Esmeralda Ensaldo’s ePortfolio – A Communication Design Portfolio

Reflection on the Internship Experience

Reflexion sobre la experiencia de practicas Download

Reflection on the internship Experience Download

Reflection on the internship Experience

(Translation and audio generated by software)

Working remotely as a graphic design associate inter for a non-profit organization has been an eye-opening experience for me. It challenged me to adapt my creative process to a virtual environment where I had to make sure all my work aligned with the organization’s values and mission.

It improved my collaboration skills because without the face-to-face meetings I had to be more proactive in staying connected with the team, specially my supervisor. I also had to take initiative when given a project because there were not step-by-step instruction. I had to come up with ideas of my own and deciding what was the best way to project the message for that particular project. So, working independently required me to set goals and deadlines for myself as well as meeting those set by my supervisor. This helped me grow more confident in my ability to manage projects independently.

Overall, this internship grew my passion for socially driven design. It showed me that creativity is a powerful tool for change and with thoughtful design we can raise awareness and support meaningful missions around us.

Video Project

Digital Media Foundations
Spring 2023
Prof. Devir Shriky

Milton Glaser Booklet

Type and Media
Spring 2022
Prof. Vargas

Project Description

Chose a graphic designer and create a booklet that uses the typeface previously chosen. The booklet should include designer’s biography, five of their art works, and two quotes. Also, the anatomy and special characters of the chosen typeface.

FINAL16pages.EEnsaldo Download

Additional Images

Expressive Quote

Type and Media
Spring 2022
Prof. Vargas

Project Description

Develop a poster that conveys the idea of the quote “Make Art not War”.

Reflection

This poster shows a silhouette of a soldier’s profile with a red heart placed on the center of his head. Each word of “make art not war” is in a corner of the poster almost surrounding the soldier’s silhouette. Also, “make art not war” phrase works as background of the poster (since it’s the phase typed over and over again). I decided that I wanted the poster to include a soldier because it is what comes to mind when saying war. But in this poster I intended that the soldier didn’t communicate the idea of war but the idea of art. I tried to do that by placing a heart silhouette in his head. I decided to use red for the heart and the word “art” because it is positively associated with love. Also, to create a connection between them and to emphasize them being that the other elements are b&w. I created this poster in Adobe Illustrator when I was just learning how to use the software so it helped me discover a lot of the tools offered.

Additional Images

Visual Quote

Digital Media Foundations
Spring 2023
Prof. Devir Shriky

Project Description

For a quote of our choice we were asked to develop three visual concepts on an 8.5” x 5.5” postcard. Two concepts were required to have typography or typography w/ line art. For the third concept, it could contain a photographic image.

Reflection

I choose the quote “People got me questioning, where is the love?” from the song Where is the love? by Black Eyed Peas. Sometimes we question ourselves where is the affection and love towards each others when there is still a lot of violence around us. I wanted to create a statement about the indifference towards that violence we see around the the world. I decided to use the color red because it represents love and danger at the same time. Also it is a color that draws attention. I made use of uppercase letters and size to emphasize some of the words. The second postcard is handwritten. I wanted it to look like graffiti since it is associated to social commentary, in this case violence. The line art behind represents the people that look the other way when it comes to violence. For the last postcard I decided to create the effect of ripped paper that reveled parts of photographs that show violence.

I enjoyed a lot this project because it gave me freedom to express myself. From deciding a quote that I felt connected to all the way to the layout and visuals.

Additional Images

Ligatures

Graphic Design Principles II
Spring 2023
Prof. Giraldo

Project Description

Create a ligature by combining two letterforms using the 27 letter of the alphabet.

Reflection

I found this project very interesting. First of all I didn’t know about ligatures. I thought it is interesting how they first were used to fix a typesetting problem where letters would look almost the same. The process from the sketches to the final executions pushed my creative and design skills since we not only created the ligature but we also used it as a design for a cube and then as a springboard to animate a gif. The part I found the most difficult was designing the cube. I had to carefully place parts of the ligature in each side of the cube since those would then meet with each other. I wanted the lines to connect to one another when the cube was put together. I had to try a few times but at the end I was able to do it as I intended in the first place. I created the gif in Adobe Photoshop so it developed my software skills as I was using the tools (some new tools).

Bringing the Ligature to a Cube

SG CUBE

SG cube template

YK CUBE

YK cube template

fp ligature gif

Additional Images

PSA Kindness Project

Communication Design I
Spring 2023
Prof. John McVicker

Project Description

Create 3 subway posters 11” x 8.5” that communicate the message of kindness or respect.

What’s in a Word Project

Digital Media Foundations
Spring 2023
Prof. Shriky

Project Description

Choose a color word and develop three concepts that communicate the etymology of the word.

Reflection

I enjoyed doing this project. It was interesting the process of figuring out how to communicate visually what the word means. I tried conveying both concepts of wise and healing. For the colors I decided to use a brown color with the sage color since sage is a herb. Therefore, I wanted the concepts to be associated with nature. At first it was hard coming up with ideas but I found that the more I sketched the clearer the idea was. Even though I was satisfied with the final concepts I do believe they could be developed further. I think there could be more iterations that could work very well.

Whats-in-a-word-COMD1112 Download