Art & Design

Graphic Design Interview Transcription

[video: Veronica and Jessica are on a video call, each sitting in individual small rooms at desks]

Veronica: Great. Well, hello. I’m Veronica Craker with the PLU Marketing and Communications Department. And today I’m speaking with senior Jessica Senobio. And Jessica is originally from Spanaway. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Jessica: Hi, my name is Jessica Senobio. I’m a graphic design major, and I will be graduating this year.I chose graphic design as my major because I knew I wanted to do something creative in the art field. I liked how many options there were for jobs that I could do with a degree in graphic design. I also liked the Art Department at PLU when I got a tour of it, and saw the different studio spaces and people there. During my time at PLU, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a number of design projects.
Veronica: Great. So now, I know you have some of your favorite designs that you’re gonna share with us today as you kind of wrap up your senior year. So why don’t you go ahead and share them with us. And tell us a little bit about them, why you chose them.

[video: Jessica shares her screen, popping up a website layout that is bold and colorful. The header bar and navigation sit at the top. Below is a large photo of a man working at a desk, which accompanies the “Featured” section. As we track down the page, there is a colorful section reading “Subscribe” and at the bottom is a large section titled “Recommended”, which is a light blue-green and features three specific sections.
Jessica: Sure. The first one is my “Arcade” website redesign. For this project we redesigned a website for a design magazine called “Arcade.” It was super fun because we got to meet with someone from the team and talk to them about what they were looking for. In my reviews, I knew I wanted big spaces to highlight different elements of the publication. And I think my favorite part about this one is the sticky nav at the top. Because the lighter part is slightly transparent, so you can still see things behind it when scrolling.
Veronica: Nice.
[video: Jessica shares an image of her next project, which showcases a font around a navy circular outline which stands against a white background. A navy blue circle in the center of the page is wrapped on the outside with the alphabet, beginning “Aa Bb” and continuing on. Inside the circle is the font’s title “Goudy Handtooled.” At the top of the page, above the circle, are the font’s numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0). At the bottom, the font’s punctuation is featured (!, @, #, etc.). Below this is Jessica’s name.]

Jessica: My next one is a type specimen. I created this in Graphic Design Two where we learned a lot about typefaces. For this project we had to pick a type designer and a font that they had made and create the specimen, which is an image that shows all the characters in the typeface. I chose this product because I really liked how they laid out the type, and how it ties in with the theme I made about the designer.

[video: The next piece of art is a circular sticker design. The background of the circle is light blue. A plume of colors extends from the right to left of the circle, emanating from the bottom of a black pen on the right side. The plume grows in size as it travels across. The plume has 6 banded colors that are separated horizontally (purple, teal, pink, yellow, gold, and peach. In front of the left side of these colors is a lowercase letter “i” blown up to fill about half of the circle. The body of the letter is but through with the word “impact,” revealing the colors below. On the bottom right of the circle, text reads “What’s Your IMPACT?”]

Jessica: This is my sticker I created for “Impact.” I made this when I joined the team last year. I think the really, the colors really pop in the design which is my favorite part of it.

[video: Three different bank note designs appear, stacked one on top of the other. On the left are the fronts of the bills, and to the right are the backs. The top bill, worth 1,000, is pink and yellow-green. It features a pink eagle on the front and pink mountains on the the back, both with a yellow-green background. The second design is blue and orange. A camel is colored orange on the front side, with different mountains featured in orange on the back. The third bill has a purple shaded snow leopard, with purple mountains on the back. Each bill has additional Mongolian designs on the sides of the bills.]

Jessica: This one is a Mongolian bank note redesign. We had to redesign a currency from a different country, and I chose Mongolia. I focused on showing native animals in their habitat. And the animals are a golden eagle, Bactrian camel and snow leopard. I also use a lot of traditional patterns and symbols. The colors also are inspired by traditional Mongolian clothing and art.
Veronica: And this one is my favorite, by the way.
Jessica: Thank you.
Veronica: That you showed me. I really liked this one.

[video: The background of this piece is a purple forest, featuring the trunks of trees. At the forefront are various platforms which extend upwards. These are gold and intricately scalloped at the bottom. A character stands on the lowest platform. She has a sparkly purple dress with puffy sleeves, light blue and pink hair and a crown. The bottom of the screen shows a score bar for the game.]

Jessica: Thank you. This is my game level design. We had to create a whole game concept. And then create a level by collaging in stuff. My game is called “Star Catcher.” The main character is Solara. You can see here they’re with their jellyfish buddy. And she has to go through platform-type levels to collect stars that have fallen from the sky.

[video: Jessica flips through her interior design book. The front page has a white background with bold black brushstrokes. On the right side reads the word “SENTO” in red text.]

Jessica: Next one is my interior design book. This is one of the designs I’m most proud of.

[video: The next page is a table of contents, with pages listed at the left on a light blue background (Sento History, Entering the Sento, Preparing for Bathing, How to Bath, Leaving the Bath, Sento Map, and Bibliography). To the right side of the page is a painting of a misty mountain.]

Jessica: We had to design a space from a different time period. So I chose Meiji period Japan, and created a sento in the Sims 4. Because during this period sentos changed.

[video: The next page has two sides of text, which talk about the history of bathing culture and Sentos in Meiji Japan. These blocks of text are colored white and set against blue and green muted squares. The background behind these text-squares are other Japanese illustrations of people.]

Jessica: The book has some history, as you can see here about sentos and their importance in Japan, and how they were introduced.

[video: Two more side-by-side pages are shown. The left side is dark blue, with the word “Men” written in a slightly lighter blue. Over all of this is a white Japanese character to represent “Men.” The same structure is on the right for the word “Women”, except instead of blue, this page is colored with reds.]

Jessica: I used a lot of Japanese woodcut prints from around the area and in the book. The main idea is to guide people through the steps of going through the rules of the sento after things changed in the Meiji period.

[video: The left of the page is colored peach, with circles displaying a chart of bath temperatures (Hot, Tepid, Warm, Cold). Each circle is filled in part or in full with green color. The circle for “Hot” is filled completely, while the circle for “Cold” is only about a fifth full. At the left of the page is an illustration of a woman entering the sento, which is set in tile and has a natural, blue wall. The bottom of this page reads “You’re now ready to enjoy the baths! Remember to take breaks every 10 minutes from soaking”.]

Jessica: This is a little screenshot from the Sims 4.

[video: The next two pages show Jessica’s sento interior design. The two rooms on each page show a room with cream and deep brown colors. Green bamboo stands on one wall of the room, and red Japanese lettering is printed on the other. At one end of the room is a window outside, at the other is a sliding door to the sento itself.]

Jessica: My last one is my app design. This project was all about UI and UX. I created an app that curates knitting patterns from all over the internet.

[video: Various smartphone screens display many different app screens. These extend from the title screen (“Niddy Noddy”) to the discover screen, which displays a sweater pattern and has buttons for swiping left or right. The different screens have a calm, blue color palette, with rounded edges and lines.]

Jessica: The main feature is the Tinder-like pattern finder where you would swipe right to save a pattern, and swipe left to skip. I wanted my app to be super user-friendly since the age range for knitters is very diverse.
Veronica: And became very popular during the pandemic I’ve learned.
Jessica: Yes.
Veronica: Well, that’s awesome. This is really impressive. So I’m curious since you’ve been at PLU, what areas do you feel you’ve grown as a designer?
Jessica: I think I’ve grown a lot in my awareness about the user’s experience and how they view my work. So I can make sure that what they see, or what everyone sees is accessible and easily viewed by others. And not just what I think looks best to me.
Veronica: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share your work with us. We’re really excited for you getting to go on and graduate.
Jessica: Thank you.
Veronica: So I hope you have a great day.
Jessica Thank you. You too.