Planning!

In the course of the past 8 weeks I have to admit I have grown so much in my visual skill level. In the past I had dabbled in scrapbooking and creative planning to an extent. As an adult living with ADD it can b every hard to focus which can also cause large levels of anxiety when you have to work very hard to focus at work and then continue with that same level of focus into school. So creative planning has been my outlet to stress relief, not only does it keep my schedule in order but it allows my creative side to come out. Also surprisingly there is a huge planning network out there that thanks to the internet that serves as a support network. According my husband I should use that term loosely as he calls them enables for Michaels and Hobby Lobby trips but that is neither here nor there. 

This course has allowed me to be more aware of my surroundings as well as a consumer. The cereal isle will never be the same!

Back to my creative planning. I do plan to start a blog this summer of my planning as I find relief in other planner blogs out there I thought it would deb great to have one of my own. Our book speaks about how good designs are planned out and this couldn't be more true. Before I do anything I plan colors and designs. Because once a sticker or the pen hit the paper there is no going back!

The relationship of colors  helps me choose colors that are visually appealing, and when I am going for a patellar theme it also allows me to choose color trends from the right time era. Per the tips for designing I usually pic my main color that I will use the most and then accent colors of wash tape followed by accent colors for stickers and colors for the stamps or pens I will use that week. I also print small versions of pictures and run then through my sticker machine to put in my planner. This way not only am I planning for the future but I have these sheets to keep for the future. Almost as a visual diary of my life at the point in time since I write almost everything down. 

These tips from the book not only help me with my planning but will help me with the blog once it is up and running plus staging for future Instagram photos.

I included a link to a planner that I follow on Youtube so that you can see what the process of planning consists of. I hope you enjoy and maybe some of you will come planners!

Color

According to the results my answers did not match very well with the majority. I only had 3 colors that matched what the majority seem to vote for but to be honest that makes sense. Im not really a huge fan of color, I love neutral colors and rarely stray away from that. I would say my favorite color is coral but i rarely wear it as black, gray and white tend to be much easier to pick out. I would say generally speaking the only experience I have with color would be relating color to personality types. At work we are taking quizzes to test personality types. By doing this we can find our strengths and opportunities. These quizzes usually also help with learning how to approach other color types. In chapter 8 of White Space Is Not Your Enemy it explains how color can be used to categorize. "Color can sort and clump to indicate  what goes with what". I would say the same about the color personalities. It sorts strengths, opportunities for improvement and how that person receives feedback. As odd as it sounds for myself it was right on point. According to Angelica Vazquez certain colors go together on the color wheel I guess the same can e said about personality types certain people can click while others can't. She also said that certain colors can go well together in different forms ( print or web) I would say the same for different life settings for people. Certain personalities go well together at work but would never get along in a social setting and vice versa. 

What do you think your color is? Test it out! 

https://www.gsgatl.org/for-volunteers/volunteer-leadership-conference/Documents/True%20Colors%20Test.pdf

My color is green!

Green is know to  stand for It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Green has great healing power and is the most restful color for the human eye. Guess its not terrible to have  personality related to harmony and safety!

I loved the idea our guest speaker Jim Wend proposed. The title of the presentation was "How to make stuff look good". I pondered on this topic while reading Chapter 9. Not knowing what my video was going to be about I came accross the section entitled Ethics of Shooting and Editing. Before continuing to read I immediatly thought "Are there any ethics?".And from there my video was born, the exact words used where that pictures edited "run the risk of altering or negating the truth of the image". It seems like we run this risk AND cross this line everyday when we as women look at beauty ads. Shouldn't a beauty ad represent real beauty? It doesn't seem like the commercial photographers out there have gotten that message. Altering photos so that they don't even look like the model anymore? Or choosing models that don't represent the the majority of that products consumers. Should we support companies that publicize a false idea of beauty? I have reevaluated the companies that I buy from. I also want to mention the last picture in my video is taken from the Dove campaign called "Love yourself". Im so in love with what this campaign represents and shows that beauty really does come in many forms.


Last week in class one of our classmates posed the idea that she doesn't want to teach her daughter a false image of beauty which I really felt for her. Do you think supporting these types of companies supports the image we allows to be circulating.

Ill start out by saying I loved making this video more than I thought I would! I had never left the state of WI until I met my husband. He has traveled all of his life and couldn't believe that I hadn't even been to Chicago. Well he changed that. Since we got married time has flown by and making this video was a trip down memory lane. In the process of making this I got a chance to see how blessed I am and to appreciate the things we have done in the past because since being in school traveling hasn't really been in the budget. I have learned how to use Animoto and will use this again in the future!

I have to admit that museums aren't my favorite place in the whole world. As a kid I loved going to the museums it was like a world outside of my own but as an adult serving jury duty in downtown Milwaukee and getting a free pass during our break I walked through our museums quickly not stopping to appreciate the art  because all I could think about was not dying from dust inhalation. ( I survived)

While walking through Alverno’s Art exhibit I couldn't help but be amazed that our school would offer something so amazing (and not dusty!) I walked around about 3 times until I settled on the piece talked about in our video which I had an immediate connection to. The Limestone Sculpture is just amazing in it simplicity to me. 

While reading our Article “The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum”, Dr. Haizlip took the words right out of my mouth when she said,“I was actually projecting a lot of me and what was going on in my life at that moment into that painting,” she continued. “It ended up being a moment of self-discovery.” In chapter 5 our book talks about focal points  or Center of Visual Interest which would be what draws your eye and at first I would say it was the bird perched on the sculpture mostly because the material is different than what the majority of the sculpture is made from but in staring at the culture for some time the blanket became the focal point for me. 

In my silent moment in front of the glass case my art work lives in all I could think about was my journey in going back to school. The blanket represents the support system I have had in starting this journey. There are many layers the sculpture representing to me the many levels of support I have while going back to school. Nervous in going to my first class I had my husband giving me words of encouragement, my parents making me dinner showing how proud they are of me going back to school, the support of my co workers working late so that I can leave work early on Wednesdays to get to class on time, and the amazing women I have met in my courses showing me that this journey is possible. All of these people showing and giving me their “blanket of support” so to speak and when I feel overwhelmed I can wrap myself in that blanket and know that everything will be just fine. I know I am not the only one that may need that little bit of encouragement and its great to know that that blanket exist for me. Make sure you wrap yourself in that blanket when things get hard and everything will be just fine. (Its like the dust…You will survive!) 

Who is in your blanket of encouragement? 

One of the things that I see on an everyday basis would be college posters. The branch of the credit union I work for happens to be on a college campus. With that being said I walk past hallways full of posters and informational flyers. It seems to be information overload so I don't even pay the posters any attention.While I walk past these same posters 4 times a day, if someone asked me about an event happening on campus I wouldn't be able to recollect a single one of them.

Kennedy's Frame work opened my eyes to a lot about visual Literacy. At one point in his speech he talked about how image and text can be both collaborative so the last time I walked down this hallway plastered in posters I turned my attention to the one that caught my eye the most and I truly feel that it it exemplifies both image and text being collaborative.

The Image itself grabs your attention for obvious reasons! (Its a huge coffee cup!) The visual give you an idea of what the text will talk about. Kennedy also speak to images being universal and if you didn't know UW- Milwaukee has a very large international student and visiting scholar population. Not all student speak English very well but if they see this poster they know it means coffee!

Kennedy says there is a process of reading an image that I found was my exact process when actually SEEING this for the first time.

First you Actually look at it-Check (its a huge coffee mug!)

Second I began to analyze it-Check (There is an event involving coffee)

Third I began to interpret its meaning-Check ( There is a Coffee hour!)

Our book White Space is Not Your Enemy also speaks to this poster by showing that the designers know who they are speaking too. Knowing your audience which is spoken to on page 10 is huge! "Knowing your audience well is critical for developing visual communication that resonates" 

What resonates more with college students than coffee?

I know that if I actually start to see everything around me It truly will as Kennedy said "Change the world around me", even if that world is as small as the hallway I walk through 4 times a day!

My Pet Peeve

My pet peeve...

People dragging their feet when they walk

I am naturally a bit OCD about a long list of things in my life, so with that comes a long list of pet peeves.  At the top of that list would be when people drag their feet. There is nothing worse to me than walking in the mall behind a person who couldn't bend their knees and lift there legs just a half of an inch off of the ground. There is just something about that sound that tortures me, and all I can think about is if we purchased this type of person thick furry socks and we could create enough electricity to power the first year of an electricity outage!

http://onclaysmind.blogspot.com/2011/11/pet-peeve-9-feet-draggers.html