What was easy? I feel like I did not struggle very much with this project, maybe because I have learned so much about Figma throughout the semester. For once, I had good inspiration to go off for this project. I knew I was going to do Italy since it is probably the most interesting place I have been.

What was challenging? I had a difficult time with a few words on the page, like “lovers” and “bellissima” because I had to type each letter one-by-one to get the desired effect. It took me quite awhile to perfect the spacing of each letter in the word.

How could your submission be improved? I could have been a bit more text-heavy on the Ischia slide to show my potential, but aesthetically, it looked better with less text. I also used a lot of icons where I had awkward space, so maybe I could have thought through that better.

How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class? I believe it was difficult sticking to specific color schemes for each stamp. I tried to follow a theme, (i.e, analogus for Ischia, triadic for Positano) but they did not match the photos like I wanted to, so I had to do some adjusting to the colors. So, I’m thinking less emphasis on color scheme and more on typography.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios? This project will definitely help me with future design work when it comes to text placement and style. I create a lot of advertisements and flyers so this will be good to know.

How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you? I looked at examples of stamps from prior semesters to get a grasp of what is expected of me for the project. I also googled postcards to get inspiration for what I could say on each stamp.

Initial Stamp Ideas

The final project along with the color styles I used.

What was easy? Creating the project itself was generally easy once I got the ball rolling. I have been using photoshop for a number of years now so I am pretty familiar with the tool.

What was challenging? Shifting my brain to use real-life images instead of creating graphics myself was something I needed to be mindful of throughout this project. I had originally made a cartoon silhouette of the fisherman, but Professor Dunkle advised me that using real images of people was what he was expecting for this project, so I had to switch gears.

How could your submission be improved? I believe I could have implemented substitution better into my project. I was having a hard time coming up with ways to implement that approach.

How could the professor improve the assignment for next class? I believe Professor Dunkle would try to implement an element of substitution somewhere. Also I believe he would try to change up the candy hearts in someway, possibly making them different sizes or implementing other symbolisms of love/compliments.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios? I will consider my learnings when I need to make graphics for The Griffin or for anything else. Lately I have been struggling with inspiration when it comes to graphic design, so it is always great to learn something new and have new material to work from.

How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you? I wanted to add one last interesting element to my project, so I decided to add some sunbeams peaking through the clouds of my background. I watched a tutorial on YouTube on how to create sun beams on photoshop. They came in a bit more faint than I would have liked, but I think they still look cool. Upon brainstorming for this project, I envisioned the “DreamWorks” logo and the cover of the album SOS as inspiration. The fishermen reminds me a little of the DreamWorks boy, and the vast ocean reminds me of the background of SOS.

Tutorial I watched

My Project

What was challenging? I find myself often struggling with inspiration. Thinking of cool ideas for designs is one of the hardest parts for me. I also struggled a bit making the planet ring and cityscape windows.

How could your submission be improved? My least favorite of all my scenes is definitely the urban scene because I am not happy with the way the windows turned out. I attempted following along with the class recording Professor Dunkle provided where he showed how to make windows, but I could not figure it out. I ended up making windows my own way, but it was extremely tedious and still looks wrong. The alignment is off and it looks quite uneven. There are also small things in my other scenes that could be a bit more complex or intricate, but could not seem to figure out.

How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class? I think Professor Dunkle would make my assignment more daring or “bold” with certain elements. I have been told I should not be afraid to make elements big and/or out of frame, but I seem to make everything a straight size. I could also get more creative with the tear drop button under “fill” with all of the cool options (i.e, “darken” or “multiply”).

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios? This assignment will make me more aware of gradients and be more mindful of it with future Figma assignments, or projects in general. I will be using the gradient tool now that I am aware of the depth of it.

How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you? When I am struggling with inspiration, I look at past students’ work or go back and watch Professor Dunkle’s class recordings/tutorials. Those help me quite often. For this project, the last scene I had to begin was the tropical scene, and I only had the monochromatic color scheme left. I was struggling to come up with an idea, so I looked up “tropical cartoon scene” on Google Images and found a lot of designs like the one I attached below. After looking through them, I figured I could use the color green because it is almost exclusively used in the example image. I also added a crocodile head at the bottom, as they are a green animal.

My Final Project

An example of inspiration I found on Google

What was easy? Getting the project started was pretty easy. I am familiar with Figma from DMA 217, so a lot of the features of the app I knew already.

What was challenging? I think the most challenging part of the project was honestly coming up with ideas for each frame, and getting them to relate to the nursery rhyme “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” It was also difficult trying to work Gestalt into my design. I had to make sure every frame had at least one example of a Gestalt principle in it. I was able to incorporate many principles, though, like closure, multistability, continuation, etc.

How could your submission be improved? I think a few of my frames are a bit plain and could use a bit more creativity. I am not very proud of my “down came the rain” and “wash the spider out” frames because they are too simple in my opinion.

How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class? I believe it would be cool to expand the assignment from just nursery rhymes to any short story, song, poem, etc. It gives more room for creativity, and not everyone will have the same 3 themes.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios? As somebody who creates graphics for different jobs, I will keep gestalt principles in mind. Using Gestalt in my work will make it more attractive and aesthetically pleasing. I can also remember that not everything should be perfectly symmetrical.

How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you? I looked through some of the past class examples on WordPress for information, and I believe that helped me. I also watched a Figma tutorial on YouTube for an idea. Even though I ended up not using it, I may be able to use the information I learned in the future.

My Gestalt Principles Project

Initial Brainstorming