Personal Assessment

Who Am I?
Scott Krammer, the Awesome

What Are My Design Skills?
Design
-Good use of formal elements. However, I need to improve my application of Design Principles.
Problem-Solving
-Good at finding creative solutions. I avoid the more obvious solutions in favor of the unique.
Computer
-Skilled in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Some Experience in Dreamweaver.
Other
-Somewhat skilled at illustration.

What Are My Career Interests?
Design Field
-Web Designer, Publication/Packaging Design
Industry
-Design rulebooks, cards, and other components for a game company.

What Are My Lifestyle Wants & Needs?
Personal/Family
-Happy family with an odd number of children.
Economic
-Sufficient for our needs, and some comfortable spending room for our wants.
Location
-Not in a big city. Suburbs are great. 

What Are My Workstyle Wants & Needs?
Employer
-My own or another large game company.
-A web-design or publication company.
Position/Responsibilities
-Design/oversee the design for the rulebooks, cards, and other components produced.
-Design websites or handle the layout of other publications. 

Career Objectives & Goals Summary?
-Be able to work on designs I enjoy/find satisfaction in, while still being able to provide for myself and my family.

Designer Mark - Graphic Forge

My Design Process Line - Rough

Design Mentor

Kevin Childress

     I chose Kevin Childress as my design mentor because his work is in the field I am most interested in: design for games. It's certainly a less prestigious area of graphic design, but a challenging one, nonetheless. In designing game components, there is an abundance of information that must be presented to the ones playing the game, most of which cannot be reduced to any symbolic representation. It is no easy task to create a design that doesn't interfere with that information, but rather, enhances it. Kevin Childress has accomplished that task.

     In his work for Fantasy Flight Games, he has designed rulebooks, cards, and other game components that are at the same time informative and visually striking. His use of detailed graphic elements appeals to the visually oriented audience that play the games, capturing the aesthetics of the concept or setting of the game. At the same time, his good use of form and a strong hierarchy produce a design in which the information is displayed with clarity.

     Kevin Childress designs in an unusual field, but he designs well.

Design Philosophy

The mind is brilliant. The mind is chaotic.
Images, words, thoughts, solutions - all swimming in a sea of chaos.
Someone may wish to express the brilliance in their mind, only for it to come out an incoherent mess.
Designers reach into the mind, pulling brilliance out of chaos.
Images, words, thoughts, solutions - brought out in plain sight.
Designers organize those elements, constructing them into coherent ideas.
From the chaotic brilliance of the mind, Designers forge a clear message.