Day 19 12/2/09

Jimmy started the class later than usual so I got to learn about my neighbor a bit more than before. Jimmy then started talking about the course objective, what we were supposed to get out of it. Many of the things we covered but some were just lightly touched on. I thought this class as I experienced it from the beginning, was very interesting and different from what I've had before. A lot of the things I've learn I found very useful for future reference or a new way to approach a problem.

infuriating
infamous
superb

Day 18 11/30/09

The theme this time was about presentation and story telling. Each of us had to get up in front of the class and tell two facts and one lie about ourselves. The goal was to fool the class about the lie, to make it sound like a fact. Some people were not successful and a few people were great at tricking the class. I thought it was a great exercise because it made us aware of how we present ourselves. Little things like body language make an impact on the audience and I was able to catch some lies from judging the details from the person. After this exercise, we moved on to storytelling. Most people, including myself, did not tell very interesting stories. Some stories did not even have an ending and just ended. In this class session I learned many things in regards to presenting oneself. Little quirks such as placement of hands and swaying in place create a reaction from the audience. It would be helpful to practice presenting and recording it to see what minor flaws we each could change.

Morbid
Painstaking
infinite

Day 17 11/25/09

Jimmy gave us a break from class so we were not required to come. He had suggested a field trip to get our minds moving to help us with our final projects.

I took a trip down to San Diego driving for 3 hours because I took a longer route than necessary. As I drove I was thinking how could I explain my thought processes. I was planning to use cardboard and create 3-D objects but it would take too much time to make in the way I wanted to. As I continued driving, I decided to make my project on paper. When I reached San Diego, my theme had hit me; I knew how I would approach the project. The field trip to San Diego helped a lot.

amused
immense
splendid

Day 16 11/23/09

Jimmy told the class a story today and when he finished, he asked us what did we see. He then gave us time to draw what we saw from the story he told. I drew a boy with large claws because the previous night I was reading a book regarding human protectors and destroyers with large claws so it was on my mind. We then took our homework out and place our three sketches next to our creative briefs on the tables. Once again, Jimmy had us rate each others ''best'' one. He then gave us our final project and Wednesday off to go on a field trip.

Dynamic
I remember a teacher from my high school who always stressed these two words.
Concise
Convincing

Day 15 11/18/09

In this class Jimmy gave us some information on graphic design in the real world. He used an example in creating a club and would the club need. He went over things like logos, name of the club, target audience, competition, and other related aspects. He mainly covered creative briefs on how they work and how the help. He then showed us some examples of creative briefs, to give us a visual idea of how they look like. The homework he assigned for our three sketches was to make a creative brief for them. After this class, I found out more about the guidelines and other small details that clients give the designers.

inquisitive
magnificent
fresh

Day 14 11/16/09

We presented our 20 sketch ideas we did for the homework assignment. We also talked about the Kim Baer presentation. Jimmy asked each of us to say something that stood out to us from the presentation but we could not repeat what a previous person said. When we had to present our sketches, we had to select one of the twenty and explain about it. Then Jimmy had everyone rate it by a show of hands if we liked it, thought it was okay, or not good.

annoying
defiant
grumpy

Day 13 11/11/09

On this day it was Veteran's day so we did not have class.

I went to the Kim Baer presentation on Thursday. I thought that much of what she talked about was really informational and helpful. She mentioned she took on many projects she was not qualified to do but learned as she progressed. She said that execution is more important than perfection and also not knowing was not an excuse. I thought how it was amazing that she took up the projects which had things she was not familiar with and became good at it. It showed how going out of our comfort zone could help us learn many things we would not have learned otherwise.

Descriptive
Diligent
Adaptable

Day 12 11/9/09

In this class Jimmy started it up with a game where everyone had to sit in a circle. He then had two objects which were passed left and right from one person. As it went to the next person, a phrase had to be said, and the person receiving it had to reply with question variant of the same phrase. The previous person then had to reply to the one before them with the same question until it reached the original person who handed out the object. Then the original person confirms the question, and it goes back person to person until it reaches person who is receiving the object. This went on for about an hour because when both objects pass each other at the midpoint, people get confused and we have to start over again. I think one of the reasons why we did not succeed in getting the objects completely around was that most people focused on where the objects were going. By following an object, they may not be aware of the other object and thus causing them to be confused when both objects pass by. This exercise was to hone our focusing skills, which we did not do successfully.

Motionless
Successful
Deafening

Day 12 11/4/09

We talked about the highlights and low-lights of the class. Many people shared the same opinions as me, regarding apples and blogging. I thought the highlight of the class was how Jimmy shares his experiences with the class, giving us good information that could contribute to our decisions in the future. The only low-lights I feel about the class is the apple and blog, like most people. The other things in class are just there and must be fulfilled in my opinion. When Jimmy showed us the videos, the one that caught my attention the most was John Maeda's presentation. He was a funny guy that had a lot of inspirational things that he shared. I somewhat agree with how someone stated their are too many video clips presented at once. I think if Jimmy showed two presentational videos and then something more upbeat right after, then the class would not be as fatigued.

Absurd
Unique
Spectacular

Day 11 11/2/09

Jimmy covered some interesting topics in Monday's class. He talked some material relating to clients and information towards the graphic design careers. I thought it was good information to know, especially since the information came from someone who has been through the experience. People went through many experiences during their life can share it to those who haven't experienced it, giving advice so they can be informed of what to expect.

We shared our game sketches to the class, each person presenting their creations or ideas. Some people came up with many games while others focused on a single game. I saw quite a few ideas that deal with some sort of alcohol drinking. Some games were focused on kids and some were on an older audience. Overall, I thought that if the games went into production, a few might turn out really good. It was interesting how many different ways games could be created, some even combining physical elements with the traditional sit-down elements.

Compelling
Powerful
Repetitive

Day 10 10/28/09

We gave Jimmy our homework assignment mapping out one of the games we played. Most people made maps like I did but there were some others that took it in a different approach. Some people practically drew out the game like how the board actually is but incorporating the ideas used for the map. It was very different from what most people did.

Jimmy then showed us several clips of different things. Most of them were speakers that many people paid good money to attend their presentation. He showed us a video where there was a speaker talking bout Charles and Ray Eames. I thought that video clip was very informational because it showed how Charles and Ray constantly kept designing different ways to fix a solution, namely the chair designs. It showed that many ideas could be bad but eventually a good one will come up, as Jimmy mentioned earlier in the class.

intense
prolonging
hesitant

Day 9 10/26/09

We were told to bring games to class with the exception of video games. I brought the game Uno, which is a card game. Jimmy asked who wants to play what and I ended up with playing The Game of Life. During the game many interesting things happened, some players had bad luck and some had a few comebacks. We were asked to think about how the creators of the game planned out the concept and rules of their game. The Game of Life basically makes each player go through series of events relating to some generic things that happen in people's lives. Things such as getting a career, a house, getting married, even getting into a skiing accident are included in the events. My group played Uno after, followed by Snakes and Ladders, and lastly Scramble. The game that was the most compelling was The Game of Life due to the fact you tried to land on the best spaces, but as life goes on, many unexpected things happen.

Horrific
Passive
Skilled

Day 8 10/21/09

We watched an interesting short film called The Power of Ten. It was a very powerful movie to me because every time the camera zoomed in or out, it made me realized how insignificant we are. The universe is so vast and what makes up our body structure is also huge in it's own way. I liked the second short film in the part it animated how man created technology as time passed. The humor and information fit well together, keeping my attention to see what would happen next. When we went over the homework, other people's ideas were either straightforward or just confusing. However, I thought it was a good assignment, much easier than the previous two but still challenging.

insightful
understanding
astonishing

Day 7 10/19/09

Jimmy divided us into two groups to present the ten pictures and single word or phrase to our respective group. My group had a lot of different examples; some of them were working but the majority of the examples did not make sense or catch the group's attention. After sharing our homework, we were put in groups again and had to make a story from scratch using objects from our backpacks and pockets. It was very difficult to make a story up because some of the objects were things like cell phones and keys. After 15 minutes of preparation time each group presented their stories. As with our group, many groups had difficulty with creating their story using what objects they were allowed. However, I think it was a great exercise to stimulate the brain. By reviewing the concept of a story, it made me realize that during the exercise, I did not apply most, if not all of the concepts relating to a good story. I learned I have to always be aware to expand my thoughts even when it seems impossible.

Colossal
Outrageous
Wasteful

Day 6 10/14/09

We brought our picture and compared words. Some people had some good phrases and words and some others did not have any powerful ones.

We watched a video with Sir Ken Robinson doing a presentation at UCLA. He commented how watches are regarded useless to the younger generation. He mentioned how people take it for granted, cell phones and laptops can tell the time and do more additional things. He also said how college degrees would get more common as the years pass by and it won't be much of a "wow" factor as it was years before. He made remarks on how kids compete for kindergarten.
I thought his speech was interesting and his views were different. He gave a good perspective on things that you don't really think too hard about.

Astounding
Boldly
Erratic

Day 5 10/12/09

In class we were supposed to bring 10 photos to class but I forgot to buy magazines so I had no pictures. At first I thought we were going to do a collage but Jimmy told us to pair up into groups and select one picture. Then we had to come up with words or phrases to bring a different meaning to the picture. I believe most people thought of opposite descriptions because of the example he gave us. However, after presenting the first time, most people understood what he was looking for. In the second attempt for the groups, many people came up with some good words and phrases regarding the picture their group chose. I thought the whole exercise was very informational and educational. By going through this exercise, we vastly improved our ways of thinking, to catch other peoples' attention with the usage of words and phrases. Our assignment for home was to do the same exercise but alone without the ideas of a group.

vast
numerous
hilarious

Day 4 10/7/09

In class we watched the movie Dreams by Akira Kurosawa. It showed many short clips of different ''Dreams'' and each had it's own unique theme to it. The names of each clip are as follows: The Sunshine Wedding, The Peach Orchard, The Blizzard, The Tunnel, Crows, Mount Fuji in Red, Weeping Demon, and Village in Watermills. The meaning behind the first dream was cloudy for me. I think it was trying to say that certain customs must be followed and if you break the custom, you have to take responsibility for it. The Peach Orchard's message, in the way I interpreted it, says how people destroy things without regarding the importance of them, affecting the people around them. The Blizzard showed four men traversing through a snowstorm heading to their camp. As it seemed hopeless to reach their intended location, one by one they gave up and awaited their death. The last man tried encouraging them to keep going, to no avail. As he also gave into hopelessness, a snow lady tried to push him to give up even more. However his strong spirit brought him back to his senses. The message I saw was no matter how hopeless something seems, if you keep pushing on and not giving in, the goal may just be right in front of you.

The Tunnel gave a message how war, no matter what reason it's used for, hurts everyone. Not just the soldiers that die on the battlefront, but includes the commander, families, even fellow soldiers. Crows showed an artist traversing through Van Gogh's paintings. Although I didn't understand the message it portrayed, I liked how the fact when the artist was walking through the painting settings that some objects were in front of him as he passed by. That detail makes the illusion that he really is in the painting and not just infront of it. Mount Fuji in Red showed explosions around Mount Fuji and chaos was among the people nearby. It looked like an extremely powerful eruption but later we find out it was caused by nuclear plants around it. It depicted how man created artifical power and went too far. The loss of control had a castastrophic effect causing the residents of the area to have a prolonged, slow death of radiation poisoning.

The Weeping Demon showed how nuclear radiation caused mutations of the environment, some examples being the gigantic flowers and mutated humans. The humans were "demons" that fed on each other. It was a message to take care of our world, to start preventing environmental polution because it will destroy life. Village of the Watermills showed how people decided to help the environment by using nature to ''power'' their lives. It also showed how by following the ways of nature, it prolonged lifespans. Death was treated as a good end rather than a bad end.
Overall I thought this film had a lot of messages to spread to its viewers, even though some of the messages were a bit murky for my understanding.

catastrophic
extremely
incessant -continuing without interruption; ceaseless; unending: an incessant noise.

Day 3 10/05/09

We were asked to stand up and sit in order of birthday month from right to left. It was an interesting exercise as almost everyone sat in the correct places according to the people around them. Jimmy talked about mind-mapping and idea-mapping, which basically means the same thing. He described the way of brainstorming as putting ideas out and to not evaluate them. He also mentioned how it is a beginning process, not to do any research beforehand. "The easiest path for a fresh idea is through an open mind." He talked about risk taking and experimenting. I agree with that because if one does not risk take and just stay in their bubble of safety, they will never experience new things. Jimmy showed us different types of mind maps, some illustrated to a detailed extent and some less detailed. The exercise he gave us to brainstorm an idea was a bit difficult but interesting as well. It made me think about all the things I could put in regards to my idea, coming from different approaches and what was I missing. It was also good that we had a chance to see everyone's approach to the exercise, to see the different ideas they used to complete this challenge.

Vast
Persistent
Creative

Art 220 Day 2 9/30/09

On the second day of class Jimmy talked about networking, going out to meet people for opportunities for the future. I think networking plays a strong part in one's success, the more people you know, the more job opportunities you can get. Also as more people get to know you, as Jimmy said, there would be a chance they would contact you if they know you have the ability to help them. The concept of time was also talked about in class, about how it is made up and made real to something that does not have a defined or regular occurrence. Time helps keep people organized by having an approximate period in which they can relate to each other. For example, someone in New York could give a specific point in time such as 5:00 PM EST to someone in California to call them. The person in California would know that he or she must call at 2:00 PM PST because of the concept of time zones.

Jimmy also mentioned about networking computers relating to networking people. He talked about how color influences emotions and hunger. He gave a few examples on the colors red and yellow being used for places to eat. I thought about it and it is pretty true. The talk on painting walls made me realize that the designers for the buildings took that in mind for what kind of purpose the building was for.

He showed the class some pictures and proved that some images mixed with particular ones could make a huge impact on viewers that understood the meanings of the images used to create the one they were seeing. An example of this was the Obama and Joker combination. The image has the most impact on the generation of people ranging from teens to probably low 30's. Most of this age group has seen the latest Batman movie and know how Obama is operating. It makes it easy to understand the general concept of the combined images.

-EAuyeung

Adjectives:
Befitting
Unique
Tasteful
Decisive
Vigorous
Immense

Art 220 9/29/09

Monday
First day of class

This class was different than what I thought. The teacher was very interesting and different from most of the teachers I've had. He made the class lively and fun to be in. A lot of the ideas people had on the note cards were very interesting also. It made me think about another way of thinking about how to interpret the questions the teacher asked us. The apple project was also new to me. It made me think about how to render the apple in different ways. Many ideas popped up and I hope to try them out as the days go by. Having the two minutes to observe and interact with the apple was challenging due to the fact there is not a lot to say about the apple. However, once we started describing the apples to each other, it opened up new ways to describe the apple. This happened because we learned what the other person paid attention to.
-EAuyeung