The Business of Design

Design is fun. It makes your heart skip a beat in a way your significant other will never understand. Design makes you fall in love again and again, even if the trend is the same one from years before (Coral spring dresses anyone?).

The business of design is not fun. It's boring. It makes my eyes water as I stare at an excel spreadsheet trying to make sense of numbers as they merge. I find myself questioning why I have to crunch numbers instead of making beautifully designed posters?

So far I've only found one tool to help me through the mess and am actively seeking more. As a slightly starving artist, of course it has to be free.

Does anyone have any suggestions on managing a budding freelance business?

It's Been Quite A While!

I graduated. Found out that there will be a huge change in my personal life. Then, I got a job. Other than an overall assistant to the company, I am designing their website, which is exciting, since I'm usually sanding, plugging things into layouts, or messing with the office cats.

I am going to take a class at CCAD. The class, small business web design, will starts on September 16th and reinforce what I learned two years ago while assisting me in the design of my boss's site.

Freelance work has been slow to come in but I'm really excited with my new assignment. It's fun, a bit funky, and a secret until the client gives the okay.

The brochure below was the first real freelance work and although I have my problems with the data they are providing, I did it. I had to keep it simple and mostly text. Fitting everything they wanted into the brochure was difficult and made me doubt my graphic design abilities, which I'm sure every designer goes through, but my current assignment is changing my mind! Be patient. I'm working on some other things on the side and will hopefully get them up soon.

Feel free to critic!

Kumiko Ota -- Fashion Designer

This is just one of the many creations by Kumiko Ota, a senior in Fashion Design at Columbus College of Art & Design. Awesome girl and even better designer. Check out her site.

Thesis: Logo Design III

Here are the finalized logos for my thesis, obviously named sprout. The colors were chosen because they are shadows of the bright oranges and greens. They are unlike the colors you typically see at stores. They don't hurt your eyes at all. The final one chosen is the bottom right. What do you think? It's clean, modern, and has the repetition of the "o" which follows the circular aspect similar to the actual product.

Thesis: Mockups

Here are a few images of the mockups. The last three are of my final design.

Thesis: Logo Design II

Here, I've taken the final two from the previous post and have started adding more of a sproutlike, or illustrative look. I decided to keep it clean with an actual sprout coming out of it. Still working in black and white though.

Thesis: Logo Design

So the name for my thesis project is officially "Sprout". Here's my first go at the logo. Which font do you like?