Into the Christmas Swing (amongst other things)

November 14, 2007

We're almost down to one month before Christmas. THis means many different things to many different people. For some it means shopping, others getting together with others. For me, it means Christmas music. A lot of Christmas music. Of course, it also means that I'll be able to go see my folks again which is always sweet. And let's not forget the tantalizing aroma of sweet Christmas presents under the tree. And, speaking of aroma, and possibly the most important part of Christmas, the cookies. But, I suppose we must get through Thanksgiving first, which for me means being thankful for my brand new copy of Rock Band that I will be playing on that day.

But, holidays aside, I've been working on some very interesting things for school as of late. I've already given you a taste by showing my trailer project, but there are many other things I've been up to. Let's list them by class.

Designing Computer Graphics (DCG)
So far this class has been mostly about Illustrator and Photoshop basics, though they have touched on some good design practices (or not so good) by reviewing previous students works. However, there are three core projects we're working on (of which only two have been assigned so far). The first was a black and white logo.

Pixelated Earth

Our second project was a set of three (or more) icons based around a theme. There were six possible themes to choose from, those being Olympics, zoo, theme park, library, airport, or musical styles. I'll let you figure out which theme I chose.

My Icons
First I need to note that that is not my logo (it is the official logo of the 2012 Summer Olympic games). It's primarily there to help set the mood and show where I drew my inspiration from.

You may notice that both of these projects were in black and white (no colors or grays). This is a pretty ingenious call because by limiting us in the color department we are forced to put more emphasis on line width, stylization, and shadows and highlights. If something works well in black and white there's no reason why it won't work well in color.

Networks and Operating Systems (NOS)
As stated before the name of this class is a misnomer. They are actually in the process of converting it into Digital Storytelling, focusing more on getting a point across as opposed to the technical aspects of computers. I have to say of the two classes I am currently taking this is my favorite not necessarily because of what we do but because of our instructors, Fabian Socarras and Jacob Kaplan. It's difficult to explain how there two teach (if indeed they are really teaching at all), but it is certainly the most entertaining course and, so far, the most informative.

But, that aside, I've been doing some pretty cool stuff here as well. After the trailer project we all made podcasts (I will not be posting mine, thank you very much). Our last project was to prepare a Keynote presentation trying to convince our target audience of why we needed something and, subsequently, why they should purchase it for us. I did mine on why I needed a Nintendo 64. I presented in front of my lab group and Fabian and Jacob invited themselves in as presenters which was cool. Will you ever see this keynote? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Our next project is something that, for me, is pretty easy stuff. We are to set up and design a blog using Wordpress. To make things challenging for myself I asked Fabian if I could write mine from the ground up as opposed to using Wordpress. While he gave the nod of approval, he seemed dubious as to whether or not I could pull it off within the time frame and meet all the criteria. Considering most of my back end is already in place, and with the addition of a couple of new modules I pounded out tonight, I foresee no problems. However, it turns out this will be a group project so I may just stick with Wordpress so as not to make myself appear elitist to my fellow classmates. No, that can wait until my official web classes a few months down the road.

That's about all for now seeing as I need to get to bed so I can be up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Here's hoping I have afternoon classes AND labs next month.

Tags: school graphic design art christmas

5 Comments

Comments

dxprog wrote:

I will side with you on the Wal-Mart thing, but I do loves myself some Christmas music.

November 17, 2007

devusb wrote:

You're welcome to bring the joy, but please, please, please, hold it until after Thanksgiving. You don't want to use it all up now, do you? Case in point: there was a freaking Christmas tree up at the wal-mart today. Right next to the "39 days until" sign. Ugh. Don't they get it? IT'S. TOO. FREAKING. EARLY.

November 17, 2007

dxprog wrote:

You can pity my roommate all you want, but he's never home so I he doesn't hear it anyways. You can, however, pity those who live in the adjacent apartments. Or, a better idea, I should come to your place and bring with me the joy of Christmas.

November 16, 2007

javamom wrote:

Don't tell me you're going to sniff all the Christmas presents on Christmas morning! BTW - I'm listening to Winter Solstice and On Yoolis Night fairly regularly now. Every once in a while we'll be a fun Christmasy CD in, but I'm saving the big carols for next month. Dev - no such thing as way too much Christmas music for these guys around my house. Happy Thanksgiving!

Into the Christmas Swing (amongst other things)

November 14, 2007

Comments

dxprog wrote:

November 17, 2007

devusb wrote:

November 17, 2007

dxprog wrote:

November 16, 2007

javamom wrote:

November 14, 2007

devusb wrote:

November 14, 2007

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