Thursday, November 29, 2012

Q's Workshop

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Kelsie Foster                                                                                   November 28, 2012
ATS 240                                                                                          Writing Assignment #1

            Illustrator Q. Cassetti, offered up a lot of useful information, tips, and tricks as she took the time to do a workshop for our graphic design class.  I really admire her work and I am extremely grateful to have witnessed her in the act.  With each aspect of Illustrator that she demonstrated to us, I took it all in carefully and am confident that it will be valuable throughout my creative education and will translate into my graphic design career.  With over 25 years of visual art experience, I respect and admire all she has contributed to the design world thus far.
First, Q’s design is very well implemented in her conceptions.  She really has her style down and it is revealed nicely in her work.  She showed us numerous sketchbooks that she starts with before going into any work on Illustrator.  I like the fact that she does this because it is familiar to me since that is how I was always taught.  Expressing and playing around with your ideas and plans on paper first is always a smart idea before ever touching a computer and her sketchbooks made this evident.  Her designs tend to be very crisp, ornate, and visually descriptive.  I like that she has such an established design to her work and appreciate the fact that it shines through whether her client is for a jewelry collection or for a wine label.
Second, during her occupation, she has mastered logotype.  Logotype is an identifying symbol typically for use in advertising.  According to her website, (qcassetti.com) she has been actively involved for the following clients: Quest Diagnostics, Steuben Glass, The Corning Museum of Glass, The Baker Institute for Animal Health, Cornell University, Tiffany and Company, Estee Lauder, Origins Natural Resources, Corning Incorporated, T. Rowe Price, Lightship Communications, Omega One Communications, Nantucket Paper Chase, and Free Rein Wines.  With all of her involvement with these clients, she has truly learned exactly what logos are meant to be.  She mentioned to us the more we illustrate in Illustrator, the more we learn the tricks of the trade and become familiar with what design really means to us.  So, with knowing the fact that she started out just like me and is a successful designer/illustrator gives me hope that I will someday be able to execute my design into work as well as she does.
Third, during her workshop she demonstrated a variety of tools, shortcuts, and effects.  As we all know by now, graphic design and anything involved with it is extremely time consuming.  So, when working, the main idea Q always has in mind is how she can save herself time and make things easier.  With that being said, one of the tools she used a lot was the pathfinder tool.  Although it is a simple tool and known to many, she showed us how useful it actually can be.  What it does is combine paths, divide objects, subtract shapes, etc.  Another act she taught us was making our simple designs and patterns into brushes and adding them into our brush library for later use.  Also valuable, was how she showed us how to make a shape look three-dimensional by going to Effect-3D-Revolve.  For example, when trying to show a client what the label will look like on a wine bottle, this knowledge comes handy.
In conclusion, the workshop with Q. Cassetti was indeed a treat.  She was able to build up my knowledge of the program, Illustrator.  In addition to the knowledge she helped me attain, she was also a joy to watch and listen to which increased my admiration for her as not only a designer but a person as well.
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