Challenge #1

        When I first saw this man, I knew I wanted the basis of the product to have something to do with mountains. I didn't know exactly what that would look like, but I just googled a few different mountain backgrounds to see what would look best. I've always loved mountains and my dream is to live out in Colorado some day.
        I started this project by adding the Matterhorn to his undershirt. It's a mountain with a thin peak so I knew it would fit in the small space. I used a layer mask to fit it inside the shirt, and then cut out the rest of the sky in the pic to leave just the peak. I messed around with a few adjustment layers and blending modes, but ended up pretty much leaving the picture the same as the original. The background was easy to put in, I just used the magic wand and created a mask for it. The glow around Jarod was tough for me to figure out, but in the end it wasn't too complicated. I made a layer with a mask behind the man and drew in the white with the brush tool. I then used layer adjustments and feathered it out a little. The hardest aspect of this pic was the shirt. I knew I wanted to use this picture of trees with snow on them, but I couldn't blend it correctly. I had to lower the opacity and I think it looks okay now, but it probably could be better.
     The result turned out looking a lot better than I had anticipated!! It's very different from my original idea I had, but I really like it!

Basic Photo Editing in Photoshop Projects

         To start our graphic design class for this year, we had to photoshop 9 different pictures learning different techniques and styles along the way. Given to us was a multitude of different videos explaining how to make a change in each of the pics. It all wrapped up with a long, 6 video collage project where we completely transformed a model's photoshoot. I think mine turned out looking really good! 

original pic

edited pic

    Most of the other projects we did were about removing blemishes or fixing unwanted parts of the pictures. For this we used many different tools including content aware fill, patching, clone stamping, the healing brush, and the spot healing brush. One of the best examples I have of a drastic change comes from the 5th picture I edited:                                     :)                                                                                              T This project taught me the basics of photoshop, although I still feel like there's way way way more to learn. I enjoyed watching my progress and felt great when my results looked like the tutorial! There were a few set backs and obstacles along the way but there were also always ways to get around them. I'm very excited to work with photoshop more this year!

Self-Portrait Artist Statement

       

            For my self-portrait, I played The Office theme song on the piano for a couple different reasons. First, it shows that I enjoy playing piano. I've been playing for about a decade now and it is still one of my favorite things to do in my free time. I chose this song because I am a big fan of The Office and the song is actually really good! I enjoyed doing this but I also enjoyed the portraits that other people did where it was more interactive. I think mine felt like more of a show than a real portrait of myself.

            In all honesty, I forgot to work with my camera. First of all, I parked myself right in front of a window which back lit my whole shot and drowned out all of the color and contrast of my shot. The frame is decent as it gets all of my hands playing in the shot and really focuses on the piano. One thing I really focused on for this project was my sound. That was important and had to be of good quality because that's what the whole of the video revolved around. Next time I will put more thought  into both the sound and the video.

             From this project I learned that not every idea works on the first try! Or the second. Or third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth... you get the idea. I did a lot of takes and retakes to really get it right and I can still hear mistakes when I listen to it! That was my main challenge, as the rest of this was fairly easy, especially because there was no editing involved. I hope that when people watch this they feel happy and somewhat connected to the show. Hopefully most people recognize it, but even if they don't I want them to like the song!

Alex Pauli 4th Quarter Reflection -Final Exam-

Project

At the beginning of 4th quarter, we were put into different groups of 4 and 5, and were told to come up with a product to sell to the teachers at the end of the quarter. A little similar to Shark Tank, the tv show. This took us basically the whole quarter, about 9 weeks. One of the hardest parts for our group was coming up with our product, but we eventually decided on Polychrome Clothing. The clothing connects to an app on your phone and changes color and pattern with just the push of a button. Watch our commercial (above) to see it in action! You can also see our website that we presented above the commercial. We were originally going to create Polychrome Clothes for many different articles of clothing, but we settled on t-shirts and sweatshirts to not be too broad. I think that overall, our project turned out pretty good. There are some things we could've changed if we had more time, (i.e. making a more professional looking website, a better shot commercial, etc.), but I don't think it looks too bad. Some feedback we got after the presentation were questions on how the product works... but you'll have to ask our scientists for that! ☺

My Contributions

I was responsible for most of the website and our gif ad, as well as acting in the commercial. The website was definitely the most difficult part that I worked on, as there was so much to do and not a lot of time. Our team worked well to get everything done and in the website on time. There were times when we didn't all agree on a certain idea, but it was always solved pretty easily and we didn't get into any big fights. My favorite part of this project that I finished was the ad animation. I think it really turned out well and looks pretty cool.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I feel like after 4 quarters I am pretty well introduced to all aspects of the e-comm program but I'm excited for next year as I'll be focusing on video production and web design. I think those two areas are my strengths and I'd love to develop that more. My weakness in this program is probably the other two strands, as my creativity is not always the best. As long as I work with a well-balanced team, and keep working hard, the next three years will be great!

Summary

I loved how much freedom we had as a team, and how every team made something completely different and unique. The only thing I would change with this project is the commercial and the layout/design of the website. Neither of them look super professional, and I wish we had more time to clean them up a little bit. One goal I would like to set for next year is to make a really good video. I have one in my chase scene video (look up "Alex Pauli Chase Scene" on YouTube) but I would like more to show for myself. It was a great project, fun to make, fun to present, and overall pretty good.

CSS and CARP Design

Original Template

Finished Product

For this project, we had to take the template on the left, and add CSS styles to it to make it become the image on the right. These two sites started off as the same file, but the difference is that the finished one has many CSS styles put on it. The CSS styles are designing factors and changes that are put on something like a website or picture or a poster to make it look better. It can change color, the organization, and overall look of what you're applying it to. 

These especially help with CARP. Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, and Proximity.

Contrast: The first style started out as very plain, boring and similar but the CSS styles added different colors and fonts to spice things up a bit.

Alignment: Before all of the text and the picture were lined up correctly and looked neat, it was all over the place. CSS styles cleaned this up.

Repetition: Even with all of the added design, there is still repetition with the colors and the fonts. They either match or compliment each other.

Proximity: Instead of being all jumbled up, the individual paragraphs have a good amount of spacing between them for viewing.  

My favorite new technique I learned to do with CSS design was all of the text functions. There are many different things you can change from original basic text. Font, size, color, type, design, and adding links are all different tools within Dreamweaver.

Sketch-up House

The original house plan

For this project, we had to choose a house plan off of the internet and copy it ourselves in Google Sketchup. I chose a small 1 floor country style house that was 992 sq. feet and had 2 bed, 1 bath. I tried to pick a house that was basic enough for someone with little Sketchup experience to make. However, I didn't want a house that was too easy and way too simple. I think this house is a happy medium.
I basically started from the ground up on this project, making a big box and either adding to it, or cutting out of it along the way. I never had to fully restart, but I did have to scrap some ideas and redo different parts of the house. I learned a lot during this project, especially with problem solving. Just trying multiple different ideas over and over until it worked how I wanted it to. This wasn't a group project but it was nice to work next to others because we could all help and bounce ideas off of each other.

If I had to do this project again, I would choose a similar type of house but I would try to spend more time on the fine details. I tried to put a lot of effort into the model itself, so I would try to work on the details next time. I still think it turned out pretty well, and I'm happy with it for being a first project.

My Personality Type

My Myers-Briggs personality type is ESFJ, which means I am charismatic, dependable, and I work well with others. I think that this describes me
pretty accurately and many of these descriptions sound like who I try to be and what I try to do. Some famous people who are also ESFJ's consist of Pope Francis, Harry Truman, Colin Powell, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Hugh Jackman, Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez and many others.

One part of my personality type that I very much agree with says that I make family and friends my top priority, and that I like a sense of harmony and cooperation around me. I hate it when people fight and argue around me and will

 usually try to calm things down. However, I do argue a lot myself and hate losing conflicts so maybe I am an ESFJ for others, but a hypocrite myself. 

The extrovert part of my personality explains why I'm loud and why I get along well with others. I play team sports where I can be part of a group working towards a goal, and I enjoy surrounding myself with friends that I get along with. 

My entire type can explain why I lead in a group setting the way I do. I try to make sure that everyone else is getting along and working well, and in doing this I can establish myself as one of the leaders of the group. However, this can become a problem, and make me out as bossy, something that I really don't want to be. I can't remember a specific time that this has happened but I know that it has in the past.

Doing this project made me think about who I am around others, and I am quite happy with my result. I also learned what celebrities and other famous people are like me, and am proud to say that I have the same personality type as the pope! I am not catholic, but come on. That's pretty awesome.


We took another personality test telling us if we are a lion, otter, golden retriever, or a beaver. I was most like the otter and second most like the lion. Both of these are accurate descriptions of myself.
The otter is very social, he is a people person and enjoys being popular. The otter makes many friends easily and loves to goof off. He can talk too much and his room is often messy. The lion is a leader. He is a decision-maker, goal-oriented, and is competitive. The lion can be too bossy and aggressive  at times however.
I relate closest to the otter, but I also contain the characteristics of the lion.