First Impression

Final Graphic Design – Photos by Madison Herzog

Design Process

I decided to share a little bit about my first trip to Pullman using pictures I took at the Pullman Airport and on Campus with a photoshop design I made. For my project I decided to use photos by myself and nobody else to make it as unique as possible. I think this is important to my topic of fashion and weather in college here at WSU because during this first visit was when I realized how different this new place in Washington was from my home because of climate and surrounding differences. I also chose this topic for my blog because I enjoy the idea of sharing personal experiences which is why personal photos match best for a visual design. I never realized how much of a college town Pullman was and how many creative and individual characteristics it has with its people and climate. With that, this game me the inspiration to share my experience with my fashion sense in school.

Technical Detail

My first reaction when landing at the Pullman airport was very surprised. I knew the town was small but growing up in Seattle, I never knew an airport could be so little! The fun cougar landmarks I came across right after getting off the plane made me appreciate where I was right away. The cougar pride inspired me to share with my blog readers the amazing first impression I got and how it gave me the encouragement to blog about the area and trends I came across. The cougar footprints and football game fans on the wall of the airport, I believe, are significant things that changed my perspective on Pullman right when I got there. I chose to give my readers more information on how to dress in Pullman while keeping warm/cold/dry and also staying in with the trends and fashion. The clothing vibe would never be what it is without the roots of Pullman and how people that attend WSU hold it to such a high standard. Dressing yourself has a lot to do with the motivation and feeling you get by being where you are. At WSU, the feeling of being a cougar is shared by everyone with pride. Repping cougar clothing is one of the most popular trends here in Pullman and that is why I made this project on photoshop with my personal pictures. My first impression is what I am trying to express here and making this cool and fun picture collection of images is my way of showing it. I would never know how I felt about my personal appearance here at WSU if it wasn’t for the college town feeling.

Sources and Material

I collected all of the images myself. I took them with my own camera while on the airplane, at the Pullman/Moscow airport and in the car on the way into downtown Pullman. I have been learning for the first time in my life how to use photoshop and that is how I went about putting these photos together. I had to make a new layer for every image and add color effects and text to make it even more interesting. Something I found difficult was forgetting how to do certain things in the software. I wanted to rotate an image clockwise without moving another image so it took me a while to remember how to separate the two and only work with one which was a challenge. After getting the hang of things and watching some helpful videos, I remembered how to take out the backgrounds of some images and erase things I didn’t want with the brush tool, paint bucket and color effects. I chose the image of the dorm room as my background because it gave a lot of space to add important images from my other photos. I took out the plane wing from a picture out of a plane window to start with. After that, I took the cougar off of the airport wall to show the representation of WSU. Lastly, I took one of the footprints off of the ground as well to represent my path and everyone else’s individual experiences in college. In my opinion, I would suggest remembering that too many layers is never bad. Keeping your work separated and organized is very important when wanting to move things around a lot. It took me a while to make it perfect but I think it was well worth it for the practice I got. Now I can use these tools in the future with confidence!

Photo Credit and Ownership : Madison Herzog