Now that we’re halfway through the semester, this second milestone post serves a check-in and is meant to encapsulate what I’ve learned so far in this class.

For one thing, we’ve completed two projects so far, both of them being very different from each other. Yet each project taught me a skill or two each, including designing, thinking (under pressure), software skills, and composing.

The Press Here project helped me refine my Adobe Suite skills, namely Photoshop and Illustrator. Although I didn’t learn any new techniques in Photoshop, I learned how to use filters and how to trace an image on Illustrator, as well as efficiently using the pen tool under a short amount of time.

The project also taught me how to design and compose a piece. I’ve done this before, but because the prompt of the project was very specific, I had to think both inside and outside the box, inside being that I make sure I follow the guidelines of the theme, but outside being that I make sure my piece was original and distinct from other pieces.

The color palettes I used to illustrate the water in my Press Here piece—I searched up many palettes for my piece, including the background, the hands, and the water which served as tactility.
During the project, I learned quicker ways to illustrate and layer my colors, as suggested by a fellow classmate. Going light to dark helps create depth and pinpoint where exactly you want to place your shadows as opposed to starting with a dark color first.

Since the duration of the Press Here project was a couple weeks long, I had the time to explore my process and fix mistakes wherever needed while mastering or practicing the skills I had then.

The second project, titled “System Map” was essentially how it sounded—illustrating a cohesive map that portrayed a system that was meaningful to us. It did not necessarily have to be a structured system, rather we were told to illustrate our understanding of the system. I chose my religion, Islam, because that’s what I know best about. I decided to create a map based on the 5 pillars of Islam. Though the 5 pillars themselves aren’t a complicated, interconnected system where one pillar is broken into branches, the pillars are in a fixed order and are the foundations of the religion.

Originally, I thought we were supposed to illustrate an entire map online and in detail, which I was worried about considering we only had 2 weeks to do so. Nonetheless, I researched different types of maps as well as Islamic art, such as architecture and geometrical designs. I also looked into calligraphy in the hopes that I could either design a phrase in Arabic or at least find a font that would do it for me, considering I wanted to incorporate Arabic writing into my map.

Aside from the project, the class itself teaches me to be organized. We have a folder dedicated to the course, and in that folder, I create a folder for each project and subfolders for the references.

During the planning process, we had a speed final where we were to design a map of our theme in one hour. Since I had done my research and reference hunting before class, I had a good idea of what I wanted to start out with. However, one hour is never enough for a cohesive design, so I tried my best to make sure I incorporated the requirements, like the key legend.

The color palette used for my speed final.

Although the speed final was for practice purposes, the time crunch and pressure taught me composition under a short amount of time. I didn’t have the luxury to think anything out, I simply had to do it. I chose to draw traditionally because it was quicker by hand and I was able to take elements from different references and put them in one. By the time the speed final was over, I created a simple but solid map that included my 5 pillars/components, a basic design, and a key legend with universally recognized icons.

The references I used for my speed final.

All in all, I think the best thing I’ve learned so far in this class were composition skills. The speed final helped me compose a piece quickly, completely from scratch with no visual representation or thinking beforehand. Though the Press Here project was more of a solid project with a final product, the System map assignment was a good way to test my thinking and designing skills, and the pressure of an hour-long deadline had my adrenaline going and taught me how to allocate my time properly. The sudden transition from a 2-week assignment to an hour-long assignment was nerve-wracking at first, but it gave me an opportunity to go out of my comfort zone, which is what I had wanted out of this class.