Week 2: Personality and the Professional Environment

Homework: Take the following online test (http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp) to see what personality type you are. Discuss your personality type on your blog answering the following questions: What personality type are you? Who else (famous people) share this personality type with you? Did the results of this test suprise you? Do you agree with your personality assessment (why/why not)? How do you think your personality would fit into the workplace - (you would work better in a small studio or a large global agency, you are a manager or a team member?).

After taking the test from Human Metrics (http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp), my personality type is as follows:

My personality type is Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging (ISTJ) or commonly named, inspectors. “ISTJ’s tend to have a keen sense of right and wrong in terms of area of interest and/or responsibility”(Humanmetrics.com, 2016) which I feel represents my personality quite well, as my feelings guided myself to undertake a graphic design study. “ISTJs often give the initial impression of being aloof and perhaps somewhat cold” (Humanmetrics.com, 2016) This line reflects my persona, as I often get told I look as if I do not want to be bothered although I try to be the opposite in most cases. “the ISTJ can be depended upon to carry it through, even at the expense of their own health.”(Humanmetrics.com, 2016). I always try to make myself a reliable teammate when it comes to group work. “ISTJs are easily frustrated by the inconsistencies of others”(Humanmetrics.com, 2016). I am always observant of others in hopes to learn from their technique or style, however it does cause myself some frustration when I notice that things could be done better or more efficiently. Madonna was the only recognisable celebrity to me that shared a similar personality. It is understandable that she would, as ITSJ are passion driven and her being a solo artist reflects the introverted side of this personality type. I agree with the results of the personality quiz due to almost every paragraph of the summary has an element I can directly relate to. In terms of the workplace, my personality would be more suited towards a small studio with myself as a team member. The reason for this being someone who can be seen as cold or not friendly is not someone you would want as a manager, as well as me being a team member is more suitable as I tend to be too sincere with my criticism and cannot discipline people well. I always find it hard to approach others without any prior connection to them, which is done on a daily basis as a manager. Also the smaller studio being the preference is due to my frustration over inconsistencies of others as shown by the results, now since the studio is smaller I am able to contribute to fixing them. Bibliography: Humanmetrics.com,. (2016). ISTJ Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging. Retrieved 23 February 2016, from http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/istj Humanmetrics.com,. (2016). Leverage Your Personality Type. Retrieved 23 February 2016, from http://www.humanmetrics.com/hr/jtypesresult.aspx?EI=-9&SN=9&TF=1&JP=16

Week 1: Introduction to Professional Practice for Graphic Design

Homework: Find one object (can be anything - a photo, poster, toy, piece of clothing, tea cup, designed object, etc) that defines or inspires you as a designer and prepare a 5 min speech to the class about this object.What is special about this object and how have you incorporated elements of this into your design work/creative practice? What does this object say about your personality and personal style?

I do not have a constant source of inspiration as I tend to draw my ideas from what is new at the time.

The item I chose is my headphones I use occasionally as they reflect my design personality quite well.

To start, the headphones aren't overly flashy and the branding is kept fairly subtle, however all the little things are all done well which gives them a premium look and identity. With a closer look on the headphones, the stitching for the leather is almost perfect, the size of the earmuffs cover the whole ear comfortably, the leather itself has a nice soft touch texture, the metal parts have a chamfered edge and all this is topped off with a dark blue to compliment the grey.

Although it is arguably not the best for sound quality when compared to others in the same price range. The sleek design makes up for it.

Basically I consider the aesthetic of the items as I feel it is important before considering the quality of the product itself. This is similar to how I look at designs as I prefer them to be balanced overall in terms of art and technique, as the headphones sit in the middle of good sound quality and design.

Now there isn't any unique features or neat additions on these headphones and they only offer the bare minimum experience, however the design of it focuses on perfecting core aspects of headphones.This reflects my style of design as I consider myself not good enough with a pencil or Photoshop to create something super creative or artistic, so I focus on perfecting the core aspects of the design in order to get my design to stand out rather than attempting to create an art piece, similar to the design concept of the headphones.

This translates to spending too much time focusing on the smaller things in a design such as choosing the right typeface. With every design I usually spend an excessive amount of time just browsing through different fonts to find ones that complement each other. Another example is I would question if the design would look better if I added in a something small like a line or dot in this area. Choosing colours also takes up a fair amount of my time, although I assume it does for everyone else as well.

My design concept is to keep things simple, and then continue to add subtle details until the design feels whole. I much prefer a sharp clean design over a messy one.

The headphones are a reflection of this as the design of them is not complex at all. It does not have any unnecessary elements and the headphones are kept as simple as possible. Although this does come with some negatives, such as the headphone band cannot fold into itself for compact packaging or the ear cups cannot pivot to give extra comfort.

However this suits my design style as it’s not based around creating amazing art, or in terms of the headphones the addition of unique features. Which reflects upon my style of keeping things simple and precise.

Overall the headphones are a reflection of my pickiness when it comes to the small things in a design and I tend to spend too much time perfecting them, as I understand that my art side is not my strong point so I focus on the core aspects of the design itself.