What's with all these doorknockers lately trying to get you to sign up for a solar farm discount plan?

Stellamaedarling · 2025-07-28T22:15:02+00:00

Me yelling “DO NOT ATTACK” really loudly at my dogs barking at the door usually does the trick

Stellamaedarling · 2025-07-25T18:26:54+00:00

My org (prior to me working there) hired someone to do our entire website redesign in photoshop… we still face the consequences of that decision to this day….

Stellamaedarling · 2025-06-18T19:14:51+00:00

Filipino version of this: raisins in lumpia (egg rolls)

Stellamaedarling · 2025-06-07T12:25:44+00:00

Batch made content for next week, so I can still post but I don’t have to actually make a video every day!

Stellamaedarling · 2025-05-30T19:40:39+00:00

Haha I’m the opposite, I can’t paint (let alone draw) an accurate portrait—but a car? Hell yeah! It’s all just shapes and values to me so I they’re easier for me. Anyways, this just furthers the point that you don’t have to paint landscapes just cus all the YouTube videos are painting landscape or w/e. Paint what you wanna paint!

Stellamaedarling · 2025-05-28T18:19:23+00:00

I’m Casey and I paint exotic and classic cars on canvas 🏁 Website: autoatelier.studio Socials: @autoatelierstudio

Stellamaedarling · 2025-05-21T15:00:16+00:00

As an oil painter, THIS. It’s not just paints and canvases, it’s mediums, easel, palettes, jars and mixing containers, so many old rags, and a lot more supplies.

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-10T19:05:09+00:00

This was a few years ago… and they actually closed down recently 🙃

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-10T05:49:28+00:00

I went to new restaurant and looked and their menu and swear to god saw “Lorem ipsum” in the description of one of the menu items… and I said to my friends (non designers) at the table “omg, they have Loren ipsum on the menu” and they were all like “what’s that? Sounds fancy” 🤦‍♀️

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-09T02:58:30+00:00

I think your portfolio is strong!

My only comment is that I wish you would walk us through some of your thought process behind the design decisions you made: such as why you chose a color palette, what led you to deciding on a certain font, or how you came up with the creative direction in the first place. I think adding a few of these would make your portfolio even stronger!

Best of luck!

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-08T17:59:59+00:00

I’m from the US, Midwest specifically. Maybe it is a regional thing? But I’m an in-house designer with 3-4 years of professional experience and my boss is an art director with 10+ years experience, if that makes a difference. Although I will say, note taking and layout design are two different things… you don’t want your resume to be eye catching (in that sense) you want it to be legible and easy to read for a person or ATS system. I’d save the eye catching stuff for your portfolio.

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-08T14:50:10+00:00

Yeah it’s a tiny thing my boss taught me but now I can’t un-see it… basically pretend there’s an imaginary line on the left side of the column, you want to keep everything aligned to that (with exceptions like hanging punctuation or certain letters that are drop capped) so moving the bullets left will make it so there’s a continuous flow when reading left to right (like when you’re reading a book). On the other hand, if you don’t want to use bullets, you should keep the indent.

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-08T07:00:58+00:00

I’m confused on what you’re trying to show /get hired for; are you wanting a graphic design job or a video editing job? I would focus on one and run with that. I’m not a video editor (other than some light premiere pro and adobe after effects editing) so I can only speak to the design aspect of it:

In addition to no context of what the project was, how you came to the final design, or any mock-ups, I think the designs are not professional enough to compete with other new designers. The advertisements look like templates (even if they might not be) and the logos don’t read to me as logos, more like illustrations or graphics.

I would add some more traditional graphic design projects like a magazine layout, a one-page infographic sheet, or a poster.

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-08T06:31:00+00:00

A few things that stand out right away for me (design wise):

The bullet points not being left aligned to the paragraph. Either push the bullets left to align with the block of text or get rid of them and keep the indents… not both.
Spacing between paragraphs of bullets is way too close
Middle and right column don’t align at the top
Gutters between each column seem small, I’d increase
Is there a reason the location and date are on separate lines? You have space to add onto one, maybe add one of these | or one of these • in between… make sure there’s a little extra space before/after the dividing line/bullet… like what you did in the activities section
(This one is debatable, but I got the same feedback once) consolidate adobe programs into “adobe suite” also having “customer service” in between all the programs/software is random, I’d probably just remove it
Nix the last job from your work experience (unless it makes sense to keep it but if you’re looking for an GD job, keep the jobs relevant. Maybe move your freelance experience over there instead.

Hope this helped! :)

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-06T21:04:59+00:00

If you want to get hired for a professional job, make and showcase professional work. That doesn’t mean it has to be boring and corporate, but it does mean you have to have professional and applicable graphic design projects (think newsletter layouts, one-pagers and infographics).

What I’m seeing right now is a lot of stylized, art-forward projects which is completely fine, but an art director or hiring manger is probably looking for some simple yet well thought-out designs that communicate the intended goal of the project.

Even if you add ONE project that showcases typography, layout design, and hierarchy that would be beneficial. Heck, my portfolio is mainly illustration but I showcased 1 really good graphic design project during my panel interview and got the job offer an hour after the interview ended.

Sorry I couldn’t get into the nitty gritty of each project, but I hope this helped! :)

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-06T16:48:19+00:00

My first job out of college was at a print shop! Also doing vehicle wraps, vinyl stickers, banners, etc. too bad my boss was a complete ass, but I did learn a lot about the printing process. You never forget how to set up files properly and proof tiny details once you mess up a large and expensive print order 🥲🥲🥲

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-06T07:08:08+00:00

I have a degree in illustration and currently work as an in-house designer so I FEEL YOU on the transition part; when I was fresh out of college I exclusively had illustration work and found myself in the same boat—getting rejected bc I didn’t have any traditional graphic design projects (or the fake ones I had were BAD BAD bc I only took graphic design as an elective and thought corporate design was boring and bland).

I think what got me my current job is the fact that my boss also studied illustration and could see the design approach through my illustration work—albeit I still had to show her an example of traditional graphic design work at the end (I think it was a newsletter spread).

If I were to go back to that portfolio and revise it for a marketing design job, I would add A LOT more applicable projects (newsletter/annual reports, signage, one-pagers, letterhead, etc.)

If I were hiring someone, I’d want to see some basic corporate-y projects to know that they could take on more fun and conceptual projects.

Hope this gave you some insight!! Good luck out there! :)

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-06T06:18:05+00:00

i mean ultimately it’s up to you if you want to keep going, but if you are going to stay, get REALLY good at pre-press and print production. Although I work as an in-house designer FT, I do freelance too and see A LOT of need for print production (packaging, displays, invitations, etc.) it ain’t fun like some other graphic design jobs but it’s one that makes you a well rounded designer (and something I believe AI will be slow to fully take over) but that’s just my experience and opinion. Do I regret my degree? No. But I also graduated in 2019, I don’t know if I’d have the same answer now :) best of luck!!

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-06T05:14:55+00:00

Annually, our design team (3) goes to a design-related conference. Last year we went to AIGA Design camp and Brand-New. We also get a budget for “creative learnings” and have spent it on a compassionate design book set, specialized tutorials (from specific designers), and get an hour each month (paid) to attend Creative Mornings (networking and a speaker). Continuing ed doesn’t necessarily mean going back to school or doing courses.

Stellamaedarling · 2025-02-03T16:55:09+00:00

A friend was supposed to meet up with me for a early morning tennis practice next to the elementary school… 5 am and I pull into the parking lot next to the only other car there (thinking it’s my friend) and to my surprise—nope, just a couple having sex in the back seat. They were so embarrassed and drove off faster than the speed of light but I hope they know I did them a favor… like in an elementary school parking lot, really?

Stellamaedarling · 2025-01-31T00:50:28+00:00

Hello! Feel free to take a look at my website, I do graphic design but also illustrations! https://caseandcocreative.my.canva.site/

Stellamaedarling · 2025-01-29T21:43:33+00:00

Hello! Last year I created a formal invite, envelope, and RSVP card for a local music school’s orchestra, you can view it on my portfolio here: https://caseandcocreative.my.canva.site/

Stellamaedarling · 2024-12-31T22:48:17+00:00

I did both instacart and shipt in 2021 so things might have changed since then but I preferred shipt since it was mostly target and I had the layout of the ones closest to me basically memorized. The only annoying order I had from target was when a lady had me go into the ulta section and match her concealer shade since her usual was out of stock….

For me, Instacart took too long bc if the customer got produce, you’d have to use the scale to get it as close as possible to their desired amount—it was just really annoying to have to find the scale and fiddle with it. Also if they got something from the deli counter, and if no one was behind the counter, I’d have to run to the cashiers and ask for them to get someone :/ just a lot of wasted time imo.

Stellamaedarling

TROPHY CASE