Sunday, April 19, 2009

As I sit here going through all of the design feeds I subscribe to and I see what other designers are doing out there I realized something, I really need to step up my game.

I spent the last 2 years working for a small town newspaper using outdated equipment and very outdated software which really limited what I could do graphically and artistically. Now I'm not saying that what I did there wasn't any good. I did win a few awards for design and did a complete redesign of a newspaper that hadn't had a redesign in 20+ years (which unfortunately has reverted back since I left). But I was still restricted by what you can and can't do with newsprint.

Now I just started working for a design agency (www.admaxdisplays.com) and I am in charge of producing a bi-monthly business magazine. Probably the biggest challenge for me is the change from using QuarkXpress 4 (yes 4) to Adobe InDesign CS3. As I spent the first couple weeks getting myself aquainted with InDesign, I also had to become familiar with laying out a magazine vs. a newspaper. My first issue of the magazine will be going to print this week I will have my 2nd biggest challenge, Press checks. I have never had to do color checks and such working for the newspaper or even before when I worked for a ad agency or atleast not on the scale of which I will be now.

Am I up for these challenges? Yes I am, I just know that really need to step up my skills now. I need to learn photography be cause I will start taking photos for the next issue of the magazine which I will be starting in about 3 weeks. So I have set my profeesional goals for myself for 2009:
1. Learn the basics of photography
2. Learn Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw
3. Start building a photography portfolio

Now I just need to stick to these goals and I believe this will ultimately help with my overall design skills.

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