She Was Hired as An Employee for Her Class, Not Knowing What That Would Entail
By: Jamie Beeler
“You have all been hired as my employees,” Brother Lybbert told my classmates and I on the first day of the semester. Yes, this was COMM 316, better known as Professional Imaging, but to Brother Lybbert this was work. We became his employees, and he became our boss.
Brother Lybbert went on to explain what it meant to be his employee. As his employees, my classmates and I, better known as my coworkers, would need to prepare for our big project, the Six Days of Creating Something.
An Overview
For this project, our new boss had expectations for my coworkers and I, in order to help us prepare for our project. We started to prepare by keeping track of our time, refining sketches, and implementing different styles from different artists.
The BIG Project
Let’s start from the beginning. Let me fill you in on all the questions you may have…
The Six Days of Creating Something was a project where my coworkers and I individually came up with six different designs that had a clear business purpose and message. This meant that we could make bookmarks, social media posts, movie posters, or what I made, flyers, as long as we implemented a clear business purpose - a call to action. What did I want the person seeing my flyer to do?
For my call to action, I used a QR Code for each of my flyers. I encouraged my viewer to explore more with them. I liked the idea of using a flyer with a QR code because I liked the idea of handing the flyer out to someone and then them being able to easily scan a QR code for more information. It felt efficient.
QR Codes and Logos
For the six different ads that I did, the different ideas came to me quickly and easily. I did an ad for the Royal Caribbean Cruise, Arches National Park, Ikea, Curb, Triple A, and AllTrails. I wanted my ads to be simple, but different and have variety.
All of this was the easy part.
The more challenging part was that we had to implement the style of another artist’s work into our design. We couldn’t follow the layout or have the same elements in our new ads that were in the originals… you know, to avoid plagiarism and all that. We could only work on these individual designs between Monday and Saturday. We could work on one design per day, between 12:00 AM and 11:59 PM. Coming up with the slogan was also a little bit more difficult, but as I went to the company's websites for each of my ideas, I gained inspiration for my slogans. I wanted my slogans to be bold, simple, and speak for themselves. I feel like I accomplished that successfully.
The first thing I did for this project was look for six different designs. The designs I chose are listed below. I chose these six different designs because I felt like they were all different and unique, but simple enough that I could recreate them all.
Original Six Reference Photos
Sketching…. and Sketching
My first couple of weeks on this project were spent sketching. I had six different sketch books for my six different ideas and sketched in them from the first page to the last. I sketched, and sketched, and sketched some more… and then… sketched. I sketched for a total of 39 hours and 30 minutes in two weeks. I know this because I tracked my time. Although sketching was a long process, it was essential. It helped me brainstorm, find inspiration, and helped my ideas come to life.
As I sketched, I also did additional preparation, which was where I came up with different fonts and colors that I wanted to use for my flyers. But that preparation was flexible and changed.
I have the times that I was sketching or doing additional prep listed below.
Tracked Time
I sketched in all my sketch books the same way. I first started sketching my original design reference photo, listing the items that were in that design, and listing what things could be in my designs. As I began to sketch different ideas out on paper, my ideas came together quickly. My sketches were fast and came together quickly in the beginning, but as time went on, they took more time to do and became more refined.
Sketching Process
As I turned my refined sketches into ads, I realized some challenges that came along the way. I saw that as I was working on my flyers, my sketches became more of an inspiration, rather than a direction. I was grateful for the inspiration that they gave and felt like as I was making the ads, I was refining my refined sketched ideas. I felt like my ads followed a very simple, minimalistic style, just like the original styles did.
Refined Sketches and Final Flyers
Well, That Was Challenging
When I think of my most challenging piece, I think about my Ikea flyer. It wasn’t originally going to be an Ikea flyer, until a couple days before I made it. I originally wanted my flyer to be for Southwest airlines. I felt like I had a good idea and a catchy slogan, but as I was looking at my refined sketch, and thinking more about how I could implement the original style, I felt like my airlines idea was a little too… plane.
I knew that what became my Ikea design needed to be flat and have shading. I thought of using furniture to accomplish this and then thought of Ikea.
Ikea Refined Sketches and Final
Another thing that was more challenging was figuring out where to put the logos and QR Codes in each of my flyers. I originally put them in the corners of my flyers but was advised by my boss to incorporate them into my design and let the white space speak for itself. I tried my best to incorporate them into the design.
And Then I Was Done
As the sixth day of creating came to an end, I celebrated with ice cream. In the grand scheme of all the projects I have done and will do, I know this project is small. My coworkers and I will go on and accomplish different and more challenging projects, but for where I am right now, this was one of my hardest projects. My final mockups are listed below.
Final Mockups
Like A Rollercoaster Ride
Have you ever been to an amusement park and adrenaline got the best of you? Of course, this happens as you're in line for a really big rollercoaster. This rollercoaster ride looks so fun! But as you're approaching the front of the line, the rollercoaster ride starts looking bigger and bigger. You can't get out of line now, cause if you did, your spot would be taken. Waiting for such a long time in line would now become a waste of time.
As you approach the front of the line, you see just how small, little, and young you are compared to the people around you who are much bigger, older, and taller than you. Of course they're excited.
You get to the front of the line and it's your turn to ride the rollercoaster. You make sure your buckle is extra tight, you squeeze your arms together over the lap bar and try your best to enjoy the two-minute ride. The rollercoaster starts. Up, up, up you go. Then the rollercoaster stops at the top and you drop down. You close your eyes and brace for impact as you feel the pit in your stomach. There's no going back now. At this point, you think about your glasses. You do not want them to fall off on this ride.
Suddenly, the rollercoaster stops, and you open your eyes. The two minutes went by faster than you thought, but you didn’t enjoy the ride like you had hoped. You feel your glasses on your face, your palms are a little bit sweaty, and you’re still buckled in. You survived the ride. But as you look down at the lap bar, you notice blood. You may have survived the ride, but not without a bloody lip.
Yes, this did happen to me when I was nine years old and rode the wonderful Titan rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Texas. But this also happened to me metaphorically as a twenty-four-year-old in COMM 316, and more specifically when I was preparing for and working on the Six Days of Creating Something project.
I have spoken about the Six Days of Creating Something project, but not how I prepared for it. Every week, my coworkers and I recreated styles from the work of different artists, recognized different design principles, and made our own designs based off those things. I don’t know why, but that was hard for me to do. I really gained what it meant to follow a different artist’s style as I was preparing for the Six Days of Creating Something project, but it has always been my weakness.
Another weakness I didn’t recognize I had with this project until receiving feedback from my boss, was that I didn’t follow basic design principles like I should be…. Do you know how much more conscious I’ve been of proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast since receiving feedback from Brother Lybbert? That’s a rhetorical question.
During this class, I have also learned what it means to have a clear business purpose and message, which I feel has become a strength.
Another thing that has become a strength is the confidence that I have gained. When I thought of doing the Six Days of Creating Something project, I originally thought I was going to be panicked and stressed, which would lead me to not being as efficient as I could be. But as I was doing each project every day, I recognized how much confidence I had in creating each of my six designs. This came because of the confidence I have with using Illustrator, which is the program I used for creating each of my designs.
This class has stretched me and made me feel uncomfortable. But stretching and feeling uncomfortable is a good thing. It means you’re learning. I wouldn’t be taking advantage of college or my education if I stayed in my comfort bubble… and this class is not in my comfort bubble.
I Would if I Could, But I Can’t so I Won’t
If I could go back, I would change a lot of things about this project. I would implement the QR Codes and logos in different ways. I would change the typography, and would be more conscious of proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast. I would also try to implement the original styles in different ways. I would love to change these things, but I can’t, so I won’t.
Not being able to change the things I know I can improve upon kind of feels like an itch that’s in the center of your back that you just can’t scratch at no matter what way you twist and turn.
In the End
I am still very amateur in what I am studying, but I love visual communication because I am such a visual learner. I am constantly painting pictures in my head. I have realized that rather it is through making graphics or through writing, I love visually telling stories. I love that visual communication goes beyond just speaking.
I am still very amateur in what I am studying, but I know that with conscious effort, I will improve. With every project I make and through receiving meticulous and specific feedback, and through asking myself how I can become better, I can improve.
I want to invite you, the reader, to try something new tomorrow. Explore a new hobby or work on something that makes you feel uncomfortable.
I would love to work with you on future projects! Let's work on something, together.
Jamie Beeler
beeler.jamie@icloud.com
580-478-0597
