MARCH 2025

— TYPE HIERARCHY IN INDESIGN —

In my downtime, I explored training in software that I didn’t have much experience in. Before doing this training, I only used InDesign once to create a more creative resume. It gave me a lot of trouble, so I used this opportunity to get more comfortable with this app.

For this training, I was to make a typography-only poster for a fake event. I’ll admit I had trouble balancing the elements of the poster and adjusted the type multiple times. I thought about decorating the poster with assets I would create in Illustrator, but I wanted to see what I could do with just InDesign.

Here is the result:

— PHOTOSHOP TRAINING —

This was a quick Photoshop training I did where I made flashcards:

Flowers (Khmer):

Created by Grafix Point from Noun Project

Created by Kristina Margaryan from Noun Project

Created by Made from Noun Project

Mushrooms (Malay):

Created by Rike from Noun Project

Created by DioRama from Noun Project

Created by Lars Melertoberens from Noun Project

Grass (Lao):

Created by arie from Noun Project

Created by Tere II from Noun Project

Created by Adrien Coquet from Noun Project

Trees (Thai):

Created by Gabriella from Noun Project

Created by rasendria from Noun Project

Created by ProSymbols from Noun Project

Bushes (French):

Created by madness stock from Noun Project

Created by Agung Pamuji from Noun Project

Created by wahab marhaban from Noun Project

— STA PRESENTATION WALK-IN ANIMATION —

Animation Proposal

Asset Creation

Working on the Animation

Problem 🙁

Unfortunately, I got news that someone else did a walk-in animation. I had to stop working on the project.

— 2025 LAITS SHIRT CONTINUED —

Final Design Picked!

The turtle design was picked! Now it was time to rearrange the assets and explore different color options.

Shirt Mock Ups

A note I got is to explore the idea of a pink or brown shirt– so I would experiment with different color palettes for those. I would also try out different shirt colors that I think would suit the shirt.

PETEX Pipeline Technology-Maintenance Course Phase II

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This month I was assigned to recreate a graphic into a clearer image! It was fun working more with gradients in Photoshop to provide more depth to the graphic and I adjusted some text for better readability!

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2025 STA Presentation

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Initial Thoughts:

This project I was assigned to create the slide template for the 2025 STA Presentation!! While the idea was a bit daunting at first, I was really excited to create a slide template of my own!

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Initial Sketch:

So at first I thought the slide template was based on the Peanuts franchise combined movie elements which turned out to not be the case! Although this slide template wasn’t on the right path, I still wanted to use some elements like the curtain and section header slides!

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2nd Iteration:

I leaned away from the Peanuts characters and focused more on movie elements by rendering my past illustrations! I tried to include a variety of movie symbols like film cameras and film strips!

While I do think the different elements were nice, with the given feedback, I realized for a slide template meant to display the work of STA’s, I needed to be more subtle with my design and let the presentation speak for itself rather than the background!

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3rd Iteration:

This time I focused more on creating the title and content slide! I went back to the initial slide idea with seats and zoomed in more so the screen could be the focus! The hardest part was making the gradients work with the seats and where to place the bandings! I did like adding the special effects like the outer glow to the screens, it really did make the design pop!

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4th Iteration:

Next I tried marking where the STAs would structure their title slide! To be honest, I was really stuck on how to make this work because none of my placements really looked right to me! However, with some feedback from De’sha I was able to reformat and add new edits to the title slide!

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Final Design:

Added some edits to the title and content slides by adding a yellow tint and making the chairs more realistic! I explored different fonts for the mock title slide and put the title image as the background! Overall, this project was definitely a journey, but it lead me to learn even more about Photoshop, how to effectively create slide templates, and incorporate feedback to make the best design possible!

Summer Marketing Social Media

• Instagram Reel (2/25): Top 3 Reasons to Take UT Summer Courses
  • Animated elements and transitions in AE based on sketches De’sha provided.

• Instagram Post (3/4): Announcing the UT Summer Course Schedule is Live!
  • Populated PS post-it mockup with various Summer Marketing-related elements and text. Final text edits applied by Leilani.

Updated Animated Pre-roll:

Speedway Banner Finalization:

Real Banner Example:

Final Design:

Mockups:

Summer Marketing

Spring Texas Parent Ads

Description: Texas Parents newsletter graphic

Inspiration:

Drafts:

Spring 2025 STA Roster Posters

Project Overview: Design 2 posters that display the STAs, their names, the main title, and that differentiate between the teams. The design will be based on “Movie Concession Stands”. The idea is to have the STAs represented as candy boxes/bags of candy.

I started by sketching out some layouts and finding inspiration photos. My initial vision was to have the teams represented by different bars/bags/boxes of candy.

This is the first draft I created in Photoshop following the original design. It was at this point in the project that we decided to pivot on the design to something more illustrative to simplify the layout, fill the empty space, and save time.

I moved to Illustrator to try a new layout, created with the help of my manager De’sha. In this version, each STA would be on their own mini candy box. This way everyone is equally represented and can blend into the packaging more seamlessly.

I designed some simple candy box designs with placeholders for the photos and names, then got to adding all 75 STAs to the document.

With all the STAs in their candy boxes, I could focus on the border and title design. I was directed to make it look more like the display case from my original inspiration pictures. I also added a key beneath the title identifying each of the teams.

I received some more feedback to shorten the title, turn the boxes on their sides, lighten the background, and add some elements to fill the empty space on the bottom shelf.

In another round of feedback I added some effects to the title, removed the border completely, darkened the color of the shelves, and simplified the popcorn to match the stylistic design of the rest of the poster.

In a final round of edits to make the design look more like a concession stand, I added a 3D perspective to the boxes, changed the title font and changed the key design.

My Thoughts: This project was a little bit of a rollercoaster, but I definitely learned a lot. In hindsight, I think I should have pivoted to Illustrator sooner as I spent a lot of time on a draft that ended up being scrapped in the end. Additionally, asking for more help and feedback in the early stages of the project would have saved time and energy fixing things later on.

Overall, I think the posters turned out fun, playful, and very colorful.

2024-25 STA Blog Banner Design

Project Overview: Design a banner that presents all of the STAs and their names to act as the Design/Coding STA Blog header.

This is the background design I created inspired by the UT turtle pond. I drew this in Krita, then transferred it to Illustrator, vectorized it using image trace, and added text.

By the time I went to add the STAs to the image, some new members had joined our team, so I did some rearranging and duplicating of lilypads to fit everyone. Here’s the final product!

This semester, I’ll be stepping away from my role as an STA as I take on a new opportunity at an AI-tutoring startup. Being part of the STA Program has been such an enriching experience, and I’m incredibly grateful for everything I’ve learned during my time here.

This past fall, I had the chance to work on our STA Alumni site, Dr Christopher Beevers’ Mood labs site, Dr Elliot Tucker-Drob’s Lifespan Development Lab, as well as Dr Mark Ravina’s Clioviz maps interface. All of which deepened my skills in web design, research, development, and design decision-making. Each project challenged me in new ways and allowed me to grow as a designer and problem-solver.

A huge thank you to my amazing managers, Leilani Cabello and De’sha Bass-McClellan, for their guidance, support, and mentorship. Working with this team has been an absolute joy, and I’ll miss collaborating with my fellow STAs.

I’m excited for this next chapter, but don’t worry, this isn’t goodbye. I’m looking forward to what’s coming up, and I’m hopeful that my path will cross again with the STA Program down the road. It’s been a great experience, and I’m definitely keeping an eye on what’s ahead!