Philadelphia

Philadelphia is in the Championship!

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Ahhh… for football fans, pre-season is meh. The actual season is full of emotion and then post-season is where only the elite teams get to keep playing in a tapered bracket to determine who reigns supreme to earn the title of “World Champion,” which, as a football fan myself, is kind of a silly title seeing as right now the NFL only consists of 32 American football teams. There are currently no teams outside of the US.

Today is a BIG day for four cities, Philadelphia included. Today is the championship game, the one that determines which two teams get to play in the biggest game of the season—the Super Bowl!

Since I was a little girl, I’ve been an Eagles fan. Today we face the Washington Commanders (the Comedians as my husband calls them), and we are going balls-to-the wall with our excitement today.

I woke up early to work on a few things to bring to our friends’ house, where we’re going to eat good, drink, scream and cheer (and maybe cry) at the TV with them and their other friends with only one goal in mind: Make it BACK to the Super Bowl.

Since the Super Bowl started (1967), the Eagles (established in 1933) have only participated four times: 1981, losing to the Raiders; 2005, losing to the Patriots; 2017 winning against the Patriots (Sorry, not sorry, Tom Brady); and 2023, losing to the Chiefs (Okay, Mahomes is a good player, for real). While we’re not trying to jump the gun here, we’d really, REEEAALLLYY like another shot at this.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time educating myself on how to make stickers with my printer and Cricut working in partnership (Thank you, YouTube creators!). I need to make some custom adjustments to the pressure of the blade, but here’s what we’re working with today. I’m also working on a Saquon Barkley design for one of the host friends—I may post it later.

GO BIRDS!

Self-Designed graphic applied to a tee celebrating #33 Cooper DeJean. (Front)

Self-Designed graphic applied to a tee celebrating #33 Cooper DeJean. (Back)

Philadelphia mayor, Cherelle Parker, misspelled “EAGLES” during a public chant while addressing the city, causing fans—myself included—to run with the misspelling. I chose to make stickers.

Revisiting Graduation: The Caps

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Revisiting Graduation: The Caps

I graduated from the University of the Arts on May 19, 2011 with my BFA in Graphic Design. Interestingly, it was the same day my mom graduated from Camden County College with her associates in Accounting, only ten years later. During the ceremony, I looked around and noticed a lot of my peers had decorated their caps. I did not. I felt kind of odd possibly “ruining” a piece of my wardrobe I will 100% never wear again. So at home, in a Ziplock, I have my plain black cap and tassel, just existing and taking up space. My mom also did not decorate her cap for her ceremony, nor was it something she kept, so it’s not like I was urged to do such a thing, nor did I have direct inspiration. In fact, I don’t remember anyone in my family having their caps decorated for their ceremonies.

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Field Trip to The Viaduct

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Before the semester even started, an email appeared in our TU inboxes from our Visual Communication and Branding professor: “I’m planning an in-person meeting.”

I was a bit (very) skeptical about meeting in person for class, especially since there was a very strong reason why our classes are online this semester. Originally, my response was "NO, NO WAY. NOT IN THIS PANDEMIC! WHAT IN THE WORLD." (See: “WHA THIT HEO?!”) After I heard it wasn't going to be 2.5 hours of ice breakers and awkwardness on the first day of class, but rather a chance to see each other (for the first time in, what, six months?) in a beautiful outdoor space with a chance to network with other designers from a local firm called Cohere, I was immediately in. The only thing that got in my way was my mode of transportation. (I decided to drive in…it was faster to do that anyway.)

I am so glad I decided to go. We met two of the nicest ladies who are designers by day and botanists by night (okay, maybe not botanists, but definitely urban gardeners!), who took time out of their busy schedules to tell us all about how The Viaduct came to be, a little bit about Cohere and what they do, and gave us some insight on a branding project they’re working on for a local hotel.

What made this trip even better was being able to meet our professor in person. I already know everyone else who showed up Thursday night (except for the one guy, Branden), so it was almost like a (much needed) reunion. We all masked up and took a “class photo” and throughout the night, Kathy (our prof) snapped shots that she later shared with us on our free-for-all discussion board (thank you!).

And even better - I expected to go back to my car to see a ticket from PPA on there, but was disappointed (in a positive way) to see that they showed me no love. ;P

The space is beautiful, and it’s open for other plein-air -type events they host. Plus! They have chickens running around! There are also harvests and flowers for sale, and it’s in an area where you can take a few short steps to grab a drink after whatever event you’re attending in the man-made space.

Thank you, Kathy, for arranging this for us and thank you to Dylan and Victoria for hosting a fun evening full of interesting discussions and an awesome networking opportunity. It was worth the trip!

Photo cred: Dylan Garner/Victoria Costa

“Okay, everyone: JAZZ HANDS!”

Photo cred: Dylan Garner/Victoria Costa