Declan Ward's Blog

 One thing that I really enjoyed out of the presentation early on was Allison's ability to clarify what she does for Chronicle, as a graphic designer. Bridget's role also surprised me a little bit because I would've assumed that her job would've looked exactly like the analogy she gave of an english teacher grading papers. I had never thought of a publishers role as being responsible for the art direction of a book before. I did assume that they would be responsible for the typesetting within the book, but had never really thought of the significance of that job until undergoing the booklet project for DES 425 at SFSU. Even then I felt as though the project itself granted far more freedom than any publisher would allow. The reason I had never thought about it was for exactly what Allison had mentioned in that I only really saw the interior of a book for its words and viewed the cover as the designed element. I've definitely stumbled across books where I might wonder...

There were a couple things that Omar brought up which intrigued me primarily regarding how he conducted his freelance experience as a student, before receiving specific visual design training.  Personally, I've taken on many small projects for friends and acquaintances to create logos, album covers, packaging, and stickers. I worked on most of these projects before completing my degree at SFSU because once I joined the design program, I didn't have a lot of time to assist other people on their work since I needed to focus on my own.  There were many things I didn't know about design or the process and so looking back I definitely feel as though I could've produced much higher quality work, however I am incredibly thankful for the experiences, nonetheless.  With that said, I always found freelance work extremely difficult to manage for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I would find myself undergoing numerous revisions despite having produced a design that I already felt was...

  I connected a lot with Titan's design journey. He mentioned how he didn't start pursuing a design career right after high school despite being interested in graphic design products like skate magazines and logos. It didn't sound like he had a lack of support from friends or family but more so like there was uncertainty around the discipline which led to encouragement of other pursuits.  I can connect a lot with that experience, because my parents always supported my creative pursuits but it wasn't ever discussed as being something that I could make a career of. As a senior I began to talk with them about what would be my next journey after high school, and although I didn't want to go to college straight away they made it quite clear that it was an expectation.  Initially I just wanted to graduate and begin the process of becoming a firefighter because I enjoy hands on work and adventure. I was never a fan of desk work beyond design and so it was hard for me to en...