Graphic Design and Advertising

I spent the morning reviewing my project with Rod. He set it up so that I can work with a designer tomorrow to put all of my plans on paper. He recommended starting on the layout and fill of my brochure, so I wrote up everything I wanted to be in the brochure…it looks like a lot. It’s about a page and a half. I wanted to explain what winterim is, what students’ options are, what winterim fair is, and inform them that financial aid is available. I was sure to focus on the benefits rather than the features, which is what Rod told me about last week. When selling a car, you want the customer to know that it has heated seats, but what is going to sell it is explaining that the seats will keep you warm. Heated seats is the feature. Being warmer is the benefit. So when discussing on campus winterims, I explained that being on campus gives students the structure they are used to and the teacher supervision necessary for some students : ) When explaining out of the country trips, I also played off of the teacher supervision as well as the getting to experience another culture and being immersed in a foreign language. Networking offers the opportunity to live away from home for a while and meet new people. Lastly, independent study gives deeper knowledge of a subject as well as a lot of responsibility.

After finishing the copy for my brochure, I went to lunch and then returned to leave for another meeting in BG. They presented the same product to the same group, but added one person. His response was different than the others, because he took a while to respond. It was silent for a few minutes while he scrutinized every detail. In the end, he really liked it all, but the first few minutes made everyone a little nervous. I also realized that you really need to have good concepts and reasons why you do everything you do. Any color, word, corner on the page could be criticized, so they’d have to be able to back it up. You can’t just say, it looks good, it sounds good, it works. There has to be multiple reasons why it’s the best you have. Thinking about that is making me consider the logo I’m currently working on. I need more concepts behind it.

Another monday. I had another meeting with Terry and I got some logo ideas from him and Rod. I realized that I had previously had really no understanding of a typebased logo. Now, with that all cleared up, I can actually work on the fonts for the logo. We also discussed winterim a little, so that Terry could understand the whole experience better. Once it was more clear, he came up with a vague vision for an ad poster. I spent the rest of the day trying different fonts to see how they looked and coming up with a headline that would work with my poster!

So I collected all of my information and organized it and had a short meeting with Terry in the morning. We talked a little about logotypes (logos based on the typography rather than an image) and he sent me on my way. The rest of the day, I worked with different fonts and styles to make a logo for winterim independent studes. I came up with a few ideas which I will be showing to Meren soon. In the afternoon, I traveled with Terry and Ron up to BGSU for a meeting where they presented a design Jack had recently completed. It was good to see them in a very professional setting, since around the agency things are pretty casual. It went very well and because they had done such a fantastic job, they got more work. It was interesting to hear the client bring up many of the little things Jack, while designing, had discussed with me: colors, corners, ribbon, individuality. They took a wild, fun design and made it more businesslike. There’s another meeting with BG on Tuesday which will be similar, but for a different person.

I’ve typed up my questions, emailed everyone I want to contact, and organized my ideas for graphics. I can’t put together a graphic until I’ve talked to the “client” and better understand how they feel about their product. This is really exciting though. Once I have my information, I’ll have a meeting friday morning with Terry, Ron, and Jack to help me organize the information and prepare to make it a logo. I’m a little nervous since they obviously understand the whole process better, but it’s up to me to ask the right questions and word the answers I get so that they can be used to advertise. Everyone is very nice though, so I’m sure it’ll be fun. There is also a meeting with BG tomorrow that I will most likely be attending. This will be my first time actually attending a meeting with a client. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot. Around eleven this morning, I went over to school and interviewed Ms. Blackburn, Sr. Lluch, and Mrs. Spychala about independent studies. I also received one email back from a student answering similar questions. Hopefully I will get the rest soon. I’m going to meet with Meren at around two and then spend the rest of the evening organizing all of this information.

Sorry these posts have been so long, but I have a lot in my head that I want to be sure you can understand.

This morning I had a long discussion with Mr. Frysinger (my sponsor) about…well….lotssss of things. Many of the things I learn about graphic design are related to what is going on in his world. If a client has some sort of issue, he will explain it to me and how he can fix it. This is a very broad way to describe our conversations, but it works. Today, he talked about getting into the career of graphic design. It’s a very competitive area and it can be tough to get your first job. He also told me that keeping up with pop culture no matter how old you are is a great help since you are potentially marketing to people interested in pop culture. This seems simple enough now, but over the years, it won’t be as natural to keep up with it all.

Another thing we talked about was my project for winterim. After talking with Meren yesterday, I narrowed down my topic a little more and decided to basically “sell” independent studies. I’m trying to convince students to do one next year. I’m going to gather information on independent studies by interviewing students who have done one and the teacher who organizes them all. I’ll then be presenting this to designers and my sponsor and beginning the creative process. I’ll be making a logo, a brochure, and possibly an ad. I have to have all of my info from interviews by friday! It seems way too soon and I’m rushing already, but I guess this is real life! I’ve been working on my questions for interviews and emailing people I may want to interview since lunch. So excited!

I spent the morning with graphic designer, Jack, at Lesniewicz. He talked to me a little about how graphic designers really can’t feel as though they’re the best. He talked about how every project is a completely new project, so no matter how well you’ve done with others in the past, each one is a new adventure. This was really intriguing to me. For some reason, I always figured that once you were good, you were good. I also learned about how to make unique designs that still fit in the same  “family”. When you have a design already for a booklet, you want the brochures to match them to a certain extent, but still be unique. We talked about embellishments and I noticed different techniques he used while putting together a cover page. Just being able to watch a designer at work gives me ideas about my own work. I also noted that to come up with creative outlooks on designs, artists do a lot of word association. Though the company is using the word one way, their logo or design can express it through another idea. For example, there was a business with the name Roach in it. It had nothing to do with bugs, but they used a roach in the design, because it helped clients remember the name. Thinking of different ways a word can be used will help expand my creative abilities.

I  also spent the morning looking through a magazine called Communication Arts. I went through about two and a half issues. The first had all sorts of design from logos to ads to websites. The second was all different forms of advertising like posters, billboards, commercials, brochures, etc. Jack told me that exposing myself to good design would help me weed out the not so good designs. It was interesting to watch him work, because he was working on multiple different designs for the same product. He would work on one and then get sick of it and move on to another. He’d go back and eventually threw out a few because he decided they weren’t good enough. They were barely half done, but when he’d narrowed down a few more, he called in other designers to critique. He wanted to make sure that what he was doing would fit what the client had been asking for before he actually finished the product. They told him he was right on track, but it helped to refocus him by reviewing the client’s desires.

In the afternoon, I went back to school to talk to Meren. We discussed the worksheet I had completed and then talked some more about logos and my potential project. I learned that logos need to be simple, because it must be able to be duplicated. Also, it could be printed in black and white at some point, so color shouldn’t be a main focus. If a logo can be printed small in black and white and still be understood, then it passes these tests. This is to make sure a logo isn’t too complicated and is easy to understand. We also discussed me beginning my project by creating a logo for my winterim experience. I could then advertise my winterim experience through posters, brochures, etc. She recommended I start by going to Barnes and Noble and looking at some logo books, which I did. I read the logo section of D.I.Y. be Ellen Lupton and began reading the Logo, Font, and Lettering Bible by Leslie Cabarga. The former gave a simple list of how to begin creating a logo. Basically, start by listing off characteristics or attributes that relate to your goals for the logo, then find symbols or words that can represent each. The last step is simply to combine a select few of them in many different ways until you’re satisfied. This is a pretty broad procedure, but I’m going to try it. I’ll be returning to Barnes and Noble to continue with the Logo, Font, and Lettering Bible because it looked really interesting.

Today I spent the morning at Lesniewicz Associates mainly following President Rod Frysinger around. He gave me a lot of information today and I hope I can remember it all. One major thing I learned today was that nearly all  of the issues that come up on a day to day basis in an advertising firm are because of communication issues with the client. It’s important that the agency gets a clear understanding of what the client wants the product to look like and sound like and what reaction they want out of the consumer. The firm needs to know what is the main focus of the product. If the client doesn’t give good input, then the agency has to assume. They may assume incorrectly, so the client is unsatisfied and the project must be adjusted accordingly. It saves a lottttt of time if the client knows and can explain what they want…but that doesn’t happen very often, so much of the stress of the business is caused by the client. This all makes perfect sense, I just hadn’t thought about it before. Most of the morning was spent looking at products and figuring out how to fix them to please the client. I gave input on a fact sheet layout. I met more of the staff, including Mr. Lesniewicz and looked through the company’s portfolio which included brand identities, advertising and promotions, new media design, corporate literature, annual reports, packaging, and some special projects.

At about 12:30 I went to lunch and then headed over to school to meet with Meren. I was there for about twenty minutes. We talked about what I’d done that morning and discussed potential project ideas for my final winterim presentation. She then gave me an article and a worksheet and sent me on my way. I read about the basics of graphic design and learned about image vs type design. I drove around town looking for examples of each and filled out the worksheet with what I’d found. I also looked for designs that communicated effectively and logos that created a strong brand such as target, monster, and nike. I was glad to be out of an office and it was interesting to really study the things I see everyday.

Journal entries may consist of:

1. Reports on a day’s activities

2. Details about a specific event of a day

3. Reports of conversations with your supervisor or other staff

4. Thinking about significant conversations with clients

5. Reports on reading you are doing and how it relates to your work

6. Questions you have

7. Things which disturb or annoy you and your own suggestions, if any, of how to deal with them

8. Things you have learned about your project

9. Things you have learned about yourself

10. Considerations about career choice in light of your project

11. Any and all reflections on any of the above items

Winterim hasn’t started yet, but I don’t like how my blog looks without any posts, so I’m writing one. I went to Lesniewicz Associates last Thursday to meet with both of my sponsors. We discussed everything from potential projects for me to what I should be wearing everyday. We also planned out my schedule. I’ll be at Lesniewicz at about eight in the morning. I’ll stay there until lunch, and then head over to school to spend the rest of the day with Meren, another graphic designer. I’m very excited about the rest of this month : )