Category: ENG1101 Project #5

My first semester as a first year has been smooth. I feel like I learned more about me as a design student, artist, and writer. I also feel like I improved as a student. As a design student, at this school, I learned a lot more about different design styles. In graphic design principles 1, I learned more about colors and paint, like how they can be saturated and desaturated. I feel like I was re-introduced to painting as I haven’t done it in such a long time, probably since kindergarten. This graphic design class also helped me learn more about photoshop, and also introduced me to illustrator. I’m not great with either of the programs, but I’ve learned a few things. In my foundation of drawing class, I learned different angles like two point perspective and one point perspective. It feels like I’m learning everything little by little to get me prepared for the later semesters.

As a writer, I feel like I learned how to expand my thoughts and write a little more than I usually do. I’ve never been someone who writes that much unless it’s a topic I know a lot about. This time I feel like I had lots of evidence backing me up and I expanded my thoughts more which helped me write better. Also with the glossary, I learned new words. Words like twinge, propinquity, erroneous, biomorphic and others are words that I didn’t even know existed.

As a student, of course I learned and experienced some of the college life. Before the school made the schedules for you, but now I got to make the schedule for myself. You are responsible for checking and doing the assignments when it’s due. Of course, there’s still some more things for me to learn as a student but I’ll get there when I get there.

I think there’s still some things for me to figure out, like what do I really want to do when it comes to communication design, what style of art do I think appeals to me the most, and how long I plan on staying. All of those I feel like will be answered as I go on in college.

“You never know what you have until it’s gone”. This quote represents exactly how I feel about this semester coming to an end. It went by much faster than I had expected, and I am quite sad to know that I most likely won’t have the same professors for any one of my future classes. It’s not like high school where you most likely have classes with the same people and teachers every year. It almost feels like a shorter school year, and a transition to a different school because of how different each semester is going to be.

This semester I have learned so much about writing, college life, and even myself as a person. I don’t even know where to begin. Doing the projects for this class made me fall in love with writing even more because when you write about yourself it doesn’t just reflect who you are as a writer, but also as a person. Seeing my posts on the blog have helped me see myself from a different point of view, my “glows and grows”; my strengths and weaknesses. As much as I love to write, I never really had the chance to see myself from another perspective until Project #2.

I was used to doing much more formal essays, writing five or more paragraphs making a claim and using evidence to support it, but this particular project had a different format. When we had the ability to choose the questions and do the interviews, it threw me off at first as I had never written anything like it before, let alone an interview on myself. Knowing myself, I wanted to make it perfect. I was always a perfectionist, making sure even the smallest of mistakes were fixed. To be honest, the perfectionism caused me to grow a bit of an ego. I thought that whatever I did, it was the best and no one could say anything about it. If there was a fault in my work, I would get quite frustrated. One day though, my mother noticed my frustration and said, “You will burn yourself out trying to be perfect. You need to relax, give it your best, but don’t try to be perfect because it won’t work out. Besides, perfection is boring”. Perfection is boring. It reminded me of my favorite show, Sense8, a show that embraces originality and all things imperfect. One of the directors Lana Wachowski had said the same thing to one of the actors who was also a perfectionist: “Perfection is boring”. It allowed me to see things a bit differently, and relax. Live a little.

I began reading my classmates’ interviews and posts, and thought about about what my mother and Wachowski had said. I was inspired, which has ever happened before. I realized that we were all the same deep down, somehow connected. We all want to do something within the art and design industry, whether it is UX/UI or being a freelance designer. Everyone was putting themselves out there, stepping out of their comfort zone, and I did the same with my posts. I am in no means a social person, but as I have stated before, I express myself through my work, whether it is through design or writing. It all helped me realize that everyone at some point during their lives do something because they got inspired by someone else. From the words of Pablo Picasso, “Good artists copy. Great artists steal”. Not everyone picks that up as a college student, but they will at some point.

Another project that allowed me to see my strengths and weaknesses was Project #3, the juxtaposition project. This was a very tricky project for me, as this was even more out of my element. I’ve seen many juxtapositions in the city throughout the years, but never really paid much attention to it. I’ve known about rezoning and gentrification becoming a bit of an issue here, but it is a style of writing that I haven’t done before nor was I particularly used to. I still gave it a try because I want to try as many styles of writing as I can, as I know that in the near future I will be writing much more. I think the most difficult part for me was talking about the building I did in particular, the Dime Savings Bank. I didn’t really know much about the building, but I know it’s been under construction for quite some time now. I wasn’t familiar with the bank itself, and being as descriptive as possible with everything was something I normally do not do. It’s something I can definitely improve on, and the project in general has now made me much more aware of my surroundings. The skills needed to write this kind of project beautifully are necessary for working in many different fields, so I hope to improve on that so it can help me in the long run. Now whenever I walk around I point at every juxtaposition I can find, it’s almost like a game to me: who can find the most juxtapositions?

I have learned a lot this semester about writing. Although it’s not my favorite subject I have learned to put up with it and take advantage of it. I came into city tech not really knowing the reason behind me wanting to do graphic design, with the help of English1101and my professor I was able to dig into my thoughts and find a reason why? I was pushed everyday to get to know myself. Starting with choosing an avatar, to be honest I never really though such avatar can have such powerful meaning. Until professor gave a whole lecture about it and we spent days trying to figure out the meaning by writing a formal essay about it.

As seen above this is the avatar I chose. I believed that this represented me I many different ways. My personality : im full of joy and laughter my aesthetic: I enjoy seeing color working with color and playing with color. I also took this image in an exhibit which I also love doing “exploring”. Not only did I learn more about myself as a person but as a writer I learned that I like speaking my thoughts. I like receiving feedback to be able to correct my mistakes and grow from there. I would take this English 1101 knowledge and bring it to me with the rest of my semesters at city tech. It’ll help me grow and be able to look back at how I started my whole college experience.And not only in school but in like work and other places in which k=who knows ill end up. All the new vocabulary and formats, for example designer statement ” I wrote one for my ComD class and I was able to write it with such a passion , because I wanted to be able to express myself to others and explain to them my goal and how I view my projects. Although they’ll be free to have their own opinion I want to be able to give them an idea of what was going on through my head when creating it and what  better way then writing it!

Overall my experience in English 1101/ first semester of college  was different, something I was able to adapt to and something I still need practice in because there is so much I don’t know .

This is my first year here at City Tech. I am an Asian-American who is majored in Communication Design in pursuing my career to become a designer in advertising. As a child growing up, I don’t know what to do in life or what I am really good at other than photography. I’ve thought to myself before “Is photography is all I can do? Is there anything else I’m good at other than taking pictures”? Of course, there are, I answered to myself. Everything changed ever since then. I’ve realized designing is something I want to do for the rest of my life other than photography only.

This semester I’ve definitely learned many things. As a writer, a college student, or even a design student there is still more to improve on. “No one and nothing is perfect, or we wouldn’t have uniqueness” ― Jasmin Morin. I strongly agree with this quote because no one will ever consider themselves the “best”. You as a person is constantly improving and making changes to yourself in becoming the best version of what’s best for you. As a college student, I’ve noticed it’s difficult to stay on task and maintaining whether it is school, work or at home. I found it difficult to work at home since I help babysit my niece and nephew. I try to do most of my work in school whenever I have breaks in between classes, however, it’s not enough time to finish the work I need since most of my work is on the Adobe software.

One thing I struggled with is English since it’s not my first language. At home, I don’t speak English at all. However, when entering college I’ve definitely improved a lot on writing although there is still more to improve on. Doing the glossary does help me a lot with the words I don’t know at all. I’ve learned a lot more words I don’t know before but now I know. Also some of the readings, I don’t quite understand at all or I don’t know how to rephrase it in some ways since they’re really hard to understand. I still tend to struggle with

In this major, communication design, I get to see the different art styles people have. I was fascinated by seeing how other designers approach the same project I did and make it into their own style.

Something I love is,  I get to see the grace gallery up on the eleventh floor. Overall, I’m proud of myself because one of my works which is the self-portraits were in that gallery. I told my mom about how my self painted portrait was up in our school gallery for others to see. She was shocked and then said “你做得很好” meaning you did great in Chinese. Originally my mom opposed me into becoming a design because she wanted me to be something I don’t want to. But as of this rate, I can tell, or she can tell designing is something I will love to do.

In the beginning of the school year this is what I had to say about my transition from high school to college:
“In my opinion the transition between high school and college hasn’t been that bad for me. It felt the same as transitioning from middle school to high school. First you look for your friends and see if you guys are in the same class, but sadly for me this is the first year I didn’t know anyone in my class and it felt a little awkward. I believe the best part for me is not having classes on Friday.  This allows me to catch up on homework and it also  counts as a three day weekend so I can Have an extra day to relax and rest up before I go back to school on Monday. Yet the hardest parts for me is the gaps I have between classes, the early mornings, and the somewhat late classes.  The gaps are the hardest for me because I have between a two and three hour gaps on Monday and Thursday and it’s like what to I do for that amount of time, do I go home? Do I stay and do work? Or do I take a nap? And it’s the somewhat late classes. On Monday and Thursday I get out at five but I don’t get home until six which is not that great especially in the winter because because it gets dark fast, plus I live in a semi dangerous neighborhood so my mother worries about me coming home by myself. Finally it’s the early mornings. Uggg I hate mornings. In order to get to class on time at eight I have to wake up at six and leave at seven (even though I live fifteen minutes away from the school), just to make sure that I get to class on time because the 57 bus is so unpredictable and crowded every morning (plus traffic). So this is how I feel about being a college student.”

Sadly I still kind of feel the same way but I have learned many things about myself as a student and a writer. Something I learned about myself as a writer is that handwritten drafts are not always the best. Throughout middle school and high school I have always handwritten my drafts a week before the final draft is due to get feedback from my teachers but I learned in college it’s not that simple. In college you can have class twice a week two days apart which is not enough time to hand write something so I learned to type a simple draft and then post it to receive comments on what I need to improve on.

Yet something I learned about myself as a design student is that I like painting more than I like drawing. As long as I can remember I have been really good at drawing especially cartoon characters and tattoos but I never really got into painting. Until I got into COMD class. When we did your portrait painting project I felt free and it was fun yet enjoyable plus a grade. That was a project I would be happy to do over and over again.

To me the glossary project was the hardest thing for me to do. Between keeping track of how many words I already did and making sure I have posted them every week I could not keep up. In my opinion the glossary should have been a project like our previous ones and not a weekly thing to make things simpler and easier to contribute to.

1. Honestly, can not believe how fast this semester has flown by. College has been an interesting experience so far, as this was my first semester attending college I did not really know what to expect but I went through with it. This semester I have learned a variety of things. As it pertains to writing in general, I have learned that the details in a piece of writing really helps the reader understand exactly what the writing is about or what the writer is trying to convey. Without details or with only very little/minor details the reader can be left with many questions about what something means and how it relates back to the central statement or the connection between one thing and the rest of the writing. Not only that but it’s adds the element of fluidity or cohesiveness throughout each of the paragraphs/sections within the writing. Doing the glossary entries also helped me a little bit because sometimes just understanding one word in a sentence can really help you understand the message thats sentence is trying to convey. And can open your mind up to the possibility of the message the entire story is trying to get the reader to understand.

   Now, for what I learned about myself as a writer this semester; I would say that I have learned improved on my ability to relate different parts of my writing (details/body paragraphs) back to my thesis statement/central topic because at first I wasn’t really doing that well. For example for Project #2 where we were doing the interviews some of the feedback that was given back to me was that “the responses you give could be bolder, which would work more to catch a reader’a attention.” And that comment was adding on to a previous comment about how I could have made a clearer connection between the idea presented in my introduction and another part of the interview. To which I then looked over my work and realized what I could have structured and explained differently. As a college student I think that I have learned how to manage my time better in/out of school and be more appreciative of the opportunity that I have been given. The opportunity being me attending college because initiating after high school I just did not want to attend college. However, even though fight not I still feel as if college is not for me, I am thankful for being able to learn new things and I will be sure to make the most of my time here. There is a lot of people who want/are willing to attend college but they can’t do so because their financial stability limits them to what they can and can not do. And if I were to be here only complaining and not gaining something from the time I have here, it would make me an extremely ungrateful person.

As a design student I would say that I’ve learned and expanded upon what exactly I wanna do through the skills I learned in college. Or essentially dwelled deeper into what I wanted to do after I graduate college. At first the only thing I wanted to really do was create video games or be simply a graphic designer. However, now I would say while I do what do those things I wanna potentially use my designs and work (whether it be art, a product I make, writing etc…) and use that to inspire others or make a positive change in the world. Maybe even potentially own/ be a part of a company. As I venture through this college chapter in my life and I continue to develop new skills over the years I will use what I’ve learned to and the world of entertainment or should I say the entertainment industry something that is more widely appreciated. And something that when you hear about it has positive thoughts behind it. I want the designs, work or whatever I create to be a guide for others that anything they wanna do they can achieve.

I am the future. I’ll see you at the top.

Starting college is often a difficult thing to do for many and a hard road to complete. Thankfully we have gotten over our first semester as COMD students. This semester I’ve learned many things, including writing. I have learned that there are many forms of writing out there including the tons of poetry formats to choose from and so many styles of writing expressing your thoughts in ways of persuasion, information, debate. Entertainment and so much more. This has also helped me discover myself as a writer as a whole. I discovered my passion for music through poetry and writing down my thoughts and feelings often. I also learned that I am highly talented when it comes to writing and grammar in general. I’ve been writing for years and have naturally been good at English as a subject in all my years as a student.

As a college student, I have learned a lot as well. This includes the people around me, the new environment, I have learned more about how professors and students interact and how the lifestyle is fairly different from highschool. I do enjoy the long breaks and days we can take days off, and I have definitely taken advantage of that so far. We basically have 2 summer breaks in a year. I also learned that one on one teacher to student time is fairly important as well. As a college student, I’ve learned that procrastination kills. It took me so long to even start this essay and I have a BUNCH of other work to finish before the end of the semester and I’ll often find myself struggling to complete them half-ass by the last days before its due. I have struggled a lot with assignments and organization this semester and I just wish the professors can give clearer instructions and be extra specific in what they want and also when they want it, and how exactly to do it. There’s a lot of “figure it out yourself” in college. Trust me, I’ve done plenty of that.

Regarding myself as a design student in COMD, I’ve quickly learned that sometimes I may not feel as if I fit in. I’ve always loved art as a whole and I have been surrounded by creativity my whole life but a lot of what we do in COMD seems super outdated and stuff that I genuinely don’t feel like will help me much at all in the near future or in my future career. I’ve heard the same from other COMD students as well. We are living in a MUCH different world than it used to be and it advances faster than it ever has before, it’s hard to keep up. I feel like as design students we need to pick up the pace because, in a world like today, there is so much competition and so many people going to college and getting their degree for nothing when they end up working at Target or McDonald’s. COMD needs to step it up and be more to date with our world now and all its technologies. People aren’t interested in the stuff they were interested in even a year ago. So, as a design student, I feel sometimes as if this major and group of people I’m surrounded by, maybe it isn’t for me. Very often it feels like I don’t belong yet I have been raised all-around art and creativity but stepping in the classrooms where we are supposed to learn more about it with the COMD students around us just doesn’t feel right. 

With what I have learned so far, I will continue to make connections as much as I can before the end of my college career, not only with the students but with the professors as well. I will try to thrive in my classes as much as I can but yet focus on my own things in the side because as far as I see it, college probably won’t even get you anywhere, ESPECIALLY in COMD. It’s safe to say it may be better to rely on your side hustles instead of depending on a BFA to get you places. I’ll continue to work on my own hobbies on the side and try to make something out of it just in case college ends up being a waste of time as many others experience often. Let’s just see where life takes us.

Regarding my professional career and my life in general, I’m not sure where COMD would take me career-wise. I would most likely go for the more practical route which is advertising. I can probably gain a good career out of that. I’m more focused on my music and business I am starting up on my own. I have been doing music and have been working on my talents for a while now and I’ve been exceeding in that. I am also working on my own business on the side called VALOR. A multi-purpose brand. I also have a huge social presence, Throughout social media, I have accumulated a total of 30K followers and more than 300K views and more than 50K likes in general. I am growing my personal brand and will take advantage of that within my music and business. I want to succeed and become a successful musician or entertainer in general and I am taking the necessary steps to achieve that. I want to continue to inspire others and change the world. I want to impact millions of lives and be someone that the youth can look up to. My goals are out of this world and I believe that my life is how I make it and what I want it to be and I will accomplish that. College allowed me to meet new people and the right people to push me forward in my career and who will rise with me in the long run.

 

To me writing is a form of communication that far exceeds what my mouth can verbalize. If I can get a thought out of my brain, it will come out extremely detailed if I type or write it out. I do my best writing when it is “stream of consciousness” because I can really just say what’s on my mind, which for me is a lot. Also, if I have an interesting story, I can tell it better if type or write it out.  However, if it’s something particularly boring to me I struggle to get out, or even find details about the topic.

As I mentioned before, I can tell a good story by writing it down. When I tell it to you out loud, it usually doesn’t sound as good, unless the story is just funny no matter how you tell it, but when I put it on paper, or type it on a computer screen, I can describe the details better and thus tell the story more efficiently. Here’s one example: In high school, I was on track team and because I was on the track team I, obviously, went to track meets. So at one of these meets, some of my teammates were competing in a relay race. The first 3 runners ran their laps and passed the baton to the next runner, but by the last runner, he ran up to my coach in the middle of the race to ask where lane one was, of course no one on the team answered this question because we were all too busy either laughing at him or telling him to run. Eventually, he kept running, but when he came to the finish line, he slowed down and walked through it. Everyone on the team was either pissed off or hysterically laughing at what just happened. A decent amount of details right? Now see if I had described that to you verbally you probably wouldn’t have gotten as much information as you just did. The reason for this may stem from my early childhood.

When I was younger (and even to this day), I was a very quiet person very rarely talking unless it was to my friends. Sometimes, if someone made a joke about me, I would take it personally and automatically accuse them of bullying me. Over the years, I did get more and more talkative and eventually a harder shell for smack talk, but I still had a few communication flaws. For instance, if I got into an argument, I would more often than not lose said argument due to me not being able to formulate a good convincing argument(the other reason being the opponent knew better), so because of that I avoided arguments and confrontation altogether. But little did I know that was also not a good thing because I was holding it in. On top of that, I would get into situations that were emotionally taxing sometimes and take my mind off of it by either playing video games, watching anime, or listening to music(none of which were a permanent solution). Then one day, I had gotten into a disagreement with both of my parents and was extremely angry and irritated as a result of it. I remember for a good hour I could not think about anything else other than the events that had just taken place. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I decided to write it out, and when I did, it was like the anger was leaving my body and I felt so much better and was able to think straight again. So now sometimes I write what goes on in my mind, primarily if something is contributing to a “negative” emotion like anger, irritation, concern, genuine confusion, and/or uncertainty.