Project 2 Response

In what way did you change your process to make a piece that was site specific?

- I knew I wanted to do something with body positivity. So my sketch with easier for me to make however, it was putting in the time in effort to really think where this piece should be located. I had several ideas on where to put this piece . First I thought maybe I should put it on a mirror at the gym near my home. But then I had to think about who would be seeing it at my home gym. And since this is a message I want to continue to emphasize and advocate, maybe that would not be the right place. I thought about the Tyler bathroom mirror, or a Tyler stall, but what would that say about being in an art school and self love. Obviously self - love and acceptance of yourself is important concept to think about, but I didn't think that matched yet. When I thought about one of the gyms on campus, I thought this would better emphasize my idea. Since many students and people can relate to the uncomfortable or self- conscious feelings at gyms, this usually affects how people  view themselves and their overall experience. I also thought that since this generation of college students and young adults have this emphasis and need to look a certain way, these struggles with body image and how one "should" look would be better shown with this age group (even though this idea is meant for all age groups and genders). I finally came upon installing it one of the all gender bathrooms on the second floor since those bathrooms are used all the time. 

How did you challenge yourself creatively, conceptually and/or technically in the making of this piece? If you did not feel challenged is there something you would do differently if you were to do it again?

- Conceptually I think did a better job than the first project. I think again, this relates to me being more interested in the project and what it meant to make an image that communicates with the public. I still think I was challenged with the project. Even though I had an overall idea, I still took the time to really see what location best suits the image, and how that would communicate with the public. Adobe Illustrator is also a new program for me to learn. While it was slightly "easier" than Photoshop, it still took me time to experiment and understand how certain tools were crucial to make something occur. If I did this project again, I might do something different. If I had the time, I might be interested to make the couple adjustments from this piece but then experiment with something else too.

Were there elements that made the completion of this piece either more difficult or felt not challenging enough?

- I thought the most challenging part of the project was the time we had to to do it. We had quick turnaround from learning Adobe Illustrator and then having only 1 or 2 days to start thinking about our idea and then  execute the assignment right away before spring break. It was kind of challenging for me to think about the future plans, exact measurements and location aspects of the project since spring break was so close. It all depended on my class schedule, when I was leaving for spring beak and when the actually vinyl was going to be printed. The time frame for me was probably the most challenging part. But it ended up all working out. In terms of actually learning Illustrator, I thought it was not too hard. Since it was somewhat similar to Photoshop I had that to go off of.  During the process of miking my sketch/ vinyl, I was getting confused with the vector points and what it meant to "clean up" the non- important parts of the sketch. But luckily I was able to figure it out and it all work out really well.

Reflect on the critique and consider how your experience was different from the first: was the feedback you received helpful? Be specific about why or why not.
 

- I thought the critique went really well. It was different from the first because personally, I liked this project better, so it was easier for me to make something I was interested in and had a good idea. The feedback was helpful. People mentioned maybe changing the color to something more noticeable from afar. Personally I liked my color choice because it was more for when you entered the bathroom and looked at yourself in the mirror to be able to see the image. But I would be interested to try a different color if we did the project again. Also since I installed it in an all gender bathroom, the figure read well to be including all genders. People suggested that if you did really examine the image, it does look a bit more feminine. Instead I could try to make it more neutral for both genders- this meaning it could be interpreted as a male or female. But that change could be very simple without taking away form the overall sketch. 

Please share any other thoughts.

- I liked this project. Since we don't have the resources at home like vinyl, it was an interesting concept and it was fun to see others ideas seen around campus.