Author: Nan

Record Label Logo

Client name: Bass Wave Records

Basic Information: Bass Wave Records is an ambitious new record label that is a brand of music recordings and music videos. They recruit music artists and manufacture, distribute, and promote their music. Bass Wave Records believe in creativity, innovation, and uniqueness. They are looking for a symbolic, simple, yet memorable logo that can represent their values well.

Audience: Bass Wave Records has artists in different music genres and despite being located in the US, they recruit artists globally; therefore, they are popular among music lovers of a variety of ages, gender, etc. The audience of Bass Wave Records come from diverse backgrounds and has a variety of music taste.

Context: Building logo, website, business cards, and documents

Keywords: Wave, music, ambitious

Definition of the project:

In this project, I aim to create a logo for a company of my choice. The logo should represent the company well and should effectively communicate the purpose of the company. By utilizing design elements and principles we learned in previous units, I want to create a simplistic yet memorable logo. My goals for this unit/project are to familiarize myself more with design elements and principles to be able to use them effectively and appropriately.

20+ quick drafts:

I selected four designs from my brainstorm to develop on affinity. I selected these designs based on their simplicity, flexibility, and communication. I wanted to create a design that clearly communicates the purpose of the company at the same time remains memorable and clean. I also wanted the final logo to be adjustable and have a number of variations that can be used in different contexts, which is why flexibility is one of my standards for selecting logos to develop a step further.

These are my inspiration. I wanted to combine waves and CDs in a clean manner, many icons and shapes I found heavily impacted my final choices when designing the logo. I also looked into fonts I think will suit the company the best. I ultimately chose a bold and heavy font to go with the “bass” in the name of the company.

2021. 12. 13 Create & Revise

How effectively have you addressed the criteria of the brief? Have you responded to the keywords? Is anything unclear or missing?

I think my logo reflects the company decently as it incorporated the music element and the wave element. However, I think I can incorporate the name of the company in a more creative way.

Is your design aligned with this advice? What needs to be improved?

My logo has a relatively geometric design and I applied my knowledge on negative space effectively to create compositions of the logo that represent the two major elements of the company. It is relatively easy to recognize the name of the company as well as their purpose just by looking at the logo, which is my biggest goal. However, I can still improve on making the logo more recognizable when it is in a smaller size.

What specifically do you need to improve to refine and complete your design? 

I should generate more combinations of the graphic logo and the name of the company as well as and consider adding color to the design.

Design Process:

Initial Designs:

These are the development of some of my initial designs in Affinity. However, my favorite one was the first one where I utilized negative space to communicate “wave” and “music”.

Variations + Refinement of design:

I made variations in color and arrangement of the letters. However, I stuck with black and white to

Feedback:

  • Emphasize the vinyl more
  • The wave is not as obvious and can be mistaken for a flame, the wave is unclear.
  • Experiment with a larger variety of logo and company name combinations, changing the size, the font, the arrangement, etc.
  • Use black and white first
  • Apply the logo in different scenarios (mock-ups)

What was altered based on feedback:

  • Before I arrived at a final design, I only used black and white
  • I added water droplets and altered the shape of the wave to make the wave shape more obvious
  • I experimented with the text on the side, on the bottom, as well as a variety of fonts to arrive at my favorite one (Arial black).

Font Selection + Variation process

 

Mock-ups:

  • The mock-ups put the design in real scenarios
  • I selected mock-ups such as business cards, merchandise, record covers, and studios to see what would the logo look like on real-life products.

Final Design Presentation:

  • What creative decisions did you take and why?

I decided to combine the shape of a wave and the shape of a CD to make my logo for a record label. I based the wave element on the name of the company “Bass Wave” and the CD element on what the company does： produce music. I also intentionally selected a heavy font (Arial Black) to align the “Bass” element in the name of the company.

  • Which design elements and principles have you emphasized and how does this make your logo effective?

I utilized negative space and type to create my logo. Using negative space, I was able to combine two shapes that reflect the name and purpose of the company. I also used type to put further connect the logo to the company. Furthermore, the arrangement of the text is flexible, which means it can be changed depending on the different scenarios it will be used in.

  • What did you do well in this project?

I think I did a good job generating ideas and applying my designs to different scenarios. I also did a good job creating a design that communicates/represents the company well.

  • What would you improve/do differently next time and why?

Something I would do differently next time is making bigger variations of one logo. Although I made black and white as well as some colored variations of the logo, I would love to experiment with different shapes and arrangements of the icon of the logo to develop more ideas.

Quarter 1 Reflection

I am doing well on my speaking/listening and writing skills in terms of understanding the use and effects of literary features.

I still need to work on my writing skills in terms of grammar and editing and the employment of accurate language.

To improve the above elements, I will read a wider variety and extend the time I read. I will also practice more grammar skills on IXL.

Lyrics and Type

Technique Development ⬆️

Defining the project:

For this project, I need to create a lyric poster for one of the songs I enjoy. The objective is to experiment with lettering and learn the role of typography in graphics design.  Through the development of this project, I hope to hone my understanding of the design element of type. By exploring fonts, sizes, and arrangements, I hope to create a lyric poster that is both visually pleasing and demonstrates an adequate amount of skill.

Inspiration Padlet: I was most inspired by the orange album cover color scheme and the Fall+champagne colors color scheme. I think it conveyed the mood of the song very effectively. In addition, I was inspired by the poster of a festival in Macau. I really liked the way they combined typography and illustrations.

Made with Padlet

Link to song:

Final product:

My poster emphasized the element of type and the principle of contrast. The element of type is reflected in the selection of font and arrangement of letters. The song, in general, is very calm, which is why I chose to use mainly neutral colors. However, in order to emphasize certain words that link to the theme of the song, I used a contrasting bright orange to appeal to the viewer’s eyes. Broken glass is added to connect the poster to the meaning of the lyric: “Your heart was glass I dropped it”. The connection between the meaning of the lyrics and the poster can further enhance the communication of the mood of the song. In addition, I used two different fonts to represent the two contrasting emotions in the lyrics. I used the font “Dear Sunshine” for the verse: “Your heart was glass…” because the font resembles hand-written fonts, which is something really personal, like the story the verse is telling. On the contrary, I chose to use a script/cursive font for the lyrics: “Champagne problems”. Champagne problems refer to the problems that are complex to an individual but not cumbersome to society. The script font reflects the complex part of the definition and the sinking motion of the letters reflects the helpless and resigned tone of the verse.

The process of song selection: I chose my song based on the color scheme I wanted to follow. I wanted to follow a fall color scheme consisting of mainly red, orange, yellow, and green. I thought of the artist Taylor Swift and her two albums Folklore and Evermore as I think both albums consist of songs that depict the autumn season very well. I eventually settled on the song Champagne Problems.

I created numerous rough sketches of potential arrangements of the letters,

I made four more detailed sketches and chose to combine two of them to make my final project. I wanted my poster to show correlation to the lyrical meaning of the song as well as have typography that reflects the song’s style.

Feedback: I received feedback both from a classmate and the teacher. The first two pieces of feedbacks were feedback received in the earlier stages of the project. Due to the fact that my initial design is hand-drawn in ProCreate, the typographical elements I later added in affinity seem to contrast the style, making it less appealing to the audience. I proceeded to refine the drawing and traced the different parts using the pen tool to create a digital version of the wine glass. In addition, I added text in the background to emphasize the element of type more in my poster. In the later stages, Mr. Griffin gave me the suggestion to emphasize certain words using different colors. I sampled multiple color schemes from Adobe color and found the color scheme that best contrasts my background to emphasize words.

English 9 Independent Reading Progress Update

I am currently around one quarter away from finishing “A Tale of Two Cities”.  At the same time, I have started a new sci-fi novel in the past week titled “Alive”. “A Tale of Two Cities”, being a classic Charles Dickens novel favored by many readers and writers across the centuries have great potential for the final literary essay as it explores a wide range of literary elements. I highly enjoy the use of the language of the author and the characters the author has created. After finishing “A Tale of Two Cities”, I plan to explore more classic English novels such as “Emma” or sci-fi novels such as “Dune”.

Design Element & Principle Poster: Contrast

PNG.

Design Principle Poster – Contrast – PDF for print

  • What is the role of elements & principles in graphic design?                          Elements are used to compose a graphic design, and principles are the arrangement of different elements to create a visual effect.
  • What is this design task all about?                                                                          This design task aims to deepen our understanding of a specific element or principle and familiarize ourselves with the application of the element of principle in a graphic design.
  • Why did you design your illustration this way?                                                    I wanted to express as many ways of contrast as possible using multiple aspects such as shape, color, size, and position. The square frame, the circle, and the triangle all contrast each other by being the three basic geometric shapes. The blue, yellow, and purple are triadic colors on the color wheel, which demonstrates a strong visual impact by heavily contrasting one another. The difference in the size of the circle and the size of the triangle also shows a different contrast. Finally, I changed the outer and inner shadows of the shapes to bring them out and push them in to contrast the position of the shapes.
  • my first drafts for the design elements on paper
  • My initial five design drafts for contrast in ProCreate
  • The feedback I received from my partner for the first revision. My peer provided me their opinions on which designs communicated the theme the most effectively, and which designs looked most visually appealing. We eventually agreed/decided upon the two designs (the underlined ones). The black and white design showed great contrast in a very traditional way, and immediately communicated the principle of contrast very well. However, the use of color is not as prominent as in the black and white design than the final design. In addition, we think that the contrasting colors add another layer/aspect of contrast to the design, which further enhances the effective communicating.  The initial draft of the final design. I made a lot of changes in color to maximize the contrast. I was unhappy with how the colors looked in the first draft as I found it not contrasting or appealing to the eye. After many tries and changes, I settled on blue, yellow, and purple.

English 9 Common Vertical Reflection and Goal-setting

In my common verticle assessment, I did well on constructing a consistent plot, as well as writing a relatively strong introduction and conclusion. However, I still need to work on my grammar, specifically, the application of verb tenses. My goal for the creative writing portfolio and other upcoming writing exercises is to become more aware of my grammatical errors and purposefully lessen these errors.

Persona Poster

What is Graphic Design? A visual design that is targeted to communicate certain messages and ideas. Graphic design can present in various forms from logos, typography, to visual effects and animations.

What inspires me about design? How a variety of ways and forms of ideas can be represented/presented.

What are my favorite design examples? Simplistic fonts that are gentle on the eye. Creative logos that communicate/advertise multiple aspects with one picture/icon. Animations combining real-life elements with doodles.

Who are my favorite designers? Vladimir Tomin，

What would I like to get better at doing as a designer? Effectively communicate ideas and messages with simple designs. Experiment with different strands of graphic design.

What do you already do pretty well? I am very comfortable with creative doodling.

Portfolio poster:

Process:

Initial draftIllstrating characterBackground+details

Reflection:

How does the Style of my Poster Reflect Who I am?                                                   My style of freehand art and use of overall pastel colors reflect my sense of style as well as part of my personality. I chose to use pastel colors because it brings a sense of comfort and unification. I chose a more abstract style of art because I wanted to experiment with the different styles of cartoons from different animations I enjoy.

Some Design Decisions?                                                                                                          I notable design decision I made was to create an illusion of poster art inside a poster art. I was inspired by a template I saw on canvas and thought that it would be a creative idea to execute. I was also inspired by a children’s book I read when I was young, which is why my words were embedded into the giant bubble the girl was blowing. I also created a pink background with a variety of candies with vibrant colors to create a candy-themed background that corresponds with the pink bubble-gum bubble.

Successes and Challenges?                                                                                                     I was primarily challenged by what I could do to give the cartoon character elements of myself so I could be recognized when my acquaintances look at this piece of design. Despite the challenge, I was successful in creating a portrait that had its own style and uniqueness.

Made with Padlet

English 9 Goal-setting

After evaluating my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), I have generated three goals for this year to assist me in becoming a stronger learner in English 9.

My reading of diverse genres and my analytical skills are my advantages in this year’s study. However, my short attention span and limited vocabulary are weaknesses of mine that I will need to work on.

  1. Develop a consistent reading habit where I dedicate at least 30 minutes a day on weekdays and 60 minutes a day on weekends to reading for pleasure.
  2. Expand my vocabulary through reading books of multiple genres.
  3. Write more on a weekly basis.

My family enjoys reading, therefore, has a great collection of books and reading resources that will provide me with many opportunities. My busy schedule and reluctance towards the nonfiction genre could potentially obstruct me from accomplishing these goals.

Stained Red

For a long time, I was restless at night, always vigilant. It all started in the summer of 1966 and will forever be framed in the autumn of 1976. Now, as a middle-aged woman in her late 40s, I flip through the pages of my journal once again. As I read it once more, I dive back into my younger days and reflect upon one of the most recent revolutions that affected countless Chinese people within the span of 10 years. I am Xu Yingnan, a teacher at a University in Beijing, and this is my Journal.

While many things changed, more stayed the same. Despite the severe disputes erupting between the two sides of the government during the revolution, China continues to be run by a one-party government after 1976. Nevertheless, the extreme idolization for a leader is no longer present and the word of one man no longer contains near as much power. Any order made by the chairman today needs to go through a series of procedures of being agreed upon. While the way the government is ran changed, Chairman Mao’s influence and reputation remained. Mao continues to be portrayed as the savior and hero in movies and television series. Not only so, but Mao’s portrait is also printed on all Chinese paper currencies and displayed in the middle of Tiananmen square.