What did I learn?

I learned a very basic and amateurish understanding of Unity’s UI, and even then I have a lot to learn if I want to make anything worthwhile with the program. My ambitions soared too high at the start of the project, and then once I realized how little I actually know about Unity, I gave up on myself and did exactly as I was instructed with little to no creative flourishes. I need to know when to curb my enthusiasm.

What was easy?

I was able to learn how to use terrain layers to use multiple textures without any assistance. That’s about it. Even learning how to properly move the editor’s camera was difficult.

What was challenging?

Most of the project was challenging. I had a hard time getting a grip on Unity’s toolset. Even the simplest functions were complicated to me. I feel very stupid.


How could your submission be improved?

I need to learn how to handle raising terrain without making a whole mess of the environment, also I need to be able to paint textures gently and carefully. What I have currently is a sloppy mess. I also need to signify to the player what their goal post in the maze is besides the large peak, which was meant to guide the player to it. The goal mountain is likely obstructed in several areas from the player’s POV.


How could your professor improve your assignment?

I don’t know!? It’s not like my professor can just appear behind my shoulder at home and suddenly turn this project into some kind of masterpiece. How am I supposed to know how my professor could help me besides giving me advice on navigating unity and pointing out obvious design flaws?


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

My early struggles and boost of wasted creativity taught me that I should really not get too ambitious with these kinds of projects when I have no real handling of the program I’m using. I don’t have anything close to the technical ability I need to make the kind of thing I want to make, nor do I have the time to make something special right now.


How did a video or something inspire you?

My initial overambitious plans were inspired by Unity creators such as Kitty Horrorshow who make fantastic and atmospheric games that they create for their small niche audiences. Of course that inspiration didn’t really yield anything in my final product here.

What did I learn?
I learned some aspects of site design, at least when it comes to setting up a basic layout and creating a somewhat visually appealing aesthetic.

What was easy?
It was easy putting together the basic layout on figma.

What was challenging?
Everything else. I agonized over every aesthetic choice (font, page color, header/footer color).

How could my submission be improved?
My intuition is telling me there’s something inherently wrong with my result, but my conscious mind can’t put a finger on what exactly that problem is.

How might I apply my knowledge in the future.
I’ll make up my mind on creative decisions faster so I can actually get a result out in a timely fashion.

How did a specific video or reading inspire you?
I had no direct inspiration or influence guiding me on this project.

Figma Link: https://www.figma.com/file/7db3VNaLyR4UNVyXLFaYJR/dma201-project2-starter-(Copy)?node-id=2%3A6

What did I learn?

Well, I suppose I have a somewhat better understanding of photoshop, though I still feel very clumsy when trying to navigate through its UI.

What was easy?

Anything we were guided through during the class meetings was easy enough to catch on to, though I did need some assistance on occasion when trying to figure out layer masks and typing along paths.

What was challenging?

I had a hard time coming up with an ideal composition for the valentines card. It took forever for me to come up with a design I actually liked, likely because of some perfectionism on my part.

How could your submission be improved?

I was very minimalist with the overall composition, I didn’t want it to look garish or overdone so I deliberately went for simplicity. The final design sort of tells a story about a heart shaped balloon getting caught on a tree. I like the result, but I’m not sure if its what the professor wants from the project.

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

I have no clue.

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

I suppose I’ll slowly become more capable of using Photoshop’s tools and be able to make more ambitious projects without clogging my tabs with tutorials.

Images used on the design were posted to Unsplash by Emma Fabbri, Robert Greinacher and Mathias P.R. Reding.

For this project, my objective was to create four postage stamps themed around anything that came to mind. Each stamp shown here pays homage to a work of fiction I enjoy. The aesthetics of each stamp are heavily influenced by the works that inspired them, so I had an easy time with things like font selection.

Though I certainly enjoyed making these, I did have some difficulties. Color theory is my biggest weakness here, which isn’t helped by my mild colorblindness. My color choice was primarily guided by intuition and the color schemes of each inspiration. I likely committed some mortal sin in color theory without even knowing. The color overlay on the image of the ship in the Invader Zim frame looks especially odd and I’m not really sure how to fix it.

I believe that these stamps are in the best form they could be given my skills at the time of writing this, for better or worse. This project also feels like the first time I’ve really had to think on every essential aspect of design I’ve learned in tandem with one another. All I can really say for now is that I hope to keep growing and try to improve on the foundation I have.

– Miles Klipfel

So this project was my first foray into actually making something in Photoshop. I’m not really proud of it but it’s there and it’s probably the best it will ever be. I had a hard time conceptualizing an actual core idea for what the image would look like (I eventually chose “Fork in the Road” if you couldn’t already tell). The only creative choice here I’m somewhat proud of is how I used the color gradient in the background to support the idea of two potential paths represented through a contrast in color. The vector pattern in the background does look a little too busy to me; The best I could do with remedying that was adding a drop shadow to the fork’s layer to make it pop away from the background. I had an oddly hard time finding suitable images for the project and even now what I have might not fit the quota for resolution (the grass looks very crunchy).

I intuitively know there is something else wrong with this but I can’t tell what the exact issue(s) could be. Maybe I should have made more obvious cracks in the road where the fork pierces into it. On a more positive note, I think I’m actually making progress with learning Photoshop’s fundamentals for once. I might just start making random images for my own amusement in my spare time, I could use a new hobby. I guess I like my final product here. I’m not sure if I’m proud of it, but I like it.

Compared to my first project, I’m actually kind of proud of these compositions. Some of them seem actually striking and the anglerfish one got a complement from another student. I did kind of have a hard time using figma to its fullest potential and I am disappointed in the outer space frame. I also had to shed my habit of relying on symmetry.

I also had a hard time with being consistent with my color schemes, partly due to my mild colorblindness. I only got a creative momentum going once I focused more on just making a striking image rather than fixating on the colors, though it will probably cost me on my grade. One figma tool I really got comfortable with was the gradient tool, allowing me to fill shapes with color compositions that aren’t just flat and lacking depth. I especially enjoyed using the linear color fills to simulate lighting in the seascape frame.

Overall, I think I’ve gotten more comfortable with figma as a program and I think I’ll only improve from here as long as I can keep up with the pace of the class.

Despite intuitively knowing how flawed these images are, I can’t think of any way to improve upon the current product without outright scrapping a few of the frames. All I can do for now is continue to learn and get a sense for some of my design habits, both good and bad. I hope I can eventually make something I actually feel proud of.