Senior Project Reflection

1. Positive Statement:
I'm most proud of the connections that I have made with Paul Huang (Ind. Component 1&2 Mentor) and Lydia Korinko (Mentor). I feel that they did not only help me with my 2 hour presentation but they are people that I could seek for whenever I need help with any design related things in the future.

2. Questions to Consider
2 Hour: P
Overall: P

3. What Worked
Something that worked for me in my senior project is that I was able to fit my time schedule around thing to try and make everything work. An example would be that I didn't have time for mentorship but I rescheduled things to fit it in every week.

4. What Didn't Work
I think I should have tried to experiment more with creating designs such as flyers, cards, etc. I feel that this would have made my 2 hour a little stronger because I would have had my own designs as examples.

5. Finding Value
First, this project has given me connections that I could rely on in the future (Paul and Lydia). It also helped me in my communication skills because my EQ required me to get to know people and communicate with them in order to create a design that aims towards them. And this is a skill that I will use everyday.

Artwork

Trying to get myself back in the habit of drawing and painting often. I'm also working on 2 other art pieces but there were issues with uploading them.

Review Advertisements Continued

Some favorites from some of the advertisements that I have recently come across. I will most likely be using these in my 2 hour (Some as decorations and some in the powerpoint)

Review Advertisements

Throughout the time that I've spent with Paul Huang, I've gained knowledge in understanding how to determine what is successful and what isn't successful in ads.

Here are some ads that I have been looking at lately and some are going to be a part of my 2 hour:

2 Hour Preparation

Making this for each pair of desks for the activities

An outline of the desk 

A list of supplies that I will need

Talent of the Masters

For Talent of the Masters, I entered three art pieces that all got sold. I was glad that I was able to use what I learned about understanding the audience to make these pieces and they actually got sold. 

Mentorship

Literal:

• Summer Mentorship Log (10 Hours)
• Mentorship Log (51 Hours)
• Mentor: Lydia Korinko 
• Phone:(626) 963-5200

Interpretive:

• The most important thing that I gained from the mentorship was patience. I've learned this through watching the clients make changes to the design and the designers would be very patient with them and do what they want as opposed to giving them attitude and getting upset. I also learned this by watching the designers on the computer, patiently rearranging everything several times until everything was in the right place.

Applied:

• A lot of my answers actually came from my mentorship. During the 51 hours that I have completed, I noticed  that they were very close to their clients because they got to know them so well. This helped them have a better understanding on what the clients want and like and this is exactly what my first answer is. And when they create designs, they tried to add things to make it funny, cute, family oriented, and different strategies that would help attract more attention but would relate to the what the client was promoting and that's what my second answer was. They also had good eyes for understanding what was relevant to the design. They did not try to cover it in glitter or bold fonts. They knew what the design needed and what it didn't and that is exactly what my third answer was. I did not notice this until I figured out the answers for my EQ but since I did, I've always observed them and it helped me back up my answers. 

Lessons With Paul

Some things that we discussed

Lessons With Paul

Some designs that we discussed and depicted

Exit Interview Questions

1. What is your essential question?  What is the best answer to your question and why?

• My essential question is "What is most important in creating a graphic design for an advertisement to persuade teens to make a purchase?" Throughout the past few months, I have been focusing on three answers that I felt I could best support with solid evidence. My three answers are understanding the teenagers and their needs, implementing a strategy that best suits the audience and product, and understanding the relevance of things in a design. Of these three answers, my best answer is to understand the teens and their needs because without this step, the strategies and the relevancy of things in the design won't matter since it doesn't apply to anyone specifically.

2. What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• I began my senior topic wanting to learn the process of creating designs, however, I wanted to do more with it. I wanted to learn how to apply it to certain situations and as I got further into research, I began to notice how much it tied into advertising. After I incorporated advertisement into my EQ, I still felt that it was too general. I wanted to narrow it down to a specific group of audience and since I'm a teen, I felt that I should focus on teens so that I could have a better understanding on what people my age look for in a design. And after a couple of drafts, I arrived at my final EQ, "What is most important in creating a graphic for an advertisement to persuade teens to make a purchase?"
• Some of the potential answers are understanding the teens and their needs, implementing a strategy that best suits the audience and product, and understanding the relevancy of things in a design.
• Although I felt that all three answers were useful, my best answer is understanding the teens and their needs. Without this step, the design would have no direction and the strategies and the actual design itself would have no purpose.

3. What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• Mentorship was by far the most difficult problem that I faced whether it was finding an actual mentor or being able to get there. However, when I found a mentor in Glendora, I was determined to get there to complete my hours consistently so I took time out of elective to take the bus to get there.
• Research was also a major issue. As I mentioned before, I wanted my EQ to be as specific as possible. This created an issue when I did research because not many articles dealt specifically with what I was dealing with. I found my way around this by finding articles that focused on graphic design, articles that focused on advertisements, and articles about teen's attitude towards it and related them together. I also used sources like my mentor Lydia Korinko and Paul Huang.

4. What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• Paul Huang is like my second mentor. He has helped me with answering my EQ by our weekly lessons and has given me more valuable/relevant information than any other source.
• AIGA, the professional association for design was a major source that helped me find research and different resources. It lead me to different designers' portfolio and contact information as well as articles on graphic design itself that were relevant to my answers.

5. What is your product and why?

• As a result of these past 9 months of research and hands on experience, I've improved my communication skills. I've shown this through my interviews and my artwork. In my recent interviews, I have shown progress in communication by the depth of my interviews. Paul has recognized this and has commended me for it by saying "past students have interviewed me but your questions are by far my favorite because it is so well thought out." I have also shown this through art because my answers focus on the thought process of the audience when they see advertisements so that I could better communicate with them through graphic designs.

2014 Interview

1.  Who did you interview and what house are they in?

I interviewed Luz Cervantes from North house.

2.  What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?

"I'm planning on doing something on architecture in the near future."

3.  What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hour mentorship experience?

"I plan to work with an engineer from Chino Hills and just do a job shadow."

4.  What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?

"I expect to see new ideas because I am not completely sure on basing my senior project on architecture."

5.  What questions do you have that I can answer about senior year or senior project (or what additional information did you tell them about senior year or senior project)?

"I don't really have any questions right now."
I gave her some advice about being a little more involved in the class because I felt that I should have been this year. I also told her to focus on what's closer to the due date as opposed to focus on what'd use later. I felt that I should gave her advice on things that I should've done this year.

Final 3-Column Chart

Final 3-Column Chart

Independent Component 2

LITERAL
A. I, Stephany Huynh, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
B. Paul Huang
C. 30 hour log
D. During the process of completing the 30 hours of my independent component, Paul Huang helped me review different advertisements and break down the thought process of it. He basically taught me skills that helped me improve the way I look at designs.

INTERPRETIVE
Paul and I spent an hour every Friday discussing about what worked and what didn't in different advertisements that we find online. Below are some of the websites where we fount the advertisements that we discussed about throughout the 30 hours.
Website 1
Website 2

APPLIED
Paul helped me get to all my answers for my EQ. He was the one that sparked the ideas for the answers during our sessions. An example would be during my interview with him, he helped me figure out my first answer. I asked him how a designer could create a design that appeals to everyone and he explained that they can't. He continued and said that designers focus on specific groups to make sure that advertisement satisfies their needs as opposed to making an advertisement that is trying to satisfy everyone but has conflicting ideas. And that is how I got my first answer.

Blog 20: Three Column Chart First Draft

3 Column Chart

For Future Students Who Choose Graphic Design as Their Topic

Found a website that has a ton of articles about graphic design the pertains to my EQ. I felt that I should reference this site because it also provides connections that future student could use to contact any mentors that they would need if they were to also do graphic design.

AIGA

Senior Project and ESLRs

1. I believe that the ESLR that I have excelled most throughout my senior project is being an effective learner.
2. I believe that this is where I've improved the most because throughout my 3 years of iPoly, I've never really assumed responsibility for my own learning and that is reflected on my past grades. However, this year, I've taken the responsibility and control over my grades. I believe the reason that I've been doing so is because I've been able to correlate my work to art because of my senior project. I've been able to express myself more through art this year more than any other in my past 3 years here and I believe that this made an impact on my ability to be an effective learner.
3. This could be supported by my independent component blog post where I posted pictures of my artwork. I believe that this reflects on my ability of assuming responsibility for my own learning because I took the initiative to try and apply myself to try to get into a good school and at the same time, expressing my creativity.

• See Independent Component Blog Post

2 Hour Meeting Answer #3

1. What is most important in creating a graphic design for an advertisement to persuade teens to make a purchase?
2. In order persuade teens to make a purchase, a graphic designer must know what relevant to the design.
3. A. While working on my independent component with Paul, he showed an example of a room and pointing out irrelevant things that were in a graphic design and he scaled them "eye sores." He covered each of  with strips of paper and basically cropped them out and it made such an improvement on the design.
    B. In the article What Designers Need to Know by Sharon Helmer, she said "Designers think about visual forms and how they are put together to convey meaning." So everything that a designer adds into a design has a meaning and is relevant to the advertisement.
    C. In the article 13 Signs You're a Bad Graphic Designer by Jacob Cass, he had examples of using irrelevant thing such as drop shadows, helvetica in everything you write, boxes behind text and other unnecessary things. He says that adding only things that are relevant to a design will make it much stronger and more aesthetically appealing. 
4. "15 Signs You’re A Bad Graphic Designer." JUST Creative. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://justcreative.com/2007/12/06/bad-graphic-design/>.

"What Designers Need to Know." AIGA. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.aiga.org/guide-designersneedknow/>.

Independent component meeting with Paul 

5. Next, I'm planning on researching more on understanding what is relevant and what isn't in a design and trying to apply it to my own design.

Fourth Interview Questions

1. What is most important in creating a graphic design for an advertisement to persuade teens to make a purchase?
2. What is the importance of graphic design and advertisements?
3. How do you think graphic design relate to advertisements?
4. How can a graphic design persuade teens to buy a certain product?
5. What do you think teens look for most in an advertisement?
6. What types of advertisements do you think teens would rather watch more?
7. How can a graphic designer relate to his/her audience?
8. What type of emotion would you want your audience to feel when they're shown your design?
9. What characteristics of a graphic design or an advertisement makes it memorable?
10. Do you think it is possible to design an advertisement that could persuade ALL teens to want to purchase a single product?
11. How would you approach designing an ad to persuade a good amount of teens to buy a product?
12. Why or why don't you think that it is harder to design ads for teens compared to adults?
13. What would you say is the best technique to use in an advertisement aimed towards teens and why? (Celebrity, Are you cool enough, or Bandwagon)
14. Are there any other techniques that would work well with teens?
15. What attracts teens to an advertisement?
16. Why do advertisers like to aim towards teens?
17. Why do you or don't you think that using advertisements that put teens down will persuade them to make a purchase?
18. Why do you think teens purchase products, regardless of it's purpose or usefulness to them?
19. How is a graphic design considered "successful"?
20. What is the best example of a "successful" graphic design in an advertisement?

Blog 16: 2 Hour Meeting Answer #2

1. What is your essential question?

• What is most important in creating a graphic design for an advertisement to persuade teens to make a purchase?

2. What is your second answer to your essential question?

• The most important thing in creating a graphic design for an advertisement to persuade teens to make a purchase is understanding the group of teens that the product is being sold to.

3. What are the details to support or justify your second answer?

• According to "How to Market to Teens: Keep It Real and Simple.", understanding the audience that you are advertising to is an important part in persuading a teen to make a purchase.
• Karmaloop aim towards teens because everyone who works there is relatively young so they understand what teens like
• Gaia is another online site that uses the same strategy

4.What source helped you prove this answer is justified for your essential question?

• "How to Market to Teens: Keep It Real and Simple." How to Market to Teens: Keep It Real and Simple. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. <http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/trends/article.php/3699986/How-to-Market-to-Teens-Keep-It-Real-and-Simple.htm>.

5.What do you plan to study next with your second answer and why?

• I plan to continue my study of answer 2 by doing more research and finding articles focused on this answer.

Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

1. I plan on meeting with Paul every Friday. He will help me analyze advertisements and help me with creating my own advertisements and hopefully help me get a better understanding of the graphic design of advertisements and connecting it to teens.
2. Since I plan on meeting up with Paul every Friday for about an hour or two, I plan on finishing by April or so.
3. As I said before, Paul will be helping me get a better understanding about advertisements and its graphic design and connecting it to teens.

Independent Component

Literal:

• I, Stephany Huynh, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work
• Paul Huang
• *See right hand side of blog* 
• For the independent component, I'm gathering a portfolio to submit to CSU's and UC's as a requirement for admissions. 

Interpretive:

• For my independent component, I had a variety of artwork that I have completed to add into my portfolio. The portfolio requirements allowed me to do drawings, paintings, photography, and basically any form of art that would qualify as a branch of graphic design or is related to graphic design. 

Here are some pieces that I've completed and some that I am in the process of completing... 

Applied:

• Because I am using this component as my portfolio for graphic design majors in different schools, I feel like it helped me in the sense of understanding the pressure of time management (to get it done on time), and understanding what the schools want (their requirements, similar to how customers would want the product to look a certain way), and just overall improve my artistic skills.

Blog 13: Rough Draft of 30 Min. Lesson Plan

30 Minute Lesson Plan

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

What are examples of commercials or ads that appeals to you and why?

Looking back at your teenage years, were there any ads that stood out to you and suck in your mind from then to now?

Comparing from now and when you were a teenager,what would you say is the most significant difference in what intrigues you in a graphic design when you see ads?


What do you think the differences are in personalities between teens these days and teens during your generation or time?


Because teens have such a wide range in variety of personalities and to be realistic, there are no designs that appeals to all teens, how would you approach designing an ad to persuade a good amount of them to buy a product?

What would you say is more important, the product or the way it it's advertised?

Why or why don't you think that it is harder to design ads for teens compared to adults?

Why or why don't you think ads are more effective today than they were in previous generations?

What makes a "good design" good regardless of what age you are?

What do you think is most important in a graphic design to persuade a teen to make a purchase

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours Check

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?
• I am currently doing my mentorship with Shane Crocker, a graphic designer. However, I am in the process of changing mentors because of the difficulty in scheduling. The mentor who I am waiting for a respond from is Lidia Korinko from Art2Ink Inc. This is the place that I completed my summer mentorship.
2. Who is your contact
• Current mentor is Shane Crocker. Possible new mentor is Linda Korinko.
3. How many total hours have you done?
• I have only done 11 hours with my current mentor. However, I will be able to complete more hours once I switch mentors.
4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.
• Within the 10 hours that I've completed, I have accomplished quite a lot of things. I mainly observed my mentor while he worked on some of his designs. He did not have any big projects going on at the time so he mainly focused on creating small designs just to show me the basics of designing. He also explained to me his past works, which were projects for airlines and other big companies, and he showed me step by step the process that he went through to create them.

First Answer

Paul has helped me come to my first answer which is understanding the audience.
Today during out lesson, he showed me different designs where the product was generally used by teens, however, the ad did not reflect that and he showed me a statistic on the products' sales and it decreased. This shows the importance of understanding what the audience wants.