Blog 20: Exit Interview

1. What is your EQ and answers? What is your best answer and why?
My EQ is "What is the best way graphic design can be used to augment a yearbook?"
My answers are:

1. White space can be used to augment yearbooks by giving elements on a spread room to breathe.
2. Color theory can be used to augment yearbooks by making the theme of the book stand out with an appropriate color palette.
3. Typography can be used to augment yearbooks by giving the book a personality through its use in headlines and copy.

My best answer is my first answer because it is the most important part of making a yearbook. White space is an integral part of making a yearbook. It is what makes a spread unique and what gives it its form. Without white space, most of graphic design would be useless. Typography would be worthless if you couldn't read it clearly. Colors would be difficult to distinguish if they were all clumped together without space in between.

2. What process did you take to arrive at this answer? 

I arrived at this answer while talking to my first mentor, Mimi Orth about some of our spreads. She talked about our white space issues and how they can make or break a yearbook. At first, I did not believe her. I thought white space was important, but I did not believe that having some errors in white space would quintessentially destroy our yearbook. After some research into the matter, I realized how wrong I was and how utterly important white space is in the creation of a yearbook. 

3. What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

I did not face many problems in this project, but the few problems I did face plagued me greatly. The biggest issue that stood out to me was finding research. Well not research, but different research. Typically when I look for articles about my three answers, they tend to be the same thing over and over and over again. There is some new information in every single one, but small snippets of useful information are not worth writing an entire cornell note paper on. I solved this issue by expanding my search to ProQuest and finding scholarly text rather than Google search articles. 

4. What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

The two most significant sources I used to answer my EQ were my mentorship and Cameron Chapman's article series, Color Theory for Designers. Mentorship was huge to me because I was able to receive so much information from both Mimi Orth and Ron Martinez, especially with the interviews. Without their help, I would probably be lost. Although color theory was not my best answer, Chapman's series of articles helped me understand color in a way I would never be able to by myself. I was able to understand the deeper meaning of each and every color and I was able to comprehend how colors work together.