My name is Grace De Pena and I’m a sophmore who transferred to UofSC for Spring 2023. I’m currently dipping my feet into the world of Graphic Design, hoping to carry the skills I build here with me into wherever my career takes me!
I’ve had an interest in photo editing that really started to grow from early
2020, close to when Covid began. This was a time where eveything slowed down a bit, so I was able to explore the Adobe programs more than before school went online. This course has only increased my proficiency with the various programs, which I hope to make clear with this final project.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my process book!
This piece was inspired by the song “5g” by Brakence. The song’s lyrics don’t necessarily fit one theme, but it has sections that talk about digital addiction and large corporations feeding off of the human need for connection. I
think the topic about digital exploitation is very pertinent to today’s times and something that an audience could easily relate to, so I chose the lyrics “They’re using us like a resource.” It may be hard for viewers to separate their personal usage of social media with the fact
that companies utilize certain design tools to keep them on their apps as long as possible, but it’s a fact that needs to be talked about more, especially for incoming generations. I hope that through my design, I can get viewers to think about what’s going on behind the screens more.
This piece was inspired by the song “Nostalgia” by the artist “Tae.” The song has a much different feel than my design. The original lyric is “Your hazel eyes in full bloom.” I warped it into a more whimsical, witchy ambiance by borrowing the
hazel-eyes trait. What took much more of my energy was figuring out how to make the text match that in design, and not take away from the quality of the image being used as the background. I utilized the magic of blurring to make sure it flowed more seamlessly than my rough draft. I hope it gives viewers a sense of stepping into a storybook with a young sorceress as a main character.
When I first brainstormed for this assignment, I wanted to have a theme that connected both stories. I decided on using love, particularly the romantic experience of falling in love, and then breaking up or being broken
up with. I thought this may resonate with more people and would be an inviting theme to work with. But when I started searching for lyrics that evoked the emotions one goes through during these special moments in life, I found many expanded beyond just six words. When I put my own editing into some sentences to shorten them, it never quite flowed as well and simply did not carry that “punch” I wanted.
I ended up making my final choices due to the strong mental images I had when reading them.
So instead, I shuffled through songs I’ve recently had on repeat to get creative juices flowing for a different course.
I went through many potential sentences, some having to do with my initial idea of romantic love, and some dealing with darker themes.
I didn’t really have an outline for what sorts of portraits I wanted to make, so I let the fonts and my creativity take control. I did know that I wanted them to carry their own easily visible personalities, and to not be head-on
Adobe Fonts to get a better visual of what that lettering could offer me in creating a character. This project was very enjoyable as it was challending, and allowed me to play with my artistic creativity more than I was expecting.
I wanted to create profiles that matched the text in a conceptual or more literal manner. “Billion Dreams” is a white-collar worker, “Blackadder” is a woman with the fiery demeanor of a viper, and “Good Karma” is a cheerful angel.
I’m quite happy with the final designs, but if I could, I would have included the painter portrait into my final lot as well.
Additionally, I did want to utilize a thicker bold font just to test my limits. Sadly, I ended up scrapping the lion design with a bold font because it didn’t feel completed. Perhaps if I figured out a way to make the mane fuller, it would have also made the final cut.
The playful chicken was more of a gag piece personally, and certainly did not feel appropriate to include with the final three. I hope that viewing it sparks joy regardless.
This project was by far the most challenging, both in terms of technical practice and in creative practice. Going in, I think I had a much more confident outlook and probably bit off more than I could chew with my initial design ideas. Despite this, I had an enjoyable time creating the mood boards for each quote that resonated with me.
Through the actual creation of the poster, I hit a few roadblocks, but was able to overcome them with some much needed guidance.
Through this, I also realized that I very often feel less capable if I ask for help in any artistic pursuit, as if relying on outside knowledge somehow reflects badly on my own abilities.
But another part of growing through mistakes and roadblocks is relying on those around you, whether it be a trusted support system or just a stranger.
I hope that my piece inspires creatives like myself to always look for ways to challenge ourselves, and to not be afraid to mess up along the way.
I ended up sticking with the quote by Paula Scher because it encapsulates this very prominent dilemma in the human journey, primarily with that of any creative pursuing their passion.
Having a fear of failure interfere with engaging in a growth mindset is something I’ve struggled with for most of my artistic career. This quote
helped me remember that it’s more often than not that you will see yourself failing, making a mistake, or just not reaching internalized
I had briefly brushed up with the pen tool in Illustrator and with the Bezier pen tool tutorial, but really did not get into the nitty gritty of its usages until this project. Thankful ly it’s given me more confi dence in vectorizing designs now, so I certainly don’t see myself shying away from the tool anymore. Although it was
technically difficult, the research and preparation for this design was probably the most enjoyable out of previous projects for me. Giant Pandas are one of my favorite animals, so getting to practice drawing and vectorizing such an adorable creature filled my
I also felt like I engaged in really digging creatively for my concepts, instead of giving up and going with something perhaps more straight forward. What I hope to practice in the future is smoother lines and working with color a bit more. I’m not fully satisfied with the palette I chose for the arcade design, but do feel it gets across what I saw in my head and suits the concept.
I always considered myself a visual person, but sitting down to find and describe the shapes that make up everyday objects is certainly another level of visual acuity. I decided to study various pairs of shoes that are typically worn in the alternative fashion scene because I enjoy the vibrant colors they sport. I struggled with formatting the text to suit my own preferred aesthetics and that of the shoes. It was a bit of a hassle to go through picking from font to font, so I hope to become more well versed in typeface names. That way I have more of a mental archive next time. At first, I was going to leave it without any additional formatting, but felt it was too plain. I added colored lines to separate the images from the text and create floating borders to make navigating easier on the eyes.
