Field Guide

Working on the field guide really helped me further hone my organization skills. As with the concept map, we were to take large amounts of information and organize it in a clear and relevant fashion. The user must also be able to use the guide in the field, which is why it's small and portable. Because gathering content was so important with this project, I chose a field I thought people would be interested in and find useful; local beer. The guide takes the form of a pamphlet that users could take with them to the liquor store, gas station, or Central Market in search of local brews. I enjoyed designing the layout and typography as well as doing the research. I'm happy with the end product, although if given more time and money I'd expand the guide to encompass all the breweries in Austin.

Concept Map

Researching global climate change for the concept map project was very interesting. I had a basic knowledge of global climate change in the last century, but I really wanted to focus on human activity and the potential future of our planet. Organizing so much information and making relevant connections between separate entities was a challenge, but I enjoyed it. This project was also interesting because we needed to design type treatments and graphic elements with a large format in mind.

Website Portfolio Design

http://myweb.stedwards.edu/amandel/homepage.htm

The design of my personal website portfolio was exciting to work on. I have had ideas about what I wanted it to represent for a while, so actually building it was great albeit intimidating. I wanted a clear, intuitive site that would best showcase my work. Having never designed a website before, the development and coding was new to me. Learning code and grasping the inner workings of web design was the toughest challenge. I'm happy with the visual design of the site, although I would like to develop it further and gain a better understanding of code, plug-ins, and creating web navigation in general.

Locating Place: East Austin Book

Continuing with the locating place project, this handmade book allowed me to further explore the East Austin neighborhood. I proceeded forward with the same theme as my motion piece, celebrating East Austin. I also wanted the cut-n-paste aspect of the motion piece to be carried on throughout the book, however with some refinement. I loved designing the layout and collage pieces for this book, and I also had fun learning how to bind books. This project stressed the importance of craft, editing, and making multiple drafts/prototypes.

Locating Place: East Austin Motion

The locating place project was one of the most interesting so far. Collecting images from the East Austin neighborhood really helped me immerse myself in the content which helped me gain a clear perspective on what I wanted to share. For this piece I chose to compose a motion piece that would celebrate the vibrance and culture of East Austin. The neighborhood is lively, colorful, and ethnically diverse. This is what I wanted to convey with an upbeat, jovial tone that would make the viewer feel the same. All choices I made from music to motion to collaging was to reinforce the celebratory theme.