pre-professional conference

For anyone who attended the BYU - Idaho English Department's Pre-professional conference (PPC), where authors were brought in from various prestigious places throughout the country, you probably were mostly professional writers, or at least English Majors. You probably learned a lot about what your future careers will hold and the skills you will need to attain specific jobs in the real world.

I am not an English major or have any aspiration to become a full-time writer, but I have worked for the English department for three years as a designer. This conference, therefore, was a great learning experience for me because I was in charge of creating an effective color scheme and brand for the PPC. I was also in charge of all advertising for this event. This is my second year helping with the PPC and I think I was much better prepared than I was last year because of one central element. This tip can be used in almost any situation to help proceedings run smoothly.

Consistentcy is the key to any element of design, whether concordant or contrasting. Visual repetition sticks in your memory so that when seen again your mind recognizes the theme of the design. I kept my entire program and all posters in one font; two fonts can be used, but if so, they must be contrasting. Two fonts that are similar cause a conflicting design and make it look messy. I also repeated the lines and color scheme throughout the all the visual elements.

These items helped me to create a consistent theme that paid off when onlookers commented that they knew they were in the right place when they saw the fonts, color scheme, and line directions. Obviously, these are not the only contributing factors to the success of the program, but if you use them in any design, you are bound to be fairly successful.