Why Study Design?

It is important for Communication majors to study design because Communication is an industry that interacts with the public every day.   People have an innate connection to art and design, a subconscious relationship that can be hard to define, but one that attracts us to certain characteristics of a work.  As a result, there are few better ways to appeal to people than with interesting and appealing compositions.  Future employers often look for experience with design and familiarity with programs such as Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.

Good design draws people in and makes them want to learn more about whatever they are looking at, while bad design can sometimes steer people away.  Usually people don’t want to take the time to read or pay attention to something that they don’t like the look of.

I have always been interested in unusual and creative designs that advertisers use to draw attention. One of my personal favorites is the bag design for a yoga and fitness center called YKM. The bags given to customers have pictures of people jump roping on the side and the handle of the bag is the jump rope. 

When no one is holding the handle, it looks as though the person is getting ready to jump and when someone is holding the straps, it looks as though the jump roper is in the process of flipping the rope. Not only is this a very creative idea, it also catches the eye of anyone who passes by one of the bags and draws attention to the business.

I am really looking forward to this semester. While I have a little bit of experience with some of the programs, I hope that I will be able to refine my skills and enjoy creating projects that I can look back on in the future.