NMIX 6111: Course Summary
For short summer session II, I was enrolled in NMIX 6111: New Media Design. Unlike NMIX 6110 which focused more on the code and building of the websites, NMIX 6111 focused on the design and aesthetics of the creating a website. Going into this class, I had a bit of background when it came to using Adobe, so I was really excited to see that we would be working with Adobe again in this course.
Previously, I had only ever worked with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, so working with Adobe XD and Adobe Spark were new for me! However, I quickly found that navigating XD and Spark were much simpler than Photoshop and Illustrator. I found that I really enjoyed working with XD and Spark, but I found that I was mostly working Illustrator, as I was created the stylesheet and logos for our final project using Illustrator. Personally, I would like to spend more time learning XD, as I would like to work more with creating interactive prototypes.
I feel that I have added more Creative Cloud skills to my EM toolkit, as this is the first time I actually felt very comfortable working with Creative Cloud, as previously, I have felt shaky using them. Instead, I found myself being the one helping others in my group when it came to Illustrator and Photoshop, a position I have never found myself in before. The skills in this course will also add to my professional skill set, as I want to primarily work in UX/UI design, and I hope to one day be frequently working with Adobe Creative Cloud.
The examples I have above are the works from this class that I am the most proud of. The first image, is our logo from the final boss project. I created this logo in Illustrator, and it was for our brand “Island Cookie Company”. This was the first time that I had worked with the paint-brushes in Illustrator, as I used them to create the feathers on the flamingo. While creating this logo was a bit frustrating at first, I am extremely proud of it, as I really feel it captured the brand that we were creating and that it was versatile for all the platforms that we were able to use it on.
The second piece of work I have showcased here is the website prototype I created for my Client-Partner back in Unit 1. My CP wanted to create a beer garden in Athens and focus mainly on the fact that this was a place that people could go to hang out, have a beer, and get some traditional German food. As I previously had stated, this was the first time that I had ever worked with XD, and I am honestly really proud of how this turned out. The aspects that I am specifically proud of is how I was able to create a pretty seamless layout for a scrolling website, and that I was able to adequately use the color-scheme my client partner and I decided to go with.
Finally, the last piece of work that I am including is my logo from the Client-Partner project. Like the other logo, I created this one also on Illustrator. For this piece, I am most proud of the way that I was able to get the text to wrap within the beer glass. This was a technique I had always wanted to try, and with this logo I found the perfect opportunity. To me, I do not think this logo could have turned out any better, and I am very happy with the way it turned out.
One thing that I learned from creating all of these projects, is that I am more skilled in Creative Cloud that I originally thought. I found that once I stop fretting about what can go wrong with the design and just go for it, the more successful I will be. For all of these projects, there were a lot of previous versions and things I tried that just did not work. In the past, I would try to not make mistakes and start over, but through this course, I learned that the best way to create successful designs is to sometimes try something out of the box and start over. This is a valuable skill that I was able to learn through these projects, and one that will make me a better designer throughout my EM journey.
Finally, when it comes to using these skills later on in my EM journey, I know that there will be many times that I will revisit Illustrator, XD and Photoshop. Due to the fact that I enjoyed working with Creative Cloud so much, I know that I will incorporate Illustrator, XD, Photoshop and Spark into my capstone. I am looking forward to the rest of my coursework and continuing my EM Journey!