Find at least two videos of portfolios that you learned some new ideas from.

I really love the movement– it’s like his artwork is coming together as a whole throughout the video. I also like his bold choice of colors and his vector type of style.

He includes a variety of his best work. He does logos, web design, package design, photo manipulations, etc. showing his versatility as a graphic designer.

He is using YouTube to his advantage and spreading word about his graphic design work. Pretty cool!

On a side note, LOOK AT THIS COOL WEBSITE, it’s like interactive YouTube. Really impressive.

See! Computer Arts Magazine! They have really good tutorials and very urban / contemporary artwork.

Then there’s CMYK Magazine… I’ve never seen it before, I can’t believe it exists and I didn’t know!

I like their use of color. I can almost mistaken Computer Arts and CMYK as one site! But the difference is, I like how CMYK has a collection of blogs, portfolios, and active graphic designers. It’s just so cool to see the personality of the designer through their written thoughts.

Now actually having read this next one, Layers Magazine, I really like it! They have so many tutorials to help beginners and even advanced users of Adobe. I always like tutorials, because it’s a step by step way of learning. And since we’re visual, it helps to see it more than just hearing the how-to.

Hopefully some of this was to your interest, and you subscribe? :p

Here are two sites that I found helpful to me:
ColourLovers.com — A site full of people who love patterns and backgrounds. They’re not all exactly there for the purpose of a website background, but you can always manipulate it to your liking in Photoshop.

kuler.adobe.com — This site always helps me think of new color schemes for potential layouts. I have used this site to help me in other class projects, such as designing flyers, posters, etc. so don’t stop at Dreamweaver!

Hopefully those sites helped help you out a little bit.

Serdar Bilginer, www.owlscout.com — I’ve noticed that I always find inspiration in those a little bit older than me and not from the US! I like what people find aesthetically pleasing around the world; it’s the internet and a good way to connect is by art He (I think) is from Turkey!

Marc Brunet – bluefley.cgsociety.org — From Canada, and has great character/concept art. It’s a different style/type of art talent from the other designers I chose. He is more towards animation but still a graphic designer in a sense that he uses Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. for tweaking his artwork.

I know their art won’t appeal to everyone’s tastes, but you’ve got to give them credit for having amazing talent in what they do.

Simone Legno — This Italian guy started as a personal graphic designer, just displaying his Japanese inspired vector characters.  He made wallpapers, desktop icons, until he started making stickers, posters… Bigger companies recognized his work and paid him for a collaboration.  His work has appeared on major brands such as LeSportSac, Smashbox cosmetics, Onitsuka shoes, Hello Kitty (Sanrio), etc.  I love his style of Japanese style characters;  they are SO cute.  I buy his purses, wallets, makeup, stickers, bracelets, etc.

Alex Foerster — AWESOME 3D DESIGN in his graphics.  Great typography usage, and the design is just so unique.  The color choices are urban and cater to a young audience, almost a grafitti and street feel.

Andy Barnes — A British graphic designer who is proficient in his scripting and has great design in his graphics.  He has a variety of styles in his layouts so he can cater to a wide clientele.

Chris Labno — A graphic designer from Poland!  It’s always interesting to know that even if you’re countries apart, the internet can be used to show your works of art.  I love his clean, minimalistic style, and color choices that he uses.  His sites look professional and memorable.  I also love his logo designs.

Overall I think I chose very strong designers whose art style are within what I would do.  I like their unique color schemes, typography choices, graphic intense layouts, and unique personalities show through their work.

What is Web 2.0 and what is important about it to your design career?

To me, Web 2.0 is about using the internet to collborate with others by sharing and mixing information and resources.  ie – Blogs, blogrings, RSS feeders, Wikipedia, etc.  “Web 1.0″ was mostly using the website for publishing content and selling things (brand .)

Here are two pages that helped me define what Web 2.0 was:

• Definitions by Google
• ZDnet Blog article

I know that by sharing my work, my thoughts on certain issues at hand, and posting up interesting information could help my exposure as an artist.  It could also help inspire others and even make me a mentor to those just starting.

It was pretty cool Mr. Batchelder taught all of us how to use an RSS feeder. Since lots of students said that the internet is a source of useful information and a way to stay in touch with other artists, a feeder will help us manage our “live bookmarks” and have the content come directly to us.

Okay, so Mr. B told us to share really geeky resources that we added to our RSS feeder:

• LifeHacker — basically tells you some tips and tricks when it comes to computer programs, browsers, email, etc.
• Gizmodo is kind of like LifeHacker except informs you about crazy new gadgets that you may not ever even heard of if not for this site.  I remember seeing an ice cube tray shaped like dentures to freak people out.
• Instructables — it shows you how to do random things that are pretty neat, like how to make pumpkin pies from scratch to making your own book shelf out of duct tape.

Anyway, to be honest, I was interested in graphic design when I first saw professional websites.  I dabbled here and there in Adobe and Corel programs and started from there.  So yeah, I always thought web design was fairly linked close to graphic design and expected a scripting course in the graphic design field.

I knew we were going to use Adobe Dreamweaver, and am excited to incorporate more Adobe products together.  I actually thought we were going to be scripting things by hand/scratch, good to know we’re not going to, and focus on the program instead.  Besides, we’re designers, not computer science majors.

A lot of people who are NOT in graphic design (or at the Art Institute at all) always confuse a graphic designer with a web designer. For example…

Person:  ”What are you majoring in?” 
Me:  ”Graphic Design / Bachelors in Fine Arts.”
Person:  ”Oh so you make websites and stuff? “
Me:  ”Sort of…. it’s a very broad profession…?”
Person: “Oh so you make logos and business cards!”
Me: “Not exactly…”

So like 5 hours later, we’re back to square one and they think I make websites…  

Yeah, so I think it’s pretty simple to say that web design will be important in graphic design because pretty websites are needed.  Need that logo and all to look good and advertise correctly…

Yup yup, so I hope I answered the question for class..

PS - nǐ hǎo ma means “how are you?” in Mandarin Chinese.  
Ummm… I’m only like 1/4 Chinese.