Blogging

Blogging was very useful. It was a new way of critiquing. It was fun and interesting.

I have always disliked having class critiques on drafts and process work. Its not fun having to go get work printed when it’s not the final piece. SAVE TREES PEOPLE! lol (I know, I know, I should have made an investment and buy my own 11x17 printer... hehe). Blogging was so helpful, because unlike a class critique, you can go back and read what people commented. No more worries about forgetting what classmates were suggesting, especially the professor. There have been countless times when I can’t remember some good comments on improving my work.

Uploading pictures makes things a lot easier too. There are times during class critiques where I’m fighting my way through to be able to see a piece. With a blog, you just open the file and you can see it perfectly, without a tall person in your way!

I’m the type who will speak out in class, but I know there are a few shy ones that don’t feel comfortable. It’s a good way to get everyone involved. Commenting on people’s work is more liberating. It gives you more time to think about it. During class critiques we are at times pressed with time that we either rush through everything, or take our time on the first few and not finish.

I feel as if I get to know my classmates a lot better. You see how they personalize their blog. Most of the time people are all separated throughout the class, and not always socialize with each other. Just browsing through every ones blogs, you interact with them through comments and suggestions. This was an enjoyable experience. I would like to have more classes using the blogging system.

Thank you for such a fun class everyone! Good luck and best wishes!

^_^

Inconvenient Truth Idea

NOTE:
-I still need to craft my own type.
-I may have to redo the N. America jeans image, because it came out a little blurry.
-Still needs some cleaning touches.
-I'm not sure if I should do a third image... may be a map of the entire world... errr

Concept:
Our planet is in turmoil, united we will clean our planet thus "patching things up."

Somehow I can't seem to upload the images...
so here are the links
jeans 1
jeans 2

Getting Closer

Still working on it... not sure what font to use.

SET ONE

Set TWO

The story board is on Carlos' page.

Digital Comps

The concept is that Jarritos is replacing items in Mexican traditional settings. The first is the piñata, the Jarritos are replacing the candy. This is more the style we are going for, more "cartoony."

The second image, is the one we are still not sure about yet. We want a female (she still needs to be animated, this was a fast live trace X_x), but don't know if we should replace the man, or something in her hand like the third image (which is not posted here... Carlos may have it on his site soon), where the bull rider replaces his hat with a Jarrito.

Jarritos Hand Sketches

Carlos and I rethought our direction. While sketching ideas, we thought we would try to be more humorous with the campaign. We still have some sketches where we focus on pretty images, but we liked the idea of being funny.



Page ONE

Everything on this page seems to be only pretty images, however I really like the second image of the fruit flavored water being dropped into the pitchers and also the last image of a Zorro Jarrito.


Page TWO

I really like the FlashDance reference. Its so cute! I also like the stork carrying a Jarritos. Its tying in mother nature with fruits= "Gift from mother nature." hehe. The little Jarrito riding the piñata is also adorable, but its not too creative.


Page THREE

These are some ideas Carlos and I were playing around with. The bottle jumping into the pool sounds really refreshing, hopefully tempting.


Page FOUR

I really like all in this page. The top two remind me of when I was drinking Jarritos and we couldn't find a bottle opener. We decided to use the side of a chair, "hey, as long as you get to your goal."
The bottom left is also very cute. I feel like I can tie in other sketches to this one.
The bottom right is really funny. Keeping the cultural aspect, the Jarritos are dressed up as Mariachi players and are serenading a lady on the top floor. LOL


StoryBoard

Commercial 1: A group of girls are out, and are playing paper rock siscors on who will be the designated driver that night. The loser doesn't seem too happ, she the discovers Jarritos at the bar. Her friends notice what she is drinking and change their minds to drink Jarrito soft drinks as well.

Commercial 2: (This plays off of my experience) Not being able to find a bottle opener, the guy becomes frustrated. A girl comes in and opens it on a side of a chair (this can be changed to something more interesting than a chair). "As long as you get to your goal."

Commercial 3: A little boy is playing the guitar to a little girl. He fails as a guitar string rips. The girl is not happy. No problem, resort to plan B: Jarritos. The girls is happy!

Advertise Campaign Styleboards

History: Started in 1950, Jarritos is the first national soft drink brand in Mexico. It is the leading brand in the mexican soft drink category in the U.S and a mexican cultural icon. Jarritos is available in eleven fruit flavors: Tamarind, Mandarin, Fruit Punch, Jamaica, Lime, Grapefruit, Guava, Pineapple, Strawberry, Mango and Watermelon.

Product: Jarritos, a Mexican imported soft drink.

Competition: Other soft drink especially fruit flavored such as Fanta. The Coca Cola Company and Pepsi Company are big competitors to Jarritos not only in the U.S., but also in Mexico.

Target Audience: For everyone; however it should appeal to Mexican viewers the most. The image should be family friendly.

Strategy: Use fruit based colors. Have it be festive and colorful. Overall EYE CANDY.

Style Boards:

On my first directions I was going for
a more youthful approach with fruity elements.
The first image has Mexican patterns used in the ride
It's a Small World (Disneyland).

With my last approaches,
I wanted to go with a little more mature look,
but still keeping the playfulness of the fruit.

Inspiration:

Website

Cosplay.com is a social site that revolves around the similar interest of cosplaying ("play" "costume"). Users take pictures of themselves in their costumes and upload them to this site. Because of the idea of this community is about everyone dressign up, I wanted to focus on the users and their photos.
NOTE: I'm not very fond of the colors, I'm thinking of maybe brightening them up.
NOTE: I'm also not sure if I should use the existing logo, or this one.
NOTE: I still want to design the search and user welcome page.

Home-1This is the landing page. It has the news and new entries. Along with that, there is a calender with all the upcoming events. As someone who is interested in anime conventions, I would love to be able to search which conventions are comming up.

Home-2
Because the calender only shows the state abbreviations, when the cursor hovers over a date, a little window pops up giving more information. The same information is given under upcoming events.

Gallery-1
Gallery has rows and rows of member's photos. I set it to be on the most popular, meaning these images are the most viewed.
NOTE: There are a couple of images of me and my roommates cosplaying ^_^

Gallery-2-User-1
Lets say I clicked the second image in the gallery, it will take me to the enlarged image along with the users profile.

Gallery-3-User-2
This is after clicking "costumes." The menu shows all of the costumes the user has posted.

Gallery-4-User-3
Clicked "Kairi." The first image appears.

Gallery-5-User-4
At the bottom of the image, a scrolling bar can be found showing the user's photos. The idea so far is for it to be flash (this is the only flash).

Final NOTE: The viewer does not have to log in or have an account to view this website.

Web Site Sketches

Note:

-www.cosplay.com

-Squares with and X= Pictures
-I don't want to force the user to log in on the Home Page. This website is open to the public, meaning you don't need to be signed in to look through the site.

Set ONE

What I like about this design is the tabs.
I want the logo to be seen no matter how far you scroll, so it has its own scrolling bar.

Set TWO

I tried to do something decorative with the logo.
This design reminds me too much of myspace on how the profile/menu is on the left side.

Set THREE

Using the tabs once again :)
I'm not sure how I feel about the background pattern. I feel like a lot of websites have already done this.

Extras

Web Design

The good:

http://www.deviantart.com/
This is one of my favorite sites. Its designed very pretty, but not only that, the search engine is amazing. The search bar on the left is so detailed, you'll definitely find what you wanted. It also has different filters such as popularity and the date entered. Users subscribe their art work.

http://www.newgrounds.com/
This is one of the coolest you'll ever visit. You can't go wrong, click anything and you'll come upon something awesome. Newgrounds is the leading website in flash animation and gaming. Users also subscribe their work. Click Flash Portal, and it lets you view the latest submissions, best of the week, and best of all time. Upon clicking a video, you can see the rating and comments before you view the video. On the left, you can find other work by the same user. It's also cool looking... lol


The bad:

http://spikedhumor.com/
Yes I know, this site is nice looking, but I still have a major problem with it. Although I love this website (it has the best and funniest videos), it has a terrible search engine and lack of filters, which makes it nearly impossible to find older videos. If you watched an enjoyable video you wish to show to a friend your only hopes of finding it is to go through each linear page going back by date.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/
Another site that I love, but I feel like its way too busy. If you have not yet guesses, I am an anime nerd (and PROUD of it). It used to be a lot more simple. The homepage would have an alphabet style search, making it easy to search titles. It took me a while to find it; http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php
^_^

http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/ols/
I know this is an angelfire page, so a fan must have done this, but all the text is CENTERED OMG! Fine, I got past that, but then searching the characters profiles I find the text centered again /sigh, and the picture is all the way to the left.

Environmental and Posters

I'm having such a hard time with the Environmental Campaign. I've been trying to think of new ideas other than billboards and stuff, but nothing new is coming to mind. /sigh
I'm also thinking of using pottery, but I still need to find usable images. This lobby picture is really low quality that I may have to do it on another. /cries


At least I have the main part of my posters done. I tried to put the splats in the background of the images but it looked way too busy with the flowers. I'm thinking of making them longer and putting a die cut at the bottom of the poster that look like the festival flags from the logo.

Poster Comps

Set ONE









































Don't worry... these are not the finals lol
I will be creating my own swirls and splats in the background. I am still working on the images to seem a little bit more sketched out.


Set TWO






















These have different splats, as well as different walls. I tried to play around with the splats breaking out of the frame.


Set THREE






















Instead of splats, I tried to do something floral. I actually think this is cute.

Poster Ideas

This is my first idea I was thinking of making it seem like it was painted/sprayed on to a brick wall. I wanted to show the people in relation to the local events and festivities. The splash in each frame is to illustrate the energy of the moment.









I wanted to show a picture of each individual city, highlighting the architecture. Each sketch has a playful border with festival flags in order to portray an enjoyable experience.










I like the illustrations of the first sketch, so I wanted to use it again with the incorporation of a new background pattern.

In Progress-Comps 2

After working on my Sun Comps, I was not satisfied. I decided to come up with new ideas. While Joe was showing us past student work, I realized I was drawn more to the simple ones that only changed colors. I wanted to try to do something like that. This was my first atempt, which I don't think is too successful. /barf









I am so in love with this one. I can probably play around with the type a bit more, but overall these were the colors I wanted to do. It creates a festive atmosphere/mood. YAY! What do you think?
^_^

It reminds me of a piñata. YAY!

In Progress-Comps 1

Zacatecas Logo Sketches

ONE

In this set I wanted to incorporate Mexican architecture and landscapes.


TWO

On these I wanted to focus on the people and culture.


THREE

The shape of the state is a window to the landscape and architecture.


FRAMES


These are some of the frames I used and may still use.
I am still not done with the sketches.
The one I really want to sketch is the fancy octagon.
I found it in an architectural piece as the window.
I thought it was cute.

Adjectives

1. Festive
2. Traditional
3. Hidden

DONE! Now for sketches... /sigh

Location

My family is originally from Zacatecas, Mexico and I have only been there twice. The last time I went was when I was in 7th grade... I am now 21, you do the math. Some of my family members go every summer or winter vacation. I haven't been able to go because of school /cries.

So I have decided to dedicate this project in honor to Zacatecas, "aye aye aye aye" (worst Mexican cheer attempt ever lol).

My main location will be Zacatecas, followed by popular cities known for their festivities: Fresnillo, Moyahua and Juchipila.

Fresnillo: Known for the year round celebration for the "Child Saint of Atocha." It attracts not only tourists, but consistently brings back those born in Zacatecas for the celebrartion.
Moyahua: Every 5th of July, people worship Saint Santiago with a unique festival. Men dress up as "Tastuanes." This masked character dances around acting drunk for entertainment.
Juchipila: A month long celebration known as the "January Festivals." They begin on Dec.12 (Virgin the Guadalupe's birthday) and conclude at the end of January.

I will think of adjectives later...

Why Graphic Design?

It wasn't until the college application process that I found out what graphic design was. Where I was raised these kinds of things aren't very well known. I considered myself computer savvy, but I only used very amature softwares. I know it may sound very lame of me but I didn't hear about Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign until I came to CSUN /shame!

Ever since I was little I knew I wanted to be an artist. Although I thought of the career as something I wanted to do, I didn't think it was a serious job, so I dismissed it. I thought of architecture next. It seemed something professional and respectable, but I just couldn't picture myself in such a strict setting. I need to be able to enjoy myself. Later in high school I was always praised on creative projects. That's when I finally decided, fine! I'll give in. I'll do something I enjoy than something corporate LOL.

Errr...
I'm trying really hard to word as to why I am inspired to be a graphic designer, but like I stated in the About Me blog, I'm not very good at verbally getting my ideas through. So I will probably come back and edit this /sigh.

About Me

Well.. first of all, I am not a blog person... but there is no getting around it (hehe).

Now for the good stuff:
About me?

First of, my name is Jahaira Duarte... or Jay/Jai for short.

Although I currently have an apartment literally crossing the street from the Art Department, I am not familiar with anything from this Valley. I was born and raised in the Coachella Valley, aka as the desert. Now knowing that I am from the desert, please do not complain to me about the heat, because believe me, I have been through worse. However, when winter comes, I will be complaining about the cold hehe. FUN FACT: I graduated from a high school where our mascot was an Arab... yes! an Arab /sigh.

I am fun loving, outgoing, and enthusiastic. I have a witty sense of humor... that usually consists of me making fun of people for my amusement. I can be rather mean at times with my sarcasm (so I apologize if I offend anybody... well, not really). But overall I act like a kid... bugging my friends with my obnoxious behavior... but they still love me, for I am to cute! hehe

I tend to talk and talk a lot. People say I over analyze things, but the truth is I don't think I do, I just have a horrible way of expressing myself verbally... making it seem like I'm trying too hard; however, everything makes sense (I know it makes sense!). errr Here I go again... I shall stop while I am still sane. LOL. If I make a weird comment, its because my word choice is set to thing to my understanding.

I am sure there is more to me, but I am lazy... so until then... BYE BYE