WRITTEN BY CLUTCH VOL. 4 PARTICIPANT, VICTORIA BACNIS
“At one point or another, someone or a group of people designed this (table, bottle, chair etc.) to work for people to use… Design is everywhere.”
I got on the TTC right after CLUTCH thinking about everything I learnt that day. I walked down Dundas St. looking at the buildings, cars, and lights around me with a completely different opinion- with a lot more respect and admiration.
As a visual arts student, I am already a firm believer that art is everywhere… From the colors of the trees, the way people dress, the sounds that the cars make or the multiple conversations that talk over each other in the cafeteria to only create a sound that is no longer clear to understand.
Everything is art. But after Christine Mangosing’s workshop that day, I was convinced that design takes art to a completely different level I never knew existed, I was convinced that the art of design is a lot more than that. She showed us the basic ins and outs, the rights and wrongs, and tips and tricks of how to brand and set you up for a successful business.
Plagiarizing a different company’s logo, using fancy, hard to read fonts, use of pictures that have nothing to do with your company’s motto- these are just a few of the common mistakes that many people make. One of the many highlights of the workshop was when Christine showed us examples of bad logos. Many were too cluttered, visually unappealing, or simply just didn’t communicate what their company or business was offering. One of the logos that had us all laughing was an image of what looked like a chicken, a cow and a dog edited into one creature. We were so thrown off my the image that we had no idea what the business card was promoting. Another was a logo of a dance company that used two stick figures dancing that ended up looking like a naked woman’s breasts. It’s actually amazing how the smallest details can push your down the garbage.
All of us Clutch girls are in the program to find our places within the art industry, but more specifically to promote and share our talents with the big world. Knowing what not to put on a business card and how to come up with our own logos is a good start but figuring out what abilities we have make us unique and what we have to offer for other people is an even better start. I know all of us enjoyed the workshop and are on our ways to where we want to be. I can’t wait ‘till I get my first business card done. Once that’s done, we’re in business people!- or so I hope.