Video Final Music Video:
Once again, Alex did a fantastic job on his half of the project and together I love the final product (of course! It is my family!) The “story” – we grown ups are too intense… just get out and play and be kids again. This version has some sound in the background that was removed for the final, but this is the one I uploaded to YouTube.
Web Scripting class wound itself up to a final project web site and before it was over, I was asking myself “what was I thinking?” I was a mess and was really questioning my choice of degree program. That is how bad this quarter was for me.
Constraints: A favorite band, 3 columns on the home page, 5 specific pages.
I chose a band that would be different from what is usually seen in the classrooms, yet would still provide content. The Cockman Family – Gospel Bluegrass fit my own criteria nicely.
There was more time spent on meeting the course rubric than on the physical design, but the “feel” I wanted to portray is “wholesome, family, folksy”. I am including 2 images here:
The teacher felt I could have done a better job creatively and I was dinged for that… jolly fine! I was just happy that I finally understood what I was doing. Burnout had set in. This class had been the most stressful of my entire life, partly because of allergy issues. It ended up being my first ever B+ because I missed 2 classes due to allergies, which dropped my A- below the tipping point. Those participation points really do make a difference!
I am handing out a #1 Teacher award this quarter. Being a teacher myself, I am not easily impressed; however, I have met a few good ones at AI and I always let them know.
This quarter one instructor went over the top into the “Excellence” category, and that was Beth Remsburg. All the students who have talked with me about Beth speak with great affection, even as they complain that her classwork is a killer. The thing is… you LEARN in her class! And the students know she cares about their success even if it is painful. This adds up to one of those teachers who impacts lives! Several times this quarter it brought to my mind my 3rd grade teacher whom I loved dearly and have never forgotten.
The biggy for me is that I am no longer afraid of logos and using them to communicate visually in a corporate setting. I have even learned that it can almost be fun! The moment that corner was turned for me was the moment I knew Beth was one of the best teachers I have had!
Beth kept encouraging me until I did it… always challenging not just me, but each of us, to be better (with a charming mix of humor and wisdom that keeps you from wanting to strangle her!)
Beth made me feel like I really could do this. That is a mark of a true teacher. I will forever remember that matter of fact “Sure you can!” comment she makes (leaving you standing there with nothing to say in rebuttal.) Not to mention her “get over it!” [When I am struggling with a project I have a tendency to outprocess about it, which some unnamed friends call whining, and Beth did not cater to the “I am no good at this” comments.]
Unfortunately this is probably the last class I will have with Beth, but I know for certain that she will stand out as one of those teachers who changed my course in life! One of those you tell people about years later.
I am not sure of all the impacts, but I know they are big and I really want to say “Thank you, Beth! If more teachers were like you, there would be no limits to what we students could do!”
Woo hoo! Finally an A on my logos and I think I learned something!
We had to choose a museum and create 6 wayfinder logos for it. I chose my beloved Eiteljorg, bought a membership, and spent a lot of time on location (doing research…uh huh!) I also took several of my buddies along at different points and introduced them to the museum (with plans to take more of them this summer!) Needless to say I was in my own version of artist’s heaven! This re-awakened that passion in my heart for painting and all things Native American.
What do you think? Did I get it? I know I still have a ways to go since I am only in the beginning stages of creating logos. I also thought these were very simple, but I wanted that. Compared to my talented fellow-students I felt they were very basic, but Beth encouraged me with a good grade, by telling me these were my best yet, and saying “simple is good”.
If I were working with a client, I would take these to them and there would be several rounds of changes before the final product hit the printers. So here is my first draft for wayfinders representing areas of interest in the museum:
Three weeks in programming class were spent in the 3D world of Canegie-Mellon’s program called Alice. It was interesting, but honestly, I was working hard to keep up. Being a hands on artist and having grown up before the era of 3D gaming, etc. much of this is taking some getting used to.
This was the project I made for this course: basically the cat meows, which startles the cow, who kicks the chicken, who is caught by the scarecrow, scaring a frog into leaping causing the chicken to fly off the screen. The cat, scared by all the ruckus, runs to the barn, which opens as he arrives. I did this with my nieces and nephews in mind.
All because of a cat’s meow…
The only thing that saved me in this class is the 100% I got on most of the tests. I understood the concepts, executing them was a bit more tricky but I pulled off an A for the final grade.
The Art Institute Culinary School opened a restaurant called Eleven at the Pyramids. As a result, we were asked to create 3 logos capturing their essence. I don’t have much to say about this project. However, the final logo had not been chosen by the end of the quarter and 3 of my favorite students were in the running for that honor! Can’t wait to see who gets it!
Create a story without using words and only 60 seconds.
Driving home the night we were assigned this video project I was thinking of how they are ripping out the beautiful tree line I had been driving through for over 15 years in the name of widening and “beautifying” the street.
The line “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot” came to mind and gave me the idea for a commentary on The Human Footprint. Alex was cool with it and here is the result:
Corporate Identity is the class I learned the most in. It is probably my favorite of the quarter also, but don’t rate that too highly… I did not like my other 3 classes at all.
Our next set of logos came about when we drew a topic out of a “hat” (Beth loves doing this to us… the anticipation of which dire topic you are going to receive can nearly cause a stroke, and since I mouthed off about it, she made me wait until LAST!)
My topic was Health, which was not nearly as bad as the quarter I pulled a clippy out of the hat, or worse, the Greek diety, Eros! <Note: some things will never be forgotten.>
I was still struggling with the software and wanting to play with my wacom, so I got dinged for thin lines. Another B… I am not “A” quality, but if I have learned anything in these design courses it is to “accept the situation”.
My fellow students are always so sweet and supportive, which I appreciate, because their work looks so slick. They also keep encouraging me with the software struggles.
Web Scripting… thought it would be easy. Suprise!
While I was using Dreamweaver every day for my work with Harrison College, I was not designing in it or really using the software for much more than a place to hold my code. This class seemed to be more about Dreamweaver than learning what the code was meant to do, etc. It messed with my head for the whole quarter until I decided to quit using the software and just code!
Midterm project was an e-card. Since I like to apply classwork to my life, I designed a reminder for my family reunion which was scheduled for the Sat. after quarter end. We had to meet specific criteria, which drives some of the design choices such as number of photos, number of links, and the grid.
This project was about learning how to create a wordmark and a lettermark using a fellow student’s name. We had to find out what type of company the student would like to have and then use their name / initials to create the business logos.
The most pleasurable portion of this project was pairing up with Alex, who is fairly new to the Indy AI campus. You will see Alex’s name show up on my video class work, since we also partnered in that class. Alex’s business choice was a specialty ice cream shop, so I turned his lettermark into a stylized ice cream scoop.
Lettermark (A and an O)
Wordmark
Beth is teaching us to design first in black and white and then change it to a two color logo. Only the black and white are included here since they give you a good idea.
I used my wacom to hand render the lettering and was still struggling with the software (Adobe Illustrator) since I had not used it over 4 months. That was a real hinderance to the creative flow. I am still learning this whole online creativity “thing”. Computers and drawing is such a new concept for me!
Flexing My Wings 
