For my guide book project, I was instructed to create an informational guide book for a place or object. I chose to focus on Arizona with an emphasis on travel because Arizona is my favorite vacation spot. This book would be available for travelers at Arizona travel centers and gas stations if it were used for real world design. 

To begin my project, I created a mood board. I really wanted to embody a minimalist, boho desert theme throughout my book so it was attractive to both younger and older crowds. I was very excited with this theme because it reminds me of the warm, dry desert air that I love so much. This mood board was easy to compile because the style is a big influence on my passion for this travel destination. 

Once I was finished with my mood board, I moved into sketches. I laid out each page with area for body text, graphics, and titles. After critiques, I was ready to move into InDesign and Illustrator. 

When designing my booklet, I used InDesign for the layout and Illustrator for the graphics. I incorporated my research process into my design process since I already knew so much about the region. I researched each page of information after designing the layout. This was a new way for me to research and I found it a little less effective than completing research and text before hand. 

After my first draft, I wen through several rounds of critique until I ended up with a solid final project. Once the project was complete, we learned how to use Blurb, a printing service, to print and purchase our booklet. 

I am overall very pleased with the final product of this project, but it was not my favorite. It was a very rushed final project that was introduced in the middle of a substitute professor transition while our assigned professor prepared for maternity leave. This left me very confused many times and felt like I lacked a lot of important information due to the position of our fill in instructor. This experience taught me a lot about self educating and upholding the design process with little support, though. It was a hard process with a mediocre outcome, but I gained a lot of new independence as a designer from the process and I am thankful for that.