Reflection 2: What Kind of Graphic Designer Am I?

In my class on Tuesday, September 5th, the question “What kind of graphic designer am I?” was brought to my attention. For a while I wasn’t too sure how to go about answering that question. Quite frankly I still don’t have a definitive answer for that. I feel as though the answer needs to leave room for change as the individual answers that question for his or herself. In my last reflection, I meant what I said when saying,“I want to be a brand.” I want to be someone who when showing people something I have created, whether it’s for music, graphic design, illustration, animation or game design, those who look at my work can say “Mijori did that.” Or “That looks like Mijori’s work.” That is one my dreams.

Looking back on the work that I’ve done, I’ve gone through some things. It’s a little funny. I’ve experimented a lot with black, white, and pencil. In design, I love organized chaos. I love how making the best work could often times be with design boundaries. I love, and often try to stick by “When brainstorming on ideas, try everything.” I’ve learned that all too well. I am now learning the principles of animation and game design, so we will both see how that turns out. I know that I have a lot more referencing and learning to do. Regardless, I still have had a lot of work completed and have been proud of where I’ve been and how far I’ve come. I have been able to do more than I thought I was going to be able to do, and have been able to learn from my mistakes, taking all the lessons with me after I graduate (hurry up and get here).

Before I came to school for graphic design, I was looking a lot of anime, contemporary art, animations, and music. I’ve been able to sell some of my drawings, and have been able to say that being in the field of communication and art design is part of what I want to do. I’ve moved on to making tattoo ideas for people, tattoo ideas for myself, and just drawing to draw and get better at what I know. I have also been able to design pieces of work that made it into the student gallery every single semester. These were pieces of work that I put my all into and took risks that I didn’t dare to take when I was little. I now am looking forward to what I have to offer the world and what the world has to offer me. I believe that there is always room for learning new things. It helps to work on what you know and work harder on what you don’t know anything about. Following this method makes people stronger.

To be honest, for a while I didn’t know who I was and where I wanted to go and exactly how to get there. I’ve learned that finding myself is never easy and it takes trial and error to get a better understanding of what you do, regardless of it being personal or professional. I think that in this field of visual communication, you can find who are through your work and through what works for you and what doesn’t.

My strong suits when it comes to how I work and who I am are that I love to multitask, I am very optimistic, organized, creative, modest, humorous, curious, and adventurous. I am always looking for the answer to something. Even though finding out what kind of graphic designer I am is always subject to change, I think that I am an eccentric, down to earth, inquisitive, reliable, humble graphic designer, animator, illustrator and game designer who wants to make her brand known through her work in her own very unique way.