New Media Design
NMIX 6111
Upon beginning this class, I was incredibly enthusiastic to be able to utilize my creativity and ingenuity into digital design, this time in the form of wireframes, composition, and branding execution. I enjoyed being able to work with a client face-to-face, and the revision process—though tedious at times—was well worth the feedback that I was able to integrate. Changing Tides Design Co. was such a labor of love, where I wanted to create a distinct, fun, but professional website to describe the quirky personality of this new start-up idea. I was inspired to challenge the traditional geometry of the background flow design, and I was able to create a visually interesting and on-brand pageflow thanks to Pinterest inspiration and many YouTube tutorials. Using Adobe XD for the first time was a really insightful experience; I felt so at home being able to use Photoshop and Illustrator with the touch of a library button, and seeing the final animations and interactions play live once the art boards were linked up made me exceedingly proud of what I was able to accomplish. Getting to use Adobe Spark was also a fun experience, and due to my familiarity with canva, the use of click-and-paste templates and design elements was a really fun addition to my Adobe Suite.
On the client-side, I also enjoyed the process of trying to convey my thoughts and ideas into concrete executions, which was difficult but rewarding all the same. I had asked my teammate to create a website for my modeling portfolio, and because I knew I had an image in my head of what I wanted, I was better able to distinguish what I liked and what I didn’t more easily. Being able to communicate a vision to a team is a crucial part of the creative system, and through this process I was better able to see how that conversation would work and what questions I should ask in the future to ensure that both the designer and the client are happy with the results.
It was though ASTRIS however that I was able to truly shine, putting my own personal passion into the project itself due to my relationship with the owner, Jacina. Being able to follow the branding effort from style-guide to fully executed wireframe app development was amazing, and I loved being able to focus on packaging design, merch, and promotional material for the brand as well, tapping into my graphic design skills and my love for user research as well. Creating the different shopping personas was a very fun experience, and I loved being able to “put myself in someone else’s shoes” to see what their motivations and desires were when it came to using the website or the app. As a result, we emphasized the products available and decided to give the branding initiative more of a cohesive feel, personalizing the distribution and rewarding repeat customers to not only increase the usability for the consumer, but to encourage them to actively seek out the company and use it’s platforms again and again.
Overall, I must say this class was one of my favorites, mostly because it is exactly what I look forward to doing in the future as a full-time career. Being able to give my client’s vision a life of its own is extremely powerful to me, and seeing my designs go through the transformation process to create easy, beautiful, and simple executions is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Thanks to Adobe Spark and Adobe XD, I also feel significantly more equipped to maximize my knowledge in the world of digital design, and I know that being able to have easy access to wireframe mock-ups and responsive design elements—especially when conducting web-first design—will be wonderful tools to take my work to the next level.