2019 In Review
2019 has been an incredible year and easily one of my best for graphic and web design. I feel like I became truly comfortable with all of my Adobe tools and have really moved towards creating more “professional” content. I think my understanding of spacing and various styles has become more refined.
2019 is probably the first year where I have generated so much content I’m happy with that I actually have trouble picking the things I want to showcase the most.
Illustration
This is an area I think I’ve improved the most. Entering 2019 I would have been skeptical of designing anything using Adobe Illustrator. However, through regular practice I feel as though there is nothing I can’t design at this point. I feel like I finally have an understanding where I can create whatever I want.
Some of my favorites include the recent Avengers series. Other illustrations included working on some Pokemon illustrations and various landscapes.
Graphic Design
This area kinda overlaps with everything else that I do, but I do feel that because of my opportunity to put 8+ hours a day into my design work or even a single design, this has allowed me to create better individual works.
Web Re-UI
Through working at Tracker Management I have been able to dig deep on the areas of design that I am passionate about. This especially includes UI/Product Design. At Tracker I have served as the primary UI/UX designer while also assisting in sprint planning. I primarily use Adobe XD to complete this type of work and in 2019 I frequently redesigned different apps or mockups I saw on reddit or other parts of the web.
I also started taking on some freelance projects from friends and family. Often I was started with just a rough concept and trying to build around their ideas as we got further into discussions about their goals, intended users, etc.
A great area I found to look for ideas was subreddits like r/UIDesign where users would contribute different design ideas. I often looked for ones that in my opinion could use improvement to the user experience to make it easier to come up with quick fixes. Although I think because of this approach my re-design becomes unique from the original.
Video Games?!
For the past 2-2.5 years I have been slowly working away on my own Pokemon Game created in RPGmaker. After taking about a 6-month break around the beginning of the year I have really started to hit the ground running again. I hope I’m able to keep this momentum and report on some real progress in the next few months. What I can say is that I have played through the Elite 4 and Champion and I just need to add text, items, and other overworld events. I’m hoping to post more about this going forward.
End
2019 will mark the launch of my new website and furthering my understanding of all the tools available to me. Really looking forward to 2020 when I set out with Employstream to improve the usability of their web products! To another great year!
