#FreelanceFriday: My First Invitation

Recently, I was digging through my Google Drive. For me, this is the equivalent of cleaning out your bedroom at your parents' house. You find all sorts of things from younger years that you completely forgot about. One of those files was this:

In 2013, my sister graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This was a huge success not only for herself, but for my parents and family as well. We set a new, driven teacher into the workplace, ready to educate kids and make a difference! If that doesn't give you the warm and fuzzies, nothing will.

Naturally, as many families do, my parents hosted a party to celebrate her achievements. In order to do so, invitations were required. As the family's designated designer, I was asked to design her invitations. I happily agreed to this–my first freelance gig, whoopee! I was completely excited to create something special for her.

I ended up creating this piece, and to this day, I am still pleased with the end result. After completing my second year of design school, I was intrigued by typography (justification rules!) and eager to implement some of my newly-acquired design skills. I enjoyed playing with color and using "fun" lingo to give my piece some personality. I even included elements of her school, such as the Chief emblem and the pillar/"I" symbol. I was so excited to show her the final piece, and she LOVED it.

Now, I would have made this look a bit different. In a dream world with endless funds to spend on invitation design, I would have used imprinting for the Chief emblem and pillar/"I" emblem, and perhaps the shapes around them as well. I would have chose an even sleeker font, and would have used silvers and grays instead of the blue and orange. Regardless, I was able to create a piece that satisfied my first client and began creating a persona through my design work.