Project BrieF

A personal project I’ve taken on to share thoughts, ideas, and moments I’d like to remember. These have been posted primarily via my Instagram Stories and LinkedIn.

DELIVERABLES
Custom Illustrations, Daily Concept Ideation, Social Media Graphics, Template Files

It started as a weekly idea. I’d always been interested in stamps and how their designs seem to live in a realm of their own. They can range from stricly utilitarian all the way to wild graphic expression. They also imply some sort of distance – a stamp is typically paired with a story, letter, or well wishes. What a fun way to share thoughts and experiences with people!

I made my first stamp on December 23rd. I made another the following day. It’s now been over a month.

ASSET BUILDING

Part of this process has been getting more comfortable with creating entirely original graphic assets from scratch. I never really fancied myself to be an “illustrator” and preferred to stick with photographic assets or icons.

It's a confidence thing. I found that I would stray away from trying new graphic pursuits because "I've never done that". I didn't want to fail. I needed the opportunity to fail without being scared of consequence.

One day I was sitting at home with that urge to make something. I was looking at some illustrations and thought, “I bet I could figure it out if I tried.” I flipped my own script. It turns out that kind of bravery leads to some real neat stuff.

THEMES Emerge

I’ve had a few moments where I hit on something that felt special. Felt different. They’re ideas that are worth exploring some more, and maybe carried over into other projects. Perhaps they can be reapropriated into posters, pins, shirts, or branding elements.

For example, the planet series is adorable and I’ll be turning them into a big ‘ol panorama soon! The “floating islands” moment hits on something interesting too. I had a ton of fun making the Denver series too – reusing the elements from “5280 ft.” across all three stamps.

Being Social

This project was my first foray into sharing personal design work publicly online. I ended up utilizing two avenues in particular – Instagram and LinkedIn. Instagram stories have allowed me to produce fleeting content. Due to popular demand among friends, I turned my favorites into a permanent story highlights.

I then created a LinkedIn-specific format which are paired with some sort of personal thought/pick-me-up. This allowed me to share my personal style and ideas with my professional network. So far they’ve been very well-received, including plenty of elevator conversations about “that stamp thing” I’m doing.