COMPETENCIES

#1 Gestalt Theory

What it is?
- Gestalts or elements belong together and look alike by similarity and proximity grouping. They are structurally bound by those continuation elements within compositions.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- This will be used constantly while catering to clients needs as well as artistic projects and composition designs. This theory is foundational to applying the elements of design and principles of art correctly.

What it took to acquire competency?
- Studying placement techniques such as gridlines in layouts helped develop consistency and professional appearance. Applying branding techniques of theme and tone for target audience and messaging within consistent design elements of color and shapes helped to practice those learned objectives.

#2 Creative Brief

What it is?
- Client Messaging Using Key Words
- Asking the company for key words to describe the clients' brands can generate concepts to unify the words in pairs for the logo design.

What it took to acquire competency?
- Studying convergent and divergent techniques such as mind-mapping helps to connect words and ideas to each other and the overall theme or concept. This was helpful when completing tasks such as developing the tagline and banners to ensure the theme and messaging of the brand attributes were cohesive.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- This will be used constantly while catering to clients needs as well as artistic projects and composition designs. This theory is foundational to concept development phases, and using this technique ensures higher project success rate.

#3 Logo Designing Based on Research

What it is?
- Developing designs based on research of concepts such as meanings of curved and horizontal lines.
- Logo is Greek word meaning how things are understood.

What it took to acquire competency?
- Identity design strategy is based on scale of the company, such as using only a monogram (abbreviation) logo design for well known established brands.
- Using this concept of brand research to analyze the market sector, evaluate company goals and objectives, and studying competition branding leads to proper implementation of marketing materials and proven design choice defense for clients.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- Knowing how to properly communicate with clients the solvency of branding problems is vital to industry success. This foundation will be used constantly while catering to clients needs as well as artistic projects and composition designs.

#4 Purpose of Style/Brand Guides

What it is?
- Graphic designers such as Margo Chase's firm give style guides to clients to develop seasonal branding aspects, and varying options of merch and display concepts for companies such as Starbucks.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- Using the correct presentation for the brand guide helps with client persuasiveness. This gives clients reference to archive for the brand company to use to develop future concepts.

What it took to acquire competency?
- This includes elements to manipulate and guidelines to follow for the branding materials, such as proper use of typography, color palette, and imagery. Creating this brand guide for presentation following the Look and Feel and Vision Board development, allowed for the cohesive media to be easily created.

#5 Client Brief Phases

What it is?
- The brief describes assignment of client, target audience, objectives, and direction.
- Following scheduled phases will allow for a greater probability of project success and solution
- Phase 1 (Research), Phase 2 (Design Roughs), Phase 3 (Design Refinement), and Phase 4 (Applications of Media)

What it took to acquire competency?
- Importance of phases and scheduled production of media and communication is vital to the success of the project.
- Developing prototype sketches to receive feedback analysis from outside sources was helpful to proceed to final renderings.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- Understanding how to give and receive critiques and proper language feedback is vital to the graphic design profession as a team member or freelancer.

#6 Choosing Appropriate Media Assets

What it is?
- Choosing appropriate media to use, such as cohesive logo and visual system, new website, poster campaign, and/or mobile app.

What it took to acquire competency?
- The graphic artist must select and develop the quality resources for the media library.
- This was acquired with choosing the media types and media list of package types for the thesis project, such as deciding upon print/digital media and advertising billboards.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- This is important if chosen to create marketing packages and brand guides. Designers must know how to research the target audience and decide whether the chosen media will be effective to the client solution.

#7 Audience Demographics

What it is?
- Many image styles can be used based on demographics such as artists, teenagers, or working individuals. Images could be typographic, illustrative, abstract, and can use different graphic styles such as textural/blended, whimsical, or sketchy.

What it took to acquire competency?
- After defining the target audience, the style and visuals should be dependent upon the theme or message, such as marine, sports, or theatre.
- The materials should be catered to satisfy the audience need, such as what features/benefits will accomplish a consumer who seeks affiliation.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- A sought out skill in the industry is the ability to research the audience cultural, economic , and social characteristics. This research is helpful to defend design choices to see if the target audience will engage with the marketing materials.

#8 Determining Audience Needs

What it is?
- Understanding the needs and interests of target audiences increases interactions, builds trust, and credibility with audiences.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- A sought out skill in the industry is the ability to research the audience cultural, economic , and social characteristics. This research is helpful to defend design choices to see if the target audience will engage with the marketing materials.

What it took to acquire competency?
- After defining the target audience, the style and visuals should be dependent upon the theme or message, such as marine, sports, or theatre.
- The materials should be catered to satisfy the audience need, such as what features/benefits will accomplish a consumer who seeks affiliation.

#9 Logo Design Types

What it is?
- Wordmarks, Letterforms, Abstract Marks, and Pictorial Marks display company values within the forms meaning.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- Research and convergent and divergent thinking skills are necessary to develop concepts for logo design. Designers must be able to think of the brand and core values as adjectives for its personality.

What it took to acquire competency?
- After crafting the brand's attributes such as speed, youth, courage, and community; mind-mapping strategies can give word and image associations to design concepts for logo types.
- For example, pictorial marks can have too much character, but letterforms tend to be more neutral and timeless (Bokhua, 2022a). Abstract logo marks suggest brand meaning vaguely, such as the Nike swoosh depicting speed.

#10 Determining Brands Core

What it is?
- Utilizing the meaning of the brand's core values and developing those descriptions into the display of color, fonts, imagery, typography, and logo usage.

How and why will it be important in professional career?
- It is important to be able to research audiences behaviors and preferences to develop consumer personas, such as personality branding. This helps to connect audience personas and relevant marketing.

What it took to acquire competency?
- Designers must be able to evaluate where the brand sits on the spectrum of archetypes, such as between playful and serious, youthful and mature (Canva, 2023).

References

Bokhua, G. (2022a). Chapter 2: Types of Logo Designs. In Principles of Logo Design: A practical guide to creating effective signs, symbols, and icons (ebook). essay, Rockport Publishers. https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/principles-of-logo/9780760376522/xhtml/06_Chapter02.xhtml

Canva. (2023). How to Define Your Core Brand Values and Personality Branding. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym9DzP-drp0

COMPETENCIES

#1 Gestalt Theory

What it is?

Gestalts or elements belong together and look alike by similarity and proximity grouping. They are structurally bound by those continuation elements within compositions.

How and why will it be important in professional career?

This will be used constantly while catering to clients needs as well as artistic projects and composition designs. This theory is foundational to applying the elements of design and principles of art correctly.​

What it took to acquire competency?

#2 Creative Brief

What it is?

Client Messaging Using Key Words

Asking the company for key words to describe the clients' brands can generate concepts to unify the words in pairs for the logo design.

What it took to acquire competency?

How and why will it be important in professional career?

This will be used constantly while catering to clients needs as well as artistic projects and composition designs. This theory is foundational to concept development phases, and using this technique ensures higher project success rate.

#3 Logo Designing Based on Research

What it is?

Developing designs based on research of concepts such as meanings of curved and horizontal lines.

Logo is Greek word meaning how things are understood.

What it took to acquire competency?

Identity design strategy is based on scale of the company, such as using only a monogram (abbreviation) logo design for well known established brands.​

Using this concept of brand research to analyze the market sector, evaluate company goals and objectives, and studying competition branding leads to proper implementation of marketing materials and proven design choice defense for clients.

How and why will it be important in professional career?

Knowing how to properly communicate with clients the solvency of branding problems is vital to industry success. This foundation will be used constantly while catering to clients needs as well as artistic projects and composition designs.

#4 Purpose of Style/Brand Guides

What it is?

Graphic designers such as Margo Chase's firm give style guides to clients to develop seasonal branding aspects, and varying options of merch and display concepts for companies such as Starbucks.

How and why will it be important in professional career?

Using the correct presentation for the brand guide helps with client persuasiveness. This gives clients reference to archive for the brand company to use to develop future concepts.

What it took to acquire competency?

#5 Client Brief Phases

What it is?

The brief describes assignment of client, target audience, objectives, and direction.

Following scheduled phases will allow for a greater probability of project success and solution

Phase 1 (Research), Phase 2 (Design Roughs), Phase 3 (Design Refinement), and Phase 4 (Applications of Media)

What it took to acquire competency?

Importance of phases and scheduled production of media and communication is vital to the success of the project.

Developing prototype sketches to receive feedback analysis from outside sources was helpful to proceed to final renderings.

How and why will it be important in professional career?

Understanding how to give and receive critiques and proper language feedback is vital to the graphic design profession as a team member or freelancer.

#6 Choosing Appropriate Media Assets

What it is?

Choosing appropriate media to use, such as cohesive logo and visual system, new website, poster campaign, and/or mobile app.

What it took to acquire competency?

The graphic artist must select and develop the quality resources for the media library.

This was acquired with choosing the media types and media list of package types for the thesis project, such as deciding upon print/digital media and advertising billboards.

How and why will it be important in professional career?

This is important if chosen to create marketing packages and brand guides. Designers must know how to research the target audience and decide whether the chosen media will be effective to the client solution.

#7 Audience Demographics

What it is?

Many image styles can be used based on demographics such as artists, teenagers, or working individuals. Images could be typographic, illustrative, abstract, and can use different graphic styles such as textural/blended, whimsical, or sketchy.

What it took to acquire competency?

After defining the target audience, the style and visuals should be dependent upon the theme or message, such as marine, sports, or theatre.

The materials should be catered to satisfy the audience need, such as what features/benefits will accomplish a consumer who seeks affiliation.

How and why will it be important in professional career?

A sought out skill in the industry is the ability to research the audience cultural, economic , and social characteristics. This research is helpful to defend design choices to see if the target audience will engage with the marketing materials.

#8 Determining Audience Needs

What it is?

Understanding the needs and interests of target audiences increases interactions, builds trust, and credibility with audiences.

How and why will it be important in professional career?

A sought out skill in the industry is the ability to research the audience cultural, economic , and social characteristics. This research is helpful to defend design choices to see if the target audience will engage with the marketing materials.

What it took to acquire competency?

After defining the target audience, the style and visuals should be dependent upon the theme or message, such as marine, sports, or theatre.

The materials should be catered to satisfy the audience need, such as what features/benefits will accomplish a consumer who seeks affiliation.

#9 Logo Design Types

What it is?

Wordmarks, Letterforms, Abstract Marks, and Pictorial Marks display company values within the forms meaning.

How and why will it be important in professional career?

Research and convergent and divergent thinking skills are necessary to develop concepts for logo design. Designers must be able to think of the brand and core values as adjectives for its personality.

What it took to acquire competency?

After crafting the brand's attributes such as speed, youth, courage, and community; mind-mapping strategies can give word and image associations to design concepts for logo types.

For example, pictorial marks can have too much character, but letterforms tend to be more neutral and timeless (Bokhua, 2022a). Abstract logo marks suggest brand meaning vaguely, such as the Nike swoosh depicting speed.

#10 Determining Brands Core

What it is?

​Utilizing the meaning of the brand's core values and developing those descriptions into the display of color, fonts, imagery, typography, and logo usage.​

How and why will it be important in professional career?

It is important to be able to research audiences behaviors and preferences to develop consumer personas, such as personality branding. This helps to connect audience personas and relevant marketing.

What it took to acquire competency?

Designers must be able to evaluate where the brand sits on the spectrum of archetypes, such as between playful and serious, youthful and mature (Canva, 2023).

References

This will be used constantly while catering to clients needs as well as artistic projects and composition designs. This theory is foundational to applying the elements of design and principles of art correctly.

Identity design strategy is based on scale of the company, such as using only a monogram (abbreviation) logo design for well known established brands.

Utilizing the meaning of the brand's core values and developing those descriptions into the display of color, fonts, imagery, typography, and logo usage.