Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts...

So the semester just finished and that means our independent study is through, too. While it certainly was a crazy semester, we accomplished all that we set out to do, including all of the projects we lined up for ourselves. Not only did we learn about the business of being in the design business, we also found out what it was like to work together closely to meet our goal. We've both worked together on class projects before, but this was a different experience because we both had equal control over every project. It became important to compromise, a big part of which was just learning how to compromise. Some things you learn to let go and others you keep, but everything is for the sake of the project.

Doing this independent study also opened up the opportunity to learn about owning a design firm. Through research we discovered what's important in starting and maintaining a business. Designing with the real world in mind also kept things in perspective. As a new or even established firm, budget is everything. When designing our stationary, we took into consideration paper and printing costs, going for the least expensive materials that still looked good and enhanced our identity system. Besides budgetary issues, we also had to consider mailing standards. Many of our other school projects don't consider real world issues as much, so this was a good experience.

Starting this blog was also a great way to connect with the design community and to keep track of all of our progress.