Well folks, we know you’ve been on the edge of your seat eagerly awaiting this announcement. After a long debate and a pie fight, we have declared a winner for the first ever SLC Graphic Design Olympics:

Christy Hadiwinata

Christy was the very lucky winner of a particularly delightful G.O.A.T. trophy (udders and all), a neat ThoughtLab t-shirt, and a brown paper bag filled to the brim with some cold hard cash we won in a street fight. 

We sat down with our winner and basked in her glory for 30 minutes while we got to know her a little better and talk about her experience in design.

So, tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? How did you get into design? <br />I was originally born and raised in Jakarta Indonesia and then moved to Utah in 2001. I just (technically) graduated from the University of Utah with a B.A. in graphic design. I walked in spring, but I’m just wrapping up a design internship and I’ll be officially done with school for now!

This probably sounds cliche, but I’ve always had a love for drawing, and people would tell me “Oh you should go to school for graphic design. You would be great at it.” For a minute I was like, no I want to do Political Science, but eventually I came around. I just love the aesthetics of it and being able to create something beautiful.

When it comes to your design style, what mediums and elements do you enjoy most?

In terms of elements that I like, I’m very drawn to more abstract looking things, so you’ll notice a lot of abstract, geometric, and simplified shapes in my designs. I do dabble in some traditional art as well - mainly watercolor and colored pencils. Some digital art on procreate as well. It’s very mixed media, and I like to bring that into my designs.

I did this poster for a class project. I was at the State Fair and felt super inspired by all the vegetables. They all looked almost alien to me, and I wanted to incorporate them into my design somehow. I used watercolor pencils, traditional watercolors, markers, and ink. Then I digitally cut each image and inserted it into the poster design. So I guess I really can’t say that I stick with one thing. My style can be very eclectic.

Let’s talk about the competition. What were your favorite tasks? What was your inspiration behind each of your designs?

I want to say that the SLC typefight was my favorite. A while back I saw a poster that said “The dream of the 90’s is alive in SLC.” and I thought, you know, it really is. That was the inspiration and story behind that design, and I think I portrayed it pretty well through the use of gradients, shapes, and colors. 

The national parks sticker was also very fun for me. I’ve never actually been to Kenai Fjords National Park, but I figured a lot of people would be doing Utah parks and I wanted to do something different. I did some research, and was very inspired by the shape of the icebergs and rock formations that had formed in the park, so I knew instantly that’s the one I wanted to do. 

The logo design task was challenging, but I just kind of went for it. I gained a lot of inspiration just from the basic Utah outdoor elements, but I didn’t want it to be too on the nose so the logo is fairly abstract in that sense. That’s why I included images of the logo in application. I think it helps portray the brand messaging a lot when it’s fully visualized. 

This was a lot of work to do in a fairly short amount of time, do you have a process that helps get the creative juices flowing?

I like to sit down and look for inspiration before I start any project that I’m working on, but I like to keep it quick, 5-10 minutes tops so that I don’t get things stuck in my head. I kind of put down everything that comes to mind and then expand on it, and conceptualize it by drawing it out. Once I get started on something I get really excited about it, but also very critical. It’s very much “I hate it, I hate it, I sleep on it, I let it marinate, I keep working, I hate it and then oh, this might work! This is cool, let’s keep running with it.”

 Okay so last question, how excited are you to be the first ever SLC Graphic Design Olympics winner, and what are you going to do with your winnings? 

This trophy is amazing, it’s the second trophy I’ve ever won so I’m VERY excited about this. It definitely tops winning 3rd place in the spelling bee. As for the winnings, there is a little four year old boy who’s had his eyes on some Funko Pops.

Thanks again Christy and congrats on your big win! To see more of Christy’s work check her out below:

Portfolio

IG: @chadiwin