We are Beautiful, Even When the Process Isn't
- Bailey Edrington
- Feb 10, 2017
- 3 min read
Not once in my life have I ever felt so relieved to hit the "Submit Assignment" button. Truth be told, designing a business card is a bit harder than one might think...especially when working with the enigmatic beast that is InDesign. In my PR Publications class, we were told to select an "imaginary" client (aka a real brand, but you don't have to actually work for them) and design a business card with their brand in mind.
We Are Beautiful is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to be "a community of women inspiring one another to embrace and celebrate their true beauty." I discovered We Are Beautiful through my lovely sorority G-Big, who does Bible studies and blogs for WAB. This organization is one I'm sincerely interested in working with (in real life) for a number of reasons, but the short and sweet version is this is an organization I believe in. That said, I eagerly jumped into designing for this "client" the moment the opportunity arose.
The Process
I wish I could say this process was an easy one. The design/visionary element didn't trip me up as much as the actual process of creating this product did (side note: what an accurate metaphor for life, right?) I envisioned rather clearly what I wanted the card to look like, but the creation process had other ideas.
My first mock-up of the card had a blush background; however, the issue with a blush background is that it A) detracted from the content and B) didn't mesh with the WAB brand all that well. While blush is an element of WAB's color scheme, it is always the accent, never the focus. Thus, I shifted to a white background to stay on-brand.
The second issue I faced was with typography. I knew, based strictly upon the WAB logo, I needed a serif and a sans serif font for the content. I spent a majority of my class time on Tuesday searching through the font on InDesign before I realized I needed to bring in the big guns... 1001 Free Fonts. Sure enough, I found the perfect fonts right away and uploaded them into the program.
The last issue I faced was detailing. Because a business card is so small, I tried not to over-design, but at the same time, I didn't want my design to be lackluster. So I opted for simple lines and geometric shapes to keep the eye focused on the information in the center while also visually pleased. Believe it or not, I spent more time trying to align dots and lines than I did on just about anything else. Once everything was arranged where I needed it, I felt pretty confident about my final product.
The Product
(Photo courtesy of the ever-faithful and true, Pinterest
(Logo courtesy of We Are Beautiful)
Though the final product may be simple, I am quite fond of it. And though the process was a bit more work and a little messier than I anticipated, I am thrilled I walked out of it with a finished product.
A Little Philosophy, Free of Charge
As I sit here and write this, I cannot help but giggle at how design continues to be a metaphor for life. In a literal sense, designs will morph and adapt for various reasons as a designer walks through the creative process. Metaphorically, isn't that just about how everything else in life works?
When we start something, be it a new job or a leadership opportunity, we have an idea of what something will look like. We make plans of how our days will play out and what we will accomplish, but after walking through the refining fires of "process" we end up with an entirely different something than the thing we originally planned. And isn't it funny how 9 times out of 10 we are satisfied with our final product despite how different it is from our original? Dare I say, there are times we are even more satisfied with the current scenario than we would've been if we'd seen our original "design" through to the end. Even when it seems messy and at times frustrating, I think there is something beautiful about trusting life's process.
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