When I arrived into this program, I had long felt like an odd man out in terms of professional designs and applications. I had little knowledge of Photoshop, and had not a clue of what software capabilities Adobe Illustrator and After Effects had beyond photo manipulation. Little fish in a big pond I was—but maybe my experience was more similar to that of a little girl in a densely graphic and complicated world. As I can recall the first few days of being enrolled in Visual Aesthetics, I was challenged to process art in innovative ways that were both semi-awkward and interesting. In those moments, I felt subconsciously zapped back into my 5th grade art class, where we creative works that didn’t make any sense but studied them aesthetically. However, the various art disciplines that we studied in Visual Aesthetics, ranging from Formalism to Post-Modernism revived me with a new understanding of both historic and contemporary art forms. One of my faves to date was re-learning the principle of Gestalt and how the human brain reads art forms, symbols, colors and textures through two-dimensional art.
Diving into the digital art world that encompasses Visual Aesthetics has been a renewing fountain of creative inspiration for me and in many ways shifted my learning curve into third gear. I recall the days where I sat blank-faced and empty minded in front of the computer screen contemplating how I would express myself using Photoshop and Illustrator tools. And though, grueling, my eagerness to self-teach using the brush tool, pen tool, stroke and other features fed gave me creative epiphanies as well as the courage to go beyond what was required of me. Granted, my first production in this class was far from “successful design”, but as my knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects software continued, so did my comprehension of digital platforms and creations. And through outside intervention, real-world suggestions and client work, they would cultivate tremendously. Reflecting on the Converge South conference our class attended back in September, I took full advantage of the opportunity to network with seasoned designers for professional insight. In addition, the conference also provided me with an outlet for learning about the web world aside from a classroom lecture. Such skills, insight and professional enlightening fostered into my intrigue with visual design and wanting to explore the capabilities and perceptions of it all over the web.
What I’ve learned through all class discussions, reflections and of course personal experience is that design is abstract and otherwise irrational. It’d seem like the appropriate response would be to say, “you get out of it what you put into it”, but is satisfactorily much more than that. While it is all the while frustrating to have someone tear my creative works to bits, it is that much more constructive to see and create things that I think about critically and in ways outside of my individual mental boundaries. It in essence preps me for the real world and for employment, where the task ahead of me will rarely be cookie-cutter and my client will likely have a few cents to throw it on how my projects can be more satisfying. And that’s okay, because I passé on easy, evidently joining this program. Moreover, Visual Aesthetics has taught me that although there is no such thing as “perfect design”, there is potential to hone your niche and market yourself accordingly. Through lecture, blogs and outside videos combined, I’ve rediscovered myself as an autonomous design professional woman who made traction in a field where little have tapped the resources and has the potential to make a notable impact on the world wide web.
I have yet decided on an ultimate career path, though I am leaning in toward multimedia journalism. However, I am looking forward to utilizing all the venues I’ve used for learning visual art to satisfy imaginative appetites.