I am so grateful that I have chosen to go into the field of Graphic Art and Design because it feels so innately correct for me to be here and I laugh when I look back to see the different paths I took to get here. Seemingly unrelated paths that have, somehow, folded into this beautiful package of creativity and passion.
As I near the end of my second-to-last semester of my degree, I am amazed when I sit back and look at the astounding tasks I have accomplished. I am so friggin’ proud of how my final presentation for Advanced Design is turning out. So much so, I thought I would take a break in the process of getting everything ready to give you a peek at what I’ve been doing since the end of August, 2012…
I have had the opportunity to build and name a company, brand it, and create all the collateral for it. We spent the first several weeks working on logo design, company theme and style, and branding colors. Then we moved on to business cards, letterhead, and envelope. From there, we designed a kit cover – a folder that could be used for promotional items or seminar information, etc. After that, we created a fabulous mailer brochure (I loved coming up with the ideas on this one! This is where my passion ignited and I found the vision of where my company was really heading, what our history had been, and how we best serve the community.) After the brochure, we did a magazine ad and wrapped with the annual report for the company.
The process of getting into the background of a business and building it from the ground up in my head was an amazing process, as well as helped me to get clear on what I want to do for my own business and how I want to serve entrepreneurs in bringing their vision to the world. It also showed me where my weaknesses were, while honing my strengths. Additionally, I learned the power of creating a brand that flows through every single piece of collateral so the company is recognizable everywhere. The colors, the chosen typefaces, the style of imagery, even the paper choices all make a difference in the impact on the business’ presence in the world.
The cool thing about this is, part of the requirements for every phase of this project was to track our time so that we can get a sense of where we’re lagging, where we excel and where we can trim time for future reference. It is quite breathtaking to sit back and look at the actual numbers associated with this semester’s projects. All in all, to this point, I have spent over 130 hours to get it to the level of completion that you are seeing in the image above. I still have graphs and financial information to create for the annual report, but I’m near to done. WOW! 130 hours of my life has been spent on this and, while I have had some struggles and some tears and have pitched a few ugly fits in the throes of pulling out my hair instead of chucking my computer or printer across the room, I have really enjoyed it. I am excited to see where and how this is going to be applied for my clients!!!
