Education and Experience
As a fourth-year Journalism major at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I enrolled in a graphic design course that provided hands-on training in Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. Throughout the five-week period, I completed a series of projects that not only strengthened my technical proficiency using Adobe software but also sharpened my creative intuition and decision-making. The following collection highlights my work showcasing how I’ve applied the tools learned from this course to develop a stronger feel for design aesthetics and visual storytelling. I hope you enjoy.
InDesign
With this project, I designed a magazine spread using tools such as text wrap, columns and drop caps, and layered semi-transparent backgrounds to unify the pages. I also created an infographic using Illustrator (pg. 3) and added elements from Photoshop as well. My typography choices (Lora and EB Garamond) and a consistent blue-lavender accent color tied the spread together. This project taught me a lot about blending creativity, professionalism and time management in order to finish with a beautiful and easy-to-read result. You can access the entire spread right here.
For my newspaper clone project, I used InDesign to replicate the existing spread by The Mercury News while paying close attention to typography and layout. I applied kerning, tracking and leading to refine text alignment and practiced threading columns for smooth flow. Using the graphics frame tool, I placed and scaled images to fit the layout, while Adobe Fonts search helped me experiment with matching typefaces. This project deepened my understanding of visual hierarchy, typography and design precision while creating professional layouts.
In this assignment, I was learning to use InDesign’s intermediate features, such as tracking, kerning and leading, as well as using the drop cap tool to make the first letter of a paragraph or page stand out. This assignment taught me how subtle typographic adjustments can shape readability and the overall look of a design.
For this assignment, I familiarized myself with InDesign “sections” and other essential tools by re-creating a template with new images and colors. I practiced setting up columns and threading text to ensure proper flow and readability.
Illustrator
I used Illustrator techniques to combine charts (created with Datawrapper), typography and vector illustrations. I created the vine by tracing a black-and-white sketch and filling it with color, while the basket was built using the curve and rectangle tools. The tomatoes themselves were drawn using the ellipse and curvature tools, then grouped for cohesion and finalized with the paint tool. By starting with charts to guide the layout and color scheme, I completed the design while also using essential vector and shape-building skills.
For my logo, I used techniques such as image tracing to convert the tree drawing into a vector image and using the circle tool to create the full moon behind the journal. The journal itself was made using the curvature tool and anchor points, while the journal’s “scribble” was created using the paintbrush tool. The inspiration for the logo came from my YouTube channel: Haley Jane’s Journal.
While creating this pizza logo, I learned Illustrator basics, including utilizing the shape tool, paint tool, editing stroke width and adding Adobe fonts. I also practiced layering and grouping elements to keep the design organized and cohesive, which helped me better understand how to build clean and scalable vector graphics.
Photoshop
For this Photoshop project, I created a visual response to an ABC News headline: 8.8 magnitude earthquake latest: Volcano erupts in Russia, tsunami waves reach California. Using images from Unsplash, I layered waves as the background with statues and other elements, such as the computer coding image on top. I removed backgrounds, applied masking techniques, and used the “screen” blend mode to fill the statue with flowers. My goal was to convey how, despite technology’s extreme advancements in society, nature is ultimately in charge, evidenced by natural disasters such as tsunamis and their unpredictability.