Reading Week 2

After reading this week’s section of Becoming a Graphic Designer, I thought that it was really interesting to see how there is a range of things that a person may do as a graphic designer. This was interesting to me because I had always thought about other careers or majors having different paths that they can head in, but I had never thought about that as far as graphic design. I guess there really is a big difference in what needs to be done for an editorial versus an advertisement. In the interview with Criswell Lappin, I learned that years ago graphic design was shown in hard copy, while now everything is mainly digital. She said that the digital world has made it easier and faster to complete and make changes to a project. I can’t even imagine having to do everything on hard copy, I think that that would be so tedious and difficult to keep track of even the smallest changes. I liked all of the images throughout this chapter because it showed a large range of ways that graphic design is used and how we view it in our every day lives. I found it to be fascinating how all of these design directors have the ability to take the simplest image and make it into something great. Especially, with the cover of the magazines. Those are the most important part because that is what either attracts to sends away your audience so it is important to capture them in. I think that all of the samples were eye catching and would have made me look further into it. 

Reading Week 1

The first thing in this week’s reading that really caught my attention was that it is not the computer that does the work, it is the designer and the computer is the tool.  I thought it was cool how the author related it to a guitar. This made me look at it differently, you can have all the proper tools in front of you but you need to know how to use them and open your mind when using them in order for them to work properly. I found it relatable to myself in the section where they were discussing how not all graphic designers are concentrated in the fine arts. As a psychology major I am most certainly not studying in the fine arts. However, this does not mean that I can’t have an interest in this area or that I cannot be successful at it either. One thing that was said was that graphic design was sometimes repetitive tasks, but I think this is true with anything. That’s what makes you good at something doing it over and over again. Also, I feel like with graphic design it always seems a little different since it is a different image or base that you are starting and working with. I think that graphic design has become more popular over the years partially because of the growing popularity of computers, social media, and photography. Even the every day person wants to be able to show off cool looking things to their friends. In the second part of this weeks reading, I thought it was very interesting when Glaser said that a difficulty in graphic design is putting the pleasure and some creativity to the side to make it match with business needs. I can see how this could be difficult but it was something that I had never thought of before as a problem. One quote that stood out to me was something Craig Frazier said “Passion, desire, and an ability to learn by observation and practice” (17). I think that this is true for not only those pursuing a graphic design career but any career. 

Resize Assignment

While doing this resized assignment there were some new skills that I learned on Photoshop. Previous to this assignment, I had only briefly used Photoshop for a few things while working on the yearbook while I was in high school. The first thing that I learned how to do was to take a large image and make it smaller, without changing any of the original picture. This is helpful because when using a photograph that belongs to someone else, without permission you cannot alter it by disorienting it from its original dimensions. As long as the dimensions aren’t stretched, it is okay to use. To do this, you go to image size and then insert the length that you want, and then the width will change proportionately. If you are then trying to meet a certain size, using the crop tool, you can crop the image down to that size without taking away too much of the overall picture. Another skill learned was combining different images onto one canvas. To do this you start on one of them and make the canvas to the size that you want after doing the math. Then you copy and paste the other images onto them as well and move them from the center. Each image will be saved as a separate layer, so this makes it easy to add different effects to each of them. A final thing learned in this assignment was how to use the rulers across the top and side of Photoshop to make sure that the images were evenly spaced throughout the canvas. 

About Me

My name is Samantha Sproul and I am a currently a senior at Quinnipiac University. I am a psychology major with a marketing minor. In the future I hope to establish a career focusing on consumer behavior while working at an advertising firm. I am hoping that I can get a job in New York City and live there for the first few years after college. I am from East Lyme, CT so in my free time as long as it is warm enough, I can usually be found on the beach. My favorite color is pink, and my favorite animal is a starfish.