The last day of school of my 5th grade year and everyone has their yearbook so that classmates can fill them with memories and well wishes for the summer. For whatever reason that year, I did not have a yearbook. Instead, I had my friends and teachers sign a schoolhouse model that I made out of a box, construction paper and markers.
In 6th grade, I had the assignment to do a presentation on one of the Washington, DC monuments. While many of my classmates put together great presentation boards, I made a 2 feet tall replica of the Lincoln Memorial. I used some big boxes, tubes, put my Ken doll in a suite, top hat and beard, and then spray painted everything in white.
Those were examples of projects I created when I was young, that were outside of the box and big hits with my teachers and classmates. When asked how I came up with my models, my answer was simple, “A thought came to my head and I just did it.” After all those years and you ask me now, how I come up with some of my curent designs, you will probably still get a very simple answer. Sad. I know.
With that said, from this class I liked to have a solid foundation in being able to articulate my work, as well as, others. I want to walk away from this class knowing the “language” of explaining and critiquing art. For example, I do not want to just say that a website is great because all the links work and the color layout does not hurt my eyes. I would love to apply solid reasons based on design theories and artistic examples, to back up what I say. Additionally, I would like to know what things to look for and/or create within interactive media design that is visually appealing.
I have never had any structure in how I came up with the things that I have created. Generally, I figure out what I want in the end product and then I use my attainable resources to get there. I can throw something together when I am working for me. But I put waaaay too much thought, sometimes, when I’m in the position to design something for someone else. Especially when they do not have a clear idea of what they want. Which leads me to another skill I would love to gain from this class. I want to be able to put some organization in creating my designs based on visual aesthetics. I want to be able to understand my client, my skills and merge them into a successful interactive media platform.
The guidance that I will gain from this course on how to read, design and critique art will be a skill that I will utilize throughout my interactive media career.