Mandala – Oscar Landgren's Student Portfolio

During my Global Perspectives or GPers units, we have always had a summative task, usually an essay, that sums up the unit. For our first unit, we looked at ourselves so we wrote an essay about our creation of our Mandalas. In the second, we explored faith, ethics and ideologies and chose one topic we were passionate about and looked through the lenses of those big ideas. Here are my essays:

10/10 2017 – Teacher: Sanjay Perera

Mandala Reflection

By Oscar Landgren

In our first unit in Global Perspectives, we learned about our personal culture. We have conducted research into sexuality, gender, stereotypes, identities, cultures and the debate of nature versus nurture. For our reflection and summative task, we were asked to create a Mandala in which one side was our sun side and the other the shadow. Similar to the concept of the Yin and Yang in which there are two components that represent a whole, the sun side represents what’s visible and projected while on the other hand, the shadow represents the side that’s hidden and may be deeper in meaning.

Firstly, in order to show what’s visible and projected, I have focused on three characteristics. In the beginning of constructing my Mandala, I thought that although I am not the smartest in the grade, many see me as knowledgeable and intelligent. Therefore, there are many elements of intelligence on my sun side for example, in many cultures such as Ancient Greek and Mayan, the owl is a general symbol to describe intelligence (Dawn, Farmer, Andrew, 2017). In addition to that, wearing glasses and reading a book is also a symbol to describe intelligence (Weller, 2017). Therefore, the owl wears glasses and has a pile of books near it. On the contrary, it was my own choice to develop this passion for learning proving how I also partly identify myself with free will. Furthermore, later on in the process, I decided to add a map of the world with flags from the places I am from and those I have lived in, to show how I identify myself as a collectivist. The map is a representation of a worldwide community showing how I am not a citizen of just one place, but rather a citizen of the world. I believe that we are in a sense, made up of places and my nationality and the cultures I have experienced are definitely aspects of my identity that is widely shown. Therefore, the globe represents a worldwide community that I am apart of, but also how I have become a third culture kid (Lily, Liu and thenativeforeigner, 2017). Moreover, through this Mandala project, I have realised how important determinism is to my identity. On my sun side, I have drawn a seed which connects to a plant on the shadow side through a green line. This green line is there to connect the two sides of the Mandala making it connected. Likewise, this seed represents the things that I cannot change, the things that I am born with which is a part of my identity. That seed and even the plant on the other side look healthy because a part of my nature and nurture have contributed to create a very privileged me. The seed and the plant are similar to the Yin and Yang concept and in this case, the seed symbolises my nature and my genes. Despite the fact that some individuals are born with lower privilege than others, I believe that it is important to understand the privilege we have and to then take actions that benefit both ourselves and others. Furthermore, I have also focused on three characteristics to show what is more hidden but more deeply rooted in my identity. The education that I have had has impacted on my identity in ways that have made me extremely privileged. These schools that I have attended to have opened my mind to new possibilities and strengthen my passion for the environment and design. To show that gratefulness, I’ve decided to draw the logos of three schools in the Mandala to all symbolise…

Continue reading “GPers Essays and Summative Task”

Last Friday (26th January) was my last DPers lesson and I will move on to Maths. Digital Perspectives has been all about using digital tools to create an original piece of art or creative piece in order to increase the benefit and enjoyment of ourselves and others. In the first unit, we learned about using Adobe Illustrator to create a logo for a client. The second was all about using a different tool called Adobe Photoshop to create a mandala for ourselves and the third unit as about learning the ways people have used digital tools in a negative way such as in advertising. However, also in the third unit, we learned how easy it is to manipulate photos as well.

FIRST UNIT:

Introduction:

In our first unit, we were required to use one of two different applications to make logos for a specific client. However, before we even started to make logos, we learned how to use both platforms. We started off with using Pages which was an easy application to use however, there were many drawbacks of using Pages such as the inability to type on a path and to find the right colour. Furthermore, we were then required to use Adobe Illustrator which is the industry standard. However, this application is very difficult to use as there are many menus to choose from. This unit was about learning how to use digital tools to create a logo for a client. It is also about being able to do service for a client and achieving (perhaps even failing) a product that includes most or all of the specifications the client asked for. We developed many skills and qualities along the way. All in all, we were required to create a logo for a client and we will either choose Adobe Illustrator or pages to create and design the logo.

Getting started:

Tutorial #1

In our first tutorial, we learned mostly about how to use pages as a page layout tool instead of a word processing tool. Although what we created was very simple, it wasn’t a very nice logo. Nevertheless, we learned how to create shapes and to use the bests fonts for the best occasions. We downloaded our school’s font (Bliss) and learned how we can manipulate text such as turning them sideways or increasing the spacing between each letter. I wasn’t surprised as these were skills I was already able to achieve. I was collaborative and a communicator as we needed to help each other to achieve the same goal.

Tutorial #2

In our second tutorial, we learn out the drawbacks of using Pages. This included the inability to colour with a specific colour in mind such as the UWC green. You could also not type on a path as you can see in the image to the left. In this tutorial, I develop my creative skills as I needed to figure out on my own to create the exact same logo. I was also a collaborator as we needed to help each other to achieve the same goal. Because of this, I was able to develop my communication skills

Tutorial #3

In our third tutorial, we learned to use the industry standard tool (Adobe Illustrator) to recreate the same logo as we did in the second tutorial. Here, we could add the specific colour we needed, in this case, the UWC green. We also learned to use the type on a path tool and learn most of the basic tools on this platform. Once again, I was a collaborator and developed my creative skills as I needed to figure out on my own to create the exact same logo as we did in the Pages application. Along the way, I developed my communications skills by collaborating so that we were all on task and helped each other when we needed help.

Tutorial # 4

In our fourth tutorial, we learned about using SVG files and how they were much cleaner than jpg or png files. I was very surprised at the SVG file was very clean and it was then I changed my opinion from using Pages as my tool for my logo to Adobe Illustrator. Furthermore, we learned how to use the pathfinder tool to create Grey Area logo. I was a lot more creative this time as I explored new tools on my own and communicated along the way.

Tutorial # 5

In our last and final tutorial, we learned how we could manipulate jpg and png files to turn them into clean, SVG files. This helped me to be really confident to make my choice to use Illustrator as my tool to design my logo as bottle turned from an ugly, pixelated png file, to a clean, graphic-looking SVG file. We also learned how to use the eraser tool to create that look as you can see in the image above. I was a collaborator as I was collaborating and communicating with others for help and advice. As you may have noticed, I have mainly developed my communication and collaboration skills as the tutorial stage was a very important and useful time to use these skills.

Continue reading “The Digital Embarkment On the Digital Express”

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