Aliens coming to earth... maybe.

On Wednesday's class, we started off by having to tell a story in 3 drawings. We couldn't use words and  at the end we would vote on whose was the best. Each drawing had to be clear of what our story was. So we go into groups of three and had 30 minutes to come up with a concept and actually drawing the story out. I got paired up with Susie and Carrie, my classmates.
We began to develop a story of aliens going to earth from their mystery planet. The aliens come to earth and see our planet full of the things we hated. We started to brain storm ideas of things we didn't like: naming celebrities, political issues, entertainment junk etc. etc. It was hard to portray these without using words or even to draw a celebrity that everyone in our class could recognizable. So we just stuck to using logos, which can be very recognizable to everyone. We stuck to using McDonald's logo. So when the aliens are close enough to see earth, in the last frame, you see the aliens taking off back to their planet.
After our timers went off in class, we than judged each other's drawings. There was 8 set of drawings on the board. Some were okay, some weren't very clear. The group that won, was a drawing of a couple sitting on the bench with a love sign in between. The next shot shows the same couple pregnant sitting on the bench. The last shot shows the couple holding the baby on the same bench. It was an okay depiction but I feel like it won because of the love depicted in the drawings. It got to peoples emotions and I believe that most people tend to choose things based on their feelings. I choose a set on drawings that showed a girl tripping and her breaking her phone. The drawings were good, it's mainly why I choose it.
In the end Jimmy, my professor, ended up saying ours was the best concept and was depicted very clearly. I thought so as well because ours was very simple and clear cut. He explained that the winners story was a boring, not that well drawn drawing.

The second half of the class we were introduced our final project which is a 2-3 minute video due at the end of the quarter. It's week 8 here at CSULA and the quarter ends at week 10 with a finals week following that. Don't understand where time went. Any ways, we suppose to make a video that explains our environment, the people and issues. Basically, it's how we live on this earth. We were showed a video of an example, not really anything he wanted. I think Jimmy does this because he wants people to be real creative and not influenced by any examples people have done in the past. It's kinda of tougher this way to think of an idea but I guess it does leave a clear mind for us to develop a concept. I have one, maybe two at the most ideas of what I want to do. I wonder how this project for myself is going to turn out. We shall see.


-Leslie


btw, here's a picture of our project!

Games & Creative briefs

In today's first class of the week, we did the most confusing group activity we have ever done in 220,  concept development, this far. I'm going to try to explain the game without confusing you, but be aware you'll probably be confused. We started off by sitting in a circle and were to develop better listening skills. Jimmy would ask someone to the left of him, saying, "this is a who?" the person replies with "a who?" Jimmy says with confidences "a who." Then it continues throughout the whole circle. People changed the name of the objects and we were also thrown a second object into the circle. At one point of this exercise, the objects meet in the middle and these people would have to be able to turn to the left and right and remember what tone or question the person was asking them.
As a class, we finished the first round without stopping. To be honest I thought someone would mess up, mainly because I was confused at what we were doing from the beginning. Once the game began, it got clear. I'm more of a person that needs to see examples rather than be told the instructions. My mind is easily prone to trail off. I figured that someone would be confused just like I was. We got through the exercise once but messed up a few times towards the end when two different objects were going around the circle. I think as a class we've gotten use to these group exercises and that we have gotten pretty good at them.

For the last part of the class we reviewed creative briefs. It was actually my first time being introduce to a creative briefs. It makes perfect senses to make something written that has every details of your project. Before some projects, not all of them, I would just scribble on a page of certain things I was trying to convey within a project. This is a more structure way rather than me writing down things like "don't forget to add this color!"I thought these creative briefs are very vital to a project. I think of it like guidelines to the future work you are about to do that you've discuss with your client and/or partners and yourself. This can prevent you from getting off track from what you originally intended on.
We briefly talked about art and design, what the main differences were between each other. Art is more subjective, based on personal interest and emotions. Design is objective, based on ration. Both art and design cross paths, but are two separate subjects. I do see a structured rational person in me and at the same time this creative whimsical being dreaming of the most lucid dreams, day and night.

Presenting myself

Since the last class, all we've done is present our game concepts to the class. The class explained that there is this show called shark tank, which I've never seen, in which a group of investors were pitched ideas and they pick on what they want to invest their money into. Jimmy, my professor, explained that the presentations were like the show shark tank. We were to ask questions on how their games worked and to critic their presentation. 

I had presented last week so I got the chance to just pay attention to the presentations and the game concepts. A lot of them were very interesting game concepts but didn't know how to present them well. I was one of those people. I started to think about presentation skills. Communication skills are beyond important, yet I lack these skills. Finding a way to communicate in a way that best presents myself is something I'm trying to work at. 

Presenting yourself in a way that best reflects yourself is something that need a lot of work. I know what I'm capable of doing, what my intentions are in project, the reasons behind the work and overall how it best reflects myself. Yet when it comes to words and explaining myself it seems to get tough. I always been one to be very quite and when I feel something is need to be said I will say it. I always had a fear of saying the wrong thing or saying it a way that wasn't to be intended. I've always be envious of people who were able to give these incredible speeches and communicate well with their audience. I wonder though, if they were naturally like these or if it took practice. I know in my case, I need to practice. For example, in my Letterform class which is also taught by Jimmy, the first project I presented I practice a few times the night before even timing myself. For the second project I didn't have the chance to practice like I did before. The second presentation I totally blanked out on what I was going to say and ended up with a short and not a very good presentation. It was proof that I really needed to practice on what I was going to say and how I wanted to reflect myself as a designer. 

I want to be seen as this confident artist/designer/visionary who can communicate well with the people around her. I want my reasons to make sense, be relatable to people and yet still be unique with a style that is a fresh of breathe air. I realize that a lot of people out there feel the same way and that there is a lot of work to be done on myself as a person and my work. My philosophy is to be honest with yourself and what you want from life. To understand and come to terms with that were all on this earth trying to make sense of the life around us. I'm documenting my human experiences and the things i've learned this far. I'm taking these human moments and making them into momentous and extraordinary moments. I'll convey these moments with the hues of the somberness of life itself to the enigma of the human existents and the eeriness of my subconscious minds.

A message for everyone!

-Leslie

Game concept presentation

First class of the week our final drawings and rules of our concepts to original board games. I went through a good 10 to 15 ideas of board games before finding something that was worth pursing. My game was called arranged your words. My game consist of 120 different square word pieces with words ranging from nouns to adjectives to verbs to pronouns. The premise is to be the first to arrange the word pieces into grammatically correct sentences. 3 pieces must be put down each turn, if you don't have a piece you collect a new word piece. You're able to rearrange the words on the table but at all the times 3 pieces and a grammatically correct sentences. 

During my presentation I got really nervous, to where my voice started shaking. It's one of those moments I think back to and it makes me cringe. I feel like I need to learn to communicate with people and communicate in a way that represents my style. This is important mainly because communication I'm a visual communicator. As much as I need to communicate with my work, my words are just as important. I say "to represented my style" because when I present, I feel like I'm not presenting myself in a way where I'm putting myself on display. I'm usually a quite person always thinking yet if I have something to say, I want it to be heard. When I present I feel like I'm not letting myself be heard. 

Besides my need for better presentation skills, my concept needed work when I got ask questions. Actually I didn't have anyone to see if I had any flaws in my concept so I did have blinds spots. One of my classmates mention my choice of colors for the game pieces. I choose to use to primary colors: red, yellow and blue. I choose these colors for simplicity, didn't want to resemble Rummikub as much. During the presentation, I said, "There was no specific reason why I choose these colors," which was a big mistake. I did chose it for simplicity not for a random reason. But I now I see I could of use to colors for a concept in the game. I could of choose to name nouns as blue, verbs as blue and adjectives as yellow. 

I feel like if I did this, the player will intentionally pick out the colors to win the game. You'd definitely need a variety of pieces, so maybe the color aspect of the game can probably work. 

Another thing my classmates mention was if punctuation was going to be apart of the game. I hadn't thought about this, although I did us the word grammatically correct. To learn grammar, you'd need punctuation. Maybe more pieces would be need. This reason would be because I want a large variety of words to make the combinations of words be greater. 

Overall, I could of done a lot better with this project. I think I got so distracted by the fact that to think of an originally game concept was very difficult. I also wish I would of gotten something else opinion so they could possibly notice my errors of lack of ideas in certain areas. I did enjoy the concept because it was simple and that is was mainly a strategy game.

Wednesday - 2.13.13

Continuing from the last post the main assignment of the week was to develop concepts for games. All 9 concepts had to be original ideas. This was probably one of the hardest assignments I had to do. It got me thinking of one of my favorite shows where one of the characters was so good at games that the group told him run game nights. Eventually he made up his own game that contain all of the best game into one game. I had never thought of designing games until I had to do it.
It was so tough because it was hard to be original without having something similar to a game that's out there already. I came up with some questions to help myself come up with some ideas but all I could think of was games I already knew.

One of ideas I had was called college. It was a board game with a premise to earn a 4 year degree the fastest. One of the main ideas was that it would take a lot longer than 4 years due to the government raising tuition, the university cutting classes you need to graduate or the unexpected life expense that will effect you graduating. It was a simple idea that reference how the education system was working at this time.

The second idea I had was called Las Vegas trip. Basically there is a story of you going to vegas and getting super drunk. The premise is to make it back to your hotel room before anyone else does. Things like getting lost, throwing up, getting lured by 2 for 1 shots, and gambling can happen to you on your way back. It was just a true story that had happen to me but I didn't see enough potential in the game itself. Also I didn't pick it because the idea made me sound like an alcoholic.

The final decision I had came up with is called Arrange your words. There 120 word pieces that range from adjective, to nouns, to verbs and so on. Be the first to arrange 16 word pieces into grammatically correct sentences. You can rearrange the word piece into different sentence but at all times the sentence must contain at least 3 pieces and be grammatically correct. This game can help kids with grammar and think of many different strategies but also be fun for adults. Maybe there can be a child version and an adult version.
I think my game concept works because it's a simple idea that can help the brain develop. The many different combination of words can make the game want to be played a lot whereas other games you can easily get bored with it. At first it was super hard to think of original game concepts yet I still came up with decent ideas for games. With a lot of thought and test runs of each game I believe they can possibly become a real game.

Monday - 2.11.13

Monday the 11th was also known as game day. Jimmy asked us to bring at least two games. Anything from board games to cards.
I bought a game called Rummikub. Describing your game in one to two sentences was part of our assignment. The premise of rummikub was to place down 3 tiles each turn. The sets must be either consecutive numbers in the same color or the same number in different colors. Numbers range from 1-13 and are either red, black, blue and orange.
This by far is my favorite game. It requires thinking of different strategies in order to win. It's a simple premise which makes it enjoyable for many different people.
One of design problems I noticed in this game was the coloring. The red and orange tiles are very similar which makes it hard to see in certain lights. It wasn't just me being a designer to notice this problem, it happened when my friends and I were playing the game and we all had trouble identify the colors on the table. Other than that it's the only problem I have with the game.
Another game I played was CandyLand. It's actually been a while since I've last played this game. Trying to remember how the game was played was kinda difficult. On the box of candyland was stated that the game required no reading. It's meant for the kids to play without having to think much. I did notice the graphics of the character has changed a lot. I notice the princess looked a lot like those bratz dolls little girls enjoy so much. I personally enjoyed the older graphics way better but maybe that's because it simulates my past.
I forgot how fun games can be and how much it takes your mind off everything else. I also notice the range of games and how they can be help your brain develop. Then there's games like CandyLand which isn't meant for much besides if your bored or a 6 year old child.
Jimmy assigned us to develop 9 different concepts of original games.
This, was possibly the hardest assignment I had to do.
to be continued...

COMING SOON ON THE NEXT BLOG POST:
-Why it was so hard to come up with ideas
-My 10 crappy ideas and the 1 that stood out the most
-also, I will try and not be so cheesy on the next post


-Leslie

Concept journals

During the last class of the week, we were ask to portray the seven deadly sins with whatever media we preferred.
As I am learning about this class, the most important thing is figure out why you drew or picked out what you did. Hence the name concept development. [I apologize if I sound super redundant, it's barely clicking to me]. And these ideas for projects are things we know and experienced. So to make sure that you are adding your style making sure the reader can understand what you are making. There has to be a fine balance between creating something unique and unusual and creating something that is understandable and relatable to the mass of people.

We were ask to make a creative map to the following topics: aliens in your bed, if you won the lotto, or trading places with any famous of any era.

I chose the aliens in your bed because I can't help have a massive curiosity of aliens. It is actually funny that it was a choice for a creative map and thought I could use my random/crazy ideas to ad to the map. I had this thought that aliens weren't necessarily different looking but someone who can use there entire brain power [I believe the usage of brain power is %10]. I then thought of a story of going on a graduation trip to Egypt. The person/people who go decide to take DMT which a drug that basically takes you away from reality. Lots talk of connect to aliens is possible by taking DMT. So on their trip, they enter the pyramids only to realize aliens live inside. I thought this would be an interesting story line. 

One of the things that don't do as often as I should is to write down my ideas. Having a specific notebook or journal to document the ideas that happen throughout my day. It's always been that if I had a good idea it would stick with me. I would define a lot of the idea in my head letting it trail off into whatever came next. I guess I've always been the person to change my mind a lot. My ideas jump around so much that I never get to stick to one plan and make it the best. I feel like with a little change every time it'll grow into a great concept. 

I now see that planning where you want to go with a concept can be an amazing thing for you. Visual communication with yourself is super important. As redundant as that sounds, it's something that can be forgotten a lot. For example, I know with one drawing, if I wanted to get it to where I want it to be it is going to take me a least 50 drawings. I need to see my work and my progress. So I think it is a very vital aspect to visually see what you are trying to create. Without it, you can never really get anywhere.

All in all, I now believe in needing a idea journal and writing down whatever comes to me. Even if it's not that well of an idea, I believe later on it can turn into a fully involved idea. It's like the thousands of drawings/paintings I have in my room sitting there collecting dust. Almost all of those are unfinished mainly because I thought the idea was trash once I began it. Now more than 6 months later I seen a painting I did and was like, "woah, I did this?" It's a pretty good feeling to have that happen. So with an idea journal and time, concepts can develop over time.  

2015 competencies

In class we discuss in groups the designer of 2015 competencies. It talked about the expectations place upon designers in the future. Up until this class, I was oblivious to how much work besides the actual design work took place in a designers life. Obviously, it wasn't like I expected to get work right off the back just by the designs. It's that I never got the chance to really understand competencies and realized that any person with a career has to have certain abilities outside of their work.
I'm glad that i've been exposed to these such important aspects. If I entered an professional setting prior of this knowledge, I would of been crying in the corner already.

The fact that there is so much to consider within a career, and at that, not necessarily graphic design has a pretty overwhelming feeling at times. For example, something fairly easy like a simple drawing due for my class; concept development. What is your context ? what are you conveying ? why? what am I trying to get out of this? clarity? color? aesthetic? originality? and so much can be add to this list.
It's different when drawing, painting, photographing, designing use to be for fun. Or when I was on another creative level. It came natural and the work flowed out of me. Now, I suppose I put a lot more pressure on myself to be the best I can be. And I looked back at this all and realized what a difference it was and has been in my design career this far. Not to mention, this is barely the beginning of it all. I have so much to learn still and even that keeps me up at night.

Back to the competencies, a vital aspect to design is generally solving communication problems. Sadly, it is something I barely understood up until a couple weeks ago. But hey, better late than never right ?
This quarter, on top of my art classes, I am taking sociology 330: urban settings in cities. Basically we're are learning about the formations and reasons for cities. Which lead me to my daily commutes to work and school. I start to wonder during traffic about the designing aspect of cities. Why there's a freeway here? Why is there so much traffic right now? why isn't there an exit here? or why isn't dam freeway finished (yes i'm talking about you, 710) It got me thinking about the history and that these solutions now fitted the people living in different era. Now, there's many problems within the cities due the increase in population and the advancement in technology.
So the main question is how can I make a solution to these problems with in a city. I then started to daydream about building my own city from the ground up. Even down to the graphics of each department in the city. Then I thought of how much work that would be and said "hmp, maybe later on."
All in all, it's a lot of work being a creative being whether your a fine artist, designer, photographer, or even a musician.
Understanding fundamentals is overall the most important aspect.

A c r e a t i v e p r o c e s s

          Wednesday's class was us spit into two groups talking about the 4 questions we were ask to talk about in our blog (see post right below.) We all shared our fears of being a creative being and our creative process. The biggest difference we all had was how we work. Some of us said we love working to music and or visuals and the other half said that music was really distracting. 

These questions had me thinking about the work I do outside of school. Whatever I learn from my art classes, I always apply everything I learn to my work. Like coming up with a good process to working. Having a plan, researching, asking yourself a few basic questions are a few of the things I've learn this far at CSULA. 

I've mention that I have taken photographs since I was about 16 years old. And looking back, I have grown as an "artist" (feels very strange saying artist.) I now know that having a creative plan and objective is an important process in designing your work. 

I'm going to talk about some of my work and how I eventually got to the final decisions and product.

N°1

This was a series I had done for a 2D 

class at CSULA. I named it "Things

aren't what they seem to be." It was an interactive book that allowed the reader to rotated the photos by a handle on the side of each photo. It was also a series within another series of 'rotated' photos. This was definitely a more planned out photo shoot. I wanted to convey images that seem surreal, strange and that made you think twice at what you were looking for. This is a prime example of me actually sitting down and doing exactly what I intended to do. 

N°2

I never planned for this photo. I was shooting photos for a couple of friends for their ep release. While they were talking about what they wanted, I seen this and shot it right away. I didn't plan for the placement of the clouds or that helicopter in the photo. I know that some work is somethings unintentional which makes it an aesthetic to the unplanned concepts. 

N°3 

Combining my love for music, design and photography I began to design cover art for these playlist I was making monthly. The photo came from this one foggy december morning. I fixed the color, rotated it and added this large text on top. The photo wasn't really planned but from that came a planned idea. I decide to use it for the playlist making a perfect representation for the month of december.

I now understand that it is important to have some planned ideas but that also intentional things may happen in the middle of the process. There has been many times where someone has been like "oh I love that part," and in reality that was merely an accident. I believe that if you have an idea, no matter how developed it is, an intentional or something random might come from it. Also looking at your everyday life is a way of developing a concept. I know I strive to capture or create moments of the everyday life. 

I believe that the creative process varies for every person but if you strive on making things thats make you you, the ideas will flow out of our creative brains.