If I had to describe my own work, I would describe it as the combination of communication and expression. I take things that interest me in my life: family, friends, music, art; I use graphic design to reinterpret and publish them, allowing others to see what I see. I see graphic design as a process that involves determining the needs of a message and configuring them in a way that engages the desired audience. I am studying in the Visual Communication department at Weber State University so I can better understand how to adapt the figuration of form so my designs may communicate better than language.
I have always felt connected to visual communication. My earliest memory of communicating visually was when I was a young child in kindergarten. I would spend hours at the drawing table composing images of airplanes and aliens, my main interests at the time. I would take this passion home with me building huge and elaborate ships and towers out of Legos with my siblings. I was always enrolled in art classes in school, even as my family moved around the world. In high school I became involved in the production of the yearbook. I had a knack for image editing software and began producing as much as I could. I decided at this point that if I could make a living doing what I love, I had found my calling.
I have received much grief from my friends about being an “art student” during my time in college. I have continually ignored their misguided harassment because I know they do not comprehend the pivotal importance of graphic designers to society. A designer I admire, Neville Brody, once said, “…graphic designers hold high levels of responsibility in society. We take invisible ideas and make them tangible.” When I create something that communicates exactly what I intended, I feel accomplished to have solved the translation of the intangible message to a tangible visual communication object; something those who gave me grief could not do.
In the coming semesters studying in the Visual Communications department at Weber State University, I will refine my unique design process. I plan to better understand the power of configuration to create new meaning and I will obtain the necessary skills to become an effective and professional visual communicator.
