Best of 2013

• The Cloister - I got to go see The Cloisters for the first time ever over the summer. I had actually never heard of The Cloister until my summer professor told the class that we were taking a field trip there. Although I didn't get to explore the whole museum, I did learn a lot about the square garden from making lots of drawings of the garden.
• Fragments (Renzo Piano Building Workshop exhibition) - This was my first time going to see an exhibition full of models of an architect's works throughout his life. Each model was so detailed and neat that it didn't seem to be put together by a human hand. Also each of Piano's design was very unique and different from each other. It was a very interesting exhibit.
• Junior/Senior Officer - I never thought that I would turn out to be a Senior Officer now. A year or two ago, I would have never image myself taking on something that required leadership skill and/or participation in discussions. At the time, I only knew that I wanted to plan my own senior year and so I signed up for the position. Truly, I never thought that I would get the position; and so this whole officer thing still seemed somewhat of a dream to me.
• Going to school two weekends in a row - I never thought that I would have the experience of going to school for 14 straight days. Over summer, I had to go back to school during the weekend to finish my projects as the deadlines were coming up. It was a horrible/great experience. It was horrible because I didn't to relax over the weekend. It was great because I sort of got to know my classmates better during those times.
• Highline - I walked the Highline over summer with my dad and brother, starting from the half way point. It was a nice experience because I hardly ever got to go anywhere with my family. It was a nice family bonding time, discussing about the construction and structure of the Highline. 
• College Interview - It was not as scary as I thought it would probably because my interviewer was nice and friendly. We talked about everything, ranging from school to Hurricane Sandy to personal experience. The whole interview seemed like a chit-chat between friends. Hope that future interviews will also be as comfortable.
• Hadar Foundation 20th Anniversary Celebration - It was the first formal event that I had ever been. I didn't know what to expect, but I tried my best to dress nice. That day was very cold and I was wearing a dress, but it was worth it that I was able to hear professionals doing some wonderful playing, acting, and singing. 
• Submitting my first college application - It was a nerve-wrecking experience. I checked over my application again and again to make sure that everything was where it was supposed to be. At the end, I felt lightening up after the submission because I had one less thing to worry about. 
• Working until the last minute - At the end of my summer class, I had a final group project where my group mates and I worked until the last few seconds of the deadline. That day, I had less than 5 hours of sleep but was still able to do a decent presentation of the project to a group of audience. Guess what? My group was also the first group to go. 
• Chelsea Music Festival - I was supposedly to present a project to the guests that were coming to hear the shows, but that day, I couldn't present the project to anyone because the table was set up outdoor, where there were no outlets. Instead I got to hear the show for free along with the paid guests. The singers were amazing and their voices were all in harmony with each other. 
• Gates of Paradise - This was the last book of series that I loved. I waited one year for this book to come out and I finished the whole book in one day. I was disappointed that the series had ended, but I loved the happy ending. 
• Bus - On my way back from The Cloister, I took the bus and got off at the wrong stop. I got off at the west side of the central park, when I was supposed to get off at the east of central park. Since I didn't know when the next bus was coming, I walked all the way home, which was around 10 avenues and 5 streets from where I got off the bus.  
• Watching movie - My brother and I hardly got to spend quality times hanging out with each other because of all the school works. So I had the greatest time ever, when we got to re-watch a funny movie from our childhood together while eating a late lunch one Saturday. 

Green Team Logo

1. How does your logo design represent the after school club or activity?
My logo design represents the after school club through the symbol, which is an image of a sprout. The color green also reinforces the purpose of the club or what the club is about (which is being green).
2. Which process was most helpful in creating your design?
The concept board and the digital draft on Gimp were the most helpful processes in creating my design.
3. What was the most challenging aspect about the logo design?
The most challenging aspect about the logo design was coming up with different and unique ideas for the logo design. There were too little symbols that represented all aspects of the club. I had to pick one aspect of the club to work with. Using Gimp to create the design was challenging as well.
4. Are you satisfied with your final design? Why is your logo successful? If you are not satisfied with your design, what would you like to change?
I am satisfied with my final design because I have put in a lot of efforts and overcome many problems to create the design. My logo is successful because my logo represents an important aspect of the club, which I think is the urban farm. Also the logo promotes the idea of being green by protecting the plants.

basically sum up my vacation...Can't Wait!!!!

Summary of Green Team

The Green Team (a.k.a the Environmental Club) is a club that promotes the school to go green (by recycling paper, bottles, and lunch trays) with handmade posters that are put up near trash bins. However, the Green Team does not only focus on the school. There are many other fun things that the team also does. During the cold weather season, the team would come up with different projects to work on indoor to promote the school to go green or fund-raise money to help the school or raise awareness of certain environmental issues (happening globally or domestically). During the warmer season, the team would get ready to start farming and planting on the small plot of land that the team had at the Battery Urban Farm; the team members get to grow and harvest their own vegetables.

Finding Typefaces...

Decorative: the typeface is used on a pencil holder

The typeface is not really appropriate for the object because pencil holder and reading don't relate to each other and also the design of the word "cool" has nothing to do with the feeling of being cool. 

Modern: the typeface is used for the title of a chapter in a book

The typeface is appropriate in this case because the typeface give the title a sense of fanciness and elegance which in some way matches the beautiful design above the title.  

Oldstyle: the typeface is used for the text of a book

The typeface is appropriate here because most books, since very long ago, have used oldstyle for the text, and so that means that many people are used to reading book with such typeface. Plus this typeface is easier to read when it comes to books.

Slab Serif: the typeface is used for the men restroom sign in this sign

The typeface is appropriate for its purpose because the typeface allows the restroom sign to stand out in a somewhat fancy way among the signs that mostly use sans serif typefaces.

Sans Serif: the typeface is used for the sign on the subway platform

The typeface is appropriate for its purpose because sans serif seems to be the most commonly-used category of  typefaces for signs in this contemporary world and so using this kind of typeface in a public area allows people to easily be able to read/recognize the words (especially due to the bold-looking letter in the typeface). 

Script: the typeface is used for the name of a beauty salon

The typeface is appropriate for its purpose because people go to a beauty salon to become pretty and script gives people a sense of elegance which is normally associated with beauty.

photo editing

Letter to Symbol Reflection

While using Gimp, what was most frustrating aspect of the program and/or project? 
While using Gimp, the most frustrating aspect of the program was that I had to constantly remember to click on the layer that I wanted to make edits on. Usually, I remembered to click off all the eyes on the other layers except for the layer that I wanted to view, but I kept on forgetting to click on the layer I wanted to work on. I would get so angry and confused, not knowing why I couldn't make the changes. Then I would try out different things . At some point, I just realized that I selected another layer and became mad at myself for being so dumb. This had happened quite a few times, but now I learned my lesson and hopefully would not make the same mistake again as the year went on. 

After completing the project, which Gimp tools do you feel most confident in using? Explain why.
After completing the project, the Gimp tools that I feel the most confident in using are the pencil tool, eraser tool and the path tool. These three tools are the main tools that I have used to create the images in each layer. Throughout the project, I use the pencil tool and eraser tool to draw and change each layer. I actually play with some of the features of the pencil/eraser tool such as the angle and size of the tool to fix up the edges of the lines a bit. After you introduce the path tool, I start using the path tool whenever I have to make a curve. The path tool makes each line more smoother than the result one will get if lines are drawn by hands. After using these tools so much, I become confident in using them.

Which Gimp Tool do you wish you were better at using? Explain why.
 I wish I were better at using the other tools that I haven't use in this project. I don't have a single tool that I wish I were better at using because I have been mostly using the three tools that are mentioned about and so I didn't have a chance to explore the other tools. So I wish I could be able to be familiarized with the other tools first and understand which tool(s) is/are my weakness(es). 

What would you like to create with Gimp next?
I want to create a collage of pictures and photos because I want to learn how to edit pictures on this photo-editing software. I also want to create an animation that tells a story, not a GIF.