Author Archives: William Luperena

End Semester Reflection Sp18

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• Now that your college career is over what are some goals that you plan to work toward this summer?
I definitely want to refine my portfolio and work on improving my social media presence for my work. In the process I will be looking to land a career job or possibly start freelancing for big projects.
• Looking back at your time at FC,

What is one of the best experiences you had working here?

I don’t know if I could choose 1, so I’ll choose 2. The first being when Professor Jordan, Mandy, and Arianna pushed me to go speak with the coordinator of BTTIP to see if there were any positions I could apply to after not making it through the first round of applicants. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have ended up working at my other internship and gaining so much invaluable experience. The second would be being able to initiate animated pieces and challenging myself to learn a new program. Something that I will continue to improve on.

What is one thing that could have been done to improve your experience working here?

One thing I believe could be done that would improve the experience working at FC would be to do more activities/workshops similar to the Strand Meet & Greet and  Winter Workshop day. I believe these will benefit the designers greatly and in turn benefit the work they put out for their clients.

• For those graduating, what words of encouragement or advice would you give to the upcoming designers at Faculty Commons?
Challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone when it comes to executing your ideas. I wouldn’t have thought I’d be using After Effects to create animated web banners and presentations, but I did and with the help and support of my team. Faculty Commons is meant to be a team that helps each other succeed. And if you happen to be the person who’s more knowledgeable on a subject whether it be keyboard shortcuts, file compression, program tools, etc. lend a helping hand to your team mate.

End of the Semester Reflections

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Hi Team,

Below are the questions we would like you to reflect on and answer. Also when publishing your post please remember to add the following categories to your post, End of the Semester Reflections, Spring 2018 and your name.

• Now that your (semester/college career) is over what are some goals that you plan to work toward this summer?
• Looking back at (this past semester/your time) at FC,
  1. What is one of the best experiences you had working here?
  2. What is one thing that could have been done to improve your experience working here?
• For those graduating, what words of encouragement or advice would you give to the upcoming designers at Faculty Commons?

Spring 2018 Mid Semester Questions

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Have you come across any challenging projects this semester, whether it was a class project or a project with FC? How did you accomplish the project?
The most challenging project I’ve had to face (and am currently facing) is my senior project. So far I have been able to make strides at achieving small goals towards my project, however, I still have a long way to go. How I plan to continue to make progress in my project is to explore all options while simultaneously being critically selective of my choices—easier said than done. I also will continue to seek the advice and guidance of my fellow designers for second opinions for when my attachment to the project has blind sided my ability to be objective towards my goal.
What project(s) did you enjoy working on thus far during this semester?
I don’t think I can narrow it down to a single project, however, the work I’ve enjoyed doing has been for OER (Open Educational Resources). I’ve covered a wide range of projects for them including both printed and digital materials, and even some with animation. I’ve also got to experience what it is like to license my work using creative commons. As we are preparing for the gallery display in the library at the end of April, I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.
How have the projects you have worked on in FC aligned with your professional career goals?
I would have to say that working in FC has given me to ability to challenge myself in exploring new ways of executing my ideas. For example, creating animations for some of the projects I have worked on has broaden my perspective of the possibilities of what I can do with design. This experience of being able to challenge myself in discovering other creative outlets allows me to become a multifaceted designer and as I develop into a professional designer, I want to be able to have a versatile set of skills in my repertoire.

Spring 2018 Mid Semester Questions

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Hi Team,

Below are the questions we would like you to reflect on and answer. Also when publishing your post please remember to add the following categories to your post, Mid Semester Reflection, Spring 2018 and your name.

• Have you come across any challenging projects this semester, whether it was a class project or a project with FC? How did you accomplish the project?
• What project(s) did you enjoy working on thus far during this semester?
 
• How have the projects you have worked on in FC aligned with your professional career goals?

Winter 2018 Reflections

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What is one technique or skill you learned today that you can apply to the thought process or execution of your design work?

Being that I mostly use illustrator and InDesign I found myself learning a ton of new techniques that could be helpful for when taking on photo editing and retouching projects. The technique I was really impressed by was learning how to use the patch tool.

What source(s) are you receiving inspiration from for your design work? (Websites, People, Blogs, Podcasts, etc.)

Most of the inspiration I get comes from pinterest, following artists, creative groups, and agencies on Instagram (@bosslogic, @dirtyrobot, @gfx.mob to name a few), and a specialized music playlist I listen to when designing.

What is one thing you want to do to challenge your capabilities in design or communication this semester?

I’d like to become more familiar with animation and motion graphics beyond Photoshop. I believe it has potential for multiple applications and can serve as a useful creative outlet.

Mid Semester Reflection

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• Have you come across any challenging projects this semester, whether it was a class project or a project with FC? How did you accomplish the project?
The most challenging project I have come across this semester has been for my Interactive Art Direction class. For our first project we were tasked with making an interactive web ad. With very little knowledge of UX/UI and the freedom to create an ad for any client I wished made it a bit overwhelming to begin with. At first I wanted to decide the kind of web ad I would do and decided to go with the ‘portrait.’ When ever given the freedom to choose a client I usually like to inject my personality into the project with either something sports or fashion related. So I decided to create an ad for the NBA regular season tip off. Designing an ad for user experience was completely new for me, but with the help of my professor I was able to get some good ideas for the final execution.
• What project(s) did you enjoy working on thus far during this semester?
I have to say it would be a tie between the Women in STEM Initiative and Faculty Staff Art Exhibition. The Women in Stem Initiative gave me a realization of how much I love illustrating. With the poster consisting of 50+ icons I put hours into creating, I enjoyed every second of it. The reason for enjoying the Faculty Staff Art Exhibition would be my satisfaction with the execution of the deliverables. My favorite being the animated web banner!
• If there were no time constraints, what is one skill or tool you would like to learn?
If I had to time to learn a new tool, it would be Adobe’s new program Dimension. I believe it would provide a lot of benefits for designers looking to bring their creative work to life.
• Make a goal that you want to accomplish by the end of the semester.
By the end of the semester I would like to add 3-4 finished portfolio pieces that reflect my creative personality.

Mid Semester Reflection

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Have you come across any challenging projects this semester, whether it was a class project or a project with Faculty Commons? How did you accomplish the project?

Two of my most challenging projects this semester have been the Literary Arts Festival for Faculty Commons and the TOMS partnership campaign I worked on for my Campaign Development II class.

Right now I’m in the home stretch for LAF with only the program needing to be designed. It has been a challenging yet rewarding journey working on this project. I found myself stressing over this project while not realizing how much work it is for my clients on their end. All in all I am happy with the direction this project has gone and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with my clients and be able to collaborate with Natalie. Strong communication has been the key to accomplishing the goals for this project.

As for my TOMS partnership campaign, I think I never had a more evolving project ever in my life. Initially, I was a bit confused with the project and unclear of the task. Then after understanding the project, I did some extensive research to figure out how to approach the problem. Class after class I would meet with my professor to discuss my idea and I would end up changing it after leaving. It was a bit stressful because I wanted to nail down my idea. Eventually I made a decision to stick with my last idea. My professor seemed to like the final product and ended up keeping my work. In my opinion I wouldn’t say I accomplished this project aside from doing the work and receiving a grade. I wish I could of developed my idea more.

What project(s) did you enjoy working on thus far during this semester?

I think one of my favorite projects I have worked on during this semester would be outside of school at my job with Visual Conductor. I got the chance to design a runway installation for a fashion show. It was my first time ever doing event design and such a great learning experience. It is much more fast paced, thrilling, and a lot more trouble-shooting as opposed to designing posters, booklets, or brochures on the computer.

Make a goal that you want to accomplish by the end of the semester

By the end of the semester I want to be half way done with my personal re-branding and get back to posting content on my design dedicated Instagram page.

Here’s a question to the rest of the team I would like your insight on:

In the course of building my online portfolio, should I post content from my online portfolio to my page before I launch the site or should I wait to post the content from my online portfolio to my page until after I launch the site?

End of the Semester Reflection

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Have you accomplished your Mid-Semester goals? How have you accomplished those goals?

My semester goal was to have developed an well established online presence. I would like to say this is still on going goal for me. I have developed a website, created business cards, and put a portfolio together. Although I have created those assets for myself I feel as if they could have been done better and fell short of my standards. I hope to take this time away from school to fine tune my personal life as a designer.

Have you completed your work with your clients and closed all loops? Are you happy with your results with the work you completed this semester?

I have completed a year long project with the Honors Scholars Program which was such an amazing experience. As I took on the second half of the project Spring semester I was able to apply my new found knowledge from my experience from the Fall semester. I was really happy about how the work had looked once it was printed. Nothing can compare to the feeling of having a concept grow into a creation. I am still in the process of finalizing my other projects with my clients which are the Library Map, OER Logo, and Facilities Management brochure. As of now I am happy with where the projects are headed. They have each come a long way from their beginning. I expect the Library Map and Facilities Management Brochure to be wrapped up shortly.

How are you going to prepare for next semester during the Summer Break?

One thing I will make sure to do is to recover from all that has happened this past semester and take note of what my struggles and accomplishments were. I will also do my best to continue to build myself as a designer and explore who I am as an artist. I hope to gain new insights and discover new things.

Spring 2016 Mid Semester Reflection

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What are your goals that you would like to accomplish by the end of the semester?

One major goal I would like to accomplish by the end of the semester is to achieve a well established online presence. Being a designer, it is essential to have an online presence. Especially being in this century, it is what puts you on the map without having to be on the other side of the world. The steps I plan on taking in order to accomplish this are develop business cards, create a portfolio, create a social media page dedicated to my work, and create my website. I am hoping that by having an online presence it will open doors to new opportunities and deem me worthy to those seeking design related assistance.

Fall 2015 Reflection

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1.  Project Management 
I believe the best example to use to describe my experience with project management is the Honors Scholars Poster Presentation Brochure I worked on. Before meeting with the client, Prof. Liou-Mark, I created some concept designs to use on the cover. From the meeting the client and I established a timeline for this project. The timeline began with receiving the content on November 18. On November 20 all the content would be inputted and proofread. On November 23 revisions would be made with final proofread. November 24 the files would be sent down to the repo center. After our initial meeting a concept was decided on and then I created a couple different color variations on the chosen design. Once a color palette was chosen I began to send sample pages of the brochure using hierarchy.
2. Design Skills/Techniques 

The biggest challenge I faced, was incorporating the content for the Honors Scholars Brochure. It was crucial to have the document set up in a multiple of four pages because of the printing process. Thankfully Mandy was able to help me space out the content in the most effective manner.

3. Work Relationships 
Explain how you communicate and build relationships with the following:
A. Design Team
Since it is my first semester working on the Faculty Commons Design Team I had the role of getting to know everyone. I soon figured out my work relationships with the team. I would email or converse with Maen or Kevin about anything pertaining to the web, such as saving the files as the proper extension or sending the files to be put on the website. I would seek guidance and mentoring from Mandy and Raciel concerning design jobs. I would also seek help from the rest of the team with spelling and grammatical errors.
B. Clients
Being an intern on the Faculty Commons Design Team was the first time I’ve had to develop professional client relationships. I was able to learn the proper ways of contacting and communicating with clients during my training in the summer. I had the opportunity to work with the Library and the Honors Scholars Program this semester. I designed several posters for the library and created a brochure for the Honors Scholars Program. I would create a concept and then present it to the client. Once a concept was chosen I would create a draft and email a copy to the client. If there was any revisions that needed to be made I would send the file back to the client with the revisions before sending it down to print.
C. Coworkers in other FC offices (Grants office, AIR, etc.)
I haven’t had the chance to work alongside other coworkers in the other FC Offices. Although I try to help whenever I can when it comes to setting up the office for meetings and other events.