Mapping My Journey

Good evening ^_Ő/


I went through an ironic situation this morning '~_^\  At the start of the second week I left my Layout Bond paper (one of the required supplies) in my locker, because I thought I'll be using it in class.  Well, the days passed and I haven't been using it for class exercises, so yesterday I decided to bring it home to use it for homework instead... BUT, it was required this morning \^0^/ Oooh nooo!  I had regular printing paper, but that's 8½"x 11" & the required size was 9"x12" >_< (Sooo clooose).  I then asked one of my classmates, my neighbor on my left side, if he could share one of his with moi... so now I owe him a white sheet of art paper •^_^•  


We needed the required paper to visually map out how to get an "A" in the class.  First we had to do some research and then map it out.  A couple of my classmates were doing it in a comic strip, similar to the "How I made it to College," homework.  I did too.  I started by drawing the syllabus, surrounded by a rectangle with the Safari logo at the bottom left corner, to indicate that it's online.  Then I drew a clock with only two arrows: one pointed down to its left and the other was vertical, abstract for 8 o' clock (time class starts).  I drew a character with glasses (Prof. Jimmy) pointing at a board, but I erased them after talking to some of my classmates who suggested to word it instead.  My right side neighbor had his laptop on, and we were reading the syllabus (doing research), and taking notes from it.  Then Prof. Jimmy walks in saying that he doesn't want words, but images... should've listened to my instincts '^,~\  Once again, I erased everything, and we had until the end of class to submit it... I had only like 20 minutes left >_< 


In the beginning of class Prof. Jimmy wrote "Mapping" on the board.  Then he asked us what we knew about it.  Some of my classmates said: cartography and geography.  Then it went to Traditional Map, which my Friend and Classmate Joe said it was to find locations from routes A➞B.  From there it went to Statistical Mapping because that's what Prof. Jimmy thought another classmate meant when she mentioned statistics when describing mapping.  However, what she meant was in the cartography category.  Prof. Jimmy used this example to encourage us to talk our ideas with other people (such as groups), because newer ideas are born and it becomes a *Popcorn Brainstorm*  He mentioned that visual communication design is essential to every graphic designer, and that's why some of us need to overcome our embarrassment of talking in front of people, or else we won't be able to succeed as we would fail to sell our products and/or ideas.  He also said that some of us have great ideas but that we're un-disciplined, and that others have gifts but need toning... I'm here because I want to excel by getting both discipline and toning ^_~  Therefore, I need to start mapping my journey.


Why is #3 the magic number?  Prof. Jimmy asked us to help look up the song, and a few of my classmates checked it up... it was a rap song, and almost all of us starting laughing.  Professor was really into the song \^O^/ LOL!!! His purpose was to let us know about the 3 Concepts.  He informed us that there's a lot of psychology behind this, for instance; Better, Not so Sure, and Worst... similar to Gold, Silver, and Bronze.  Why not a number four or two?  He told us that if a designer worked only on two ideas, the client may say, "I wish there was a third."  If there were four ideas, it makes it uncomfortable for the client and most of the time think that the designer is very indecisive.  That's why three is the magic number, because it's more comfortable to produce only three, but to recommend the one that we like best.  He also advised us to wait until the client asks for our recommendation, and to be prepared that the client may not like any of the ideas, and for him/her to walk away ***^O^*** However, we increase our chances to succeed by understanding the audience and project better than the client, because a designer is a professional who helps and teaches the client, as well as to tell them the answers... not the other way around Ö_~ 


With only twenty minutes left, I re-started my visual mapping.  I re-drew it in a comic strip, where I had a character reading a book, followed by a desktop computer... I was aiming for reading the syllabus online.  Then the abstract clock that I mentioned before.  I had the character representing Prof. Jimmy, again pointing at the board that said Art 220, Concept Development.  I had a group of a pair of eyes + an ear + a mouth that indicates for a student to pay attention in class by seeing what goes on, hearing what the professor says, also what the classmates ask and comment, and by talking in class.  Then I drew three characters, as a group discussing in class (their pointing at the board), then another computer monitor with our facebook group, followed by a hand that's holding a pen/pencil and a paper... for class assignments and homework, another desktop with the Blog in it, followed by another pair of hands, this time drawing an apple... and it goes back to the first iconography which means that by repeating the cycle, reading the syllabus again (because every class activity differs), being on time, paying attention and participating in class, doing the class assignments and homework... will eventually lead us to the road of getting to the "A."  It's our job to get to that point of location by not making any stops and running out of gas ✌\^_Ő/✌  I still need to work on mapping my journey, and I'm so relieved Prof. Jimmy gave us a second chance to re-work on them, like he did last time with the "How I Made it to College"homework.  I'm already on a journey, but now I need to map it out to see where I'm going without losing track ✍   


   




Golden Adjectives:


1.) Indecisive: Insecure/not sure, doubtful, stiff, unable to move/think/act fast.


2.) Analytical: Good eye, sharp, researches, critically thinks, describes, explores an idea.


3.) Loyal: Faithful, honest, strong-willed.   


                          

Stiff Mind

Have fun reading ^_~ 

We started the class by looking at some of the student works that were printed on the CMYK Magazine... which is a student magazine as well.  Prof. Jimmy’s purpose was to inspire us by seeing the work of students from other universities.  He also advised us to talk to unknown people, I think artists (mostly designers), to find out about them, and as we learn from them it can help us develop our creative process even more.  It's somewhat intimidating, but worth trying B-)  We then continued our class with our homework assignment.

From our five images that I mentioned in my previous blog, we had to choose one and give it ten different words and/or phrases (kind of like headlines) that would completely change the mood of the person/product/place in the picture…  that was our homework assignment.  Prof. Jimmy did an example from one of my classmate’s picture, which was a red handbag that had a star hanging from it.  He then read her ten different words, and since the mood didn’t change from any of the words, the class had to come up with ten new words/phrases.  For instance, she had, The Devil Wears Prada…  that was actually helping reinforce the meaning of the bag, so one of my classmates said, My Dad’s Bag… which changed the mood of the bag entirely, because now the owner of a female bag belongs to a male… so gender difference worked wonders \^O^/ LOL!!!  The class was then divided into two groups to go over our words and phrases… it was a challenging task ~_O

My group went into the room across the hall.  We sat in a circle and looked at one of my classmate’s picture… we were pondering and smiling as we were thinking hard to come up with different words/phrases.  We then decided to read our words while showing our picture, and then come back to each one and continue by providing different words.  One of my classmate’s had a wrestler holding a chair, and his phrases were really good and funny.  He had, Does this Make Me Look Fat?  Trick or Treat, and so on.  He said that he made this tough man look weak, and that helped him come up with many different phrases that changed the mood of the wrestler.  After we all finished saying our words/phrases, we tried once again to change the meaning of the images from everybody… we were completely stuck.  Until, Prof. Jimmy came and told us that the harder we tried to come up with ideas the worse it would be, and he gave us another warm-up example.  He had a Starbucks coffee, well, we had to pretend it wasn’t from Starbucks.  We had to promote the coffee in an artistic way.  We spent a lot of time just thinking without saying much, like we’ve been doing with our pictures… so Prof. Jimmy told us to just let out what we were thinking, that it’s not a failure to brainstorm.  He told us that Edison didn’t invent the light bulb on the first try.  I loved when he said that creative people are also inventors  \^_~/  Still, how could this exercise be so difficult?  <=O  That’s when I noticed that I have a stiff mind >_<’  Even when I write on my blogs it takes me a while to publish them before I’m satisfied with what I’ve written.  I take it as if I’m a journalist that keeps editing before the deadline to finally submit his/her work.  I also think about the titles that I give to each blog, because for me, not to name a piece of work is like a person who doesn’t have a name.  That’s why I don’t like when some paintings, for instance, are untitled.  However, what I want to start doing, to exercise my stiff mind… is that I’m going to start writing on my blogs every Tuesday and Thursday, on the same day that my class meets.  I need to challenge myself by decreasing my deadline… so no more writing on my blog during the weekend ^_^’ (must get rid of my stiff mind).  

^_Ő/ Wish me luck!

Golden Adjectives:

1.     Stiff: Unable to move fast.  Blocked.  Insecure to advance.   

2.     Determined: To accomplish a goal with inspiration and motivation.  To look forward.  Strong-willed.

3.     Concerned: Preoccupied about failing towards an objective.   

Fear but with Dignity

 Hi ^_Ő/

On Tuesday we watched a 19 minute speech by Elizabeth Gilbert.  She’s internationally famous for her book, Eat Pray Love, or for others like me, for the film based on her book ^O^ LOL!!! She covered the topic of fear regarding the creative minds as to how we are not the only ones creating, but that we get the help from unknown sources.  Her talk is very interesting, and she approaches her audience in a very friendly, humoristic, and humble way.  I highly recommend for all you to watch it, so that you can get a better understanding of what I’m talking about ^_Ő—☞ Here’s the link: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html.  Trust me, it doesn’t feel like 19 min’s at all as she talks fast but with a clear tone and entertaining body language.  I hope that all of you, or at least most of you, can reflect upon your FEAR that stops you from creating what you may think it’s a failure.

I mentioned in my first blog that I want to gain confidence in my new major as a Graphic Designer, and that’s because I’m AFRAID that I might not succeed in this field of study.  Remember that I was studying Animation first?  I’ve been changing majors since I was in community college, but I never spent as much time on just one major like I did with Animation.  I was afraid to let go because I had already reached far away… sort of like an engagement that it’s broken before marriage, and then starting a new relationship with another man… similar situation ‘^,~\  Starting all over again is refreshing but also intimidating…  it’s like I’m swimming and I don’t know what’s underneath the salted water, seahorses \^O^/ Awww!!! Or jellyfish /^O^\ Oooh oh!!!  However, I’m following my instincts, which I believe, is helping me overcome my fear towards my creative career choices.  My instincts, I believe, are those unknown sources that Elizabeth talks about, where our ideas come from and we “do our part of the job,” as she encourage us towards the end of her speech.  I came up with this motto: fear but with dignity… that although I’m afraid not to succeed, at least I tried with dignity to release my creativity.  I kept changing majors because I wasn’t being honest with myself.  I restrained my instincts when they were doing their part of the job.  Until, I imagined having only one year to live… I knew instantly that I’d be spending my time releasing all of my creative works as much as possible before running out of time.  Therefore, I joined the Arts because that’s where my instincts led me after setting them free.  Little by little I’m becoming true to myself… like I’m finally seeing what’s inside the mirror that’s in front of me, and it’s a blurry me.  Also, I’m grateful for this class and for Elizabeth’s words because they’re like a pair of hands that are helping me get up  \^_~/ to continue overcoming my fear towards my creative career choices. 

After watching the video, the entire class discussed as a group what we thought about it.  Almost all of us enjoyed it and were able to relate to her in that we also fear failure.  She also made us think that we’re not crazy, as one of my classmate’s pointed out, when Elizabeth talked about the unknown sources.  Have you ever asked yourself; I don’t know how I got this idea, where did it come from?  Nonetheless is a mystery, which some may believe it comes from a divine source, others about their belief of a previous life, etc…  That’s why many of us liked when Elizabeth mentioned that we’re only human, because she explained that it’s too much responsibility for a mere human vessel to contain, similar to being asked to swallow the sun all alone.  Her speech motivated most us because now we know that there are more creative people out there feeling and thinking the same way, but they’re brave enough to continue with their ‘part of their job.’  Also, the majority of us liked that she gave her presentation in a very humble and colorful way.  She kept using hand gestures that helped her express even more while talking.  Well, there was a student who thought she exaggerated at moments with her voice that it seemed like she was gasping.  Another student jumped to the defense by stating that Elizabeth is a creative person, a writer, and that creative people tend to exaggerate more to make normal people feel what the creative person is feeling.  I took a mental note… I didn’t know that ^_^’  Nevertheless, many of us took the opportunity of seeing the video to help us reflect upon our own fears towards our creative process… I did ^_Ő

It was an interesting morning and after our discussion we had a fun activity.  We were divided into four groups to make a visual story with our pictures from a homework assignment.  Each of us had five pictures, some took their own and others (like me) got them from magazines.  The purpose was for each group to combine all of their images to create a visual story between 3-6 images only.  After we all finished choosing our images, we pinned them on the board.  Then we looked at them and voted for the one that we thought was the best.  My group used five images.  It started with a director with his camera, the second being a model laying on a box of cigarettes as if she were at the beach, the third was an Euro bill, the fourth a goblet of wine (I think margarita?) breaking, and the fifth a young woman with her eyes rolled up (showing only the sclera/white area of the eye), her mouth open, hair all frizzy, and with a black David-star tattoo on her forehead.  Our visual story was about an actress, reason for having the director at first to indicate that she’s being on a film.  She’s a success and that’s what the euro bill symbolizes, but she becomes broke as her fame decays, and that’s represented by the broken goblet, and the last image ends the story with her reaction being all freaky… but with a lot of humor \^O^/ Ahaahahahah!!!!!  Although it was hilarious, I didn’t vote for my group.  I voted for another group who used five images as well.  Their first image was about an old man riding a bicycle, the second was entirely about curvy dirt roads, the third about an elegant building (shiny metal or glass?), the fourth a church/cathedral, and the fifth a shirtless young man lifting a bicycle.  My group got eight votes, so did another, the group that only had three images didn’t get votes, and the group that I voted for got nine.  Since it was the group that won for being the ‘best,’ Prof. Jimmy asked one of my classmates about it, but he was from the same group.  Then he asked me if I was in that group too, and since I wasn’t he asked me to narrate the visual story.  I said that I saw a very tired old man riding a bicycle with a long road ahead of him to reach the point of his location (which was the elegant building), and as he finally reaches it he prays (symbolized by the church), and as he’s relieved he feels young and that’s represented by the young man lifting his bicycle.  The members of that group had another concept though, but Prof. Jimmy defended my story because of the evidence and representation of each image.  For instance, the last image had a younger man lifting a bicycle, that’s visual evidence, and the church symbolizes when people pray as they ask for divine help, like miracles.  What made me vote for this story instantly was the facial expression of the old man, who looked very tired and he still had to push himself to pedal his bicycle (it was very emotional), and then I made the connection with the young man who is full of energy while lifting his bicycle.  I think that this group could’ve still won with only three images: the old man, the long road, and the young man… I think this way because I was able to understand the story just by seeing their first and last image to make the connection between the old man and the young man as they both have bicycles and their facial expressions were the opposite; negative for the old man and positive for the younger one.  I had fun with this activity =D    

It was a great class, starting with an inspirational speech by Elizabeth and concluding it with four different visual stories... ^_~/ Until next time!

        

Golden Adjectives:

1.     Scary: A frightful emotion that a person feels when startled.  Fear of the unknown.  Uneasiness to approach a new area.           

2.     Honest: True to oneself and others.  Positive intentions.  Straightforward with actions and opinions. 

3.     Glorious: Divine accomplishment.  Superior in ranks, as in hierarchy.  Brave.    

United We Stand Or Fail

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United We Stand Or Fail

Thank you for continuing to read my blogs ^_O/ I hope you’re all learning from my learnings ^O^ LOL!!!

Thursday’s topic was about cooperation as Professor Jimmy had the entire class work as a group.  I mentioned in my previous blog that we left with a homework assignment, “My Life as a Graphic Novel: How I Made it to College.”  My first event was about my mom reading to me at home when I was little.  I drew two apples, one with leaves on my mom’s side to indicate that she was my first teacher.  The one on my side had no leaves, to represent that I’m not fully grown yet.  In order to mislead my mom with a school-teacher, I drew on the background a refrigerator, window, and a stove to represent our home.  I loved going to school because my mom taught me how to read, write, and count basic numbers by the time I entered kindergartner.  I even wanted to go to school during the weekends.  My second event was when I finished elementary school and received two certificates: one for Academic Excellence, and the other for President’s Education Awards Program, when Bill Clinton was in office.  I drew my teacher next to me as I saw it in the picture that my mom took us.  I drew swings in the background to represent that I was in elementary.  My third event is about drama as I didn’t graduate from middle school because I started hanging around with two girls, friends who were not serious about school.  I illustrated them by taking me away from the graduation stage, and my facial expression reflects how I’m regretting it.  I drew someone graduating and expressing all of his/her excitement as I’m missing that opportunity.  My fourth event is when I graduated from high school.  I drew, similar to my second event, myself holding my h.s. diploma in the foreground while wearing my cap and gown.  I’m also smiling while winking an eye with a thumbs up.  On the background I have the graduation ceremony.  I wanted to show how I don’t feel lost by having an education, and therefore, I want to continue with my education, which leads me to college.  My story was in a sort of manga style, with only ink and no color.  In continuation to the group, Prof. Jimmy told us to place them on the middle two tables and then to look at them.  We all got up and circled around the long wooden tables to see everyone’s visual stories.  It was amazing seeing everyone’s events.  I learned more about them and felt more comfortable in the class.  After we saw our mini stories, Prof. Jimmy told us to divide our homework’s from ‘top to worst.’  Many of us felt wrong in doing so because we didn’t want to put anyone in the spotlight when it came to the ‘worst’ section.

One of my classmates suggested we marked our favorite story with a check mark.  We walked around again, but then Prof. Jimmy surprised us by saying that we had fifteen minutes to organize our homework’s into the three different sections.   The result of our work led us to disappoint Prof. Jimmy as he was given the wrong winner, but then he made it double the better by given prizes to the two top winners.  We were all then divided into four groups.  I was in group number two.  We had to answer how we ranked our classmates to be better than others, if it was a good/fair, and if how was the group process of decision making.  I mentioned in my group that I voted for storytelling and effort.  My other classmates, in my group, said that creativity counted as well.  As for the group process of decision making we agreed that for future assignments we should write our names on the back to prevent friends voting for friends, and make it fair to everyone.  Every group gave their responses when we met back.  We cooperated as a whole group at first, and ended as four groups still cooperating with our answers.

Vocabulary-Adjectives In My Own Words:

1.)  Amazing: Incredible, fun, joyful.

2.)  Mini: Short, tiny, small, brief.  

3.)  Better: Outstanding, superior, good quality.

Reflections of an Education

Hi everyone ^_~/ Welcome back! 

As you may know from my first blog, I’m currently taking a Concept Development class at California State University Los Angeles (CSULA), with Professor Jimmy Moss.  I want to share, once again, what I’ve been learning in his class ^_O

Tuesday’s topic was about reflecting from our education as Prof. Jimmy questioned us about our majors.  He asked how many of us went to see the Student Show from last quarter.  The show is displayed in the first floor of our Fine Arts Building (FA Bldg).  Very few saw it.  Then, he asked how many of us are Graphic Design (G.D.) majors, many raised their hands, including me.  He then asked what was our excuse for not seeing it especially if we are majoring in the field.  We were burnt with our own torch for success.  Even if I wasn’t a G.D. major at the time, I was still an Art major in Animation, so I have no excuses ‘^,~\ Since almost all of us aren’t involved in pursuing more than outside of class, he advised us to, “Think seriously and explore, eat as much design as possible… each day seek out rather than opportunities to come to you, be able to grow.”  I felt it’s time to get serious with my education, to get involved not only outside of class, but also outside of school.   I need to start getting fat with both knowledge and creativity.

We then had to reflect on the difference between a game and a test.  According to us, both are a competition and give rewards, but the word game is positive as it’s fun and the word test is negative since it’s stressful.  Prof. Jimmy approached this activity by saying, “We’re going to have a small test,” and we responded with pessimism, so then he changed the word ‘test’ to ‘game’ and our mood changed drastically to optimism.  His purpose was to teach us the power of words, and that although he used two different words, the concept didn’t change.  In addition, he informed us that an image is an idea that communicates visually, so words are carefully chosen as they tell a story.  Furthermore, he said that designers have to combine words and images, so they have to be sensitive when choosing the size of the words, image(s), the colors of both the image and words, and so on.  This was a warm up for the slideshow he was about to show us.

The presentation started with a photograph of a family.  However, the activity was not to interpret who and what were in the photo, but to be like a detective by providing visual evidence.  One of my classmates said, “It’s a group of people,” that was good, then someone else mentioned, “there’s a woman with a smile,” that was an interpretation.  Prof. Jimmy corrected my classmate by saying, “The third figure to the left wearing a pink suit…” that was providing visual evidence.  The activity was for Visual Intelligence (or Literacy as some people call it) and Application.  It was interesting but somewhat difficult since we’re used to interpreting and not analyzing the photographs like detectives do ^O^ LOL!!!  The first couple of photographs were about Prof. Jimmy’s family,  was an entirely red photograph.  We had to say what we thought red means. Some of our answers were: “Warning, stop, urgent, passionate, hot, dangerous, sexual, and etc…”  Prof. Jimmy pointed out that the color red provokes, it gets attention, as it is not quiet.  Therefore, the octagon stop sign is red, and it gets our attention even though if it didn’t have the letters “S T O P” in it.  He also pointed out that was the reason why many fast food restaurants, such as Jack in the Box, have red on their signs and logos.  The color red calls for customers.  What was the point of these two images?  I believe it was an introduction to prepare us for the following photographs. 

The next photo was about our home planet from out in space.  Thanks to the first man who landed on the moon and took photographs of Earth, we are immensely fortunate to exist in this era because we were able to see how our world looks.  After a few minutes from looking at the details our blue, white, brown, and green planet, Prof. Jimmy displayed another photo of Earth.  The calm feelings that I was experiencing from looking at Earth in the previous photo were disruptive with the new one.  What I thought I saw at first was a special effect of Earth exploding, but it was thousandths of satellites covering the outer part of our world.  As if global warming wasn’t enough.  I didn’t even know how many satellites were out there.  I felt a huge impact.  It’s true, it’s not all that bad like Prof. Jimmy mentioned, without all those satellites we wouldn’t have the Internet and all of the benefits of fast communications… but, I feel guilty.  I was already concerned with Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and that’s when I learned about the problems concerning global warming, and now I learned in this class that there are even more threats?  Prof. Jimmy informed us that one of the satellites recently crashed into Earth.  That’s terrifying.  Just imagine if all of those satellites were to crash all at once into our land?  It’ll be like comets destroying everything and everyone they hit.  I worry for all of us and for the health of our planet.  What will happen to our future generations?  We need to reflect and take action.  I wish Nasa could invent some sort of vacuum & clean up most of those satellites, that way, we can all still have the Internet and protect our planet as well.       

Our class ended by taking a homework assignment, “My Life as a Graphic Novel: How I Made it to College.”  We have to reflect by deciding four main events and answer the prompt in a visual communication manner.  That means, we have to draw in four rectangles how we got here.  Look forward to my four chosen events on my next blog ^_~/ Thanks for reading.

Vocabulary-My Own Definition of Adjectives:

1.) Fat: Over eat, exaggerate, take more than enough.

2.) Sensitive: Delicate, careful, professional.

3.)  Calm: Peaceful, relaxing, at ease, state of meditation.