to follow any other option. The system that was embedded in my mind were these steps: Kindergarten, elementary, junior high, high school, and then, of course, one had to go to college. I mean, I don't regret my choice in going to college but I truly thought about the other options out there that didn't need this college degree path. And there were paths that didn't require a college degree to get handsomely paid. Now that I'm near the end of my college experience, I see this more clearly. True, I am aiming for a degree. But what does a degree matter if one doesn't have the knowledge for the actual focus when getting out into that world?

I've often taken my capacity for granted. There would be several times where I'd feel as if I were drowning in a pool of misery when I reflect over my drawing abilities and the things that I lacked for it. I would then question the choices I've maid in deciding to follow this path of instability. And by Sir Ken Robinson's lecture, it was a simple realization that this capacity that I have is barely at it's minimal. Though small, I take for granted at times by how much I truly enjoy drawing. Today I went to Blicks to by some art supplies. When I came home, I was as giddy as a little girl, excited to use my new art materials. I was even so excited that I told one of my friends that I bought a mini sketchbook to carry around to draw! She judged me, but that didn't stop my gleefulness. Though, I feel that this eye opener may be considered not as significant maybe to some people. But it truly was significant to me. This is because sometimes I tend to trial off the path I've taken and forget by how much I truly love what I do and I need that reminder as to why I've chosen to take this path in the first place.


Adjectives:

Dejected - falling into low spirits
Combative - to argue
Diligent - hard working

Tue Jan, 31st

Today in class, we went over mapping. What was it? We went over the different kinds of mapping, such as types like cartography and data mappings. While making a list of what would define mapping, a fellow classmate suggested something that was unclear. Jimmy continued to question the student, trying to get a clear idea on what she was trying to explain. He then took a moment to explain the reasoning for his question. It was important to talking to the person to receive new ideas and information. It would help allow a brainstorm to generate, letting ideas flow. It also would help in letting out the bad idea. But in order to do so, one mustn't judge their own ideas and not be afraid of just saying whatever idea that was roaming within their heads.

He then did a map out of a process map and question why it was important to show clients only three ideas. He then mentioned a song called "three is the magic number." He listed spme guidelines when producing work for clients. Here's some of the guidelines he went over that I found helpful and useful to keep note of:
- If showing three, one must be able to be prepared to produce all three and all three has to be just as equally good.
- Don't recommend any unless they ask.
- Be prepared that they might not like it and if they don't, something could be wrong. (and one should refer back to their mapping and see what they've missed.)

Jimmy also mentioned that something about three, psychologically it was better. Having four might make he clients uncomfortable, and harder to decide. Having four or more also shows indecisiveness. Having only two makes the clients wish there were more. Having three just makes things concise.

After this lecture, we were to map out a process of, How to get an A in Art 220. While in the process of mapping this out, students used the syllabus as reference as to how one would map out this process. Some of the students needed a straight forward guideline to follow, that Jimmy did not give us. He later told us that it wasn't because he wanted to make things harder on us or anything like that. But he wanted us to think for ourselves and come up with our own creative ways of mapping out this process.

He went around the class stating specific things that he wanted to see and things that he didn't want to see but he still kept broad so that we would be able to try and come up with a map process the best way we could. He also pushed students to ask other students. I could see why, since in the real world, one is more likely to discuss designs or ideas amongst fellow designers or co-workers. I feel that this could also apply to animators.

So once more, I felt that today's class was another lesson of preparations towards the outside world of design.


Adjectives:
Jovial - happy or joyful
Erratic - unpredictable
Drab -  dull, boring or lacking interest

Tues, Jan 24th

On Tuesday, Jan 24th, we watched a video from the website Ted.com. The video, "Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity," was inspiring. Elizabeth Gilbert, a writer, spoke about the fear upon creativity. She mentioned that there was a belief that creativity and suffering are linked together. She then discussed how she spent some time in researching other cultures in how they would deal with this problem. Going back to ancient Greece and Rome, they believed that creativity came from disembodied spirits, whom they referred to as a Genius. For awhile they had believed this until eventually, creativity became one's own. She gave several examples on why the idea of disembodied spirits seemed to work. One particular example of a singer who was driving with no pen or paper around him, a tune began to play in his head. The

Adjectives:
Uncanny - peculiar; mysterious

Thurs, Jan 26th

On Tuesday, we were given an assignment where we had to come up with ten words or phrases that would completely change the image. We were to think of it as a way of creating headlines for the images for an advertisement. When returning on Thursday with our list of ten words, the whole class were then split into two groups so that we could help each other come up with better words than what we already had listed on our list. I had found this group experience interesting. I have done many group discussions in previous classes to discuss whatever it was that we needed to discuss. Most of the times that I had been in groups, the process of getting into the assignment would be fairly straight forward. This experience with the group I had been in was different for me this time. When we had gathered our chairs around a table to begin helping each other come up with new words, we laid out our images on the table. The first thing the group did was not suggest on how we should we go about in starting the ideas, but rather complimenting each others images. They had only gone over it briefly. Then we started first by each of us first saying our ten words for our images. When we finished with that, we returned to the first image and began giving suggestions of words or phrases. The process was significantly slow. None of us could come up with anything. We were all over thinking it. By the second image, Jimmy Moss entered the room to watch us and saw how much we were struggling to come up with words or phrases. So he used his starbucks' coffee cup as an example. He told us to come up with words to help sell these cups for school purposes. In the beginning, we continued to struggle to come up with words but he told us to not think. One of my favorite things that he said was that, if we didn't allow ourselves to say whatever was already in our head because we were over thinking, thinking that perhaps the words were too ridiculous or weren't good enough, then that word was going to continue to linger in our minds, not allowing other words to flow out. I felt that he was quite right about this. When he gestured for me to say some word for the cup, I said the first word in my head that had been stuck there for some time. After saying the word, more words seemed to flow out of the process. He had given us a very helpful tip for brainstorming.

After that, he left and we continued trying to help each other come up with words. But when we returned back to the images, once more, the ideas seemed to not flow out. One of the group members then mentioned the reason why she thought she was struggling in trying to come up with words. She had felt that when Jimmy had given us the brainstorm idea, that it had only been simple because Jimmy had given us a direction to follow. And then another group member agreed with her and tried giving suggestions on how we could make this process faster. Another group member then disagreed because if we followed her suggestion, we would be straying from the actual assignment.

I normally am not the type to push a group forward because of how quiet I normally am, but something inside me snapped. I spoke out saying that the purpose of what Jimmy did was so that we wouldn't hold back in saying words, not because he had given us a direction to follow. I then suggested that we all just say the first thing that came into our head, despite it being wrong or right. The group agreed, and the process went quicker. We had finished five minutes earlier than expected.

Now, what was the purpose of this whole assignment? The assignment was to try and come up with creative words that would give the audience an emotional response. To come up with these words or phrases, we had to bring out our most creative minds. A lot of us discovered that when forced, this was a difficult process, even if there was little time. So to try and bring our creativity out, finding ways to brainstorm was important. Learning that keeping words inside your head stopped the flow of brainstorming truly was a significant help. For me at least.

Adjectives:
Capricious - unpredictable; happens on a whim
Intricate - fine details
condescending - superior attitude towards other people

My fear experience towards my career

There was a question that was given to us for us to answer. The question was, "Have you experienced fear-based reactions to your creative career choices? How are you successfully overcoming these reactions?" To answer these two questions, a little bit more of myself should be known. I am in my sixth year in college, majoring in animation. I had changed majors around my third year in college. Previously, I had been majoring under Art Education. The reason for this was because I thought that I wanted to teach. But in truth, it was because two of my best friends in high school were both aiming to be teachers and I was just trying to follow their role. I discovered that Art Education wasn't for me after taking a core course.

The truth is, all I ever really wanted to do was to make comics. I had a friend who was majoring in animation. She was taking a storyboard class around the same time I had been taking my core class for Art Ed. While hanging out with her, she had with her some storyboards that she had done for the class. I thought, "Man, that's what I really want to do." So in the end, I changed majors. Because I changed majors, I made several new friends who were also in the same major. I was happy because they had the same interest as I did. And I could actually converse with them without feeling too awkward. Unfortunately for me, since they had been under the animation program longer, the majority of my friends had graduated a year or two before me. During this time, I noticed how much they were struggling to find jobs. And those who had jobs were working under non-related art subjects. One of my closest friends who had graduated recently (class of 2011) ended up working at Coffee Bean. And was happy about it. This terrified me. It made me forget what I was really looking for what I wanted. There was nothing I felt that I was really good at. It made me insecure about my abilities. How could I possibly complete with the world if my friends, whom are way better artists, can't even find jobs?

In animation, there were several things one could choose to do. Character designs, storyboarding, concept designs, backgrounds, animation, rigging, modeling, lighting. I could go on. (Please also note that I've listed both traditional and digital animation.) And because of this fear, I was regretting ever had gone to this school. This thought didn't stay with me long though. By the time the 2011 Fall Quarter started up again, I had forgotten about it temporarily. It wasn't until a friend of mine, who was under the same major that I was at about the same pace towards graduation as I was, found an opportunity to learn from the Art Institute program. She had received a call from this school and was given information about their gaming program. The information had overwhelmed us both. I was so overwhelmed that I was on the verge of tears. I began to regret everything I had done for the previous five years of my college life. I had wished the classes I had taken had been of a better help in my learning. I had wish I had more time to learn, to get better. I had wished my drawings were super amazing and that jobs would simply just come to me. I was even on the point of deciding on changing majors to stay longer. To learn more. But I had only two quarters left. That Fall quarter. And this Winter quarter. I had considered switching to computer science in hopes to learn programming. I was depressed for nearly two weeks long. But then a close friend of mine who had graduated two years ago talked to me. At this time, she too was struggling as an artist with a very unstable job. But she had a job that was actually art related. And she asked me the simplest questions--yet they were the hardest to answer. She asked me what I wanted to do. What was I trying to reach for career wise. I told her that I didn't know. At this point, I truly wasn't sure. But then she asked me if I enjoyed Art and if there were anything else in the world that I would more rather do or be that would make me just as happy as art did. There was nothing else I enjoyed more than drawing except maybe writing. But a writer's job is just as difficult as an artist's. I was then reminded by several people who aren't yet successful yet but are getting there. There was a fellow classmate who was currently interning for WarnerBrother's Animation. He had taken the same course than I had taken. The only thing that differed between us was that he had worked hard to get to where he was.

The path that I had wanted to take was the simple easy way. This other school had an 80% hiring rate so the chances of getting a job after graduating was significantly high there. But here, the path was the same. Though the hiring rate isn't statistically high here, there was still a path that lead to the same end point. If I truly didn't enjoy what I had been doing for the past five years, then truly I was on the wrong path. But no, I had enjoyed it. Remembering this simple thing helped me get back on my feet. There's truthfully nothing to regret. I had made great friends, met great professors, met great people, all because I had been going here.

It still had taken me awhile to calm myself though. I'm still afraid about the future, but who isn't? But I know that this bumpy difficult path that I have to travel across isn't going to be the death of me. This thought is one of the many encouragements around me to keep me on my feet.

I can certainly say though that I'm glad that this class I'm taking now (Concept Development). So far, the class has been intimidating, giving the students a small peek into how the real world is like and it is scary. But I find that this class is giving me strength to keep trying.

Thursday, 1/19

Thursday's class was definitely an interesting new experience. Our homework for our previous class was to do a four panel comic on how we made it to college. Jimmy Moss had us put our assignment on the desks that were in the center of the room so we could all read and take a look at everyone's work. And then, unexpectedly, he told us to arrange everyone's assignment from best to worse. At first, it was a little hectic. A couple of people were trying to suggest on how we should go about in arranging it. The first try was to have everyone select their favorites. There was no limit at first, and a lot of the students just seemed hesitant in going about in choosing their favorite piece. It was also taking awhile. So then more suggestions on how we should arrange it came about, eventually bringing out the assertiveness in a few people. Some of us could tell that we were losing patience. Eventually it was decided that we should just check mark only one of the piece that we liked the most to herd out the good ones and the bad ones. After the good ones were chosen, we did another check vote on the next set. And then did another for the last set. We were losing time in deciding so we had rushed at the last minute on figuring out the arrangement of the comics from best to worse so by the time everything was done, we had forgotten to look over the check marks to see which truly was the winner. It was startling for me to hear him say that we failed the whole task. We failed because the comics ranked with the highest check marks were out of order so that the best comic truly wasn't the best (based on check mark ranks).  But I was more surprised that other students tried to fight back in defense as to why we failed. So in the end, the two top ranked comics received prizes after all.

After that, we were separated into groups to discuss what we did. We had to come up with a group opinion on what qualities we were looking for when we chose which comic we thought were the best. We also were to discuss the group process in the arrangement of the comics. Here's a list on some of the things we thought was necessary for the criteria of a good comic:

Clarity; If the story was clear and it made sense
Logical order; If the panels weren't all over the place. For example, if the comic reflected upon a timeline, it wouldn't jump from being a kid to an adult to a teenager.
Quality/Artist's ability; Some of us could tell that the work was done at the last minute. This influenced our judgement greatly. There were others where one could tell that they had spent a lot of time working on the comic. We also discussed the artist's ability to draw and on how as design/art students, we should be able to have some knowledge on basic drawing skills and their ability also had some influence on whether it would be considered good or not.
Story; If the story made sense.


Upon deciding on whether the decision we made was fair and if the way we had organized it been fair, as a group we decided that it was, for time's sake. Though, we also agreed that it was flawed and should be tweaked a bit but overall, the way we decided on choosing to arrange the comic seemed fair.

The reason I found this experience interesting has to do with a couple of things. One of our group members mentioned that once we get out there in life, everything would be like a checklist. We also saw how we would react as a group when something changed. During the whole decision process, Jimmy had announced that we only had a couple minutes left in deciding the ranks. Near the end of the class, Jimmy mentioned that these were things that happened in the real life. Things like deadlines getting picked up or getting dropped. I don't doubt his words at all, but it certainly has opened my eyes more towards the real world.

Provocative- something that provokes...
Erroneous - error
Alone - by itself

Tuesday, 1/17/12

On Tuesday, Jan 17th, we went over an interesting discussion on the words "Game" and "Test." I found this discussion interesting because I had never realized that both words practically meant the same thing. Both "Test" and "Game" involves rewards, competitions, and the gain or loss of points. Yet, depending on which word that was used, there would be a different emotional response. When hearing the word "test," the class reacted by groaning. When hearing the word "game," the class reacted with more enthusiasm. The teach proceeded on reflecting over the power of words. And just like words, images had the power to do the same just by using color or shapes. The color red was used an example. Red is a color that isn't quiet and attention grabbing. It provokes, it's urgent, it's symbolizes many things. Our stop signs are red to have us "STOP" as it says we should.

Adjectives:
Fascinating: to show fascination; in awe of newly found knowledge or realization towards something
Crestfallen: to feel disappointment or dispirited
Genuine: real

First Blog Entry

In class, Jimmy Moss talked about "Problem Solving" in design. As an example, he used the sign that above the sink's wall. I should have taken a photo of that sign. But the sign said something like "Keep the sink clean and the drains unclogged. Don't pour paint in sink." I think. Something like. I think I should go back and check. But anyways, the problem was clogged sink and to help solve the problem was by creating a sign as a solution to prevent this. He then chose a flier as another example for problem solving in design. He had a student [me] go up, examine the flier, and state what was important from the flier, being: Name, address of place, time and date.

Afterwards, he went over the syllabus, and our assignments.




Adjectives:
lethargic
bereft
ambrosial