4th Quarter Reflection

Final Exam

4th Quarter Project

Our final project in e9 was to create a product by using all of our skills from graphic design, animation, and video. This project took the whole quarter, with us rotating every 2 weeks to go to the next section. Some challenges I faced included redoing a large portion of our items and having a steady team. Along the way, I learned how to do more within Photoshop when animating and was able to do things more quickly towards the end. Some feedback given to us included making everything set for school, providing more information the product, and talking louder without it being stilted when moving around the team. We changed the cost and vines used for our product to make it more appealing for all and appropriate. Overall, I like to think that I did my best work on the ads and their animations, but less so on video.

Below is what out team decided to create, virtual reality Vine glasses by Totally Not Vine Co. called Vinels. I have included the two animations and coupon I created and then there are screenshots to the side of what the website looks like along with it's layout and items included. We created Vinels as Generation Z and often Millennials miss the famous video app, and have watched every compilation. With it, you can watch everything new and create your own on the go. Our color scheme was monotone green to add CARP (Contrast and Repetition). Katie worked mainly one the website and top banner, Blake on the 3d animation and was the cameraman, and Audrey was the actress and creator of one of the ads and the final logo. For the project overall, we had 4 style of ads, a web banner, a slogan and logo, website (with various pages of information), commercial, and 2 animations showing the product itself. A lot of work and time went into this project and I know we have all grown as students and people by doing it.

 

Class Time Used

During class time, we did what had to be done at these computers, like building the website, using Photoshop and Sketchup, and at the beginning of the quarter, filming and editing the commercial. I stayed productive by either improving on what I had done before, like editing with newfound skills, or by looking ahead on what we would need for the product. I also made sure that my team was working on what was needed and that they were also caught up. Once outside of class, I worked with another e-Comm group in their commercial as they needed help, and I helped myself and others with critiquing and edits to better the design. Also, most of our team agreed on what was needed to complete the website and have all the necessary components for a good grade, and wrote a script then. Throughout this project, I made sure to constantly check in at times so we had decent time management.

Strength and Improvement 

My areas of strength include graphic design and animation. In these two, which I plan to focus on next year, I have spent most of my so far e-Comm career. I have gotten used to the basic functions of Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, and can maximize my strength by going beyond what school teaches us and watch more tutorials on subjects I wish to learn. With the animations, I used both frame and video to utilize both of these skills, and next time can go even further in how I create a product. We can all expand our strengths by also looking at our weaknesses to use more ideas on what makes us good and targeting what is difficult for us.

My areas that need improvement include video and website design. With video, I think my editing skills are good, but I haven't had much experience in filming and creating the story to shoot, so to support this I plan to work on a short film with my friend and I helped others when filming in a way to familiarize myself with video. On website design, I didn't have much work to do for creating one, so I checked in with Katie to make sure it looked correct, had CARP, and edit what was needed. To continue improving these areas, I can work outside of my comfort zone and take on more responsibilities with projects.

Summary of Quarter

What I loved the most about this quarter was having more freedom on what we can do. It wasn't just a strict guideline, but had one thing to follow while the rest was up to us. By learning from doing in this project, next time I would have a stronger idea on what we would be presenting before hand, and would spend more time outside of class with my team so that we would be better prepared and connected. This quarter has taught me how to have all of your skills intertwine to create one item, and how to manage everything when having an on-going and constantly changing project. One goal I would like to set for myself next year would be to do even better on graphic design and animation by learning more of what goes into them. My final thoughts are that this quarter was a good way to see all of the various branches of e-Comm in work, and that I now know what goes into a good creative team, along with what type of people go into them.