Villarreal, Delaia 1

Delaia Villarreal

Ms. J. Snyder/A. Holl

Senior Capstone - Rough Draft

March 14, 2022

Life Through the Eyes of a Creator

If someone asked you, “How would you describe yourself,” how would you answer? This

question has always been so difficult to answer, in my opinion. I’ve been thinking about this ever

since I started this project. I’ve never had a specific plan on where I want to go in life. I’ve just

been letting life take me as I go on. “The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish

achievements but rather with the things we do for the people we love and esteem, and whose

respect we need” (Disney). I liked this quote because it represents how I feel about myself and

my career. I don’t make all these decisions on my career and life just to succeed for myself, but

instead to prove how well my parents taught me and made me the best version of myself.

My name is Delaia Abigail Villarreal. I’m seventeen years old and a senior at Lee High

School. I’m not from here and was born in Texas. I have one sister and just recently got a dog. I

moved up to Michigan in October of 2010 and started classes at Lee in December. I was starting

First Grade. I still think it’s crazy how much I have grown ever since the day I started school

here in Michigan. I’ve always liked to think of myself as a creative person. I’ve always loved

drawing and can remember grabbing crayons or something to write with and drawing all over

everything. I’ve gone from traditional pencil and paper to digital art and even murals. Art is one

of my biggest passions in life, and about making something as small as a birthday card for a

friend; I love being able to put all my creativity and express myself. It’s just something about
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being able to express myself and use my imagination in a beneficial way to anyone who wants to

see it.

After high school, I still want to continue with art in my life. I’ve also loved doing digital

art, so I want to go into Graphic Design. According to the IDF, “Graphic Design is a craft where

professionals create visual content to communicate messages. By applying visual hierarchy and

page layout techniques, designers use typography and pictures to meet users’ specific needs and

focus on the logic of displaying elements in interactive designs, to optimize the user experience”

(What Is Graphic). I already had a plan on what college I wanted to choose and I did end up

getting accepted into one of my dream colleges! It was KCAD, Kendall College of Art and

Design, and when I got the news, I was so excited. I already knew what I wanted to go into and

decided on Graphic Design.

I plan on starting Fall of 2022 at KCAD. I have a lot of random and personal goals that I

want to accomplish, but right now, I’m just focusing on college and getting my career started.

For my future plans, I want to start a business or work with someone doing Graphic Design. My

dream is to make a name for myself and see my art in famous places. I want to see how far I can

go with art. I decided to research graphic designers and things they wished they knew before

they started working. According to Brianna Flavin’s article, she says, “Becoming a graphic

designer isn’t a one-way street for the rest of your career. It’s a versatile skill and education base

that offers opportunity in many different roles” (Flavin). I know that this isn’t going to be easy

,and I’ve been told this exact thing so many times by so many different people. Each one has said

something along the lines of it’s a tricky career or that I’ll struggle a lot and I should go for a

more stable job. But, an important thing that I’ve learned so far during this project is that if I

have a passion for the profession, I should do it. My mentor, Jose Abreu, told me that if you have
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the passion, take that passion and hold onto it as long as you can. If you love doing it, benefit

from your creativity!

The route that I’ve chosen for myself to get to where I want to be is focusing the most on

school. My first path would be graduating high school and passing Senior Capstone. After that, I

would take the summer off to prepare for starting college in Fall 2022. Then, I’ll take classes to

learn more about graphic design. While doing this, I’ll try to find a job that involves graphic

design or just some type of job that I can have while doing college. I think the best kind of job

would be an apprenticeship with a Graphic Designer and learning from someone already in the

field.

So then, how would you describe yourself? Would you bring up your family and friends?

Or would you bring up your school life and achievements? What about your creative passions

and what you want to do in life? For myself, all of these describe the person that I am today. It’s

a comprehensive question to ask someone to get them thinking. What I want you to take away

from this entire essay is to think about how you would describe yourself.
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Works Cited

Flavin, Brianna. “What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me Before Becoming a Graphic

Designer.” Rasmussen University, 29 July 2019,

www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/design/blog/wish-someone-told-me-before-becoming-graphic

-designer/.

“Inspirational Archives.” D23, d23.com/walts-quotes-category/inspirational/.

“What Is Graphic Design?” The Interaction Design Foundation,

www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/graphic-design.