As a student of both 2D Art and Graphic Design, my work is uniquely informed by each. My current favorite Graphic Design projects are a mix of scanned paintings, illustrations designed on Procreate, and typography layout made using Adobe Indesign or hand-lettering. Just like in my paintings, I love using a bright color palette with peachy oranges, warm yellows, dark and pastel blues, and reds. My affinity for this color palette is convenient when I decide to incorporate my paintings into my design projects. One example of this is my Fantastical Animal Watercolor notebook design. I like the idea of my work being produced as a product available to people outside of an art gallery who might not even be looking for art. I enjoy the challenge of combining a narrative or story with an image. This mixing of narrative and image is a common thread between both 2D and graphic design that I enjoy pulling and seeing where it takes me.



Initially, I wasn’t intending to study Graphic Design at Whitworth, but after taking Adobe Suite with Jessica Earle during Jan term, I realized its value and efficacy, and it opened me up to even more possibilities with my art. There are so many parallels between both the fields of 2D Art and Graphic Design. Both are about creating an engaging composition while hinting at a narrative with the goal of captivating the viewer’s eye. I began to study design to see if my art could flow between both fields and if I could make art with specific constraints and purposes with programs I have never used before. I’ve always wanted my work to be perfect (which honestly is a losing battle because imperfect art is more interesting) and when I began designing, I strove for that same perfection. However, I soon realized design isn’t about being perfect or knowing how to do everything. It’s something that you have to be relentless about solving. It’s a visual image and language puzzle that can be solved many ways but everyone will solve it a bit differently. It’s constantly asking questions like “Should my work be printed in RBG colors or CMYK? How do I select a textbox in Indesign? How do I make a perfect circle in Illustrator?” Persistence is the key to Graphic Design to me. Trying out ideas that I’m not sure I have the skill to do but figuring it out anyway and having those experiments lead me to an even better idea is so satisfying. Seeing an idea come to life, fit the design brief, and be unique to me and the way I solve problems is also strangely rewarding. I’m still developing skills as both an artist and designer, and in the end, I find that being an artist makes me a better designer, and being a designer makes me a better artist. I’m not sure where design will take me, but I know that the skills and persistence I have gained from studying it will be invaluable to me in my career and in my life in general.



