Final Project: Pencil Plus

Final Project

Graphic Design

During the Graphic Design portion of the project was when we came up with what our product actually was.  It took a lot of thought and going back to the drawing board, but we eventually came up with an amazing product and great Graphic Design to go with it.  I was the one who came up with the product, then I also created the banner for the website which included our group's company name; Office Plus, the logo; to the right, our slogan; Write like a pro, then our word marked logo.  What I would change is the layout because it almost seems as if they all were just put onto the art board.  I would keep the color scheme I used however because the contrast of the blues and yellows look great together.  I will take so much from this project like how to present an idea to a client, how to work in a group with different Meyers-Briggs personality types, and just go into more depth about how to use tools for every aspect of eCommunication.

 

Video

The Video section of our project required a lot of imagination and ad-lib.  It took us a while to come up with a solid commercial, but I believe it turned out amazing.  I was the "Pencil Fairy" during the commercial who gave the student (Mallory) the Pencil Plus to solve her spelling problems.  My video also was the one we ended up using for our website.  These characters fit Mallory and I very well because she is not the greatest at spelling and I am a very enthusiastic person so playing a fairy was not a problem for me.  If I were to change anything I would've made my music/sound transitions smoother because they were a little bit choppy. What I would do the same is keep our actors/actresses and have Brady direct too because he did an amazing job of getting the shots exactly where they needed to be in order for them to look right.  Overall however, I think our commercial fit who we were as a group and it turned out to be spectacular.  This widened our horizons about how to be creative while coming up with an amazing, unique commercial.

Animation

The Animation part of our final project was the last thing we did.  At first we were a little confused on some things, but once we got together as a group and talked about it we figured it out.  We did animation during the 1st quarter so it was a little bit hard to remember some of the tools we had to use and we had to get used to the equipment and Sketchup which was semi-hard at first but once we figured it out, we dove right in head first.  For the animation I was the one who created the 3D text that was inputed into the whole animation.  It may not seem like it's that hard, but for our specific 3D text I put our work mark and our logo into it so I created the words, then the +, then finally I created a 3D pencil.  This was the most complicated part because you had to get the proportions and spacing and rotation for it and the words.  If I could change anything for the animation I would've placed the 3D text  in separate places and probably on the wall so it didn't look so random.  I would keep our product placement and our setting because it fit our product and the idea for it very well.  During this part of our project, we learned how everyone has a different talent and when you use everyone's different talents together, it can turn into something amazing.

Pencil Plus Commercial

The Pencil Plus

Our product is called the Pencil Plus. It is a pencil that can do three different things to help you  right like a pro. You can speak into it to figure out how to spell a word, it will detect if one or more words are incorrectly spelled, and also it can  correct any miss spelled words.  The target audience for commercial, was for any student who is struggling with spelling.  Just one she thinks there's no way for her to ever get a good grade on an essay, the "spelling fairy" helps her by showing her that there is a way and that way is the Pencil Plus. I believe our product could truly help many students in the future and our commercial has a different perspective on the plain commercial by adding a relatable story with some humor snuck in as well.  We hope to help students and any writer anywhere; Write like a pro with the Pencil Plus.

Photoshop Projects

Project 1:
A few techniques I used during this project were how to use the opacity and hue to make a picture appear lighter.  Another focus was on layering pictures and backgrounds so it's easier to move one without moving the other.  What was challenging was figuring out how to fit the lettering so that it look how I wanted it to and so it didn't look non proportional on all sides.

Project 2:

Some main tools that I learned how to use are the clone stamp and the magic wand.  These helped me select the exact part of the butterfly that I wanted to then fill it with the color I desired.  The clone stamp helped me create the effect of the butterfly actually flying.  Some things I had trouble on were getting the edges of the butterfly right so that they weren't too small or too large.  

Project 3:

During this project we learned how to create gradients and using the mask tool.  We used the mask tool to put the NORTHWEST on top of the school layer then gave it a gradient with our school's colors.  Problems I had were, again, getting the type the size and shape I wanted.

Project 4: 

In this project we learned how to use the magnetic lasso tool, went into more depth with the mask tool and how to create a fading effect on pictures.  With the mask tool we could paint with black on a white canvas which gave the pictures a softer, rounder look and helped it look like the pictures faded into the sky.  Another thing we learned how to do was delete things then replace them with whatever the things around them looked like and make it look real.

My Logo

Logo

This logo represents me and who I am which is a gymnast.  The sideways stands for the first letter of my first name;Sydney.  Then the W is the first letter of my last name; Weeks.  This is supposed to look like a gymnast doing a jump; the S being her legs and the W being her legs.  I used her head (the circle) to represent control which is needed in gymnastics and also to represent a medal; striving for perfection which is another thing a circle can be.  The colors I chose are the colors of the gym I go to; Pinnacle Gymnastics. The reason I chose the font I did was because it looked modern and the S wasn't too curved so that it didn't look like her legs were broken and so her hands didn't have serifs on them.

Color Wheel

Color Wheel

Some things I learned about color during these projects are all of the colors, their names, and what type of color they are.  I learned the three different types of colors; primary(red, yellow, and blue), secondary (orange, green, and purple), and tertiary (yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green). I also learned some of the tools in Illustrator like how to change the color of things, how to create shapes and perfect shapes.  Some other tools I learned were how to make my art board larger or smaller and how to type words with different typefaces and colors.  

Interview

This quarter I’ve learned many, many things. From shortcut tools to actually acting and directing there are many new tips and tools I’ve been taught.  Some of these tools include command i/o/j/k/l/b, which mean in, out, rewind, stop, fast-forward, and the blade tool (cutting).  With these I can decide where I want to start the clips I put in my videos and where they stop, then I can cut them if I need to.  I also learned some things that are helpful to use while videoing, such as to never touch the camera while videoing, just press record and walk away.  Some other things I learned are to never do a wide shot then an extra wide shot or close-up then I medium because you will end up with a jump cut. Also, make sure your actor(s) always bring the same clothes they wore when you were videoing the first time if you have to video multiple days.  Finally, make sure you manage and keep track of your time and check your work in the camera to make sure it’s still there once you’re done. 

Web Design-Hello, World!

I personally liked this project because it gave me a snip of what it's going to be like next quarter and what kind of stuff we're going to be doing. However, it was complicated sometimes just because you had to go with your guts which could sometimes be hard.  I think the specific parts that were hard were the parts where you had to look for new tools like the point to file tool, and the new CSS file tool.  It was kind of hard for me to find those first but once I did it was a lot easier.  I thought it was very fun and good to get a break from the hard work we had to do this quarter.  I am now excited to do more Web Design next quarter!