Week 2 The second week of spring semester is done. Yahoo!! Only 14 more weeks to go, but whose counting. In PR pubs we’ve been challenged to find images in our everyday life that have design characteristics. Such as: visual[…]
Hi, my name is Amanda, and I am from right outside of Houston, Texas. I have lived in a suburb called Cypress my whole life. I am a sophomore, and I am majoring in PR (obviously) and minoring in Nonprofit.
What excites and interests me about Public Relations is there are so many different elements to it. It isn’t just writing PR releases, but it’s also designing business cards and so much more. I like that not every day will be the same and that I have the opportunity to interact with many different types of people. I think my favorite things about PR is the many options I can choose from for what field I would like to go into or, even work at a PR firm and deal with different types of clients all the time.
What motivates me is my love for writing and making people happy from it. Writing is in my everyday life whether it’s for a class or even journaling. Writing is a way I can help relieve stress and reflect on my day. I am so excited to improve my writing skills and learn more about PR in this class!
The class lesson that stood out most to me this week was the topic of minimalism. You don’t always have to fill the entire space.
Sometimes, less is more. Especially in graphic design. (Photo via Becoming Minimalist)
Breaking down Design
I have never really put much thought into the details and descriptions of design. I would look at a cool poster and think, “wow, cool poster.” I guess never having experience in those types of creations limits my ability to analyze exactly how they are made. So many different aspects go into these designs that are plastered all over the world, and once you take a moment to breakdown each piece of the picture, it all makes a little more sense on how it was done.
Design values like simplicity, clarity, and decluttering helps to focus the eye one the main idea, eliminating the stuff that is less important. Creating a clean and less confusing design will make the viewer feel relaxed while looking at it instead of overwhelmed. I, for example, am not a fan of busy, crazy, and packed-full designs. I look at it and immediately think, “there is a lot going on here.” I will always choose the design that is unique, creative, and of course, simple. These design values are not the only pieces that are incorporated when coming up with these intricate designs. There are for basic principles to think about before starting your graphic design piece: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. Now, everyone always suggests that in order to retain information, you should create an acronym for the words you are needing to know. These four principles might just be my favorite because their acronym spells crap. This might come off as a little immature, but hey, if you’re learning the material then who cares? Each of these principles makes a huge difference in the quality and compatibility of the designs. Contrast will create an interest on the page and aid organization. Contrast is one that doesn’t require much experience to figure out. I mean it’s pretty simple, don’t put red words on an orange background; Don’t put a white title over a very bright picture. Contrast can make a really big impact on how easy of a read something may be. Repetition is one of my favorites of the four. I love neatness and order and all things organization, and repetition allows those elements to happen. It includes equal formatting and spacing, bullets, and bold fonts to identify which items are most important. Alignment can be tricky at times, but can make all the difference between “good” and “great.” I can’t tell you how many times I have been working on some type of project and finding the right alignment stalls my progress because I can’t get the words to line up perfectly.
Above, you will see a picture example of the proper alignment (right) versus the not proper alignment (left). I am indeed a perfectionist, this can be a good thing, or a bad thing. As far as design is concerned, I believe it’s a pretty good thing. I want things to look even and right, if they are not, I must fix it until there are, no matter the amount of time or effort it will take. I spend a great amount of energy working with alignment, because it is so important and it makes a big effect on the structure. Lastly is proximity, in other words, the space. Proximity can turn something that is tight and squished into something that is spread out and so much easier to read. I catch myself using proximity in everyday things, like note taking. My notes are usually spaced out so much that I end up using twice the amount of paper as everyone else. It’s okay though, because I can actually read my notes, unlike many whose efforts to record information are useless because the writing is practically one big hieroglyphic.
When examining a design, all of these factors and principles work to make a creation something unforgettable. These are not all the elements added to the mix of perfect designing, but in my opinion, they are a good place to start. Full blood images, aspect ratio, and the rule of thirds are a few more that contribute. For some examples of different types of creative graphic design, visit the link placed below listed “examples.” These specific examples really emphasize the typographic style of design, which mostly focuses on the fonts, letter, shapes, and certain imagery that relates. Having proper contrast, visual colorful interests, creative metaphoric ideas, and trendy or eye-catching fonts is what makes these designs stand out in comparison to something with less personality. In addition to the examples I have given below, there is also a picture I found on campus that holds many of the characteristics that a proper typography design contains. In this poster, there are a variety of fonts that provide uniqueness and creativity, while still keeping all parts readable. There are colors present, contrasting pictures that allow for certain parts to stand out, and there is also proper alignment and structure, so the eye naturally follows the words.
After studying these attributes of quality design, I can better appreciate the time and thought that goes into everything graphic design. Now, when I walk past that cool poster, my thought won’t just be that it’s a cool poster, I can examine the shapes, fonts, patterns, and really begin to breakdown each piece to find the beauty in how it all fits together.
“Don’t over-design.” Easy enough, right?
In an effort to be completely and utterly honest, I have to admit: simplicity is something I am inherently drawn to, but truly struggle with putting into practice. I tend to get swept up in the clutter of life, be it busyness or in hoarding little mementos throughout the years.
It’s pretty safe to say that a touch of minimalism would go a long way in my life… and quite honestly, my closet.
For whatever reason, I have been toying with the idea of simplicity this week. Naturally, I took to my favorite place on the inter-web (*cough*Pinterest) to find simple designs and inspiration for my future dream home.
The designs I’m drawn to are quite classic. The more I got to thinking about it, the more I began to realize there is a reason a rustic wooden table with flowers and dishes appeals to our eye: simplicity. There is a quaintness about it, something that says, “I may not be anything fancy, but I am beautiful.” It’s not pretentious, nor is it dull. It is just simple and pure.
I love dreaming up and designing spaces. I have learned that when designing rooms, especially smaller ones like my dorm room or my current three-girl room in the sorority house, less is most definitely more.
Funnily enough, my roommates and I set out to keep it simple when we designed Room 9. “Less is more” was our mantra, our war cry against clutter, our rally to be minimalistic.
But as you would expect, here we are in January, our closets bursting at the seams, newly built storage units are tucked into the already cramped corners of our little room and we are wondering how on earth we got here– to this god-forsaken land of meaningless clutter.
We lost touch with simplicity.
This all got me to thinking about how easy it is to lose sight of the simple things in life. For example, I trade simple socialization for sophisticated screens and I sacrifice a clutter-free week for a rigid schedule filled with meetings and busyness and deadlines. Simplicity slips through my fingertips and out of my sight like sand through an hourglass.
On the other hand, simplicity, as an aesthetic, seems to be as easy as subway tile and a pale pastel wall or a blush doorway in an ivory mudroom.These images are easy for me to wrap my brain around and fawn over. They are visually pleasing despite their inherent lack of excess.
But why is it so hard for me to translate this concept from my Pinterest board into practice?
For me, I am a natural “add-er”; I may start in a place of simplicity, but things (both literal and figurative) will eventually creep in and crowd the once “white space” of minimalism. It may be a slow fade from simplicity to chaos, but nevertheless, I tend to exchange simplicity for disorder.
With hopes to continue to grow and learn and draw ever closer to ideals of simplicity, I want to make an addendum to my New Year’s Resolutions (which I think is still fair game, given it’s still January) and my addendum would be this:
Declutter. Figuratively and literally. Let go of the messiness and embrace the “less” in design and in life. If I can somehow manage to make it once step closer to embracing simplicity, the design of life (and otherwise) will perhaps be more beautiful.
But mostly, I should probably practice what I pin.
Image Sources
Table Image:Spanish Vogue
Kitchen Image:French by Design Blog
Door Image:Blue Bell Bungalow
Graphic design…. for dummies, or at least that’s how I felt when we were learning about it in class. I tend to not be the most savvy there ever was when it comes to technology and especially adobe sweep or photo shop. But I have also never used them before so that could be the … Continue reading Graphic Design →
Hi everyone! My name is Kate Stanke. I hail from Flower Mound, Texas, a suburb about 30 minutes north of Dallas. I’m a sophomore studying Public Relations, a passion that I developed my senior year of high school. While visiting Chicago (where I was born), I got to talking to my mom’s best friend from […]
This week’s first lecture in Public Relations Publications spoke about deconstructing designs by others instead of making it ourselves. I was taken aback from this announcement because usually courses start from the bottom and work their way to the top. Albeit, our course doing something different by picking apart piece-by-piece how a good design is… Continue reading Demolition? No, You Must Mean Deconstruction
Photo courtesy of http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-be-literate-4/.
Writing with Clarity
- Poor: The paper was under the table and it had her name on it.
- Better: The paper that had her name on it was under the table.
Reducing Clutter
- Poor: A great number of times, she feels like she’s lost.
- Better: Frequently, she feels lost.
Sentence Variety
- Poor: I want to go to class, but I am too sick to get up. If I feel better next week, then I will go to class.
- Better: I am too sick to go to class today. Next week, if I’m better, I will go to class.
Sentence Emphasis
- Poor: The newspaper said that on January 24, 2017, there was a car crash near campus around 1 p.m. that killed two people.
- Better: Two people were killed today in a car crash near campus. The event happened at 1 p.m.
Hello, my name is Grace Jonas, also known as Gracie. I am a junior, majoring in public relations with a minor in enterprise studies. After I graduate next spring, I plan to pursue a career in event planning. I’m from a small town just a few minutes south of campus called Noble, where I have lived my whole life.
The thing that excites me the most about Public Relations is the vast variety of options I have in this field. I can choose so many professions and accomplish so much with this degree. Whichever lifestyle I chose, whether it be the fast-paced corporations of New York, or something small and local like an event center, my choices are far from limited.
I am motivated by multiple things. One being my family, who has given endless support in my journey through college. I want to prove to them that I am capable of great things, and most importantly, I want them to be proud of who I am becoming. Another is the goal I have to be financially stable. I do not want to spend my days struggling to pay bills, or questioning how I will feed my family. By finishing school and succeeding in my field of study, I will hopefully leave those worries behind.
Writing has always been an active hobby of mine. Starting in fourth grade, my mother insisted I join a public speaking group, where I would research, write, and memorize a speech of my choosing. I ended up continuing to compete in public speaking contests until I was a junior in high school. I wrote a plethora of speeches in those years, and I feel as though it helped me progress into the writer I am today. I still have a lot to learn, but thanks to those speeches, I had the opportunity to begin my writing experiences at a young age. On top of the speeches, writing has always came in my favor when compared to math or science. My brain does not do math or science. Writing a paper or a discussion post was always something I excelled at compared to my other assignments.
There are many reasons why this degree is suitable for me. Through this writing course, I hope to advance in my skills, and work to move one step closer to achieving my goals.
The thing that excites me the most about Public Relations is the vast variety of options I have in this field. I can choose so many professions and accomplish so much with this degree. Whichever lifestyle I chose, whether it be the fast-paced corporations of New York, or something small and local like an event center, my choices are far from limited.
I am motivated by multiple things. One being my family, who has given endless support in my journey through college. I want to prove to them that I am capable of great things, and most importantly, I want them to be proud of who I am becoming. Another is the goal I have to be financially stable. I do not want to spend my days struggling to pay bills, or questioning how I will feed my family. By finishing school and succeeding in my field of study, I will hopefully leave those worries behind.
Writing has always been an active hobby of mine. Starting in fourth grade, my mother insisted I join a public speaking group, where I would research, write, and memorize a speech of my choosing. I ended up continuing to compete in public speaking contests until I was a junior in high school. I wrote a plethora of speeches in those years, and I feel as though it helped me progress into the writer I am today. I still have a lot to learn, but thanks to those speeches, I had the opportunity to begin my writing experiences at a young age. On top of the speeches, writing has always came in my favor when compared to math or science. My brain does not do math or science. Writing a paper or a discussion post was always something I excelled at compared to my other assignments.
There are many reasons why this degree is suitable for me. Through this writing course, I hope to advance in my skills, and work to move one step closer to achieving my goals.
