Why Study Design?

The concept of design seems to be related, generally, to one's general concept of taste and style. The basic concepts of design don't have to do just with making nice business cards and resumes, but extend into all areas of life. Design asks the questions: How should something look? Is the way this looks appropriate? Does it represent me? Is it visually pleasing? Developing your own personal aesthetic is crucial to how you will represent yourself, in a world where you can't judge someone instinctively by magically picking up on who they are. So we must present ourselves. Our appearance, our homes, our speech, and our writing will represent us.

So, in writing in the professions, it seems only natural that we should learn the elements of design. If we must represent ourselves in the same common ways- through documents, cover letters, resumes, etc., it is probably good to know how to show others that we have good taste. Our good taste is a reflection upon our level of professionalism, our artistic sensibility, and our knowledge of the status quo.

I am not sure of my future profession. I want to be a creative writer, but I am unsure of how that will work in the confines of this class. So, for the purpose of this class, I will choose a different future profession that I am interested in: craftsman/ small business owner. My friend and I plan to start a business selling clothes that we have made and altered from previously used clothes, as well as screenprinted t-shirts. Design will be crucial for this. We will need to design hang tags for our clothes, as well as clothing tags, that represent the name of our "brand." (which is thus far not known). We plan to sell these items at craft markets and fairs, so we will need to design a logo for our business, as well as signs for the tables we set up. We need to create a sort of image, I guess, that represents our particular vision. Depending on how things go, we may need to get a small business loan. This will require design. We also may need to market our clothing to boutiques that already do this similar type of thing. Therefore, we will need business cards, resumes, and cover letters.