Copyright

Today the my group, which is the Identity group, met with a lawyer to discuss copyrighting the logo for TasteBuds. This had nothing to do with design but I do think it was beneficial to me because you never know when you need something copyrighted. I learned about the differentiation between copyright and trade marking an idea. The lawyer we met with was a part of leadership Chattanooga and was very helpful by using his lawyer skills and looking up legal information on what we can and cant do. It turned out that we may not copyright the logo because of certain reasons but I am glad we met with him. I always love to learn all aspects of life and design because whatever you learn will only benefit you in life.

Identity guide progress

The time is near for the identity guide to be completely finished. As a group we all have been working hard in trying to get all the final files from everyone’s groups. There have been a lot of sleepless nights and time spent out of class in order to get it done. I must say the guide is coming along and is looking good. I am glad I was assigned to be apart of the identity team. Even though it isn’t that much designing it will add variety to my resume and portfolio. Even though were almost done with the guide research is still being done. At the moment there is a lot of editing. We have all the pages inserted, so all we have to do now is edit the text and make it all cohesive, and also making the images and measurements consistent.

Williams Printing

After visiting Williams Printing It reminded me of the field trip we took to National Print Group. I learned a lot from this trip like how die cuts are made and how to make larger pieces of material. I enjoyed the section of the building where the designers were. It was calm and seemed like a nice environment to work in, being that I would more than likely be in that room if I worked there. I think it would be beneficial to work in a print shop for a first job as a designer because its good to know the ins and outs of printing. Also it will give you good connections in future projects. I always love field trips especially ones to print shops because it intrigues me the way they work and all of the effort put into a print job. Even though getting lost for an hour getting there it was well worth it.

Paper Plus

Even though this field trip wasn’t part of my class I went along anyways to learn more about paper. For us designer nerds paper is a beautiful thing. There are many different types of papers like: texture, color, size, and weight. All of these aspects of paper are important when designing. At Paper Plus we were offered free paper books. I was ecstatic because this gave me the opportunity to start my own bookshelf of paper.

TasteBuds Final Words

This project taught me a lot about working as a real world designer. Having the experiences we had while working with this project will benefit me in the future. There was a lot of preliminary work with figuring out which logo was “the” logo and a lot of work in between. I am glad that CrabTree farms trusted our design ability in branding their “baby” TasteBuds. I helped make the identity guide possible. At first I was apprehensive because I didn’t know that our contribution came towards the end of the project. I am grateful that I was a part of this team because I love to learn new skills in the design world. I already know how to design something on paper, but actually coming up with standards and having the authority to say what should be done and not done was pretty cool. Don’t get me wrong making the standards was hard work and redundant at times, but in the end seeing what we created and watching it grow from nothing amazed me. Our group made the identity guide very thorough in order to keep the design the way it should always look. We didn’t want to leave out anything in the chance that the client would change the design of the logo and deliverables in any way. Being done with this project is a huge relief but I am eager to get out into the real world and start my career. Projects like this is a lot of work but in the end seeing all the hard work put into this and what you have accomplished is truly to me one of the most amazing experiences in my design career so far.

Cindy Li

After attending Cindy Li’s talk I went home and changed a lot of information on my sites. She talked about how to make your profiles safe and private to people you don’t know. I already knew some stuff she was saying but a lot of it hit home for me. She had a good point about avatars. Having your avatar with a recognizable picture of you is the safe way to go. It gets confusing when you have a cartoon version of yourself because it is not easily recognizable. Also she had some good pointers about how to keep your personal life private from your business life and people you may not know. As she said don’t just add anyone unless you can picture them coming into your house. It is good to know who you are friends with and who is seeing your page on your different sites. She also talked about what pictures are appropriate to add to your page because it will bite you in the but in the end. The internet is a huge space and you never know who will take your pictures or see them, especially when jobs look at your profile it is good to have a good impression on the employer. After the talk coptix now medium, took everyone to Easy Bistro for an amazing lunch. It was good to interact with Cindy at lunch and get to know her better. 

TasteBuds Work Update

Being that I am working with the identity guide we haven’t had much to do. Basically all we are doing is researching different identity guides to see how they are put together and to get a better understanding of what they are about. My group gets together to discuss options on what the guide should look like inside and out. We have a lot of expectations for our guide but we were told that we should go overboard because it is at the bottom of the budget list. We decided to make the guide oriented horizontally. The inside has text on the left side and the images on the right. Even though we aren’t actually designing something making these decisions does require a designers eye. Even though we aren’t that busy now we will definitely be towards the end of the project when everyone starts sending us the final pieces of the project. I am anxious to actually get started on putting the guide together and making it thorough.

PR Workshop

I currently attended a public relations workshop. It had nothing to do with the group I am in, which is the identity group, but I thought it would be beneficial for me. The workshop was hosted by springboard at CreateHere. I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do in certain media situations. The main discussion was on press releases. I didn’t know that there is so much to do within a press release. One thing I thought was interesting was that a press release is not entitled to coverage. This is why a press release has to intrigue the audience. A press release has to be realistic and gear toward the local community. I also learned it is always good to follow up. When following up you should write an email with some news or something interesting new to say. 3 weeks is a good time period to follow up. It was good to find out all the in’s and outs of public relations and how to make and send out a press release. Knowing all aspects of life is important when being a designer and I think I will use this information I learned to good use in the future. I am glad I went because I bettered myself as a designer.

Client Meeting

It is important for a designer to meet with the client face to face. When we met with the team from Chattanooga and Crabtree I was intimidated because I have never been in a meeting of this magnitude before. During this meeting the class ( designers) pitched their logos and ideas behind the design of this project. Each person described the reason behind his or her design. The clients asked them questions as well to get a better understand of what they were saying. This is when the requirement of public speaking came in handy to few. After going through the chosen logos previously picked in an earlier class. The clients discussed which one worked best for their “baby” aka the project, and chose Casey Yoshida’s design. It was a great experience interacting with a real situation of being a designer. It showed me that designers have to be able to sell their vision and idea. Everything went very well and the team was very excited of what we came up with for a logo. 

Logos

The whole process of making logos is ALWAYS stressful. It starts to get redundant after a while and before you know it all of your logos are starting to look the same. The logos I came up with first were very rough. I started to think fresh and produce. The logos I presented all had a leaf incorporated into them. Looking at everyone else’s in class they too had all were on the same page of having some sort of produce or leaf worked into them. The process itself of picking out the logo was long and stressful. This is because there were four logos that had a lot of potential. The more successful logos that were chosen incorporated forks and leaf. This just shows how our minds were thinking in the beginning of this process.