ISABELLA ALVARENGA
DIGITAL MEDIA
Visual Metaphor T-Shirt Design: Petals not battery metals
1. My visual metaphor is about safe decomposition, and helping make the planet green instead of brown! The metaphor Green as petals, not brown as battery metals stook in my head as it rhymes and well, makes sense to me. The usage of non-reusable batteries is hurting the ecosystem, as it just ends up in landfill never to be seen again. All of those chemicals from the non-reusable batteries are harmful to the world and if not disposed of properly which highly happens all the time could affect our soils and ruin the decomposing stages. If a corroded non-reusable battery is in a forest it won’t decompose like dead plants and does not help decomposition at all. It’s best to use reusable batteries that can be charged over and over and can have way more power than non-reusable batteries. These reusable batteries are way less likely to disrupt the decomposing stages, as they are not a one-time use and you don’t dispose of them for a very very long time. Reusable batteries such as lithium-ion batteries are specially disposed of, to prevent dangerous lithium fires. So, Battery metals are not as powerful as petals. Save the decomposition stages from harmful waste such as non-reusable batteries and keep our planet clean.
2. The type of visual metaphor I created was "replacement". The characteristics my design has that make it this type of visual metaphor are the “bud” of the green flower- what I like to call it which is the earth, the “petals” which are replaced by the non-reusable batteries, and the “leaves” of the flower which are power logos. The “bud” (the earth) represents, well our world! The batteries (the petals) represent non-reusable batteries, as you can see that one by one they die and fall easily like flower petals but they don’t benefit the world as petals do. Using power logos as the leaves add more to the battery design, as they represent power from the stem which powers everything.
3. I started out with the design I made during a game to make visual metaphors, and thought that this would be a cool idea to do that isn’t really spoken about much. I sketched out two designs, both being very different but ranging from video gaming addictions to my final project, non-reusable batteries. I chose the second option, as I was struggling to carry on with the first option and one of my classmates had decided to use the video gaming addiction. Doing my final sketch of it, I started to work with illustrator. I made a 3D render version so I can start making ideas, and decided I wanted a minimalistic design that I would actually wear on a t-shirt. Using a lot of tools such as shape builder tools, shape maker, shaper tools, and even the knife tool helped me succeed on this project. The shape builder tool was a game changer for me, as using it made me help cut out almost more of half of the shapes shown on my design. From the clouds and land on the earth to the transparent filling on the batteries. Using keyboard shortcuts as the shift button when free transforming saves so much time as it still retains a similar height and width while transforming it to a smaller size. Using the shortcut Cmd + Shift + D helped me with transparency and aligning things together to make sure that they are properly aligned. I also used another shortcut which was Cmd + Y to help me also align shapes when using the shape builder tool to make sure I get clean merges and to also help make outlines so pen points aren’t making any bulges on the outlines. To help cut shapes, I used the shape builder tool with the shortcut alt/option + shift. I used this shortcut so much and it was so helpful as more than half of the shapes in my design were used using this shortcut.
I thought of doing a Frutiger aero-style design but then realized that it would be difficult for me to do, so I decided to go minimalistic. I looked online for minimalistic-looking designs that would help me make my design! I was successful with my research and as I made the shapes, I tried making the shapes as minimalistic as possible. For making the warped text that wraps around my design, I had to turn it into a path, and it recognizes it to transform it into a warped text. After I finished making my main design, I started to work with my mini design that goes on the front of the t-shirt. I wanted it very simplistic, and not so much like my main one. Cmd + C and then Cmd + V the earth from my main design and then free transforming + Shift to a smaller version starting my mini design. I wanted to at least keep the stem and power leaves but I decided not to as I wanted my mini design more of a wide rectangle size. I copy and pasted the text from my main design and wrapped it around the smaller earth, thus creating my mini design and finishing my final project for quarter 3. As I learn more and more about illustrator I get more comfortable with it to the point where I am able to help my peers!
4. The easiest part of creating my visual metaphor t-shirt design was making the front/mini design as all of it was just free transform and cmd + c and cmd + v. It wasn’t too hard to do and was quick. The most challenging part of creating my design was creating the land and clouds on the earth, as I had to make many rectangles and shape-build each of them specifically so the shapes turn out the way I want it. It took a while to fix them and was tedious work, along with using the knife tool and cutting piece by piece to have the shapes be on the edge of the earth's circle. The knife tool doesn’t exactly cut where you draw it, so it was tough trying to refine it and moving many pen points to make sure the shapes are on the edge of the earth.
5. Based on the learning target, "Apply refined observation and drawing skills in adobe illustrator to create a t-shirt design with a visual metaphor" the level of mastery my project demonstrates is "exceeds" as I have used many tools such as the shape builder tool, shaper tool, and even the knife tool to cut shapes and to refine them. Making more than one design for only one side but for two sides also shows my level of mastery. Using other tools such as warping text and turning text into a path to transform it also shows the "exceed" level. Showing and exceeding the mastery level shows my knowledge of usage of adobe illustrator and my creativity in using this program for future uses.