This assignment was to design a cake order form using supplied copy (that could not be changed or modified), and use it to create an organized, good looking, easy to use form.

The criteria seemed simple enough. Arriving at the end product? Not as simple as I would have thought! 

This was a great exercise to hone organizational skills. The first challenge was to make sense of the provided fields. What information went with what? In what order should the information go? Horizontal or vertical flow? Separate boxes for related fields or keep everything open? 

Step one was to group the information and decide which fields go together. Once I had the groups, I started roughing out different arrangements. I was also working on illustrations of cake pops to be used as graphic elements to add a little whimsy to the design. 

I made five different layouts, as assigned, but when I got to class I realized I messed up. I hadn’t scrutinized the fields closely enough to understand that certain information about the cakes must be together. I had it separated on every version. Rats! 

After that got cleared up, I went back and put together a layout that worked. Then I  started creating it in InDesign. I was having difficulty getting things to line up in a way that made sense and I brought that up during the next class period. I’m embarrassed to say that even though I had referenced Making and Breaking the Grid many times, I had never learned to use them properly in my own work. Once I figured it out, it was so much easier to see what I had to do.