"Becoming a Graphic Designer"

Our reading assignment in Senior Seminar was in Becoming a Graphic Designer by Steven Heller & Teresa Fernandes. After reading, we where to decide on what design specialties we would like to pursue in once we get into the real world. I have to say that I was pretty interested in all of them. I believe book design would have to be my favorite (at least right now). I believe one reason why I like this area of design is because I love to read. Whenever I have the time I enjoy lounging around and reading a good book! I always enjoy looking at the design of books too! I love going into book stores and looking at book covers and flipping through the pages to see what kind of paper is used, and see if the text looks fun and easy to read (that sounds weird, I know). I have only had one project so far where I have designed a book cover but I really enjoyed it. I like how you can put your own creativity and style into it, but at the same time you are still restricted to certain things because of the author, type, etc. I enjoy working with type too which is another reason why I like book design. It is not just limited to designing the cover, there is also the interior design. There are also different categories that you can specialize in when designing books. There are text books, children's books, novels, etc. I would have to say I also like the fact that the majority of the time, the design of the book sales the book!

Corporate design is an area that I have gotten a lot of experience in, not only through class projects, but also through what I guess you would call side jobs. I like making identities for companies. I find it fun to be able to create a brand and put it on different things. While you have the consistency, everything you put it on still has its own style.

Another area of interest would be advertising. Advertising is everywhere and anywhere you look! In today's society, company's and organizations thrive off of their advertisements. There is always going to be a need for an advertisement designer. What I like about advertising is that designers have to always be unique. I love designs that are clever, or so simple that no one else would have ever thought of it. I feel like I would like advertising even more if I got into motion design (or commercials).

There are a couple of other areas that I would like to have the chance to experience someday. Music/ CD design would be fun. I think the reason I like this is because its kind of similar to book design, in the sense that you can add your own person style and creativity, and there are also different genres of music just like there are different types of books. Music design also involves a lot of type as well. Interactivity (or web design) is something I am interested in also. But seeing how I'm just now in my first web design class, I want to learn a little more about what's involved in this. Hopefully, after I get a little knowledge and experience in it, it will be something that I will enjoy too.