Graphic Design for Non Graphic Designers, what I’ve learned in 20 years as a librarian

Yesterday, I presented a webinar on Graphic Design for Non Graphic Designers. This webinar has been a post 20 years in the making. Like most librarians, I was surprised to get my first library job and learn exactly how much graphic design I would end up doing. But unlike most librarians, I had an advantage: I was about to marry an Art/Graphic Design major. Over the past 20 years he has taught me a lot about composition and lay out. And over the years I have read a lot of books, attended a lot of webinars and continuing education classes, and of course searched the web a lot.

For the past 10+ years most of my continuing education has been focused on Marketing. At one point and time I was the head of my library’s marketing committee wrote the library’s marketing plan for several years, and took the odd class here and there to maybe get my marketing degree (which I didn’t, I had a second child instead.)

Over the years I have read and researched so much that I have developed my own basic marketing plan and graphic design tips. They are based on those topics and tips you see repeated over and over again when you research these topics. So while term like collection development and reader’s advisory become second nature to librarians, things like typography and layout become second nature to those who read a lot on the topic. Don’t get me wrong, I would never call myself a graphic designer, because I’m not one. I can just share with you those things that I see commonly repeated time and time again and have for the past 10+ years. Then I had The Mr. go over all of this to make sure that what I was saying was accurate. So a special thanks to him for his helpful critiques (which were even sometimes kind) and his patience as he tried to teach me how to do these things.

Filed under: Graphic Design, Professional Development