final term-long post!

Oh, how sweet it is to be done. Here are some quick pics of the final brand book and digital images of my favorite pages:

reading response #16

"The Creative Process" from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

The original intent gets lost in the creative process...

This chapter really helped me think about ways to start improving my own work. The creative process does not start when I begin drawing ideas. It actually started when I first decided I wanted to do design. I began to see everything in terms of good or bad, boring or exciting, terrible fonts upon terrible layouts that I so desperately want to fix and have ideas for. But in terms of on one project, you start with a brief. I didn't realize that you don't always make your own briefs, and Shaughnessy actually doesn't refer to these types until later in the section. I also didn't realize that the brief is not always well thought-out, well-written, or even written at all. You might even have to re-design the brief before you begin your re-design for the company itself. But we've written briefs several times now, and I feel that they are an extremely helpful tool in organizing your project in terms of objectives and goals you wish you accomplish with your design. I constantly refer to my briefs when I'm working to keep reminding myself what I want my design to say when people see it. 

Then you research, which is my least favorite part. Studying the competition is something I do like to do; looking at other people's designs really inspires me to do better and improve on things they may have missed. Humorously, Shaughnessy mentions you should always read the text you're using for your piece, and this is almost the best kind of research because it tells you everything you need to know about the message of the piece. It seems obvious, but I guess a lot of designers don't do that. 

Shaughnessy brings up the computer vs. digital argument relating to process. Using a computer makes it hard to remember to save separate copies and keep all your process because it takes up your hard drive and often, you don't want anyone to see it anyways. But keeping your process lets you go back and remember what working on that piece was like and what you want to do differently, an excellent learning tool. But the computer also makes it possible for a lot of people who have no clue what they're doing to hop on a computer and make up logos and business materials and think it's good enough. 

So now we have to start wading through all the crap, choosing good work without always knowing the criteria. There are 3 that Shaughnessy leaves us with. 

1. Is the client happy?

2. Is the job profitable in more ways than just monetarily (like did more people hear about you because of it)?

3. Did your job attract attention and attract more work?

Ah, guidelines to live by. As long as you accomplish these with your piece, someone's going to be happy!

reading response #15

"Self-Promotion" from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

Just because it's famous doesn't mean it's good...

Fame does not equal respect in the design world: that's the one thing I got out of this chapter. You can the most famous designer in the world, but are your designs revered by your peers or are they laughing at you behind your back? Relating this to promotion, you can have the slickest, most expensive promotion piece, but do the designs that are coming from your company do anything to impact the art of design? 

To avoid getting a big head, Shaugnessy says you should work for the portfolio, not the bank balance. If you choose jobs and do them because you want to create an excellent portfolio and narrow your craft, then you can explore more and get more creative with your work, pushing the boundaries of what design is. He says you can even take on clients at a reduced rate just to explore. Try an industry that isn't really known for great design, like a garden center or dentist. He also talks about working for up-and-coming musicians.

Other places to promote yourself are design competitions, at lectures and conferences, and by maintaing great relationships with art colleagues and the design press, which are all things I never thought about using for promoting myself. I feel like networking is so incredibly important in design; Shaughnessy doesn't seem to put much emphasis on it. His overall message though is that a good reputation is the best thing to have, and you shouldn't use promotion as a way to make yourself famous, but as a way to let others know about the new things you're trying as a designer; maybe they'll notice because they'll be inspired.

reading response #14

"Clients" from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

I was taken aback at first when Shaugnessy says he enjoys difficult clients. He even goes as far to say that without demanding clients, there is no good graphic design. I find this to be a very interesting statement. Does this mean that designers cannot come up with amazing design on their own? Are we doomed to be at the mercy of our clients? 

Let's hope they're not all like this...

Shaughnessy gives some good tips for letting clients know how you feel about designs without being rude. Telling them that you can work with their former logo/design but that you'd like to offer some alternatives is gentle, and the suggestion is better than outright demanding your design will be better. He also goes through a lot of ways of keeping your clients after you've got them, like letting them know you're available and talk about future projects that you have ideas for, as well has how to get rid of some of those clients you just can't handle anymore and making sure you wrap up all loose ends with them like money and work received. 

Shaughnessy hates PowerPoint. I happen to disagree. I've actually made some great PP presentations that don't look like they were made in it at all. As long as you don't use star wipes and fade transitions and don't use the themes, you can make it look awesome.

reading response #13

"Winning New Work" from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

Haha, talk about the current economy. Shaughnessy's third sentence is all too true; times are tough and work is scarce. How does your newly-opened studio go about finding clients?

First place to start is those businesses that need some design help. Like, really need it desperately, like this one above. Holy crap, Papyrus and a crescent swoosh? This needs some freakin' help, but you can't just go up to them and say "hey, your logo sucks, let me fix it!" because that would be incredibly rude and they'd throw you right out. So, a pitch is in order, which Shaugnessy says is almost more important than the final presentation. Boy, am I glad Chris North made us do pitch books with presentations. But first you have to start gathering names for you little black design book, or a database of contacts as he calls it. This is to get a list of businesses that you want to design for, no matter how impossible to book, and promote to them. 

Your portfolio has to be all buff and sexy before you go pitch your ideas. I like that Shaughnessy promotes using digital projections because they make your work look really polished and sleek. Show materials that go with what you like designing. He suggests using a narrative context, like putting your stuff in order of how you made it to show the thought/design process and then the final piece that the item was used in/for/by. Websites are a great way of showing off work, but it's easy to get too self-absorbed and talk about how awesome you are, so show off the work and it should speak for itself if you're an awesome studio. Then, send them promo materials (hand-writing the address gives you an aesthetic advantage). This can be a good way for lots of people to see your stuff, but they sometimes get thrown into the massive piles of other studio promos, so the best way to avoid it is keep it simple: start with a post card with one piece of work and the most basic info on the back. If you want to get daring a few weeks or months after, send a more direct poster, email, flyer, or whatever. But don't bombard them with too much stuff or they're bound to get annoyed and end up throwing away your promo piece, no matter how fancy it is.

Raw Design Studios in London has no problem going non-traditional with their raw meat promotional mailer (above). The raw meat image unfolds into an A3 poster showcasing their newest work (below).

Overall this section was nice for learning how to promote a studio without being too intense about it. Getting new clients seems to be a fine balance between self-promotion and self-indulgence; you want to make yourself with amazing without making it obvious that you're trying to do so. Kinda confusing, but basically I think Shaughnessy really wants to tell his readers that the best kind of promotion is your work: if it's amazing, clients will find it, and it's as simple as that.

reading response #12

"Running a Studio" from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

The perfect office space...

I like the idea of treating your employees like gods. I wish all employers thought like that :)

But I digress. An interesting point Shaughnessy brings up is about studio growth. Setting up a studio is a task in and of itself; now I have to hire employees? I thought this was a one-man ship.

But I suppose this isn't the wisest way to run a studio. So, when I hire people, our work gets more fabulous and more businesses want to employ us. In turn, I have to hire more people to keep up with the workflow and overhead. But this doesn't seem to be such a bad thing; the designers I employ can be extra sets of eyes to avoid making mistakes and make the pieces coming out of our firm to be extra-special. So growing is not always a bad thing, but Shaughnessy (and myself) seem to be in favor of the small studio set-up. 

Marissa and I have been talking a lot lately about what we want to do when we set up a studio. We imagine a pool of designers with particular and set skills taking on different aspects of each job to make one cohesive and collaborative piece, not the conception of one designer and then their assistants do all the work. We think this is a great way of meeting other designers and building a stronger community while doing so.

Shaugnessy also includes a section about coming up with a studio philosophy. I never really thought about doing this myself, but it made me start thinking. In my studio, my designers would be equal participants, that is to say that it would not just be my studio but everyone's who is involved in the process. I wouldn't want to put restrictions on the style or what kind of jobs we take on, but I get the feeling that being eco-friendly and sustainable will be one of my main goals. Not only is this a personal conviction for many designers already, it's also a far better aesthetic choice for a lot of projects.

term long process update

Wanted to let everyone know how the project was going...

Lis and I decided I needed to focus more on coming up with some deliverables to promote my board game, rather than focusing on the functionality; it's going to be impossible to make the entire thing by the end of the term. So, I've decided to go with an illustration style to show them off rather than using my terrible photoshop skills to place them in photos. The above picture is of the store display, while the next two are the magazine ad and outdoor interactive display.

I did get the final layout of the boards done, too. I decided to use the same design and just change the colors because this one took me so long in the first place. It really is a lot harder than I thought to make a flowchart of this complexity.

reading response #11

"Setting up a Studio" from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

Oh yeah, this is so what my studio would look like. Live Worm Studio is the professional Graphic Design Studio at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. The studio runs commercial graphic projects for students to gain professional experience and to build up their portfolio's. Compulsory studio classes are also run through Live Worm Studio. 

A friend of mine and I have been talking about opening a studio since we first met in the program last year. Our styles are so different, yet the two of us work seamlessly together, balancing out her organic flow with my modern structure. I didn't realize that outside of just renting a building, throwing all our supplies in it and coming up with a logo, there would be so much to do to make our studio work. Coming up with/dividing roles, making a business plan, getting funding, registering the business...and this is all before coming up with a name and identity. 

Shaugnessy's point about a designer's authorship and the importance of that really spoke to me. I am really still struggling to find a really set and defined style for myself; I waver between clean modernity and musically inspired fluidity, but all while keeping a structure. I don't know if going to a firm would help me refine my style or stunt my growth; opening my own studio would certainly help me more quickly define my style. I've always been a chameleon though; I like to fit my style to my client's needs and not restrict their possibilities to what I "normally" do. 

reading response #10

"Being Freelance" from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

Seriously, ain't it the truth? This comic totally captures the average night of a freelance designer, or any kind of designer for that matter.

Oh, how I love typography.

Mostly what I got out of this reading is that freelancing is a good thing and a bad thing. The good parts are the flexibility and control over what you do and how you do it. The bad parts are the self-regulation and scheduling (if you're not good at it already), fluctuation in payment, using your own materials/renting space, and generally the scarcity of work. But if you're tough and motivated, like working alone, or have a special skill, freelancing is for you. 

I think freelancing is also a great way to boost your portfolio while waiting to get a permanent job with a firm or company. It shows them that others are interested in your work and are willing to pay you for it and gives you a great opportunity to try a wide range of projects, from corporate-type stuff like business cards and logos to more creative book and media projects.

reading response #9

"How to Find a Job" from How to Be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

I am finding this book to be one of the most helpful graphic design books I've bought. I really feel like I can return to it again at varying points in my career at get advice. I find this section especially helpful because I've been constantly fretting about what I'm going to do after graduation. I know I want to do packaging design, but how? Where do I go? How do I find these jobs? How do I make my portfolio awesome? Shaughnessy answered all my questions and so much more.

Gee, I only wish the world was so wide open to us. But, it's really more like this:

I feel like sometimes I need to present myself as some kind of packaged deal. My work does not matter unless I have some kind of experience to back it up, but I can't get experience when no one will hire me. I also feel like these folks here sometimes:

I'm constantly linking my website on all kinds of art and general networking sites (see right for my card with my URl, haha!). It gets a little repetitive, only to be drowned out by everyone else's constant linking of their websites and shameless self-promotion. I guess that's my problem with this chapter: if this is how everyone else is supposed to act, how to I stand out? 

I've always wanted to know what to do after an interview, and I'm glad Shaughnessy talks about this. I love the idea of leaving something behind for the person you interview with, and I've never really considered doing this but will certainly in the future. He also recommends creating a mailer for your work to send out to people and continue working on small projects for friends to expand your portfolio for another interview. 

I was also interested in how Shaughnessy describes what your portfolio should look like. I was surprised to learn he prefers loose-sheet, highest quality prints in acetate sleeves over portfolio books or binders; the smaller without being crowded the better, but it should be at least be housed in something that is professional and sleek. He recommends laying out the pieces in a grid and using some kind of underlying unifying element. In addition, he says print designers (like myself) should include finished printed specimens and hand them over immediately to the interviewer to look at and comment on. 

I feel that I do really well in interviews, and I know how to show the interviewers that I'm hard working and willing to do anything they'd ask me to. I just have to find that place that loves my personality and my designs, which I have yet to do.

reading response #8

"Attributes Needed by the Modern Designer" by Adrian Shaughnessy, from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul

I can relate to what Shaughnessy says about album covers being a huge inspiration for a lot of designers. I, too, am extremely inspired by great album art, CD packaging, book covers, any entertainment medium really. I've got this in my own collection that I ogle constantly:

Of course it's Metallica's newest album, Death Magnetic, which the designer, Turner Duckworth, won a Grammy for! I don't have that special edition package collection on the bottom, but I do cherish my plain album version.

I also have this, Foreigner's Records. The great thing about mine is that it's missing the front labels so you can see the record through the slots, but I still love the original intent of the packaging. The inside picture shows the band at a diner, flamboyantly dressed and seemingly making the other patrons feel distressed.

I wish I had this, NIN's Ghosts I-IV. The whole design just rocks my socks off.

The three attributes a designer needs according to Shaughnessy are Cultural Awareness, Communication, and Integrity. I feel like we are learning these thoroughly at PSU; cultural awareness involves a lot of research that we take on ourselves to learn about our audience and their culture to appeal to them more sensibly, we constantly communicate with our professors and each other and constantly learn how to communicate our points clearly so that a client can understand them, and we have to have integrity with everything we do because our name is on it and our work is a reflection of our stance in the world. 

One thing that hit me the hardest was what Shaughnessy emphasized the most: the single most important thing you can do when discussing a job with a new or potential client is to demonstrate understanding, openness, and receptivity. The designer who shows only signs of self-absorption and narrowness of focus isn't going to inspire his or her client. He goes on to say that demonstrating knowledge about the topic you are designing for is more important than talking about your own work excessively; if you can show the client you know their industry well, you can spend more time listening to what they want for their design and how you can achieve their goals. 

thesis progress

So for my deadline on Monday, I wanted to focus on producing a full-scale model of my packaging to show my group and Lis how the thing is actually going to work. Since I have a tendency to wait till the last minute to put my packaging together, I wanted to avoid that by doing it first and having it planned out before I start doing the really time-consuming part: the actual game.

This is a dieline for the whole outside of the box, keeping in mind that the actual visuals on the box were done quickly just to differentiate between the sides. The red/green/blue folds in half over itself and is attached to the bottom/top with 1" strips. The yellow squares fold in half diagonally to form triangles. The tabs created by the triangles and the squares in the center slide into the red/green side pockets created by the fold. The box is all attached as one piece, minimizing the amount of cutting and maximizing visual potential.

This would be the view of the box all folded out and laid flat. As you can see, the folded sides are perfect spaces to put some kind of placeholder for the pieces or activity supplies. The center design is a placeholder design that would be permanently attached (and covers the 1" piece attachments to the top/bottom. Corner holders would then keep the removable boards in place during play, allowing them to be changed depending on the problem, issue, argument, or scenario.

This is a dieline for the insert tray that would hold all the pieces, boards, cards, and activities. The multi-colored rectangles on the right top/bottom are the barriers that section off the tray. The center square on the right is actually the bottom piece (I want every inch to be considered and not show and places where its been glued or attached). This also folds much like the box itself, but will be permanently assembled to make it slide out first before the box opens completely. 

As I've said before, I want this to be completely different than other board games, showing the couple that the designer cares about them and their problems and wants to help solve them easily and efficiently. 

UPDATE: Thanks Jimmy for suggesting the use of magnets to keep the corners from coming apart so easily. It will also look nicer too because it won't make me have to mangle the sides of the board when it's folded out.

reading response #7

"Personas: Practice and Theory" by John Pruitt and Jonathan Grudin

I thought that Personas were a very tedious way of learning about a target audience. It seems like a lot of steps and work to interview people in the audience, enough to get the kind of data you're looking for, make the profiles, create screening groups, etc. etc. But I did see some benefits of Personas.

One, they create a strong focus on users in a fictionalized setting, which allows for more variables and possibilities when dealing with the scenarios. They can be more shallow or really in depth. For example, I found these personas created for public use by Penn State's Teaching and Learning with Technology Unit as models for any digital medium. They had to have been created by studying many pictures and features of different ethnic groups, because otherwise their portrayals would not be accurate. However, they do not need to delve into the personal lives of the people they're modeling because that is not a part of the rendering of the illustration.  

These persona profiles seem very in-depth and research intensive, but not very design oriented. I don't think I get much of a personal response to these people because there is nothing dynamic about the presentation.

This does a better job of visualizing the different facets of the target audience's concerns and priorities. The persona becomes the focus by being the center from which everything radiates. There's not as much information as the one above, but you are a bit better connected to the real 'Angie.'

reading response #6

"Is it Possible to Touch Somebody's Heart with Design?" by Stefen Sagmeister

First of all, I really love how this is laid out. Sagmeister pays so much attention to every detail, and he really knows how to design books so they're not exactly how you expect them to be. Already this is inspiration for my project; I do not want my board game to be 'typical' or look like the other board games on the shelf, because I think they're crap. They have no visual hierarchy, the colors are everywhere, and there's no more attention paid to the package than the game because it just plasters pictures of people playing it all over. Get creative! Do something innovative with your box! Here are some examples of board games with amazing designs that don't fit the norm:

I know I've used this one before but I still love it! A design student re-worked the Monopoly packaging, bringing it down to its most basic elements and using a warm yet neutral color palette. This makes the game look more classic and timeless, making its history apparent to the person playing it. 

Another design student created this packaging for the Swedish game Pendago. It is so elegant, rich, and modern. I love how the instructions are on the inside top of the box and is reflective. He really thought about using every inch of the packaging to represent the intellectual side of the game, and I want to use every inch of mine to represent the process of working through issues but while being fun.

This cute banana-shaped pouch holds pieces that go to the game Bananagrams. This Scrabble-like game is more fast-paced and has less rules and counting points, allowing the players to think less about how to play and more about what words they'll use. It has a very universal feel; people that speak other languages would probably be able to still play with the addition of a few other characters. I like the simplicity of this game, and I would like mine to be just as simple so the couple can get to the root of the issue without worrying about how they're going to get there.

Overall, the whole notion of designing to touch someone's heart is sort of foreign to me. I am a very, what you would say 'corporate' designer; I like my logos and my layouts to be clean and efficient with little clutter, and although this can touch your heart if done in the proper way, it's never been my goal and often can come off looking sterile and rigid. I've never thought about this concept, but I guess it's what we've been learning all along; we need to learn our clients or our products to properly design for them or it, and the logo or design needs to speak to them if it's going to speak to anyone else. With this project though, my design HAS to touch their hearts. I am, after all, dealing with the subject closest to the heart: love and relationships. 

I may end up solving this problem not through the look and feel, but through the intimate experience of the game. It's only for two people, making it so you have to have alone time with your partner to play it, and it requires you to set the mood to make the experience more enjoyable. The activities that the couple plays are going to be designed to allow them to learn more about each other and create a stronger connection. I think this touches the heart in many ways; the couple should feel like I really understand relationship issues because I've been through them and it's very important to me to keep my relationship healthy and the lines of communication open. 

I feel like that a lot of what Sagmeister says in this pertains to some very personal projects, and the things that touch someone's heart may not do it for others. The t-shirt he wore for his mom during the interview was a nice design, and it was a nice gesture, but how many other people appreciated it? But is that what's important; should we aim to make as many people happy as possible or do a really good job at making one person happy? I think I want to make as many people as happy as I can, and this game should do that.

term long project logos

So I've been working on some logos for my term long project, which you should know by now is a game that guides couples through relationship issues and helps them to better understand each other. I've decided on the name "Work It Out!", which I think follows a fun, retro theme that I'm trying to go for.

This style is more of a 50s-60s game feel. It's coming straight from my love for the retro game show style, thus the color palette. It's more fun and wacky, I think I could make the charts something unexpected if they use this style.

This aesthetic comes from a vintage French card game, and it's much softer than the other logo. I like this one because I can really play with the logo using the idea of the flowcharts and have a very simple iconic system. 

Any ideas on which one I should go with?

reading response #5

Directed Storytelling: Interpreting Experience for Design by Shelley Evenson

Ethnographic research through directed storytelling seems like where I'd like to go with my research. I am developing a survey to figure out what issues I should deal with in my game, now titled Work It Out! This article gave me some clues as to how to ask my questions in the survey. 

1. Describe your partner in a short paragraph. What are some positive and negative aspects of their personality/characteristics? How is your relationship with this person doing at this current point in time (if you have a hard time describing it, use a 1 to 10 scale, 1o being amazing and 1 being terrible)? 

2. When was the last time you and your partner argued? What was it about? Did you talk rationally or yell and/or fight? Was this a usual fight for you and your partner to have? 

3. Where were you when you had this argument? Do you feel your location effected the argument, i.e. made it worse or helped calm it down? 

4. Were you physically with your partner at the time of the argument or was it over some kind of technological device like the internet, phone, or cell phone? Do you think this effected the argument?

5. Think about the argument you had. Restate what it was about. Then really think about the cause behind the argument. What set it off? Is there some reason you continue to have this argument, or is this the first time you've had it? 

6. Name some things that both you and your partner need to work on in your relationship. Then name some things both you and your partner do well in your relationship. Do you feel the positives outweigh the negatives?

7. Describe a time you and your partner solved an argument positively using a discussion method rather than a fighting method. What do you think made this discussion successful? Was this an argument that you had before, or something new? Judge whether or not you have resolved the issue; have you had another incident based around this argument since this positive discussion?

8. What do you think makes your relationship with your partner strong? What are some things that weaken it? What do you think makes a relationship strong in general? Do you have these qualities in your relationship?

9. Name the top 5 things you and your partner argue about. Rate their intensity and importance on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being very important/high intensity argument and 1 being not important at all/zero intensity.

10. If there was one thing that you would want to say about your relationship that you haven't already, please let me know for the best possible guide to solving your relationship issues.

These could get edited, but it'd be cool if there's one you see that you want to answer and you comment!

Now, onto more about the reading...

I like how Evenson describes when to use direct storytelling; it seems perfect for my project. I am making diagrams, and direct storytelling seems to lend itself to that. 

This is a diagram from the article that I thought was really lovely. Although mine won't be in this style, I thought it was a nice illustration on the kinds of information graphics you can make out of the data collected from direct storytelling.

I find it interesting that direct storytelling can be used for a variety of purposes, not just for graphic design purposes but for marketing and demographics as well. This diagram breaks down the steps to really broadening your consumer base and ultimately marketing a successful product or idea. The blog I got this from, The Innovator's Sweet Spot, goes on to explain each step and talks about using direct storytelling as a method of marketing research.

term long inspiration

I've been searching the web for some inspiration for my term long project. I'm thinking about doing a game/kit for couples, similar to these kinds of games (but a lot less sex oriented):

  
  

I especially love the Truth or Dare packaging (top left), using old-fashioned type and silhouettes and a card-based system. 

But for the actual look and feel, I have a couple different ideas.

I just about died when I saw this AMAZING Monopoly re-design. The icons are simple, the color palette is muted and subtle, and the whole thing just looks classy as hell. This was my first idea, going with a simple color and type palette and relying on icons to convey information visually.

I've always admired packaging (and everything else) from the 1950s; the bright colors with halftone photographs is an aesthetic that I think will work really well with my concept. 

And my 'just for fun' link:

Undoboy is a Portland, OR based designer that loves robots and bright colors, and his packaging is an interactive, integrated part of the product itself. I love his ideas and hope my packaging can be as fun as this is!

My next step is to now create my survey that will help me to find out what subjects, issues, problems, or arguments couples have the most. Here are some links to articles that talk about some of the problems "experts" find most common:

• WebMD.Com talks about 7 common problems in relationships, including communication, sex, money, division of chores, prioritizing, conflict, and trust. 
  
• Suite101.Com points to fears that cause issues, including fear of commitment, fear of intimacy, and fear of change.
• Suite101.Com has another article about the 10 most common problems couples face, including lying/cheating, imbalance of power, isolation, lack of self-knowledge, etc.

These articles are helpful for narrowing down what issues to focus on, but I want to pick a main 3-5 that are universal enough to design a flowchart for. Please help me out by commenting to this post with an answer to one (or all if you want!) of these questions:

1. My partner makes me so mad when they ________.

2. The thing I find myself arguing about the most with my partner is ________. 

3. Something my partner and I never fight about is ________.

4. The hardest issue for my partner and I to work through is ________.

5. I most want my partner and I to solve our problems with ________.