What You Say Matters…

A lot of times when I have to design a poster or graphic or something, I tend to get too caught up in the visuals and not so much on the message.  Especially early on in my visual education, I'd mostly look to create something that looked good, and then try to find or make up text that would fit it.  And to tell the truth, that worked some of the time.  I'd just stumble onto an appropriate look, and then find words that seemed to work.  But, that is/was no way to be consistent.  And if you're talking about being a designer, and having some sense of control over your work, "hit and miss" strategies like that definitely wouldn't be the way to go.

And that's where research comes in.  It's important when you're starting something, to not just stumble over your thousands of bookmarked Photoshop tutorials, find the coolest looking effect, and design around it.  Think about what you're going to say and why you're going to say it, then start trying to think of ways to visually communicate that idea. 

And sometimes, what you say can be more important than what you see.  Which I think was the case with the PAiSC Truck Graphic competition that I entered last month.  The project was to design a truck "wrap" to market printing as a viable, green industry.

Here's what I came up with.


After looking over what the other applicants submitted, there were a lot of pretty good looking ones, and some that I think were much better looking than my submission.  But the thing that I think set mine apart was the thought I put into what I wanted to say. A lot of the applicants, although visually appealing, didn't have a strong message, or in one case didn't even come up with an original message, just taking the headline off the PIASC website.

You can judge the other submissions for yourself on the PIASC website: HERE

My personal favorite was one submitted by Natasha Granell, a student from Fullerton College.

It's way better looking than mine, but I think the text get's lost in the graphic, and it's probably a little too abstract/artsy for this very commercial competition.

Thanks for reading!  And if anyone has any comments, questions or critiques, feel free to say so below.  :-)