My name is Michelle “Ellie” Chen. I am majoring in Cognitive Science (Design and Interaction) and minoring in Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. My interest in visual design and marketing started in high school when I became the ASB Director of Public Relations and Service. In that role, I didn’t just design social media graphics, posters, and merch but rebranded and restructured how designs were done in Student Government. Yet, I was mostly working from Googling and experimenting, rather than having any formal training, classes, or background.
Still, I loved this work and saw how designs could be used to communicate and connect people. I would continue to have other experiences, such as interning at a Portland-based nonprofit serving Adults with disabilities, but I was mostly limited to beginner-friendly platforms, like Adobe Spark and Canva. In order to transition to more industrial platforms, I joined VDA with the goal to become comfortable with Figma and Adobe Illustrator while finding a community of talented and supportive designers.
Ellie in Del Mar, 2023
VDA 2023 cohort, courtesy of VDA
The final iteration of Ellie’s logo.
The final cursive alternative logo.
When I was first assigned the task in VDA to make a logo for myself, I knew that I wanted something that showed my core traits in a clear, yet intricate way.
My core traits are...
child-like wonder:
the hand-written name in semi-big letters
outgoing but introverted personality: the butterfly
ambitious but grounded personality:
blue pixie trail that could also resemble stars in the night sky
The simplified/condensed version of the logo features the signature butterfly with its trail being just the first letter of Ellie’s name in cursive rotated.
Simplified logo.
Blue alternative.
Some of the original iterations were maintained, while others were edited. The bold, hand-written print letters were not part of the original iteration submitted for the VDA A1 assignment. However, to make the design more readable and recognizable, the name's writing style was adjusted. In the original submission of the A1 assignment, there were many various iterations and color combinations—especially for the condensed logo. However, ultimately, yellow and black had the best color contrast and visual appeal.
This assignment was actually the first time I used Adobe Illustrator. I was completely new to the software, but I sought help from the mentors and experimented. I used Adobe Fresco to hand-write the names and draw the butterfly. Then I copied them onto Adobe Illustrator and had the strokes use the “basic chalk” brush definition. Finally, I individually add small ellipses as the butterfly path.
Original submission of A1 to VDA
My parents own a small Chinese restaurant in Hillsboro, Oregon called China Wok. When we were tasked with creating or redesigning a mobile login/landing screen in VDA, I knew I just had to recreate my parent’s website. I wanted to take elements from my parent’s current logo and website, but give it a more cute/bubbly look.
Final redesigned login screen for China Wok
Logo I made(left) Original logo(right)
This VDA was mostly a brief introduction to UI design, which was new to me at the time. I learned about grid systems, margins, button padding, accessibility, and more. Besides making the logo and the character on Adobe Illustrator, the rest of the assignment was completed in Figma. Original submissions to VDA featured a different font that was more italicized to a font that is a bit more readable but fits with the theme: Averia Libre, Averia Serif Libre, and Averia San Libre.
Final post
Artist post
Sun God Festival is a major tradition at UCSD every spring. So, I was super excited when VDA gave us the assignment of making a social media graphic for the made-up music festival, Moon Goddess Festival. When I thought of Moon Goddess, I thought of something sultry, sensual, and mysterious. I wanted to combine both real images and figures with computer-generated shapes and elements. It’s giving purple, clouds, Omar Apollo, and nebulous random text.
Omar Apollo’s album cover for “friends (left) and a H.E.R. T-shirt I saw at Marshall’s (right)
I wanted to originally potentially make a poster that resembled an album cover or Polaroid (like those pictured above), but wasn’t sure how. While the final result wasn't exactly how I first envisioned it, I was so surprised at how close I even was. I had also spent an absurd amount of time on the project, so having all of my labor result in a good product was really good. This was also the assignment where I just learned the most in general, because I was combining many new elements like text distortions, noise, blurs, removing backgrounds, color mapping, and more in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
This tote bag design took the longest and was mostly the result of me just messing around. I photographed one of my friend’s stuffed animals with my beanie and glasses during dance practice. After using Adobe Photoshop to remove the background and Adobe Illustrator to image trace, I liked how cute but also slightly edgy the bear looked. Though originally a sticker design, the design was adjusted and placed on a product mockup in Photoshop. As I was doing this, my friend commented “That’s my sleep paralysis demon, all of my stuffed animals staring down at me.”
Teddy Bear tote bag
Continuing to take some of my favorite photos, I decided to go with these three. I wanted images that showed good memories but since they would be stickers, they would have to be vague enough so that other people would want to have these stickers. These stickers, like the tote bag, were made in Adobe Illustrator by primarily using image tracing with consideration of dye lines and cut lines.
“This is the place to be.”
‘In the moment’ aims to be a safe place for people to take a step back, slow down, and be in the moment. Whether people are in our cafe to do homework, take a business meeting, have a first date, or just escape from the world, this is a place that reminds them to be present.
Link to case study:
Teaming up with Cathy Zhou, one of my dormmates and friends, we decided to create the perfect study spot and cafe for the Brand Design assignment in VDA. Being Asian Americans, we wanted a cafe that took from both the vibrant and extensive Western and East-Asian cafe cultures. Combining these and a minimalistic, environmental approach, ‘in the moment’ was created.
Some of sample social media graphics (from our style guide)
Pictures of Cathy and me :)
I am so grateful to have been a part of this experience. This has definitely helped solidify my interests in graphic/visual design since I feel a lot more confident and comfortable now. I still want to continue to grow and develop, but I am just so thankful to have been able to learn and be a part of such a cool and fun cohort with some realllyyyyyy talented, kind, and admirable mentors.
What did you enjoy the most about VDA? I really enjoyed learning how to use platforms like Figma and Illustrator to produce something that I could be proud of myself for. Coming into VDA, I had some experience with design but not on Figma and Illustrator. VDA allowed me to have the space to learn, experiment, and get feedback. Through the tutorials that they had at meeting, the pre-recorded tutorials, resources, and zoom calls with mentors, I felt like I was able make tremendous progress and learn so much. Then translating those skills onto various projects allowed to grow and learn about different components of visual design. Just being able to then step back and see the finished product is just super rewarding.
How has VDA helped you grow as a designer? What was your biggest takeaway from the program? VDA helped me grow into a designer that is more confident in using more industrial platforms, like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Before VDA, these platforms were just so nebulous to me and I had no idea where to start, but I knew that I would have to learn eventually. Especially since I didn't take any graphic design courses in high school, I felt like I was just so behind compared to others in graphic design. While, I still feel like there's so much more to learn, I am so much more confident in my own abilities to grow.
The biggest takeaway to me is importance of experimenting and Googling to explore new tools for design. Basically, anything on Figma/Illustrator/Photoshop can be found in the internet. But the real magic is trying things out and finding what works for you, personally. Trying things out is how you are able to remember how to use tools. In general, just practicing more and having more exposure is just super important.
Though, at the same time, there's never anything wrong with reaching out for help on specific tools or to receive feedback. The way that we all process designs is different and having a fresh pair of eyes is super important. Additionally, designing with others and working with others just enhances the experience so much more.
Which VDA assignment/piece are you most proud of and why? I was extremely proud of my "Moon Goddess" social media graphic, because while it wasn't exactly how I first envisioned it, I was so surprised at how close I even was. I had also spent an absurd amount of time on the project, so having all of my labor to result in a good product was really good. That was also the assignment where I just learned the most in general, because I was combining many new elements like text distortions, noise, blurs, removing backgrounds, color mapping, and more.