1. What did you learn?

I finally understand how to use the pen tool properly! I know the key shortcuts to help make lines smoother. It took awhile for me to understand this tool but finally having a good grasp of it made this project much more enjoyable.

2. What was easy?

Making a pattern was interesting and uncomplicated. It was a creative way to add color and details. I was able to look at smaller detail and overall design since creating a pattern is much easier than making many unique coffee beans. 

3. What was challenging?

Creating the cup was difficult. I do not often draw using vectors so trying to make something look hand drawn but also professional was difficult since I do not have a lot of experience with it. I drew many different shapes and circles, I looked at hundreds of drawings to finally create the coffee cup that I was proud of. 

4. How could your submission be improved?

I wish I had more inspiration to look at. I often need to look at many examples before I can feel confident in my work. Often looking at how other students performed this project can help form different ideas in my head. After sometime I compost my own idea using the amalgamation of other students’ works. 

5. How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class?

I found the most difficult part was how quickly Professor Dunkel went through the last lab since that is where we had to remake the label. When teaching us how to retrace labels, take a little more time at each step. I felt like I was behind because of some minor mistake I made which made it difficult to follow. 

6. How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

Being able to successfully use the pen tool is already one of the best things I can do for any future project. It helps with image tracing and more importantly, I can finally recreate all my ideas in my head into illustrator. I have found that I really enjoy making logos and the pen tool makes the process much easier and the final product much more clean. 

7. How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you?

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/how-to/use-pen-tool.html

This tutorial by adobe really helped understand the pen tool on a more fundamental level. 

What did you learn?

I learned how important metaphors are in our everyday lives. I had never really considered how different icons are actually metaphors. Growing up with the internet and phones, these metaphors just seem like second nature; however, there is so much more to these metaphors than just some random picture. I also never really thought about some of the metaphors that I use in my everyday, such as heartbreak or wasting time. I can see how someone who is not a native English speaker can easily get confused since how in the world can one waste time? But it makes perfect sense to me.

What was easy?

Once I thought of the metaphor and the images that coincide with the metaphor, it was pretty easy to put the images together in figma. I actually had to use two images of the light bulb since there was a wire running through it and in figma I can’t just erase it. However, it was pretty easy to just crop out part of the light bulb and place on the other one, so it was as if I erased it. I have had some experience with image manipulation so it is starting to feel like second nature.

What was challenging?

Nothing was incredibly challenging. I just needed to be patient with my creative process. I need to find a few metaphors and had to brainstorm different pictures that would easily express what I wanted it too. This was challenging since it took time for me to think of the best options.

How could your submission be improved?

It could be improved by the usage of Photoshop. If I had the opportunity to use Photoshop I think my project would have looked a lot more professional. Using Photoshop I would able to manipulate the images better than in figma and the project would look much better.

How can the professor improve the assignment in the future?

On the presentation on figma, it would have been nice to learn more about patterns. I personally do not like how my pattern looks, but I am uncertain on strategies to improve it.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

Being more conscious of how to apply metaphors to different games or projects will make anything I’m working on even more professional. It’s a creative way to help viewers have more insight to each project without simply telling them, and it should not be too complicated to apply.

How did a specific reading, video or example inspire or help you?

The article “Metaphor Definition And Example” by Richard Nordquist really clarified the idea of how metaphors are used in our day to day, especially in social media and phones. It helped put into perspective how often we really use metaphors, from the setting symbol to the camera on an app. You can show just the app and you instantly know what it is without having the name. That shocked me and helped me see everyday metaphors in a new light.