8- Rachael Smith

This class has been a great learning experience so far. I have learned a new kind of notetaking that I have started to use in other classes as well and have learned some great life lessons. Another thing I have learned more about is "playing the whole game" being a Fine Arts minor and doing graphic design for many years I have learned a lot about the importance of each step individually. However, this class has taught me the importance of the entire cycle along with a few extra steps and parts to the "game" that I didn't know before.

I always knew sketches were very important. They let people convey what they want to their audience in a quick and free way. I never really took the time to make detailed sketches because all my sketches in the past have been for myself and maybe to show my piliminary ideas to my clients. This has always worked for me but in this class I have learned how to make my sketches more friendly to my clients so they are able to fully understand what I am thinking. I have learned to annotate and label my sketches and how to make them quickly but still look presentable. Practice makes perfect.

I didn't know about "obvious design". Every designer really wants their design to be and "obvious design" but I was unaware that there was actually a word for it and that it would fit into the "playing the whole game" cycle. Since learning about "obvious design" I have changed the way I look at different designs and along with that my style has shifted a bit as a designer. By taking a look at designs that were and weren't obvious and reading about it I have made more of an effort to make it an obvious design more myself and others rather than what I think is obvious, that idea also came from learning about persona and their importance in the whole game. They make me think of how others will see the design even before critiques and have help me make more designs for consumers rather than for myself.