Recent Posts
Culture August 14, 2018
Graphic design doesn't have to be daunting.
I’ve always wanted to excel at Adobe graphic design. Thanks to my time at ENTITY Academy, I finally got a chance to put my skills to the test.
What resulted was a powerful set of digital abilities, a personal brand and a confidence to tackle whatever life throws at me.
I had already gained experience with Photoshop and Illustrator due to my experience with photography over the past few years. But I had never created web graphics before.
Photoshop lets you make alterations to photos and design graphics with ease. Within hours, we learned the basics of preparing a canvas, framing guidelines and image placement. ENTITY’s graphic design team guided us into creating a proportional quote card for social media. Along with photography, now I know how to create high-quality art.
Below is an example of one of the social media quote cards that I made with Photoshop. It’s for my personal brand, but more on that later.
Next up was Illustrator. I have always been nervous about using this challenging software. I remember the frustration that I felt during high school when tasked with designing a cartoon flyer for a club. My flyer was drawn beautifully and with dedication, but I struggled with bringing it to life digitally. I soon resorted to making a sad, two-dimensional graphic instead.
But now, years later, ENTITY and Adobe gave me the chance to learn the skill that I’d been lacking. During design week, I quickly learned how to animate basic drawings done by hand. Soon, my signature was digitally brought to life, as well as drawings of eggs, pizza slices and shopping bags. With Illustrator, I learned how to group vectors, write text on curving paths, and modify my workspace to create transparent png files.
Illustrator has already become an outlet for my digital creativity, as I’m designing icons, cartoons and artwork for my personal enjoyment. I’m also already working towards improving my skills with Illustrator to build my personal brand. But again, more on that later.
I can confidently say that learning the ins and outs of Adobe graphic design will differentiate me from others in the job market. This is all due to the beautiful resume I’ve crafted with the InDesign software.
With InDesign, I learned how to format a page in a way that let my creativity flow. With tools like AV tracking, which changes the spacing between letters in a font, I was able to perfect the spacing of my text on my document. Because of InDesign, the pages that I created at ENTITY look sleek, professional and creative.
So what’s with this “personal brand” stuff? The focus of ENTITY Academy design week was largely on developing our image and using graphic design to further our careers. Personal branding encapsulates who you are, what you value and how you’re different from the rest of the crowd. It’s incredibly important for your career, as it showcases your unique qualities to potential employers.
It’s also a lot of fun!
The process of coming up with my own personal brand was fairly straightforward. After we learned how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to create graphics, we were tasked with coming up with various works that reflect who we are.
First up was the style guide that I made with InDesign. I thought of keywords that really described who I was and how I wanted to present myself. The words came naturally to me. I thought of my creativity, love for travel and passion for storytelling.
With those keywords in mind, I chose six colors that reflect those descriptions. Yellow is my favorite color, and light pink has seeped into my wardrobe and Instagram feed. I felt that my creativity was best manifested by shades of those colors.
Periwinkle reminds me of honesty, and deep teal brings mysterious travel to mind. I liked the periwinkle color because its pale hue reminds me of the vulnerability that comes with honesty. My mood board reflects all of those colors, and they’re all pictures I’ve taken, posed in, created myself or published to my Instagram. By making my style guide, I really got to delve into who I am and how my brand reflects me.
Take my journey as inspiration for your own personal brand process. Find your own inner words and true colors!
The author’s personal logo, created through Adobe Illustrator. Lucine Poturyan Creative via @lalalalucyy_ on Instagram.
In self-marketing, what’s more important than a logo? Search through your style guide for something that inspires you.
In my branding process, travel inspired me. For years now, I’ve been toying with the idea of creating a blog that shares my travel experiences. I’ve been racking up stories, photos and lessons that I’ve been eager to share. However, I never had a foundation as a way to start. Through ENTITY, I found the traction to make something memorable. With my logo and brand, I have a starting point to document my travel stories and share them with the world. I gained sufficient design skills to create my own travel blog, and used my Adobe skills to design my own YouTube banner for my new travel channel as well. But its a logo that I really needed to unify everything.
So, my logo is circular, representing the world that I’ve traversed across. The moons in my logo pertain to my name Lucine, which means moon in my native Armenian language. Creativity and passion for travel are my most identifiable personality traits, hence the words included in my emblem. Lastly, the star dividing “creativity” and “travel” represents my favorite latin quote: “per aspera ad astra,” or “through hardships, to the stars.”
Adobe graphic design brought together my favorite qualities, finally creating the self-brand I’d wanted for ages. I hope you have as much fun with self-branding as I did!
Learning Adobe graphic design doesn’t have to stop. Using the software can spread your stories and creativity with the world. And by presenting yourself in a professional and inventive way, you’re setting yourself apart from the others.
Don’t be afraid to learn how to use new tools. There are a plethora of tutorials online, and if you’re a student or teacher, Adobe offers special promotions for its software. Plus, you can apply for ENTITY Academy and learn digital skills during the summer.
Your future is waiting at your fingertips.
