Please forgive me for having not blogged in a week. I did think of things to blog about, but I was almost too busy to sleep, let alone blog. I guess that’s what earned from my trip to Pittsburgh: more work. I worked in the airport, I’ve worked all weekend…and it hasn’t helped that Emry and Ethan decided to share their cold. I am very nearly wiped out.
Perhaps part of my problem is that I believe a job should always have learning curves. If it doesn’t, what joy is there in doing the same thing over and over again by rote? Plus, I was getting a bit lean project wise as far as work goes. Plus, the designers and landscape architects I work with are swamped and I like to be helpful. All that equals more work.
So, several weeks ago I asked if it would be helpful for me to learn a software system called Adobe InDesign. Those of you who might be graphic artists know all about it. I have played around in it once a few years ago, frustrated that I wasn’t sure what all the buttons meant even though I got the editing work done. The idea that I could learn this software has been tossed about but never really pursued. This time around, my boss jumped on it and sent me a link to a series of webinars that gave me a thorough crash course. That accomplished, I dabbled with updating the office resumes. And then jumped right into a full-blow proposal. Which (unfortunately?) went well.
For those of you who are quite a bit like me and don’t deal with graphic art, InDesign can create amazing things: colorful, intuitive, pretty awesome and very professional banners, postcards, posters, brochures and even pages and pages or a proposal or comprehensive plan. To some extent, your imagination is your limit. Which is why I am very limited. Because while I can admire colorful, intuitive and pretty awesome I don’t view things in that way. I see very much like a spreadsheet (without colored charts). So, it’s as blessing that I’m not creating anything from scratch. There’s always a preceding proposal to copy and then cut, piece add into as needed.
I was really nervous about this proposal and, not being proficient in InDesign, spent HOURS on it. And while it turned out great as far as turning it into a PDF and printing it, I’ve warned several people not to use it as a template. Because I didn’t do quite a few things the “right” way but more the “logical” way. So, it’s a bit like a patchwork quilt that has crooked seams. It looks okay at a distance, but don’t get too close.
But even crooked seams are a huge help when everyone is super busy and it turns out looking nicely. In fact, it’s such a huge help I have since edited another and now have one on my plate that is really making me nervous. Because the title of my blog is a bit misleading. I have by no means mastered InDesign. In fact, I feel like I know just enough to keep myself really busy and make myself a bit dangerous.
Still, I’m kind of proud at learning something new and so different to me. And keep my fingers crossed that we’ll win the contracts for those proposals. Then, at least, I’ll feel a bit better about my crooked seams.
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