LJL ILLUSTRATED VECTOR MAP

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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CREATIVE PROCESS:

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VISUAL COMMUNICATION/DIGITAL PLATFORM:

There were many merits and demerits that I came across while working in adobe illustrator. Some of them are as follows:

Merits:

• There were many tools like start global edit, eyedropper tool etc, that were available in illustrator that made my work easier.

• There were two aspects that I wanted to cover in map. I wanted the map to have a cartoonish look but at the same time still be accurate with the colours. This was easily attainable because of the eyedropper tool.

Demerits:

• Due to system malfunction, I kept on loosing my work. This eventually led to a time crunch.

• My inexperience of using this program did result in some problems.

While trying to colour some parts of the map I started realising that I had made a lot of such mistakes in my map. So while doing each step I had to spend a lot of time fixing the mistakes I made in the previous steps in order to move forward.

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CONCLUSION:

Despite all the struggles faced, this project helped me become more confident while using adobe illustrator. Even for simple sketches that are required for think lab, I now feel confident in using adobe illustrator.

(Think lab- Activity 9)

During the project I did face some barriers and noticed some of my strengths. Some of them are as follows:

Barriers:

• Despite having problems with my system, I faced another challenge of not communicating properly. I usually work during the weekends and when I lost my work, I didn't want to waste my time waiting till the next digital class so I tried figuring it out by myself. I now feel I should have tried to fix this problem by reaching out to the right people instead of redoing it three times.

• This same problem also limited my iterative approach. I should have tried talking to more people to get more ideas, techniques and suggestions.

• While making the map I also noticed how much I was depending on colour alone to communicate the vibe I was going for. I feel like this in a way acted like a barrier for me from exploring more means to communicate.

(The colour swatch I used to communicate comfort and nostalgic by making a connection between these words and cartoons.)

Strengths:

• I was able to grasp most of what was taught during the digital lab sessions. I also tried implementing most of what I could in my map.

Key Learnings:

• Even though I came to the desired colours and style within the first two trials, I learnt a lot of new techniques and their pros and cons through the iterative approach. I discovered that using this approach will help me explore much further than I normally would in the approach I usually take where I stop once I am satisfied.

(Iterative approach in icons)

• Another aspect I discovered was how effective group discussions can be in expanding ideas. For example; during the process of making the digital map, I faced difficulty in using shapes to communicate the vibe. However, in the discussions I saw how others had used shapes to make trees etc, and how using the shapes also managed to give the vibe they were going for.