10 October 2021
Some of my most profound childhood memories took place on the golf course. I recall the immense anticipation I felt every week as Sunday—the day my dad took me golfing—approached. It was a quiet game, but I loved the silence; the course was a place to think profoundly and evaluate every aspect of the layout. As a college senior, I often remember people and places that have slipped my mind as so much has happened in the past four years. When this project was assigned, I took it as a challenge to create an organization that encapsulated my love for the game of golf. During my time at SU, I’ve enjoyed golfing with the friends I’ve made and found it to be something we have all bonded over.
Furthermore, I am taking a golf course this semester at Syracuse University, which sparked the idea to play “campus golf.” While at first, this was something I joked around about, I realized that I could use this assignment to physically design a golf course layout and bring my idea to life. My success in this project was due to creating my own opinion, class engagement, and my understanding of Illustrator.
By actually playing golf on campus, I figured out where possible holes could be for the Syracuse ‘back 9’. This was very gratifying as I was able to hang out with my friends and talk over a friendly game of golf. I was also able to experience the beauty of the Syracuse campus, which is something rare in modern times where technology is everything.
During class, I have been well engaged in the content being presented. By taking notes on the readings and actively listening, I can take away much from each class. I have logged into every class and even got a chance to learn a little about design software from our classmates. This part was especially important as it motivated me to sign up for Adobe Creative Cloud.
As someone who is not a design major, I initially had no idea how to use Adobe Illustrator. However, after learning from my friend Preston Buhrmaster, I was able to use the pen tool. This tool was crucial to making the layouts of grass on the flyer reflect that of an image of the campus greenery. By using layers, I was able to mimic what land is available for golf. This was not the only precaution I took before building the final draft as I sketched how the course would look on a piece of paper from my notebook. Through planning and working consistently on the project, I have been able to make an excellent final presentation.
In one of our class sessions, I taught my classmates how to use Datawrapper for statistics and infographics. I learned how to use Datawrapper with my own insights on technology and similar programs I’ve previously used. I hope that my shared knowledge helped my peers make convincing infographics with great rhetorical applications. I not only appreciated sharing my own skills but also giving inspirational feedback and overall conversing with my classmates. It was equally helpful hearing what they had to contribute to the conversations we had and keeping their feedback in mind.
The aspect of my project I am most proud of would have to be the articulate details. Each hole number is formatted onto the flyer to read vertically down the screen; I picked over my final product for hours before deciding it was finished. Patently, nothing is truly perfect, but the time and effort I put into this project resulted in my satisfaction. That being said, there’s nothing I’d change if allowed to do so.
Melvin Blogs 