An Evening With Gilbert Zuniga

The Finale

Here are the tears that I've shed before leaving the class *one tear* hahaha. Well this was the last full class that I had for my concept development class. The one before this one was memorial day so we had no class on monday. I learned a lot from this class. Hopefully I don't forget all of it during the summer ha. This class was quite an unusual experiance, since I've never really had a class like this that constantly challenges me with different things. One thing that I liked was that I was never always told what and how to do something. I had to find out how and what to do, explore my options so to speak. Jimmy wanted to go back to the cards that we had filled out in the beginning of the quarter, but no one else was really interested, including me. He started to clear any questions anyone had left. while he was doing that I
all I can think was "I gotta finish the film!!!" and "I hope its good!!!!" While stress mounted on me, he told us that he was boasting about us making better videos than another instructor's students. Way to put another load of pressure and stress Jim.

I've been working on the film about my creative process and just this moment finished it. I hope I did well since I had a hard time getting everything to flow.

To all the students that actually read this....hope to see you guys on another class.
Gilbert out.

This is a what. A what?

Again communication was emphasized in class but there was another thing that I took from the exercise in the class. Besides being a good communicator one also has to keep focused on the things that you are doing. If you keep having to wonder around and lose focus a lot of things can go wrong. If you leave information in the hands of someone who is not a decision maker, there is a possibility that things that you are trying to get through that are going to get lost and that is one thing that you don't want to happen. The game, as we referred to the exercise, which was a type of game like telephone where you tell someone "this is a what" and they will respond with a "this is a what?" and you would have to answer to who ever gave you the object the same question. Once an answer is given then you give the answer to the person who asked. The exercise was not as difficult with one object but when two objects were introduced that's when things started to go down. Everyone lost track of what was going on. The focus was on where the objects were and say what to who. Good fun though.

There was also a movie shown in class which took up most of the time. The guy, Kent, was entertaining. Unfortunately for me my caffeine could only take me so far, so I took a couple of things from the movie. One  of those things was that everyone can be the next Beatles or the next Elvis if they just keep being encouraged by the people around you instead of putting you down. The other thing was that there are a few things that you need in the workforce, and that is be able to communicate clearly. There were other points but I forgot.

Stage 7

There is one thing that I’ve been hearing a lot lately about the design world, and that is clients, other designers and other people like a production like a person who is a team player. It is important that you respect others and that you are able to work with others. At a presentation I attended I learned that the competition in the real world doesn’t really exist. Team work is something that I need to work on. Usually I just sit back for a while see how things are going then if they are not going well I go in and take over. One thing the book mentions is that motivating a team will help the design project. The more the team cares and feels like they are a meaningful part of the project the better a project can be.
One thing that caught me by surprise in the book was that is said that even though you have finished your design and brought the idea into reality, that does not mean that you are finished. There might be questions that need answering and there might be other things that need to be cleared to the production team. This reminds me of class because Jimmy always asks questions even after we think we are done. There might be something unclear or not done right that needs to be changed.
Feedback, is something many are not too keen on receiving. When getting good feedback, most just dwell in pride and boost their ego. When getting bad feedback, which is probably the most common, people get angry and irritated. Learning how to control yourself during times of feedback, is a good thing. When getting good feedback, note what it is that you are getting good feedback on. You might want to take that into consideration so it can help in the creation of other designs. Bad feedback on the other hand can be disastrous. It is hard to turn bad criticism into a motive of improvement because we get so caught up in the emotions that we ignore everything else.
One good idea that the book mentioned that I like is that we as designers should keep documentation of the projects that we do. Like that is can be used as inspiration and/or help to make another project better.

11011100...101

Trying to explain something that you don't really have a good understanding of is really hard. I tried explaining a sequence of patters of numbers that an instructor had put up on the board. The class was split in to two groups (male/females) and were to go up and say what the next number was gonna be and explain how you came to that conclusion. The girls had come up with an understanding of the numerical pattern that I didn't even think of. Then it was the guys turn to go up and present. Unfortunately we did not do so good in explaining and one after another we went up to explain and kept getting shut down by jimmy. One of the things that I have to keep in mind is that I have to learn how to explain to a client what it is I did in the project. I don't usually have any trouble explaining things. I just need to know what it is I am talking about before I go up and possibly make an idiot of myself.

John Coy was what the center of discussion after the explanation exercise. Personally I thought that it is stuff that I have heard before but like I stated in class, the one thing that I got from the presentation was that how you present yourself really sets the way of the presentation.

    1
  10
  11
100
... <<figure this next number
(By the way, this is what was on the board.)

Sipping on a cup of a million dreams

There are a lot of things that we can get from our dreams. I saw a film called Dreams by Akira Kirosawa. It showed eight short stories that interpreted his personal dreams. It just amazed me that we have have so many thoughts in our brains that even in our time of rest it keeps creating new ones. I know that science says that our dreams are thoughts and images that have happened during the day all clashing together and that is why sometimes the dreams are weird. But really it is something entirely new, for what is art other that a creation of something by combing things that already has existed? We can create something entirely new thanks to the inspiration that our dreams give us. It is those times of inspiration (among other things) that lead us to create the world that we live in now. The times are changing and the current designers are getting old, it is time for us to become the dreamers and create a new world in which to live in.

Learn on Impact

Exciting news today...we had to instructor! Although most students would just pick up their belongings and run towards the door, the class stayed and discussed our creative briefs for our final project. Through all of this there was something one of the students said that really hit me. He said, "How can he be running the class without him being here?" Its funny because the class was actually having a discussion on the brief. Discussions are not really something this class is good at and yet when he is not here we are able to have one, even though it only lasted 20-25 minutes before everyone agreed on what was on the board and took off. It just amazed me that our instructor actually had an impact on the class.

Briefly Post a Brief Post about a Creative Brief

Today we talked about creative briefs. These useful papers help you understand what a project is about and how to go about it. I had a hard time writing a creative brief for the movie "Power of Ten". I spent two hours trying to think up of how to do it. The only explanation that I understood about the creative briefs was that they are the parameters of the designs. It seems straight forward but I just could not grasp that idea very well, even after asking the instructor! after today I understood it more. Its very simple, yet complicated. Its simple to understand and get information of of it, but its difficult to write one because you have to take into account so many things. Demographic, target audience, how, when, time, etc. One must also think about the organization of the brief and truly make it a brief creative brief. Within the small amount of space one must say a lot and make the audience think, feel, know, and do something. That's a big load of information!

Present yourself

There was a lot of information to take in today in class. One of the things that I learned was that presentation is very important. You have to have a professional presentation for someone to take you seriously. This time we went in on a little bit more detailed. One thing I saw repeatedly was that there was a bunch of papers cut out with a pair of scissors instead of an x-acto knife and a ruler. I know that there are many things that happen around us constantly and we have to somehow manage all the tasks handed to us. Then there are personal matters to handle, there is work, family, and friends to think about. The one thing that I've failed personally is prioritizing the things that I do. What should take more of my time? Can I cut time from this project to spend more time on another? The times I do make a decision like that I usually end up cutting time on the wrong project. But it doesn't only involve school work, time is taken up by all sorts of things. We have to make time to do our homework and that might mean missing a relatives birthday party or your friends get together. To me a relatives birthday party or a friends get together is more important to me than school work. What does one gain with a degree and no family and friends?

Put your game face on

Games are something that entertain us all. No matter how young or old you are, you can always play games. But what exactly does a good game have to have in order for it to be good? Personally I like games that are strategy based, but if there are game that will ridicule you while trying to get the other person to get the phrase "Eat and run." without talking, I'm up for that too. One of the games that I played today was chess. I noticed that its a war game in which you are bent on capturing your opponents king. What makes it a good game? I'm not sure all of the people will say that this is a good game since it involves thinking (something that people don't like to do these days). I personally don't think I am good at it but what makes if fun for me is that it requires a strategy to not only attack your opponent but also defend yourself from him. The "battlefield" is always changing and you have to come up with another strategy to fit the current situation. It has a taste of risk and chance involved in it that make it even more exciting. Ironic that I like a war theme game and I'm a pacifist. Another game that I had played was called Win, Lose, or Draw (emphasis on the draw). The group I was in decided that the rules were too complicated to figure out in the allotted time that we had. So we just ended up playing our from of pictionary. I say that because instead of words we had dated phrases and some were really hard to describe in picture form. I also like this game and even though it was a form that I've never played it. What made it fun was that we can get somewhat loose and ridiculous. Now I have to develop 9 games.

Welcome to the game of life

We start another week and with this week I start off badly being sick. Because I was recovering from being ill, I only got my brain to process some of the gems of information that were being tossed at me. For the sake of a new perspective the class was told to sit at the opposite sides of the table than the usual way of facing the blackboard. Being hopped up on Advil and Robitussin the light of the windows kept making my eye wonder and lose concentration. Games were the center of discussion at the beginning of class. Games like design have some of the same aspects. They tell a story and give of expression. Not only that but it also has a theme. An example would be the game of Risk who's theme is war and the game of sorry is revenge. In the design world we are making stories and we want to communicate those stories. Although, like games some designs don't tell any story but do serve a purpose. For example a Band-Aid box. It just tells you that its a box full of Band-Aid brand band-aids. But all the images, ads in magazines and television, and other forms of advertising connected to that box come to you in an instant. Why? Because those did tell a story and it stuck to your brain, even if it went to your subconscious. Thanks to that, your mind is telling you that you should buy that box instead of the other cheaper no name brand.

After that we started to look at images that described the seven deadly sins. Well that was kind of boring so I kinda let the Robitussin take over and let my mind drift. Although, one thing I did learn was that you should do your best to bring good work even if it is just collecting images that describe a sin.

Gather 'round the campfire kids. It's story time.

We had an interesting activity in class on Monday. We had to come up with a story with two items that each person in the group had placed in the table. I liked this activity because I can come up with a story with more ease than others. I'm not a pro at it but I like it and its fun. The group I belonged to and I created quite a fantastic story. So much so that I was already thinking of how it would look, what the main character was going to look like, how would the action sequences go, and how would the final battle be. But I found out today that a good story is not all you need in the storytelling game. When someone tells the story there has to be a type of expression. As graphic designers we are telling some type of story through our designs. I never really thought of both storytelling and designing as related to each other in any way. In my mind they were both totally separate. Now realizing that design is really telling a story in a visual form brings things more into clarity. A story without words is how I got it. It's difficult for me to make a story out of design because it kinda get murky in my mind and thoughts get 'criss-crossed' and I lose track of what is going on. Thinking about it I see that sometimes I lose the expression when it comes to design. I would look at what I have done and think that's not what I wanted to see/feel.

Waterfall Writing

ID

Inspiration is nice and all but with out identifying what constraints that a project has, then the design of that project is most likely to end up straying from what the purpose of the design was. Inherent constraints are constraints that are needed to keep the essential characteristic of the design. Imposed constraints are characteristics of a design that is desired but not needed. I tend yo use quite a few imposed constraints and ignore the inherent ones, which is not good cause most of the time I have to redesign all that I did. What I don't like is that constraints can happen at any time. Say you need a project done by a certain time, and all of a sudden the client wants it sooner. But it is the designers responsibility to finish the project, which is another constrain that is inherent to any project. There are also other constraints that a designer should look at before starting a project. End-user constraints are heavy things to consider because it can affect your career severely. One must think of the social views that are in effect at the present and do one of the things that I've been told to do so many times, research extensively!! Functionality and from should be other things to consider. What I think would be best is to merge the two without one taking over the other, but of course that is something that is very difficult to do. One thing that should be considered also is safety. If you are designing something in the outdoors then consider the effect that your project will have with people and the environment. You don't want lawsuits heading your way. Not only that but it will look bad on you if you just do things in a reckless manner. Production can be another severe constraint. Most of the time there are always constraints of what materials you can use. But this should not hinder your want to explore and create new ideas. And of course there are Designer constraints. One of the things a designer must do I have already mentioned and that is research. If you go on just designing guessing about the audience you will end up looking like a fool. Time management is another thing that designers have to consider. Splitting up time to do the various things you have to do is always a good idea. I'd go as far as to say that it is required to become a good designer. Also budgets are also a big constraint on a designer. How much money will decide as to what you can and cannot do in a project. And there might be something that you did not plan on spending but it is required so its always a good thing to think ahead and research how much things will cost.

Hulk Smash. Hulk Get Hurt.

Shifting meaning was what the class was assigned to do. The way we were supposed to do it was to choose an image and change the meaning with a word or phrase. It sounds simple, right? As the students that put up their project up will tell you, it wasn't! I didn't get to put my project up, so I can't say if I did good. By what others were putting up, I think I did okay but not that great.

What I got from it was that I, as a designer, not only do I have to get the viewers attention, I have to follow through. When I say follow through, I mean I have to get the message that I am trying say across. It is pointless to have someones attention to not tell them anything. We deconstructed an advertisement that was put up. There was an argument among two classmates about if the ad placed was cartoon-like or not. someone else stated that it took on a more classical look. Moreover, what Jimmy was trying to show us was that ad's and designs have a complex set of meanings embedded in it. It took the class a long time to reach the point Jimmy wanted to show. Jimmy was saying that this image was designed to connect with the painting done by Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam." Personally I think that it would have been a lot faster if the image that we were being shown (A muscular well represented green hand with a ban-aid.), was put sideways.

Twisted Kingdom Come

It's funny how a class discussion of design can come from someones escapades of their weekend. We discussed what made Disney stories what they are. They are very careful on what it is they display in their movies. They reject anything that might seem to sexual. The most you'll see of that, is a hug or a peck on either the cheek or the mouth but a peck nonetheless. I've always noticed that most of their movies have a recurrent theme of love. This theme is something that reaches out to EVERYONE. I don't care if you're an emo kid or have some sort of I don't need to love thing, everyone in this planet wants to love and be loved in return. Also, Disney has the very nature of children in one of their most known slogans: "When you wish upon a star." If you hear say or read this phrase there is virtually no way that you cannot be thinking of Disney. That phrase will just take you back to those days when yo were a child and reminisce of those days.

On another note, What makes a good story? In class a list was made in the same way that we did our mind maps only without the lines and connections. Here are some: setting, voices, theme, interaction, sex, fantasy, morals and symbolism, viewpoints, relationships, rising action, etc. I think that a story can have all of these things and more but if it's not executed effectively then its going to fail. Whoever reads or sees the story unfold will not have any care for the story or characters.

We also saw a couple of movies [TED talks] from two authors: Amy Tan, and Elizabeth Gilbert. Amy Tan seemed kinda boring to me. So my brain kinda tuned out through some parts. But one of the things that hit me hard was the question that she had asked. "Why do we accept knowledge and assumptions from other people?" All I could say was, "you're right!" I thought about it and well, to be honest, I did it because that is how I grew up. All traditions and rules and beliefs were passed down to me.

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote Eat, Pray, Love. I had no idea who she was or that she even existed. What I received from her was that I should not let a great past work eat me up. It's fear of not being able to top your latest creation. But Jimmy served the question "what are you afraid of?" That got me thinking. What I am afraid of is not being a good designer or even an artist. The only way I'll get through that is if I keep going and not give up. She also raised the question of how do we keep doing what we do? In her perspective, she said that we needed a muse in order for us to keep going. Find anything that makes you feel like creating weather it be an elf in your walls, or a deity.

Mind map this...

In class I had to do a mind map of an idea or thought. Mind mapping is a useful thing to do to get out all those ideas floating in the brain. With this we can have all the ideas possible out on the table and pick out the ones we want to pursue. To me it seems like a free form brainstorm. Unlike brainstorming, you are free to bring about the most ridiculous of ideas. It's been helping me out in other projects that I'm currently doing.

The Dislocation of Inspiration

Wow, this book I'm reading[The Design Process] is punching everything I know inspiration in the gut and then beating it senseless. I used to be one of those people that waited for inspiration to come. What a waste of time that was! I have to look for inspiration not wait for it! Something that I found interesting in my reading was that people had a kind of thought that insinuated that all artist had some sort of problem. Alcoholism, depression, drug abuse and others were thought of as the one thing to have as an artists. That is a stupid thing to think. Those people have problems. Help them! Don't just watch them destroy themselves! We could have had more wonderful art from many artist if they didn't have those problems. I learned that I don't have too look in one place for inspiration, like in the design or in painting. I can look at architecture, landscapes, photos, movies and other places for inspiration. But there is a minor problem [for some its a major problem] with inspiration. it can move you in a fast pace and take you where you don't want to go. I've had that happen to me before but I didn't really care too much because I had deadlines to meet. Time management is something i am working on right now. Which brings me to another part of inspiration that I learned. Take time to explore all the ideas created by inspiration and make it fun. If it's not fun then it just becomes boring work. But don't just spend a lot of time just exploring. Deadlines are to be meet, but you should also have time to play and rest. do something that doesn't involve anything about the project you're working on. You just might find the answer while you are gardening[as if anyone does that anymore].

1 Week of Art Works

Fly to the clouds...Scott McCloud.

I am a fan of comic books. So when we saw a video of Scott McCloud I was excited to see a comic book artist in a design class. I was particularly interested in the part of the talk where he starts thinking about comics in the future. I had never really thought about using the computer as a whole canvas instead of the comics standard page use. That concept really blew my mind. But this idea could not have been ascertained without having to see through what he called the third type of vision. Which is seeing something that is not there but can be gotten and/or though science. Basically seeing through a little bit of faith and a little bit of science. Charles Babage is another person who saw through the third type of vision. He is the father of the computer. Something i did not know. Here I thought that Bill gates was the one that invented it. Although Charles did not literally invent the computer, because he came up with the idea in the 1800's, he basically set the foundation in which people later followed. people like Ada Lovelace, who went to further investigate this matter, and of course Bill Gates. The idea to take from this is that, one should look for a pattern and think of new ideas that can be ascertained with current knowledge. This just gives the one statement that keeps being thrown in my class lately, more justification. "Be curious and never be satisfied!" Durable mutation. What in the world is that? I didn't know until I looked at the video for a third time. Durable mutation, how I understood it, is when there is constant change but also that that change stays for quite a while. An example of this would be myspace. Myspace was dominant in the social network scene until facebook came out. A change happened. facebook was the dominant one now. By far it still is.

Reading The Intro

A designer has to deal with a lot of stuff. From How much money he/she has for a project to deadlines and clients. Again in this reading, the importance of time management is focused on. You have to know how to allow your ideas flow freely and yet still meet deadline. To take as many paths possible to come to a good design. Because sometimes the normal path or the obvious road is something that you do not want. There are many ways to get your idea through with out having to take the normal road.

The Map
There is a map that the book gives that helps us as designers.
-Inspiration
-Identification
-Conceptualization
-Exploration/Refinement
-Definition/Modeling
-Communication
-Production
This 'map' by no way is a linear. I can go in almost any direction. The book will go over all these steps respectively.

Never Satisfied

Just because you are not successful in a project, doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. Before getting this little gem of advice, I always either threw away my work/projects away because I didn’t think of them as worthy to stay alive. But those past projects could have been useful in inspiring me for other projects or maybe even be used as a part of a bigger project!

Many things can help inspire us to make better and better work. All the experiences that we have in our lives can help us on how we do our projects, helping us make good work. “Not one day is the same as the other,” my instructor stated. Even if we are doing the same routine, all the experiences that we have each and every day are different. So he says. I don’t know if I can agree with him on that. Back in high school I had nothing but a routine and I was so numb from it that I felt everyday like the rest of them. Did I have a different experience one day than the other? I highly doubt it.

Seth Johnson spoke at CSULA on Friday. Unfortunately for me I had another event I had to attend, since I had promised I would. But there were a few people in my class that decided to talk to the whole class and speak about the things that Seth had to say. Besides the mindless rant that went on for the first five minutes I got a few tips on how to be a better designer, with Seth’s six points [to success].
    1) Tell clients what they need.
    2)Do your own work.
    3)Do a lot with a little
    4)Shut up and listen
    5)Make your work better
    6)Be curious and never be satisfied
Some clients are open to decisions that you offer as a graphic designer. Some leave it up to you to make the design seeing how you are the professional in that field. Others already have a design in mind that they want and don’t want to listen to you. Another thing I got from what the other students were talking about was that Seth stated that us as designers we should never be satisfied. Keep exploring the world of design.

MINI GINZA 'Live Canvas' (MINI x Rinpa Eshidan)

What if....

Internally I have always known my methodology and quite frankly it was created to please teachers and not do the best work I can do. The only time my methodology took the route of good work was when I was doing a project that I would do for myself, friends or family. I would start off with two ideas and then those ideas would expand and so on and so on. On Wednesday I finally accepted the fact that I did do acceptable work instead of excellent work. I shouldn’t just do work to finish a class, instead I should manage my time in order to make good work in the time allotted to me, in and out of class. It is up to me to become a good artist and a good designer. I’ve been told that just because you have degrees that does not mean that you are assured a job. You can have five degrees and have a shoddy portfolio and still not get a job. Or just by being a unpleasant person to get along with can stop you from getting a job. That piece of information was surprising to me because I always thought, “as long as I do my work and don’t antagonize people I would be able to get a good job” I guess that I have to do more that just have a routine to follow for the rest of my life.

Moreover, the idea of time management still does not sit too well in the brains of some students, one of them being me. I have a hard time managing my time and every time I do try to manage my time I end up having something that I did not plan, to pop up. I am a perfectionist and abnormalities don’t exactly make me happy. In order to do good designs I have to have time to think of ideas and have time to expand on each one of them; Even if an abnormality comes up.

What makes our world keep changing? I think that the reason the world changes is because there were and still are many people that change their perspective in life. Whether it be just sitting in a different side of a class room or in another country. Whether it be looking up or looking down, the people who decided to change perspective thought of new ideas and those ideas changed the world. There are still changes being made even as we speak. Somewhere in a lab a scientist my be looking for the first time at the spotted ceiling in the laboratory and finally figure out how to cure autism! I recommend you try it. Do things differently than how you would usually do, you might just find it useful. I did.

One of the concepts were discussed in class was time. Time isn’t fixed and there fore it only consists of how you want to tell time. The measurement of time that we have now exists only because the whole world got together and decided that this will be the way we are going to tell time for trading purposes and other reasons. Time can be happening in a period. Time can expand and shorten. Time can even be a constant circle. Now knowing that time isn’t linear how do you think time should be seen?

What if time didn’t really exist? What if…..?

Concept (3/28/11)

Some of the biggest enemies that a designer can have is lazyness, tardiness, and procrastination. Being late on a project or even to work, or in my case a class, is something that can smudge your reputation. Be late often and it can ruin you. Your boss [or instructor] wants work from you, just as you want payment from your boss [or a grade from a professor]. So defeating these enemies helps prevent pay-cuts [or grade-dropping], which in my eyes, is a good thing.

What is a concept? That question was asked in my concept development class on Monday. For the first time, I stopped to think what that was. I grinded my gears trying to come up with an answer to that question, but even as smoke came out of my head, I could not come up with anything. Dictionary.com defines the word concept as: a general idea, an idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct, and an intuited object of thought. For some reason I had the notion that an idea is different that a concept. Why? I do not know. I guess for me a concept was part of an art [or any] project, and an idea something more general. We are used to using the word concept as we do projects and use the word idea in a more general use.