Homecoming Project Review

Scope and Process

This project dealt with designing a poster, infographic and tickets for Olathe Northwests' 2016 Homecoming. We had to incorporate the presented theme into each of our components all while working with an assigned partner. Before we presented our final projects, we spent time illustrating 20 sketches in order to garner more diverse concepts to present. I came up with two final concepts and my partner started the outline of the infographic. We initially really like the idea of a wreath with warm lights in the background, and then taking that into Photoshop and adding the type and editing the picture, and after spending much of our time, energy, and money, we ended up going with a simpler concept consisting of only the lights blurred in the background and the text over that. After much critique and revisions, we mounted the final concept to be presented to the Senior Committee for their voting. In the end, my partner and I's project was chosen to represent and promote Homecoming 2016.

Learning

This project presented a lot of room for growth and learning. As far as software and the technicalities of the design, I learned more than I ever have before. In our initial concept, we wanted to blur out the background as well as edit the colors of the picture to better fit the theme. After receiving help from Mrs. Burdolski, I acquired the skills of using the patch tool, the cloning tool, as well as manipulating the colorization of images and using layers to bring forward different colors and tones. Professionally, working with a partner proved to be rather easy and beneficial. Normally, I prefer to work alone so that I can get things done on my own time as well as rely solely on my own experiences and strengths, however, this project was too much to take on in such a short amount of time without aide from a partner. My partner for this project was both helpful and reliant, making the experience a much more enjoyable and stress free one. While we struggled slightly with deadlines, we ended up pulling off a great concept and worked through our issues to produce the highest quality work we could put forth.

Changes and Experiences

In conclusion, there isn't much that I would change about my design or experience. I think that having gone through such an extended process to produce something that we didn't end up using was beneficial in the way that it taught me to work harder than you thought you could. Although my partner and I really liked one design, the critiques came back and swayed us the other direction in order to simplify the message of "Dark and Stormy Night at Raven Manor" we were trying to communicate. If I were to redo this project, I would keep the process and experience the exact same, because everything, good and bad, can be used as a learning experience and the only thing I would even consider changing is the color of purple I used for some of the detailing work, which seems quite minute compared to everything I completed. From this experience, I have learned that there is more than just vector art, and I can apply that to other projects now that I am aware of how to use these design tools. I have also learned that working with a partner or in a group isn't always a hassle, and can often be an asset when taking on a larger project. Through learning this, I can use my peers as an outlet for help and assistance as well as have a more open mind to working with others. In the end, I am grateful for the experience of getting to design the Homecoming posters my senior year of high school and I am enthused that my craft is continuing to grow and expand as each project approaches.