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.