Response: First Exp in Judging

I have been in many competitions were I was judged, but today was the first time I was on the other side of the judges table. In class today we got to be the preliminary judges for the City and Regional Magazine Association magazine design award. It was an interesting experience for many reasons.

1. I was judging the work of people who have much more experience than me and have been involved in the industry for many years longer.

2. I had never judged a magazine competition before and was way under prepared for how fast it guess. I looked at a total of 30 magazines in less than an hour and had to decided on what was my 1st, 2nd and 3rd place magazines. 

3. It was exciting to just be exposed to so many different varieties of magazine since they were from all over the nation. I was able to see how the West Coast designs differ slightly from the the East Coast. 

4. I was able to get so many ideas and inspiration from just looking at the sheer number of issues. 

I really enjoyed the experience and my first and second favorites were voted first and second, so I guess I am not completely off when it comes to having good taste in magazine design. 

I think little things like this will really help me develop as a designer, because you don't get a chance to take part in these experiences everyday. I have to make sure to constantly be looking for new things to learn in this class. I feel like this class is me cramming for a final weeks before the test only the test will be me trying to get a job in the industry.