DESIGN
2021 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
I came up with the idea of using vector drawings of school photos for the first day of school issue to “soft launch” the faces of the school. It was the first school year without a mask mandate since COVID started, and students could show their full faces again. I created vector drawings in Adobe Illustrator and used a color pallet I came up with to design pages and the cover for this issue. This project was my first task after becoming a staff member. The nameplate I designed for this paper ultimately was adapted into the newsmagazine’s nameplate for the following two years.
2022 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
To design the cover, I went outside to take a photo of the building construction when I saw caution tape. I searched for an area where “caution” was clearly visible. I captured the tape with mountains of dirt, construction machinery and the building in the background. In addition to the cover, I designed the “Do’s and Don’ts” spread for the paper. I planned out the “toilet talk” tips with an artist on staff, took the hallway photo and edited the “Do’s and Don’ts.” I placed everything on the page in InDesign and continued the black and white used for “Toilet Talk” through an inverted design for “Do’s and Don’ts.”
COVER ILLUSTRATIONS
I hand drew this cover on Procreate to symbolize the double page spread of the issue. The “Express Yourself” cover took many hours of drawing, but was promoted as a coloring book cover where students could express themselves.
This paper was part of a collection that won a Pacemaker in 2022. I also earned excellent distinctions for both original artworks and an excellent distinction for “Express Yourself” for News Magazine Cover Design in Newspaper Best in Texas.
INFOGRAPHICS
Senior year, I took what I had learned at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Youth Leadership Conference and through my personal college application process to create a list of tips for others going through the same process. I worked in Adobe Express to design the infographic. I used graduation caps and tassels to showcase the theme of the graphic, and I researched statistics to strengthen my advice. Click the image to expand.
My college infographic earned a superior distinction at the 2023 TAJE Fall Fiesta.
POLITICAL CARTOON
I drew this political cartoon when Twitter removed news sources’ verifications and started the $8 subscription fee. The baby birds represent the new Twitter subscribers benefiting from the changes, and the hummingbird pollinating flowers represents Instagram creating Threads and becoming the primary social media platform for many celebrities.
WEBSITE HEADER
One of the first things I did as design editor was create a header for the website. I wanted it to be simple and legible while representing the school though the school colors.
BROADCAST DESIGN
I worked for three hours on Adobe Rush to learn the program in order to design an opener for our broadcast videos. First I designed a logo for our videos and then, with a lot of trial and error, I figured out how to animate it.
Maya Shea Ortiz 