Reading Response 3

Social Networking in Singapore

The top social networking site in Singapore is Facebook.  There are 638 thousand Singaporean users on Facebook.  Plurk is preferred over Twitter in Singapore.  Social networking is utilized differently there then here in the USA.  The government uses it to promote their armed forces and encourage others to join.  This is successful because social networking is used more frequently than search engines in Singapore.

New Year, New Header.

Our first assignment in Design Visualization 112 was to design a new blog header.  The restrictions on this header were to use computer type face and our own personal drawing.  Our header is supposed to represent  us as a designer.  When I began this, I immediately started with the font.  The font was the most simple part for me because I looked for what appealed to me.  I decided to make my font pink because I am very girly and I see that carry over to my work.  The font is bold because although I am not a bold designer yet, I aspire to get to that point.  The next step was the drawing.  I selected a pattern because I thought it was simple yet elegant.  My inspiration for the pattern came from my bed comforter.  This describes me as a designer because I designed my room in a way that best described me.  I think that the contrast between the curly pattern and the defined type came out nicely.  I've learned over the past semester that contrast is a big part of the program here because one week we'll be designing a box for twigs and the following we'll be searching for a light phenomenon.  I feel like my banner presents me in a positive manner and I enjoyed putting a splash of color in it because up until this time we have not been able to use color.

Scale Figures

This is Group 1.  These images are very simple, just enough to convey that there is a person there.  They are very gestural and don't focus on much detail.

This is Group 3.  These sketches are gestural as well.  What I appreciate about these is the sense of balance.  I like that the two on the chair appear bigger but they are the same size.  I also like that the two in the chairs backs are showing but the one sitting is facing you.  I think it  makes you want to look at the picture more. 

Fourth Year Critique

The Fourth Year students worked as a group to develop a new Vance Chavis Library.  They focused on the idea of Life Long Learning.  I found their project really fascinating because of all the little steps.  They were very informed and didn't have a problem answering any question that was given to them.  I liked how they separated their boards for presentation in the same way the library was set up.  I didn't like how the kids area was right beside the tutor station.  I feel that kids are really loud and for tutoring it needs to be quiet.  I thought it was cool that people from the library were there and loved what they had made.  I can't even fathom being able to create what they did so I am very excited for all that I will learn over these next fews years in this program.

Reflections

When the semester first started, I thought I could draw okay.  I could convey an idea (most times) and to me that what was most important.  When I got here, expectations were far different.  The teachers cared about line quality, line weight, shadows, organization on the page and so much more.  If that was all I had to improve on, I think I would have done okay.  But in one semester learning how to draft and draw at the same time overwhelmed me.  Even though this wasn't the easiest class for me, I think I have greatly improved from where I started to where  I am now.  Now I can use shadow whereas before I was scarred of messing it up.  I still have a long way to go but I feel like I'm well on my way because of this class.

I selected this as my most successful because it was something totally foreign to me when I started.  I had never done a self portrait.  This doesn't really look like me but I selected it not on that but because I used shadow and different values.  It taught me that drawing people isn't my thing; drawing really isn't my thing.  I'm a much better painter.  But I liked this drawing the best because I tried something new and feel like although it isn't near as good as Alexis', it is still something I am proud of.

Drafting Assignments

This particular drawing caused me so much trouble when I was drawing it.  This piece probably frustrated me the most.  Looking back now, I could probably do this without an issue but when I was learning it, it seemed much harder.