INTRODUCTION

AIGA Spark 2020 is an annual contest held in Norfolk, Virginia. This event allows for designers to showcase their skills at a local level. The prompt for 2020’s contest was to design a poster that uniquely showcased your experience over the last several months. Since this was during the peak of Covid-19 there was a lot to work with when creating a poster for this contest.

My concept for this poster was introspection and stagnation. 2020 was a scary year for me and others; there was a rapid shift from in-person to digital spaces. I started to worry if I would ever get a design job and if I did, whether I deserved it. I started to question my skillset as a designer and played the comparison game with my peers who were getting jobs left and right. I felt behind and the self-imposed pressure only made things worse. I wanted to show how I felt dealing with all these thoughts and emotions. During that time I realized I have two choices: I can sit in my little, comfortable corner for as long as I please or at least take a step towards “better”*.

* Everyone’s “better” is different, but it’s theirs.