I chose this interesting architecture piece because it caught my eye. The height and design of the metal looks like it took careful planning to build it. This is in Seattle Wash. The only reason I really chose it was because it looked awesome.

Do I really need to say anything about this? It's unique; a clever way of using the environment around the billboard to get the point across. It's simple and easy to understand. Since the rest of the billboard is blank - except for a small Bic logo in the corner, it's easy to see and doesn't take away from the main message.

This is an example of great design.

Image made by type fonts

This image was interesting to me because from afar it looked like a real life photo or even a realistic painting or drawing. But, when looking at it up close you realize that the image is made up by words and fonts. In the backround there is a interpreted Apple Mac icon. I sometimes don't understand people's obsessions with Macs. Shouldn't a Mac break at one point? The image looks to be created with alot of layering and values. Simply the image could not be made without values. Because the values add the depth to the image.

Oil painting

I chose this image because it is very colorful and is an oil painting. Which to me is pretty difficult. It's very detailed and I love how there are many versions of it in many different colors. I also enjoy the size of the canvas it works well being a vertical rectangle.

This piece of work is by Douglas Kirkpatrick. One of his main influences is Italian graphic designer and Illustrator, Lberto Seveso. I love the combination through photography and computer illustration. My taste in artwork generally has more greyscale and only subtle hints of color which this image captures. I like the creative use of outlining the face and how it is not the perfect shape of the face but rather the organic floral and plant figures.

what's the problem here ?

What's wrong with this advertisement ? Based just on visual appearance the ad appears to be promoting consuming alcohol during pregnancy.  The text states this is a non-alcoholic beer but the text is visually over powered by the image of the pregnant women holding a beer, non alcoholic or not it is an icon of an alcoholic beverage and she is pregnant.  Personally the ad does not bother me, but it could have been better and appeal to more people if she was just a not pregnant attractive female with the non alcoholic beer. Same format just not photoshopped to look pregnant. 

photoshop disasters

I came across this great website that I can't believe I've never come across before. Anyone in this class definitely needs to take a look at this. I now regularly go to this website- they add new images almost everyday, and you can submit anything that you see as well. This is just a compilation of really bad photoshop, and a lot of this stuff is published in major magazines and ads. This is definitely NOT what you want to happen to you once you've landed a job. This kinda thing would ruin your career.

PHOTOSHOP DISASTERS (just to warn you, it gets really addicting to look at.) Enjoy!

This Elvis Presley wannabe looks like he just took a big bite out of a piece of star bursts laced with acid. There is too much clutter and it looks like really low grade graphic design work with the execution of mainly cut and paste images. I do give credit that most images seem to be originally made by the artist but just the placement of the images make it look cheap.

blog response

Considering I have always been the quiet one during critiques, I have to say that this article was helpful to me. Most of the time I do have things to say about someone's work, but I'm not good at putting my thoughts into words. When he says to instead say how something makes me feel, I realized that by doing that it is still useful to the designer, even if it doesn't point out exact details that need to be fixed or are good. It helps them realize if the idea they were trying to convey is obvious or if they need to fix it, or if their idea came across strong. Basically, the article gave me tips on how I can speak up during a critique because I always feel bad when people give me feedback and I give them nothing mainly because it is difficult for me to put thoughts into words.

Critique Article

This Article definitely brought up some good points, that I don't think a lot of people think about when they are involved in a critique. Something that I really agree with is when Jason says "Don’t make it personal." Even if a designer is your best friend, a critique is not meant to make a person feel good about themselves, but for that designer to learn and grow. Telling a designer that what they are presenting is "really good," or even "really bad" doesn't really give that person anywhere to go from there. You can still be best friends with a person and help them to realize that the work they are presenting is maybe not acceptable, as long as everyone involved understands that it is "the design, not the designer" that you are commenting on.
Another point that I really agree with is when he says "Think before you speak." Making sure that your comment is going to make sense and actually be helpful is something that is easy to bypass when you are just trying to say something. If your voice is heard, making sure that useful information is included is really important as designers.
Knowing how to both give and receive a quality critique is something that is critical in the design world. On the receiving end, if you hear everything that has been said, and do nothing to better what you are presenting, what good is the critique doing. If someone says that a piece could use some work, instead of possibly taking offense, it is important to actually do something to make your work as good as it can possibly be.

I thought that this article was very interesting. He had some very relevant things to say that pertain to what we do all the time in class. One thing that really stood out to me was when he said that design is not about innovation; that innovation in a wonderful byproduct of design. I feel like people focus too much on innovation and therefore the design ends up destroying itself. Another important part to me was the tips on critiquing. The one in particular was when he talks abotu how you should not take everything so personally. I feel like this is a real challenge for some poeple beacuse when you make your work so much about you and make your work so personal it is hard to hear criticism about it.

This critique blog post took a good portion of probably what most design students believe about critiques and put it into writing. Critiques are definitely two way conversations as Jason said. In a critique I personally like to address my piece(s) of art work with a short explanation, description and the aspects I like and or feel are weak. Jason said and I agree designers should not just throw up a piece and not have something to say about it to start the critique. A very important aspect is the Shit Sandwich. Designers doing the critiquing need to make comments in the least offensive way and the shit sandwich works. Start off with a good comment, then move to criticisms or things you don't like and finally follow with more good comments. By sandwiching the bad between good I believe the presenter does not feel like they are being attacked with the bad. In the end any comment that a person has put thought into and sensibly formulated can only help the person being critiqued. I agreed with this blog post strongly, it can be be very helpful to students new to a critique.

Devin Sherin

Blog.

As I read this article I would say I would agree with what Jason is saying. When you first learn about what a critique is its kind of nerve racking and you are nervous to talk. There were two things that stood out to me the most as I was reading. The first thing was design is not about innovation. Design is about communication. Which I agree with and the other fact that I agreed strongly with was, that critiques are two-way conversations. I think that critiques are important for any job that involves displaying some sort of work to others. Especially, when you’re in the field of art, management and advertising. Critiques help the person learn about themselves and how to fix their problems and how to better them without taking the person so seriously. It is a great technique and should be used by many jobs.

I picked this image because I think its good and well done. The display of movement is highly depicted and exaggerated a bit with the supplemental graphics around the person's body. The use of illumination is good for the setting because the person is almost lifting in the sky closer to the sun where the highest light source would cause such effect as the illumination.