David gave me some feedback today on my magazine ads for NOW 105.1. The only thing I need to change is the color scheme so it matches the logo and brand official colors better. That made me feel very good. He really enjoyed my illustrations of the car dashboard. Because our generation, the main audience for NOW 105.1, prefers illustrations to photos I thought it was very appropriate. It will definitely connect with our generation of people.
I was also asked to create a simple sponsorship ad because Sandhill Media sponsored “Sounds of Summer” in Idaho Falls and needed an ad for the back of the handout program. David was very open and vague about what the ad would entail so I ran with a few ideas. It needed the Sandhill Media logo and a tagline about the company. That’s it. The rest was up to me. I enjoy loose projects like this. It gives me lots of room to flex my creative muscles. ?
I generally prefer the photo or box option but some pay be more difficult to print into a simple booklet. Especially if the booklet is black and white, it will be very hard to distinguish the image from the logo. So David had me send them all to the client to decide which works best with their printing methods.
I learned indirectly today about efficiency and connection. Efficiency is half the job when you are creating anything graphic design. You could be the worst designer, but if you can pump out work efficiently within deadlines, people will hold you in high esteem. Sometimes I hold myself back as a designer because I get so focused on the details that time gets away from me, now and then. I never want to have a reputation for missing deadlines or obsessing too much over the small parts of a project. I know now that I need to try to find a balance in my detail orientation and focus so I can be not only a good designer but an efficient worker as well. I’ve been so focused on my branding project lately that I’ve been neglecting other projects and other areas of my personal life.
Connection is important to art and design, in the marketing and advertising world especially. In my line of work, designers make arrangements to reach out and connect with their viewers. Whether it’s gaining more trust in a company, awareness of a topic, or just a single moment of self-reflection; design needs to communicate a message and connect in some way to its audience for it to be useful and powerful.