Blog 14: Interview 3 Preparation

"Essential Question: What are the qualities that make visual design most impactful?"

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?
I plan to either interview Ms. Freeman (Amir's mother) or one of my mentors co-workers. Amir's mom has a degree in graphic design and has done a lot of freelance work throughout her life. My mentors co-workers all work at Disney so I'm more than sure they are qualified for their job and know what they're talking about.

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview? 

I have let Ms. Freeman know that I might need to interview her the last week of February. She has agreed to it and said she looked forward to it if it happens. My mentor hasn't gave me the co-worker that I will be interviewing but I plan to get on top of that ASAP. 

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.
What do you find that you dedicate the most time to when you're designing your product? 

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

Are there any classes that you know of that I may benefit from? What helped you really master what you do?

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 
How is it that you best unify all your elements that you incorporate into your designs?


ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:

We all have our own vision as to how we want to design or projects, but how do you go about when your clients visions are the complete opposite? Who's opinion and styles do you hold to a higher standard?

Would you considerate it bad to have a bunch of different shapes on your design? How do you make them all come together?

What element do you feel has to be perfect or else you won't feel satisfied with your result? 

When do you decide on what color scheme you want to use on your design? 

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

I am doing my mentorship alongside my mentor Sam Hernandez. We usually meet up at a Starbucks to talk about our work and cover new material since Disney doesn't allow me to come and shadow there. We cover a lot of information and its still as if I were to shadow him at Disney. I've had the opportunity to shadow one of his freelance assignments.

2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?

My contact is Sam Hernandez. He's an expert because he's been working in this field for more than 10 years. He has a lot of information that he's already taught me and there's a lot more he has in store for our mentorship together.

3.   How many hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right hand side of your blog).

This year I have completed 12 hours with my mentor. We haven't been able to meet weekly but we plan to set a schedule for us to follow from now up until May to achieve the 50 hours required.

4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.

We've covered a lot of information and topics so far in our mentorship.  We've gone over website designing, logos, and a glimpse into motion graphics. We began a mini project that he planned for me and are in the works with it and he's been helping me learn how to design my independent component #1 website to the best of my ability. We work together very well. From the very beginning, we got off to a good start and it's never been hard to get along/ work alongside him. When my mentor comes back from Australia, we are going to meet up to set weekly appointment for when we come meet and set up future freelance work days in which I can shadow and assist him. From what we already discussed, it's going to be quite simple to finish all the hours.

Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

It is important for me to be always working on my senior project because I enjoy learning more about Visual Design. It doesn't really seem like a burden to me having to work on my senior project. Over break, I met with my mentor and started my first independent component.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

I learned how to put together a website strategically. At first I just though, put al your content on there , and just make it look presentable, but there was a lot more to it than I was covering. The source of what I learned was my mentor. He really helped me pay attention to all the little details that really change the dynamic of a website. 

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

I plan to talk to one of my mentors coworkers. I've already interviewed my mentor twice so I needed to find another visual designer to interview. I had already asked my mentor ahead of time, so he told he'll work out a day with one of his coworkers so I can interview them. It will be good to  get another persons point of view on visual design.

Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?

• I was really proud of the outline I created for myself on my presentation board. It really helped me have organization throughout the entire thing and keep me rolling. At some point I was a little nervous, but looking at my board got me back on track. It kept me sane. I was glad that I was able to cover the basic process of a Visual Designer, that way I can just skim it in my next presentation but focus on another thing.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

• I would give myself a P. I feel like I did fairly well even though I was thrown off a little in the beginning of my block. I am also completing this blog before 24 hours after my presentation which is the deadline that was posted on the 2016 blog. I feel like I met all the P requirements and since I met time and was able to cover al my information, I think I did fairly well. 

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?

• I would relax a little because since my hook didn't go as planned, I freaked out a little and left out valuable information and references I could have made. I want to make some note cards that can cover each subject I have on my visual aid to make sure I don't repeat myself or get stuck.

Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

• During my mentorship hours, my mentor and I usually meet at a Starbucks for about 2 hours per session and go over work that he has worked on since the last time we met. He shows me how to do specific things and allows me to work on them with him. As of now, I haven't really done much shadowing only because Disney didn't grant his request to bring me in to shadow his work. once he receives more freelance work, we plan to collaborate more and meet up with clients instead of a good old meet at Starbucks. He has assigned me individual tasks like creating logos which is a section a big project he has planned for me which might be my second independent component.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?   

• I found my mentor through a friend of mine; her grandma's co-workers boyfriend (my mentor.) I sent him out an email to see what he worked as and if was willing to guide me under his wing for my senior project and he immediately agreed and was happy to be apart of something like this.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?

• On a scale of 1-10, I would say our comfort level is at a 6. Since we haven't really spent much time together, it's hard to feel like there is an actual bond forming. We can keep conversations going and work comfortably on what were doing but that's about it. I still don't feel 100% when I text him to plan our next session but I feel it's just a matter of time until everything feels completely comfortable. 

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

• I feel like this interview went a lot differently than other interviews tend to go. He gave me a lot of insight on how it is he got to where he is which I really enjoyed. This interview also felt a lot more natural to me than the last time. I feel like I still need to improve on keeping an open discussion going. I know this because after he answered a question, it was really hard for me to respond back to what he said. What I plan to do in the future is ask questions that I could also relate to so I can talk about it after my interviewee answers just so it the mood is a lot more comfortable instead of tense.

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

• I currently have a mentor and have already scheduled my interview with him.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

• My overall final topic is Visual Design. I'm leaning towards focusing on Animations and Interaction Design. I find these two areas most promising because these are the areas that have most caught my attention. Also, my mentor receives a lot of work in these areas so it will be easy for me to see on hands work from an expert to learn from.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

• We have an interview coming up so I plan to use that as a resource. I've began to research books that are up at Cal Poly Pomona, now it's just a matter of heading over there and checking them out. The books seem to relate to my topic a lot so I'm excited to read them and learn new things.

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

• What type of Visual Design is most relevant in today's society?

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• For my 30 hours, I will be learning how to fully design a webpage and make it aesthetically pleasing. It is important that the website is simplistic but still holds unique elements which is when my practice in Interaction Design will come in. I will be revamping the website (http://www.cfcworld.net) alongside my mentor. 

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• For our first couple of sessions, I will be learning all the different quirks and tips that make the best website for the clients. After I've learned all the basics and secrets, I will begin working on the new website. This will take up a lot of work and commitment because you can never STOP improving on a project. I have a feeling this independent component will take longer than 30 hours to work on but I'm excited to begin this project soon.

3.  Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• Interaction Design is the study of creating engaging interfaces with well thought out behaviors. Creating this website will help me explore my topic a bit more in depth because it isn't easy to full understand the persona and purpose the client wants their website to splurge. Getting hands on experience will allow me to understand how challenging it can be to develop a client's request. 

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

• I've only met with my mentor a couple times but I don't know if the meetings were log worthy. I will double check with Piggott to see if I should log those hours or not.