Hi, I'm Ashley Darrisaw & I am a designer.
As a designer my main focus is on what works on both an aesthetic and functional level for maximum ease and joy of experience. I see the title "designer" not as a vague job title but, as a way of thinking. It is systematic, thoughtful, and creative thinking all mixed into one. I specialize in visual design, UX design, publication design, and branding. However, my work and methods vary drastically from project to project. I use a combination of traditional methods and media (sketching, illustration, collage) and the Adobe Suite to create original and tactile projects and solutions.
Design Manifesto (circa 2015)
The biggest goal for me in design is to evoke emotions with what I design. The emotions do not have to be positive but, should be felt nonetheless. Beyond this broad and singular goal several tiers of other goals. The tiers are the following: Trivial goals, Deeper goals, macro-social goals, and relevant goals.
Trivial goals mostly relate to the idea of “aesthetic”. Even though aesthetic is defined as concerning beauty I see it as something greater. I see it as something that is open to interpretation and can be defined as many things. My definition of aesthetic is subtle beauty. I want to make my viewer question their preconceived notions of beauty. I want to help them see the beauty of what is unusual and the beauty of everyday things. I want to cultivate a taste for “avant-garde beauty”. Avant-garde beauty is something that I like to keep in mind whenever I am starting a project. I try to think of the routes that most people might take and then go in the opposite direction. In the end if I am successful I have helped my viewer see a different aesthetic.
Deeper goals relate to creating meaning with the aesthetic I created. It could be likened to a book vs. the content within the book. Deeper goals are the content within the book. I want to create a connection between my viewer by using my work as a bridge. I want to create an innate understanding of my intentions with through my use of elements such as placement color and hierarchy in my designs.
My macro goal is to bring more attention and esteem to the graphic design profession as a whole. I feel like graphic design is a profession that is often over looked and devalued. It is often just defined as “poster making”. I believe people get this impression because they are unaware of how much graphic design is around them. It’s in street signs, instructions, restaurants and in turn they become jaded. This close-minded depiction of graphic design is troubling. However, by making strides in my work to make it engaging and not just something pretty to look at I can change this definition. Eventually, I hope to change to definition to interactive and perceptive digital art. The perceptive part of the definition stems from finding subconscious trends and bringing them to light in order to create a greater understanding. This could be applied to a person, place, business, or idea. By helping people reach realizations emotional interaction is created. Emotional interaction is important because most of the time graphic design does not feature anything that is tangible unless it is printed and print is becoming a less popular form of information transmission.
My relevancy goal is so I continue to connect with the happenings of the world around me. This means remaining up to date with trends in technology and social interactions be it social media or otherwise. However, at the same time I want to be able to maintain connections to the past with “analogue” devices or methods of creation such as books and film.
By keeping all my goals in mind I will be able to reach my fulfillment in design and make my work feel worthwhile.
______________________________
Say Hi!
Thanks for reaching out! :-)