The Design Game

Sometimes when going to school you can’t always grasp how what you are doing will fit into ‘real life’. One of the best parts about the public relations course at CompuCollege is that the work that we do is actually for a real situation. We have deadlines that we need to meet and clients that we need to please.

Our class has been working with the graphic design students to complete the promotional materials for the Kermesse Fun Fair. It makes it interesting because it is a real life situation. The challenges that we are encountering are the same challenges we will encounter with graphic designers once we have graduated and are out in the work force.

When our class received the first drafts of the promotional materials we went through each design and made a list of the pros and cons of each. While we liked the clarity of one design, we liked the font of another and the artwork of yet another one. It wasn’t that we wanted to tear them apart, although I am sure that is what the designers felt, but we really needed to come up with a concept that was consistent throughout all of the promotional materials and would appeal to our client. Our class tried to catch all of the errors before we sent the drafts off to the IWK Auxiliary, but even we missed things. All of the edits meant that occasionally the layout had to be changed. It is hard because what looks the best is not always the best for our client.

Today we sent off what we are hoping to be the final edits. We will still have to proof read each item, but there is no longer time to make changes to the design and layout. The final concept is a clear, bright design that shows that Kermesse is going to be a fun-filled day for people of all ages. The posters, banner, ballots, ads and flyers all have the same feel and when you look at them you wonder how someone could pass up the chance to attend Kermesse.

Abbie