Graphic Design+ Japan Enamel Pins

Hey guys! Here is some stuff that I've been working on over the past couple of months for my Graphic Design class and then lastly, I've also attached my pin designs for my Japan fundraising! (I'll show you the projects I've been working on for my drawing class once I get them all back after finals). I haven't shown you what I've worked on since I still haven't received my grades for these projects, but it's been a while since I've shared my assignments. 

So for Project 1, I had to design a matching poster and postcard for an event of my choosing. Most of my class made posters for concerts or apple picking events that were taking going on around that time, but I really wanted to make a fortune teller poster and decided to make one for Madame Lulu from A Series of Unfortunate Events. I had a clear idea of a glowing crystal ball in the middle of the poster, and what really carried this project was the digital painting. My professor liked my painting skills and color choices, as well as the type that I used, and his one correction was that "Lulu" was much more smoothly written than "Madame" and he suggested that I make the two lines of text look more similar to each other. For this class, we need to professionally print and mount our projects for presentation, and this day was lots of good memories. I spent a lot of time with my friend getting our projects done, and we went to print and buy mounting supplies together, and then he took me downtown for breakfast and we explored his favorite barber shop, antique store, and an art gallery for me. Good times. 

For Project 2, I had to create a logo (both in color and black and white), a letterhead, business card, and envelope. It's kind of ironic because I already have my "identity" set up for my business, and I definitely could have done more with this project, but basically, I just sketched out all the separate components in ink and used Adobe Capture on my phone to quickly turn them into vectors, and then I just put them together in InDesign. It was easy peasy, took me like three hours total, so I was pretty nervous presenting it to the class, but he loved it-- said it was simple and playful. He said that the back of the business card stands out a lot in comparison to everything else and would have liked to see that deeper pink throughout more of my project, but liked it otherwise. 

I don't feel really pushed to be more creative or to learn better design techniques in this class since the professor is very pleased with me incorporating fine art into my designs and keeping everything else pretty simple. Since this is an intro level class, I'm hoping that more advanced courses are going to push me more, but I can't complain if I don't have to work crazy hard for a good grade. 

Lastly, for my enamel pins, these are for my Japan trip fundraiser. I designed these with my friend and we came up with the concepts together. She said white rabbits, weasels, and foxes are all popular in Japan, and I thought it would be cute to have three animal pins, especially since the white bun looks like my own rabbit Jerome. I've sent the designs to my pin producer, and hopefully I won't have to make too many adjustments before completing the order. The plating will be rose gold, and each will have two rubber clasps.

Let me know your thoughts on the pins! I'm not sure if they're too simple or boring. I think they're kinda cute.