Reflection

Today, I am happy to say, I have completed the first design project in my PR Publications course! The assignment was to research an organization of our choosing, design a letterhead and business card for that organization, and pitch our designs to a potential client through a 3 minute video on YouTube.

As I’ve said in previous reflection posts, I have very minimal experience using Adobe InDesign, so I was intimidated before even beginning the project. However, I took comfort in all of the resources provided to us by our professor. I began by watching a serious of tutorial videos to learn the basics of Adobe InDesign. After completing the videos, I was still unsure about some of the functions of InDesign so I went to my professor’s office hours where he sat down with me and answered any questions I still had. Meeting with my professor not only gave me more confidence with my InDesign skills, but it also gave me comfort knowing he was there to help us if we needed anything throughout the project.

Completing the first rough draft of the business card and letterhead was well, rough. I had a picture in my head which was nearly impossible to replicate as a beginner. I’ll admit I was frustrated, but our professor reminded us not to focus too much on making our designs perfect and instead, try to focus on developing our skills. It helped to receive feedback from both our class mates and our professor and edit my designs accordingly.

After making the last few edits and putting the final touches on my business card and letterhead, I felt happy with my work. I thought both designs were a nice reflection of the North Face brand and their company’s core values. I was satisfied with the finished product and felt it reflected the considerable amount of improvement I have made with my skills in Adobe InDesign. Although I am not where I want to be with these skills, I now have the confidence to continue to practice and improve. If I could stress one thing to future students assigned this project, it would be, patience. Be patient with yourself and your designs. With time and a lot of editing, you will have a finished product you can be proud of!