How would you describe your work?
I would describe my work as quirky, quite vibrant and radiant. I love simplicity but sometimes I find myself creating complicated designs that appear to be so chaotic and complicated.
How did you end up pursuing graphic design professionally?
My pursuit for graphic design began in my junior year of high school, when I began taking my first career class, Graphic Communications. Then for my senior year, we had a choice of choosing Graphic Communications or Web Design from our list of interests. I chose Graphic Communications because I loved creating artwork and working with the computer. I also love being more hands on. I felt that graphic design allows me to be more creative in a way. I am interesting in web design, but at the time, I wasn’t very good and it and I found it quite tedious.
I read in your bio that you plan on studying web design when you’re done with school. How do web design and graphic design relate and interact for you?
After studying in the field of design for four years, I’ve learned that web design and graphic design are very much tied together, like two peas in a pod. But in my opinion, a good sense of graphic design is fundamental to being a great web designer. It’s one thing to know coding and such, but it’s another thing to be aware of color, balance, symmetry and other principles and elements of design. During my spare time, I did some research and taught myself web design fundamentals and I’ve grown to love it. Being able to create and maintain websites would only be an extension of my graphic design skills.
How do you go about starting a project?
Most of the time, I could be watching TV, forever scrolling on Tumblr or just washing the dishes and an idea would come to me, either from a quote I read, from something someone said recently or a song in my head. Once I get the idea, I write it down or sketch it out and hop on a few art and design blogs (such as yours) to draw inspiration or I’ll just go straight to work in Photoshop or Illustrator and modify my designs as the days go by.
What is your workspace like?
My workspace is pretty much my bed. I like to be extremely comfortable when I’m working and since I work on my laptop most of the time, I just open iTunes, plug in my headphones and get to work while resting comfortably on my pillow.
What is the most challenging project that you’ve done?
When I really think about it, the most challenging project I’ve ever done was my final project for my second semester Foundation II course as a Communication Design major, in which each student had to create a book on any subject they wanted but the book had to have some sort of interactivity to it, while illustrating a several design elements. And of course, I created and chose the most complicated subject ever: Music & Art Throughout Time. For my book, I chose songs that represented different periods of time and illustrated a different song for each page. I chose to illustrate songs from the Victorian Era, the 70’s, 80’s and the present (I used graffiti to represent the present).
What do you think is the biggest influence on your work?
The biggest influence on my work would have to be the work of other artists. My favorites being Matt W. Moore and Raphael Vicenzi; I draw inspiration from their works, my life experiences and from my environment.
I find that I get my inspiration the same way Monique does, from everything around me. I also really admire her interest in web design. Web design is something that I’ve always thought that I should learn a little about, but I’ve never had the motivation to actually learn it. Thanks for letting me interview you, Monique!
Thanks for reading! I’ve made some changes recently to the site, including the new layout and adding more links to the Cool Kids on the Internet page. If there’s anyone who’s doing great stuff that I should write about, email me.