Flashback to the First Grade

Our first in class exercises involved construction paper and handwriting, reminds you of the first grade a little bit, doesn't it? You may be thinking, "You're paying a lot of money to play with construction paper, really?" Technically, that's true. The first few weeks of the program involve teaching us to recognize how we think/create and get ideas flowing. The construction paper teaches us design concepts (some of which are listed below) and the handwriting exercise teaches us about typography.

I've also started working on my first real design project that is supposed to be in honor of Black History Month. I've got some ideas running through my head, but I need to do some research on past design styles so I can plan it out better. I'll keep you updated as I progress. In the meantime, here are the exercises for your viewing pleasure. :)

Exercise 1: Symmetry

Create one symmetrical composition that is composed of three lines, two circles, and two rectangles.

Since I only had black and white construction paper to use, I put the composition on a blue background so they could be seen easier.

Exercise 2: Asymmetry

Create one asymmetrical composition that is composed of three lines, two circles, and two rectangles.

Exercise 3: Positive/Negative Space
Create one composition that uses the negative space as an active design component. Use a subject pair to communicate--birth/death, love/hate, etc.

I decided to use light and dark as my pair.

Exercise 4: Handwriting, Typography, and the 27th Letter
We got this printout with a serif and a sans serif font and we had to draw the letters of our name by hand, like they did before computers; that's why it was an exercise in handwriting. The second part of the exercise was to create a "27th letter" that followed the serif and sans serif format.

Here's the handout

This is what my letters looked like.

My 27th letter combined the k, g, and p. I included the "p" aspect because it started to look too much like a rabbit before.