Before beginning I determined the following:  

Audience: My audience is young adults or college age students between the ages of 18-30. The magazine spread will be gender neutral to appeal to both sexes and will not be location specific. Although, it will not be specific to one location, it is for people who are primarily members of the church, so there will be a focus on church education systems. 

Message: (What is the one thing I want to communicate to my audience through my design?) I want to convey to my audience that learning is an important commandment from the Lord. 

Application used: Adobe InDesign 

Photograph Attribution: Bailey Rindlisbacher 

Article attribution: The Lord’s Charge to “Seek Learning” by Mindy Selu  

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/02/young-adults/the-lords-charge-to-seek-learning?lang=eng  

I wanted to do brighter colors to grab people’s attention without being too overbearing. I really liked the blue and yellow/green color together. So, I took this palette and used lighter tints. I also wanted the colors to be clean and crisp. The yellowish color also is a stereo typical highlighter color that would help the reader identify that this is an article about education. The colors also complement each other well. Blue is a cooler toned color, while the yellow/greenish color is much brighter and warmer. Young adults are still fun so there is a need for color, but the magazine spread does not need as much color or as bright of colors compared to children for example. Lastly, I thought the colors were gender neutral and would appeal to both sexes.  

Target Audience Appeal: My target audience is young adults 18-30 who are members of the church. This design appeals to them because it shows the photos feature people within that age range, which makes it more relatable. The colors are also bright and grab the audience’s attention. Young adults also aren’t super serious, so instead of using circles I incorporated more fun, abstract shapes like triangles. These shapes also give the article a slightly edgy, which appeals to a younger audience. The series of triangles on the second page also combine to form mountains, which represents adventure and a thrill that young people are often looking for. Furthermore, the church owned-schools like BYU Provo, BYU-Idaho and BYU Hawaii are surrounded by the mountains and the students often go there on the weekends to get away. So, if you are a student that goes there the mountains are symbolic of the school and feel familiar. 

Main Design Decisions: One of the first design choices I made was to highlight the article was about learning. I wanted that to be very clear. So, I made the word ‘learning’ in the title much bigger than the rest of the title. I also wanted the word to look like it was written out with chalk, so I used a decorative font. I also put a yellow block behind it to make it stand out and look like a highlight stroke. I did not want to leave too much white colored space, so I added a blue block underneath the text on the first page. Then I continued to incorporate blue and yellow colors on each page. To create contrast and make the magazine spread visually interesting, each page layout is different. Some pages have quotes, some have pictures, and some have triangles or rectangles. However, the design principles, color, and typography work together to create unity throughout the spread. 

Before beginning I determined the following:  

Audience: Teenage/young adult girls (14-25) who live in or are visiting Kansas City.  

Message: (What is the one thing I want to communicate to my audience through my design?) Kansas City is a beautiful and fun place to visit. 

Application used: Adobre Illustrator

After getting an outline and a general idea of how I wanted the icons to look I chose a color scheme. A good color scheme is extremely important in communicating the message you want to send to your target audience.  

These are the three main colors I decided to use in my project. I chose yellow because Kansas is known as the Sunflower state. You can always find those smiling yellow flowers in the summer and fall. Additionally, there is a famous art museum in Kansas City that has GIANT badmintons scattered across the front yard. Besides their giant size, what distinguishes these badmintons the most is their bright yellow/orange colored tip. Then, I chose red to have a darker color and create contrast. Red and yellow are also the Kansas City Chiefs’ colors and are easily identifiable by any KC sports fan. Finally, I chose a seafoam blue color. Kansas City is known as the city of fountains and has the second most fountains in the world after Rome. I knew that a fountain was a design I wanted to incorporate, and I would need to use a blue color for the water. Additionally, yellow, red, and blue are the primary colors so I knew they would work well together. Kansas City is also an older city, rich in history. I wanted to create a retro vibe with deep colors, yet bright enough to represent the hustle and bustle of the city.

Target Audience Appeal: This design is girly, especially with the scalloped edge. Each icon portrays a Kansas City identifiable object. The sunflower is the Kansas state flower and is an icon that would only draw the attention of young girls. The colors are bright and fun, which draws the audience’s attention. The color scheme is strong and maintained throughout all four icons which creates visual appeal. I could see these sold as a sticker set in one of the many KC themed boutiques or spirit stores. 

Main Design Decisions: I wanted the design to be fun, so I decided to not have any harsh edges unless necessary. For example, the mask portion of the helmet is straight with harsh angles and edges. I wanted the sunflower petals to be big and stand out with a bright yellow color! I decided to keep the large, rounded shape of the petals and use them as a base for creating the spewing water and feathers on the badminton. I also repeated the circle shape in all the designs e.g., in the middle of the sunflower, the details on the fountain, the semicircles that make up the grass on the badminton, and the large circular helmet. All these circles make the design look more cohesive and create unity. There is subtle detail in each design, but overall has a clean and simple look. Furthermore, to make a unified I added the same scalloped edge on all the icons. Lastly, I wanted each object (the flower, fountain, badminton, and helmet) to stand out and be bold. So, each object fills the majority of the white space on each icon, while still leaving sufficient white space for your eye to rest. 

I applied the feedback they gave me and continued working on the empanada. I used pictures from the mission to really help with this. Every empanada is so different; some are baked, some are fried, some are square, and some are round. I chose to make the scallop-like crust (because that was my favorite kind) and wanted the dough to fold over one another. Here is my process from my original empanada to the final.  

I also worked on the stamp edge a lot and played around with lots of different strokes and color combinations. Here’s how I improved:

The flower on the stamp is simple, yet elegant. Furthermore, the empanada has a few shadows and highlights, but few other details to preserve the simplistic nature of it all. I sent my final sketch some of my Chilean friends at they said, “GUAU!” (“WOW”) They recognized all the stickers and loved them!

See my work on Behance