One of my passions, which I think goes hand-in-hand with product design, is graphic design. Since I was young, I have been the designated birthday card / party invite / school poster designer of my family. This is a job I have always loved and really enjoyed, so turning it into a 'side hustle' during my university years felt natural.
As well as designing invites, I also create custom illustrations. These can be either on their own, or paired with a logo design. For example, this client wanted a logo for the honey they produce on their land. I coupled the logo design with a custom illustration to create two end products that my client loved.
For my illustrations, I have been mainly using Procreate on my iPad Pro (4th Gen). I have found that this allows me the most freedom, and feels closest to hand sketching in comparison to some Adobe softwares. I also love to watch the time-lapse replays of my work in progress.
I have also worked with Washingborough Academy, a local primary school, to design posters for their various events. This is really satisfying and fun work, as the briefs are very straightforward and allow me a lot of creative freedom.
For example, here is a series of posters I designed which can be displayed around the school at various times throughout the year, depending on the seasonal plants they are selling. By using 'This Friday' rather than 'Friday 24th', for example, the posters can simply be deployed whenever needed, rather than constantly needing adjustments.
Seeing the posters hung up around the school, and hearing compliments from parents and teachers on how lovely the posters look, is a real highlight of this work.
I also utilize my freehand calligraphy skills by working with a small local business that delivers fresh, homemade meals to the elderly in our community. The local residents have all commented on how beautiful the lettering looks and say it brings a smile to their face, which is the biggest compliment I can think of.
I have also experimented with making animations in Procreate. This is a speedy animation just exploring different effects I can create, while keeping these effects relevant to the product.
