So the last week i was in Kansas City, MO for the SkillsUSA National Leadership conference to compete in Advertising Design. I competed on Thursday, and after the contest was done with I had little confidence in my logo and ad designs, as well as my mechanical portion; I chanced a peak around to the other screens and realized that all my stuff was boring and simple compared to the many other flashier and glitzier designs. Despite knowing that I wouldn't place, I was happy that I had even advanced this far to nationals, and would be more than happy being in the top 20 (there were 42 contestants).

Friday night rolls around, and the award ceremony passes; like I predicted, I did not place in the top three and I was totally fine. However, at our Texas Contestants banquet which followed, my advisor ran up and told me I had actually placed 5th in my contest! I was so shocked; after our contest debrief a bunch of contestants went around and critiqued each others works, and I hadn't received many compliments regarding my design. I was absolutely thrilled to know that people had appreciated my straightforward and simplistic design; I personally love the minimalistic design approach, and I know plenty of people do not agree. I'm glad that I was able to prove that sometimes, less is more.