it's all beginning

The end of this class is near. Our final portfolio review is next week and I am working very hard at getting all what I need finished and perfect. This class was just a stepping stone in preparing me for what's to come in the real world. I can't thank my professor's enough these past four years in making me become a better designer. Good or bad, each one has helped me along the way and I appreciate them all very much.

This part of my life is ending and a new chapter is beginning. I'm ready to learn on a different level and become even better than I am now. All I can do is apply what I have learned in classes and through my internships to have the best career in design that I could ask for. It's really hard to think about how much of a baby I was four years ago in my first design class on reserach and methods. I have grown so much. I have better skills, I can handle critique, I can properly critique, have a better eye for this industry.

getting the actual products

BEST DAY EVER! I got my business cards in the mail! I'm so excited to finally have what I made printed and in my hands. I'm ready to hand them out and hopefully get something out of it.

HERE THEY ARE :)

Though my design is perfect, I'm unhappy with how they were cut. You can't see it, but someone else's business card wasn't cut off on my blue/grey set. It's unprofessional and I called for a re-order. This is for my grade and my career. They reflect me and they need to be perfect, so I hope this new batch is just what I want.

struggles with code

I have a love/hate relationship with html. My website is underway and there are still many kinks to work out. I have my home page all ready to go, but now it's onto showcasing my work. Since my brand is simple, I wanted that to reflect in my website. I use my same color pallete and lines. In order to show my work I am using a fancy box. Because I limited myself with a smaller than usual design, I think this works quite well and it looks really nice when clicked on and displayed.

Trying to get the fancy box to work took a long time. The second I finally got it up and running correctly I jumped around like I won the lottery. I guess I tend to feel that way after I get any code to work. I think I just get way to excited when I figure out what's not working all on my own- sometimes with the help of others or the internet- but it's a really satisfying feeling. I realize that I have to push through my frustrations with code because at the end of it all I know I accomplished something awesome.

finishing my brand

Now that I have my letterhead all set, it's time to apply the design on everything else! I realized I had way too many colors in my palette, and chose two to really focus on and create my brand around. As you saw in my previous post, I chose a purple and a grey-ish blue. I wanted to do something a little different regarding my business cards, so I used both colors to have two sets. Below is my final business card design:

I really love how they came out. I think they reflect me who I am as a person and designer. They're clean and they're fun. Just what I wanted. Now I can't wait until I have them all in my hands ready to give out to people! In addition to a business card and letterhead, I need an envelope:

...a picture is supposed to be here but it won't load, but I think you get the gist of it all. The "am" bleeds off and instead of my contact information it's just my home address. I stuck with the purple because it stands out more.

Lastly, I've been working on my website. It's coming along nicely, I'm really happy with the progress I am making even though sometimes it becomes incredibly frustrating. I've said it before and I'll say it again- it's incredibly rewarding seeing your finished product- something you worked incredibly hard on that you did all by yourself. I think that's why I really enjoy coding html. I may not know all the ins and outs with it, but it's a puzzle that makes you really happy and satisfied once completed.

it's all becoming real

I GOT MY PORTFOLIO! I took the trip to Hulls and finally got my physical portfolio, and it started to really hit me that in just a few short weeks i'll be in the real world going on interviews showing my work proudly displayed in here. It's a beautiful black portfolio, just what I wanted. Now it's just time to fill it. It is so important to have a portfolio that fits you and what your design aesthetic is. I've been started to get all my work ready to be printed and laid out to be presented. I would post a picture of it, but I haven't had the chance to take it out of the plastic container protecting it to admire it and love it. Is that sad? That I love my portfolio? I guess not, that's my whole career! I'm so proud to put all the best work from over these past four years into this portfolio and share it to fellow designers!

Getting this portfolio has literally made me feel like a grown up. I knew that this class was going to force me to grow up more than I have and develop my own brand to be professional and a real adult. I just never knew how much of an impact having a physical portfolio in my hands makes me feel. I imagine this is how I'll feel when I get my cap and gown for graduation. Reality is smacking me in the face. HARD.

finding out who i am.. for now

Through my next round of comps for my brand I hit a breakthrough and managed to get a seed! I got rid of the black and the mess and started to reign things in a be simple. I put together a color palette:

that complimented me and that would manage a modern feel in the end. Out of all the comps that I made for my letterhead, this is the one that became my seed to re edit into my final design.

This comp made me realize how simple I want my brand to be and with a little inspiration and some minor edits, I came up with my final design soon after this. I found this great brand on Pinterest that happened to have the "A" bleed off. I love bleeds and since the beginning I wanted to just use initials and so I came up with my own version and I am really happy with how it all came out.

Everything is trial and error. It is a bigger process than you think to really get something great. It's rewarding when it finally happens.

next step in branding

In this field there will always be people telling you no or that they don't like what you've made. That's the nature of it and you have to learn to take it and grow. Holding onto that rejection will just hold you back. That being said, after reviewing my sketches for a logo, it was best to start over. That's how you learn and it's best to learn that nothing is great the first time around anyway. Frustration usually sets in around this time of the process and I was stumped. I thought playing around in Illustrator would help me find a direction. And it did! It made me realize that that's not a good way to do things either. I came up with this: 

I really like a clean and modern feel yet chaotic at the same time and I guess I tried a little too hard with these comps. It was fun to make though and play around with different tools in Illustrator, but I ended up going in a different direction.

logos!

It's crazy to think that I am at the point in my college career where I have to brand myself. This is it, this is where it all ends for my real career to begin. To be honest, I was slightly dreading starting this process of branding myself. It should be the most exciting thing. I have my own freedom in what to design for myself. The thing is, I had no idea where to begin. I started with previous students' work, then Lynda videos on branding yourself, then I moved onto Google. It wasn't enough. I had to find inspiration within myself and not look to others' work. Why? Because it's about branding ME not anyone else. Someone else might have a sick logo, but it pertains to them. It reflects THEIR work. It wouldn't work for me. So I sat with my graph paper and a pencil and thought of all things that related to my name and my interests. I came up with some crappy things and I came up with some pretty cool things- or at least I think they are- but overall I think I came up with some good starts. I am absolutely awful at drawing, so that was another reason why I was not ready to sketch anything. I realized maybe I could use that to my advantage. I may not be able to draw intricate work or designs, but there are so many things you can make by overlapping shapes and lines. That's what I went for and I hope I succeeded in some way.

Above you will see one of the designs I came up with. It was really hard to not use my initials at all, so I snuck a few in but I really liked how this one came out. I thought it would be cool to play on “AM” as in morning. So you can see the end of the “M” making a sun with the ray crossing the “A”. It is just a start, but I am proud of myself for coming up with twenty-four ideas with plenty more forming. Branding yourself is way harder than you think it is, but once I am done with this class I will be really proud of how far my brand has come.

how it all began!

I first fell in love with design with MySpace.  I was OBSESSED with finding new layouts for my profile and going within the code and changing it.  I don't even know how I knew to just fiddle around with it.  As time went on, I really enjoyed learning the HTML even though it was just the basics.  Senior year of high school I took a computer programing class and my teacher taught us some more HTML basics among other things.  We designed some webapges and I realized that I could really make something of myself this way.  He had us show the class websites that inspired us, and the one I chose was for Alanis Morrissette.  Her page was interactive with a book that you can turn the pages.  I was so fascinated by it and really wanted to be able to do that.  I was really excited that Quinnipiac had a graphic design program.  Not only graphic design, but a wide range of paths for me to take.  I've struggled to find what route I want to go down but after last semester, I really feel like coding is where I want to be.  Though I thought I was a pro back then, I found that I have A LOT more to learn.

When I need any help regarding coding I use w3schools, it's a tutorial website that lets you play with the code and understand it before putting into Dreamweaver.  Professor Banach showed our class this site last semester and even though I'm not a coding pro yet, I feel like one.

me!

Hello all! My name is Angela Mascio and I am currently a senior at Quinnipiac University.  I'm majoring in Interactive Digital Design and am enrolled in the Interactive Media Masters program.  I'm still trying to figure out which road I want to take within this field, so I'm really looking forward to finding that out with this class- well at least hope to find it out.  I had a SUPER crazy summer with two internships to start gaining the experience I need once I graduate.  I interned as a production artist at Stony Creek Brands- a catalog company- three days a week.  I worked on designing spreads, back end production, editing codes for the website, and how to work on an in-house creative team.  I was also a web intern at the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show twice a week.  There, I worked on all things going on their website.  Anything that was talked about on the radio I updated on their site.  I also created dynamic leads that scrolled across the page and were clickable to another page.  I edited codes and also gained more professional experience in using social media.  My summer taught me how to manage time and how crazy, yet awesome, working in this field is.  With that, I am ready to learn more and grow to be a better designer :)