The Art Institute

Adventures in Art Classes

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IMD201 Web Authoring Final

The final project for my web class was to re-design the Art Institute’s site (I got a 295/300 on this! My menu jiggles and that docked me 5 points):

  • Use css (not tables)
  • create a Dreamweaver template and then use that for 6 pages (Home, About, News, Student Life, etc.)
  • sub pages must contain the same info as is on the site
  • links must work etc.
  • use Cufon to place a specialty font in the page titles

Home Page

One of the sub pages

Unfortunately my partner bailed on me and I finally figured out he wasn’t going to show (it was his job to supply some of the graphics as well as help code the sub pages after I created the template.) I coded this and created the graphics in one weekend.  Needless to say, I felt a certain sense of accomplishment over that!  Prior to going into the weekend, I was feeling quite shakey with my html capabilities, but this has given me a confidence that I would not have had if I were working with a solid partner.  (Not that I am thanking the kid, mind you!  Made for a wicked weekend! As well asI took a hit on some late online homework .)

That crunch means there are some things that are not fully “clean”, but all the requirements were met and even exceeded.   Below is a clickable version of the same seen above (for those who might be nerdy enough to care about the details!)

http://www.sherigarvin.aisites.com/IMD201/AISite/index.html

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Creating a Hang Tag

This week in Electronic Design we were required to create a packaging design for our business.  Since Squangles is still very personalized, that was a challenge and the normal packaging (boxes, displays, etc.) was out of the picture.  However, I have presented my work at art fairs and charity auctions.  I also hand deliver the item to the buyer, who then turns around and gives it as a gift.

This was to be presented to the client on an 8.5 x 11 presentation board with various views.  I chose to stylize a rocking chair design to reflect the wooden furniture portion of Squangles and create a hinged gift tag.  Views include: front (closed), back (closed), and an inside (opened) with 2 ribbon options.

Since this is an online class, prework was submitted via a pdf file:  SquanglesW4

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Squangles Logo / Color Ad

Week 3 in Electronic Design was about developing a logo for our client (Squangles) and then incorporating that logo into the ad from last week, now completed in color. 

Prework that was turned in for feedback:

SquanglesW3

Some splashes of bright complimentary color, the lines with an almost crayon-like look, whimsical font, and voila, the final logo.

 

 The final, full color ad with the logo incorporated: 

[Note:  this is one of my illustrated table and chair sets with Charlotte’s poetry going around the edges.  This was commissioned by a chiropractor and now resides in his waiting room, which is decorated in the soft greens.]

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Garvins!

My brother, Charles, brought his family up from TN for a week and we had some fun together.  It gave me a nice break, with family time on the farm one day and canoeing with the family another.  This month I also went to the zoo with Charlotte and later with Lainey.  Below are some of my favorite picks highlighting the month of August.

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I love newsletters!

The second half of the quarter has started and my new online class (Electronic Design) is very interesting and interactive!  Our first project was to choose a company that we will work with for the next 5 weeks.  I chose Squangles, my children’s illustration / Charlotte’s poetry business. 

First project,  mock up a design of the newsletter using a grid style of your choice.

First the requisite thumbnails of various newsletter styles/grids (portrait only).  #11 was a popular vote from classmates, but I chose #15 because it was outside of my experience and thus, seemed more personally interesting. 

Then choose one and turn it into a mockup on Illustrator.  (I kept the mock up as black and white and just used a photo that was in my stash.)  I think this grid could challenge me a bit, so I chose it. 

This activity made me miss my newsletter… I want to get back to writing, designing, publishing it!!!

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Easier Quarter

This quarter has been the first break I have had in a year.  We are not learning anything stressful in the one class, I learned nothing in my online Web Marketing class (because I have been involved with real web marketing for years…so that was a waste of money, which was actually sad), and so it was left up to the html/css class to challenge me during the first half of the quarter.

Fortunately, Jason (html instructor), slowed down this quarter with only 2 hour lectures as opposed to the previous 4 hours.   Some of it actually stuck in my head and by mid quarter I was able to produce the following re-work of the Indiana Sheltie Rescue site.  It was a challenge of my limited skills, but a thrill to work on!

On a side note, there are some glaring (to me) design issues, but I still made 100% on the project.  I hope to continue developing the site, and as I get better with the Adobe software and html, I will fix the design elements that are bugging me.  All in all, though, I like the overall effect.

The following 3 pages are the only ones I completed, but here is the beginning stages of that site in html:  Indiana Sheltie Rescue

Proposed home page

Volunteer page

Adoptable Shelties page

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“Full Speed Ahead!”

“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” (Anais Nin)

After much consternation, meetings with teachers, and discussions with friends, I finally changed my major to Graphic Design.  Once that decision was made this week, I have been at peace about my studies.

My web teachers keep saying how good a web design degree is… making it sound like the holy grail of any career decision.  However, my resume is strong, and business topics are easy.  Coding, while there is much to learn, is linear, predictable, and not a challenge.  It was a comfort zone choice at the time – a known entity and a safe bet.  Interactive media was to be the additive challenge. 

It is often hard to let go of what is known to step out into the unknown.  Graphic Design is a big risk for me career wise, yet it pulls on something deep within where I live.  I have never worked in the graphic arena.   It uses soft skills as well as technical.  There is nothing linear about it.  It is creative, which can be unpredictable and elusive.  And both sides of the brain will be engaged in a way I have not experienced before on a business level. 

This move scares me, it thrills me, it challenges and excites me.  I have doubts that I can do it and specters of the fear of failure that sometimes haunt me.  It is new territory that will push my limits, challenge me to always be better, frustrate me and maybe even make me cry at times.  There may never be that point of satisfaction that I get with technical writing knowing I met all the rules, the page is precise, the code clean, and the project was the best.  Yet I know, deep down, I will grow and expand and be more than I have been before. 

I am ready for it.  I feel excited and alive as never before!  The time is right and the time is now to do something positive with the precious creative gift granted to me by Divine design.

Admiral Farragut’s bold charge keeps coming to mind:

“Damn the torpedos!  Full speed ahead!“

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Ansel Adams’ Long Lost Negatives

I find it so exciting when old art, thought to be lost, is found!  It makes it even more poignant when it is an artist I admire.

A man paid $45 at a garage sale for what has turned out to be 65 Ansel Adams’ long lost negatives!  That man is set for life, but even better, the gift of  our country’s beauty as seen through the eyes of a great artist has been given back to the world.  What a thrill!

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I am so “there”…

There comes a point in nearly every student’s college career where they want to quit or they start questioning their decision on their degree program.  At the end of last quarter and through break I was so burnt out.  I was so “there”!

Now, 2 weeks into the new quarter I am settling in and the quarter is very manageable.  Burnout has subsided.  However, I am seriously considering whether Web Design is the right choice.  That is my new “there”… and I am sooooo there!

It is very frustrating, because my soul feels very right brain (creative), yet my left brain argues against it (and I am skilled enough with the left brain tasks that it is a strong argument.)

Try this creativity test from The Art Institute

I am a “cusp” child and I cusp even on these tests.  I was born on the cusp of Scorpio/Sagittarus, I was born on the cusp of baby boomers/Generation X.  On both of these I lean forward to the second option.  On the brain tests, if there is any leaning, it is to the creative right brain.

I am one mixed up, yet very versatile and complex gal… sometimes it is loads of fun, but at other times it is a real pain!  Trying to decide on my next career path, that is a pain.