Planning Skills in Graphic Design - Personal Statement Example

Planning Skills in Graphic Design My five years of experience in Graphic Design has provided me with one of my biggest strengths, which are planning skills. These skills allows me to set goals for the projects and at the same time the drive provided by thoughts of success assist me try to achieve them as well as I can. Such planning allows me to enhance or change my projects where required. I’m a hard and disciplined worker and believe in myself. I am also a team player and work well with others. For example last year, four of us freelancers worked on a website and since the customer wasn’t easy to work with due to lack of cooperation, one of our web designers quit the job. Using my communication skills I tried to convince him to get back to our team, as we would not be able to get the job done without his coding skills. I explained him that we need him and that we are fully commitment to our work. It is important that we learn to work well with all kinds of people and their different perspectives about projects and designs. There will be times when we need to do what the customer wants, even if we do not like. The element of flexibility is a key aspect in our line of work and we need to have the flexibility to handle the changes the customer wants and not afraid of the challenges that this poses. Thanks to my interpersonal and problem-solving skills, I was able to get the web designer back on to our team to get the job done. Regarding my own work, I’m very committed and like to be challenged in my work, because I want to learn and improve as much as I can during my education to become a good graphic designer. It is important for me to look back on my artistic and academic career and be proud of what I’ve done or achieved. That is why I put my full efforts into everything that I do and want to do the best work I can. At the same time this can also be one of my weaknesses, as I forget to keep a balance between my other projects or things like hobbies or going out with friends. Another weakness of mine is that I get nervous when speaking English in front of big audiences. English is my second language and I don’t feel as confident as when I talk in German. However, I feel much more confident communicating in English today than when I just moved to London in 2007. To overcome this anxiety I applied for a job as a German teacher in a language school for kids. I had worked as a part time teacher for private tuition in Germany earlier and so I was able to provide references and experience. Since November 2007, I am working as a part time teacher in German and communicate in English and German to big groups of children from the ages of five to eleven. This has helped me not only to be more confident in communicating in English, but also allowed me to widen my English vocabulary and improve my pronunciation in English. From a technical perspective, I am very happy with my development in the common graphic design programs like InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver and Cinema 4D. My strengths include drawing and creation, which stem from my imaginative skills. I have illustrated Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale “Snow White” last year with pencils. I would like to redesign the whole book, but I need more time to complete it. This has left me not fully satisfied with this work of mine. People loved my illustrations and the book design at the D&AD in 2008, yet I know I can be better were I to throw in all my skills in and effort. My technical skills lie in designing books, magazines and flyers and posters, as I have the ability to get best results using InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. That is the reason why I am most successful in advertising, illustration and print. I have experience in animation and 3D, but I am not so fond of it in comparison to designing books and magazines. I would however like to widen my technical skills to the areas of using web design programs. This is the reason for my desire to complete my current course by doing a website for fairy tales, in which books will be presented and customers can order for my books that they like. It would be really wonderful to succeed in my own fairy tale website presenting my books as I finish my master’s study program. 4. Current Design After deliberating on what projects I would like to show for my final year of graphic design, I that these projects need to reflect my strengths and personality best. As far as I can remember I have always been very interested in typography and doing illustrations within, which probably derive from and my strongest skill sets of drawing, writing stories and creating my own world. I’ll have to decide on what print outs I need and what designs I would like displayed at the exhibition after the PowerPoint presentation on 11th of June 2009. The two fairytale books “Snow White” and “The Golden Bear”, which are one of my main projects besides the website “fairytale4u.com”, have to be finished one month before the exhibition at the end of this summer. 4.1. Book design “Snow White” and “The Golden Bear” 1. I’ve coloured few illustrations and experimented with the paper and different materials to get the drawing style I like. I decided to colour “Snow White” with Copic Markers, pastel pencils, pastel crayons, polychromos colour pencils and Copic Multiliners. The book size is 21 x 29.7 cm. 2. I’m working currently on my own story and book design for the fairytale “The Golden Bear”. I have finished the story and I’m busy with the illustrations and character design of the book now. It’s bilingual in English and German and I have decided the landscape format 32x23 cm for the book size. The illustrations will be painted with acrylic colours and completed with pastel pencils for details. These books were very helpful for inspiration and my work development: A. Fairy tale illustrations: Warwick Goble, “Goble’s Fairy Paintings”, 24 Art Cards, Dover, 2007 Rackham, “Rackham’s Fairies, Elves & Goblins”, Dover Publications, 2008 Brian Froud and Alan Lee, “Faeries”, Rufus Publications, 2002 Jessica Peffer, “Dragonart”, Impact Books, 2005 Amy Weinstein, “Once Upon a Time: Illustrations from Fairytales, Fables, Primers, Pop-Ups, and Other Children's Books”, Princeton Architectural Press 2005 John Bauer, “Trolle, Wichtel, Königskinder”, Urachhaus, 2007 B. Illustrations and book designs Einar Turkowski, “ Es war finster und merkwuerdig still”, Atlantis, 2005 Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido, “Blacksad”, Carlsen Comics, 2001 Catherine Walters, “Ich weck dich, wenn der Fruehling kommt”, Brunnen, 1997 C. Fairytales Brothers Grimm, “The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales”, Ramdom House, 1972 Brüder Grimm, “Kinder- und Hausmärchen”, Gesamtausgabe, Reclam, 2001 Hans Christian Andersen, “Das Andersen Märchenbuch”, Betz, 2004 H.C. Andersen, “Complete H.C. Andersen Fairy Tales”, Gramercy, 1994 4.2. What and where to print the fairytales? 2x fairytale hardcover books in high quality print http://eu.asukabook.com/index.php?lang=en&page=index or http://www.mpix.com/Product.aspx/customhardcoverbooks Asukabook hardcover books mpix hardcover books or 2x in soft cover 100x Snow White’s calendar, 1£ each for sale or as promotion gift http://www.1clickprint.com AO posters as advertising and eye catcher 1x A0 poster for logo 1x A0 poster making of “Snow White” 1x A0 poster making of “The Golden Bear” 2x “Snow White” and “The Golden Bear” A0 poster book advertising Snow White’ or The Golden Bear’s bookmarks for visitor as promotion solution http://www.48hourprint.com/bookmark-printing.html 1000X bookmarks for 95 dollars High quality business cards and cases from overnightprints I’ve ordered samples from ‘overnightprints’ and was impressed by the quality. http://www.overnightprints.co.uk/main.php?A=pricing http://www.overnightprints.co.uk/main.php?A=specs > Tips for designing Business card cases Business Card Case And - Owners -Mattesilver Capacity: 18 Cards Price: £7.49 Rosewood Business Card Desk Holder Capacity: 40 Cards Price: £9.98 Flyers or postcards for promotion Considering A3 posters for advertising the exhibition 1x Snow White’s Mousepad http://www.zazzle.co.uk/custom/mousepads Standard (7-14 business days) One item £3.98, each additional item £0.99 2x Mugs for “Snow White” and “The Golden Bear” http://www.zazzle.co.uk/custom/mugs/classic Standard (7-14 business days) All Mug & Drinkware Products One item £6.98, each additional item £1.99 3.4. Website design “fairytale4u.com” Domain name ideas www.snow-white.com = not available www.snowwhite.com = not available www.schneewittchen.com = not available scaryfairytale.com = available scaryfairytale.co.uk = available fairytale4u.com = available fairytale4u.co.uk = available tale4u.com = available tale4u.co.uk = available 4.3. Other interesting domain names for my website: verytales.com or varytales.com varytale definition: a well known fairytale presented in an unusual, non conventional way verytale.com = available varytale.com = available I’ve bought the domain name “fairytale4u.com” through “Fasthost.co.uk” as I think this name would be the best for my project. It is a good name for my books and fairy tales that I want to illustrate in the future. I really liked “scaryfairytales.com” as well, but with this name I can in my perspective only publish scary ones, which is not truly reflective of what I would like to represent in my project.. The name “tale4u.com” is a good one as well, but fairytale4u is better suited and representative of what I intend to do and hence was my choice for the web site. 4.4. Concept: “Less is more” is my concept for this website. |It should be easy to use and where people immediately can order and get a good impression of what they buy based on trust. What I mean by “on trust” is that the customer gets to have the book for seven days, while they decide on whether like the book and would like to retain it. I would like to start on this basis and change the system, should this mode of working turn out to be unsatisfactory. Such planning for the web site was influenced by the book I bought as a present for my friend the other day on a simple website from the Netherlands. They sent me the book and I have to pay afterwards. I really like the concept based on “trust” that’s why I want to use it on my website. http://www.wereldboeken.nl/buy_this/index.html Other books that are well presented online: http://www.faces-of-evil.com/index.php?id=134 My friend Hans Weishäupl from Hamburg did a book and exhibition about the theme “faces of evil”. I went to his exhibition and after few months he built an impressive website for the book where one can get information about this topic, the book, making of the book and order the book. I think the Quotation from Einstein is very well chosen by Hans and it fits the topic well.. “The world is not threatened by evil people but by those who allow evil things to happen.” - Albert Einstein – I want to choose a Quotation from The Brothers Grimm for my website as well, if I can’t find a suitable one, then I’ll chose one from H.C. Andersen. Start page of website “faces of evil” Ordering and downloading the book The ordering section is very simple. Ample graphics have been provided for the customers so that they have a good general view of the product. Another idea I would like to build into my website is the functionality of downloading books as PDF files for less money. The website “School-Scout” offers customers the options of buying the book or downloading the book as a PDF file. For teaching German at the “kid’s language school, I used to pay through PayPal and after payment received I could download the books. It was very useful for me, as I was able to print out only the pages I need for the lesson. http://www.school-scout.de/20276/spielerisch-deutsch-lernen-vorschule 5. Aims and Outcomes My main aim for this year is to come up with a website design for fairytales, the redesign of my Snow White’s book and finally complete it with my own fairytale. 5.1. Main projects 1. The complete redesign of ‘Snow White’ includes creating a good logo for the title and finding a suitable typography for the continuous text. In addition illustrations need to be improved and coloured with Copic Markers, pastel pencils, pastel crayons, polychromos colour pencils and Copic Multiliners. The project will be completed with a professional printed and bounded book. 2. Writing and designing my own fairytale ‘The Golden Bear’. This includes designing a logo for the title, finding a suitable typography for the continuous text, the book size, doing the illustrations and last but not least painting with acrylic and getting it professionally printed and bounded. This means I get the opportunity to write my own fairytale and create my own fantasy world. 3. Creating and designing the website ‘fairytale4u.com’ in English and German to present my books ‘Snow White’ and ‘The Golden Bear’. In my opinion it’s a good name for what I intend to do and I can add some more fairytales in future. It is important to deliberate on the processes involved, as people must be able to order the book via the website. Furthermore, I feel that knowledge of the personality of the author will help sell the book. So I would like to present profile on the website. This would also be useful in developing a personal touch at the start of my website, which should be useful. To make the website simple, it will be a one page website initially, where people immediately can get a good impression and what they want based on trust. With “on trust” I mean that the book will be sent before payment. After seven days if the book is not returned it means the customer wants the book and the payment is automatic. I believe that most people will make the payment in this manner, because essentially individuals are honest. 5.2. What am I exhibiting at this show? I’ll exhibit two illustrated fairytales, one from The Brothers Grimm, the famous “Snow White” and one which is a self-written fairytale “The Golden Bear”. In addition I want to exhibit two magazines, one fashion book and my portfolio. The website “fairytale4u.com” will be shown on screen or on my MacBook. I want to concentrate on the new website and the two books, which I want to bring into the market. My design needs to focus on the new products at first. I don’t want to fall into the trap of displaying every product or design I did in the past, because the message will become diluted and my main product may lose its significance. I want to display the logo “fairytale4u.com” on an A0 poster. Two banner stands 800mm will present the two books with the website and the logo. In addition there will be 1 workstation with the logo wrapped and one literature stand with four A4 leaflet dispensers where the two illustrated fairytales, two magazines, one fashion book and my portfolio will be presented. 1X A0 Poster: logo and website address 2X 800mm banners: logo, website and books 1X workstation: logo and design 1x literature stand: 2X fairytale books, 2X magazines, 1X fashion book 1x DL (1/3rd A4) freestanding or wall mounted leaflet dispenser: business cards The best company and affordable prices I’ve found to buy or hire an exhibition stand: www.spotondisplay.co.uk www.redcliffe.co.uk Stand hire: http://www.accessdisplays.co.uk/exhibition-stand-hire.htm 5.3. Budgets When creating my exhibition-marketing budget, I have to make sure not to leave anything out. It is tough to create an exhibition budget since I haven’t done it before. 40% - Print books and other designs: 1000£ 30% - Stand Design or exhibition stand hire: 700£ Stand hire: http://www.accessdisplays.co.uk/exhibition-stand-hire.htm 15% - Material Costs: 250£ 8% - Advertising and promotional costs: 200£ 5% - Travel and expenses: 100£ 2% - Transportation cost: 100£ Total costs around 2350£. 5.4. Space requirements and stand design At my exhibition I want to create a sitting area with a table, where people can have a good look at the books and where they can read the story if they like. That’s why I require quite a big space and I consider putting in decoration like a mirror and wallpaper for the fairytales as well. Read More