Initials Project

Beginning this project seemed to be the hardest part of the whole endeavor. I started by making a list of things that could be used to describe me, such as family-oriented, ambitious, loves change, persevering, and adventurous. The whole list ended up being about a page long and covered everything from color choices I could use to things I like to do. However, even after I finished, nothing really stuck out as a starting point for my design.

When I got to class to work on the assignment for the first time, I spent most of the two hours playing with color palettes, trying to decide which colors define me most. The first combination I settled on was maroon combined with a deep green and gold. I loved the colors on their own, but when I started to create a design, they really didn't fit with what I wanted the final product to look like.

Then, instead of focusing on the colors, I began to experiment with different shapes and layouts. I used some of the words from my list and placed them in a line from the top of the page to the bottom and then tried to align them around a circle by using longer words for the bigger spaces between the margin and the circle and shorter words for the smaller spaces. I still didn't like the way the design was turning out, but I did find that I really liked the idea of using circles.

I created several templates with circles of various shapes, sizes and colors. As soon as I put my initials into the layout with one large circle, I realized that was the way to go and the color decision seemed very natural after that. After getting some input from the rest of the class, I attempted to put different quotes underneath the circle, but it became far too crowded. I had to once again take a step back and think about how to best represent myself. 

I kept one strong quote that really captures who I am. Family, friends and traveling are the most important things in my life and sometimes I wish I could be in two places at once. By avoiding the clutter, I was able to emphasize that point and I am very happy with the result.