Anyone can be a graphic designer with Pages
April 28, 2009 § 2 Comments
We only have one Apple computer at my school, and I am the only one who knows how to use it.
Earlier this year, I taught a journalism elective and set up a Pages template for the kids to use to create their class magazine. Then, when the call came down to create a couple pages on our program for the main High School yearbook, I was asked to create a two-page spread of photo-collages. To the dismay of my co-worker, who had done this for years and years in MS Paint, I used Pages and put together something that looked a lot more professional than, well, MS Paint.
This project was the nail in the coffin. Now I am the “graphic design” girl at work. I signed on to do a local history project with our students, which will ultimately culminate in a student-written book, designed by me, using Pages. I was also appointed to head the Yearbook committee. (Our small program makes its own yearbook.) It will also be designed, by me, in Pages.
I never really thought of myself as a “graphic design” person. I’m not sure exactly how I got to be that girl since all I do is fool around with Pages, which is standard Apple software, not exactly Photoshop or InDesign.
My experience so far as the go-to design girl has been sortof fun, but also frustrating because my co-workers like to stand over my shoulder and say things like, “Can you make that darker?” or “Maybe that section should only be half a page,” or “Can you make that bigger?” Is this what graphic design is really like? If it is, I send out a wholehearted hug to all graphic designers with hovering clients.
[Do you think you could have made that post a little shorter?]
Out of the Basement 
HA!
I used to run my college’s Student Activities graphic design department, and I can assure you that graphic design was really like that for us. It became a delicate balance – find the right amount of distance from the client so that they can’t backseat design, but also include them enough in the process to ensure that they get what they want. I can’t tell you how many times one of my designers would work diligently through the night to produce a spectacular poster or banner, only to find out that the design the client wanted was visually quite boring and would’ve taken 15 minutes to make in Photoshop. That’s life for ya…
Oh, Jesus, I haven’t used pages in 10 years. I was stuck in the same position then, too. Was I on Yearbook? No. Did I make most of the Yearbook spreads? Yes. Sigh.