Jerry Neira's ePortfolio

The previous journal talks about my feedback regarding the resume I first used to get my internship. This entire is now gonna talk about my portfolio website. I’ll be honest the first time around was a bit of a rush job because I had an early internship opportunity so I kicked it into high gear. I don’t believe it was a bad website but there was no main foundation or real way to express who I am. It was really throwing my work on these pages. Ok, it wasn’t pretty more like an unruly gallery. So guess what didn’t get that internship but I wasn’t surprised. During the summer I retweaked everything.

Just to showcase of the previous horror:

Regarding my feedback, it was given to me by my portfolio professor Shanton Wintson and my internship supervisor Max I gave this website a whole redesign. I removed old photos and replace them with more commercial-based photography. I categorized all my work on every page to give a better structure. I worked on all my copy write and made major changes. During my portfolio class this semester I re-amp my projects and made them better than they were before.  I also removed my illustration page to stick to the theme of beginning a design and branding-type website. Such big changes were made which again makes me feel like I’ve made it to the next level.

https://www.jerryneiradesignsportfolio.com/

Everyone knows the importance of having a resume. According to Google, it’s defined as ” A resume is a formal document that a job applicant creates to itemize their qualifications for a position”. The best definition I received is that a resume is a short story of who you are and what are you capable are. My internship wanted to give me feedback on my resume and my website. I’m surprised I even got an internship, I mean I know my resume and website aren’t bad but still, it’s surprising.

This is the resume I used: Jerry_Neira_Designer resume 2.0

Max decided that it would be if I up my game a little. My statement should be shorter and sound more like me. He said I should be asking myself who am I? What kind of designer I should be? Why do I design? Next, I should give my experiences some breathing room and label them as clients not actually employers. My references don’t need to be there unless requested. My entire left side seemed to be full of widows and orphans. I’m not gonna lie typography isn’t my strong suit so it slipped my mind, a rookie mistake right? He did however like the color scheme.

After some critical thinking for like two weeks and Pinterest research. I knew what I wanted to do.

Designer resume 3.0

I decided that my resume should look like a designer’s resume, not some typical 9-5 deal. Moving forward with a minimalist design and the use of icons. I created sections and took into account my feedback, I wrote a real statement about someone who wants to create and design as a career and a lifestyle. I’m definitely seeing a huge change like day and night, so I would say I moved to the next level.

To recap from a previous post Maxs Man Buns is my third client working with my internship. “This company creates strong elastic hair ties for men with long hair. The product comes in 12 pack 4mm hair ties, and they sell this product on Amazon as well. Additionally, I was assigned to create up to 3 Instagram grid images for their social media page”.

Starting off from some feedback on this project 1 out 3 of my edits managed to make it to the 2nd round. This one required a bit of testing to this which version was the better one.

My previous material started to form towards the third one. I edited with a cleaner cut for the male. I played around with the positions of my graphics. I changed the font to the approved version and kept it to the center. Max my supervisor loved the idea of using wolves, he liked the use of the product and the color theme since it blends well with the brand’s previous campaigns. I wanted to give a manly, hipster, and nature vibe. Max was thinking about lions but I believed wolves fit a better pictured.

This final version became the approved one to use for the client. I played around and wanted to design something a bit more flexibly. Something that seems to have a structure with an abstract approach.

 

I saw a Ted talk video about the concept of talking to strangers. I found a couple of things pretty interesting and relatable to many interactions I’ve had with strangers. In many cases, people avoid each other but tend to catch others’ attention from a distance. I read before people tend to be more friendly to each other and didn’t mind interacting. In today’s world people avoid with caution since nobody is familiar with each other. In NYC the main thing people did was mind their business and keep moving. This mindset ties in a lot with the famous stereotype city people are rude, mean, etc. I’m not gonna deny that’s true because of the uncertainties people have with each other.

But something spoke to me when the speaker said to “use our senses not our feelings”. What she meant by that is if we let our guard down enough to interact with someone we can be surprised by what happens. You connect with this stranger, enough a goos conversation, find out how friendly they really are.

When I moved to Florida from NYC I kept to myself for months. However, as I found myself without a car and license when I first moved, which lead me to use uber to move around. Super expensive by the way I ended up paying between 350-600 in rides per month for like a year, thank god I managed to put in my taxes. During my uber adventures, I noticed a lot of my uber drivers are a couple of chatterboxes. I was surprised and a little annoyed at first, but then as time flew by I enjoyed talking to them. Some were repeating drivers so I see them again every once in a while and they recognized me. In a way, we got past the stranger stage and became aware of each other. They even taught me a few things about the area, certain topics, business ideas, and what their dreams are.

One of my drivers became a good friend and one of my first web design clients. His name is Damian and he is a soccer recruiter for a soccer agency called talent soccer. He drives uber because he wants to meet people, this led to us meeting and striking a deal. The website I made for him is a pretty nice portfolio piece. I would say my old perception of strangers has changed this past year and I’m grateful for it.

 

 

Jerry_Neira_internship presentation – Copy

 

My next museum visit is the High Museum of Art located in Atlanta, Georgia. I explored a virtual tour with the “Kaws prints exhibit”.  KAWS PRINTS is the first comprehensive exhibition featuring KAWS’s entire output of editioned prints spanning more than twenty years. I’ve followed kaws work overtime and his work is worth so much in the pop cultured world. Anyone around my age to late 30’s is fully aware of Kaws. He is just as known as Banksy, but that’s really how I feel honestly.

KAWS PRINTS

I absolutely love the fact KAWS is a New York-based artist. He has made a name for himself designing limited edition toys and clothing. he is showcased in exhibits in museums and galleries internationally. His art stands somewhere between fine art and global commerce. I love the fact pop culture work can be considered art now and that this artist is one of many that paved the way for it. It’s even more crazy that NFT which are digital tokens but also digital art now is going high in market value.

I would say the “Dissected Companion” is one of my favorite pieces. The design of his unique character the anatomy of it is amazing.

During the pandemic, all museums closed down but now just NYC but the whole world. The concept of a virtual tour to create a digital experience isn’t new but that’s spread during the pandemic. I decided to take a tour of the National Gallery of Victoria located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. I wanted to explore the Carnovsky exhibit. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/triennial-carnovsky/#LC%EF%BB%BF1

According to the website “Carnovsky is a design/artist duo comprised of Francesco Rugi and Silvia Quintanilla, who began collaborating in 2007. Their RGB (2010) wallpapers explore the notion of ‘surface deepness’, creating wall treatments that mutate and interact with different coloured stimulus. RGB was first presented at Milan Design Week in 2010 and has become an ongoing project for Carnovsky. By experimenting with interaction between printed layers and coloured light projections, the duo explores the idea of surface as a medium and play with our perception of depth, both visually and conceptually, in two dimensions. The interaction of light and colour spectrum create surfaces that mutate and interact with different chromatic stimulus. Carnovsky has exhibited widely at Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo; Nuvango Gallery, Toronto and Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York.”

I really like the wallpaper concept, the use of RGB and the concept of animals being endangered, threat level and discussing which species we already lost. I believe his message was very clear and inspiring, he touched a lot more markets besides art.

To be honest this piece made me realize how we take things for granted and ruin life for innocent creatures. In that, the state of modern development we don’t realize there are consequences, the risk that we don’t take into account.

Everyone knows that there are consequences to taking someone’s work without permission or even crediting the source. In certain categories, there’s a fine you have to be careful to not cross.  Graphic design I would say is the best example of how a career uses resources or just makes its own. I know for a fact that you can’t copy and paste and claim that it’s yours even if you put a spin or two on it. The foundation of that work was not your idea. In my eyes, graphic designers have the ability to do 2 to 3 class types of design. These class types would be someone who creates their own sources, someone who manipulates a source, and someone who incorporates both.

For me to personally say I fit in the dynamic in doing both. Personally, I have a couple of reasons why I would be some who creates my own source and manipulates other sources. In terms of photography, I mostly like to go out and get my own sources since I’m able to take photos on a professional level. I like to sketch and create my graphics on pen and paper, later on, I scan it in and use my adobe programs to create a final graphic. However, in many cases, I’m gonna need to use other sources that I can’t get on my own which leads to the manipulation. My main reason for doing this is something pretty classic and that’s time. I’m given like a rush job, to struggle to finish a heavy work-based project. I would mockups are a good example, I love using mockups because my work becomes more professional and gives a better visual for people. I place my graphic or image on the product, change the lighting, play around with other things, and tada I have a happy client.

I have various sources I like to go to and I would buy the licenses that allow using this for personal use. Sometimes a lot of stuff has both personal and commercial use for under $25 which I think is a steal. Of course, s a lot of times if something is free they would ask to credit that work by sharing a link of something along those lines.

I’ll share some of my favorite soucres.

https://yellowimages.com/

https://www.freepik.com/

https://www.vecteezy.com/

I think adobe is always thinking ahead of its time when it comes to its programs. They find ways to make a designer’s tool easier to use and easier to access. Especially when we will in an era where we can do almost anything and everything on our phones. One example is the express editing applications created by adobe. These applications are a simplified version of Adobe’s main editing programs with an interface layout using filters to easier and faster edits. One of my personal favorites I use from time to time is photoshop express.

They give you various opinions to edit your photos. After giving the app access to all your photos in your phone’s library you make whatever you want in the app. You can make your photo own edits, with filters and adjustments, remix someone else photos that are shared in the app, copy someone else filters, retouch photos and make colleges.

I’ll give a tour with a quick edit I did in the app. I’ll use a picture with my car to give an example. I use this app a lot since I do photography and this helped create stuff in just a few minutes.

I started out by uploading an image to the app. Next came with I decided to use a theme and added a text.

I moved on to give a different look with a move vintage vibe. The next is blurring the background and changing the depth in color contrast by a bit.

After that my quick pic is done. I can save to my phone, upload to Photoshop for more advanced editing or share my edits in the public post-board adobe created in the app. It’s pretty easy and I know the app will get better over time and I definity recommend it for others to use.

My third client is a company called “Max Man Buns”. This company creates strong elastic hair ties for men with long hair. The product comes in 12 pack 4mm hair ties, and they sell this product on Amazon as well. Additionally, I was assigned to create up to 3 Instagram grid images for their social media page.

Also, they sent what their designers came up with, so this gave me a good idea of what they were thinking so far. I have never done something like this before, even though the concept is pretty straightforward.

I decided to do two 3 by 3s and one 3 by 2s to play around with the product image the company intends to promote. I wanted to give the product’s image without just something boring that throws the product in someone’s face and tells them to buy it. I wanted to promote the company’s idea of men with long hair rocking the hair tie with style and emitting a manly atmosphere. I have long hair, and I think I look pretty cool with my hair tied, so I get the idea the company wants to showcase.