Hello, my name is Krista Trotman. I intend to graduate in 2022 from East Carolina University as a BFA student with concentrations in Graphic Design and Metal Design. As a designer and creative I seek to be seen as an independent artist with unique work. I follow modern and minimalistic trends and include their traits within my work and adapting a personal style into each project. My design process often involves lots of preliminary sketches as well as multiple digital versions of the initial sketches. Researching the topic that I am designing helps to pick colors, typefaces, and many other components for the projects. After getting lots of feedback from my peers on my designs, I use the suggestions I receive to make adjustments to the design. Paying attention to the visual hierarchy of type and imagery is another goal when designing work. The most important goal is to reflect the research behind each topic within the design, such as existing brand or the problem that has been solved. Some consistent themes in my work are modern and simplistic. In my work I strive to adapt to the current way society functions, which currently is the need for more digital interaction between consumers and companies. The responsibility of a designer is to solve the problem of the client and present it in a creative way that promotes their objective. Finding a balance between self-expression and client needs is difficult, but the way I like to achieve that is by coming up with solutions to both styles. Providing examples to multiple formats and informing the client on the typical designs that are successful in their field will help to solve the problem without much conflict. Taking multiple perspectives from clients, end users, and my own perspective is very important in the design process. I prioritize the client’s needs before my own design style, but showing all of the ways a design can be successful helps to balance these needs. Design sometimes can become less accessible based on the design style, and it is important for me to include research of the problem at hand in the design to make it clear of what goal I am trying to achieve. Branding elements that are significant often include a similar color palette, type choices, and content area. Choosing imagery that best matches the other elements of the brand helps unify and provide a sense of visual hierarchy. Finding the balance between type and imagery is a difficult concept to achieve. The way I find easiest to balance these aspects are to choose type that lets the viewer know what is going on and attracts the viewer. The images I use compliment the content without being too overwhelming. This can often be achieved with the scale ratio between type and image. Imagery that also matches a color palette or theme can achieve balance and provide unity within the designs. Using different size type for headers, subheadings, and paragraph type will help the viewer know what is most important. Keeping these elements consistent throughout the design creates unity.
My current design interests include logo design and UI/UX design. Creating a brand identity is a process I enjoy. Predicting what the demographic user would prefer to see and designing a platform that involves experiences and interface has been a secondary process that I would love to continue working with. Both of these areas include heavy research-based methods, which is one of my strengths. With UI/UX design, I enjoy prototyping, which helps to bring my designs to life and creative a more interactive user base. In the future, I would love to continue in brand identity and conduct designs for the digital users.