BGSU CRD Design Projects
Crafting Visual Solutions for an Economic Forum of Northwest Ohio Communities!
Summary
The Center for Regional Development is a center that collaborates with community stakeholders to analyze and improve the economic quality of communities throughout Northwest Ohio. I worked with the organization for a year where I was mentored by their visual design team member and learned about data analysis, event planning, and solution evaluation. In addition to graphic design work I also assisted with web design and web development. This organization was my first experience in an office setting for design work and it taught me a lot more about the industry from a professional perspective which has better prepared me for similar opportunities going forward.
Process
The majority of projects were collaborative in nature between my mentor and I, but there were times that entire projects were provided directly to me to handle in full. During meetings, my mentor would outline project goals and discuss the details of what R&D needed to happen before production began or would give me an overview of an on-going project and have me assist them with its completion. Once I had my work assigned, I would then either begin the research process or begin assembling all of the necessary files and familiarizing myself with the project's architecture and what needed to be achieved. During the production phase I would regularly convene with my mentor to ensure that my work was in line with the designated goals set by the organization or our clients. After several reviews at each step of creation, my work would be packaged and sent to my mentor for final implementation and delivery in whatever medium or format was the destination.
Reflection
My time at the Center for Regional Development was crucial in my development as a Graphic Designer and more importantly as an Experiential Multimedia Design Developer (EMDD). It gave me greater insights into marketing, business strategies, the client process, and creating visual representations of data cross multiple mediums with an aesthetic that binds them together as if they exist together in the same medium. Being able to engage in graphic design, web design, event production, illustration, and other practices helped to reinforce my broad skillset and confirm that there is indeed application for it. One of my biggest fears while attending university was that there was no official designation or department for the kind of mixed design work I was doing and my specialization was chosen out of a limitation of available options. Graphic design was one of the strongest skills of my skillset at the time of selecting a specialization so I joined said division. Thankfully being a Bachelor of Fine Arts allowed me to study in neighboring divisions which allowed me to further develop my actual wider skillset of being an EMDD. So having one of my first professional experiences show me that there are roles where ui/ux design, photography, web development, etc. can all come together to produce solutions for clients made me feel reassured.