Alex's Wonders

 Instructions Using Adobe Illustrator and the gradient mesh tool, create an illustrated self-portrait. 8 x 10 in @300 dpi. Export as a .png resized to 1280px wide @ 72ppi.  Content       This project was easily one of the most challenging assignments I’ve worked on so far. It brought together everything we’ve learned over the past few weeks while pushing me to spend more time in Adobe Illustrator, a program I’m still getting comfortable with. The goal was to create an illustrated self-portrait using the gradient mesh tool, starting from a photo of myself. From the beginning, the process felt slow and very detail-heavy, especially when it came to image tracing and breaking the portrait down into simple, clean shapes that could actually be built on.      To keep the illustration manageable, I limited each main part of the portrait my face, hair, hoodie, and flannel to around three color swatches. Instead of relying on a wide range of colors,...

       This week’s design takeaway came straight from spending more time inside Illustrator and finally slowing down to really understand how some of its core tools work instead of just using them out of habit. The video I watched focused on two tools that, on the surface, seem like they do the same thing, but in practice feel completely different once you actually understand how they’re meant to be used. Watching it made me realize how much workflow matters just as much as knowing what a tool does.  Check the video out yourself! :  Patherfinder vs Shape Builder  by Dansky ( thanks for the recommendation Mr.Williams)       One of the big strengths shown in the video is how one of these tools gives you a lot of speed and structure when you already know exactly what result you want. It works well when shapes are clean, aligned, and planned out ahead of time. The downside, though, is that it can feel a bit rigid. If you’re experiment...

  For this creativity exercise, I wanted to approach it the same way we’ve been doing our other exercises, loose, experimental, and more about the process than the final result. The exercise asked what sound would look like if we could actually see it, and right away from Quadeca’s newest addition to his recent album Vanisher, Horizon Scraper (The Extended Cut)  “ accordions remorse ” . It’s not a song you just listen to in the background. It constantly shifts, stretches out, pulls back, and then hits you again, which makes it perfect for breaking into multiple visual moments instead of just one single piece.  Please check it out! :  Vanisher, Horizon Scraper (The Extended Cut) FULL ALBUM For the first section of the song, I imagined the sound as something very light and unstable. Visually, this part feels like thin shapes drifting without direction, almost floating in place. Nothing is sharp or defined here. The colors stay soft and de-saturated, and the movement f...

       For this project, I chose to work off   Project 6 from the Against the Clock textbook and put my own spin on it by redesigning something familiar: the Smarties candy box. The goal was to follow all of Project 6’s rules while still creating something that felt fresh, modern, and personal. Instead of reinventing the brand entirely, I focused on renovation rather than replacement.      I started by thinking about what already makes Smarties recognizable. The logo, the nutrition facts, the ingredients panel, and the overall playful tone are all core to the brand, so those elements stayed intact. I treated them as "non-negotiables" and built everything else around them. This helped me stay true to the project guidelines while also keeping the packaging realistic and believable.      Where I really pushed the design was in the visuals. I incorporated real images of the Smarties candy itself instead of relying only on flat c...

 Instructions The seven deadly sins are:  pride ,  greed ,  wrath ,  envy ,  lust ,  gluttony  and  sloth . Illustrate one of the deadly sins without using any text. Please be creative and think about all the different ways you could illustrate the sin. i.e., Don't choose greed and focus on money. You can dig deeper than this. Describe the project and your design decisions on your blog.  Content      For this project, we were asked to visually represent one of the seven deadly sins without using any text, which immediately pushed me to think more about symbolism and process rather than explanation. I decided to explore pride and envy , since they often go hand in hand, especially when comparison gets involved. My main goal wasn’t to over complicate the idea, but to show how small visual choices can communicate a bigger message when they all work together.      I started by building the main elements of the p...

       Welcome back y'all! To the weekly creativity blog! For this week’s creativity exercise, the goal was to keep things simple and let ideas flow without overthinking them. The exercise asked us to choose a random topic and spend a few minutes listing everything that comes to mind. No editing, no judging just writing. Through past exercises, I’ve learned that this kind of low-pressure brainstorming is where some of the most honest and useful ideas come from.      I decided to base my list around things people do while scrolling on their phone . It’s such a common habit that it often goes unnoticed. I set a short timer and wrote down whatever popped into my head, trying not to second-guess whether something “counted” or not.      Some of the things that came up were scrolling with no real goal, switching between apps without thinking, liking posts without fully reading them, rewatching videos that autoplay, checking notifications that...

  This week, I spent some time going back into Adobe Illustrator , but instead of learning something completely new, I focused on getting better at a tool I’ve already been using a lot lately: the Shape Builder Tool . After working on a few recent projects where Shape Builder played a big role, I realized I understood how to use it, but not necessarily how powerful it could really be. That curiosity pushed me to dig a little deeper. Check it out!:  Illustrator Shape Builder tool 101!      That curiosity led me to this video, which stood out immediately because of how efficient and direct it was. Instead of jumping straight into flashy results, the creator starts by explaining how Shape Builder reads shapes and overlapping areas. One of the key points in the video is how important clean, closed shapes are before even touching the tool. If your shapes aren’t properly overlapping or aren’t fully closed, Shape Builder won’t behave the way you expect and that expla...

       For this project, I decided to have a little fun with a brand that everyone already knows and flip it on its head. Instead of creating something completely from scratch, I took Target and asked myself a simple “what if?” What if Target wasn’t a retail giant, but instead a hunting and outdoor company that specialized in bows, arrows, and precision gear? That question alone gave me enough direction to start building an identity that felt familiar, but also completely different.      The logo was the first thing I tackled. I leaned into bold typography, something I’ve played with in past projects, to keep that strong, recognizable presence Target already has. From there, I designed arrows directly in Illustrator and worked them into the logo to reinforce the new hunting-focused identity. The target symbol itself naturally lent into this idea, so adding arrows felt like a clean and logical evolution rather than a forced gimmick. It still reads as ...

       Hey y’all, welcome back to another weekly blog. This one was actually a lot of fun and a bit of a challenge in the best way. The prompt for this project was to create an illustrated event poster for a real event, with a heavy focus on expressive typography. The type wasn’t just supposed to say something, it needed to feel like the event itself. Right away, Boiler Room felt like the perfect choice, especially imagining one of their upcoming events taking place in Paris.      Most of this project ended up revolving around the typography. Boiler Room already has a really strong visual identity, especially with their neon-style event posters, so I wanted to pull inspiration from that without straight-up copying anything they’ve done before. To push myself, I decided to build the neon font completely from scratch in Illustrator. That meant watching a bunch of tutorials, testing different strokes, glows, outlines, and layers, and honestly just mess...

  This week, I ended up back in a place that felt oddly familiar but also kind of refreshing: Adobe Illustrator and typography . What made it interesting is that the video I learned from this time around is one I actually watched when I first started using Illustrator last year. Back then, I remember feeling overwhelmed and only picking up bits and pieces. Revisiting it now, with more experience and patience, felt like unlocking a second layer of understanding that I didn’t have access to before. Check out the video here!:  WAYS TO ENHANCE TEXT IN ILLUSTRATOR!   One thing that really stood out this time was how Illustrator treats type as a design element, not just words on a screen . Typography isn’t just about choosing a font, it’s about how that font behaves, how it sits in space, and how it interacts with other elements. Understanding when to keep text editable and when to convert it into outlines made a lot more sense now, especially when thinking about clean final d...

  Hey y’all, welcome back to another weekly creativity blog. This week’s exercise definitely felt a little strange at first, but that’s kind of what made it fun. The idea was to take a simple object and imagine it as a human being, then start asking it very human questions. It sounds bizarre on paper, but once you lean into it, you start seeing the object in a totally different light. For this one, I picked something simple and familiar: a Telescope . If my telescope were a person, I’d imagine them being on the older side, maybe late 40s or early 50s. Not old in a worn-out way, but experienced. The kind of person who’s seen a lot and doesn’t rush conversations. They’d probably live somewhere quiet, maybe in a small apartment on the edge of a city or up in the hills where the lights don’t drown out the stars. Their place would be minimal but intentional, shelves filled with books, maps, and little trinkets collected from years of curiosity.      For fun, this telesco...

 Instructions From the end of Project 1 or Project 2 of the Against the Clock textbook, create either 1 of the 2 projects using your own subject and original artwork.   Content      With the choice of project 2 from the Agaisnt the Clock textbook, I wanted to make a personal replication of the artwork while, also mastering some of the tools that I have trouble with in Illustrator.   Original Artwork   My Artwork        Project 2 from the Against the Clock textbook gave us the freedom to recreate an original artwork using Illustrator while still making it our own, and that felt like the perfect excuse to build something personal instead of just visually impressive. Boston has always been more than just a city to me. It’s where I grew up, where a lot of my memories live, and where a big part of my creative identity started to form. That alone made it feel like the right subject to center this piece around.  ...

For this project, I wanted to create something that felt deeply personal but still simple enough to say a lot without overexplaining. The tattoo design I landed on is built around four letters A, T, K, and C stacked vertically, each one carrying its own meaning while still working together as a single message. The idea was to turn color, typography, and symbolism into something I could literally carry with me, something that represents not just who I am, but who I come from. Each letter ties directly to my siblings and the values they represent in my life. A stands for Always and also represents myself, grounding the piece. T is for my sister and stands for Teach , a reminder of growth and guidance. K represents my other sister and stands for Kindness , something I try to lead with every day. And C is for my little brother, symbolizing Courage strength, resilience, and heart. Together, the message reads “Always Teach Kindness & Courage,” which feels like a quiet promise to ...

       Hey y’all, welcome back to another design blog. This week I ended up revisiting something that felt weirdly full-circle for me Adobe Illustrator. I came across a video I actually watched for the first time last year , right when I was just starting out and trying to figure out why everything I made either looked off or took way longer than it should’ve. Watching it again now, with more experience under my belt, hit completely different. Stuff that flew over my head back then suddenly made sense, and it really showed me how much small habits and shortcuts can change how confidently you work. Check It out here!:  Click the link to watch!   One of the biggest takeaways from the video is how important it is to understand shapes before anything else . Early on, I treated Illustrator like Photoshop and expected brushes and effects to carry the work. The video really pushes the idea that everything in Illustrator comes down to simple shapes and paths. Once...

  Hey y’all, welcome back to another weekly blog. This time around I wanted to slow things down and mess with a creativity exercise that proves you don’t need more freedom to be creative sometimes you need less . This one pulls from that famous Ernest Hemingway idea: tell a full story using only six words. No fluff, no explaining yourself, just straight to the point. I gave myself about 30 minutes , set a hard rule of six words only , and challenged myself to jump between totally different topics. What surprised me most was how limiting the word count actually made me think harder about meaning, tone, and what not to say. Every word had to earn its place. Here’s what I came up with: Camera clicked. Moment gone. Memory stayed. He packed dreams heavier than clothes. Coffee cold. Deadline closer. Brain panicked. She smiled. Silence answered everything. New city. Old fears. Fresh beginnings. Controller down. Victory felt strangely empty. Rain stopped. Streets breathed ...

 Instructions Create a post for each of your 2 social media platforms, targeting a specific persona to achieve a specific goal. Export as a .png. Upload the post and the persona and list the specific goal you are attempting to achieve.  Content  This week’s blog is really about a shift in mindset not just what JCPenney is selling, but who they’re speaking to and how they’re showing up visually . As shopping habits continue to move online, social media becomes the first impression, and that’s where modernization really starts. The two new visuals created for Instagram and Pinterest are meant to act as a reset. Instead of feeling overly traditional or seasonal, these designs lean into bold typography, strong color contrast, and confident messaging. Pieces like “TURN UP THE HEAT” and “NEW YEAR, NEW ME WARDROBE” aren’t just promotions they’re statements. They’re designed to feel energetic, current, and scroll-stopping, which is exactly what a younger, more design-aware ...

 Instructions Create a post for each of your 2 social media platforms, targeting a specific persona to achieve a specific goal. Export as a .png. Upload the post and the persona and list the specific goal you are attempting to achieve.  Content This week’s blog builds right off the idea we’ve been exploring lately: how JCPenney can shift its image to better connect with a newer, younger audience. One of the biggest steps in doing that starts with social media because for a lot of people, Instagram and Pinterest are the first places they meet a brand. If that first impression feels dated, the brand instantly feels out of touch.     The two new visuals shown here are meant to be that first reset. The holiday-focused image leans into warmth, family, and familiarity, which speaks directly to JCPenney’s long-time audience while still feeling clean and modern. It works well as a header because it tells a clear story at a glance: seasonal value, togetherness, and access...

       Hey y’all, welcome back. This week I wanted to take a quick moment to talk about two new WordPress blog posts that really push the idea of JCPenney stepping into a more refreshed, modern space. Both posts feel like they’re less about selling just products and more about inviting people into the brand, which honestly feels like a solid shift in direction.      The first post, “A Brand Reimagined: Why JCPenney’s Creative Reset Feels Like an Open Invitation,” focuses on the bigger picture. It breaks down how JCPenney is repositioning itself creatively visually, digitally, and emotionally to feel more approachable and current. Instead of leaning on nostalgia alone, the blog talks about how the brand is opening the door to new audiences by modernizing its look and voice, while still keeping its roots intact. It reads less like a press release and more like a conversation about growth and reinvention. Check It Out!:  A Brand Reimagined! ...

  Hey y’all, welcome back. This week I wanted to slow things down a bit and talk about something broader than tools or techniques just design, creativity, and what actually makes someone creative in the first place. I came across this video while trying to reset my mindset, and instead of feeling like a “how-to,” it felt more like a reminder of why creativity matters at all. It made me step back and look at creativity less as a talent you’re born with and more as something you build over time. If you want to learn more check it out:  How to Build you Creative Confidence      One of the big ideas that stuck with me from the video was that creative people aren’t just magically inspired they’re curious. They ask questions, they notice patterns, and they’re comfortable sitting with uncertainty. That hit home because it made me realize how much creativity comes from allowing yourself to explore without needing an immediate answer. In design, that shows up when you ...

  Welcome back y'all! For this week’s creativity exercise, I picked up right where we left off with the same object we’ve been working with: the backpack. Up until now, we’ve looked at ways to change what it’s made of, what it does, and what we can remove from it. This time around, the focus is Rearrange , and honestly, this one feels way more subtle but just as powerful. When I started thinking about rearranging a backpack, I realized how much of its design we just accept as “normal.” The biggest idea that came to mind was flipping the layout of the compartments. Instead of the largest pocket being closest to your back, what if it sat on the outer layer for quicker access? Laptops, notebooks, or even camera gear could be reached without digging through everything else. A small shift, but one that changes how the backpack is actually used day to day.      Another rearrange idea was rethinking where straps and support live. What if shoulder straps could slide or repo...