COMD4900 Spring 2020: Brainstorming Concepts

1 How To Be A Transgender Ally Poster

How To Be A Transgender Ally Social Media

It is the third week of my internship, and I have really been enjoying it so far. I really enjoy being able to have so much creative freedom. I get to come up with my own concepts and designs, and the people I work with seem to really appreciate my creativity.

I realize I am lucky because not a lot of internships are like this. But, it is also good to recognize that this is not always going to be the case. I enjoy working in an environment like this where creativity can run free – now I know what to look for in a work environment.

So far, it has been the same type of work. The first week was different because I was designing actual giveaway items – the brochure. But now, I am focusing mostly on designing for events that will be hosted on campus. The next event I am working on is called “How To Be A Transgender Ally”. It is a panel that focuses on how we can better be allies to transgender people, and what this means in today’s day and age. I appreciate that they host events like this, because it is really useful to folks like me who do not know how to navigate things like this.

I ran into an issue when creating these posters though, there was an INSANE amount of copy that I had to put on the poster. I was pretty stressed about it at first, because I did not know how I would manage to make the poster look good and eye catching, while simultaneously putting two paragraphs of copy on it.

I experimented with multiple different layouts, and looked at other designs for inspiration. I went on Google Fonts, and found two primary fonts I wanted to work with, and then from there, I experimented with layouts in Illustrator.

Eventually, I ended up coming up with a design that was not the best design I have ever done, but – it serves its purpose. That is another thing that is hard as a designer, when you know that there is no way of getting around it, and you have to put the design out there anyway. However, I made three different versions of it, so that my supervisor could pick whichever one they wanted. It was a challenging project, but I got it done.