*GUEST* Visual Vocabulary: Image by John Breakey

The third guest illustration comes from someone who whipped my design sensibilities into shape when I first answered the call of the marching ants and x-acto knife: John Breakey, my graphic design professor at DCAD. As I entered my sixth year of college and moved closer to finishing my second degree, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what kind of design job I could get with my (to put it nicely, budding) skills. It was John who pointed me in the direction of Portfolio Center (yup, tack on another two years of school for me), which I consider to be one of the best moves I ever made as a designer. Thank you John, from saving me from the fate of in house designer at Clipper Magazine. 

John’s post is about the word image, and breaking down our preconceived notions of the meaning of the word.

Image: we may think in a more immediate sense of the word as representing tangible things that are visual, like something seen in a media environment… The intent here is to remind us that we look in the mirror and account for a reflection of the way we hope to be seen. Inasmuch as we all pretty much share the same human characteristics, our psyche’s character shapes our personality into forms and counterforms. It seems we can’t help but have some wayward and in-progress qualities; deconstructed, reconstructed and otherwise. 
John Breakey, November 2014, Wilmington, Delaware

Thanks, John Breakey, for elevating us beyond pretty (but sometimes ugly) pictures.

Visual Vocabulary is a project I created for myself in which I attempt to sear new words into my memory by illustrating them. I'm celebrating the one-year anniversary this week with some guest illustrations (hooray!)