The Life of a Designer
Being a designer inspires me everyday. I still feel weird calling myself a “designer,” as though i don’t deserve that title because I am still new to it, learning the adobe creative suite, and not perfect at everything yet. It all still feels so new to me, but I know it’s something that I love. I can find beauty in anything, all around me, everywhere I go. Being a designer helps me appreciate good design, and helps me recognize the time and effort that has been put into creating beautiful things.
Ever since I started the design program at CU, I have paid close attention to every business that I pass by. I look at their logo, font, layout of their store, color choice, all the way down to their story. I like to think about which stores throughout the day were memorable, and which ones were easy to forget and why.
Recently, a couple of friends in the program and I went to Las Vegas for Spring break. When we walked around, we specifically remembered a restaurant because of its color and font. It was called la la noodle, and their font was beautifully done in cursive with a light pink bubbly background. We remembered their sign and wanted to try the restaurant. I can’t imagine how many other people pass by and think the exact same thing, not realizing that the reason they want to go there is because of the beautifully done branding.
When I think of branding, I think of something that will be memorable. Something that will leave a lasting impression. Some of the top commercials that come to mind from when I was growing up that I remember are Mr. Clean, Geico, Progressive, and Trix.
The famous Trix commercial starts out with kids enjoying a colorful tasty bowl of cereal, only to be interrupted by a grouchy rabbit who tries to steal them all from the children, and the commercial ends with “silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!” I find this commercial to be so memorable because it leaves a lasting impression of exclusivity and protection, as if the cereal were only to be made for me at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUIYYx2n1bI
Geico ads are memorable to me because of their mascot, the famous geico lizard that talks. For some reason placing a lizard that talks in an office setting is very memorable to me because it is something that you wouldn’t expect, and their commercials are so funny.
In the life of being a designer, it is also super fun to look at packaging. Everything from food packing to the way a shampoo bottle looks suddenly peaks my interest, and you wonder why they chose those colors, fonts and shape of the bottle for their product. It is interesting to see how much detail goes into everything, all the way down to the type of material they use in the packaging as well as the shape. I have noticed this is important even in looking for mockups for my projects, because I will create a well designed candle for example, but finding the perfect mockup that fits my vision and brand as a travel candle takes so much longer than one would expect.
I love finding beauty and attention to detail in everything around me. It makes me think harder about how I might use well designed products for future projects of my own. It also makes me think about how I would redesign poorly designed spaces and products as well. Having an appreciation for design is fascinating for the brain, because suddenly it’s so much harder to become bored. Take a look around, there is so much that is beautiful!
