Cris is doing Graphic Design?

Why yes I am. If you’ve been following me for the last few years you’ll know that I’ve been working in the design space pretty much ever since I graduated from college. But few know that I never actually intended to be where I am today in my design career. I actually went to college initially to pursue an Ocean Engineering degree to maybe one day work in an engineering climate since I always considered myself as being “handy,” but to my surprise in the mind of an18 year old brain, I realized that I have to use a lot of math and if I’m honest… math isn’t my strongest subject. Like… counting my fingers not great. But wait, it gets better… Eventually I decided that of course Ocean Engineering wasn’t for me after a semester which threw me into what every college student calls, the classic “What do I want to do with the rest of my life?” Which of course, I had no clue on where to even start looking. That was until I sat down with college staff and together we narrowed it down to me majoring in Multimedia Studies and for the most part was a solid choice for me. Since I absolutely love film and wouldn’t have minded at all being a part of something I already enjoy in my personal life. I then started to shift my goals towards how to get started in the film industry in some capacity but once I locked in my first internship my senior year at a local start up company, my goals shifted (for the best.)

Once I graduated college, I took on my first internship at a local start up company as a Social Media Intern. There I would meet my good friend/mentor Matt Pappas who was the Creative Director of the company at the time. While I never formally studied graphic design besides that one photoshop class in middle everyone so happen to took (shoutout Ms. Palmer), he found the time to guide me, sharpen my skills, and help me develop an eye for design through tons and tons of tasks and research material he would send me. Of course I would have needed this kind of guidance to properly do my job and meet brand standards but it was through his teachings and design expertise, I was able to work on awesome projects and get my skills to a point where I could be proud of my own work outside of social media. Sure I would do design work as a social media intern but I was finding myself creating art and designs outside of the office just for fun or for friends who needed something quick off of photoshop. But it was all thanks to Matt that I fell in love with this career choice and find myself genuinely happy taking on all sorts of graphic design projects.

But you’re probably wondering… Cris, how did you get into motion graphics though? Well let me tell you, It all started at one point during my internship where I had to teach myself how to create an animation to meet a deadline for a software feature. One day at the office, the CEO rounds up the team and discusses the ins and outs of a new feature that’ll be rolling out on an existing piece of software we created. A big conference call was coming up and would serve as a catalyst to onboard a few companies inquiring about the software. It then came down to the creative side of project that included a website banner animation that would be needed. However, Matt wouldn’t be able to take on the task due to already working on other projects. While I did understand that this way out my league. I decided to be proactive about this and asked Matt to oversee the project and did what any design intern would do… and figure it out one YouTube tutorial at a time. So I did just that and spent the day working on it to a point where Matt could finesse it and roll it out to the developers. 

A combination of applying myself, learning a new skill when needed and the overall dynamic of what animations can bring to a graphics is what made me fall madly in love with motion graphics and overall design. It came to a point where I would be constantly picking out design elements to my friends and family any chance I got, even taking pictures of restaurant collateral to use as references because you never know what future project might call for it. It also goes without saying that I’m sure all my friends are sick and tired of hearing me go on and on about how cool of a design a boot you saw at the Timberland store was or how Converse’s graphic tees are super “slept on” from a design standpoint. But that just goes to show how much this gig inspires me as an individual & artist. Even though this life choice wasn’t what I had originally envisioned, I couldn’t be more happier knowing I made the right call on this one.