For this project, I utilized Adobe Photoshop as a baseline for developing an image for a metaphor I think about often. In terms of the metaphor “justice is blind,” we often visualize a blind woman in the form of a statue representing Justice holding the scales, though I visualized a more modern and personified approach where the Scales needs a white cane to navigate its environment.

For this project, I found that envisioning a concept such as this requires a certain degree of imagination. It was not difficult to imagine this concept, but the amount of originality that should always go into graphic design weighs on the conscience of the designer, so it’s important to find accessible yet copyright-appropriate material.

I found it easy to pick two images that seemed to show compatibility and fluidity, and it was similarly easy to remove a background from a white cane and a set of scales and add it to another image with a simple maneuver.

I found it challenging to place my blind scales in an orientation that made sense to the rule-of-thirds, which I heavily considered.

I’m still not entirely familiar with the rule-of-thirds and I feel as if I could have done more to line up my figure appropriately. That, and my methods of desaturating the colors in the scale may be a little rusty as I am not reacclimated to using Photoshop from the time I used to use it more frequently.

Simple does not always mean easy; the limitation to short metaphors can stifle the envisioning process of the designer and the process can often feel rushed. Perhaps extending the criteria to longer metaphors (or even idioms) can help with a visualized design that makes overall sense.

Should my employing director make a point of allowing me to create a fantastical design, I’ll be more aware of the process that leads to a successful product and fit as many subjects as needed into the image to make it seem appealing.

I took heavy inspiration from other students’ work. I feel as if their simplicity for their projects helped me to look outside the box.

For this project, I primarily chose locations that I knew would set an idea for places I would want to go to in the future and establish a baseline for the hidden history of my own hometown. For what it’s worth, I already had aspirations to at least vacation in Ireland and Japan, but my target cities had much more to offer than the aesthetic I held them in my mind for. As for Philadelphia, if I want to design a fictional cityscape that makes sense, architecture is something I can set my sights on.

During this assignment, I learned that there are more nuances in everyday designs that serve as aesthetically pleasing examples. As it stands, designers prepare their subjects to match or complement the established environment or canvas for a more appropriate look.

It was easy to choose the locations I prepared for each stamp. It turns out that if you favor the subject you’re designing for, you’ll enjoy the process much more.

The notion that there is plenty of work to consider for each location and there is a degree of bending reality to fit a complementary or triadic color design really toyed with my brain – I’m not used to breaking the rules though I feel I’m getting much better at it.

I imagine that if I learned to push out of my comfort zone with the subjects I chose, I could choose more relevant, yet challenging locations to research and design.

There was a slight confusion that gave me the impression there was supposed to be four topics of interest for each location. A slight panic set in when I wasn’t entirely sure whether I was supposed to have 16 designs or four.

When I’m designing video games, there will be times where scenery or character position will matter when their designs need to complement each other and set each other apart. If I want to go for designing tile screenshots where there is limited space for design and contrast, I need to factor in my skills here.

Other students’ examples put my goal into perspective. It was difficult to imagine the process was simple and that the designs could be minimal yet effective, but seeing other students factor their imaginations in so simply let me know that it was fair for me.