Browse through the pages by clicking on the headers above to view my completed projects throughout the semester. Click on the pictures on each page in order to take a deeper look into that project!

English 309 has shaped the way I view and construct design through a multitude of areas. When I began English 309 I was intimidated by the course title “Computer-Aided Design.” I do not have any experience working with design programs and I was afraid I would quickly fall behind in this course. My instructor, Liz Lane, introduced a lot of information during our first day of class but she tried to reassure that it is not as crazy as it looks. Four major assignments and four minor assignments later... I can honestly say that this course has taught me valuable information that I will take with me as I continue both my collegiate and professional career.

Design is all around us and it affects the way we communicate with the world. Design principles such as color and contrast are used in logos to represent companies, advertisements, infographics and much more. Design is also used to condense information and make it accessible and understandable by a certain audience. Design is used for everything. The most important skill I believe I learned in this class is the way to recognize and create a good design. This is done by first knowing what bad design is. Bad design overwhelms, confuses and does not have a voice. If you have set goals and a team to review your work, I've found that avoiding bad design is easy. 

 Who is your audience? What is your purpose? What design can you gather inspiration from and what did these designs do correctly? These are just some of the questions I ask myself when going about a new design project. Logos such as Nike and Apple are simple yet they speak loudly and that is my inspiration. Good design speaks to as many people as possible and does not have to be complicated. Simplicity is a word I live by when creating my design and I hope you recognize and appreciate that as you view my design projects. 

Throughout my journey of this class I had trouble articulating my designs and ideas to what is known as “good design.” It can be frustrating when you feel something is complete and flawless only to learn you have so much to improve on. A technique I learned to conquer this was to remove myself from my work for a few days and then come back to it. This allows me to have a fresh mind and look at my project from a different perspective. I also noticed that going through the comments that my instructor made helped me recognize patterns or bad habits that I needed to break. Being aware of places I can improve on greatly assisted in improving my future designs and creating this portfolio today. Using this interface to put all of my work in one place allowed me to utilize all of my learning experiences in this class to create my best design yet. Throughout this site you will be able to view the process I took to complete each project, as well as how my ability to design has improved with my knowladge. Please, explore!