Design Portfolio Activity

Converse by Chuck Taylor are some of my favorite shoes. They're not only comfortable, but also extremely stylish, combining significance and utility masterfully. So for my Design portfolio activity, I headed to www.converse.com to design my own Converse shoe. To start out, I chose a low-top canvas shoe. One could also chose from slip-ons or high-tops in leather or suede. Then I moved on to the outside body color. For this I chose black. The inside body color become "Directorie Blue" (a bright blue). I made the stripe on the heel white, and the tongue of the shoe white. The lining of the shoe became black, and the rubber side of the shoe white. I made the stripe along the rubber side of the shoe navy blue. The stitching and the laces were both white. I chose not to personalize my shoes. I then created a portfolio on the site so I could save my design for later viewing.
When creating this shoe, I chose my favorite type of Converse, which is low-top canvas. I also strived to create a color scheme that would please the eye as well as incorporating some of my favorite colors. Since I love black and bright blue and they happen to work well together, I knew that this combination would make for the perfect shoe. I made the heel stripe, the tongue, the rubber side, the stitching, and the laces all white to contrast the bright blue and the somber black. To compliment the black side, I made the lining of the shoe black, and the stripe along the rubber side became navy to compliment the bright blue side. At first, I simply clicked on different colors for the shoe, and they ended up not going together well at all. So I started over to create the shoe described. Doing this activity taught me that design is a process that requires much thought. When done quickly, the results are sloppy and the very opposite of aesthetically pleasing. All elements of what is being designed must work together and accentuate each other in order to create truly great design. So besides being fun, this activity was actually extremely eye-opening for me!