By Kristen Hunt
Staff Writer
A senior at the College and the creative mind behind @eundesigns, Eunice Olugbile is a public mass communications major with artistic ambition. Her Instagram account serves as an online portfolio, containing school and business projects. She also sells digital portraits.
Graphic design has always played a role in Olugbile’s life, and she has been working with editing software since middle school. It was not until college, where she picked up a minor in graphic design, that she began to consider her lifelong hobby as a potential career.
“Since middle school I was always playing around with photoshop. So, graphic design has always been a big part of my life,” she said. “But when I established ‘eundesigns,’ that’s when I took it more seriously, and was more career-minded.”
Eundesigns was founded in 2019, when Olugbile was a sophomore at the College. She was inspired to create the account after learning that most professional graphic designers create online portfolios for networking and job opportunities.
“I just wanted somewhere to put all of my work. And so I thought Instagram was a really good place,” she said.
Before creating the online portfolio and space to sell digital portraits, Olugbile gained experience in graphic design by creating logos for her church and student organizations at the College.
“Before eundesigns, I had been working with my church’s youth group doing designs for them,” she said. “In i-Tunes Acapella, I was publicity chair for two years, and I was doing graphic design there as well.”
Olugbile does not sell to one specific clientele. With past projects ranging from restaurants, to clothing shops, to corporate companies, her portfolio includes designs representing a variety of organizations.
“A lot of my work comes from friends, and friends of friends which is really awesome just because I feel like my network grows so much from that and I feel really blessed in that way,” said Olugbile.
Creating company logos and digital portraits are two completely different forms of graphic design, she said, explaining the processes of both.
For her digital portraits, Olugbile uses her iPad and the graphic design software, Procreate, to replicate a picture of a client.
“If someone comes to me for a portrait I’ll ask them for a photo, and, since I do more of a basic background, I ask them for what kind of background they want,” she said.
The process of creating company logos is a more detailed process, Olugbile said.
“For logos, I learned a lot actually at the College from my graphic design classes,” she said. “Initially, I used to work on the computer or my phone, but now I start my design process on my iPad by sketching designs out.”
Despite creating digital art, Olugbile begins all of her projects using a pen and paper.
“I will sketch everything out and get all my ideas out on paper and pen, and then I’ll go to illustrator, which is one of the adobe create software programs. And that's when I’ll start working on the computer,” said Olugbile.
Olugbile also does frequent research on new logo style trends. She creates mood boards to keep herself inspired, and to stay in tune with what types of designs are currently doing well.
“It's important for designers to not only rely on their own sense of design style, but to look at what’s trending right now, looking at the past, to see what works and what hasn't,” she said.
Once she has an idea of how to execute her client’s requests, she creates three different concept designs and asks her clients which best replicates their creative vision.
After the client picks their favorite logo, Olugbile then creates different color concepts of the design. After the clients choose a color scheme, she sends over the final logo with and without a background.
If a client does not find any of the designs suitable, Olugbile will create two “redesigns,” two concepts she makes from scratch that have a completely different look.
Throughout the two years of operating Eundesign, Olugbile has developed a few favorite projects.
“One [favorite] is the taco bell logo that I’ve done — I did that one for fun, but I just loved the way it turned out and the colors that I used for that,” Olugbile said.
Another one of Olugbile’s favorites is a recent project for her graphic design class.
“We had to pick an organization, redesign their logo, and then come up with posters, tee shirt designs, bags and other things for them to promote the organization,” she said.
The student chose to promote The Cup — an organization that provides underprivileged girls with sustainable menstrual cups and education on sexuality and reproductive rights.
As someone with a lot of graphic design experience, Olugbile spreads a message to anybody who aspires to join the field.
“Don’t sell yourself short and don’t compare yourself to other designers or anyone else in the field because everyone else has their own strengths and their own weaknesses, but not everyone is you,” said Olugbile.
