life’s not a paragraph

it feels like i have only been at school for two weeks… and at the same time, it feels like i never left for the summer. it’s a very strange feeling. almost as if time has grabbed a hold of each of my arms and is pulling in opposite directions, and i’m being pulled and stretched (cartoon-style of course).

no matter how long it’s been since school started, i have finally completed the first project in two of my classes. my imaging class and my typography class consist of a lot of small projects which we get assigned to complete over the course of the weekend. however, in my graphic design one class and my computer applications class, we have been working on the same project since (practically) the beginning of the semester.

and i am so happy with the final products. i am really amazed how my ideas and concepts transformed into something tangible and concrete. my gd1 project was the shorter of the two. we had to pick an object (i chose a happy buddha figurine that i have. some people chose vegetable peelers, locks, or flowers) and in nine steps, go from a detailed pencil drawing to abstract cut paper shapes. it’s a lot harder than it seems… and probably a lot more fun than it seems too. the progression is key. you can’t jump too much from one step to another or it completely disrupts the flow of the piece. it’s hard but you get some of the most  beautiful and interesting shapes as a result!

my comp apps project took the most time. we had to redesign a candy bar wrapper. we were given a list of five to chose from. i chose almond joy because it is one of my all time favorites. we had to research the history, come up with concepts, and ultimately, design a new wrapper.

in my original ideas, i just wanted to use lowercase letters. however, while i was looking for a font, i found an all uppercase font that worked perfectly with my concept. so i ended up using it! i am really proud of my final result. looking at my first sketches and then looking at my final product, it’s really cool to see how my ideas developed and changed. we actually had to make a mock up of our candy bar for our final presentation. i cut down two pieces of wood to replicate the size of the almond joy bars and then i printed out my wrapper and folded it to look like the real thing! it was strange to see it in its “true form”. it really makes me excited to do other projects because i know that all of the final projects will surprise me! this project made me want to try the product design class!