Screen Print T-Shirts

Purpose:

• To be introduced to the process of screen printing;
• To create a simple design that uses a variety of shapes which emphasize the interaction between positive and negative space;
• To demonstrate the process of screen-printing by printing designs on paper and fabric.

Reflection:

Through this process of screen-printing, I learned several new techniques that are importing to my future as a art/design student including precise work quality, importance of “less is more”, and the importance of working in a neat environment. I learned that time is key in creating a quality design. For my first shirt I used precise passes with the squeegee to ensure that I evenly distributed the ink. As I did more shirts, I got tireless and lazier with the squeegeeing, which resulted in patchier finishes. In the future I will make sure that my passes of ink are accurate and precise so that all of my designs will be top-quality. When creating designs for my shirts I kept in mind the design rule about simplicity. With the birds, a lot more could have been added to make the design more intricate, but for the purpose of this shirt, the design looks more defined with the simplicity. Lastly, when using the silk-screens and fabric ink, I learned that working in a neat environment is a must so that you do not get paint in unwanted places. Although I had several pieces of news paper placed on the table and a designated area for my paint and squeegee, I still somehow ended up getting paint smudged somewhere on one of my shirts. In the future I now know to make sure that the entire area is clean and neat so that this does not happen again.

All of these things that I learned are important to my learning as a art/graphic design student because they all are key things to keep in mind when designing. Major design elements such as tension, proximity, contrast and alignment were all considered when creating the designs.

Fonts have Feelings, too

Purpose:

To continue to explore and learn tools in Photoshop, specifically, the text tool and it’s many options;

To continue to use creative problem-solving skills to complete the assignment.

Reflection:

For the “Fonts Have Feelings, Too” design, I believe that I deserve a 3.5-4. My design exemplifies this score because each word portrays the feeling that it means. I included the required 12 pairs of words (including some that I came up with on my own), and is displayed on two 8.5x11 document. For example, the word for “old-fashioned” epitomizes the style of writing used over 200 years ago in Colonial America. The antonym of this word is “modern”, which is now exemplified with sans-serif fonts such as one you would find on a computer HTML code. I carefully considered proximity and tension when placing each word on the page, making sure that the correct words were placed together and did not look like a motley collection. I then aligned the pairs on the page considering it as a whole

I experimented with photoshop by rasterizing each layer and using tools such as sharpen, which gave the fonts a heavier feeling,  contour, which added a shine-like effect to the inside of each letter, drop shadow, which adds a shadow to the outside of the later. I used the drop shadow effect to make words pop off the page creating a three-dimensional feel. My favorite is the word “sad” because it has a thin black stroke and white fill, which is like when someone is sad and empty inside.