Month: September 2019

Samson Charles is a creative minded person wanting to expand his knowledge on design by studying design at New York City Technology. He likes putting everything into artistic perspectives, just wants to view the objects in the world as art. We will be talking about his endeavors, aspiration, mindset, and dreams moving on in the future, and how he can use design as a way to communicate to others.

My avatar is actually a piece i created on adobe photoshop. One day I was just strolling through my social media feed and saw three words that really stood out to me and made me think, “Real eyes, Realize, Real lies”. Once i saw those words, an immediate thought was, how can i make those three words look visually appealing. First off I wanted to make the words go through the paper as if it blends in with the background image/color. I believe I have a keen eye to detail, and it shows that in this picture. My avatar describes me because it shows that i’m a very creative minded person, and artistic.

Q: How do you intend to grow as a designer with this program ?

A: I intend to grow by taking as many classes i can to better grasp my knowledge of design. There are so many professors in this program that either worked in this field for so many years, or studied in this field for so many years. So me as a learner i want to take advantage of that as much as i can by showing them my work, getting their professional feedback from it, learn from my mistakes to better myself. And there are so many workshops, clubs, or events that i’ll definitely go to, to gain more knowledge about design, know the in’s and out’s of it. There are so many peers i can talk to, to get their input on a certain design, just to see how other creative minds like myself think.

Q: How do you intend to use the skill set you learn to influence your community ?

A: I intend to do that by being a voice, or a bigger voice for people who don’t have it. To me design are two things, one of which is the obvious, it’s about expressing your creative ideas and/or thoughts for other people to see. And two, design is about being that voice for people when the time calls for it. Being a designer, you have the opportunity to uplift a community and be that voice. There are so many designers who make artwork to help out a group of people, or to represent a social issue. There are so many aspects to designing, me as a designer i want to use my skill set to help other people, to inspire people, or just to create new innovative art as the years go on.

Q: Can you see yourself doing anything else ?

A: To be honest with you, designing is the one and only thing i can see myself doing for years to come. I just view myself as a creative person, I’ve been drawing since i was 13 years old. Being so connected to designing really disconnects me from doing other things, it’s like being in a committed relationship. And i’m in school studying design, to learn as many skills i can to perfect my craft. So to be clear, i don’t see myself doing anything else but designing.

Q: What are your expectations of being a COMD major in your first year ?

A: I have very expectations because i’m dedicated to becoming the best designer i can be. I want to learn everything i can so i can apply it to  my craft. I’m taking classes for my major, and so far i’m learning a lot of stuff i never knew before, and i’m very confident that new knowledge like this will help me succeed in the design industry once i’m done with school. So far my first year in the COMD major has been great, i met great professors, new friends, gaining so much new knowledge, and i’m adapting very well to everything.

Cui Zhang's Biography

Cui Zhang is an Asian-American who is currently studying at New York College of Technology. She’s majored in Communication Design in becoming a designer. She grew up with a family of 4, both her parents and her older brother who’s now 20. When she was younger she dreamed of becoming many things. She dreamed of becoming a nail technician, teacher, artist, fashion designer and etc. Growing up she does not know what to do in life or what she’s really good at. However, that all changed when she entered Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School. When taking graphic design and photography 1, she realized she’s good at taking pictures as well as designing digitally. Instead of choosing the path of becoming a photographer she chose to design.

Although Cui’s family wanted her to take a different path, such as a nurse, lawyer, doctor, teacher, radiology technician…etc. Cui is confident that design is her right path.”As a kid growing up” she said, “I am often compared to my brother who is much better than me in many ways. His grades are all 90’s above, he received a lot of invitations to attend ceremonies because he’s in honors, he even received many scholarships from high school and college”. As of this day, she is still being compared to her brother who’s pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor at Hunter College. Nevertheless, none of these will prevent her from doing what she wants to become a good designer.

"What is your avatar? How does it represent you?"

My avatar is based on one of the comics that I’m currently reading. The comic is called “Popular Deskmate is a Cat”. I chose this avatar for a specific reason. I really love the background color, it’s light purple with some bubbly effects which makes the background dreamy. Also, what really caught my attention was the look on her face. I really like pictures that are sad-looking due to personal reasons. Originally my profile picture the girl she does not have tears coming out of her eyes. I told my friend to draw her with tears coming out of her eyes since she’s already sad. So ever since my friend drew the tears coming out of her face it became my profile picture for almost everything.

"Where do you see yourself in 5? 10? 15? years?"

In 5 years, I imagine myself already graduated from college with a Bachelor’s Degree. When the time comes, I will hopefully have a suitable job, earning money for both me and my parents. This way my dad can finally retire from his job. He worked really hard for my family of 4. In 10 years, I imagine myself purchasing my very first house but definitely not my dream house because it’s going to take more than 10 years to pursue my dream house. Also in 10 years, I’ll probably be working for another company. In 15 years I’ll be 33. I will probably have a family by then with one or two children. I can imagine myself having a higher rank than I was 15 years ago. No one can ever predict what’s going to happen in the future.

"What other skills do you want to learn in this program?"

I would want to learn how to draw better. I learned from a friend of mine who once said: “No artist will ever say their art is perfect”. I strongly agree with her because as an artist or any job that revolves around doing projects you’re creating new things each time you do a certain project. You will never consider yourself the “best” designer ever because there are better designers out there in the world who’s more experienced than you are. Another skill I want to learn in COMD is how to use any other Adobe software. I got the hang of using photoshop in high school and another Adobe software called Indesign because of my Type & Media class. I hope In the future, I’ll be able to learn how to use all the Adobe software.

"Can you see yourself doing anything else?"

I cannot imagine myself doing something else other than design. My mom told me to be either a doctor, nurse, lawyer, engineer, accountant…etc. However, I am definitely not going to follow what my mom wanted me to become since designing has been something I want to continue on doing and will never stop. One of my friends said that I should be a kindergarten teacher since I love being around with children. However, children can be quite annoying sometimes. Another friend told me to be a photographer. Since I’m really good at taking pictures. Becoming a photographer is something I have thought of becoming one for many years. However, anyone can become a photographer and it’s true. It’s not necessary to go to college just to become a photographer. It takes time to become a good photographer as long as you keep doing it. Photography, on the other hand, is a hobby of mine. It’s not really something I would want to become rather than a designer.

"What are your past graphic design experiences?" 

In high school (sophomore year) I was in Graphic Design. We had a project about designing your own logo and your own business card. In the business card, we have to put our real information down to receive full credit. Overall I love how my logo/business card turned out. The logo I did has a feather with my name below it. In my junior year in photography class, I had a project based on advertising. We had to choose a product if what we are advertising and make it an advertisement. In my senior year of high school in economics class, we had to make an advertisement commercial. Whoever wins that advertisement commercial does have to take the final exam.  My friend and I teamed up. We decided to draw the commercial out instead. However, my friend did the most work since she’s a better drawer than I am. All I did was coloring. Her sister turned our work into an animation. In the end, we ended up winning the advertisement commercial which was shocking. But I still took the final exam anyway since I wanted to improve my grade.

The website I made in my High School photography class:
https://cuizhang.wixsite.com/mysite

My avatar is a baby picture of me.  This baby picture is after one of my birthday. I don’t remember which one it was either after my first or after my second.  In this picture I am wearing an old white dress  and an all white hat.  The hat I am wearing is so big that it is covering all of my hair. There is a red background behind me with white polka dots. This picture appears that I’m very happy smiling with only like six teeth in my mouth, four on top and two on the bottom.