Double Checking

Is very important in design work, especially work with text, that you double check all the grammar and spelling. You should re-read the article of text several times, have somebody else read it, and then you should read it again. Recently I made a brochure for my dad. We had both read over several times, had my mother read over it, then had another person in the company read over it. We thought everything was spotless...until my dad had over a couple hundred copies printed. We found 3 minor spelling errors in the brochure. That is not what you want to find out AFTER the fact that you have paid a lot of money to print the designs. Next time maybe reading over it is not enough. Checking each word is vital. Luckily this project was for my dad, and not a picky client. Being professional is very important in the graphic design industry, as it makes you stand out from others. From now on I am going to try my best to have EVERY word spelled correctly on a final design!

99 Designs

Recently professor Speyers assigned us a project to do some free lance work with 99designs.com. This website is a great opportunity to get some extra money, and also build up your portfolio. Their are many great things about the website, but their are also some disadvantages. One of the cool things about it, is the fact that you can make some really good money if you are good at creating designs. It is also not very hard to juggle a couple of projects at one time, and keep track of them on the website. Another good thing about the website is being able to view designers' works who are much more experienced than yourself. I have seen multiple designs that put mine to shame, and I take note of their expertise. It is such a learning experience. One thing I found I didn't like about the website is the competition. Their are so many designs entered into each project. It makes it extremely hard to be chosen when the client has so many great options. Another issue with the website is when a client does not give enough feedback. Also, it may seem that you have wasted alot of time when your design is not chosen to win. So much effort, and no reward is often what will happen. All in all, it is a great learning opportunity to experience.

Free lance

Here is one of the designs I created for a client on the website 99designs.com...Professor Speyers assigned us a project to enter in some free lance design projects. We have to enter in three of them, and post our entry with the winning design on the same page. I was amazed at how many design opportunities where available. I was also amazed at the amount of money that was involved. I can even imagine a person doing design projects for this website for a job and actually making enough to live off of. The only problem would be consistently winning the projects, because from time to time it can be hard to connect with a cient's needs. I have already been eliminated from a project that I had thought I did quite well on. It just goes to show, that sometimes what the designer and the client think very differently.

Learning About Logos

I am a bit late on my last entry. I have failed to keep up to date with this blog as I have been very busy lately! As far as design class goes, we have learned a lot of information in the past few weeks about Logos. Professor Speyers gave us a presentation on Logos and how simplicity can be very influential. If you look at most logos, they do not have 3d artwork, or really cool graphics on them. They capture the theme of a company and represent it with simply figures and characteristics. The best example that Professor Speyers showed the class of simplicity but still sophisticated was the FedEx logo. I had never realized something about the logo until he pointed it out. Between the E and the X is an arrow, representing the express and how things are moving forwards. The simple arrow is a genius idea. Of course I could have drawn this logo very easily, but coming up with idea is very innovative. Being a graphic designer is much more than processing what a client wants all the time, its coming up with your own creative ideas. This field of work allows so much flexibility and allows you to express your ideas through multiple projects. Learning how simply a logo can be really allowed me to sit back and understand a logo requires much more thought that I had expected. Word mapping is a great technique Professor Speyers showed us to help brainstorm ideas. I look forward to projects that allow us to make logos.