As a graphic designer and digital artist, I am able to take a problem that is presented to me from a client and solve it. In between getting the problem and delivering the final product, whatever it may be, there is a lot of process that goes into developing good design. Good design should strive to communicate an idea clearly, should achieve the goals of the client and be a functional piece to whoever it is for. As a designer and with every project that I do, I strive to make good design. I started graphic design as a Sophomore in High School where I took an introductory Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign class. This is where I fell in love with design and have not looked back since. Throughout my remaining years, I placed in two state level competitions for Graphic Design and placed top 10 in the nation one of those two years. I decided to come to ECU because it offers a community that I had not felt anywhere else and I feel like that community has encouraged and propelled my design work over the years. I currently work as a graphic designer in the marketing department of Campus Recreation and Wellness where I complete a multitude of tasks ranging from social media posts to entire event signage.
My process varies from project to project. Sometimes I like just diving into Illustrator and playing around with typefaces and colors and other times I like to keep it physical and sketch out ideas. There are different times to use different styles of processing and brainstorming and I enjoy looking back on my process and seeing the progression of my work and how it evolved over the entire project.
As a designer I feel like you must have a style that is defined by now, but I truly do not feel like I have a style and sometimes I think having a set style is not good for myself as a young designer. That’s because I feel like a style puts you in a box and you can only do things inside that box. With my design, I want to challenge myself every time I launch any of the programs I am working with. I want to collaborate with my peers and be able to take critic and change those things in my designs to make them that much better for the client. Graphic design is forever changing and will always be needed by every level of business from commercial to consumer, from private sector to public; everything you look at that is a visual element or advertisement was touched by a graphic designer at one point in time.
Leaving my third year of college and entering my fourth and hopefully final year as a student, I will always be learning no matter if it's in school or out. I think you never stop learning and I hope throughout my career as a graphic design after college I can show that you will never stop growing unless YOU stop yourself.
