1. I hope to become more proficient in design software while working in the class. Particularly Illustrator and InDesign and work through any trepidation that may arise while understanding the programs.
    1. I was definitely able to expand my working knowledge in Illustrator and InDesign. This is more the case with Illustrator over InDesign but I now feel comfortable with the programs to tackle most projects without too much worry. 
  2. I want to understand more about design elements and what goes into a good marketing plan versus what goes into a bad marketing plan.
    1. Though we touched upon it briefly, this portion of the course was geared more towards getting familiar with the design software and branding. More practical in nature. We learned about branding strategies and design dos and donts but only touched upon marketing strategies. This appears to be a focus of the second half of the course. 
  3. I would like to learn more about the importance of typography and how critical its role is in a good marketing campaign as this is an area that I do not have much experience in.
    1. I definitely learned more about typography in this course. We spent a good deal of time discussing various tenants of typography as it relates to design. The discussion coupled with experimenting with the graphic standards fostered a greater understanding of font and type than I did coming into the class. 
  4. I hope to learn more about marketing strategies and, more specifically, how they can be applied in the arts sector for a successful campaign.
    1. Once again, we spent a lot of time working on the practical application of design in this course as opposed to learning the theories behind marketing design and strategy. This looks to be a focus of the second portion of the course. Looking back, I may have re-defined this learning objective to focus more on the practical aspects of design like “learn strategies behind collateral design, etc.”  
  5. Acquire the knowledge to develop a good foundation in conceptual design, brand awareness, and relevant technologies to practically apply to marketing, branding, and design efforts in the field.
    1. I would definitely say that I achieved this learning goal. Coming into this course I knew relatively little about branding and design and less about Illustrator and InDesign. Here at the end of the course I understand what goes into designing a brand (it’s not as easy as it looks), the importance of graphic standards to an organization, the applications of various software in design, and a lot of the nuance in designing a brand.