Visual Design

#feedmyego

Tools

Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop

A set of poster and T-shirt designs to showcase illustration and graphic design skills. The purpose of the project is to draw awareness on our social media usage and the effect it has on mental health.

Why “Feed my ego”?

It is great that we have the technology to connect people across the globe instantly, but there is also a sense of disconnection. Increased connectivity with the digital platforms allows us to communicate effortlessly without having to deal with the rawness of face-to-face interactions, however, have we lost touch with human emotions?

Online communication has grown over the last few decades, and it has altered how we define identities, values and social spheres. Some argue that digitized communication will advance social interactions, while others remain skeptical that it will lead to an increase of hostility. Through my design, I would like to draw awareness on our reliance on social media, and the effect it has on mental health.

Brainstorming

Inspiration & Research

For the designs, I have decided to create a set of satirical graphics to represent the stigma we have around the topic. After some research, I wanted to challenge myself by swerving away from my comfort zone, as my style is usually quite minimalistic. For this project, I am heavily inspired by aesthetics that are affiliated with pop-art, graffiti art, and cartoons. Vibrant colours along with dramatic lines will be used throughout the poster and the T-shirt. Through these eye-catching graphics, I hope to prompt awareness.

Prototypes

After gathering inspirations and assets, I sketched out the ideas on paper. The fidelity of the sketches was increased significantly before transferring the designs onto the screen.

Final Design

One of the challenges was figuring out the texture and colours befitting the theme. A single change in stroke or colour could transform the overall mood, thus, the message of the poster. Adobe Illustrator has allowed me to test and explore different design options to achieve the desired outcome.

The final iterations of the poster and the t-shirt are placed in context to showcase how they would appear in real life. The purpose of these designs is not to criticize the existence of social media or stand behind an issue. Rather, they are intended to provoke questions and stimulate conversations around this topic.