What did you learn today?

Today I learned even with a group things can be hard to decided upon. A lot of people on a team can sometimes mean more ideas being developed and then making it harder to decided on things. Like today with the logo, there were so many options we could have went with but we went with what works and would make the most sense. It’s good to be open minded about what could be done, but again with the time, it was important that we got to a decision even if we felt we could work on it more.

What were your challenges?

There was defiantly a time challenge again today, with deciding on the logo and the final look. There was also a hard time with choosing color so it helped that we decided to hold off on it, and just continue on with producing the deliverables we set. In order to make sure we have content to present for tomorrow, we’ll have to finish all the details in our own time tonight. Personally I had trouble with being tired coming in today, but having people to help in the decision making made up, keeping me awake and involved in the project.

How did you help each other?

Thankfully everyone was open to other ideas besides their own, so it turned into a collaboration of ideas to help us get to our final logo. Since we all have to finish working on our parts of the project tonight, we all made sure to be on the same page with what’s needed. Everyone has the files for everything and making sure to send Arianna what we have by tonight will help with having some of the presentation done for the morning.

What are your expectations for the semester?

I hope by the end of the semester that I can get a better understanding of what it’s like to work with a team. How to handle clients both alone and with others. Overall I’m really looking forward to having people I can turn to during difficulties with projects or clients. I think being part of a team will help creatively as well. I also hope that I can push myself design wise from seeing how others work.

What did you learn today?

Today I learned that things will not go how you planned. Instead of meeting my client at their office, they surprised me by coming to our office early since they were already in the building. Thankfully I was prepared with what I wanted to go over and was able to go through all my talking points. However, the client decided to stick to the previous design for the research mixer considering it would be happening soon. They also decided to go with the previous designs for the workshop posters, asking me to revise the copy on those as well. While I am disappointed I won’t be creating new designs, I understand the client’s want for sticking to designs that already have worked for them.

Making sure a project’s goals and deliverables are clear is also very important. It’s almost impossible to start a project well if the details aren’t clear or finalized. Everyone has to be on the same page and the deliverables should also make sense with what the goals of a project are, like with the group project today. A lot of the time was sent discussing these details, which I think will make it more productive when it comes to the design process.

What challenges did you have?

A challenge we all had was trying to finalize the group project and the deliverables we settled on. Having little information on the new Klitgord building, it was difficult trying to brainstorm ideas for the logo and signage. Still we all tried to pitch with a brain map to help generate ideas before we talked about updating signage for the existing buildings. We felt the confusion for students on navigating the building would make for a good project. Still we had to make sure all of the work could be done within the next day, and settled with combining the signage and Klitgord building by making up what departments would be on one floor.

During my meeting I felt a little unprepared due to my client asking if I had met the previous designer, who they wanted to use the work from, and if I had the schedule for the entire process of the Honors Scholars presentation. I felt it made me seem out of the loop with my client and wasn’t what I was hoping for.

How did you help each other?

A lot of communication and helping each other understand parts of the school, or information, and learning about signage defiantly made today productive. Ultimately making sure we all felt good about what we were doing for the group project and that it made sense gives us a better starting point for our sketching phase. Have to especially thank Erin for bring the idea to mix both the original project and the revised signage for existing buildings!

What did you learn today?

Today we got into more about setting up a contract that overviews a project. The contract will contain names of everyone involved in the project, the abstract/overview about what the project is and the goals of the project. It also contains the deliverables in which the project will be presented in such as posters or web banners. A timeline to the contract can be very important, especially for long projects, to help keep both the designer and client on track of what is expected and when meetings are.

Having copies of a contract can help reassure everyone what is expected by the end of the project and help avoid confusion on details. Adding in when the contract was updated last is a very smart touch to adding in my organization.

We also learned about what the process was of picking up prints from the reproduction center. We must make sure to give 3 days notice for any printing and when we go to pick up as for anything that is ready for Faculty Commons. This way work is taken to the office even if the work is down by another designer, keeping a strong teamwork link and helping hand.

What challenges did you have?

Today I had the challenge of some miscommunication with the Honors Scholars projects. Learning there were more posters then just the workshop poster I originally thought to be the main project confused me and what was expected of me with my client. However, reviewing the files and emails sent to me, and asking questions to clarify things helped me double check on which posters would be due first. Now I know what will be worked on and what I will have ready for my client meeting for Tuesday. I was very grateful Arianna and William were so patient with my questions!

I was also stuck on whether or not to email my client the edited files after they responded so quickly to my introduction email, since they were quick fixes. I held off on it to ask Arianna and William whether it was better to verify the time for the meeting then send the files in a separate email. Thankfully I did, as it made more sense to hold off and wait until my meeting to give my clients the chance to see what concepts I come up with in addition to the originals. Again, it was very helpful that they both took the time to help with my questions.

How did you help each other?

When we presented our Pantone Projects, William helped pointed out hard to see details on the font I was using, which I was happy about. They were very hard to catch and now I can make sure the project is more polished when I present to the team.

Personally a lot of patience helped me today, during all the questions I was asking throughout all the assignments. Making sure we were clear on the following week’s schedule I think helped Erin and myself, since now we are balancing multiple projects.

I think getting used to each other and seeing more of our personalities, especially through the Pantone project and inspiration meeting, is pushing us to further in on critique and review.

What did you learn today?

Today I learned about the proper etiquette for emailing clients. Part of this was how to write an intro email, how to address clients, keeping an email signature, and to always be friendly and courteous. I also learned about what to start thinking about and looking into when having the first meeting with the client, such as the kind of deliverables and deadlines. Another important part was making sure to cc emails to everyone involved in a project and the head of contacts. This ensures that everyone is kept in the loop of details and where the project is, leading to less confusion.

What were your challenges?

Having Erin, Arianna, and William look over my email I noticed again a habit I seem to have of making emails too long. I have to remind myself to keep emails short and clear to make it easier for the client/recipient to read through. Hopefully the more time I spend sending emails, the easier it will be for me to quickly notice this and shorten them.

I had expected to have a hard time making sure I progressed well with the Pantone project as I expressed yesterday. However keeping track of time and where I was progress wise helped me think about what I could accomplish within the day and what parts were more important to work on.

How did you help each other?

We helped each other by sharing some places of inspiration we each go to, explaining what things we look out for at places and websites. This gave some insight into my peers creative process and interests. I especially like that the design team all shares events and links to things they find inspiring and what they believe the rest of the team will enjoy. I think it keeps the team excited and always thinking, and helps engage everyone to build a stronger relationship.

What did you learn today?

Today I learned about the process of beginning a project with a client. We worked on starting research to help with brainstorming concepts. This included how to clearly sketch out concepts for the client to review easily. I also learned about the printing process when finishing the deliverables, how to contact and explain project details to the printer, and what to look out for when thinking about the final print(crop marks, test printing).

What were your challenges?

My challenges were making sure to push and use the full last hour to work on final touches for the poster project. I managed to add and work on all 3 concepts until review after making sure to finalize my chosen design. With the Pantone project, I’m trying to make sure not to brainstorm too much on ideas for the deliverable so that I will have enough time to fully complete the project on time. I’m using the breaks and timeframes given to help set those times I need to stop and finish up sketching.

How did you help each other?

We helped each other on what final touches we could try out for the poster project; some things we could try on different bodies of text. As well as looking out for small details to check up on, like the alignments of text boxes, bars, and elements. We also talked slightly about what we were brainstorming for the Pantone project, checking to see if what we were heading towards was a good start to jump off with.