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Culture August 14, 2018
The basics every professional should know.
As an ENTITY intern, I was lucky enough to go through a full week of graphic design. With Adobe applications Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, ENTITY mentees learned how to self-brand and prepare for our career paths. It was a little intimidating at first, but we had capable teachers to guide us through.
Here’s what we learned.
Photoshop was our first dip into graphic design. When learning the basics of the program, it helped to have a clean and clear toolbar. Picture placement, inserting text and alignment ended up being quite easy as a result of the app’s user-friendly navigation. The rulers were vital for professional precision in each of our projects.
We edited photos, like the one seen above, but Photoshop also aided in gif editing. With both photo and gif capabilities, Photoshop succeeds as a multifaceted tool used for all sorts of online content. If you’re a memer, get Adobe immediately. Your tumblr will thank you.
After Photoshop, we ventured into Adobe Illustrator. Because all Adobe toolbars share similarities, Illustrator was fairly easy to navigate. So once you’ve delved into your first Adobe app, don’t be too afraid to try the others!
In Illustrator, we focused on personal logos. For the purpose of this exercise, logos were created either by using text or converting hand-drawn images. With fonts.google.com, I found “Comfortaa” and “Montserrat” fonts for my aesthetic. If you ever want to make your own logo or brand, know that this step is incredibly important; fonts are one of the key elements to digital style.
Creating a personal brand was made easy in Illustrator, since there’s a lot of room for trial and error. “Command + z” saved my life countless times. Once I got the rhythm of the application, it only took experimenting with fonts, colors and shapes to figure out what worked. After playing around with the different parts of Illustrator, I eventually created my first personal logo. Check it out under Wanda Sykes’ name in the quote card above.
Adobe InDesign was arguably the most important application for personal brand creation. It allowed us to create style guides. Without a style guide, your brand’s aesthetic—and its visual representation of you—is inconsistent and unprofessional.
With spacing guidelines, frames and extensive color palettes, InDesign made it simple and straightforward to construct a style guide. I then used that document to create a personal resume.
After the resume, we created personal business cards. Using the logo made from Illustrator as well as the style guide aesthetic, these business cards culminated all the brand elements made with Adobe. The whole graphic design unit resulted in the creation of a professional portfolio.
Chances are, at least one of your business documents needs updating. If you don’t have a style guide, make a style guide. If your card is lackluster, create a new one. When experimenting with InDesign, go through the section above and make sure every one of those mentioned documents is up-to-date. Your future self will thank you!
With our technologically dependent society, it’s vital to have personal branding. In the professional world, brand items like business cards elevate your profile. In regards to your personal life, wouldn’t it be nice to make a consistent and aesthetically pleasing Instagram?
As a potential writer and definite artist, I loved translating my creative style into a professional display. My logo brought my career goals and love of art together.
With my personal logo, I focused on the source of a person’s identity: a name. I combined text and played around with my initials. The final product is what you see above.
I can’t imagine creating my own brand without Adobe. All the applications pair together to create a user-friendly and capable system. I could easily adjust the colors, layout and styles for each professional item being created. It was thrilling to create art so easily.
Personal branding displays your identity to potential employers. Looking toward the future, I’m planning on adapting my brand and using it to promote myself as a creator. No matter what career path I choose, I know Adobe applications push me ahead of the crowd, and I encourage every young professional to learn graphic design.
Happy branding!
