This portfolio is a compilation of various Adobe projects using various media.
As a fresh addition to the QCA Design Studio, I was thrilled to craft an icon featuring my face. I ensured that it perfectly aligned with the existing icons of the brief in terms of style, strokes, and colour consistency. The brief specified that the background shape was to be a circle, but I was able to select a hue that resonates with my personality and represents who I am. I was also able to either capture a new photo or utilize an existing one, as long as it maintains a professional demeanour. I started this task by setting up my illustrator file which I learnt was raster based and imported a pre-existing photo of me. Once the photo was imported, I used my pen tool to trace over my key features. I then received the constructive feedback to simplify my lines and clean up overlapping lines. I proceeded to edit my path, so no lines messily overlapped and then used the simplify tool to get a cleaner look. I chose blue for my background as blue is my favourite colour and is often associated with calmness, stability, and trustworthiness all values I hold highly and resonate with. Once I completed my draft, I found that the photo I originally imported to trace over had warped creating issues with the quality of my icon. I was able to easily rectify my mistake when creating my final piece. Ultimately, I believe my icon successfully filled the brief and was a successful resolved piece.
Sometimes design briefs requesting cultural content may not be appropriate making it my responsibility to redirect the brief towards an outcome that doesn't include problematic content.
I originally started the project by sketching quite a complex design of a koala surfing a sound wave however when receiving some constructive feedback that the idea might be a bit too complex for a logo, I decided to stick to the concept that less is more. Considering the numerous things, the logo might have to be printed and placed on I wanted to stay away from anything too complex and stick to blacks and whites. Knowing I had to incorporate the text ‘Wave’ into the logo I opened my illustrator file and started by playing around with fonts. After much brainstorming I decided I wanted my graphic to be a sound wave turning into a beach wave which I then sketched on a piece of paper and took into illustrator using the pen tool to draw it up. I also edited my path and used the simplify tool to simplify my lines in order to get my image to the highest possible standard. My drafted piece confined my logo into a neat circle but after receiving feedback the circle was removed. Australia is known for its beaches and surfing culture which I believe is a great incorporation of Australian culture into my design. Ultimately, I believe I created a successful logo concept for WAVE that reflects an 'Australian' vibe, while being mindful of cultural sensitivity.
Refences
Griffith Uni (2023). ‘Cultural Protocols & Appropriation’
Griffith Uni (2023). ‘Intellectual Property: Copyright, plagiarism & academic integrity.’
As a designer, I'm excited to help Hello Furniture Co. with their open studio community event poster. I was asked to replicate a Pinterest poster as closely as possible, with the same fonts, text position, and images. However, instead of the little person illustration, I was asked to create a new illustration of the person with a zebra mask. As the client hasn't obtained licensing permission for the intellectual property and it is against my creative integrity to copy someone’s creative intellect, I had to redirect the brief choosing to keep only aspects of what the client wanted. I chose to keep their own idea of having a zebra on the poster as well as maintaining the colour scheme of the sample poster. I then had to learn how to use grids to create consistency and order across my page. I learnt it’s very easy for established designers to tell when a grid has (or hasn't) been used and are therefore vital in the design process. Another consideration I had to take into account was being very careful of when setting paragraphs of text, trying to group sentences and avoid typographic orphans and widows as avoiding them is a design rule which must be followed when possible. I also had to be very careful about hierarchy when designing my own layout, I had to consider what I want people to see first, second and third. I learnt that three levels of hierarchy are a good number to aim for and to consider the flow, or how a viewer’s eye needs to move around the page. If viewers jump around from side to side or up and down to follow the hierarchy, it can cause confusion. When making my poster I decided to use my own illustration for this brief and started that in illustrator before importing it into InDesign. By redirecting the brief for Hello Furniture Co.'s event poster I was able to maintain creative integrity while still incorporating the client's idea of a zebra illustration and colour scheme.
References:
This resource includes content created by Dr David Sargent for visual communication core courses. – grids – GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
Lupton, Ellen. 2010. Thinking With Type - orphans widows Retrieved 01/09/2023 from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjuzsDfwKmBAxUbPXAKHdcaDjcQFnoECBYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Freadings.design%2FPDF%2Fthinkingwithtype_ellenlupton.pdf&usg=AOvVaw31ph1kPODCPxWHrpYInnNt&opi=89978449
For this task I was asked to create a protest poster of my choice. I took inspiration for this task when reading Linnea Mayo article ‘You Can’t Stay Neutral in Times of Injustice’. I know it can be frustrating when others don't acknowledge or care about injustices. It's puzzling because some people choose to remain neutral or claim not to care as silence and lack of engagement reveals privilege. As Desmond Tutu said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." It's important to speak up and use our voices for those who may not be heard which is why I felt I had to go above and beyond for my resolved piece. My Body, My Choice" is an important issue I wanted to explore and amplify so I designed a powerful and explicit poster that reflects this message. The phrase "My body, my choice" is designed to stand for the concepts of individual physical autonomy, bodily integrity, and freedom of choice, it constitutes self- determination over one's own body without external domination or duress.
References
Linnea Mayo (October 20, 2020) ‘You Can’t Stay Neutral in Times of Injustice’. Retrieved 01/09/2023 from https://www.evanstonian.net/staff_name/linnea-mayo/
Poster Statistic:
United Nations Population Fund. (14 April 2021) ‘Nearly half of all women are denied their bodily autonomy, says new unfpa report, my body is my own.’ . Retrieved 01/09/2023 from https://www.unfpa.org/press/nearly-half-all-women-are-denied-their-bodily-autonomy-says-new-unfpa-report-my-body-my-own
For this piece I was tasked with conceptualising and designing a surreal, composite image. This week I learnt just how powerful image-based art/design is when watching the Ted Talk by Liu Bolin ‘The invisible man: can a person disappear in plain sight?’ Liu Bolin, the Beijing-based artist, is often referred to as "The Invisible Man" because he cleverly camouflages himself in his artwork. By painting his body to blend seamlessly with the background, he becomes nearly impossible to spot in photographs. Bolin's intention is to shed light on social and political issues by disappearing into the scenery. What's truly remarkable is that all of his images are created with a single photograph, without the use of Photoshop. Bolin's art is both inspiring and powerful, as it effectively communicates critical messages about our society through image-based design. In my tasks brief I had been allocated a set of stock images from Unsplash to use as my source material. Firstly, I set up my file as an A4 landscape document which was specified in the brief. I then selected my background image which was of a cold grey industrial environment however most of the images provided for the background were portrait and the client wanted a resolved landscape image. To rectify this image, I duplicated my industrial environment image and flipped it to join the two photos seamlessly. I then picked a ‘hero’ image of a girl holding a surfboard to feature composite to create an almost believable surreal image, with seamless integration of shadows, perspective, scale, and etch. I Then further developed the image by adding balloons I did this by finding an image in the Unsplashed file however it only had balloons coming from the top corner of the image therefore having a harsh cut off, so I had to be very strategic about the balloon placement in my own image. For this project I used a series of erase background tools, delete sections and manual erase tools. Once I had all my components placed, I experimented and played around with the hues, contrast, brightness, and other settings of the images to get them to match and look cohesive. I also added shadows with a brush tool turning the opacity of the pen tool right down to make it transparent and a believable subtle shadow.
When receiving feedback from my client I was told to add a horse head subtly into the image to add another fun surreal element, I also got feedback to add more balloons. With the issue of the harsh cut off of the balloons image still remaining and no full balloons to work with I took my photo in Photoshop Beta and used the generative AI tool to make a full balloon which I was then able to work with and duplicate. Ultimately, I think I did a successful job in creating a finished surreal image.
References
Ted Talk – by Liu Bolin ‘The invisible man: can a person disappear in plain sight?’
Horse Head - Vanyi , D. (12/10/2017) ‘Two person wearing horse heads sitting on folding chairs while playing accordions beside brown concrete building’. Retrieved 01/09/2023 from https://unsplash.com/photos/5Fxuo7x-eyg
Balloons - Євгенія Височина.(06/04/2020) ‘ White padded armchair with black wooden frame’. Retrieved 01/09/2023 from https://unsplash.com/photos/1JJJIHh7-Mk
Industrial Environment - Zhukovskaya, K. (30/11/2019) ‘Gray concrete building during daytime’. Retrieved 01/09/2023 from https://unsplash.com/photos/zZ97YKTyj7s
For this project the client asked me to redesign the document "The Gender Pay Gap by Age Group, June 2022" by the Australian government to make it more readable and appealing to a wider audience. I immediately understood the value of the information in the report and believe that a creative and visually engaging layout would help increase its exposure. To save time, the client had provided me with an InDesign file with grids and a folder of pre-selected images from unsplash.com. I needed to edit the text in the original document, keeping in mind that not all of it would fit in the new document. As part of the project, I could use ChatGPT to summarize the text, but I had to make sure to review and verify the output before using it. When I first started in my InDesign file, I picked an eye-catching photo for the first page. I chose to add a subtle theme of red as red is an emotional colour that demands attention like no other colour and can install anger and emotion. I then selected a weighty title font ensuring to use all my InDesign grids in the process. I ended up researching successful magazine layouts and when doing so found fonts I wanted to use for my title and text. I then downloaded these fonts and added them to my Adobe making sure the kerning wasn’t to close and all my columns, text, and words were spread nicely. I received the constructive feedback to left align all text, look out for orphans and widows, reference chat gpt, make references fine print and size 7 and regular text size 10 . I also got feedback to make leading spacing 14 or 16, add pull quotes, add a third more diverse image to create more interest and diversity as well as to break my paragraphs up using rag paragraph break up.
I learnt during this project that visual communication plays a huge role in shaping our perception of society. It's not just about how things look, but also about the power to redefine narratives, challenge stereotypes, and amplify underrepresented voices. As a designer, I understand the responsibility of including diverse imagery. If the provided images lack diversity, I can always suggest alternatives to the project lead to ensure a more inclusive outcome. Taking the initiative to improve the final result is a great way to showcase my design skills to the client (Ceara Swyripa. 2022, ‘Black Illustrations Blog’ (2023). Ultimately, after refining my document and using feedback I believe I was able to create a successful document that reads way easier than the original and is more eye-catching and interesting.
References
Ceara Swyripa (2022), Black Illustrations Blog (2023)
Images used in Draft:
Figure 1 - Mina Rad. (20/06/23) ‘Builder, female figure’. Retrieved 31/09/2023 from https://unsplash.com/photos/a-man-in-a-red-jacket-is-walking-through-a-construction-site-ib6S3wmQ-Jw
Figure 2- Ryoji Lwata. (30/01/2019)’Editorial, Street Photography, Business & Work’. Retrieved 31/09/2023 from https://unsplash.com/@ryoji__iwata
Images used in Final:
Figure 1 - Mina Rad. (20/06/23) ‘Builder, female figure’. Retrieved 31/09/2023 from https://unsplash.com/photos/a-man-in-a-red-jacket-is-walking-through-a-construction-site-ib6S3wmQ-Jw
Figure 2- Ryoji Lwata. (30/01/2019)’Editorial, Street Photography, Business & Work’. Retrieved 31/09/2023 from https://unsplash.com/@ryoji__iwata
Figure 3 - Christina. (12/11/2019) ‘Editorial, Business & work’. Retrieved 01/09/2023 from https://unsplash.com/photos/AHfRjkk8QcE
For this task I was approached by an unconventional perfume company regarding some basic photography concepts for image library. The brand is known for their unusual combination of scents, inspired by everyday objects that aren't often considered in this market. Going into this I didn't have any details from the client about the type of fragrances they are about to launch. So, for now, I will just use a combination of random everyday objects. The MVM Creative Director has asked me to my local supermarket to purchase any three items (keeping within a budget). The items needed to be things that don't typically go together. Documenting physical outcomes is a crucial component of many creative tasks, thus being able to take photos of items without a full high-end photographic setup is crucial.
I started this project by using a roll of white paper to create my infinity background. I set up in a place that provided allot of natural light and no shadows. Once I had my set up, I took my infinity background photos. For my second lot of photos (the creative staged photos) I didn’t remove the infinity background for but instead placed it in a new location which had lots of interesting shadows. I then took my infinity photos into photoshop, I proceeded to do this task by making two layers of the photos. One, the first layer which I removed the subject and on the top layer I removed the background. This allowed me to heavily edit and play with light hues of the background and create a very crisp white background without distorting the subject. Once I was happy with my background, I edited the overall image and made sure to keep a few shadows present so it didn’t look like the subject was floating on a white nothing.
For my creative staged backgrounds these didn’t require as much editing just playing around with the light hues. I then got some constructive feedback to add a few more creative staged backgrounds, play around with the hues of the infinity background so it wasn’t such a cold grey/white colour and edit one of my creative staged photos, so the light wasn’t so harsh (photo above).
To make my infinity background warmer I selected my background layer in photoshop, used the colour overlay setting and added a soft yellow to the background before fixing up some of the other feedback.
I then went out a reshot a few more staged background photos using a mirror to create lots of interest. I then took two of those photos into photoshop and edit the brightness/ contrast. Ultimately, I was very happy with my series of product photography and believe I was able to achieve quite a high standard only using an iPhone camera and Photoshop.
References:
Griffith course Materials week 7. ‘Small Object/Product Photography’.
