Mastery: The mastery course has made me open my eyes and examine the motives for starting my mastery Journey. Also learning about some of the men and women who overcome different obstacles in their lives to become great made me realize that I can do anything that I can put my mind to.
Defining Client Needs: Not only did the city logos project enhance my logo design abilities, but it also gave me new approaches to research and develop concepts. I usually open Illustrator and go right to designing. Every concept is now thoroughly explored and subjected to several concept sketches before the best design are further developed. The concepts and approaches taught in this class were used in my thesis presentation.
Brand Development: As a person that is not a fan of creating vision boards, the course has made me appreciate vision boards a lot. The course has also taught me hierarchy, color, and typography. Emphasizing on vision boards, I created vision boards that defines the look and feel of whatever that is on a vision board (color, typography, textures, etc.) and unifies it to define a brand. Created a logo and a vision board for my neighborhood branding project in the CST section on my thesis presentation.
Effective Copywriting: This course was a fun course, but at the same time I felt like I was failing because I wasn’t a great writer. I learned that target audience profiles are useful for any design-related project. Creating testimonial ads for Earthjustice also demonstrated how to establish a voice and tone that appeals to the user’s hierarchy of needs. The course a
Design Research: The course was an introduction to finding the Unique Selling Proposition (USP)–the one thing that stands out from the rest of the competition. I worked on the branding for Little Haiti, which is a small neighborhood that is in the heart of Miami. In the branding project, I used primary and secondary research and comparison to synthesize and transform to build a brand for an area in Miami that is significantly different from what Miami is known for. I have also created a comparative analysis to identify and understand the areas of differentiation available to Little Haiti. Empathy maps were created as well, and all were used on the CST section of my thesis presentation.
Organizational Structures: This course was more of an “Intro to Motion Graphic Graphics” course. The course had made get out of my comfort zone to be versatile and utilize other Adobe programs (Premiere Pro and After Effects) than the ones I am already comfortable with. After Effects is not my strongest application, but the class overall made me learn that it takes time and practice to learn something. The more you practice, the better you become. The course has also taught me how to create annotated bibliographies to inform the reader of the accuracy and quality of the sources cited.
Design Strategies & Motivation: This course and the courses going forward was the development of BoxPark Sushi. We as a class dived into a study of design strategies, brand tone and voice, and prepared a creative brief for the BoxPark Sushi brand. Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Alreck’s Shopping List of Needs, I conducted primary and secondary research and narrowed down the target market the brand will appeal to. The rationale behind the brand was a vital part of my thesis presentation.
Design Integration: My brand identity skills grew with the creation of the voice & tone of BoxPark Sushi, a dynamic and static vision board. A media plan was also created to determine some of the assets to reach the brand’s target audience. With all the research and strategies that was gathered, we created a design brief for BoxPark Sushi–which serves as a blueprint that will help us shape the overall strategies and goals for the brand.
Multi-Platform Delivery: The major problem that needed to be solved was making the brand stand out from the rest of the sushi restaurants in Eastside Milwaukee. The goal was to create a logo that doesn’t fall into the stereotypical Japanese restaurant color scheme and look, and the mission was complete! Also created media assets (print, signages, social media) to draw attention, increase familiarity with the brand, and communicate the new identity and purpose through the brand’s voice& tone. The logo and the assets were the highlight of my thesis presentation.
Measuring Design Effectiveness: First time creating infographics, and surveys gave me a new perspective on my design solution for BoxPark. After looking at the survey responses, it was determined that they would go to the restaurant if it was real and step out of their comfort zone and try sushi with a Caribbean twist. In order to avoid bias, I would have to seek a lot of input from other and make my designs accessible to everyone.
Presentation of Design Solution: I was extremely nervous that my thesis will not be the best and probably not graduate on time. The thesis presentation shows how the designer can solve a problem from conception to post-production. Defining a target audience and building brand awareness are problems that may be included. I presented my thesis and my portfolio–both show how I would solve a particular problem. Even though it was stressful and tiring, I have the confidence to analyze, identify, and solve problems for a brand.
Jerry Medireck's Mastery Journey 