The High School Design Season Wrap-up Part 1: ORGANIZATION
So my high school design season has been finished for little over a month and I’ve had some time to reflect on the experience. I use the word experience because it really is a different experience each year. I actually prefer it to be a unique experience each design season. I feel like that helps me keep my design work fresh. I’m still learning. I strive to try some new approaches, engage new ways to organize/communicate with clients, and continue to develop how I can more effectively use Pyware (the design software I utilize). Here are my thoughts about the 2019 season in regards to organization.
Making the move to a Google Drive account really helped with the sharing of materials. Now for years, I just never liked Google Drive/Docs/Forms/Etc. Mainly because I just didn’t use the Google services enough to understand them. I still don’t understand everything about “The Cloud” (does anyone?), but I can at least use the Google Suite now.
I utilized a new way of keeping track of information being gathered from clients. I put together a Google Form that clients completed providing me with the information I needed to work on their specific design. This really helped me and the client. I usually do a good deal of my design work late at night and if I have a question for a client that I can’t get answered, it may hang me up for a day or two (until I can hear back from the client). Having the Google Form for quick reference saved me several times.
I designed for 10 high school bands (all in Nebraska). In 2018 (9 designs), I learned my lesson about organization and tracking the progress of each design. It caused some challenges for me. This year, I decided to use an Excel sheet to track every design’s progress each step of the way from phrasing to delivery. This helped me look ahead and see which design should be next in line to receive my attention. I tend to set up daily/weekly design goals by using a rotation between design projects. Delivery dates tend to cluster into a very tight window, so it’s very important to know how far along any given design is and when a segment needs to be ready for delivery.
These changes didn’t eliminate ALL of the stress that comes with being a visual designer/meeting deadlines, but they did help. Please feel free to leave a comment containing any organization practice or tool that has helped you. —DB