Assignment 1 - Me, Myself and I

For this assignment, we need to do the following:
- Create ONE design based on the letters of my name, initial or nick name.
- Use these letters to interpret myself through manipulation of letters, use of symbols, shapes and colors (i.e. visual form).
Here are my 4 preliminary sketches (I used the first three letters of my Christan name):


The top left sketch is based on horror theme. I drew it because I liked to watch horror movies. The letter J is someone hanging.
The top right sketch is the food I liked. I think the design is quite obvious. I added a pair of chopsticks above the noodle so that the S won't looked too dull.
The bottom left sketch is based on maths symbols. The divide sign is my J, lesser than and the equal sign is my A and finally the dollar sign is my S.
For the last sketch, as you can see, is on Christmas theme.
After drawing the 4 preliminary sketches, we need to choose 1 from these 4 sketches and further develop them into 2 full scale roughs. Actually I liked the horror theme a lot, but I think it will be complicated if I convert it to a soft copy so end up I never choose it. During the critique session, one of my classmate said he think the maths symbols design is not bad which I also think so. However I never choose it because I scare my final design will be too simple. Therefore I chose the Christmas theme. Here is the roughs I developed:

The top design is the same as the last sketch. For the bottom design, the letter J is the presents falling down the chimney. After my tutorial session then I realized that I drew my J the wrong way. The top present should be at the left side instead on the right. I think the letter A and S should be quite obvious. Based on these 2 roughs, most of my classmates choose the bottom design therefore I decided to developed that into my final prototype.


My final artwork via computer graphic:

One problem with my design is the pink present near the Christmas tree. A few of my classmates think that it is a "I". They suggest me to take away all the presents near the Christmas tree and put some decorations on the tree itself to make it look like an A. The 2nd problem is that they said my rooftop should have some snow on it since it is snowing. The third problem, which I find it the hardest for me to edit, is the way I show my things in the house. Quite a lot of my classmates mistaken that the J and A is outside of the house. Therefore I need to do something on it to make it look like it is inside of the house.

During the consultation with the tutor, she suggest me on the things that I can change. Firstly, I can try to change all the wrapping paper of the presents to a consistent one. Secondly, I can try to make everything smaller and add a background.

After listening to all my classmates and the tutor feedback, I came out with my final design for this assignment. I decided to change my background color to blue which make it look cooler. Scale everything to a smaller size and add a snow background. Since I only had 3 letters which is a bit too simple, I tried to add extra things to my design. i added the flying santa and the reindeer but I didn't make it look dominant since I know that is not part of the letters of my name. I also added some colors inside the house to make it look nicer. Here is my final prototype: