Mendez Designs: Junior Year Semester Final

INTRODUCTION

As my junior year in the eComm program concludes, I can reflect on how much I've picked up over my time here. I can safely say this year has been a great improvement on my previous years. My knowledge of the Adobe programs has grown by method of application. I've used some new skills on a poster for the ONW orchestra, among others.
The Behance website has been useful in that it showed me how to better present myself in a professional setting, as well as take inspiration from other designers. On my online portfolio, I also showcase some commission work, which shows people how I can communicate well with clients. I've also learned how to organize and manage projects, putting those skills to use by keeping my server folder as organized as possible.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

One of the things I've been working on is keeping my strengths above my weaknesses. For example, I have a bad habit of sticking to one idea I like without expanding or trying something different. I've been trying to push myself to avoid that issue by thinking of keywords relating to the project and sketching different ideas pertaining to those words. But one of my biggest strengths is keeping a consistent look throughout projects and coming up with ideas that satisfy the client. I try my best to work efficiently so that I can meet the right deadlines, and I'm still improving on that.

MY FUTURE IN GRAPHIC DESIGN

Graphic design is one of my favorite things to do. Aside from school assigned project, I enjoy working on things for people who want a nice logo for their online identity or a wallpaper for their computer. I've taken what I learned in this class and applied it to those projects. I hope to be able to make this my career, as one of my goals is to be an album artwork designer for music artists and bands.

CONCLUSION

When I first entered this classroom, I had high hopes that this would be better than my previous years. Those two years were a bit affected by an instructor who was, unfortunately, not very effective in her teaching. However, this time around, the class was a highlight of my day and I always looked forward to working on a project. The critiques I've gotten on my work have been a great improvement on how I worked. The time it's taken to work on a project has mostly decreased by keeping those past critiques in mind while I work instead of waiting for the peer review days. For my Elixir Strings rebranding project, it's taken around two months to finish. But for my most recent project, the NRDC brochure and advertisements, It's taken about half as much time.

Overall, this class has helped me very much in being a more professional graphic designer. I'm looking forward to what my senior year has to bring, and college after that.