The industry of design is increasingly competitive and complex, especially since the tools for design have dramatically changed due to the technological innovations of the past decade. With so many online resources and programs, the world of design allows for more and more people to explore their creative side in an expansive digital platform.
As young designers and graphic interns at FLIRT, Perry and I are quickly realizing there are certain elements to design that remain unique to the individual, cultivating signature styles and preferred creative processes. We interviewed each other about our own design workflows and about the many different types of design that influence us every day we’re in the office! It turns out while we have our differences in our preferred mediums, we have a lot of similarities in our creative process and what trends we like in design.
What is your preferred medium or program to use and why?
Mae: I’m definitely not a traditional graphic designer in the sense that I had no formal classes or anything. I’ve been using Photoshop for many years now and feel comfortable making things work through that.
Perry: My favorite program to work in is Illustrator because its vector based and more forgiving than Photoshop. I don’t really have a favorite medium since most of my work is digital.
What is your creative process when approaching a new project?
Mae: It really depends on how expansive the project is…but I usually draw some quick sketches of what I’m thinking about and play around in Photoshop until something ‘clicks’ for me.
Perry: My process is about the same. I start of sketching my initial ideas on paper. Then I pick which program I’ll start in depending on if the project is image based, type based, or a mixture of both.
Where do you get inspiration to create or design things?
Mae: The Internet! I browse Pinterest, design threads on Reddit, and other design work that has to do with the same subject of the project I’m working on. If I see one element of design from multiple sources that I like, I try to work that into what I’m designing in a new way.
Perry: I go to designspiration.net and search for work using keywords or color schemes. Most of the work is really well designed so I can pull certain elements out and use them in my own work. Sometimes I also get inspiration from music. It’s a little hard to explain but I try to emulate the mood of a song visually.
Lastly, what’s your favorite type of design?
Mae: I come from a photography background, so using a lot of photo visuals is really interesting to me. Minimalistic design along with great photography is my favorite combination.
Perry: I’m also really into minimalism. I just think there’s so much beauty in creating balance only using a few elements. I think my favorite section of design is logos because logos may seem like a small part of a brand but they hold so much weight.
We found that even with our different backgrounds in design we still begin our creative process by sketching and quickly getting ideas out. Our inspiration was also similar in the sense that we both use the internet and social media instead of physical things when we need extra help to form ideas, which may be because we are both young designers.
Now that you know more about us as interns feel free to learn more about FLIRT Communications and our family by clicking the link below!