Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?   

• My mentor an I really get along well and he seems eager to teach me all that he has to teach. I can tell he's really excited about this journey which only makes me look forward to my Senior Project. We haven't really gotten much mentoring done as of now, but once we get our schedules in place, we'll have set days on when we will be meeting. The fact that my mentor is very well rounded in the field of Graphic Design assures me that I will be gaining knowledge to almost all aspects of Graphic Design. 

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

• One thing that I am finding difficult about my senior project is deciding on what exactly I want to focus on. There's a lot that comes with Graphic Design and it's extremely hard for me to choose one aspect of it to study. I've been having quite some trouble thinking of an essential question and where I want to direct my entire project. I'm hoping that once I get more hands on work, I'll be able to decide what is exactly I want to do. I don't think there's much the senior team can do for me right at this moment, it's more something I have to come to a conclusion on.

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1. I learned that in order to be successful in the Graphic Design field, you need to have a lot of passion for the work that you do. If someone doesn't genuinely enjoy what they're doing, then they can't fully enjoy and pour all their hard work on what they're doing. It takes a lot of dedication and time to master all the skills needed. If I want to become a Graphic Designer, I would need to devote a lot of my life to it to always ensure my best work is being done.
   
   For this interview, I wasn't really able to engage in an actual conversation much since the answers were straight forward for the most part. I'm hoping that by the next interview, the whole interview will be able to flow a lot better than this one. I still gained a lot of valuable information, I would just want the next interview to flow more naturally.
   
2. Sam Hernandez, the interviewee, explained how he already has a lot of colleagues and contacts that he wants to contact for me. Most of them have already agreed to allow me to shadow them just to get a glimpse of different hands on experiences in the field of Graphic Design. He has colleagues he plans to contact for me from the Walt Disney Company and Warner Brothers Studios.
   
   He also gave me many websites and courses that I can take to try and improve on my own personal skills on my own time. I think this would be the most useful because I can dedicate my own time to improving on specific things I need to improve on.
   
3. My interviewee, Sam Hernandez, has a lot of experience in the field of graphic design. He isn't closed off to specific things in the field which makes the whole thing 10x better. He has a lot of experience that I'm excited to learn more about. He worked at the Warner Brothers Studio for about 7 years and is currently working for The Walt Disney Company for 3 months already. Before he was hired by these big companies, he did a lot of freelance work that he still currently works on too.

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

 My entire life, I have always been intrigued by Photoshop from manipulating images to creating original work. When I was younger and had more time on my hands, I would look up random picture on google and play with it on Photoshop. Slowly, I became really good at photoshopping and knowing all the tricks and secrets there was to know. What I hope to get out of this senior project is an answer. This is my opportunity to find out if I really want to pursue a career in Graphic Design or if I should drift my focus onto another path. 

I know that I will receive the experience with my mentor this year, so I'm really excited for what's to come. Regardless if I decide to focus on Graphic Design in college or not, I'm ready to give this senior project my complete effort and more

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why?

• At this point, I don't have many people I can go to that are experts in the Graphic Design field. I would wish  I had a long list of people I could contact but I sadly can't. I think for my first interview, I'm going to interview my mentor Sam Hernandez. Sam has been working in the Graphic Design field for about 15 years now and has worked for major companies like the Warner Bros Studios & the Walt Disney Company. Once we get our mentorship kicked off and running, I will ask him if he could introduce me to some of his co-workers that he works alongside so that I may potentially interview. I'd be using my mentor for my first to interviews and I'm only allowed to interview him twice so I'd use his coworkers for my last two interviews. 

2. Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  

1. Tell me about how you worked to become the Graphic Designer you are today?
2. What sparked you interest in Graphic Design?
3. At what point in your life did you know this is what you wanted to do for a living? 
4. What are some challenges you've come across while working in this field?
5. Are there any programs or courses you would recommend me to take? (classes that they took? potential young scholars classes??)