Designing Woman

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I’m doing something I haven’t done in a very long time.

A wee little bit of graphic design.

It’s only for a CD label/liner notes/jewel case cover. And I have a program with the templates all plugged in. But damned if I’m not having a good time doing this.

I’ve changed my mind about the font style at least a dozen times. And have tinkered with the background artwork about that many as well -- playing with the percentage of color saturation and shading and placement. I’d forgotten how I like to have things Just So when I design. A carryover from my proofreading days, when I could spot misaligned text blocks or an extra return space in a paragraph a mile away. I do still proofread everything, out of habit. You can take the girl out of the print shop, but you can’t take the print shop out of the girl, I guess.

It’s a nice bit of serendipity that today marks the 25th Anniversary of MTV. I used to study (that’s right, study) with MTV on the telly when I was in journalism school, working on my various projects. Sitting cross-legged on the floor with my stuff strewn everywhere in a circle around me. Watching some of those early videos took me back to the days of X-acto knives and rubber cement and rub-on letters and T-squares and pica rulers. My current design effort involves nothing more tangible than my computer and a software program. So streamlined. Almost too easy. (Although how I wish I had more fonts to choose from...) I rather like having my MTV on while I work, with the crude, now-campy videos providing some soothing nostalgic background noise. Kinda takes away some of my anxiety at doing something that I haven't even attempted in many years.

Seems appropriate somehow. One step forward, one step back. Straddling that line.