Jan. IMED Reflection

Reflecting on Winter Term

Winter term is, essentially, a refresher course in things we should already know.  Or, at least, that's how I see it.  Having already learned how to use Photoshop in IMED, and learned the in's and out's of the Microsoft Office suite in a high school business course, there are many moments during winter term that feel forced or unnecessary.  Still, it's helpful to get reacquainted with the programs from time to time and, in the slow pace, minimal stress environment of winter term, it is actually rather enjoyable. That being said, the material and assignments are mostly mindless, occasionally crossing over into being nothing more than time killers. At this point in time, the whole point of doing the college thing is not to waste time, but it seems each class I attended in winter term was composed of 10% work and 90% goofing around.  I would try to add some depth to the winter term courses.  They should be challenging, thought provoking, maybe even encourage some group work during the IMED course.  However, I feel this sentiment will not be shared by my peers.  People seem to enjoy winter term for how it eases them back into classes, allows them to have a little fun, and doesn't stress them out.  It's only two weeks, so as a refresher I guess it's good enough for me as it is.

Before & After

Before and Afters

For my before and after pictures, I focused on faces.  It's not a cop-out so I didn't have to edit fat off of people, I just happen to think the face is more important than the body when it comes to good lookingness.

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

 All I did with this guy is get rid of the dark circles that were around his eyes, and remove the red spots and more obvious blemishes.  I also made a few adjustments to his eye size and shape. He was already pretty fine, but I think he looks a little better now.


BEFORE:

 AFTER:

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For this young man, I just removed some pimples and red marks.  Trimmed some fat off of his face to give it a little shape, and got rid of that nasty mustache he was starting to grow on the left side of his lip.  I didn't want to change too much, because that attractive girl that sits in front of him in math would be able to tell that his profile pick was highly edited.  This way he looks better and he still has a shot with her.

Logo

This is my logo:

It's made up of my initials- AW.

film strip

Here is my film strip project:

Poster Project

This is my poster project:

It's an old man with a hat.

Phone Case

Phone Case:

I tried to do a Megaman inspired thing.  If you've ever played Megaman, you'll understand.  If not, then this probably looks really stupid.

Postcard

I wouldn't mind visiting Northern Ireland.  It's not most people's first pick, but I think it's got some redeeming qualities.  Beautiful scenery, typically nice people, a bad economy (it always helps people be a little nicer to tourists,) and an interesting enough history (Titanic, anyone?)  To tell the truth I've been there before on a somewhat restricted trip.  It would be nice to be able to spend a few days there doing things my way, or at least trying to.

Self Portrait

This is my self portrait project. 

High/ Low Key Images

High Key Images:


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Low Key Images:

Yearbook design

Here's my yearbook cover design:

Good/Bad Book Cover Designs

 Good and Bad book covers.
The good:
This book cover has a good sense of emphasis.  The face is made to stand out, and the spiraling pattern truly draws the eye to the face, where the title is.  Also, the way the font is laid out keeps the design cohesive and balanced.






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This cover is very nice to me.  There is emphasis in the color change for the "bestseller" text, as well as emphasis in the size of "Koontz" who is the author (a pretty popular name that is all people need to see to want to buy it.)  Also, unity is created by the black and white theme throughout the cover.


The Bad:

Unlike the other book covers, this cover lacks balance a true emphasis.  It is busy, and the faded images create a lopsided sense to the cover.  The only real eye drawing thing about it is the color changes.  Other than that, the words and images split the cover in two, and result in you aren't really sure where to be looking.  Both the title and author appeared to be emphasized, but the faded in boy distracts from it.  Also, the lack of symmetry in the cover is rather bad. A simple lay out adjustment would have allowed this cover to not be so bad, but it is incredibly disjointed and without unity in its current state.





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The colors alone on this cover do not create a sense of unity.  The text in the mouth, the tear, and the thought bubble all draw you eye away from another emphasized point on the cover- the authors name and title.  I feel like this may not be a real book, but a gag.  Regardless, the design is disjointed and poorly done.  The increasingly large slanted text in "Stephen King" tries to create a balance, but in the end it only makes things 




I don't mean to rip on King's novels.  I just don't think these covers are not well designed or laid out.

Yearbook Theme

 I feel like there really isn't a theme that fits appropriately for the RCHS experience. There just isn't a phrase, idea, or saying that can represent the time we spend at this school. With all the characters and incredibly diverse opinions and sarcasms that float around this school, having a theme is just asking to have everyone mock the yearbook. Instead, I think we should just put a nice picture from campus (e.g. the waterfront) and, "Richland Collegiate High School Yearbook 2012-2013."  That's all we need to do. Make it look nice, simple, but visually appealing.