Mouth on Fire & A Break for Your Brain: New Talent 2022 Latest Entries

Some people find healing through others, and some find it through burgers. With today’s New Talent 2022 submissions, two designers invite us into their different worlds of happiness. 

In “Burning Grill” (above), School of Visual Arts student Doah Kwon designed the entire branding for a burger restaurant in Brooklyn. Under the mentorship of professor Justin Colt, Kwon was able to create the restaurant’s logo, menu, coasters, and various promotional posters. Relying on a basic color palette of reds and blacks, Kwon’s designs emulate a retro pop art aesthetic, with the restaurant’s main logo and font style almost harking back to the 1950s. On their design choices, Kwon shared that they wanted to add a “unique vibe to the restaurant”. Thanks to his stark illustrations, that’s a sentiment that he has surely captured.

On the other hand, California State University, Fullerton student Mariah Fojas relied on contrasting colors of blues, blacks, and whites to design “Grafted Vol. 1” (above). With help from professor Theron Moore, Fojas wanted to create a magazine for to relieve the stress she experienced throughout the pandemic. She shared that this project was a method to stay “motivated and encouraged,” and a means to inspire others to do the same. 

On the design process, Fojas explains that initially the magazine consisted of neutral tones and soft colors. However, as time went on, she realized that healing is not necessarily an easy or linear process, and instead opted to create an “intense space with a lot of contrasting colors to represent the fact that healing and the process of healing from something is usually painful”. The latter is further mirrored through the magazine’s design, with its artwork and typography evolving from harsh and vibrant to calm and neutral as you skim through it. Hopefully, this leaves viewers with a sense of calm relief. 

To enter your own submissions into our New Talent 2022 competition, visit graphis.com for more.