Building the Design

Here I'll outline the 5 steps I took in creating the 'Soviet Design' piece and the decisions I made:

Step 1: I create the initial layout of the piece. I apply a bevel and emboss with contour to the star to make it pop from the background and separate itself from the hammer and sickle.

Step 2: I add text with a 'Kremlin' font to make the piece look more dynamic.

Step 3: I add an image of Lenin to fill the empty space of the lower left corner. I apply a multiply filter to it so that it doesn't over saturate the space.

Step 4: I add a star shape to the upper right corner to again fill the space and to also balance out the dark colors.

Step 5: I finish the piece by adding a word bubble and the text, 'Now that's good design'. The font bubble was given a hue filter because I found a solid color too distracting and flat. The hue gives it a good color that isn't overpowering and makes it transparent which helps the bubble blend better.

Back In the USSR

This piece is not a tribute or ode to communism or the ideals of Lenin, but a mockery of the current state of design. Design has become so commercial that the designers are no longer inspired by innovation or creativity, but instead the all mighty dollar. Designers are hired to sell the corporate image, not to express individual creativity. This piece is meant suggest that perhaps design is dominated too much by capitalism and corporate greed. Maybe design needs a more socialist outlook.

Schemes of Mice and Men...

These are the 5 color schemes I came up with:

LINK

Faded Green: Green is my favorite color so this is an obvious choice.

Winter: I like a simple color scheme. What I really like about this is that there is no black. There's white and shades of grey but no black. Everyone uses black.

Beach Scheme: I really like blue, especially the way it is complimented by the browns. The scheme makes me think of a nice, pleasant day at the beach.

Simple Triad: I wanted to make something using RGB as a theme and got this. I like how it's bright and vibrant while still looking good.

Green: Again, green is my favorite color. I decided to go the opposite of Faded Green and make a scheme primarily of bright greens.

Highlighted Work

Here is all the work I will highlight in my portfolio:

My Portfolio and the Target Audience

Ironically nothing in my portfolio, save for my 'Quantum' logos, really speaks to the target audience I mentioned previously. Although I haven't made any effort to design logos/corporate identities I would like to persue that area of design. Obviously I will have to start creating mock logos and designs with this 'corporate' look in mind to flesh out my portfolio and gain experience in this kind of design field. Below are the only examples I have that I think are good pieces for my finished portfolio:

Target Audience

A site I used to help determine my target audience was Nathan King Design. The site is streamlined neat and clean. It has a very professional, 'corporate' look and gives the impression of high caliber design. The companies target audience is comprised of NY based companies looking for a well developed logo/identity. I was very impressed looking through the site's portfolio and think I would like to work for a company like this. Considering the audience/clients are companies looking for a corporate identity odds are that Nathan King Design is a company that holds itself very high. By that I mean the company probably has a strict 'corporate' mentality, in that the work done is all top-of-the-line 'conservative' designs. The clients are companies that expect the best in terms of design and Nathan King Design, more than likely, only expects the best-of-the-best work to be created and produced by them.

Porfolio Format

According to the book choices for a portfolio come down to 2 types: portable and online. In creating a portfolio for graphic design an online portfolio would be better than a portable one (cd, dvd, etc.). That being said, a personal website would probably be best because it can showcase not only the work I've done, but also my creativity in designing the actual site. Another idea I have for my portfolio would be a video montage of my work. In keeping with the online type of portfolio it might be a personal site with the video embedded in. A gallery site is another choice, but I feel a straight up gallery might be a little bland and simple.

Questions From Pg. 23

1. Credit classes
2. Painting/drawing/art fundamentals, video/animation, 3D modeling/rendering, and user interface/interaction
3. None
4. Photoshop, Flash, Maya, Dreamweaver, and Final Cut Pro
5. n/a
6. Still Learning
7. Creative outlet, req. for school, need the experience
   
8. n/a
9. n/a
10. Alone
11. Private space
12. I won't accept some types of clients or client work.
    
13. Personal, organized, structured, sarcastic, emotional
    

Analyzing My Work

Unifying elements in my work:
The main unifying element in my work is simplicity. I like using simple shapes with primary color schemes to create my work. My work tends to have a linear structure (which I'm trying to move away from) and can be described as organized.

Porfolio Trends

These are the portfolio's I looked at:

http://alexchamas.carbonmade.com/

http://astridbrisson.carbonmade.com/

http://collective-visions.carbonmade.com/

http://www.graphicdesign.com/portfolio.htm

http://pepino.carbonmade.com/

The most predominant trend I'm seeing with portfolios is the layout used. Both the links/categories of the work and the images of the work itself tend to be aligned in the center of the page. The pages are streamlined and very easy to navigate and the sites themselves use dark colors. The only exception the these trends I found was with the portfolio for Breez Graphic Design Studio. Compared to the others this site was more unique with the layout of it's work and functionality.

Portfolio Skills

The main skill I have that I think could help with my portfolio is video editing. I've taken editing classes before and it has become a pseudo hobby of mine. I would like to possibly edit together a video portfolio for my design work because it's different. A video portfolio would be more unique and interesting than just a gallery of images.

Font Family

Here's my font family:

Could Use Some Work

This piece is one I would like to have in my portfolio, but it needs some work. I just sort of rushed through this and the end result is a little sloppy. The major concern I have with this is the top which obviously needs to be fixed. That's the only thing I believe I have to fix but if I'm wrong please let me know.

Vimeo Video

Graphic Design from omar cornelio on Vimeo.

I think the logo designs in this video are great. They are simple, but effective and are great design showcases.

Concept Logos

Here are 3 more concept logos I made. Please let me know what you think.

Brand Identity

I've been trying to create brands involving my name/initials but with no success. I have, however, developed several brand identities that mean something to me personally. Here they are:

SPECTRE's #2

I made this as a tribute to the classic Bond villain Emilio Largo. Largo was the main villain in both the Thunderball film and Ian Fleming novel. In the film Largo (perfectly played by Adolfo Celi) is SPECTRE #2 and in the novel he is SPECTRE #1. Largo is one of my favorite James Bond villains of all time, so I made this poster. The octopus design is the logo of SPECTRE, which I hand drew, then scanned into Photoshop.

Graphic Design Blogs

I decided to follow 5 graphic design blogs. I found Graphics N Graphic Design Blog offered many good posts on design and lots of Photoshop/Flash links. Veerle's blog: full articles also provides excellent resources for designers with its posts. Dexigner Design Portal is a portal site that posts articles relating to graphic design, product design, fashion, architechture, 3D animation, and art. Although the site isn't really a blog in the traditional sense, I found its content to be very interesting. Design Is Kinky is like Dexigner Design Portal only strictly graphic design based. Alot of the work posted is weird, but unique. The last blog I decided to follow is Authentic Boredom. It is a very straight forward, almost bland, site with graphic design articles. The one thing I really enjoyed about the site was the job posting section near the top of the page. I like how the site posts these, so that designers might find some work while viewing the site.

Brainstorming Activity

List 5 things that you love to do
Play video games, watch movies, read, design things, hang out w/ friends

List 5 things that you hate to do
Go to work, waste time, argue with people,

List 5 things you are proud of in your life
My art, who I am, my creativity,

List 5 things you are good at
Designing things, video games, being creative, James Bond trivia,

List 5 things that make you unique
My art, my personality, my likes/dislikes,

List 5 adjectives that describe you
Quiet, shy, funny, creative, strange

List 5 adjectives that describe your work
Interesting, unique, simple, graphic, one-of-a-kind

List 5 topics your work deals with
Love, death, gambling, 007, nature

List the media you use in your work


List the colors that you use most often
White, black, blues, red, pink, green

List 5 emotions your work conjures
Happiness, joy, excitement,

List the titles of the work you would like to highlight
1978: A Space Invasion, Butterfly, OHMSS, Cove, King of Spades, Queen of Hearts, Red King

List 5 adjectives to describe the kind of company you'll work for

Awesome, inventive, creative, smart, mainstream

List 5 adjectives to describe the kind of boss you'd like to have

Intelligent, caring, aware, respectful, honorable

List 5 things you will have to do for your job

Produce artwork, design graphics, inspire creative ideas, design web page layout, create image layouts

List 5 words describing your industry

Visual, communication, creative, presentation, logos

List the reasons your job exists

To create a visual representation of ideas, visual communication, present products

The Wolf Hunts the Fox

'Wolf', as I call it, is a logo design I recently made in Photoshop. This piece, I feel, best represents the skills needed as a graphic designer because of its simplicity. It's eye catching, distinct, and not overly complicated. As far as improvements go, my only concern is that it is too simple. Perhaps more detail could be added.

My Work

'My name is Ozymandias,
king of kings:
Look on my works,
ye mighty,
and despair!'

- Ozymandias
Percy
Bysshe
Shelley

Just created my Flickr account and uploaded a bunch of my work. Here's the LINK .

Resume

Experience

Botanically Green: Owner/Employee
Maintain excellent company/client relationship, ensure satisfactory work is provided and maintained, submit invoices.
Feb. 2008 - Present

A&P Supermarket: Cashier
Provide excellent customer service and help.
Feb. 2008 - Dec. 2008


Education

Mercer County Community College 2005-Present
Earning Associates degree in Digital Media Arts with a Graphic Design concentration

Old Bridge High School 2001-2005
Graduated with diploma June 2005


Software Knowledge

Photoshop
Maya
Final Cut Pro
Dreamweaver

Skills Exemplified

I believe my work demonstrates my creativity and my ability to create interesting and unique designs. One of the most important things when designing something is to make it visually appealing and different from everything before it. I feel my work best exemplifies this quality and is distinctly me. The only area I think I need to work on is expanding my work in terms of style. Until now my work has all had a similar feel to it and I believe it would be best to attempt to diversify my work's styles.

His and Her Art

These are two playing card designs I made in Photoshop. The top one is the 'Queen of Hearts' and the bottom is the 'King of Spades'. Like the 'Skull and Flowers' design I posted before, the skulls were made in Bryce then given filters in Photoshop. Because these came out better than I expected I plan on creating a whole series of 'playing card' designs.

The Future Is Now

This is the car of the not-to-distant future. It was made in Maya for a Modeling II project. It's based on several Dodge Viper designs and is called the 'Calypso Spectre'. Only half of the body was built, then mirrored; while everything else (windows, hood, 'wheels', etc.) were built as seperate pieces. The reflections on the body and in the windows were created with a light dome and rendered with mental ray.

Prev. Exp.

My work experience till now includes: 10 months as a cashier and the owner/only employee of a small home business (maintaining office plants/trees). While these don't really help with getting a job as a UI designer or graphic designer, I think the 'home business' experience makes me very reliable and responsible.

Different Jobs, Same Technology

The two jobs I searched for that utilize the same technology were UI design and Graphic design. The jobs I found mostly required the same experience with the same programs. Most of the graphic design jobs I found were mainly in the California area and some in NYC, while the UI jobs I found were in: MA, VA, and NC. The main qualities these companies are looking for (other than a strong portfolio) are experience with Photoshop and Illustrator. Another main concern is knowledge with web based programs to manipulate and create web pages. Web based applications seem to be the predominant requirement with most companies I looked at.