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See You Later

December 16, 2022 By De'sha Bass-McClellan

See You Later

Wow! I can’t believe I am leaving such an amazing team!! This semester went by way too fast and I’m going to miss every single one of y’all!!

Even though I am leaving, I don’t want to say goodbye because I feel like our paths might cross again in the future. I’m sad to be leaving but I have grown so much from working for LAITS for the past 2 years and I’m truly blessed to call myself a design STA. When I first started this job, I was filled with ambition and dedication but very little technical skills. But Valerie, Maddy, and Suloni believed in me and saw the potential I had to grow into a level 4 STA. I cherish all the projects I got to work on and all the AMAZING designers I got to meet. Y’all are superstars and I saw that when y’all created those beautiful posters. I couldn’t be prouder and I’m so thankful I got to see it.

Rules for Success

  1. Always be true to yourself! Embrace your unique qualities and never stop shining!
  2. See the potential in yourself! Don’t be afraid to try new things!
  3. Use college as a learning opportunity. Learn about yourself and others.
  4. “Can’t” is your motivation. If you don’t achieve something at the beginning but you are truly passionate about it, keep trying!! See failure as an opportunity to grow.

Letters:

 

Adrian:

You are a powerhouse! From creating a new intake system for Photo IDs to creating so many visually appealing course graphics! You always take a fun and unique approach to your creations that I know all the clients love. I also love how knowledgable you are on so many animal creatures. I know you are going to do amazing things and you are going to lead your fellow STAs well.

 

Thang:

Wow!! I am always so speechless after your present in our weekly check-in meetings. You are sooooooo passionate about learning new things and the way you share that information to your peers is amazing! You are such a great web developer and presenter. I also know you want to start designing as well and I have full confidence you can. By knowing how to develop an easily accessible website, you will be unstoppable when you began adding design elements.

 

Carrie:

Your attention to detail and design is amazing!! When you created the design STA poster I was shocked at how fast you were able to create such a beautiful design that captured our team so well! You also create such amazing website designs that are thought out and really capture what the client wants. Continue being amazing and creating beautiful work!

 

Lorena:

Wow! For the past couple of months your designs have grown so much. I appreciate your attention to details and unique style. You are such as sweet person and I absolutely loved working with you. Continue asking questions and learning new ways to create effective designs.

 

Marissa:

Your illustrations are soooo beautiful! I absolutely loved seeing your voting illustrations! I love how passionate you are for design and I see you doing big things in the future. Don’t be afraid to explore new approaches and gain as much knowledge from your fellow designer and managers.

 

Luisa:

First, you have such an amazing style!! I love your leather coat and boats that you wear!! Absolutely beautiful!! You are so kind and caring to everyone you meet. You are also an amazing designer!! From the postcards to the brochure, I’m blown away with your attention to detail to create such amazing physical designs.

 

Leilani:

Wow!!! You have grown so much from when you first started as an STA! You are such a strong leader and have so many great ideas for art direction. I know you are going to do amazing things for the STA team! You are going to manage the the UTFC project and find new approaches I couldn’t think of. You are so smart and talented!! Also, I hope your online print business is extremely successful! Your artwork is so beautiful and I know everyone will enjoy it.

 

Valerie:

You are such an amazing manager. You create such as welcoming and inviting environment for all the designers. I love how you play lo-fi and engage in fun conversations with everyone. Thank you for having the confidence on me to take on the UTFC project and help the STAs in anyway possible. I know that the Design team will continue to reach new goals because your passion for this team really shines!!! Thank you for being you!! Also, please start making art again!! You are such as talented illustrator and the world deserve to see your work!!

 

Maddy:

First, the mural is going to be sooo beautiful! I think it will truly create a peaceful environment for the designers to create freely. You are such an amazing art director and I love how you encourage the designers to go for new unique approaches to their projects. You inspired me so much with your leadership style and your dedication to the team. Thank you so much for encouraging me to take new risks with my animations and allowing my to take the lead on the STA posters. I’m truly thankful to have had a manager like you in my work career!!

 

Suloni:

Thank you for everything!! You have created such as strong foundation for the design STAs and I’m truly blessed that I was a part of it. Your wisdom and encouragement is so beautiful and the love you have for all the STAs shows. I know the design team will continue to be strong because they had you!! I hope you have a fun, relaxing, and adventurous retirement. You absolutely deserve it. Thank you for sharing a piece of you with your beautiful presentation of your work. I don’t know if I would have believed in myself to take on art direction without you putting me in those roles and believing in my abilities. I honestly can’t thank you enough.

 

New Beginnings

Y’all keep being amazing and creating wonderful designs that will be showcased all throughout UT. I’m so happy that I was a part of this team and always remember, y’all are LOVED <3

 

Filed Under: Fall 2022 - Spring 2023, Uncategorized, We are STAs

UTFC Management Document

November 29, 2022 By De'sha Bass-McClellan

 

UTFC Management Document

Since I will be leaving, I will be passing the UTFC project to the next STA. Currently, I am creating a document about the management process of handling this project.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15lGx-MDFZWekSOTLenQ-n00kwL_m6_wH0cAu-MeMp10/edit?usp=sharing 

 

Filed Under: Fall 2022 - Spring 2023, We are STAs

GOV312L Animated Intro

November 29, 2022 By De'sha Bass-McClellan

GOV 312L US National Security Intro Draft

This was the first proof of concept with the template for the possible animated intro. Since this course was going to be pre-recorded, the intro needed to only be 10 seconds long. Therefore, I needed to cut out some scenes in the After Effect file and added in the images appropriately.

http://sta.laits.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GOV312L_Intro_Draft.mp4

 

After creating the proof of concept, it was important to make sure the course graphics were all cohesive. Therefore, I created the baseline with the animated intro.

  • Make the images Grayscale
  • Make the words white
  • Alter the glowing light to represent the green and red in the Iraq flag.
http://sta.laits.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GOV312L_Intro_Draft_v2.mp4

 

These were the last revisions on the animated intro. With that, the professor has now informed us that they would no longer want an animated intro for the course. Therefore, I think the was helpful to see how Motion Array templates operate for future projects.

Filed Under: Fall 2022 - Spring 2023, We are STAs

Week 11

November 28, 2022 By Lorena Chiles

GOV 336M Course Materials

Client /Prof: Rob Moser
Completion Status: Started on Nov 3
Staff Guidance: Suloni
Completed on: TBD

Continuing to work on the GOV 336M course materials, I’m closing in to a final design. This is what I have so far:

And this is the lecture background in action:

UTFC 8.4B: Spices and Seasonings

Client /Prof: Yazz
Completion Status: Started on Nov 14
STA team members: De’Sha
Completed on: TBD

I’ve been working on a new UTFC slideshow, this time on spices and seasonings! Attached below is only a draft 1, hasn’t yet been approved. I had trouble finding a few images, one of which was for the elusive “la vinaigrette”, so I just have a placeholder picture in for that one.

Filed Under: Uncategorized, We are STAs

Week 11

November 15, 2022 By Marissa Devivar

Week 11

[UTCF] Greenscreen 8.1B Meat, Seafood, and Dairy

Completion status: Started Nov 14, 2022
Staff guidance: Yazz Fawaz
Description/plans: STA is to find images for each word in the list and create a PowerPoint with accompanying french text on the slide.
To be completed: Nov 15, 2022

 

Making this PPT was actually very enjoyable because it included new vocab I learned just last week in my French class (FR 406)! Many of these words were familiar which aided me in finding the appropriate images for each slide. I imagine these PPTs are shown to the in-person French courses since I don’t see these and my class is web-based. Also, since most of the vocab was everyday food items, there were many options of photos to choose from (in contrast to 7.1B Fashion where the vocab was very culturally/geographically specific). I really like communicating with Yazz about which images accurately represent the word’s meaning. it’s almost like a mini-review session for French.

 

 

Basic Training: Learning the Principles and Elements of Design

This training was a flashback to all of the elements and principles lessons I’ve had over the years in my art classes. It was fun to be able to source images that I thought illustrated each element/principle. Oftentimes, multiple elements are at work to create an image, not just one. For instance, color can be used to emphasize objects, and lines can create movement, etc. Since all of the art itself was pretty colorful, I kept the PPT text and background color fairly simple and neutral.

 

PSY 306 Course Graphics

Completion status: Started Nov 29, 2022
Staff guidance: Maddy
Description/plans: Recolor the “Quiz” stinger to purple, and swap out the text for “Bonus Question”. Originally we wanted a lighter purple, but the legibility of it against the white was not very compatible.
To be completed: Nov 29, 2022

http://sta.laits.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Main-Composition_1.mp4

Filed Under: Fall 2022 - Spring 2023, We are STAs

GOV 312L US National Security

November 15, 2022 By De'sha Bass-McClellan

GOV 312L US National Security

project: GOV312L animated Intro
Client /Prof: Jason Brownlee
completion status: Started Nov 8th
staff guidance: Maddy, Suloni
STA team members: N/A
description/plans:

Create an animated intro for this course that is a cohesive design with the other digital assets that are created for the course.

Steps:

Motion Array Template

Animation Proposal

Animate

Edit

To be completed: December 5th

Template:

To simplify the process for creating this project, I took out the time to locate an After Effects template to use for the intro instead of creating one from scratch. I came across the sight “Motion Array” that has a wide arrange of animated templates.

This is the current template we will use for this project:

https://motionarray.com/after-effects-templates/free-adobe-after-effects-templates-932/?listing_position=40&subcategories=free&page=2

 

Everything is broken down into their own compositions. From the individual images used, to the text and the different scenes. This keeps everything organized and easy to navigate.

All the different scenes are put together to create the final composition with the correct timing.

In each scene, it contains all the elements that make the animated intro. Everything is editable so that you can make adjustments if needed.

What is really good about Motion Array is that the template gives you a strong foundation that you can grow upon or keep as is. There are endless possibilities.

Animation Proposal:

Next, I have been working on creating the animation proposal for the different images we will use, the words that should be included, and the color alterations:

Filed Under: Fall 2022 - Spring 2023, We are STAs

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