Digital Page Midterm: Random Brochure

[Krafty]

In my digital class, we're currently being forced against our will (over-exaggeration, but still) to put together a 12-page brochure for our professor. Almost everyone is being drilled in the *** as she assign random *** tasks to take up most of our time with none left to focus on this project no one has any motivation left to do.

As I struggled to get mines together, I went back to fix it and decided to come in late, until a friend of mines text me, and she said we had a midterm exam to do and it would take all class. So I said "**** it." Walked in 30-45 mins late, she says "Hi," and I give her a dead wave (cause well, I was dead). So I sit down, look at this task:

Put together a 4 page brochure with the crap (Images, text, and logo) I give you.

...Okay. Well, my main brochure looked like crap since I was rushing, and she made us do 10 sketches (God knows why...), even though I think I only did like 6.... But having done this in less than 1.5 hours, and printed it out before most of the class, I was pretty impressed. She even gave a good comment on it as she walked by (which took me a while to process, since she never has done that before). I was impressed myself:

All this done with Illustrator, InDesign, and Photohop.

 

[SwiftLives]

Trust me - you will be forced to do far more with far less if you choose to make a career out of graphic design. Be grateful your professor is challenging you. That's the *only* way you'll ever grow as a designer. The difference between your course and an entry level job is that when you wander in 45 minutes late without any motivation, chances are your employer will fire you.

You didn't specifically ask for a crit, but you did post your work. I suppose that makes it fair game.

While I like the overall design of the piece - it's quite strong, especially for student work - I have to say that it doesn't say "music" to me. My first thought was that it was a brochure for some sort of aquatic product like a boat or jet skis. That's probably because of the color scheme and lack of a dominant music-related image.

Secondly, I'd suggest you work on your typography a bit...a lot actually. Specifically, the hierarchy of your bullet points. The tabs and spacing on the "Quick Facts" page is frankly sloppy and difficult to read. Under "Get Serious About Music", you have inconsistent spacing between paragraphs. Finally, you might want to kill the hyphenation. And check for widows.

Still, that's a good start. Far better than anything I ever came up with in college. But a good start and a few quarters will get you some crappy coffee at Waffle House. You really need to work on the details. That's what's going to set you apart from everyone else.

 

[Krafty]

Criticism is always welcome, thanks. And we have fun at Waffle House sometimes.

I guess I didn't think too much of design given the time limit. However, she later than said design wasn't a main factor at the END of class. Still, I would like some feedback to see where I was going with it.

I guess I focused too much on simplicity rather than the overall focus on the brochure.

 

[dmz]

I hate to be an echo, but ditto the above comments. Just substitute "design office" for "digital class", and "client" for "professor" in the situation you have described, and you have a pretty good idea just what your career is going to look like in the future.

If you don't realise this now, you're in for a big shock. Your professor is doing you a big favour by NOT handing you beautiful images and amazing words and open-ended deadlines, because most of the time, especially as a junior designer, that's not what you get to work with, and you will always have multiple projects going on to provide multiple distractions.

The ability and motivation to produce silk from sow's ears is what those who will employ you are looking for, and as you can imagine, it is what will set you apart from those who have your current attitude - which would earn you immediate walking papers in most shops. A room full of chimps will produce beautiful graphics, given the proper materials and an infinite amount of time, but what they are looking for are humans who, when given a logo on a matchbook, an email of typo-ridden copy, some jpegs the client's wife shot, some very bad colour choices, impossible "quick-print" requirements, no budget and no time, jump at the chance to create something on time, under budget and beyond expectation. That's what they're looking for.

It looks like you did a pretty good comp in very little time. Your art director would probably come back at you with many of the criticisms you just read in the previous post, and you would be expected to make those changes post haste. Maybe one more round of fine tuning after that and you've got a client-ready comp that would very likely result in a happy client. Happy clients are returning clients, and THAT is the name of the game...

Remember who you're working for - not your Art Director, not your professor, heck, not even you - you work for your clients, and they are the ones who you must make happy. The satisfaction that comes from having happy clients is only exceeded by the happiness of their cheque clearing the bank, because that's what allows you to keep going - happy clients and their money. Truth.

dmz

 

[Krafty]

Thanks. I'm been running dragged trying to dodge family issues with 3 classes this quarter so I gotta pick it up.

I like criticism cause I don't think I will ever be half-way decent, but thats the price of learning. I didn't have too much time, so I had to make sure I can up with something pretty good to say the least. No matter how bad we talk about the class, all of us know that the teacher is just being nice before the real world.

I guess I'm in that state where I want everything to stop for 10 minutes so I can think things through, I honestly thought I was going to bomb this.

I guess what I'm trying to say is despite my mediocrity I think I learned something.

 

[dmz]

Yes, better to learn these real, hard lessons now than later, on the job. We all have those "uninspired" days, and learning to work through those doldrums while still producing good work is something all successful people have to learn. I think you're well on your way, keep learning!

dmz