Rant of the Day: Where is the Pen tool??

As a second year design student, it was my year to learn the basic design programs used in the graphic design industry today. Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop were my main focus. Having spent many hours on a computer this year, I have definitely adjusted to these programs, understanding the basic functions and location of most tools. At the beginning of the year though, it was quite a different story...

Prior to this year, I did not have a whole lot of experience with the Adobe Creative Suite. I was exciting to learn much more about these programs, as I have a strong love for designing graphics on a beautiful Macintosh. Learning one program was challenging, but after some practice, I got used to the location of the tools in Illustrator - where the pen tool was located, what it looked liked - I had finally memorized these important aspects. Thinking it was a breeze from here, next we moved onto Photoshop. That's when I got confused. For the longest time, I kept clicking the wrong button for the pen tool, and kept using the same commands when working with this tool, but it would not work! For some reason, these design programs are set up differently, having the location of some tools in a completely different spot. The commands are also different when using these programs, and it makes it challenging for a new learner to learn fast.

In my early learning stages, I would become frustrated. Why would Adobe not set up these programs all the same? That would be so much easier to follow and to learn! Why can't the tools be in the same location for all programs? Why do the tools have to look different?  I do not understand what the reason is for making these programs all different. It just creates problems and confusion, especially for a beginner learner.

Although I have adjusted to these differences now, I am still curious as to what the benefit is of making these program different. I think it would make much more sense to keep everything consistent, as consistency is so key in design, yet our design programs do not mimic that.

"I never said you had to work hard, you just have to work smart."

For the past month I have been faced with the challenge of creating a completely new beer label, along with it's newly designed packaging and a poster ad. This beer was targeted towards upper class men, the beer having to be classy, and connote tradition. Right from the very beginning I struggled with deciding what direction to go with, as the design of a beer label could be almost anything! It could have an interesting meaning, more of a Canadian background type beer, or it could be something completely random, for example, if you like dragonflies, maybe calling your beer "dragonfly" with a neat dragonfly image/design could work. Anything that you as a designer think is really cool.

For a while, I was stuck between a more Canadian design, focusing on an Inukshuk for my label or a very unique idea, taking a black tie and using this for my beer label. I found this black tie idea was extremely different, as most labels are more round, and have banners with frill and lots of detail to make it look traditional - some looking more so like a badge. This design to me was much more exciting and much more different then what is usually seen on a beer bottle, and so after many days of going back and forth, I decided to go ahead with this unique black tie idea.

After much refinement, I decided to keep this concept very simple, giving the design a sense of elegance and class. When it was time to apply this design onto my beer package and beer poster, I came across another slight issue. My teacher recommended to me that I keep my design very simple throughout the whole process, and just apply a very similar design to my package and poster. Immediately I asked him if the teachers marking my design at the end of the year would give me a bad mark because they would think I didn't put any effort into it. With all of my designs being very much the same, applying my design onto the poster and package really wouldn't take too long at all. I felt like if I didn't spend hours and hours on a design, that I wouldn't get as good of a mark. I was afraid they would think that I wasn't trying hard enough.

Turns out, from the wise words of my teacher, "I never said you had to work hard, you just have to work smart." If a solution works, it doesn't matter how long it took you to come up with it. Consistency is so important when designing, it's what brings the design together, as well as helps keep a steady flow throughout the design. So no matter what your design may look like, when transferring it onto different applications, it actually shouldn't be as challenging as when coming up with the original design itself. Finally, I can get that silly idea out of my head.

beer bottle and package (colours on package will be adjusted to match beer poster colours)

beer poster

beer poster (matching set)

beer label

 beer label applied to bottle