Cross-Contour Tutorial Reflection

Today in BDS 103, we watched a tutorial on how to draw a cross-contour drawing of an apple. It was really easy to follow, and when I went home and tried it, it worked perfectly. At the beginning of the tutorial, the man draws a box for the apple and then lines for the bottom and top of the apple. I found this part of the video the most helpful. The box and lines help you draw the apple proportionally. I also found his shading tips helpful. My apple drawing turned out great because of this helpful tutorial. :)

Design Project 2 Reflection

The project overall was really good. There was only a one part that was difficult about it. The poster had a lot of elements that you had to put in it, which made it hard to make a design that looked good and brought them all together. I think the challenge was kind of fun, though. I thought it was really interesting learning how to fit all the pieces together. It was also interesting redesigning the fly swatter with my group. We found that a mind map worked best for us when thinking up ideas for the new swatter. I personally like word lists, but for this project, I think that mind map was the best option for us. It was fun narrowing all of our crazy ideas down into a one solid, realistic idea. It was pretty interesting finding materials to make our fly swatter out of, and I think by the end we came up with something that was unique and impressive. I’m very proud of what our group accomplished. We all meshed together really well and came out with a great prototype.

IDEO Reflection

Basically, what this documentary was trying to say is that design is all about being free and
letting your mind latch onto to every idea it has, no matter how stupid it may be. It also showed that there isn’t really a system of hierarchy in a design work environment. The people with the best ideas are the most important, not the people who have worked there the longest. In a design work environment, they don’t want you to ask permission, they just want you to just go with things, and if they work great, if they don’t so what. The point is that some of best designs come from designers who don’t ask permission, because if you ask permission someone might not like or get your idea, and then you’ll never do it. If you never try something, you’ll never know if it could have been great.

Project 2 Brief

For this project, we began with each of us finding five poorly designed object. We then were put into a group of four people. Each group consisted of a graphic designer, illustrator, industrial designer, and photomedia major. Every group had to choose one object from their poorly designed objects to redesign. We had to create a mind map and fifteen sketches each of our object to analyze what was needed in our redesigned object. After we narrowed down what was needed, we then had to make a preliminary prototype. While creating our prototype, we also had to be thinking about our poster. We had to create several thumbnails as well as make a preliminary poster. After all of this, we then had to create a final prototype and create a commercial. Each team member had to make three storyboards for the commercial, and then one was chosen from these. By the end of the project, we had to have a final prototype, a final poster, and a commercial for our redesigned object.

Exchange Definitions

1. to give up (something) for something else; part with for some equivalent; change for another
2. to replace (returned merchandise) with an equivalent or something else
3. to give and receive reciprocally; interchange
4. to part with in return for some equivalent; transfer for a recompense; barter
5. Chess . to capture (an enemy piece) in return for a capture by the opponent generally of pieces of equal value

Writer's Toolbox Reflection

I thought that this reading was very informative and helpful. I’ve tried some of the maps and writings that it talks about, and I’ve found that, for me, the word list works best. It seems to pull the most ideas out of me, and then I can categorize those ideas and see what I can find in them. I thought that the other maps were helpful as well. They all let you get every idea you have down on paper in a fast and easy way. I will definitely take the things I learned from this reading and use it throughout my design career.

Objectified Reflection

I thought this movie was really interesting. It was amazing to see the process of how things go from the drawing board to the store as well as how many things in our world are designed. Almost everything has been touched by design in some way. One object that they talked about in the movie was a toohtpick. I had never thought of a toothpick as being designed. It’s just a sliver of wood, but it was amazing how many aspects of it are designed; they can have different grooves designed into them or a piece at the top the breaks off so you can have something to sets your toothpick on instead of placing it right on the table. I think the toothpicks are what  really made me understand the movie when it said that design touches everything, because a toothpick is something so insignificant, you never think about it. If design can touch a toothpick, than it must be able to touch everything else.