Bennett Bales

Author: Bennett Bales

  • Blog Post #4

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    The Modern Design Apps: What Every Creative Should Learn

    November 24th, 2025

    Hello World –

    Today I am going to be talking about the set of tools that I have used in order to enhance my skills as a growing creative professional. As a new worker in the creative and marketing space, learning new tools to support the required expectations of modern designers is important.

    Here are some tools that I observed creatives and designers have been using consistently:

    • Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and Canva (Graphic Design)
    • Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom (Photography)
    • WordPress and Adobe Dreamweaver (Web Design)

    Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator and Canva

    Working with Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Canva has strengthened my understanding of essential design principles across both print and digital formats. Adobe InDesign has helped me develop strong layout and publication skills, while Adobe Illustrator has improved my ability to create advanced graphics, logos, and design pieces. Canva has given me quick, user-friendly tools for producing social media content and marketing materials, expanding my overall design versatility and confidence.

    Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom:

    Working with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom has strengthened my ability to edit, enhance, and design visually intriguing images. Adobe Photoshop has helped me develop skills in photo design, retouching, and creating photo compositions. Lightroom has improved my efficiency in organizing, color-correcting, and custom editing photos. Together, these tools have expanded my creative range, once again expanding my overall design versatility and confidence.

    WordPress and Adobe Dreamweaver

    Working with Adobe Dreamweaver and WordPress has strengthened my ability to design, develop, and manage websites effectively. Dreamweaver, like Sublime Text has helped me build and code web sites with HTML and CSS code, while WordPress has improved my skills in content creation, web layout, and personal branding. These tools have expanded my technical expertise and increased my confidence in creating professional, functional, and simple websites.

    Conclusion:

    Overall, I am looking forward to continuing my growth in design and web development tools, and I am very glad to have gained experience with Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Lightroom, Photoshop, and WordPress. I’m excited to take additional courses, as well as continue to explore and learn new ways in which I can expand my skills and deepen my understanding of designing graphics, photos, and websites. Mastering these tools strengthens my ability to approach creative projects with an interdisciplinary perspective, which is essential for careers in creative work, design, advertising, and marketing. I look forward to be able to bring more value as I approach these more demanding and innovative industries and I hope to never stop learning.

    Creative thinking with creative solutions for all.

    If you have a problem that needs solving, whether its in your design, marketing, or media scope of needs, I’m here to help. My education and experience brings first-hand wisdom in creative problem-solving, and I would love to meet with you on it.

    LET ME HELP

  • Blog Post #3

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    Not Just a Designer, Into the New Reality of the Creative Professional

    October 31st, 2025

    Hello World –

    Today I am going to be discussing my experience with understanding the general responsibilities of individuals working the marketing, creative, and design areas of businesses. We see in the current age of marketing, especially now in the digital era, we an increase in the amount of knowledge expected of those working in this industry.

    When discussing the academic discipline of marketing, one of the core principles and lessons of marketing is outlined in found in the marketing mix, which is a strategic framework used to market products and create value. These four parts of marketing mix are,

    • Product
    • Price
    • Place
    • Promotion

    In contrast, we see that time and time again that those involved in marketing teams tend to be expected to focus on the skills that apply these principles, instead of the academic knowledge of the principles. As marketing has drifted farther away from being in-person, knowing some of these facts on hand is less useful.

    With this said, marketers nowadays, especially those known as “creatives”, are expected to know a plethora of skills that each could be a specialization on their own. Instead, businesses seem to want generalists now in today’s job market, as the more you can do as one person, the less people a company has to hire. So as we see more and more “one-man-band” creative marketers who can execute projects in many disciplines in photography, videography, graphic design, and writing, we lose out on those who may be specialists in one piece of marketing who has honed their craft to the maximum.

    For me, as a primarily Graphic Designer and major, I have to except the reality that because of the ways graphic design can be executed nowadays, whether in its via AI, outsourcing, or even entrepreneurs learning graphic design software on their own, I need to increase my own skill set and value in order to be competitive in this field.

    Conclusion:

    As I continue to grow my skills in design to one day be an expert in Graphic Design, I am now actively seeking out new ways to learn photography, videography, writing, web design, SEO, web analytics, and many other skills. With my advertising education as well, I have seen how ads can manifest in many ways, and so by learning everyway an ad can be created is a learning experience I believe will be very useful going forward, and I am very excited to see how much I can grow in and continue to learn.

    Creative thinking with creative solutions for all.

    If you have a problem that needs solving, whether its in your design, marketing, or media scope of needs, I’m here to help. My education and experience brings first-hand wisdom in creative problem-solving, and I would love to meet with you on it.

    LET ME HELP

  • Blog Post #2

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    Credentialism with Wisdom, Exploring New Accreditation

    October 22nd, 2025

    Hello World –

    Today I am going to be talking about some the free and paid certifications that I have been acquiring in order to enhance my resume and to gain additional knowledge that is relevant to the topics that I wish to pursue a career in one day. These topics include Marketing, Design, and Advertising, and I have been able to locate many free and affordable certificates that can be earned online and can be added to my resume and Linkedin Page.

    Here are the certificates that I have earned and some sample pictures:

    • Adobe Graphic Designer Certification
    • Google Ads Creative Certification
    • Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certification
    • HubSpot Digital Marketing Certified
    • HubSpot Digital Advertising Certified

    Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certification:

    The Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certification focused on eight key areas that are relevant for digital marketing & e-commerce. The topics covered include digital marketing, search engines, social media, email, google ads, e-commerce, and AI uses in digital marketing. This certificate and its courses gave me new insight into the digital marketing industry and the ways I can start my own digital marketing campaign.

    Adobe Graphic Designer Certification:

    The Adobe Graphic Designer Certification focused on five key areas that are essential for success in the design industry. The topics covered include design principles, graphic design, document design, image editing, and AI uses in design. This certificate and its courses gave me very modern and practical applications and and skills to use for graphic design work.

    HubSpot Digital Advertising Certified:

    The HubSpot Digital Advertising Certified focused on subjects that are actively present in the Digital Advertising industry. The topics covered include ad performance, social media advertising, paid search advertising, digital advertising strategy, advertising copy, and advertising creative. This certificate was very helpful to me to learn how to implement paid media campaigns, align audience targeting with business goals, and continuously optimize ad conversion.

    Conclusion:

    Overall, I am looking forward to pursuing more certifications and I am very glad I have earned what I have now. I’m excited to take courses and training programs that will expand my knowledge and strengthen my skillset. New knowledge of design, media, and communication is always helpful to increasing my interdisciplinary way of looking at these industries if I want to pursue a career in creative work, advertising, and marketing. The certification process, while often rigorous, provides a valuable framework for self-assessment and professional growth. In the modern age, credentialism is important to assert your skills and knowledge with more opportunities out there, and earning as much as you can helps you stand out.

    Creative thinking with creative solutions for all.

    If you have a problem that needs solving, whether its in your design, marketing, or media scope of needs, I’m here to help. My education and experience brings first-hand wisdom in creative problem-solving, and I would love to meet with you on it.

    LET ME HELP

  • Blog Post #1

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    Planning my Progression, the Busy Time of Course Registration

    October 10th, 2025

    Hello World –

    Today I am meeting with my advisor on what I should take and register for the quickly upcoming second semester. I have made several schedules that I think will each keep on track for graduation, as well as have some interesting classes. I am a double major in Graphic Design and Advertising, so it sometimes be tricky finding a schedule that is time efficient and cohesive, as those two majors are split across two different colleges, which can cause unwanted course overlap

    My First Schedule –

    My first schedule I made on a website called coursicle, a platform that allows you to see upcoming classes being offered at any college. This website is super helpful when you wanna make multiple schedules or have ease of use finding overlapping classes.

    My first schedule has me taking:

    • Consumer Culture (JMC 113)
    • AI and Democracy (PHIL 151)
    • Theories of Curating (ART 112)
    • Content and Audience (ART 116)
    • Design Issues (ART 100)

    These classes offer a nice mix between my two majors, as well as include a class I need to take for my general education. This schedule would be the first-choice ideal schedule.

    My Second Schedule –

    My second schedule is my backup, it has classes that would count towards my degree, but some that I could take later before graduation. These classes also offer a good balance of JMC and ART courses, but they are classes that I wouldn’t take as my first choice. I have a good standing in terms of registration time, meaning I register earlier than quite a few people. so I don’t anticipate these classes needing to be taken.

    My second schedule has me taking:

    • Communication Law and Ethics (JMC 104)
    • AI Ethics (PHIL 113)
    • Fantasies & Futurities: Science Fiction in Contemporary Art (ART 122)
    • Special Topics in Graphic Design: Video Storytelling (ART 151)
    • Bookbinding Workshop (ART 153)

    Although this schedule wouldn’t be my ideal or number one choice, these classes wouldn’t be the end of the world. I would still be happy with these choices.

    Creative thinking with creative solutions for all.

    If you have a problem that needs solving, whether its in your design, marketing, or media scope of needs, I’m here to help. My education and experience brings first-hand wisdom in creative problem-solving, and I would love to meet with you on it.

    LET ME HELP