Designed: Architecture concept magazine

Happy Thursday! I'm finally creating/posting some new work. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a Currently Designing post on a concept layout for an architectural magazine and here is it! We've all heard the idea that its takes working at something for 10,000 hours to become an expert, and even though I design at my 9-5 I feel like I'm not clocking those 10,000 hours in. There are a ton of different things I design at work but I still don't have access to those dream projects that I would like to have in my portfolio and be hired for in the future.  I mentioned in the other Currently Designing post that I own a book called "The Graphic Design Exercise Book".  This book has different prompts for a variety of different projects. For my first I designed a cover and spread for a contemporary architecture magazine.

One hard thing about working on personal work is that there really isn't a deadline, of course I can set one for myself but I'll still pick with it and probably never post it. With regular projects you're forced to commit to a concept and deliver quickly. When I first started designing this I took my precious time figuring out what I wanted to do, after awhile I knew that if I didn't just commit I could end up on Pinterest for hours and not actually make any progress.  Once I committed I was surprised at how quickly everything came together.  Sometimes I can be so much in my head that I spend too much time thinking about a concept instead of actually doing it and realistically, completing projects help me become better for the next one.  Everything that I design I want to be the best, and I really hate when I design something and dislike it a month later... lately I realized that its natural for me to dislike things because my aesthetic/skills are growing rapidly.  I looked at work I completed 5 months ago and think "what the hell was I thinking".  So I may look at this next month and not like it, but at the end of the day  I committed and created something I like, its all about "Just Do It".  If you're a designer what cool projects are you working on?

xoxo.sll