Things I found Out Flipping Copies #2

We have pretty specific job tickets that you fill out when you want documents printed at copy center. You need to indicate how many copies, the color, weight and size of paper and if color ink or black and white. A lot of times, when people send in an email request, they forgot to write what weight of paper they want or if they need any clerical services. The majority of the time, it is easy to figure out that people want regular 20# paper and printed in color. However today I fully believe: 


Lesson #2 - It is better to ask for clarification and wait then to print 20 copies and then have to go back and staple by hand. 


There always seems to be a rush to get things finished right away. Well today I printed something that looked like it should be stapled and not comb bound like they had indicated. Long story short, I ran the job before asking for this clarification and spent the last twenty minutes of my day counting out three pages and stapling. If I had asked before running the job, I could have easily set the copier to do everything for me. 


I feel like this happens so often in life. We rush to get something finished before we have the adequate information to complete the job well. In the long run it ends up taking more time. 


It's also an opportunity to educate people. Many people who send things into copy center do not realize the different options they have, and therefore aren't really clear on what they want. When I email them, it is a chance to help them increase their knowledge of how to get a better product. 


We have touched on this topic a lot in design as well. It is is important for designers to be able to help the client articulate what they really want when they say, "Make it look nice."

Greenwood Experience

Way back in May, a friend asked me to create a logo for this service trip he was helping to set up. It was a camp put on for kids in Greenwood, Mississippi. He had two requests for the logo/wordmark:


>Make the writing look like kid drawn
>Say Greenwood in green and wooden looking text. 


I created this logo quick for him one night. I thought it was going to be just a nice little side project. 

 

At another event later in May, my friend was presenting the service trip and I decided to get more involved. I traveled down to Greenwood, Mississippi from June 11th through the 19th and we held camp for 70 kids ranging in age from 4 to 13. It was a lot of work but a ton of fun. The photographer in me went on the trip with the goal of documenting our experience and bringing it back to share with other people in future promotional materials that I could design. However, we were so busy with the kids, that I didn't even take my camera out of the case. It was great experience though and I will try to make time to attend next year. 

I still took the opportunity to design the promotional materials for next years camp. So far I have created a brochure and photo collage -- thank God, other people on the trip took photos. 

 

For the brochure, I went with the idea that you collect photos and quotes when you go to camp. I used clips and torn paper in my design. I like the way it turned out and think it looks really clean. The novelty blue pastel font is just enough to reference a kids camp without overdoing it. 

For the collage, I really wanted to avoid a full page of photos-yearbook like product. I decided to make it look like a bulletin memory board. The photos are tacked in with little push pins and it relates to the brochure with the little torn paper notes. 

I really love designing for projects, especially service projects, that I am involved in. I think it means more to me because I really understand the cause and am not just an outsider looking in. It is important to me to be involved in the causes that I create designs for. 

Things I Found Out Flipping Copies #1

I currently work at the Cardinal Stritch Copy Center. It may not be a job directly on the path to a graphic design career but there are a lot of things I can take away from my experience. 


Lesson #1 - It's okay to give yourself some breathing room. 


In copy center, it seems like people drop off print jobs at 1:00 p.m. and want them printed by 1:01 p.m. All day people ask, "When can you have this done by?" The majority of the time I am able finish printing some ones job in a quite short time frame, but I usually say, "I can have it done by the end of the day." Giving myself the extra time allows me some wiggle room in case the printer jams or just decides to stop working in general (both of which happens more frequently than one would predict). 


Overall, it is much better to tell someone that you can have the work done in four hours and actually complete it in two, than to estimate one hour and actually take an hour and a half to finish. 

How I stand out in the herd

In doing my research for my personal brand, I found other people and agencies with a similar idea. Farming is a great image to associate with because not only is it about hard work but it brings up ideas of cultivating, growth and fresh beginnings. All of these qualities are great in a design. 


Here are two of the Design Studios that also use the farm idea: 


Farm Fresh Design Studio: http://www.farmfreshdesign.ca/

I think the "moove" and running cow is taking the farm idea a little too literal. However, I do like their copy. They focus on the word fresh. Fresh marketing ideas for today's needs is there slogan. It is also really cool that the studio is on a small farm. That is the type of environment that I would want to work in. 

Design Farm: http://www.designfarm.com/

Design Farm focus more on growth with how they present themselves. I think the plant in the logo shows growth well. 

After a summer away doing some deep personal analysis -- and by that I mean playing a lot of beach volleyball -- school has once again started. But I don't want this post to be one of those "Going back to school, so now I am going to start blogging again. It's going to be a great year" ones; I want this post to be the start of a new blog focused on me as a designer not a student fulfilling a class requirement. 


I have changed a lot since I started this blog and some updates were long overdue:


New Title - Design Randomness? I don't know why I kept that title for so long. Design isn't random. Honestly, I think that title came from not knowing what I wanted to do with this blog and actually, not really knowing what I wanted to do with my design in general. Well, three years down the road and I am confident in who I am. Hence the new title: Farmer and Designer. It is a spin off of my nickname Farmer Cathy, because my friends thought it was funny that a small town, farm girl ended up in Milwaukee working on computers. It is funny, but it is also what makes me different. I have a more informal, service oriented approach to design and really strong work ethic that I attribute to my background of growing up on a farm. In contrast, I really enjoy being in milwaukee -- t's city to me. My town only had four hundred people in it -- and love the digital creativity in doing graphic design and photography. 


Background - Linen paper texture from my business card. I like the linen paper because its soft. It relates to how I want to present myself. I don't feel the need to put on a suit to impress people. I want to understand where people are coming from so I can create better designs to fit their needs. To me design is a service. 


I like the new look and it will keep developing. I think it is a much better fit for who I am and where I want to go with my designs.