Final Project Video :)

Thoughts on Final Class Session

So, today was a full house. I noticed a lot of people showed up to class which was cool. The professor then came in the room and handed out a magazine that was about sustainability in the design world. I was looking through it while in the class, and it was really interesting. The professor was reading off some of the cards we had turned in the first day of class and wrote what we thought we were going to learn on them. I don't remember what I wrote being that was 10 weeks ago, but Im sure what i wrote had not fully come true. After that, the professor asked the class what the positives and negatives were to the class. When it was my turn, I said that one positive thing I got out of the class was Game Day in which we all played board games. I had lots of fun that day and got to know more of the people in class as well. After everyone named the positive and negatives things within the time spent in class was, the professor talked a little more about his experience with this class and what he would do for future Art 220 classes. After that, the professor talked about the final project one last time and then excused us for the remaining time since we were pretty much done. Well, now onto finishing my final project and mandarins. Good luck everyone! See you monday. :) xoxo

Thoughts on Class Session May 25th

Today, the class was talking amongst one another while the professor was chatting with one of the students in class. I was talking with one classmate about what classes we were going to take in the Fall quarter and we both noticed that we have to take Art 308 so we were both excited about that. Its nice to take classes with people you get along with and can hang out. Then the professor wrote on the board the last few days of class and told us the breakdown of what time we had left in the class. Since its a holiday on monday, there is no class which leaves June 1st which is the last day of regular class and then our final during the following week. He took the next 10 minutes to talk about our final project and told us how important it is to finish it within a timely manner so that if any problems arise, we will have time to fix it. Then the professor asked us what we wanted to do since the class is ahead of schedule according to the calendar. He then told us we could spend time on our projects but we didn't have to be in the class to do it, so half the class left and I stuck around with Candy for a while.

Its kind of weird that its pretty much the end of the 9th week for me, minus tomorrow since I have one class, but its hard to say whether the quarter went really fast or it went really slow. I am glad though that its almost over. See everyone in a week from now. Don't come to school Monday! Haha.

Thoughts on Class Session May 23rd

The class started with the professor letting us know that he noticed we were extra talkative today than usual. I think it could be a mix of knowing we have two weeks left of the quarter as well as feeling good about the day or something. Then the professor had us move the tables back and sit in a large circle. He then had a block in his hand and had us play a game. The game was much like Telephone but on crack. So, the professor started off and turned to one of the female classmates sitting next to him and said this is a what. Then she had to say A what?. Then the professor stated A What. Then she said Oh a what. Then she turned to the girl next to her and started the whole process again, but then it made its way back to the professor who then reassured the question that it was a what and so on. To be honest, I couldn't get into the rhythm of the game, only because I couldn't tell what statement came up next. When the turn got to me, Hector said this is a what. I then blanked out and didn't have an answer. Some of the class laughed as I did too. I remember telling Margarita and Hector who were sitting next to me that I was sure I was going to mess up and I did. Haha. Finally after several tries and other hiccups by other classmates, we managed to make it all the way around the circle and ended with the professor who started it. It was a great accomplishment. Then, the professor had another challenge for us and he added a second object to the game which was a type of keychain and that was labeled as who. So it was the same premise as the what, but this time both the what and the who would be going through the circle at different parts and the climax would be when both objects met at the same point in the circle. Boy, was it tough. I believe we went through 4 rounds before the professor ended it and we had to move on. It was a really challenging game to play but it was very amusing and enjoyable. If ever I am at a family function, I am going to suggest a game like this for sure.

After the game, we watched a lengthy video on a talk by Sir Ken Robertson. It was very interesting and way more informative than the actual lecture I went to featuring John Coy. In the video, Robertson talked about how the education system in the U.S. is today and how it relates to people. I think it was very interesting, and I have to agree that with so many people obtaining degrees now than in the past, they are going to depreciate in value if not already. So then, it makes you think, if a bachelor's degree is equivalent to a high school diploma 10 years ago, does this mean we are going to need a masters degree to one up the competition? It is bound to happen. If everyone has bachelor degrees, then the next way to weed out potential candidates is to choose those with a masters degree. I am so thankful I am not kid going through elementary right now, they are going to be in for a rough ride as will all of those that aren't in college now. But there is some hope to all this madness. Robertson said the three most important things to have other than a degree is the ability to work well with others, to have great communication skills, and to think differently than others. So as long as you have these three things, you should be good to go... Hopefully. 

2 more class meetings then the final! Woo! :) 

Stage 7: Production Reading Response

The final chapter in the book and quite possibly the most important one is Production. First off let me just say that there was an image in the chapter of a man throwing a fish into a pile of other dead fish and my heart broke. I hate things like that.  Anyway... So, in this final chapter the author wants the the readers to understand that although the design itself it complete, that in the production stage, the work has really just begun. This is the stage where both you as the designer and the production team need to work together in every sense of the word. If the production team doesn't understand something about your design or an issue arises, you have to be available to assist in anyway possible. I assumed this would be the case, and i couldn't imagine myself just running off to go on a vacation like the author states might happen.

The book then goes into prototyping where it lists three different types; concept, throwaway, and evolutionary. Testing is crucial and the last stage during production that allows the designers and production team to see what works best with the design such as fabrics or materials. Its also a good way to test the functional aspects of the design and see how it fits into real world scenarios. I think this is a very crucial aspect to production because testing is important to find weak points in the design itself.

Other important areas of concern when in the production stage is for designers to understand their budget limitations as well as scheduling everything in a timely manner in regards to the design production. Even decisions on materials need to be made. I think reading about these aspects really made me understand how important every last bit of detail is since the production stage is the most important.

The very last bit of advice the author gives is at the end of the reading where he explains the entire process of design one last time. He talks about how designing a new project can be difficult and that it is part of a learning experience for yourself as a designer. I agree, I have no experience with professional designing yet but I am sure that the more i am working in the field, the more experience I will have and be able to use that experience to my advantage when working on similar projects.

Thoughts on Class Session May 18th

On Wednesday, after class started, we all sat in our seats and waited for the professor to start class. He was siting in the back and asked us what we wanted to do. Then he said that he heard about math on the radio in the morning and wrote down 1, 10, 11, 100 on the board and asked us what the next number was in the sequence. After examining it myself, I came to the conclusion that it was 110. Since all the ones that appear in the order are in front of the zero. Then the professor asked us if we wanted to do two or three groups and he decided we do two groups, one group consisting of males and one consisting of females. I wasn't happy about this, but once we got into groups, we started figuring out what the next number was. After about 10 minutes, the professor came back and asked if we were done. Then Astrid went up for the females and explained their thought process and reasonings for picking their number which I believe was 111. Then one of the guys went up to explain our answer and did a terrible job at it. Even I was lost. I thought it was so funny because he was one of the people in the group who was putting so much effort into finding and explaining his answer and yet couldn't explain it to the class. Like the professor said though, it was a language issue. Part of being a designer is knowing how to write and speak. Then the professor had him sit down and had another male student go up and explain our answer. He did a better job but the professor still wasn't convinced, and so Gilbert went up and explained it which I understood the best. Then the professor gave a lecture on how important communication is when it comes to working with clients.

After this, the professor had us sit in a large rectangle and he talked about the John Coy event and asked us our thoughts on it and had each of us share one thing that we took away from the experience. When it was my turn, I mentioned how John Coy said that there is no competition in the working world and that we all will find our own unique spot in the designer world. I thought this was interesting because I always thought that life in general is all about competition but since he is the professional designer with years of experience, I have to believe in what he said that night at the speaker event.

The last part of class, the professor asked us if we had any questions about our final project and told us to start on it, if we haven't already, since we are nearing the finals period of the quarter. I have some ideas for sure and thankfully I have some experience with After Effects so that will help me with my final project.

Thoughts on Class Session May 16th

On Monday I walked in and took my seat and noticed that the computer and projector were also in the room which meant that we were going to watch the movie that the professor had told us about the week before. After we all situated ourselves to the front of the classroom, the professor played a film titled Dreams, by Akira Kurosawa. It turned out to be a collection of 8 dreams. The first one was titled Sunshine Through the Rain, which was very interesting, and wondered to myself what caused this person to dream of something like this. I was wondering to myself, what would my dreams look like if they were made into short films and I got a sense of that as I was watching this movie. The dream that was my favorite was titled The Weeping Demon. I related to this dream the most because most of my dreams consist of a demon or creepy creature. The Weeping Demon was pretty scary at the end when night fell and the creature's demonic voice came out and it scared the man away. It reminded me of my dreams. 

Other dreams in the film included The Peach Orchard, The Blizzard, The Tunnel, Crows, Mount Fuji in Red, and the Village of the Watermill. They were all interesting and all had some type of special metaphor or meaning to them. I really enjoyed the film and would see it again with family and friends. The fact that it was two hours was crazy because it didn't feel like it when the class was watching it. 

After the we viewed the film, the professor talked to us about our homework which was to dream about our final project. We had to lay in bed and right before we dosed off, we had to think about our final project and how we were going to put it together that way when we fell asleep, we would dream about it. 

Stage 6: Communication Reading Response

This stage of the book is one of the more realistic portions that was enjoyable to read. It started off with the three phases of communication which were encoding, message itself, and decoding. I took the encoding to mean the way in which a project is presented to a group of people, while the message itself was the actual project at hand. I believed encoding was the way in which the audience absorbs all the information necessary to understand the project. The type of audience that is concerned with a presentation is a very crucial part for successful communication. The client, corporations, manufacturing, and associates are the most important ones. I took it that associates, or co workers would be the easiest to communicate with since they are most like your peers and the clients would be the hardest to communicate with. That is because of the type of relationship at hand which can be extremely formal and seen as a client vs. designer scenario in most cases.

In regards to the informative part of a presentation, there are four types of information which are statement, concept, detail, and planning. The way I took this was that the statement occurs when one is presenting the beginnings of a new project, whereas the concept of a project may have taken shape in addition to just a statement. The detail is when a project has already become or will become a physical project rather than just being on paper and the planning is the information of how the project will move forward for the final design stage.

The different types of illustration techniques to use in a presentation was also quite interesting. Every kind of medium from markers and color pencil to pens and inks are listed and described accordingly. I have used all of these and it really helped when reading what the pros and cons were for each type of medium. Also, Photoshop and boards were mentioned, with boards having become like second nature for me as a design student. PowerPoint is also something that I am familiar with and I actually enjoy putting presentations together through it.

Even with visual aids and an amazing project at hand, a designer still has to be ready in all aspects possible. The last part of the reading talks about how a designer can prepare for a presentation. These tips include having a motivation, having direction and knowing exactly what to say and when to say it. I really liked this part because it was much like a pep talk right before a very important event. I understood what the author was saying for these various points and I got a sense that he wants all designers to be the best they can be.

GAUGE Presents John Coy Speaker Event

The day started with me waking up at 6am for my 8am class which is Art 181. And ended at 11pm in my bed. Yeah, I know, but let me remind, so after my morning class, I realized that I had 8 hours until the GUAGE event, so I decided to go home and take a nap since I haven't had proper sleep for the last 7 weeks. If I stayed on campus I would have just been napping in the library anyway. Then, around 2pm, I headed back to school and took my laptop with me to work on my projects and other homework. Finally, at around 6:30, I headed to the Music Hall and went inside where John Coy and the president of GUAGE were talking. She told me I had to wait outside until the event started. Thats when I ran into Candy and she informed me that the event was going to be about two to three hours. I thought it was going to be about an hour at most, so we both got the idea to go get a bite to eat since we hadn't eaten in a long time. We came back and there were some people gathered in the waiting area of the hall. After signing in, I was chatting with a lot of my classmates and we were all exchanging laughs. The waiting room was SO freaking hot though and we weren't being allowed inside the theatre due to technical difficulties. I thought, wouldn't all of this be worked out way in advance? Finally around close to 8pm, we were allowed inside to take our seats. I sat next to Sandy, Cheryl, and Candy. 

My first impression of John Coy was that he was going to be a elderly man who was going to literally tell us the code to design, but I was wrong. It was more of a pep talk based on experience and a bunch of slides  showcasing his work as a designer. In the beginning, he asked the audience for questions but I noticed that the questions always related to working as a designer after Cal State LA. The technical issue by the way was that his powerpoint presentation wasn't loading properly to be viewed. There was one thing in particular that John said and that was although we think its all about being competitive in our field, that we have to find what makes each one of us unique and special and go with that. He said that using that to our advantage and looking for the right opportunity will help us in the future in regards to work. John talked a lot of his unique experiences including how he never was fond of the computer at first but then grew to love it for everything one can do on it. I have to agree with him here, knowing that in the beginning, I never liked using computers but then came to like them over time. He was really talking based on experience which makes sense being that he has been a designer for some time now. Its interesting because the first slide he showed was the logo for WaMu which I became familiar with years ago and to know that he designed that added to the wow factor for sure. 

Overall, it was an interesting event to attend and it was nice hearing from an actual professional designer who gave lots of advice. Im glad that the slide show worked too because it was helpful to see just how broad design can be, its not just constricted to an image printed from a computer but can be three dimensional or something you can hold in your hands. The slides were a nice addition to the presentation.  I think he mentioned something about being born before the television but I don't remember. Will definitely attend the next speaker event next quarter. 

Thoughts on Class Session May 11th

I sat in my chair and talked with fellow classmates and noticed that almost everyone was in the class but no professor. Usually the professor is in the class 5 minutes before it starts. One of my classmates joked around with me telling me that she got an email saying that the professor wasn't coming in, and I believed her but then realized it was just a joke. So, once the class filled up, 8AM rolled around and the professor was nowhere to be found. I usually bring a water bottle with me to school but I didn't have one with me and I was extremely thirsty, so I ran down to get one from the student store. And since I didn't have cash on me, I couldn't use the vending machine. When I came back, I heard people talking in the class and when I went in, one of my classmates told me that the professor wasn't coming and that we were discussing the final project. Dustin was standing in the front of the classroom and was writing things down that the class agreed upon for the dynamics of the project. This included the length of time which was between 3 and 5 minutes.

After the class finished discussing the final project which was about 30 minutes or so, we all turned in our creative brief homework and one of my classmates reminded us about the speaker event at 7pm for the next day. I have to say that although the professor wasn't there, the class did a great job at working together on the final project.

Thoughts on Class Session May 9th

When class started the professor told us he was going to lecture for a while and asked us if we were comfortable where we were all sitting. We said yes but then he asked us if we had organized ourselves yet by height. Since we hadn't done that, the professor asked us to sit according to our height with the shortest people in the front and the tallest in the back. We all got up and knowing that I am really tall, I moved toward the back and noticed that I actually didn't have to look down at people since everyone else in the back was closer to my height. After we all figured out the order, we took our seats. It turns out that I am the second tallest person in the class. But just by a hair. *Pun intended*. Haha. It was pretty close but Nathan ended up being the tallest person in the class. The professor than asked us if we were confident that we were in order, and I thought we were but then he made each row stand up and it was a close call for several people that were not in the right order. I think the most difficult row was the middle row, since everyone in that row was the closest in height than the front and back row. For being purely based on height though, this task took the longest than the previous ones we have done in class. It was interesting though, and I also noticed that the front row was female only and the back row was almost males only with the exception of Lauren.

After this activity, the professor went over several creative briefs that were created by actual companies and firms. They obviously sounded very professional as the professor was reading them aloud, compared to the ones we were asked to do for homework. Prior to our homework assignment, I had never written one before in my life so it was nice to hear the professor read ones that actually were written by the pros. There was one in particular that the professor was reading to the class that was about the Winchester Mystery House. As he was reading the brief, it reminded me of the episode of Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel. I remembered thinking how crazy the woman of the house was for living there but she had her reasons. 

Toward the end of class, the professor asked us what the creative brief of our final project would be. Since we didn't have all the answers for him, he assigned us homework which is to do a creative brief for our final due on Wednesday. 


P.S. I have no clue why the font size decided to go crazy toward the end, tried fixing it... 

Stage 5 Definition/Modeling Reading Response

The 5th stage in the book was a very informative reading. Within this stage of design, it is crucial for designers to understand the idea of what your design is all about and how it will handle in the real world. The book explained this idea of a hierarchy system when planning out the needs of any design. The most important step was functionality. Everything that has been designed into the world was not created equal. It seems that something may look like it functions on the outside, but the interior can tell a whole other story. I have come across lots of things that didn't function like they were supposed to and that is something that the book explains right away which is important for us beginning designers.

Reliability was the next step in the needs of a design. So maybe something works right but can't depend on it for very long. I thought of a motor vehicle in this sense. No, I don't have any bad experiences with cars but you always hear those stories about cars that aren't reliable or last very long before they start giving you problems. The next step was Usability, I thought up of many things that I have come in contact with that were not easy to use. it seems many designers simply ignored it. For example, I remember going to a relatives house and I was going to use their microwave. Well, the microwave itself looked like one should, but it was not an easy one to use like a person would expect it to. I remember going through the various buttons, all of which were labeled with strange symbols and numbers that didnt mean seconds or minutes. I was like, wow, how about just getting a start button and going from there? Once i figured it out, the next thing was the microwave door wouldnt open until the timer ended. So the poor frozen pizza literally melted right before my eyes. It was a mess for sure...

Proficiency was the next step and this one was a very interesting step to read. A design that can actually improve the users lives whether its in learning ability or experiences. Computers, smart phones, software,  video games, all of these things have improved the minds of the users in some way. It was also inspirational to read the example the book had which was on a OLPC laptop which is being used all around the world for an economically affordable price and and is environmentally efficient since it is meant for non industrialized areas of the world. Finally, Creativity is the last step but one of the most crucial. In this step is where innovation of the design and how it changes the world comes into place. Whether its a technique or new skill that the designers learned during the process, this can be applied to the design and things like efficiency take place.

In terms of modeling, there was some simple guides given to insure great modeling techniques. I liked how the book explained that modeling doesn't have to mean this huge project within a project type attitude. Modeling can be as simple as a detailed sketch that shows the basic physical idea of the design. I assume that when I hear or see this word that it means a lot of work. Scale was also explained and its important to know that accuracy of scale is important for both the client and yourself in understanding the size and dimensions. Time management was also touched upon and the author made it very clear to not spend so much time with modeling that it takes away from the overall design. Modeling is something that can be updated and edited, it doesn't have to be one final piece of work before your actual design is produced. I think this stage actually made more sense to me than the previous one. Defining things and what purpose these things have in real world situations is what Im all about and if there isn't clarity, I find myself struggling real quick, so it was nice to read this part of the book.

Thoughts on Class Session May 4th

When the class meeting started, the professor asked us all to put our homework projects on the board. After we put them up, he went through asking us which ones were most successful and least successful. Since no one answered, he asked us to get up from our seats and to take a closer look at them. We all looked at them, and then the professor went through each one and told us what was bad about them. There was one that had tape to hold the images on the board, there were some projects with the edge of the papers coming up from the board or images that were slightly off center. Some projects didn't even have names on them and most of the boards had a sticker on the back which had the barcode and the professor said that we need to remove that for future projects. While I know now to remove it before I turn something in, I would have never thought to do something like that. The one person who had everything the professor liked was considered visually "very boring". I think the assignment was actually meant to be a critique on the quality of work rather than about the actual game idea itself. I was confused by this since I was preparing a speech on how my game would work and how to play it, but its ok.

The professor then went through several of the projects, and one at a time, my classmates went up to the front of the class and explained what their game was all about. We were also told to observe those that went up and to watch their body language and how they presented their game to the class. While doing this activity, I was suddenly sucked into a past experience of a speech class I took and forgot I was in a concept development class. This evaluation of how each classmate presented, eliminated the actual presentation of the game idea for me and I solely concentrated on the way they presented. Therefore, it was not even about the game ideas for me, but making sure I studied the body language of the various presentations. Very interesting. After each person presented their game, the professor asked us what we took away from the presentation and how we perceived that person. If I was up there to be judged, I would have felt very uncomfortable. I give props to everyone that went up. My absolute favorite part for sure was the discussion of assuming every person that crosses their hands are closed off to those around them. I had my arms crossed in the beginning when we were all standing because that's how I stand comfortably for a lengthy period of time. I for one am in no way a closed off type of person. Haha. So far from the truth. In my own experiences, more often than not it has to do with those that are not comfortable enough to be around or near me. And thats with people that I don't associate with on a daily basis. Any of my friends, family, co workers would be the first to tell you how enjoyable I am to be with.

After the presentations and a lengthy time spent on discussing professionalism and presentations, we went back to our seats and watched a short video on Youtube titled Power of Ten. It was an interesting video, and while watching it made me think I was in a physics or math class. After watching it, the professor told us that our homework is to come up with two creative briefs, one which will be for a game, and one for the video. These two briefs are due on Monday. Hope everyone has a good weekend, catch you on Monday if I don't see you before then. 

Thoughts on Class Session April 27th

Haha. What a day. So, when the class started our professor went around the room and asked what game my classmates and I brought for the activity today. I brought a card game by the name of Ratuki. So after everyone said what game they brought in, the professor asked us which games we wanted to play. I decided to play Uno Charlie Brown edition. Haha. The other players included Julie, Jacqueline, and Siouxsie. The professor stepped out of the room and everyone was playing and having a great time. I enjoyed playing Uno with my classmates. They were all funny, enjoyable and were really engaged with the game. As for the round itself, while I have played many games of Uno before, i have NEVER experienced playing a round like this one for so long. I think it was well over 40 minutes. The round we were playing kept going and going. I was close to winning once but then I got many Draw 4 cards that stopped that  opportunity from happening. Haha. Its ok, it was lots of fun.

Then the professor came in and said that we had to change up the game we were playing as well as the group we were playing with. The professor went through all the games we brought in and made a list on the board. He said we had to choose one of those games and so I chose Mad Gab. The classmates involved in this game were Gaudy, Candy, Astrid, Noah, Penn and myself. We originally were going to do 3 groups of 2 but Candy suggested we do 2 groups of 3 to make it easier to play. Playing this game was much more different than my experience with Uno. For one, I had never played Mad Gab before and as we were playing it, I could tell right away that the premise of the game was to make players look stupid. Overall, we all had fun, laughed and helped each other out in trying to solve the riddle of figuring out what the various phrases were. It was a great game to play, and I think the experience would have been different if all of us had played this, lets say like the 1st week of class versus playing it together on week 5. We were way more comfortable with each other playing this game that involves team work and communication and that was evident in the way we played it. We were all open to the experience which is a very positive thing rather than being reserved had we not known each other. It was a really engaging experience for me overall with both game sessions. I enjoyed playing the games especially with the group of classmates that were involved. It was a real nice way to get familiar with more of my classmates that I hadn't really spoke to before as well as develop better bonds with those that I already know. So, it was a neat experience for sure.

After the game, the professor explained our homework for the weekend which is to sketch out 9 different game design ideas. They all have to be unique from one another and we have to be able to explain each one in a few sentences. Very interesting assignment for sure as I have never been asked to create a game before but hopefully with the professors tips he gave us, I will be able to come up with 9 really cool game designs.

Stage 4: Exploration/Refinement Reading Response

So, I read through Stage 4 which was considerably shorter than the previous stages and for good reasons. Its really about gathering up defining ideas of a designers concept through every possible exploration. To make a design come to life so to speak, the author of the book Karl Aspelund feels that drawings and visual forms of exploration are necessary to get your ideas on paper. This includes sketching many ideas out, and to draw as much as you can in order to understand all the aspects of a design. This is the stage where everything in your design begins to take visual form and meaning. Modeling is another form of visual representation that will help in creating a successful path for a design.

In order to get a good sketch or drawing, there has to be a form of visual language which basically means images and shapes that resemble something and as one gets older, their understanding of the drawing technique as well as the object changes over time. I think this is important for any artist and designer because being able to generalize or break something down into a simple sketch or drawing is crucial for quick concept ideas. Drawings in design aspects is a visual aid that helps the understanding of what the design is all about. The author also goes on to explain that these drawings and sketches don't need to be precise and clean cut, because its simply to show others as well as yourself what the essential parts of a design are visually.

I like how the author includes some positive and negative points in relation to sketches. The positive points range from quick sketching sessions to consistency in the sketching and the negative points range from keeping the sketches out of others view for constructive criticism as well as editing the drawings in any way. Just let the pencil move and what ever shows up on the paper, thats where you can develop further. You wont get it right the first time, so just keep on drawing.

I think this stage is important because the visual activity can really help designers in getting their ideas of a project or design out on paper. Its crucial for designers to get their ideas on paper so they can see exactly how to go about it from a development standpoint.

Thoughts on Class Session April 25th

Week 5 of the spring quarter here at CSULA kicked off today with my Concept Development class. Just want to rewind real quick and say that when i was driving on my way to school, there was a cupcake on the lane that was for the freeway entrance. Guess who ran it over? Of course it was me. And who ever decided on making the icing bright blue, thank you very much. When I parked my car in the parking lot, there was blue frosting all over the left side tires. Hilarious way to start the day. Anyway, so when I arrived in the classroom, I took my seat and chatted with a couple classmates that I know. Then after the class started the professor had us switch our chairs to the other side of the table. It was so funny. Then the professor was explaining the next class meeting for wednesday and how its going to be "game day".  He said that we will all need to bring some sort of game, like a board game or card game. Since I gave away all my board games to the needy several years ago, I regret not keeping one for this purpose. But then again, no one ever told me that i was going to need a board game for a class related assignment while attending Cal State LA. Its ok. Nothing a quick trip to Target can't fix. Then the professor went up to the chalkboard and had us list all types of games. When the professor called on me, I said Memory. I think its a Virgo thing, being that they are all about having amazing memory and that game was one of my favorites a young kid. 

After listing the games, the professor asked us what the themes were behind these games. What were some of the themes associated with playing these particular games? Not sure what themes I could clearly pinpoint from playing Connect Four but very interesting questions nevertheless. After this, the professor had us lay out our homework on the tables which was to find 7 images for the 7 Deadly Sins. As a class, we went through each collection of images and stated what sin we thought each images was. Any duplicates were immediately discarded from the collection. When we got to mine, the professor asked me which image represented which sin and it wasn't until we got to the last image that I realized that I forgot to omit one, so instead of having 7 images, I had 8. Thats why it didn't relate to any sin but because it was on the table, it looked like it was part of my collection. Confusing, I know...

After we went through the images, we all took our seats and he was talking more about the games and how we will be playing them on Wednesday in groups. It will be a fun class session for sure. Cant wait. 

Thoughts on Class Session April 20th

So, the class started slightly later than usual and we were asked to push the tables to the sides of the room and place our homework on them. Our homework was to find 3 images that told a story. Since there was no exact rules for the images, as I was looking at other people's stories, I could tell they went with all kinds of images. Then the professor went around and grabbed about four story images and placed them on the board. Then he asked the class to decide as a whole, which story was the best, or the most successful. I personally liked the Starbucks story because each image related to the other, and it flowed nicely. The rest of the class didn't though, which is ok, and we picked a story that was about plastic surgery. The images included one of a young girl at the toy store looking at a barbie doll, a woman with lines on her face, and another woman that clearly looked like she had a lot of work done. It makes sense as a story so I could see what it won. Then the professor came back into the room and he asked which one we picked then went through several other stories to see what we thought. As we were sharing our thoughts, it seemed what we thought was the story didn't make sense to what was actually going on in the images. So, for me, it was hard to separate my thoughts on what the story seemed to be and what the story actually was.

After we went through the stories, we were asked to mix and match the images to create our own stories. Its interesting how some in the class mixed the images together. There was a lot of laughter and we described what the stories could have meant if they were originally put together like that. It was really funny. After this, we gathered around the professor who shared books with us that related to telling stories through different means. Then we watched a TED film on John Maeda. He was talking about simplicity and how it is found in the world. I thought the video was very interesting. He made a lot of sense too. At the end, our professor assigned us another homework assignment which is to find 7 images that represent the 7 deadly sins. It will be interesting to see what my classmates come up with...

Stage 3: Conceptualization Reading Response

The third stage in the book The Design Process by Karl Aspelund is much like the second stage but more about organizing your thoughts in designing. It seems to me while going through the reading that part of a concept or to conceptualize is to brainstorm and organize a collection of meanings in order to develop something successfully. The author makes a point that there are rules to brainstorming which should be followed in order to continue on the right path of the design process. The points include noting all ideas for the design which means however big or small an idea is in relation to your project, its important to write it down. That way you can see how far this design reaches out in the world in which it was created for. Another point for successful brainstorming is to set a time limit. By setting a time limit, the thought process that goes into brainstorming will be crucial and engaging for the everyone involved. The author also revisits the first stage which is Inspiration and how it relates to this stage. Brainstorming can be a very fun experience if those in charge make it out to be that way and inspiration can be called upon in getting ideas out for a design or project.

The idea of concept mapping was touched upon in this stage and it reminded me immediately of a similar activity we did in class but it was referred to as a mind map. Same idea though in which you take an object, question, meaning and break it down as much as possible. The book used an example of a leaf and broke down what a leaf was physically, visually, and mentally. By doing this, one can get a sense of a process going on of breaking down things to such a detail that analysis comes out of it. To analyze things you see in the world and understand every form of that thing, is crucial to the idea of a concept. If you designed something, and the mass population doesn't understand how to break it down, were you successful in the design process?

When presenting a concept, the author goes into the "Do's and Don'ts" of the presentation. Understanding your audience from the beginning including who makes up the audience, why they are listening to your presentation and what about it will they learn from the presentation. The presentation is crucial in getting your audience to not only understand the information you are giving them but to allow feedback so you can truly see if you made any sense to your audience. Its a terrible thing in my opinion to give a speech or present an idea of something and not ask the audience what there thoughts were at the end of the presentation.

One last thing I like to touch upon in the reading is whats known as the "Law of Prananz" which is a set of laws that relate to perception and individual experiences that play in favor of how something is perceived. I thought this portion of the reading was most interesting because the author explains how many things are seen in this world regardless of how little sense something makes to the naked eye because experience makes us understand these concepts. The book used several examples and I thought it was interesting how the mind works in relation to visual matter in the world that we live in. Also, I learned a new word which was Gestalt which comes from the German language which means to transform or change into something else. I've seen that word before in a video game that I played many years ago but never knew what it meant. So my "experience" of seeing this word before can kind of relate to the perception portion of the reading.

Thoughts on Class Session 4/18

So, class started and the professor asked us how the weekend was and if anyone did anything fun. After a few responses from the class, he had an activity for us. The professor told us that we had to organize the seating arrangement of the class by birthdays. I was like, oh wow, thats interesting. January birthdays started in the front and the rest of the months snaked through the rows all the way to the back which would be December. So being that I'm August, I knew that I definitely wouldn't be in the front row. Once the professor started this exercise, we all quickly got up and some of my classmates started yelling out months and those that were near each other were asking for birthday information. So the front row was finished within a minute or two and the second row started up, I noticed the months quickly jumped to July and before I knew it, I was in my seat. I assumed I was the only August but then another male student came up to me and asked what my birthday was and after finding out what is was, I moved over one seat since his birthday was 2 days before mine. Since im into zodiac signs and what not, I thought it would have been interesting to get into that subject, but the professor did ask some students what their sign was. Some people weren't sure which sign they were which made me OMG inside. I think its important to know what sign you are because it can help in all kind of situations. You can use it as an ice breaker topic or to make friends or find a partner who are compatible but more importantly for understanding yourself and why you are you. Im totally not trying to push this on anyone, but if you have an iPhone, I highly recommend you download this app called Horoscopes. I think its interesting so just wanted to share. Back to the exercise... so, the exercise was completed within 3 minutes if not shorter. There was much more progress than a similar exercise we had which was to sit in alphabetical order. I did notice though that after we finished the exercise, almost the whole back row was empty and realized that the class was a lot lighter than usual so that also played with the time factor of this activity.

The professor than started talking about story and the elements of a story. He had another activity for the class which was to pick 2 objects that each person had on them and to create a story out of these objects. He broke everyone up into 5 groups and he gave us 10 minutes to come up with an interesting story. I was grouped with two males and one female. Once the class activity begun, we immediately placed items on the table and grouped them together. Then we started discussing each item and what its purpose was going to be in the story. We started with a purple wireless mouse and then went from there. While we were talking about this story of ours, I couldn't help but wonder how amazing and silly this was, it was very entertaining for sure. So, once our story was complete we went through it to make sure it was ok. The story started with a mouse that lived within a labyrinth and was trying to find a way out. This mouse had a trustful guide which was represented by my iphone, earphones which represented a mp3 player that the mouse would use to listen to music, pair of scissors that would be his weapon, and so this mouse headed on its way for freedom. Along the way he comes across an enchanted forest which was represented by a tangerine. While temptation was strong, the guide directs the mouse to leave the forest and to carry onto his journey. Finally the mouse reaches a key which will unlock the door to freedom but it is guarded by a water monster represented by a water bottle. The mouse knows that this water boss isn't going to give the key up easily so he first offers a Red Robin gift card, but the water boss doesn't like Red Robin so then the mouse slashes the water boss and all the water spills out and the mouse is able to grab the key. Once the mouse opens the door, he finds himself in yet another labyrinth and looks up to see a scientist writing on a clip board.... I thought our story was hilarious and engaging. I noticed that all the other groups used their objects as such, but we used them as if they were the characters of the story themselves. It was great. I think everyone did an amazing job though for the time we had.

Then, the class looked at everyone's homework assignment which was to come up with a word or phrase and to find 10 images that changed the meaning of the phrase. It was interesting to see what people came up with but I noticed that within each assignment, there was a phrase and then a theme within the photos. I thought that was what it was about, but it wasn't. After going through them, the professor asked us if we thought there were any that changed the meaning every time with each image. No one said anything. Then one male student said he thought he had at least 5 images, but after the professor went through them, he only found about 3 or 4. He allowed us to redo it which will be for next monday's class meeting. I have to say that this assignment is really tough. How can you take a phrase and change it 10 times if not more? I think I have at least 3 images that change the meaning of my phrase but I don't know what's going to happen. Maybe there is something I or the class is not seeing yet that the professor is trying to get us to see? Either way, this was my favorite class session thus far.

Stage 2: Identification Reading Response

The second stage of the book Design Process by Karl Aspelund is Identification. It was a much longer section to read than the first one but for good reason. This stage in the process of design has to deal with figuring out all the questions that will come up after the formation of an inspiration which is the first stage. If inspiration was a blue print, it would be the sheet itself and identification would be the drawing on the paper. It was a very thorough section to read. Questions and concerns when identifying an idea or concept for any design included what kind of materials are going to be used? How much will this design cost? How long will it take to develop this design? How much of this design will be environmentally friendly? All kinds of technical questions come up on this stage. It is definitely the area where extreme planning is involved.

To make matters even more complicated and hectic, constraints were also introduced into the reading. These constraints can range from financially to environmentally. So it is with these constraints that a design has to be created within. They are like the walls of a house and depending on the size of the house is how much space you have to play with. Constraints can also be about time and what materials can be used in order to make a design. I think for me, time would be the most difficult constraint to work within because I seem to never have enough of it when I need it most. In a way, constraints represent the reality of limitation with any design. How far is to far? What and how much can be designed in a certain situation. Financially of course, the more money there is for the design, the higher quality it will be in the end result. In terms of the environment, how will a certain project go through a design process? The reading really connected the idea of human responsibility on designers for always keeping the environment as a constraint. To create things that will improve the way design is created and having as little effect on the world and its decreasing resources as possible for future generations.

I think the reading of this stage really helped me understand the facts of a design before it is created. It brings in all the realism and paves the way of  a once thought up inspirational concept so that the design will make sense as well as be environmentally friendly. Overall, very informative reading.

Superheroes and Ads

The class meeting on Wednesday started with us moving the tables to the back of the room and standing as a group facing the board along with the professor. Our projects which were going to be placed on the board were a homework assignment in which we had to print out an image and come up with at least 10 words or phrases that changed the meaning of that image. So, with four projects up at a time, we went through each one going through the list of words or phrases that belonged to each image. It was interesting seeing what each person's point of view was when trying to change the meaning of the images they selected. Some were hilarious, others ironic and meaningful. There was one image in particular that worked best to me and it was an image of a goldfish in a small fish tank that had a shark fin attached to its body. The phrases attached to this print were all interesting to me. Whose ever project that was did an amazing job especially with the image itself. There is so many ways to go about it and make up your own words along with it and the ones that person selected was really good.

We weren't able to go through all of them because we were running out of time and the professor had another activity for us so we had to move on. I think after a while though, we were all getting the idea of what to expect with the images so it made sense to stop when we did although I do think the professor said we were going to be looking at the rest in the next class meeting. So, after taking a small break which was nice because I was able to eat a snack since my tummy was rumbling, we moved onto the next activity. The professor placed several images on a few tables and one on the board. All the images had bold imagery and phrases that stood out in each image. They look mostly like images you would find in a magazine or on a billboard. They were all interesting. There was something in each one that we connected to in some way. There was one in particular that stood out to me. There was an image of Superwoman laying in a hospital bed who looked extremely ill and it was an ad for Aids awareness. To me, the message the image displays is how no one is immune to the disease. I thought it was a very powerful image, especially because the idea of superheroes is that they are immune to everything and anything. So showing one looking deathly and frankly disgusting really made it have this realistic connection.

After looking through all the images, the professor had us sit down in a group and we talked about the one image placed all alone on the board. What it "seemed" to be showing was a green hand that possibly belonged to the Incredible Hulk with a band aid on his index finger. The ad, for the Band Aid brand company, had this hand and a green background with a focus of light coming out from the center of the image. After discussing the image though, it turned out to be related to the hands in the Creation of Adam which is a painted fresco located on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I was first like what? I mean, I saw the resemblance, but why? What did the hand of god have to do with a band aid ad? I quite frankly did not get it since it clearly seemed to depict the hand of the Incredible Hulk but ok...

Toward the end, the professor talked with us about opening up more in the class and with each other. I myself have no problem talking with other people as I am a friendly person. Then I thought about it, being the Virgo that i am, that there is possibly much more to this situation of most of class not being as open as the professor would like us to be. Maybe its the time in which the class takes place, from 8AM to 10:30AM. Remembering last quarter, my first class of the day started at 10:50AM. Then, I thought it could also be because those of us in the class that don't contribute as much is because when the professor is talking, we have a certain respect to not open our mouths when not called upon. What if it turns out that most of us have something to say but we are afraid to say something because we don't want to be judged or misunderstood. What if some of my classmates just don't have anything to say? There is a lot of thoughts that come to mind in regard to the class as a whole sharing more in discussion. I don't know... maybe its just me. Like every class that Ive had in the past though, I'm sure as time moves on, the class will open up more...

Monday April 11th Class Session

Very informative class meeting yesterday. We were all sitting in our seats and our professor starting discussing the elements of a story. He asked a female student to write the ideas we said on the board. The males in the class were answering with things like setting, theme, etc. And after the girls started giving out ideas, we had a total of about 25 ideas that we thought were part of a story. After that, the professor asked us to move the chairs to the front of the class so we could view some videos. This portion of the class time was my favorite, and not because we were watching videos, but because of the content of those videos. The first video was of Amy Tan who is a well known author. She was a speaker at a TED convention. Her speech was amazing and I enjoyed listening to every word that came out of her mouth. Normally, when I'm listening to someone speak in front of an audience, I either listen or totally black out. With Amy, it was the former. There was one thing in particular that she touched open that I absolutely connected with which was when she was talking about experiences and events that come up in our lives and after the 1st step which is to know an experience is happening, the next step is for you to have an intention. What are your intentions with this situation or event that has landed itself into your life? Its seems to have both good and bad qualities when this question is asked to people. I think everyone has both sides but act upon one depending on their own past experiences. I related to that topic in her speech very much.

The second video we watched was of a woman by the name of Elizabeth Gilbert who is the author of the very famous book Eat Pray Love. While i enjoyed Amy Tan's speech from an experience stand point, I enjoyed Elizabeth's speech for the constant humor and comparison ideas she had to the creative world. She was talking about how in history many years ago that people like the Romans used to think that creativity that certain individuals had was given to them by some great godly being. They saw it more as a gift on loan rather than a talent. I think its interesting to see it that way being that for the last several hundred years, people have turned that idea into an egotistical one. I think that is true. Then she related that into how much pressure there is for artists and those that are in the creative design world to always produce top notch things. It also works against the creator who does create the ultimate thing because only after are they held to that high standard of design. You create something so magnificent and then you are expected to follow that up with something even more amazing. Imagine all the amazing design products we could have in this world if those that create didn't fear the critics and just created? I think this world would be a whole lot more interesting and diverse. It makes me think what a shame that here we are as graphic design students and while we are all talented in our own ways, we have to create extraordinary work every single time.

While we didn't turn in our Mind Map homework, our next homework assignment is to print out an abstract image and list more than 10 words that describe different emotions when placing one of these words along with the image. Will be interesting to see what other people in my class come up with...

Thoughts on Scott McCloud's Video

Scott McCloud is the author of Understanding Comics as well as many other comic books. The video was really neat and interesting. It definitely kept me on my toes especially because he talked so fast throughout the video. What helped the video come across as understandable was all the visual aids. It would make sense to use icons and images in the video other than just showing McCloud speaking because it relates to the idea behind comic books and such. I thought the video was informative, hilarious and interesting.

The professor asked the class to watch the video again and to take note of 3 things that were not clear or that we didn't know. For me, one thing that McCloud talked about in the video was a temporal map. I thought this term was interesting, and it turns out it has to do with the guidance within comics. It relates to how a comic is read and in what direction and how long it takes to read it. I figured it relates to the length of time it takes to read any given comic and that seems important to Scott McCloud.

Another thing that I didn't understand was durable mutation. After thinking about it and hearing what McCloud was saying in the video, I came to realize that it means when a new form of advancement in society particularly in media changes something for the better but has staying power. It means that a new technology or a mutation of a form of a certain technology can aid people if it has the means to change and improve things for the better. It sounds like a complicated idea but it makes sense.

A third thing that I didn't understand was blind faith. After thinking about it though, and researching the term, I have come to realize that it means those that believe in something but aren't quite sure what it is they believe in. And it could also mean a faith that cannot be seen necessarily. Which then confuses me  even more. Does that mean only a few people "see" it more than others. What will happen if enough people believe in it? Well it become a new faith? Whatever the case, it seems that the whole idea of faith and beliefs is a sacred battleground for some so I will just say that blind faith is a faith that isn't something you can see.

There was one thing that I found interesting that was in the video and that was when McCloud was talking about the scorpion that stung the frog. The story goes that the scorpion asked the frog if he could cross and the frog told him only if he didn't sting him. The scorpion agreed but still stung him. The frog asked why he stung him after saying he wouldn't and he said "because its my nature". I thought that was not only funny but made me think about all kinds of things that could work with that phrase. Humans in particular could relate to it more than anything else. It was definitely something that stood out when I watched the video both times.

Stage 1: Inspiration Reading Response

Playtime? Really? I’m definitely going to like this book now. Haha. The 1st stage of the book covers Inspiration which is one of seven stages that Karl Aspelund says makes up the process of design. This look at the first stage was very interesting in the sense of imagination. He discussed everything from ideas, to make believe and ancient folklore. I loved it. I think what's important to understand here though is that Karl is trying to get the reader to master the skill of inspiring one's self. Not in the way of what to be inspired about, but in the magical ability is has on one's inner self. Inspiration shouldn’t control what you want to do with a project or design, but it should be the starting point or launch pad in any design planning. I got a sense that Karl was giving the reader a red flag that while inspiration is necessary for all creation, that it shouldn’t overpower the wielder so to speak. Now I will never look at inspiration the same way again.

The author also discussed the idea of venturing out into the world for inspiration. I thought this was interesting but also made sense because if you want to make or produce something so drastic or unique you need to have as much exposure and experience as possible. That goes for anything though, not just design. Experience equals knowledge and skill. One thing that Karl touched upon that I found amazing but true was the idea of getting in touch with one's youth and memories of playtime. This quote from the book stood out to me. “This playful view of the world allows us not only to see the world differently, but also allows us to show others the world in a way they may have never considered before. The ability to create new worlds out of things that are all around us is indeed a valuable gift." (22) It makes total sense, this is what the movie industry is all about, and it’s about showing people another part of their world that they have never seen before. I think it’s important to see the connections the readings have with design or fine arts or even in daily life. That’s when I know that I’m going to relate and connect with a book.

One last bit that Karl touches on is not wasting time on research when having new ideas. While it can be helpful, it can also waste a lot of a designer’s precious time when deadlines come into play. I think it’s important to take note of that because a designer especially a beginning or less experienced one might get infatuated with the ideas they are looking into and spend more time than needed to research it. But then again, if you are in college as a design student, I would hope that you understand that whole process of time management. Overall, the reading was interesting and insightful. I enjoyed the idea of the genie in the bottle comparison as well which brought up my own memories as a kid. Definitely look forward to the second stage...

4th Class Session

Well, the 2nd week is over for my Concept Development class. The class meeting was most likely my favorite one thus far. So, I got into the class about 7:40AM and took my seat. Two classmates sitting near me asked if they could see my homework. Then a little before 8, Jimmy came in and asked me if I could set up the computer cart so the class could view a video. After that he asked us to move the tables out of the way and moved the chairs closer to the front of the room so we could all see the video better. The film was on AIGA which is a professional association for designers. I had heard of it before in a previous class but it was really helpful to get a feel for the organization as well as listening to a representative of a local chapter on campus. After that, we moved our chairs and tables back. I loved how I almost got stuck with a stool since everyone else had quickly taken their seats. Now if we could only have done that for the alphabetized exercise... Haha.

There was a point in the class after that the professor was discussing mind maps and had us do an assignment where we had to write out our own mind map. The starting point could be a what if or how to scenario so I thought about some ideas and decided what if I didn’t have a car? So i branched off some things from there like travel and experiences and listed the good and bad things about each one. It was really fun and made me think about what I was writing out. Being that I live 40 minutes away from campus with traffic, my mind was thinking about all kinds of things if I was to not have my own form of transportation. Not only bad things came up but good things too, like not having a car payment, and having more financial freedom. As we were working on this assignment, the professor went around the room collecting our previous homework assignment which was to create a diagram of what being an fine arts student means to us and how we would explain it to a bunch of high school students. After he collected them, he placed nine of them on the board including mine. My original thought was that we were going to be presenting them so mine wasn’t as detailed as some of the others because it was merely going to be a visual aid while I explained each key point on my diagram. Either way, it was nice to see mine included on the wall since my comic drawing didn’t score as high according to the class. *13th place* cough cough. Haha.

After we finished our mind maps, the professor asked us to take a look at everyone else's and see what they came up with. I have to say, I am really glad to be a member of this class and seeing how creative my fellow classmates are. There was a few that I especially enjoyed looking at, including one where a student asked what if he saw an alien? And another student that asked what if they woke up dead? Reading the various ideas that branched off from questions like those were simply hysterical. After that, the professor put up a video that was a speech by Scott McCloud. It was interesting to watch but since there will be a separate blog entry on that video; I will save my thoughts for then.

Oh, one more thing I want to mention. I think it’s safe to say most of us in the class are starting to become comfortable with one another. When I was done with my mind map, a student (I’m sorry, but Im not good when it comes to remembering names!) asked to see mine, without me making any notion to share it and he let me see his and thought that was really neat. Being friendly or seeming like your friendly goes a long way especially when people don’t know you. We also exchanged words before turning in our diagram homework assignment and when walking around the room looking at everyone's mind maps. I think for myself, if I didn’t look friendly or had a certain serious demeanor, maybe this fellow classmate of mine wouldn’t have asked to see my mind map? I know this doesn’t quite relate to the class, but this same day after class, I was later approached by two students while walking amongst many others out near the book store who needed directions to the transportation office. After I told them the direction to walk toward, he placed his hand on the back of my shoulder and thanked me. And then in my other class, where everyone is extremely quiet, the girl next to me asked if she could see my book. So I think people have choices to approach anyone they like, and it’s nice to know people feel comfortable to approach me without knowing me. Anyway, just wanted to share that because that was something that stood out to me today. Have a great weekend everyone and see you Monday. :)

Introduction Reading

The reading for this week's homework was on pages 1 through 16 which is the introduction of the book. The Design Process by Karl Aspelund is an even more amazing book based on what I had to read. When one is going through the words on the pages, you really get a sense that he knows his stuff. The subject matter in the introduction of the book really was about what he calls the stages of design. There was more detail and explanations into how these stages are used and how they should work. I got the sense that its like a template that you can use to help you throughout the entire process of design. He give pointers on how to go about the stages and even discusses the whole debate over environmental resources and concerns to be pro environment as a designer. That was one of the more enjoyable parts of the reading that seemed to flow throughout the introduction. Being that we live in a world with diminishing resources, Karl Aspelund does a great job of bringing that subject into the book. He explained how as designers we should be aware of our community and the natural world we live in and that was to be pro active especially because we are in the field of design. Not just graphic design, but design in general. 

My favorite part of the reading was where he compared his design process to a relationship. I got amusement and more understanding in how to look at these stages of his. It seems to me that this book is definitely going to be "a how to guide" type of text book that will assist me in understanding terminology and aspects that make up design. 

There was a perspective section in the reading that focused on Karl and his love for design as well as where it all started after he graduated. Reading this part really made me understand just how passionate and devoted he has been to design throughout his life. Karl definitely has a long list of achievements and practices that cover all areas of design and I think the fact that he wanted to create this book for students like me is great because then that means that the reading will be enjoyable. 

Best To Worst

O M Double G... the third class session pretty much blew the previous two out of the water. No, don't worry, nothing bad happened, but it sure was an interesting class meeting. So, for those that don't know by now, my Concept Development class is now located in room 308 in the Fine Arts building located in Cal State LA.

So, class started at 8AM, and the professor asked us all to place our comics on the front tables for everyone to see. These comics were a weekend homework assignment that was a sheet of paper with 4 different sized squares. In these squares we had to draw out a series of events that led up to our decision to come to college. So, once we put all of ours on the front desks, we were back to our seats and there was a lecture. After the lecture, the professor had a challenge for us. Without his help, we were going to rank all the comics from the best down to the worst and he gave us 15 minutes. Putting ourselves in alphabetical order was one thing, but to rank our comics from best to worst, I could only imagine it was going to get down right dirty. Whether we enjoyed doing our comic assignment or not, i sure didn't want mine to be in the worst portion. So, the professor left the room and we all got up and moved toward the tables with the comics. Then some of the students started talking about how we were going to decide how to go about ranking them. One girl said we should vote on them and then others went with that and after a couple of minutes, it resulted in a final decision. We were going to go down the line of comics and vote for our 3 favorite comics by placing a mark on the paper. The more marks a comic received, the closer it got to the best side of the ranking. After everyone voted, there were some comics that had votes that didn't match or tie with others and some that had a tie. In the second round of voting, we voted between those that were tied. Then after that, there were still some with ties, so we voted one last time. It took us less than the time the professor gave us to put the comics in order from best to worst.

After that, the professor came back in the classroom and asked us how it went and how we went about the order. After explaining to him how we did it, he asked if anyone disagreed with the order and 5 people raised their hands. Then he asked those 5 to go up and place the comics in the order they felt needed to be changed. Now, for me, I assumed that those that disagreed were unsatisfied with the whole order or most of it at least. It turns out, the only ones that needed to change in the order were a small amount of comics, and they were ranked near the best side. After a few minutes of debate, some of the comics had changed in order by one or two spots which to me, as compared to the whole line of comics, wasn't that big of deal. There was one in particular that didn't move down the line that a student wanted to move and it was in color. I think that one was only ranked higher for that reason, because it was in color, but like the professor said, as a class, we have to rank them in order from best to worst. And because the means to do this was by voting, since that method was decided for this ranking, that obviously means that popular vote was going to be the name of the game. Since this was the case, the comics with the majority of the votes were going to rank higher, simple as that. I totally get the whole disagreeing with one or two in the order that the comics came out to be, but majority of the class voted for those. If the professor told each of us to rank them individually, that would be different. I don't know, I guess I was the only one who ever watched an episode of Survivor...

 Their was a portion of the class where the professor was talking about architects. Now, in my Intro. to Graphics Design class, our final project was to use an architect and a building or structure they created that is somewhat famous around the world. The architect I used was Jorn Utzon who designed the Sydney Opera House. I remember how focused I was for that project. You think I would have remembered the guys name at least. So of course when the professor asked us each to name an LA architect, even though mine was not from LA, at least I could have said an architect's name. You can image how much that bugged me. He then tried getting some equipment to work so we could view some slides or films but there was technical difficulties so we weren't able to see what the professor wanted to show.

Overall, it was a very interesting class session and I enjoyed it. The class is definitely going to be a roller coaster of emotions for me this quarter. Not in a bad way of course. There is one more thing... he brought up a situation of when someone was young and went on a water slide for the first time. While i wasn't extremely young, I was still young enough to remember what he was talking about when he was discussing the feeling you get when doing that for the first time and if you open yourself up to the experience and trust yourself, it can be quite exhilarating. I understood what he meant and what emotions and feelings I was experiencing because I went through that. Think things and topics that we have experiences in are easier to understand when the professor has discussions. It will be interesting to see how wednesday's class goes...

1st Reading Assignment

This entry is in response to my thoughts to the first 21 pages of The Design Process by Karl Aspelund. This is the book that the class will be reading for our Concept Development course. I was very fortunate to receive my copy in the mail this morning. I couldn’t jump right in of course as I had work till 5pm but was able to read it this evening and let’s just say this is one book that I will have no problem understanding.

The book itself is organized into 7 areas, which are Inspiration, Identification, Conceptualization, Exploration and Refinement, Definition and Modeling, Communication, and Production. The reading was interesting and I sure learned a lot about the author, who seems to be a genuinely nice person. For one, nothing bothers me more than a text book that, even with chapters, is so unorganized. As I was reading the pages, I could tell there was though and detail put into this book. And that’s a good thing. This book is truly written for the designers, as they are the ones who demand the best. I really am not one to praise a book, let alone on a blog but The Design Process has done a great job so far of keeping my interest. You know when you read up to the assigned page in past course assignments and you reach the last page and turn it to read on? That happened to me during the reading for the first assignment. So, this is a good sign that I will enjoy the rest of the book.

The author seems to want the reader to understand that the book itself and all the pages it contains it following a design process. This means that he wanted to make sure that as one is reading the book, that they are leaning and understanding things in steps that all have to do with design. For one, it’s organized, but the idea is there, the design process, the steps it takes to go from one point to another. The aspect of creative thinking and planning, that’s all relevant ideas that came to my mind when i was reading through the introduction of this book. Inspiration, that’s like the most important part of any idea, but it requires the most motivation and positive attitude if one is to go forth and venture out this idea into something much more. That’s what I got out of the reading anyway. Look forward to the next reading.

Expect The Unexpected

Well, the second class session was quite interesting. The activities that happened the second time around were just as unexpected as the first class meeting. So, around 7:40 I walked into the classroom and sat down waiting for the class to begin. At 8AM, the professor walked in and asked if everyone signed in and then he wrote 308 on the board. That number immediately struck a chord with me because that was the number to a classroom I had the previous quarter which was Color Theory. The professor asked us all to go move to that room and find a seat. Having been the second day in this classroom that we were in, 320, I had developed some comfortable feeling to the fact that this was going to be my classroom for the next 10 weeks, and I had already developed some sort of bond with the classmate next to me. But all that was thrown out the window when we all moved to room 308. I walked in and immediately hunted down the same seat I had in Color Theory. Now, here we all were, fresh and new again in terms of a new classroom setting and possibly sitting next to new classmates. And although I had been in this classroom before, an uncomfortable and anxious feeling came over me. I found myself asking what’s next?

The professor lectured for a while about IP addresses and the like, and while we were getting into discussion, and that comfortable feeling came slowly sinking back in, he came fast with a curve ball. He had a task for us which was to get up from where we were sitting and to organize ourselves in alphabetical order by first name. Well, having only learned about 3 student’s names from the first class session, this was going to be interesting but chaotic. And boy was it. At first, everyone was somewhat hesitant and looked confused, but within the first minute, everyone was asking each other what their names were and moving to the general area of the room they believed they would be sitting at. Since my name starts with the 4th letter of the alphabet, I knew I might be sitting in the front row. Once the A's were figured out one female student yelled out if there were any more A's, then went on to ask if there were any B's. Since there were no B's, the two C's that were standing near me took their place and then it was the D's. A male student next to me, whose name also started with the letter D, asked what my name was and after figuring out who went first alphabetically, we both took our seats. There, I was done, my part was finished. Sitting down now next to a somewhat familiar face but nevertheless a new person was bringing back the first day of class feeling. While there was confusion with the second row and it took them the longest to figure out the order, everyone in the class eventually was seated. Could we have done it faster? Sure. Could there have been more order? Absolutely, but none of that really mattered at the time, it was crucial to understand what had just happened. The professor then asked around what we thought the reasoning for the alphabetized seating was all about. While some students said it was to "wake us up" and to "break the ice", I think it was about the experience itself. In all my life, I have never had to do that ever in a classroom setting. So, it was a new experience for sure. One can look at it like someone giving you an idea or proposition, and having to work with that. What would happen in this scenario? The end result was not only interesting but exciting too.

So then we went back to discussion for a while which included the idea of time and its purpose. Being a person who questions things, it was a more familiar topic to discuss than IP addresses. Then somewhere along the discussion, the question what if came up. The professor asked what if time wasn’t linear, and after hearing his ideas of what else time might be, he asked us a what if question. Starting in the back of the room, he went down the line asking everyone what if? Responses were hysterical, typical, and interesting. Then I thought, what would be a really good what if question but one that actually would relate to me. So, when it came time for my response, I asked what if money didn’t exist? And rather than just answering the question and being done with it, I thought about it after I asked it. Really, what if money didn’t exist? What if there was another way that people on this planet where rewarded for their hard work? All these ideas came flooding in and before I knew it, all the other what if responses had passed and we moved onto a slide show of various images. Right here at that moment, I knew, whether i was still slightly uncomfortable about where I was sitting, and who I was sitting next to, that this class is going to be a challenge. Not to say it won’t be challenging like other classes but it is definitely going to be challenging mentally. Let's just say I walked out of that classroom with a slight headache, but a good one.

With the first week of school finished, there is still plenty more to come and who knows what we are going to be doing, observing, experiencing, learning, about the course subject matter, our classmates, and ourselves. It’s going to be interesting for sure.

Thoughts on First Class Session

With the first class session behind me, I have to say that Art 220 is going to be a very interesting course. It’s safe to say that I have been in plenty of classroom settings as this is my last quarter as a junior at Cal State LA. I’ve become use to the routine of the "first day" of the quarter and all the introductions that come with each class. But as soon as the professor walked in and greeted those in the room with an individual good morning, I knew this course I signed up to take 6 weeks prior was going to be different. The question then was if this class is going to be a good different or a bad different, and based on the first class meeting, I can say it’s a good different. Well, let’s just say a small mandarin had something to do with it.

The professor had two students pass out small mandarins and had us examine the small fruit for a couple minutes. As the two minutes were passing by, I couldn't help but feel a connection with it. I didn't know why this was happening until I later realized that in some crazy way, it was not only my first day in the class, but it was the same for the mandarin I had in my hand too. Next the professor had us pair up with the student next to us and describe the mandarin as best we could. My partner went first and in those two minutes, I quickly learned that another person can have a very different outlook of a small fruit than me. You think something like a fruit is a simple thing to describe and explain to someone but even that can be very complex. So, when my turn came around, I described the mandarin as best I could and as I was, I couldn't help but think, here I am in a classroom communicating with a person about my particular mandarin, that up until now, was a complete stranger. This was definitely not something I was expecting especially with the title of the course being Concept Development. But nevertheless, after that, the professor told us to hold onto them as we were going to be capturing the mandarin on paper through drawing, painting, and all kinds of art mediums over the next 10 weeks. Since i have taken many drawing courses and have experience with many types of art mediums, I feel that the documentation of my mandarin will be interesting, especially since there needs to be a total of 50 pieces of work. A daunting task? Maybe, but so far there has been nothing I can’t accomplish since I’ve been in college.

One thing about the professor I noticed immediately was that he asked the students many questions. These questions ranged from how we could tell he was a professor just by looking at him, to what we thought we would learn in the class and what we would hope to take away from this course at the very end. Questions that one doesn't expect especially for the first day of class and yet it was ok that they were asked because it made sense to ask them for the theme of the class. I think the mood any class as a whole or the way it is setup has a lot to do with a professor and the ability of the professor to make a class engaging. One thing that's for sure is I got a very positive vibe from the professor throughout the entire class meeting. I can tell that he is going to be the type of professor that keeps you on your toes which is a nice change for me being that I’ve had a lot of professors in the past that never quite pushed my critical thinking skills to the limit.

In terms of the attendance policy, being late is not an option for those that want a good grade in the class. I was very glad to find out that my professor is going to take tardiness and absence seriously.  I’ve always been a firm believer in being on time, and not just for classes, but for anything in life. I was somewhat stunned at how many people walked in late. Not so much because of the time schedule issue, yes 8 AM can be a bit harsh, but because it was the first day of class. First impressions are everything. So, it’s good to see that the professor made it loud and clear about all that, because like he said himself, we paid for this, why not get every second we can of this experience? That was definitely a comment that stood out to me.

While i did learn a lot that day, I think there is a lot more to be learned in the coming weeks. I think the students in the class are going to be pushed to think critically and to expand our minds to the thoughts of concepts or ideas, which we also learned the meaning of as well. While the syllabus outlines what the basic run-through of the class will be like the next 10 weeks, I feel there is much more material and other things not listed that we are going to learn as the class progresses. It might be small things, but things that we are going to learn about in the class and even about ourselves. Can we truly think outside of the box when we are asked to, or to develop some type of idea or assignment in class that will require us to go above and beyond what we already have stored in our minds from past classes? So many questions wait responses and only time will tell if we will all be ready for the challenges and expectations that lay ahead. It will be interesting to see what the coming weeks hold for my fellow classmates and I.