Evaluation
For the final learning outcome for Unit 78 we were tasked to create a set of gaming icons for an iPhone/Smartphone.
We were told to select 4 or 5 genre's to base our work on and to come up with developmental planning for each (Shapes, Colours and Images associated with them). We then created our icons based around these genres, my chosen 4 were Sci-Fi, Fantasy, War and Horror i also originally had a 5th genre, Sport but because i fell behind i ended up dropping it.
To come up with my ideas i first(and mainly) looked at icons for games on the android market place. and then at icons on game digital distributors such as Steam. then began designing the concepts.
Because there were multiple final designs, one for each of my chosen genres, some have turned out better than others, for example my Fantasy and Sci-Fi icons are by far my best and i spent the longest creating. my War icon was a simple icon i created in a rush using one of my 3d models from Unit 66, so i didn't have high expectations for that one, and my original version of my Horror icon was rushed but turned out okay, however when i got more time closer to the end of the year i decided to add/redesign it, so i changed my final ideas to one of the designs i came up with with classmate inrek, this icon design ended up being of my best.
I was majorly disappointing with my time management skills for unit 78, by the end I left far too much work either unfinished or not started and by the time we had moved on, i was having to go back and add things to my U78 work, meaning i was getting further behind on my current work.
My time management would have been much better if i had gotten all the planning work done and out of the way as soon as it was given, this would have allowed me more time for my actual production work. In the future i will endeavour to keep work up to date and complete it on schedule.
Out of the whole icon making process I found getting used to using Photoshop the most difficult. The naming of all layers, pictures and elements was tough to get the hang of, not because it was difficult to do, I just kept forgetting to do it, but once I got the hang of it it made it much easier to keep my Photoshop files organised. also getting used to the tools effectively took some time. But by the end of the year (when I finally got all my Unit 78 work complete) I realised that I retained and remembered the skills I learnt this year.
The concept drawings, designing and developing my ideas were what I found the most enjoyable. this was also the work I got completed the quickest, but because I kept going back to it and adding further stuff to it, I didn't hand it in until the end of the year.
The basic designs of my icons were most comparable to some of the icons for games and applications on the Android (Google Play) marketplace. The easiest to compare would be my sci-fi icon and the icon for the 3D Space Invader game; 3D Invaders Beta - 3D Game, both of which have an image of a UFO as the central image of the design. Each of them contains basic traits easily identifiable with the Sci-Fi genre; Blues, Blacks and smooth designs. The largest difference is the fact that the Google play game uses a 3D image of one of the in-game models of a UFO while my icon uses an image i created in Photoshop, although the image on my icon is better (smoother, cleaner) looking than the image in the game icon, the fact that they have used an actual in-game element as a part of the icon means that their icon is advertising the graphical quality of their game on the android marketplace.
The majority of people i showed my designs to liked them, especially the Sci-Fi and Fantasy designs. I could have improved upon the time it took to design and then digitally improve my designs in Photoshop.
If i could go back and do it all again i would have put as much effort into designing my war icon as i would have creating the rest of the i would have also gotten my 5th Icon (which was going to be sport) completed, instead i ended up dropping that genre because i was running out of time.
Throughout this project i have learnt how to create, modify and use layers more effectively in Photoshop, as well as becoming more comfortable using Photoshop.
My time management would have been much better if i had gotten all the planning work done and out of the way as soon as it was given, this would have allowed me more time for my actual production work. In the future i will endeavour to keep work up to date and complete it on schedule.
Out of the whole icon making process I found getting used to using Photoshop the most difficult. The naming of all layers, pictures and elements was tough to get the hang of, not because it was difficult to do, I just kept forgetting to do it, but once I got the hang of it it made it much easier to keep my Photoshop files organised. also getting used to the tools effectively took some time. But by the end of the year (when I finally got all my Unit 78 work complete) I realised that I retained and remembered the skills I learnt this year.
The concept drawings, designing and developing my ideas were what I found the most enjoyable. this was also the work I got completed the quickest, but because I kept going back to it and adding further stuff to it, I didn't hand it in until the end of the year.
The basic designs of my icons were most comparable to some of the icons for games and applications on the Android (Google Play) marketplace. The easiest to compare would be my sci-fi icon and the icon for the 3D Space Invader game; 3D Invaders Beta - 3D Game, both of which have an image of a UFO as the central image of the design. Each of them contains basic traits easily identifiable with the Sci-Fi genre; Blues, Blacks and smooth designs. The largest difference is the fact that the Google play game uses a 3D image of one of the in-game models of a UFO while my icon uses an image i created in Photoshop, although the image on my icon is better (smoother, cleaner) looking than the image in the game icon, the fact that they have used an actual in-game element as a part of the icon means that their icon is advertising the graphical quality of their game on the android marketplace.
The majority of people i showed my designs to liked them, especially the Sci-Fi and Fantasy designs. I could have improved upon the time it took to design and then digitally improve my designs in Photoshop.
If i could go back and do it all again i would have put as much effort into designing my war icon as i would have creating the rest of the i would have also gotten my 5th Icon (which was going to be sport) completed, instead i ended up dropping that genre because i was running out of time.
Throughout this project i have learnt how to create, modify and use layers more effectively in Photoshop, as well as becoming more comfortable using Photoshop.
