Sue Helen Johnson's Mastery Journal

My journal entries this week revolved around bits and pieces of conversations ive picked up, whether its in the office, something I heard on the radio, or even things that stuck out to me in TV. Normally I always carry around a small journal with me wherever I go, in case I become inspired or decide to knock out some of the work I have to do and need to take notes. Even though I knew that I had a journal available, most of the time, when I overheard something, I would jot it down in my phone or on a post it, or the palm of my hand, to make sure I wrote the idea down first. I decided I would illustrate these sentences with the first image that appears in my head. As for artistic style, while I am normally a person who incorporates color into all my work, I decided to try an inkier approach, something that I haven’t done since my undergraduate studies. For the final images, was happy with the results as the lack of color allowed me to focus on the linework, the crosshatching, and where to incorporate heavy ink.

The first excerpt I took from a conversation between two of my coworkers who were talking about a show they were fans of. One coworker decided to try the workout the main character did, as it appeared simple, and proceeded to proclaim that it was much harder than it appeared. I thought the concept of training so hard your hair falls out was very funny, and interesting. How hard would one have to train for that to happen? Second image was derived from a conversation in home depot, between an employee and a customer. The employee was talking about workbenches, and the customer personified one specific work table in a way that definitely stuck out to me. The third illustration was based on a lack of toilet paper in my office, leading to 5 women running around in panicked states. The fourth illustration was taken from a sentence I read in Instagram, where someone commented that Lizzo, a female rapper, empowers women of color, and provides an overall experience that the world needs right now. The next day, my coworker was speaking about all of the decisions one other coworker had to make while experiencing loss. The conversation resounded with me. The next illustration was overheard. The sentence was said by a teenager in a mall, surrounded by her friends.

The emerging story journal could be a story of a woman who experienced a string of bad luck. Perhaps she was a fan of Lizzo and went out to one of her shows. While she was at the show, being away from her babies at home, she was called thick, which may have not sat well with her. Perhaps she decided to start working out at the gym and one day found herself lacking toilet paper in the rest room. She was forced to ask for help, hoping to find assistance from surrounding women in the bathroom, but no one could offer her the proper assistance, leading her to feel as if she were surrounded by idiots. She then proceeded to train for months, working to overcome self-esteem issues and the embarrassment she experienced in the bathroom, leading to her hair falling out, and quitting her efforts at the gym. Now, she hangs out with her babies and takes them everywhere she goes.

However, stringing these bits and pieces of several different conversations does not do justice to the truths that I witnessed these last few days. Piecing these stories together feels forced to create an outrageous story, when it could work best as multiple stories, or multiple truths.

This month provided me with the opportunity to learn more about the neighborhood I grew up in. I never expressed an interest before in the history of Washington Heights, but know that I am always supportive of the neighborhood. Throughout this past month, I learned so much about the location I grew up in, and I also got the opportunity to explore the neighborhood I haven’t walked through in months. I walked down old paths I would take to walk to school while also taking note of the changes that are in the neighborhood. I got to see familiar faces, and also ask a few people how they feel about the neighborhood and the ongoing changes being made. Overall, it can be agreed that there have been many changes in Washington Heights, and the residents within are scared of feeling displaced as waves of new people are coming to the neighborhood as well.

I hope that with the amount of research I have done, I can brand Washington Heights in a way that reflects the culture of the residents and the activities within. I plan on keeping current residents of the community within the loop to ask for their opinions to make sure I am capturing the essence of the community well. I hope that moving forward, I can work on a design that fits the community well. The images taken are definitely a source of inspiration of the activity seen throughout Washington Heights.

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Below are a few screenshots of the information gathered from research conducted throughout the last month.

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Below are the results of a few of the interviews conducted. I compiled all of the interviews into a word document for cohesiveness

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The results of the Empathy Map

Connecting/Synthesizing/Transforming

The research conducted for this month’s class was mainly history based. In order to make connections and also learn what stands out about the community I grew up in that makes so many people love it the way they do, I had to learn about its surrounding communities as well. New York City has a multitude of different neighborhoods, many of which are branded. While Washington Heights offers a wide variety of landscapes, the neighborhood is not branded to create a cohesive look. There is no active representation of what is already there, leaving Washington Heights without a visual personality, when upon visiting it is easy to see, that it does have a personality. Overall, upon conducting research, the main differentiators between Washington Heights and its surrounding neighborhoods were that it is a community that’s seen waves of migrants throughout the years, and that the current residents are people who value family and community, offering to assist each other wherever possible, creating a welcoming community.

Problem Solving

The main design problem is that Washington Heights is not branded. While it does have a center of commerce, the only thing they promote is an initiative to lose weight. However, Washington Heights is an unknown neighborhood to people who don’t know New York City. When thinking of New York, the neighborhoods that are well known are Brooklyn for its artistic aspects, Harlem for the home of the Harlem Renaissance and Duke Ellington, and of course, Times Square. Washington Heights has a strong Dominican culture embedded into it, with a few Jewish and Russian influences sprinkled around the neighborhood. However, aside from the interactions seen between people and a few storefronts, the neighborhood is invisible to the rest of the world. What lies within the neighborhood deserves to be branded to match the energy and the significance it has to the locals. Wanting to create a brand that is true to the essence of Washington Heights requires proper research of the history as well as interviews of residents to receive the most honest reviews and opinions of the location.

Innovative Thinking

When branding a location, it is important to start with research. A thorough amount of research from multiple sources is required. Using primary sources (from interviews and taking photos myself) and secondary sources (from articles written by other sources as well as books that use the area as a basis) I was able to compile a good amount of information to use to create a good differentiation between the surrounding areas and Washington Heights. My approach included interviewing 7 people, ranging from ages 17 to age 46, to get a variety of perspectives. The consideration of age range and how it could produce different results in an interview proved to be effective. As did including a person who works in social services, in order to get a wide range of perspectives.

Acquiring Competencies

The main skill that was worked on during this month was speaking to others. I tend to prefer to work alone, but when needing to conduct interviews, I had to learn to catch people’s attention, and ask the right questions to keep their attention on me. In a city that is fast paced, it was difficult to get some people to stop. 3 interviews were obtained from strangers. The other 4 were obtained from old family friends.

The textbook utilized this month was George Felton’s Advertising Concept and Copy which provided insight on the process of copywriting. Paired with Lynda Tutorials form Craig Smallish and Ian Lurie, I was provided with a multitude of reference materials to learn to not only create engaging headlines, but taglines that speak more about the company while being just as engaging. The resources also provided insight on what an appropriate amount of copy was for print ads. Smallish gave insight to his process of creating print ads, beginning with concept sketches, moving forward to more detailed concept sketches, considering things like point of view, presentation and even user experience (if the page is actually a tri-fold page that reveals more information as it is unfolded) (Smallish, 2013). Smallish speaks about the process of concepting and working with clients, using free association to further concept ideas and creating imagery that reflects upon such concepts. (Smallish, 2013). In the next set of video tutorials, smallish teaches the importance of creating thumbnail sketches to convey the message along with composition, and refining layouts (Smallish, 2014).

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While Smallish used his platform to discuss the process of creating print ads with his viewers, Felton’s Advertising Concept and Copy goes into the process of writing powerful and engaging headlines with equally as engaging taglines. Felton offers many suggestions that can be used in both headline and tagline writing, such as parallelism and opposition. He writes that “parallelism is the notion that sentence elements identical in thought should be made identical in grammatical form” (Felton, 2006, pg. 197). He explains that opposition is the focus of getting words to “interact, trying to spark something, create collisions” (Felton, 2006, pg. 204). In using opposition, phrases have more power and are more memorable to audience members. Felton’s suggestions were referred to and used avidly in my copywriting process. I often tried to create short but effective headlines and slogans, finding ways to use the techniques he listed to create engaging and memorable copy. Often, I used puns, as encouraged, along with the concept of the human truth, which includes “saying what people are thinking but may never have said” (Felton, 2006, pg. 221). Also, I provided variants on clichés to make them effective for my campaign.

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Felton also discusses the power of personality and how advertising and copy is written differently for the different target audiences. He speaks about the “Shopping List of Needs” (Felton, 2006, pg. 26) that discusses elements that entice a consumer to use a brand. Whether the consumer feels a sense of achievement for performing a difficult task or they gain a sense of recognition or affiliation for what they use and how they use it, there are many different ways in which a consumer can be attracted to a product. These elements were also often taken into consideration throughout the copywriting process as well as the process of choosing a target audience. In choosing a target audience, I valued an audience who wanted a sense of recognition as well as audience members who valued nurturance and succorance (Felton, 2006, pgs. 26-31).

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With all the resources, the design process became easier. I used Smallish’s methods of creating a concept, using storyboards and rough sketches to create a general concept for my print advertisements. Next, I used Felton’s list of different types of testimonial ads to decide 6 different ads to use. While the final 6 decided upon were Celebrity, Ironic, and Historical figure, I also dabbled with the concept of using Just Plain Folk, Extremists, and The Wrong Person. I knew that I wanted the print advertisements to mainly have a humorous undertone as that is the tone already established by the Marine Mammal Center. Using humor can effectively attract youth and inspire them to help in any way they can, in a way that does not make them feel pressured. The decision to target youth came from research into the organization, who values research and education just as much as rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing. With that knowledge, I created two target audience profiles, that of a teenager and that of a 26 year old in order to get a good range of people. After review of the ads created, It was pointed out that I in fact did not have permission to use Jason Momoa’s likeness for an advertisement, but i could still use his quote. When refining the advertisement, I shifted the focus to show a city underwater, a subtle nod to Atlantis, the domain of Aquaman. I also edited the copy a bit in all the ads. The celebrity advertisement used a direct quote from Jason Momoa, the actor who plays Aquaman in the DC universe, in order to relay a sense of everyone working to better the state of the ocean. For the ironic testimonial, a sea lion was given a voice that speaks a truth in a slightly humorous way. Finally, for the historical ad, Amelia Earhart, who’s disappearance remains a mystery, was used to create a parallel between a lost human and lost sea lions.

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Overall, using the resources given this month, I was able to learn a lot of different techniques to implement when writing copy for different brands, considering different types of testimonials as well as human needs that can be targeted to create a loyal following of a brand.

References

Felton, G. (2006) Advertising Concept and Copy

Smallish, C. (2013) Developing Ideas and Advertising Concept. [Video Tutorials] Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/Design-Business-tutorials/Developing-Ideas-Design-Concepts/126121-2.html?org=fullsailold.edu

Smallish, C. (2014) Designing a Print Ad. [Video Tutorials] Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/Design-Page-Layout-tutorials/Designing-Print-Ad/155264-2.html?org=fullsailold.edu

For the final Vision boards, the Modern Culture Board received the most changes. After Tuesdays submission, I did not feel fully content and also felt rushed in the submission process. The Modern Culture board, other than having the large issue of having a blurry image be the main background, also did not have it’s own grid. This week, the first change that was made was the swap of the background image, including a black and white left side and a color right. Along the stroke of the division between black and white, I implemented circular photos as graphics, taking inspiration from the roundness of the O’s in the logo. The color palette received its own treatment, revolving around the circular frames of the images and the O’s in the logo as well. I also included an all white rendition of the logo, as a black and white rendition would have become lost over the background. Overall, I felt more content with this weeks Modern Culture Vision Board than I did with last weeks. The changes made fixed many of the threats listed in the SWOT analysis provided last week, including the threat of the blurry image being too distracting.

            For the geography board, I was not a fan of how the sample images were each different sizes and overlapped with the background image. For this week, the images were shifted in organization and resized. Their position was swapped with the Design Elements in order to prevent too much overlap with the background image. Also, I played around more with the background saturation in order to increase the vivid colors of the shrine. Making sure that all the information needed was included, I felt content with the design of this vision board. The changes implemented addressed the issue of the images overlapping over the background imagery and looking too busy.

            As for the Tradition Vision Board, being most proud of this design, I did not feel many changes needed to be made. The gold is a color that is used often in Kyoto traditional art, whether it’s a washed out background tone with brush strokes over it, or its used as embellishments to the art. While gold is prominent in the art of Kyoto, this board is dedicated to the making of Kimonos, drawing inspiration from geishas. The strokes used within this board are dashed to represent double stitches, to further emphasize the embroidery background theme. Finally, a logo was chosen, where I decided to use a Serif typeface, which are usually used in a traditional sense. While there were not many changes made to this vision board, the appropriate research as applied, and a sole logo design was finally settled on, a decision where I struggled the most throughout this process..

Task 1

Using the SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), professionals are able to determine areas of improvement within their skill set as well as areas of success. By viewing yourself as a product to be sold and your career as your business, one can form a more accurate SWOT analysis.

Strengths

            Strengths can be used to market yourself and your brand to different companies to advance your career. A few skills were improved over the last 2 months, skills including time management, my ability to focus on a sole concept, and my determination to finish my work before the deadlines. These three skills can lead to success in my field as they make me more valuable in a competitive field.

Weaknesses

            Weaknesses are areas that have the potential to improve. A few areas that I still struggle with are how distracted I can become. While I am an organized and deadline-oriented person, at some point in the project I decide to explore as many variations and renditions as possible. Later in the design process, I struggle to select final designs, something clearly seen in the logo aspects of my vision boards, where I am still presenting multiple variations for the logo concepts. That indecisiveness can be detrimental to my workflow in the future.

Threats

• A large weakness of mine that deserves to be within the threats section is that I focus too much on the abilities of my counterparts. I tend to diminish my abilities as I become easily discouraged.
• Anxiety when presenting and pitching concepts.
• Limited knowledge on certain things, including web design or software updates

Opportunities

• Learn to focus on just myself, rather than paying attention to others. By focusing on my abilities, I can work to advance them.
• Practice pitches often before final presentation
• Take classes at a university (currently), pursue classes on learning sites such as skillshare or Lynda

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
Vibrant Colors provided by an even color palette create a lively feel. Clear imagery is used that represents Kyoto’s geography and beauty in a consistent way and each include the main color (of the logo and color palette) within most imagery, in this case, the red. This can be helpful with future campaigns, as they can each include the red to tie all campaigns together. The logo is strong and provides a minimal take on Kyoto, the city surrounded by mountains.

Weaknesses
While the image includes vibrant colors, the colors of the image do not coincide with the color palette listed for use in the Vision Board. I often struggle with color use, not with matching colors, however trying to select specific colors to move forward with. I worry that my designs look muddy if too many colors are used, and dull when not enough is used. The decision-making process often poses a test to my skill as a designer.

Threats
Others may dislike the overall design, not seeing how it goes along with the overall concept of the geography of Kyoto. The vision board may not reflect on the true feel of Kyoto either, as it can be perceived as oceanic due to the cherry blossoms are illuminated. The overall look for the portrayal of Geography in Kyoto is aimed to be viewed through a Mythical lens. Clients may be constantly unsure of how to create a Mythical feel within their imagery as well.

Opportunity
By taking the critique provided and using it, I can work towards an even better end result. Critique is essential as it can help provide direction to someone who is unsure about a certain aspect of their work. Also, perhaps sticking to the color palette provided in the Vision Board can help give a more realistic scene to the city of Kyoto. Providing clientele with a range of acceptable images to use as well as keeping in contact with the client can resolve the issue of the client misconstruing the concept of “viewing through a mythical lens”. It can also provide a healthy client-designer relationship.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
The image of people standing beneath neon signs helps portray a nighttime scene of modern culture and human interaction in Kyoto, a city that constantly preserves their traditions. The sample imagery presented shows a wide range of different aspects of modern culture in Kyoto as well. The main two colors within the final palette chosen have the opportunity to create elegant imagery with gold accents. The variation within the typography allows for a nice blend of a traditional look and a modern look, which further works along with Kyoto’s modern culture.

Weaknesses
I am now realizing that while the background image is reflective of Kyoto today, it does not really fall into the design of the logos, which provide a geometric, yet organic look. Perhaps switching to an image of a tea house or an ongoing tea ceremony (which would also change the blurred image out) and could help give the overlapping sample imagery a chance to stand out. There can also be more imagery of cherry blossoms as they are accents to work with the brand.

Threats
Looking at the design as a whole, the vision board is losing detail of the sample imagery. Most of the sample images were edited to a certain extent, whether it be to include the main gold tone or to clean up the image. Also, perhaps the inclusion of cherry blossoms in each image can help tie the brand together. The brand provided many details to create a well rounded look and feel to anything created to represent the city of Kyoto. The background image may diminish the overall quality and can confuse the design of the brand.

Opportunity
Changing the background image to one that is reminiscent of the logo, including tea or cherry blossoms and elements of gold can change the complete look. Cherry blossoms can appear in images subtly, whether they be an element on tables or on a branch in the forefront of an image. However, their inclusion may be necessary to keep the brand consistent.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
The gold background gives a traditional look to the vision board, however the embroidery detail ties the overall design to the build of Kimonos and the wear of them, as well as how Geishas are prominent within the Kyoto culture. Overall, the design has a strong sense of concept. The dashed lines work to create a double stitched look, further pushing an embroidery appearance.

Weaknesses
Now that the concept reflects embroidery and sewing/handmade details, I question if the logo should change from the use of a brush stroke to create a look of embroidery there as well. Also, I question if the embroidery angle takes away from other important qualities of Kyoto, which include shrines and tea ceremonies along with other activities. More patters should be provided as well, to provide a more organic look rather than only the geometric one shown.

Threats
The background imprint of the embroidered blossoms can get lost behind the detail above it. The logo can lose its importance (the ink stroke) due to the embroidered look given to the vision board. A few of the colors risk appearing muddy over the gold background as well.

Opportunity
By adding images of ink strokes and Kyoto art, the logo can become relevant to the Vision Board once again. It may be fixed by providing variations of the overhead half circle, providing the brush stroke along with an embroidered look. Also, moving the background embroidery to be closer to the Geisha can make it a clearer design for viewing.

O’Grady, J. and O’Grady, K. (2009) A Designer’s Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing your Clients and What they Really Need (pg. 68). [ebook version] Rockport Publishers

After creating 75 logos, I found myself struggling to find inspiration for more logos. Even though the logos were categorized differently, I still found it hard to keep the logos in separate sections. The critique provided by Emily Cole helped point out that my logos were too busy and that there were many ways that I could condense them into simpler concepts. Concepts like the rule of 3’s are rules that I forgot after working in a different aspect of the design world for a few years. The reminder of that rule will carry on with me as i further pursue a degree in graphic design.

The weekly live session also helped point out that my logos can be made simpler and that there were concepts that weren’t working in general. I returned back to my original logo sketches and selected 10 logos that I felt could fit into the categories of Geography, Modern Culture, and Tradition, and found ways that I could simplify them so that they can work better when shrunken down. I also value that it was pointed out that my method of critique cannot help fellow peers expand and grow. I tend to expend more effort towards peoples feelings rather than giving advice that could help advance a person’s career. Overall, this week’s critique provided lessons that can definitely help make me a more well rounded designer. Below are my new variations on the logos. The blue logos above are the original concepts presented.

Step 1

A few concepts stuck out to me during the Week 1 Live session in Defining Client Needs. Overall, the main takeaway was an overall awareness to a shift in my head. The shift was from an undergraduate mindset to a graduate level mindset. I’ve noted many differences between this class and the first month’s Mastery class. The main difference that I’ve noted is that it seems that what I study will be more of a self-study experience. There is no textbook, and the talk Professor Argo gave opened my eyes to the fact that even though my peers and I are all graphic designers, we all come from different backgrounds and our levels of knowledge are vastly different. In Mastery, all the students read the same textbook and that put everyone’s background knowledge on the same plane. In Defining Client Needs, it is apparent that each of the students will be using different sources for references along with different experiences, something I’m sure will become apparent as this class progresses. 

            Another concept that stuck out to me, aside from the awareness that each peer is on a different knowledge level, is the critiquing experience. In my undergraduate experiences, critiques began with “I like that you did this” or “The colors you used are amazing”. The live session made it clear that critiquing is not about our emotional connection to the work, but about the connections we make to the knowledge we’ve acquired, and the ability to back up that knowledge with resources. This critiquing experience will create the opportunity for my peers and I to access the source information and use it in future to expand on my creative endeavors and become a better graphic designer.

            My main questions are for resources to use. I would like to learn of more resources, other than Lynda.com and ebscoHost. I would also appreciate resources to expand on techniques, not just concepts. I do worry that this program offers more of a conceptual way of learning, exploring experiences in the professional world rather than helping to sharpen skills I already have. However, I am confident that the critiques from classmates will offer suggestions on how I can expand on the techniques I am using.

Step 2

After watching Sean Adams’ What is Graphic Design, I was able to create an action plan for myself as I worth through the MDMFA program. While my action plan does exist, I also believe in adaptability. My plan for each class is basically the same though, which is to stay on top of all of my assignments and research by starting the assignment early. I will continue to do research throughout the week, and make any changes or additions before submitting the final assignment. By beginning the assignment early, I have the opportunity to work with preliminary research to complete the work. But then I can use the rest of the time to delve deeper into the resources available and gather even more information.

I am committed to this program. This is something that I have wanted to begin and complete for years, but never found a good time to pursue it, or a program that I thought was good enough. Full Sail’s MDMFA program offers lessons on aspects of the graphic design experience that I have always questioned, but never had the opportunity to learn about.

As for my long range goals, I am unsure. A part of me wants to be able to teach others about graphic design. But a different part of me wants to work in a company. This MDMFA program is sure to make me a better asset that companies look to for design work. The only thing that I am sure of is that I have reached my capacity as a designer in my current location of work. I often feel stunted after having created designs with the same theme for almost 3 years now. I am confident that I can take the lessons learned in the MDMFA program to any new locations in the future.

A small reminder that even though we tend to focus only on our own struggles, everyone experiences them too. It’s important not to get too caught up in our own issues. We all have the power to help improve someone’s day by asking them how they’re doing and offering them assistance.