Week 12

What has been the hardest thing? What has been the easiest? If you could start over again what would you do differently? What structure do you plan on using for your final paper? Why do you think that structure will be the best for what you want to do?

The hardest part of this project was finding time to get involved in the group. I wanted to be involved enough that I could get a good sense of what it is like to be a member. The easiest part of the project was probably analyzing my field notes. It was sometimes fun and often entertaining to read what I had quickly wrote in my notes. If I could start over again I would plan to attend more events. I also woul dhave taken more pictures to remember the events. For my final paper I plan to use an order of: AIGA history and background, My background and reason for studying the group, description of community, research questions and then asnwers, and conclusion. I think this structure will work the best beacause it flows well and many people will be able to understand the group.

Groundwork Activity - Language Forms

Part One

• hierarchy
  
• critique
  
• contrast
  
• dpi
  
• design firm
  
• radiation
  
• type family
  
• leading
  
• tracking
  
• kerning
  
• gradation
  
• bristol board
  
• medium
  
• linen tester
• gutter
• margin
• en-dash
• em-dash
• x-height
• descender
• ascender

Part Two

• All of the above
• "less is more"
• "from follows function"

I have designed my informants' language as mostly dialog and drama.

Part Three

• I believe any way I rearrange the words and phrases will represent the nuance of graphic design language. None of the above phrases stand out but I believe I need to find out more about how AIGA can help students in other majors. I believe my informants would agree with the way I have recorded the language. I could serve as a cultural translator by studying the language and actions of a group and relate them to a language everyone can understand.
  

In Class Group

1. Mediums
   
   • Websites - pictures, text, video
     
   • Poster - pictures, text
     
   • Powerpoint - sound, video, text, pictures
     
   • Video - pictures and text
     
   • collage - pictures text
2. Purpose and 3. Rational
   
   • Website - If the group is "digital" and has an online. This would work the best for me.
     
   • Poster - If you are not tech savvy and want to show text and images
   • powerpoint - Separates each picture to be explained and it is more interesting
   • Video - more lively and realstic.
   • Collage - for showing many pictures.
     
3. Rational - Above
4. Pick top two
   
   • Website
   • Powerpoint
     
5. Course Blog Assignment
   
   • http://issuu.com/koekje/docs/design-elements-a-graphic-style-manual
   • http://issuu.com/scarvalho/docs/livro__visualiza__o_online_
   • http://issuu.com/fasett/docs/roxar_annualreport_2008
   • The above are well designed publications which could have been done by members of the AIGA, which is the group I am studying.
     
     
   • http://bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php
   • I could use the above to create a mosaic of the AIGA Logo. The mosaic could include work done by members of the AIGA.
     
     
   • http://martin.glogster.com/test/
   • I could make a poster about the AIGA - the above is a clever poster describing graphic design.
     

Week 9 - Giving Back

For the past few weeks I have spent a good amout of time in the community I am studying. I have learned many new things and have benefited from the group. It is now my turn ti give back.

I have noticed the AIGA doesn't have a very large presence on the internet. With myself having a large experience in web design, I want to help them with that. I have joined the communication committee and have volunteered to help out with the website and blog. I hope to have a well done website by the end of this semester.

As for our class, I believe they can benefit from know about AIGA also. Graphic designs is a large art of everyone's lives, especially on the internet. Some majors are closely related to graphic design and can benefit form the topics discussed at the meetings. I believe majors such as architecture, interior design, fashion, and many more could benefit from the AIGA meetings.

AIGA has helped me also. I have been able to communicate with many professionals in the industry. I have also been able to show my current school work to many upperclassman. This review by the upper classmen has often resulted in my work receiving a high grade.

Box 25 - Jargon

• hierarchy - A clear understanding of which items in a design are most important and which are not.
  
• critique - a review of a work with a two or more people.
  
• contrast - difference between elements in design
  
• dpi - dots per inch,
  
• design firm - a company that designs and creates items such as logos, corporate identity, business cards, websites, etc.
  
• radiation - in design, objects coming from a single point.
  
• type family - also know as font, a design of type including all styles and sizes
  
• leading - the space between lines of text
  
• tracking - the space between a set of two or more letters
  
• kerning - the space between a pair of letters
  
• gradation - a gradual change often shown with tint, opacity, size, weight, ect.
  
• bristol board - a 100lb white medium
  
• medium - something a design is made on. Could be paper, canvas, wood, etc.
  
• linen tester - similar to a magnifying glass, this instrument is used when working with small detail and exact measurements.
• gutter - the space between columns.
• margin - the space from the outside edge of a document to its workable area.
• en-dash - a dash the width of a lowercase n.
• em-dash - a dash the width of a lowercase m.
• x-height - height of a lowercase x.
• descender - characters that extend below the baseline. ex: ygjp
• ascender - characters that extend above the mean line ex: tifbdjhkl
  

Week 7 - Planning

The exercise we completed in class has helped me organize and schedule when I am going to complete the rest of this project. I have already spent a good amount of time with my group with three field notes. There are a few more meetings and other AIGA events I can attend to gather even more information. I plan to conduct my interview in week 11 and I already have an idea of the person I will interview. I need to spend some time looking for library sources and sources other than my field notes. With the library sources I need to find examples of how the AIGA group has benefited a person weather they are in a graphic design major or not. Then I need to get a start on my literature review and finally a draft for the final project.

Week 8:Field Note #4 on Tuesday’s AIGA meeting, finalize 3-4 sources for lit review, daft lit review.
Week 9: (Research Proposal Due), finalize lit review
Week 10:Field Note #5 at AIGA meeting, finalize questions for interview
Week 11: Interview, review all field notes so far
Week 12: Field Note #6 at AIGA, review and finalize library sources
Week 13: Write draft of final project
Week 14: (Draft of both final projects 2 for Peer Review Tuesday) (Project 3 due Thursday)
Week 15: Project 4 Due Tuesday. Presentations Tuesday and Thursday.

Box 18 - Focal Point

With the internet as large as it is today, almost all student groups should have a website with at least their basic up-to-date information. Graphic design is a large part of web design and I find a contradiction in the fact that the KSU AIGA student group has not updated their website since 2004! It is now 2009. I realized after attending several meetings that they are in the process of doing so but it should be done at least every year. I believe this is one reason the group is so small. The group needs to have a greater online presence to attract the college age group. Its one thing if a sports group hasn't update their site but graphic designers, one of the main jobs in web design, has not updated their website.