lunes, 28 de noviembre de 2011

Visiting UWA'S 3D Open Art Challenge

Hey there! for the last assigment of the course I had to visit an installation from The University of Western Australia's Open Art Challenge that is taking place in Second Life. It is a competition were people can create their own worlds and put any kind of amazing stuff in it.

I searched by the name of the challenge and found a lot of places, I wasn't really sure which one to pick or If I was going to the right place but I ultimately chose this place.


For what I saw it is kind of a replica of the city of Toronto in Canada, I thought the architecture was extremely cool. Here are some pictures of my visit




I even found a really cool pair of jeans in an amazing freebie store


Oh and I almost got hit by the subway...good times.


My favorite part was definately the subway station, It was so realistic I couldn't believe it. It moved!


Sadly I couldn't find any other avatar to talk to, I had the city all for myself.

I really like how you can take your imagination to other levels with this platform, it is a whole new way to show your work.

Don't be afraid to visit!

Andrea.



Chinita's Fair Campaign

Hello folks! it is that time of the year again when all of the people from Maracaibo celebrate the Fair of their patron, "Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá". It is celebrated on November 18th, and it is probably the most important celebration held in the city.

For this final project our group had to design a campaign for the Chinita's Fair, the resultant products will take part in the very first exhibit about the fair in the Urbe EFL center located in Second Life.

Our group decided to create four products to get the message of the campaign across. First we designed a logo, which was created based on the ever glowing sun of Maracaibo, after all the city is known in Venezuela as the "Land loved by the Sun".


Secondly I personally created a slogan to go with the campaign "Feel the warmth of our people", I believe it is important to point out the qualities of the people from Maracaibo, we're very friendly and welcoming. This slogan served as the graphic concept for the whole campaign.

Then we proceeded to design a poster for the campaign, we took inspiration from both the logo and the slogan. We used a picture of a little girl from Maracaibo celebrating the fair in front of "Our Lady of Chiquinquira's Basilica".



Finally we designed some P.O.P material (P.O.P means Point of Purchase) using the logo.
For the final part of this assignment we had to exhibit the project in Second Life, we created a little stand to show all the products. Here's a picture of my avatar visiting our virtual stand.


I think this experience was very interesting for all of us in the group, it is interesting to see how the virtual worlds can help us to amplify our graphic design skill, plus we get to share our creations with people from all over the world which is always good.

Here's a little mindmap that can help you understand the process of creating our campaign


Cool huh? I also wrote a little report note about our campaign and it's owners, you can get it as an object in second life by clicking the poster from our stand.

I really hope you enjoy our first virtual exhibit, remember to always give some feedback.
Lots of love,

Andrea.

martes, 15 de noviembre de 2011

Job Interview time!

For this assigment I had to watch a video about the always dreaded job interview:
http://www.videojug.com/interview/the-job-interview

There are a few things I learned from it:

You need to have in mind that every job interview is completely different, you never know what kind of interview you're gonna get so you have to be prepared for any situation. It could be an informal interview in a coffee shop or an extremely sophisticated one in the office of a tall business building, so be prepared!

It is important to give an excellent first impression, so make shure that you have a firm hand shake, make eye contact and have a great smile on your face. Also you have to know what to wear, always keep it professional and sophisticated, this will help you to get a great outfit together. Never over do make-up and jewerly, you don't want to come off as flashy or trashy! The key is to dress for the position you want in long term.

If you by any chance don't get called back after de interview, call them yourself, you want to keep your name and resume in the employer's mind without coming off as inssistent or annoying. After all they are making a decission and you'll have competition, you have to make decissions all the time in your career, don't be shy!

For the second part of this assignment I had to create a hypothetical questionnaire based on the job I looked up, my resume and cover letter.

1. How do you manage to make deadlines and develop work in short notice?
The key element to make deadlines in a short notice is your determination, when you want to get things done you just have to care about them and thrive for quality results.

2.How much experience do you currently have?
I recently graduated as a bachelor in graphic design from urbe university. I haven't been employed in any company but I have done some freelance work in the last year.

3.What branch of graphic design are you most interested in?
I'm most interested in editorial design, which consists of designing magazines, brochures, manuals, and so on.

4.What are you looking forward in working with our company?
I'm enthusiastic about exploring opportunities that will help me to grow as a graphic designer.

5.What are your greater strenghts?
The abbility to think visually and developing projects in a creative and effective way.

6.What is your greatest weakness?
I ususally fall in love with the first good idea that comes up, I need to evaluate different options and extract the best of each one to create a better solution.

7.How do you feel about team work?
I feel it is a very effective way to develop a project. When various people get to express their insight or point of view on a project it is a lot easier to come up with a creative solution for a problem.

8.Why do you think you are the appropiate person for this job?
Because I can provide a lot of fresh and innovative ideas that will help the vision you want to approach as a company.

9.How do you feel about work ethic?
I think it is a very important element when sharing with a group of co workers, you have to be able to respect everyone's opinion and point of view.

10.How well do you take criticism?
I believe it is important to take criticism in a constructive way, it is an opportunity to evaluate your design and put it into perspective.

Resume and Cover Letter

When you're starting off in a field, any field, it is indispensable to have a well written resume. For this assigment we had to make our first resume as nearly graduates, so here it is:




Andrea Finol  Maracaibo, Venezuela
                                              (0424) 601 42 95



Objective: To obtain a position with a forward thinking, fresh and innovative company where I can make a better use of my skills and grow as a graphic designer in the field. To have the opportunity of solving problems in a creative way and developing team work.

Education:
Bachelor in Graphic Design      2009 – present
URBE, Maracaibo, Zulia.

Relevant Skills:
·         Responsibility and the ability to make deadlines as well as developing work in short notice.
·         The skill of communicating and interacting with a team when developing a project.
·         Visual thinking and the ability to collaborate when creating a concept.
·         Knowledge of the fundamental aspects of design such as composition, typography and color schemes.
·         Softwares: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand MX, Adobe Flash, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe In design and Microsoft Office.

Job Experience: None

Academic Experience:
·         Design of corporate identities, including logos, identity manuals, stationery design and signage manuals.
·         Editorial design such as brochures, posters, books and magazines.
·         Package design
·         Web site designs as well as creative multimedia presentations.





Next we had to write a cover letter for our dream job, I gave it a try and this is what I came up with:

Andrea Finol
Urb. La Picola 43A Street #15M-44

November 02, 2011.

Quad City Times, Boston, MA, USA.

Dear design team at the Quad City times:

I’m submitting this cover letter for consideration of the junior graphic designer position, which appeared in the jobview search page on the month of October 2011. My education at the graphic design school has given me the experience in all facts concerning editorial, print and web design.

You can see in my resumé that I’ve gained benefits from working with groups of people from different projects such as exceptional interpersonal communication skills when working as a team, strong attention to detail and work ethic.

I’m enthusiastic about exploring opportunities with your company and look forward to meeting you. I will contact you within the next few days to answer any questions and schedule an interview at your convenience.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Andrea Finol.

 So there you go, these are two of the most important tools when trying to get a job, get on it as soon as you can. 

miércoles, 2 de noviembre de 2011

TOEFL Excersises

Hi! the other day I did some excersises to practice for the TOEFL test. Honestly I didn't find it that hard, I even had fun. I know the real thing will be a lot harder so I have to prepare anyways.
Here's my grade for the Vocabulary Test, not bad huh?

There's always time for a little fun

Hey so I played this game the other day, it was about prefixes and suffixes. I really had a lot of fun, and guess what?! I learned a new word

martes, 25 de octubre de 2011

Finding a Job On-line

For this assigment I had to look for two jobs online, specifically in the area of my career. I looked for an entry level job as a graphic designer, because I haven't graduated yet. I tried to find the jobs according to my qualifications and skills. They can help me developing my working experience so I can apply for senior graphic designer jobs  in the future.

The Salem Group
The first job I found was on The Salem Group, they're looking for an entry level graphic designer to do online advertisement and print material. This job would be great for me because I can definitely use the Adobe creative suite and I'm great for team work.



Quad-City Times

This was the second job I found, The Quad-City Times is looking for a talented graphic designer to work in an evening shift. I think it's great for me, because I'm able to work in a fast paced enviorement, I'm responsible and able to work with a deadline. Also designing advertisiment for web and print is my forté, along with editorial design. I love that they give you and opportunity to grow in the company, that's all I need to start my career as a graphic designer. It is kind of a dream job for me because of the developing opportunities it provides.

I would love to grow in this field because I absolutely adore my career, one succesful graphic designer I look up to is Milton Glaser  is a graphic designer, best known for the I love New York logo, his Bob Dylan poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by  from 1977 to 2005, and the Brooklyn Brewery logo.He also founded New York Mgazine with Clay Felker in 1968.
I really admire the way he uses simple and striking design, he just goes straight to solving the problem. Probably the piece I admire the most is the "I love New York" logo because it uses a pictogram (the red heart) to substitute the word "love". It is known to be the most copied logo in the world.
 

I love New York Logo


My ideal career is one like Milton's, long and filled with great memories.



 




After reading the article about the 10 tips for getting an Online job I definately agree with all of it. I think these days it is important to take advantage of the internet and social networking, to use them in a productive way to start your career or maybe solidify it. I will absolutely use it when I graduate and start looking for a job.