I learned how to shape banners and to make them. I also learned how to smart fill objects. These are skills I have never used before. I also learned that being a senior makes it very difficult to find motivation in the last few weeks of class. 

2. What was easy?

I found that it is easier to use Illustrator. I came into this class having very little experience with it, since most of my background knowledge is with figma, but I feel more confident with this program. It is definitely more useful that figma but not as straightforward. I also found the smart fill to be an easy task to grasp. 

3. What was challenging?

Finding a place that I wanted to create the map for was fairly difficult. I needed many different significant points but the process to find it was fun. I also struggled with how to make the map look aesthetically pleasing with the few colors I used. I have never been amazing at that and this project really tested that. 

4. How could your submission be improved?

If I had more motivation to do this project and less burn out it definitely would be improved. I know that more time could improve it more but that is always the case with any project.

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

Making one more part of the project a separate lab would help pace things. For example, drawing all the lines and filling them could be a separate lab but it would also help students pace themselves better. 

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

In general this project gave me more practice with Illustrator. I am a firm believer that the more practice you have the better you can become at a program. Being able to have a fundamental understanding of most of the tools in Illustrator is always useful when looking for a job in the digital world. 

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

This YouTube video gives really good examples of more dynamic icons. Having fun icons can really make or break this project. 

What did you learn?

As in theme with this class, I learned how important typography is. It can be so complex or simple but it is a very powerful tool. It can really make or break a project. I really noticed how some type just simply looked bad with the different themes but some really highlighted exactly what I wanted it to. 

What was easy?

Figuring out what I wanted on each postcard was pretty easy. I am Russian so I decided to do this project on Russia, was a no-brainer! I know all about the culture and history. Also, choosing the color scheme was pretty easy. I have started to get the hang of using color, so it was pretty easy to find colors I wanted to use. 

What was challenging?

It was hard to choose which type would look best. Firstly, Figma does not give an example of what type I could use. Also, some of the type could not be modified, so was not capable of adding any contrast to that type. It was also a bit tricky planning exactly how I wanted each postcard to look since I wanted each postcard to be unique. 

How could your submission be improved?

Like my past projects, if I had more access to Illustrator I believe I would have been able to do many more interesting things to the fonts. I am personally pretty proud of these postcards but everything can always have more work done on it. For example, the post card on industry could have had more work done to it to make a more interesting type. 

How can the professor improve the assignment in the future?

I really liked how creative I needed to be for this project. Maybe having specific requirements for different types of font that should be used in the project. Having some form of check list of different types I should work would have been helpful so that it is less likely to get into a habit of using the same theme for each postcard. 

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

I will keep in mind how a different font can greatly affect my game title, since I believe this can be the reason a person would be interested in playing my game. It is very important to catch the eye of possible consumers, and the font is very important for doing this. 

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

Coolors.co was incredibly helpful in finding a color scheme. If I used a specific color on the postcard I could just plug in that color and an amazing color scheme was generated. This really helped bring my project together.