Infographics, Photography, and Stamina

So I thought working on a project for a semester was exhausting.

At gravitytank we're just wrapping up a project that has been in progress for over six months. I've only been on the project three weeks and I'm already getting bored. I think that's mostly because I'm doing a lot of production work and its quite restrictive creatively, but its just about over. And in any case, this kind of work is a glimpse at the amount of refinement needed to produce clearly professional work, and the amount of creative stamina I'll need once I graduate. I know that one of my issues with the practice of design is that I have an aversion to refinement. I tend to lean towards work that is intuitive, quick, reflexive. Sweating the details is not a gift that I was born with.

But one of my bosses today explained it best. In the discussion of a piece I was working on, we tangentially talked about the field of design in general. He explained that things like spelling mistakes, inconsistencies in line weight, text size, etc - these things all make the designer look like his job is only to "make things pretty." As designers begin to move up the ranks from pure aestheticians, to copy writers,  and become more involved in the content of a piece (which I think we all can agree is when great work can happen), things like this stereotype that we only "make things pretty" hurts our progression in the field. Though things like periods, commas, line weight and type size might be drudgery, it is our duty to keep these things consistent, to be concerned over the small issues within a piece, because "God is in the details." 

I immediately thought of the article Jamie assigned us in viscom this year, about design being in the details. I don't think its validity really hit home until my boss said that. Its true though - if we ever expect to be more involved in the content, we must be concerned with it as much as with the visual aspect. 

I think this sense of detail, of organization, of obsessive and passionate involvement with the content that must be communicated is another thing that separates designers from artists, though I think a person can be both. I think one of the main hindrances in the profession now is how little communication there is between the people involved in the creation of the work. I have noticed just the opposite at gravitytank, which perhaps explains their merit. For example, a company came yesterday to discuss a branding project. Some executive members of the board knew less about the brand than some gravitytank staffers. 

The real magic in design can happen with the designer, author, illustrator, and photographer are either in close communication with eachother, or are the same person.

In addition to the design work, I just finished photographing a print piece that will be featured in the Print Design Annual. Gravitytank's brochure was selected to be featured in the midwest section, so I was assigned the task of documenting it - so look for gt in print.

I also worked on refining a timeline for a client, of when pieces of print collateral would be produced. I tried to make complex information seem clear and inviting, like we learned in viscom last semester. I also learned that any design created for a client, no matter how minor, must be consistent with our identity. 

So far the types of projects we've done at kcai have all manifested themselves in some way or another in all the work I've done.  And it's just been the first three weeks. It's encouraging to see the validity (not that I doubted it) of the curriculum in a professional setting. 

In the coming weeks I'll be moved to another project, in addition to the internal work I've been doing. More to come as I transition!