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Isa Melendez

Week 2 – Isa

September 4, 2026 By Isa Melendez


🫐 Week 2 🫐

This week I have been focused on doing some graphics for LAITS and building a consistent brand for them. I’ve been messing with the hierarchy of the admin office support flyer. One of the STA’s has been giving me feedback.

This is what I had before:

Feedback I got: Change the font to Roboto instead of Helvetica, incorporate more LAITS color

Using that, I came up with the following iterations. I did a version where I only changed the fonts, one where I tried to add some color, and the third is one I was honestly just messing around with how I could add more colors/reformat it.

Feedback: work on visual hierarchy and try to match it to the previous “ring the bell” flyer, they’re meant to look like part of a set

Using all of this, I came up with this latest version of the flyer:

🫐 Overall 🫐

It’s been really nice iterating on the posters I initially made a while back! Looking at them now I find new ideas coming to me a lot easier. I spent a little too long at them last semester, haha.

Filed Under: Fall 2026 – Spring 2027

Week 1 – Isa

August 28, 2026 By Isa Melendez

🫐 First week back! 🫐

Transitioning Back

Summer break was really fun! I spent a majority with my family, it was super nice to be able to spend time with them. We watched the World Cup together, it was really memorable this year.

Now that I’m back, I’ve been getting used to walking around on campus again and working out my schedule with my job. As everyone is settling into their classes and deciding whether to add/drop, my work as a Design STA has been very manageable!

All week I have been working on the STA cutouts. All it involves in cutting out the background of each photo of the STAs’ and cleaning it up. Photoshop has been the platform I’ve used for it and it’s very simple work!

Usually the flow for me in doing this project is:

  • Identify the student I’m going to mask the background of
  • Open one file in Photoshop
  • Drag the rest of the files of that same student into the same Photoshop file
  • Use the object selection tool to select the subject
  • Apply a layer mask
  • Clean up anything the selection tool missed
  • Repeat until all photos are properly masked
  • Export all layers into separate PNGs
  • Place the files into the right folder

It’s pretty simple once you finish the first STA! It’s a lot of files, but I do have ample time to get it done. Getting back into properly naming files is a good habit I need to keep building, too.

Overall, my first week back has been really good!

Filed Under: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026, Fall 2026 – Spring 2027

✧⋆ Week 8 – Isa ⋆✧

May 7, 2026 By Isa Melendez


🍓 Week 8 🍓

✧⋆ Ring Bell for Assistance Flyer ⋆✧

My previous version of this was a little too busy, so I got the following feedback:
- Maybe too much illustration
- Needs more professionalism
- Shift to a more minimalist design
- Tone down color palette to 2 colors or 3 colors

I was given this poster as an inspo (left), so I set off in this new direction (right):
I have also been working on another poster which I will get into, and I needed to make these seem like they were part of the same brand, so I did these two variations:

✧⋆ Admin Office Computer Support Flyer ⋆✧

I was tasked with revamping this poster, making sure it's:
- Easily digestible
- A representation of the LAITS brand
- Clear in it's visual hierarchy
- Keeps all information present in the flyer

Original flyer:
To start with, I kept the horizontal format:
I then got feedback to make it vertical and fous more on the visual hierarchy. So I got to these versions:
I then came up with more versions, trying to better match the previous poster rather than treating them as separate. One of them is an image whereas the other I drew the laptop in the same sort of style the bell flyer had: 

Filed Under: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026

✧⋆ Week 7 – Isa ⋆✧

April 30, 2026 By Isa Melendez


🍓 Week 7: Training Progress 🍓

✧⋆ Ring Bell for Assistance Flyer ⋆✧

LAITS has been doing a revamp on some of the flyers around the office. So I was tasked with redesigning this flyer at the front desk:
I went to the LAITS style guide to keep their colors and apply the correct logo! For the graphics I knew I wanted a hand pressing down on the bell, so I got to sketching out a few iterations.
I was going for more of a clean aesthetic, so I needed to clean up the outer stroke through Illustrator.

These are the two iterations I have currently, these are still subject to change!

✧⋆ Basic Training: Shape and Pattern ⋆✧

This training explains how shapes can be tied with certain emotions. Here are some shapes I made for certain emotions, rendered both in 2d and 3d!
These are some more somber emotions, where I went for rounder shapes.

Filed Under: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026

✧⋆ Week 6 – Isa ⋆✧

April 23, 2026 By Isa Melendez


🍓 Week 6: Training Progress 🍓

✧⋆ Basic Training: History of Design ⋆✧

One of the trainings I've done this week had to do with learning all the different art styles there have been throughout the decade! I decided to go with the 1950s – 1970s: Pop Art era!
I really wanted to use Photoshop since I have less confidence in that application, and thankfully there was a tutorial for Photoshop!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSaoVbOZNk

Using this tutorial, I made my own design inspired by the Pop Art Era. I noted that a lot of the subjects used in Pop Art were iconic as they have "recognizable imagery." I wanted to make Pop Art for this current era, and I needed the perfect subject to represent that. The first person that came to mind for me was Alysa Liu!
It was very fun being able to use Photoshop again and seeing the kind of effects I can apply to an image! I used to prefer Photoshop over Illustrator back when I was first learning the two, and though I wouldn't say that's the case anymore, it's really cool to see what Photoshop is capable of!

✧⋆ Overall ⋆✧

It's really cool to see the kind of trainings available to Design STA's! Things have been calking down with the end of the semester, so being able to focus on improving my own skills in Adobe programs has been really nice.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

✧⋆ Week 5 – Isa ⋆✧

April 20, 2026 By Isa Melendez


🍓 Week 5: Training Progress 🍓

✧⋆ Portfolio Review ⋆✧

This week's STA meeting revolved around reviewing our portfolios! I didn't have one, so I worked on making a slide deck detailing one case study of mine.
Through this, I've learned the style I want to go for whenever it's time for me to make my portfolio! The little doodles are something I will want to keep. I was also advised by peers that the website Framer would work best for what I want to do given that it has to most customization.

My takeaways:
- A portfolio is the one place a creative gets to express themselves, so this is a great opportunity top be able to stand out!
- You have to tell a story with a portfolio, walk the user through your thinking process
- The hardest part for me is starting, there is perfection paralysis, but it's important to get over so you can start applying to internships and jobs



Filed Under: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026

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