3/15/12 Last day of Lectures

Its finally here. The day everybody leaves class with a sense of relief, satisfaction, and the biggest thing a smile on everybody's face. In class the whole time I was zoned out thinking about my film and wondering how everybody else is doing. Moss came with a different attitude as well. He usually comes in with a smile or some sort of game, but not today. Since it is the last day of lectures it was understandable because I'm sure he wanted to set it straight on what we should have learned through out the time that we have had with him. A serious question came up in class that was. What is the difference between design and art. A class mate took a shot at the question and was not able to answer it clearly. So i thought to myself and I came up with this. Art is a for of expression, the creativity, the message, everything that makes the piece worth looking at. As for design I believe that is the process in what you do when you make piece of work. The process behind your project. For example, design would be like a sketch of a house plan and Art would be the house itself when completed. I think my thought behind this question is clear and the answer is there. Whether I am right I dont know, but I believe I am. This question took up a lot of time, but well worth the discussion because not a lot of people were able to answer clearly, so that meant some where along the line there was a confusion or just was not explained right to us. Since we are all mostly Graphic Designer we should be able to answer that question like nothing.

Towards the end Professor Moss gave us time to work on our videos again and gave us exact directions on what he wants and what should not be included. I took that time to put in work. So hopefully when Tuesday comes my video explains my message clearly.

1. hopeless- a feeling of no success
2. considerate- be thoughtful
3. self-assure- in other words confident, secure

Tue 3/13/12

Tuesdays class was very informative regarding our final project, or better choice of words our last assignment.  Professor Moss helped us ask ourselves questions such as; what's the idea behind your movie, or if you don't think its good what makes you think others will. What's the message you are trying to deliver and make sure that we capture the main points of our message on the film. We did not have much time to work on our projects in class this day, but I was able to gain information that made my approach to my movie so much easier. As class went on we jumped in to a talk about Robynne Raye. I wished I could of attended her portfolio day, but I wasnt able to make it. One good thing about this class day as well was when our professor got in to the talk about Modern dog. I enjoyed the fact of how what they do for fun projects and artistic is all free, but when it involves business then it gets to the money side of it. Once again the point in doing what you love instead of what your good at always has a major I'm pact on ones work. Last week of lectures and I must say this experience so far has been amazing. Cant wait till I am able to use all my skills and apply them to what we all know as the "real world"




Adjectives:
1. Plausible- reasonable solution
2. Intense- something not easy or severe
3. Rude- not polite, no respect

Movie Brief 2/28/2012

This whole idea on a one minute video has been one of the hardest projects I've had to do just yet. When your limited to a certain amount of time things can get very overwhelming. I have so many ideas that I want to include, so what I've done is narrow them down to the strongest ones. My video them is to promote C.S.U.L.A. Graphic Design program by saying "One Will Become a Better Problem Solver." The people I am targeting are high school students who are interested in the design program that is uprising in Cal Sate L.A. As classed settled to its usual discussion we got into groups and presented our ideas. I noticed not everybody was prepared for this project yet. I didn't think everyone was on the same level I was in. It wasn't very long before we started to chat in see what every student had to say. I heard quiet a few good ideas. For example, a student not sure her name told me she wanted to create a similar movie like Kali Nikitas. When I explained what my movie was about surprisingly I got good feed back on the way I wanted to do it, which is a silent film style from back in the days. Students thought that the type of examples I was going to show were as well as good, the only thing that troubled them really was the fact if I would have enough time for all those examples. I'm guessing that I will just because i am eliminating a script type of movie were sometimes sound can take up to much time. If I have the actors talking they might not deliver the message quick enough. I yet to really finalize my film but overall I think in class today I was able to catch many different ideas that might help me out. Hopefully mine did as well.

Adjectives:

1) sensible- an action that is good, smart, wise
2) impatient- someone who cannot wait, can become irritated quickly
3) Insensitive- no care for others feelings

Discussion Time 2/23/12

I would call this back this backwards day. Professor Moss comes in and tells the whole class to move on the other side of the table and instead of facing the white board he made us face the windows. He starts writing on the windows with washable markers and begins his lesson. I don't think there was much of a point to doing so, but I think he did it to start off the day differently and capture our attention and as always make class enjoyable. Class went on and we had a group activity. Each one of us had a turn to speak which allowed everyone to participate in class which is one main thing professor Moss wants us to do. When we were discussing Moss asked me a question. "What is it that holds you back or what do you need or do in order to start on a project?" I answered by saying that I like to see others past work and their solutions to their problem and why it didn't work. I like seen what has been done, so I can fix it. His response to me was have you ever thought that by seeing others work limits you to do beyond what you think you can do. That response made me think very hard in long. I never really thought like that. I always thought to myself by seeing others work it would only benefit me, but now that he mentions that I second guess myself. What if by me not seen others work and just starting everything up from scratch would take me further. Since I don't have a clue to what my solution is suppose to look at I can think outside the box and actually go beyond my own expectations. I could easily create a whole new solution to a problem and even a better one that has already been created. I could approach my project from many different angles instead of sticking to some that have already been done before. Its not a bad thing to look at what solutions have been created already, but its also not the best way to do things. As a designer one must have their own techniques to approaching a problem and coming up with a solution, seen others work is a good back up resource if one is lost, but always try to do your own work first and see if that way works better. Finally towards the end of class he mentioned our last project. Now that is gan a have me thinking long and hard on what I present on my one minute video.

Adjectives:
1) Sarcastic- to mock someone, or over exaggerating
2) Appealing- pleasant to look at
3) Flamboyant- attracting attention for a certain aspect of someone or something such as, confidence, style

Team work!! 2/21/12

Different! is what I would call this day. First off we handed our game briefs and a one to two page report on the Gauge speaker Kali Nikitas. Let start off by saying her presentation was very reading. I enjoyed everything she had to say about her choice in career and what let her to doing what she does now. Th greatest outcome I got from her was to do what I love and I'm good at. That will be a reward itself she said. Now back to class. So, in class today we had a group activity. Much different from the others, we were split into two groups. The game involved two objects being past around in the opposite directions of each other, but you couldn't pass the object till the name of that object was brought back to you saying yes that is so in so. This game was much harder than I expected it to be. As a group we ran into many problems. For example, once the object intersected one another, since it was sent in the opposite direction in a circle, students would get confused and we would have to start from the begging. We tried many solutions, such as changing the name of the objects from this is a "what" to this is a "who" to even calling them he and she. As well, as even changing the arrangements of the students so the object could intersect different people. That seemed to work for a bit, but yet for some reason we seemed to still mess up towards the middle. Professor Moss shows back into class and starts to tell us to pay attention more. Don't worry about what the name of the object is, but listen to when it is being passed to you. I didn't get what he meant, but he explained more. Moss mentioned to listen to the person who is next to you. Try not to remember what your suppose to say next, or when your turn is, but to listen when your spoken to. It took us a few more tries, but at the end we succeeded.

As always there is a catch to what professor Moss does to teach you something. He always seems to make it very fun for me. In the game exercise what I benefited off was learning how to listen and that making a something a habit can be bad. Each time we would pass around the object we would get use to the names and every time we would change the names we would get confused, so by us listening instead of making something a habit works much better. By us listening to each other when spoken to by your side partner we were able to get both objects all the way around in a complete circle. It can get confusing at times because to many things can be said at once, but I believe it is possible if one really pays attention to what is being said instead of thinking you already think you know what is going to be said then intact you will gather the information that was said.

Adjectives:
1) Capable- something or some one that can active a certain quality
2) Lacking- not having much, missing something
3) Mature- someone or something that has fully developed

Presentation Day 2- 2/16/2012

Todays class was a continuation on tuesday with game presentation. Today was not so much on learning something new, but reemphasizing on what I learned last class. That is, a group critique is a good form of learning what one should change to give a better presentation in the future. In fact, not only a presentation, but in general. Such as, art pieces, speeches, sculptures, etc... The rest of the student went up and did very well. I believe this happened because they were able to absorb the information from last class and use it for themselves. Students and myself were able to tell other students what they could do or should do when giving a presentation, but in a positive form. For example, last class most of our remarks were nice, such as, I like the way you presented, or good job, but this class was more different. This class I noticed students were more responsive and actually giving a good critique for other students to learn from. So you can say I did learn something and that is how to be a better critic to help other students, artist, or anyone in general get better, or do better with their presentations, or any type of art work. For those who don't understand the point of criticism here is my word of advice. Listen to what others have to say, but be optimistic and find good in what ever it is that is said bad about you or your work.

Adjectives:
1) Intriguing- something fascinating, captivating
2) Infatuating- to admire, passionate
3) Abstract- something that is not organized or not been able to figure out what it is

Presentation Day!! 2/14/2012

Today was Game Presentation Day. We all went, one by one and gave a brief description of our games that we had developed at home. Each student was given at least five minutes. I was the fifth to sixth person to go up and present. I thought by me waiting a bit would help me better presenting my idea because I would be able to not do the mistakes other student had done before me, but when I went up my presentation wasn't up to his standards or better said wasn't presented well. The game I presented was called Alphabetical Run. The game is about children playing a memorization using the letters from the alphabet in an order sequence, while been active and making it a race. I thought by me using volunteers it would better show and describe what my game was all about and how one plays it. When I went up to present I left one huge part out, the running section, which hurt my presentation a lot. Professor Moss gave me a quick critique, but very harsh in my own words. He said that my presentation was off, that he would of like to see me present it on the board I had created to show my project instead of having others play the role. In fact he mentioned that if I'm going to take a risk I must make sure my risk works. Most of the comments he said were negative and at first it kinda bothered me, but then he told us the reason for such remarks. He explained to us that the reason he is so hard is because he cares about us. If he was just to mention positive things about our presentations there would be no progress on bettering ourselves in the future. Moss mention that students will always be nice to one another and that is not what he's going to do, he was going to tell us all the negative things we do to be able to fix them. A student in class said "I believe there must be a balance of good things and bad things" I thought he was right. I myself believe if one is told nothing but negative remarks about his work it only lowers their self-esteem, but that is not case. Moss  was able to make me understand that in a group critique its good to hear the bad, but on a one on one a balance of good and bad is necessary. After hearing all the ideas and the criticisms from students and Professor Moss I was able to gain a better understanding on how I should absorb the information given to me. As an Artist we should be able to handle all types of criticism wether it is good or bad. It is not a bad thing to be told that your idea didn't work, or that it was missing key elements. Its actually a great form of progress. I learned more on how to listen to others, take in what they said, and later be able to not make the same mistakes and when taking a risk making sure it actually works. For example, if my tittle says "Run" my presentation should have running involved, or else change the name. Critique means to criticize and idea or any type of work, but it is up to the presenter on how they will use the feed back to their benefit. From now on when we have group critique day I won't be so close minded about negative remarks, but I will use them to my advantage and only progress from here on. I will correct all my mistakes as much as possible and hopefully get better feed backs from my audience.

Adjectives:

1) Dull- plain boring, lacking excitement 

2) Delightful- something that is soothing, pleasing

3) Plane- something that is flat, not much detail, boring

Game day Part 2 2/9/12

As soon as class began Professor Moss asked all of us to present our nine games we were assigned to do. I brought only six, but the types of games I chose to do were for young children. Such as, alphabet games, indoor soccer games, and food games. My assignment was incomplete, so I didn't get to present my ideas, but other class mates had some great ideas. For example, one student came up with a four player chest game and how you could built and alliance, or not, but the first one to king the other wins. Another game that grabbed my attention was a sling shot game that was presented by another class mate. The objective was to grab a card and it would tell you what object to hit and the team with more points wins. All games that were presented were great ideas. Professor Moss went over each one he could get to and gave his feed back. Even though he can seem kind of harsh with his remarks one can really benefit from what he says. I learned from him that a bad critic remark is not a negative, but a positive because not only do you know that its a bad idea, but you can fix it before you have a final presentation on your idea for a game. Moss is only trying to prepare us for what lies ahead, if we can't take what he says in class one can only imagine what is going to be said in the "real world." This day wasn't for me as productive as others, but that is my fault since my assignment was incomplete and I couldn't get much feed back on mine. I was able to present one idea and that was my ABC game. He asked me what difference does it have from a vocabulary technique a teacher uses and my response was it had the same concept, but it had to do more with the interaction between the players. He didn't say if that was a good idea or bad, so I was left blank, but by him doing so it helped me asked myself how can I make it better than just an exercise done in class, but really make it a game that is enjoyable for all children to play.

Adjectives:

1) Harsh- something that is rough,blunt, or mean

2) Outstanding- something good, great, successful 

3) Monochromatic- using only one color, it describes the technique used

Game day 2/7/12

Game day in class was quite interesting. We were instructed to bring one game each. It could of been a board game, a math game, building game, etc... The game I brought was Twister, but surprisingly it didn't get played with. I think it was the fact the its a very interacting game and people are shy, but thats just my opinion. We all went around class and picked out one game to play. Professor Moss would leave the class room and allows us to interact with one another by playing these games. When he came back he would ask questions, such as, "what was the game about?," "how did it make you feel,""did it teach you a lesson?" All these questions don't really seem to pop in my head when I'm playing, but when he asked I started to ask myself what that was. I didn't understand much how a simple game can have so much affect on a persons emotions and one can actually learn from them. For example, Monopoly it helps you understand how the economy is ran and how its all about owning property and by having money you yourself can run the show. Another example would be a dice game we played. It teaches you about taking chances and how sometimes by getting greedy you can "crap out" in other words lose it all. One never really stops to think how much of a thought process it takes to come up with a game. In order for a game to be successful it must grab the attention of the player, affect their emotion, have an outcome, and be able  to make it a fun and interesting experience for the player. Professor Moss assigned this to us as an assignment for home. When it came down to doing so, it is much more complicated than it looks. Questions I had to ask myself were, "how can I be original?," or "do I want a maze game, card game, board game, etc..?" The outcome I got from this whole experience was that a game isn't just about winning or loosing, but the lesson you get from it. Either it made you learn something in life, or something basic as taking chances. If the game did any of these then it was successful. 

Adjectives:

1) Kind- warming or a good hearted person.

2) Sarcastic- someone or something blown up out of proportion.

3) Mellow- something smooth, or calm, opposite of harsh.

Movie Day Feb/2/12

Todays class session was not as pleasing as others. We started off by showing our H.W. assignment, which was to communicate visually on "how to get an A in Art22?" We went over our drawings as a class, but one stood out the most. A student in our class drew a Pie Chart instead of a Process Map. Professor Moss told us to come up with a tittle for it. We had a class discussion and threw ideas. Three stood out the most. First one was Grading Chart, second was Grade Breakdown, last was Grading Pie Chart. The class was suppose to choose one and it turned into a debate. Towards the end we chose as a class Grade Breakdown. Through out the whole process some students weren't participating and the choice came out to be by majority rule. I didn't like this very much and responded to it out loud of class. Im not sure if I offended someone, but it did capture Professors Moss attention. One thing I remember him telling me and agreeing with him was that sometimes when everyone tries to be a leader it makes those who are not, not be able to get a chance to share what they got. I took it as a self reflection comment and was optimistic about it. I learned that its ok to sometimes let others lead, to be quiet sometimes is helpful. That way those who have great ideas get the chance to speak out and who knows maybe their idea is a great one and by you putting in input after they express it, one can make it better. Class went on after that and Professor Moss presented us a movie called Sir Ken Robinson "Hammer Lectures." I learned quite a fews things from this film. For example, being good at something doesn't always mean stick to it, sometimes your even greater at doing something you love. The film gave an example of a pianist, and how she played the piano for years, but didn't love it, and now she is a writer and loves doing it. Leading to what I learned as well. People always do great doing something they love. I believe that is very true. I think people always apply themselves more to their work when they love it because they don't see it as a nine to five job, but as a passion that is a privilege to be able to do so. For example, myself, Im good at drawing, but my passion wasn't painting or sketching, it was computers. So, I took something I was good at, applied it to my passion with computers, and chose my career as a graphic designer. Honestly I couldn't have chose a better career for myself that I know I will succeed.

Adjectives:
1)Joyful- a sort of feeling, as well as an expression.
2)Glamorous- something beautiful, shimmery, capturing.
3)Gruesome- something that is horrifying, unpleasing to look at.

Map Process 1/31/12

Have you ever tried to write down steps one should take in order to succeed their goal? Well in class thats exactly what we did. Professor Moss explained to us what a Process Map is and how it works. The question we had to figure out as a class was "How to get an A in Art 220?" We covered the steps on what should be done to create a process map. The steps were; research(analysis), concept(creative), prototyping(analytical), design production(creative), assessment(analytical). Each single student was assigned to do their own map. Once we did, each student came up with their own explanation on what it is that should be done to get an A in his class. I didn't realize how helpful this was till I actually did the assignment. When you research and jot down your ideas, then arrange them in an orderly process, from what should be done first to what is last and the outcome, I guarantee one will have a great out come with their grade. Having a map as a guide not only keeps you organized, but is a great reference to look back to if you get lost along the way on what should be done for an A in the class. As we did that Moss also assigned the class to communicate it visually. First question that went through my head was "how can I draw something without words to show what I'm trying to say?," and to be honest this was actually not as bad as I thought. For example, if I wanted to show our assignments I drew a computer and the home page on Facebook. In fact, if I wanted to show participation I drew a man raising his hand. Just common actions one does in class can be helpful to communicate in a drawing. At first I didn't really understand what he was trying to teach in this lesson, but the outcome I got from it was rewarding. I think I've come to understand more on what it is to communicate visually. We don't always need words to tell the audience something, simple drawings with basic actions, or images of a drawn up syllabus tells the audience a lot. Not saying we can use words, but we can limit them to a basic verb, or phrase and tell exactly what we are trying to say. Towards the ending of the class in a brief discussion he mention why is it important to only show three main ideas when presenting a project. This question really never popped in my head, but once he said it, it got me thinking "really, why is that?," and the answer to this was because it creates balance. To me this meant, ok one is a bad idea, the other is an ok idea, and the last was the great idea. Professor Moss said "No! You never present an ok idea or a bad idea, you only want to present great ideas."  That got me thinking to myself and figured "thats so true." One should always present great ideas. The reason to present three great ideas also is, so the person who hired you or your showing can make a choice without having trouble. The number three not only does it work as a balance method, but it also deal psychologically. Which that is another topic for another class. This was my outcome for Art 220 class this week.

Adjectives:

1)Stunning- something really impressive 

2)Sweet- something pleasing to my eye site

3)Weak- something lacking skills, creativity, plain boring

Class Question/Another day in Class

A couple of questions came up in class today. One was have I ever experienced fear based on my creative career choice. My answer to that is yes I have experienced fear. When I chose to be a Graphic Designer my biggest fear was do I have the creative ability to present a visual image and persuade others to buy or just pay attention to what my project is all about. I feared that my choice of career was going to have a lot of competition and wouldn't stand out from others. These were some of my fears but I over came these thoughts. The way I overcame this wasn't over night. Many events happened till I actually felt good about my choice in career. I first over came the shyness of showing people my work and instead of taking criticism in a negative way I processed the information and made it a positive. I became more optimistic towards my work. I told myself "my way of thinking is like no other, no one sees life the way I do but myself" and thats true. One may see a picture and think its just a house, but then I see not a house, but I see the architecture involved and how beautiful it is. So the main thing for me overcoming this fear was just basically learning from others points of views, gathering all the information, and processing it for a better outcome on my designs. As class went on we had an exercise were we took one of our images and changed the whole meaning about it. If an image would be of a person with no hands we would say something like "don't touch," even though the image was about a homeless man. We did this as a group which was great because this will help us when we have to work with others and gather up all thoughts and ideas. Ive never really had to do this type of exercise, but overall I thought it was a great way to learn how to gather not just one persons ideas but everyones and making them better. The biggest outcome I got from this is that a great idea will come to you when you least expect it. Don't over think a certain thing because that would only drive one crazy. Its best just to write down as many ideas as possible and have fun with it. There is no such thing as a bad idea, their are many just data pick the best one out of the many that their is.

Adjectives:
1)Suspenseful- a feeling one gets, such as, excited or anxious
2)Extraordinary- something that is unusual, not an everyday type of thing
3)Horrific- something horrible, unpleasing

Class day 1/24/12

A very important topic came up in class today. The topic was "As a designer we must be able to write proposals." A proposal is an important tool a designer uses in order to persuade the customer. Our professor Jimmy Moss showed the class a short clip of a famous writer who's name was Elizabeth Gayle. We were instructed to pay attention to what she does and the types of techniques she uses to keep that audiences attention. I thought her proposal speech was really well thought out. She started off by telling us who she was and what it was she did. As she talked she not only spoke to the audience, but made them and myself feel as if she was relating to us. She gave examples of what people would say to her and the types of fears she had. By her doing so I felt like "ok maybe I'm not that crazy there are others who feel the way I do." This technique she used captured my attention very well. She also used a lot of similar examples and stories of others to help us understand her work and what she has gone through. As a designer we must be able to present our projects properly and with excitement that way we can keep the audience gauged. This short filmed helped me in the aspect of talking about my own work with excitement and gave me good pointers on the way I should address  others. I don't have to be what people call "by the book," but I can laugh at myself, show others that ok I'm not superman I do have fears as well as others do, and be able to just related to the audience and show them how passionate I am about my work. The only difference I would have that I won't take from the film is the speed she was going. I believe a good presentation is best when the speech is slow and everybody can catch what I say. Overall though I thought Mr.Moss short film presentation was a good example to show for us to learn on how to present a proposal to others and how to stand up in front of an audience. 

Adjectives:

1) Alluring- something that captures my attention, leads me looking to the same thing over and over again.  

2) Amazing- something that is above normal, something surprising.

3) Distinguished- something that stands out, a part in the image that we can all tell what it is, successful. 

Visual Day in Class

Thursdays class was one of my favorites so far. We discussed the visual side and symbolic meanings on images we see around us. An image we went over in class was the HOPE poster of Obama by Shepard Fairey. We discussed how this image has a circle with a flag inside referring to it as a rising sun and only supporting the fact that by electing Obama we can see a better hope for our nation. Also another aspect of this image we went over was the choice of colors. The two main colors chosen for this image was red and blue. The class and I discussed how red is for passion, love, etc... and blue is for calm and warmth. This is going to help me in the long run because now when I look at certain images I will be able to catch the hidden messages behind them. In fact not only the hidden, but the implied messages one can't see unless they pay attention to the whole composition. As the class went on we also applied what we talked about in class to our own images that we were assigned. We talked about the visual side of the story as well as the creative and the legibility in them, further helping us practice what we have learned in the begging of class.

Adjectives:

1) artistic- when one is creative in their work.

2) beautiful- when something is eye catching to me, when i can look at it for hours

3) symbolic- something that was a symbol with implied meanings to it.

Concept Dev. 1/17

As the class finally settled in and became more comfortable with one another we started to talk about the power of words. We got into a class discussion about how words have a great impact on the behavior of others. For example, the two words that came to play were Game and Test. As a class we compared both words and came up with the conclusion that they didn't have much of a difference. They both involved competition, such as two students playing a game or competing for a good grade or how both you can earn points. Many students gave examples only helping me understand better that the concept can always stay the same, but the power of words can change the feeling and the behavior of people. As a designer this will help me chose my adjectives to describe my projects better and get a better feedback from others.

Adjectives:

1) Passion- a strong feeling or desire for a particular thing, place, or person.

2) Unique- something out of the ordinary that can't be recreated easily.

3) Inspiring- to motivate someone

Second Day of Class

Second day of class was a an informative day, but inspirational as well. The professor started off by telling us "One thing a designer does is first identify the problem" (Moss).  As a class we went over some examples. For instance, professor Moss went over a poster in class that was about a Gauge Speaker and the design. We went over how there is always a focal point and how we make it the center of attention without the distraction of everything else around it. One technique used was making the font more bold and changing the color. As class went on professor Moss told us a personal story about his career choice. He explained to us that once he use to worked in a corparate job, but left it because he was bored and wanted to feel useful. Even though he only makes half of what he did as his first job, professor Moss rather teach at cal state l.a. then any corporate job. His story was inspiring to me as an upcoming artist because he chose to do what he loves and followed through with his decision. To me this story reflects on how a designer thinks about things. Like professor Moss said as a designer figure out the problem and fix it and that is what he did with his career choice.