The theme of our Letter B this month, I wish I knew then what I know now, got me thinking about my old design work from UNT. So, I decided to crawl up in the attic and rummage through my boxes of school projects. As I sifted through the work, I couldn't help but smile. Good memories. Hard work. But a thought occurred to me. Will this school work hold up in the real world?
Let's take a look at a few examples. I apologize for the poor photo quality. They were scanned from slides taken many, many years ago.
Dallas School of Music Letterhead - Crazy Angles

The Project:
I really enjoyed working on this project. The identity was a series of instruments that I illustrated and then added sharp angled colors behind them. The whole campaign played off these angles, as you can see in the letterhead.
The Problem:
Take a close look at the letterhead and you'll see the letter-sized sheet was angled not only at the top, but also on the right. Now, how in the world would anyone be able to run that through a laser printer?! Can you imagine the troubles your client would have? I remember thinking...
"I could feed the paper from the bottom up ... Yeah! That will work ..."
Uh, no. That won't work.
If I were to work on this project knowing what I know now, I would use color to illustrate the angles. You must always be practical and think about the end user for everything you design.
Unreal Apple Video Game - Tower of Space Eating, Hexagonal, Over-Photoshopped Awesomeness

The Project:
What I remember most about this project is two things. First, how unbelievably hard it was to construct the top of the tower. Second, was the crazy use of Photoshop. The CD for the game sat at the top, laying flat, so when you opened the top you would see the instruction booklet and the CD right away.
The Problem:
What did I do with all the space underneath you might ask? Nothing. Dead space.
Can you imagine trying to shelve this? It can't stack, that's for sure. You can't even line them up side by side since the top protrudes out. Let's not even mention the lack of consideration for the environment. Of course it was the '90s. Not quite as top of mind as it is today. Al Gore just stepped in as vice president. He probably didn't even think about it back then.
Even though college design can sometimes be "extreme," it teaches you to think outside the box, which is a great lesson. We always knew we'd have to pull back a little when we got to the professional world. Just because it's cool, doesn't mean it's practical.