I accidentally deleted the 2nd actual post. Unlike the first and the third post, I won’t be writing the feedback/comments that I write on it because it takes too long :/

Still going to do it for all the other posts.

If you know these song lyrics, you know it's Blink 182. I remember singing these lyrics carelessly in 1st grade at recess and very loudly at any Pilipino gathering with Karaoke. Today, these lyrics are more and more what it feels like to be someone in the workforce - especially if you're chasing after your dreams. For the past year, I've been working as a Graphic Designer while filming and designing anything for skateboarding. I grew up skateboarding and it's helped me cope with a lot of issues in my life. Story for another time. Though I was able to work really hard and got recognition from HUF Worldwide and was recently brought onto the Harold Hunter Foundation team, I got really burnt out. Until recently, I haven't felt motivated even though I claimed to be self motivated. I learned to integrate my work with my life and was enjoying it. But I still burned out. Recently, my cousin gave me a book to read that I started to feel motivated again. It's called the Compounding Effect. It's not exactly will power that is motivating me, it's why power. Almost everything in my life has come back to why am I doing something. Like I said yesterday, why I'm doing this is to get better.

Copy of Week 1 or Day 1

Using all of the text provided, create a layout using One Weight and One point size of Helvetica Neue

When I first started my Graphic Design career, I was really excited and was on Youtube every single day watching videos. When I landed my job in NYC, I decided to just be comfortable for a year, skateboard a lot, and let my job teaching me a lot of Graphic Design skills. I definitely did learn a lot this past year, but I still have imposter syndrome because I don’t have a formal education.

A year ago, I decided to buy a course from The Futur, a great graphic design community that has been my foundation for graphic design. The course focused on typography which is the number one thing that I think Graphic Designers need to know if they want to make it in this industry. At first, I was getting a lot from it, but for some odd reason, I just didn’t want to finish or even continue with it. I think it was because I was just focusing on trying to break into the Skateboarding industry. I was successfully able to, but recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I don’t want to be an employee forever and that a good way to make money is by investing in stocks. While these things seem disjointed, they’re connected because I recently reconnected with my cousin who gave me some self development books to read which are linked to a job that she works.

Anywho, the assignment is in the first image. In short, for 7 weeks, follow the rules. For the first week, using 5 1/3 x 8 paper, use helvetica neue in one weight and one point size and fit all of the copy given. Since I feel like I’m behind, I created 5 designs in one day. I’ll talk about each one below

Week 1 or Day 1

Using all of the text provided, create a layout using One Weight and One point size of Helvetica Neue

Design 1

The Futur provides a typography manual that has gotten me through my small graphic design career. One of the rules is aligning everything to the left and creating hierarchy with your design. This is a simple layout that I’ve used in dozens of designs for clients that makes things look modern and very simple. There is a good amount of white space. However, this is sometimes the only design that I know how to do which makes me a little mad because I would love to be making better designs. If you have any suggestions, please let me know~

Design 2

Helvetica Neue Thin
Point 20

I usually work with 2 point sizes and 2 weight sizes so it was a little awkward for me to make this design. I tried to use what the Typography Manual gave which was align left and make sure that everything is related in some way. However, the hierarchy in this one is not right. I know that the DZN is the Mast Head which should be the first thing people see. However, the first thing seen in this design to me is the date which is then followed by the features.

A better solution now looking at this would be to rotate the DZN, The Journal for Graphic Design, In this issue 90 degrees clockwise and break up the type into chunks. I could then rotate features with the names counter clockwise 90 and break them up into groups. I’ll try this and post later on.

Design 3

Helvetica Neue Bold

Pt 22

Since the Pt size and the Weight were both large, I think the most that I could do was group the copy into 3 so DZN goes with THe Journal for Graphic Design and the date. In this issue is it’s own section. ANd the features go together. However, after watching the videos for The Futur, I’ve realized that I put the copy way to close to the edges which is something that I shouldn’t do. To solve this, I could decrease the pt size which would create more white space and make it less cluttered

Design 4

Helvetica Medium

Pt Size: 15

I think this one was probably my best one. I did design all of these on a fibonnaci grid or tried my best to do so. I do feel like the word “Design” in “The Journal for Graphic Design” is a little lonesome and should be rearranged liked this:

The Journal for
Graphic Design

Design 5

Helvetica Regular

Pt size: 10

With a smaller point size, things aren’t as easy. There’s a lot of white space here which I only realized after watching The Futur critiques in the Modules. Later, I ended up pushing the two groupings together so that there would actually be a relationship. However, if a photo was to fill the middle of this layout, I still think this design could work. However, since it’s just type, it’s a different story.

photo: andrew kodama, summer 2018

My name is Bradley Afroilan and I’m a self taught graphic designer living in New York City who designs, animates, and shoots photos for a living. (Or at least trying too)

In short, this blog is to keep me accountable and for me to track my progress as I get better as a Graphic Designer. I’ll be posting everything that I do/learn on here for however long. While I already have 2 years of experience as a graphic designer, I still have imposter syndrome because I didn’t go to school for it. (I went to UC Berkeley for Sociology and thought I was going to be a Professor and here we are)

While good friends of mine still reassure me and tell me that I don’t need to prove myself to anyone, I still want to get better. The one thing that I lost after graduating 2 years ago was my love of knowledge. (But what can you expect after 17 years of formal education? Burnout is very likely nowadays).

I’ll be posting here as often as I can so that I can keep myself accountable and just to put my work out there. Follow me on instagram @avecserif.designer as I try to compound my skills as often as I can~