Everyone always says, do a job that you love and it wont feel like a job. For me, that job is graphic design.
Advertising and Marketing
What interests me for a career path in graphic design is creating different types advertisements, and in the future I want to find a way to incorporate marketing into my work. My ultimate dream is to follow in my mothers footsteps and become a civilian for the military, which will then allow me to travel around the world while still doing the job that I love. My junior and senior year of high school I got the opportunity to work for an organization that mainly focuses on graphic design, advertisements and touches on marketing. While I was working with them I realized that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, because it is what I love. I was able to create posters, movie schedules, logos, business cards, and much more. The main reason I think this is a good fit for me is because I love the idea of being able to create something from scratch that instantly catches someones eye and makes them want to keep reading, or find out more information.
The Graphics Magazine is very useful for me, because it has a lot of inspirational layouts and portfolios that anyone can view. I really like the CMYK Magazine because it has also has a lot of blogs, contests, and portfolios that the viewer can look through.The last magazine that I found in my area of interest is Eye Magazine, because it has a lot of great images and designs, as well as different articles that you can go through.
I really like Peter Harris because his works for magazines are very inspiring, his portfolios are so much fun to look at as well.
Type
One thing I really love about type, is you can be as creative as you want. It is essentially the base of the design, whether people realize that or not. They really isn’t a guideline to what you can and cannot do. Depending on what type of ad, or logo you are creating, you might not use the same type as a poster or even a book cover.
A major part of graphic design also has to do with type, so I found I Love Typography to be very helpful, with a lot of great information and ideas. Another useful typography website is MyFonts because it allows you to see and download fonts that you want to use in your design.
Luke Lucas is a very inspirational typographer. Looking at his work has helped me realize how important type is, and also how fun it is.
Packaging
On daily life, whether it is a new poster, a movie advertisement, CD/book cover, or even something as simple as food packaging or a bottle of water, graphic design is present and it is what makes that particular item interesting. If we walked into a store and everything was just white with a few words on it, it would be extremely boring. Everything that we use on a daily basis is a form of graphic design, from a water or soda bottle to the designs featured on our clothing. This is why I find it so fascinating, it is all around us everyday whether we realize it or not.
I really like boredpanda because it has a lot of interesting and creative ways that show how packaging can be unique.
Paola Giustacchini is an italian graphic designer that focuses on packaging. Her work is often simple, but still very beautiful.
Research
I found the book Creative Type by Cees W. de Jong, Alston W. Purvis, and Friedrich Friedl. I picked this book because as soon as you open the cover, it catches your attention. Inside, there are a lot of great Type ideas.

In the book, Graphic Design Annual 2009, I found this image that can be used as a poster, or a flyer to get their meaning across.
I really like this page, because it has a strong type that instantly catches your attention. Then you read in the upper left hand corner, and you see what they are trying to get across.

The next New York Times Magazine cover I found was in, Graphis Annual 81|82. I really like this cover because it gets the point across and is eye catching, even without all the colors that we use today.
