I have learned a lot over these years, especially in design class. Every semester for the past two years we have always taken design classes. In this blog, I want to focus on a recap of all we have learned in our design class. I think it is good to learn new things but also important to think back to everything you already know and hone those skills. The more you practice the better you get.
In my first year, first semester, we just focused on the book and learned step-by-step how to do one thing. For example, we would have a chapter on typography and so the assignment for it would be to make a type-based poster. While there were still other things we included in our poster, it was mainly if not fully graded on the typography and how effective it was. Some other projects we did were silhouettes and a zoo map. We also did things like create an isometric illustration, which is a house made in our software using actions to scale, rotate, and share shapes.
In my first year, the second semester, we started taking two design classes. These classes were Design Fundamentals II and Layout I. In design fundamentals, we made a T-shirt design, did a business rebrand, a business card and vehicle wrap, a trifold brochure, which was related to my business rebrand, and 2 ads both also related to the rebrand. This semester we finally started to get into full-out designs that were graded as a whole. I enjoyed this semester and learned a lot from it. In my first layout class, we did lots of spreads, magazines, and newspapers. But mainly just single pages. We also made a seven-ad campaign and an interactive portfolio of the work we have done so far.
In my second year, the first semester just last semester, we also had two design classes, Design Development and Layout II. These two classes were used to produce things for the magazine we are currently making now. In the design development class, we made two full-page ads and made a magazine nameplate that would become our magazine cover. We also made a package design and a product label. I especially like making the package design and the product label. My instructor said that we will eventually print them out and display them with our other things at the Portfolio Show this year.
Finally, in my second year and my fourth and final semester here I took my last two design classes, Layout III and Portfolio Design. I am in the process of taking them now, but these classes have also sort of been conjoined. In my layout class, we are mainly working on a 10-related piece project. Similar to the seven-ad campaign but in a brand and not just flyers or different sizes but things like merch, signs, identification pieces, etc. In the Portfolio Design class, we mainly work on portfolio things, like the name. This includes the portfolio campaign and personal logo for the Portfolio Show.
Overall we have learned and been taught a lot and this is just the design classes. There were also other things we learned like Photoshop, photography, and video making/editing. I love how Southeast Tech has its classes. You don’t necessarily focus on one specific thing, you get to learn lots of skills that will all help in almost any future career in this industry.