by Emily Katherine Dacus
Being an (almost) art graduate of Mississippi College, I find myself subconsciously judging the aesthetics of posts, design work, and lots more things. The thing is, I was never a Graphic Design or Marketing major. I was a Studio Art major. Pretty much painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, things like that. I did take a required class, "Intro to Graphic Software," where I learned the basics of Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator…but I never took any classes on how to actually design graphic templates for businesses, how to design a website, how to market my work, etc. Essentially, I’ve been learning as-I-go how to market and advertise for clients.
What I learned in my studio classes has been pretty much as helpful and as practical as I can think, because we learned how to balance a composition, how to apply color schemes, how to create a point of interest without overcrowding the work, and how to appeal to certain audiences. Just…not on the computer. I’ve learned how to apply my skills on the canvas to my work. “The principle elements of design,” as we called them. Form, shape, color, composition, texture, etc. But, they seem to apply to everything—not just studio art. How we arrange our rooms, desks, websites, Facebook pages, Instagram posts, email-blasts, etc. So, it seems that an art degree wasn’t so pointless after all…so far!