Graphic Design is probably one of the most powerful tools today. It involves a mass form of communication and, in a way, manipulation of society. It's everywhere and everything at the same time. As a graphic designer, I have this power.

Graphic Design is my life. It makes me the person I am today. It allows me to look at design and life with different approaches and solutions. I don't regret all choices I've made to get here today. It was a tumultuous ride, but I'm just getting started.

Origins & Problems

Let's go back to how I discovered my new form of art. It was April 27th 2012, and I was working on printmaking materials. At the time, I never saw the connections between printmaking and graphic design, but that's a different topic. Anyways, it was my birthday, and a teacher came in saying she was giving out cookies to students that had the same birthday as her (coincidence). Two of us in class had the same birthday, and she told us to follow her to a classroom. When I entered the room, it was filled with computers. I never knew the place existed. When she gave us cookies, she advised us to take this class next year because it's fun. At first, I was hesitant because I never really tried any form of digital art, so I thought I would be terrible at it. I told her, "Maybe." Over the summer, after contemplating and looking for advice, I decided to give it a go.

At the time, I was right. I was terrible at it, looking back. My designs were cluttered, excessive, and unnecessary. However, I was a beginner, so I didn't have the mindset of simplicity, power, and such. I did what looked great at the time. I often had frustrations with certain projects, and I would later give up.

These poor designs are magazine layouts from long ago for a museum report. They are cluttered, nearly-illegible, and excessive.

This is an attempt for Doodle for Google. Look how unbalanced it is. The idea was for free electricity that would lead to higher education. But this was such a terrible concept and design.

Comeback

Upon looking at the requirements for economics at Queens College, I was horrified. I saw so much mathematics that I decided to switch at the last minute during the advisement. I figured, "Hey, I know the basics of graphic design. I should continue." Later on, I transferred to The City College of New York for a better program and smaller campus. It was a decision I didn't regret. I applied for the BFA program using what I thought was my best designs, and I got the acceptance letter on my parents' anniversary (another coincidence).

Improvements

It was the start of a new pathway. It wasn't until early 2016 that I officially started my major with Typography 1. At first, it was challenging because I still had the mindset from high school, but later, my professor introduced a bunch of graphic designers such as Paula Scher, Michael Bierut, and many more. Upon looking at their work, it made me rethink my whole approach to graphic design. I began to focus more on simplicity and being straight to the point.

For this project, we had to make our own typeface, and then, make a poster promoting the typeface. For this one, I created a simple, geometric typeface, and went with big and bold.

It felt really nice going simple, and the professor praised it for that approach. This became my automatic style to design. I continued with this trend by being neat and simple.

This is my redemption for making the old poorly design magazine layouts. For this project, we had to take our mid-term papers and turn them into magazine spreads. I focused on a modern and sleek look while keeping the traditional style of magazine spread layouts. The front page is the attention seeker that would capture viewers. (Originally, it said "F*CK TIMES NEW ROMAN," but my professor said to choose something less aggressive for academic purposes although he agreed with it). I used black, white, and red as the main colors because, to me, those colors look visually appealing together. Some parts look a bit tight because I was scared to move things around since it could potentially re-arrange the whole layout. Plus, I was too lazy. Compare these layouts to the old one above. By the way, don't plagiarize this.

I feel proud that I was able to come up with this type of design. I wouldn't have been able to pull this off in high school because of personal frustrations and being hard on myself. I stayed patient throughout creating this layout, taking feedback whenever possible. The only criticism I took in the finalization of these layouts was the airy space in the attention seeker. He preferred to go back to what I originally had (being tight).

Overall, I felt more confident in design than ever!

During my free time in the spring year, I would create countless designs ranging from protest and activism art, to just generic plain inspirational quotes. I was only good at formulating layout designs, so that is what I focused on. Here are bunch:

Internship

With only typography and a layout design skill under my belt, I felt like I was ready to try the real world. I applied to a few graphic design internships, and I got three replies in return. One looked sketchy after further research, so I declined. The other gave me an interview, but they were looking for solely a video content creator so, I got politely rejected. I finally got accepted to a social media firm called Sircle Media which got me really excited after doing further research.

I was invited for a mini-interview and test runs in the office. The interview went well, but upon doing the test runs, it became a disaster. With my clunky PC laptop, my programs were slow, and some fonts were not responding or installing on my desktop. Being that Photoshop was the main program to use, I was disadvantaged because I had no Photoshop skills at all. In the end, I did not finish any tasks. The Art Director appreciated that I was working hard to perfect images, but I had to pick up the pace. It really drained me when I was going home, and I prepared myself for the worst. I accepted the results of what happened, but it still made me disappointed. I couldn't help it.

As a result, I told my parents that I needed a Macbook, so I could do better work for my graphic design. I expected a no, because they are massively expensive, but they agreed. They said, "If it's for your career, I don't mind." The price was brutal, but they went on to buy it. Right now, I have a Macbook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) edition with 3.1 GHz Intel Core i7 and 8 GB ram. The overall storage has 512 GB.

Despite my struggles in completing the tasks, I got a reply back from Sircle Media saying that they wanted to have me on board for the summer. They provided a contract for me to sign. At first, I was confused because I had just woke up when I got the news, and I did poorly on the tests. Then the realization kicked in that I got accepted. I didn't expect this news at all, but it made me stronger and happy.

I started on the first day of June with my new laptop, and everything went well. I got a warm welcome. However, Photoshop was still a weakness for me, so I took it a bit slow. My new Macbook made it easier and quicker for me to learn and create on the other hand. Each day, I learned new skills from my advisors and from discovery. I have created many graphics for clients for their social media platforms. When I looked at some of my work on their platforms, it made me giddy and excited.

Here are two examples of my work posted on social media platforms for clients (with original also):

Over time, my Photoshop skills have greatly improved. What was considered difficult in the early stages (which took about an hour) is now a 10 to 20 minute process. I am producing work at a faster rate, and in a way, the firm has some sort of reliance on me to do tremendous work. This is something I feel proud and, at the same time, nervous of. As of now, I am continuing my internship throughout the Fall semester part-time while juggling it with school and writing articles. It's doable at the moment, but who knows when it will all fall on me.

Being in a social media firm as a graphic design intern made me realized how companies start up and/or stay relevant. To put it simpler terms, as designers and photographers, we create appealing content for our clients. With the help of visually aesthetic content, social media marketers and managers promote client businesses and help them branch out for more exposure. After that, revenues come in. There is much more to this on the social media manager side, but I am only a graphic design intern. However, it made me think of how I can use these skills in the future if my friends or someone ever needed to branch out for more exposure.

Today

Prior to my internship, I had absolutely no Photoshop skills at all. It was difficult to get used to a new program because I was used to Adobe Illustrator. Over time, I continued to learn new things. With these new skills, I am able to create new concepts of art that I want to explore. Being in a social media firm for a while, I find myself looking at aesthetic designs of other clients, creative designers, and social media photographers. In my head, I say to myself, "If they can gather a good amount of followers solely based on their creative works, then I should do the same." I want to expand and promote myself, so people can find me and potentially hire me. As of now, I'm just using Instagram, but I will be sure to use Behance and other platforms. One creative designer I am following (and in a way, stealing (or appropriating) her ideas) is Catherine J Kim. Her creative designs are pleasing to the eye because it has a cotton candy feel. Just looking at her feed is visually appealing and neat. That's what I want to do, so I decided to create works similar to hers. Feel free to follow my Instagram at robjasonenate.

I have increased my followers by only a little, but more than I had before. It's a start, and I'm happy with that. Not only is it beneficial for my Instagram and exposure, but it also benefits me. I am thinking in the sense of color and how it psychologically appeals to people. I am using color to see how it entertains people and gives off some sort of effect in their minds. I believe these types of colors make us feel a sense of "I want to taste it," so I want to explore that.

Future

I'm still a beginner in my own right, and I have a lot more to learn. I want to learn coding and website design, including UI/UX (User Interface Design/User Experience Design). I want to learn and polish my animation skills. I want to increase my photography skills and filmmaking abilities. I even want to learn motion graphics. Graphic design motivates me to keep branching out and grow in terms of skills and technology. But it is still one of the most dominant tools of communication.

Just like graphic design, I don't want to be limited in my abilities and freedom. I want to grow and expand. When I do, I want to inspire and communicate. I believe that we, as graphic designers, have the responsibility to give a voice to those who do not have one. I hope to bring issues to light through design. However, graphic designers aren't the only ones. We, as a generation, must collaborate in order to lead the world to a brighter path. Whether you're a journalist, doctor, nurse, musician, actor/actress, or anything else, it's our turn now.