September 2025 // Personal
This project started with a simple idea: take something unexpected and reimagine it through design. While browsing an oddities shop in Burlington, VT, I stumbled across a collection of vintage medical slides - objects not typically thought of as creative material. I picked up two, curious to see how they might spark something new.
At first, my goal was to design pieces that mimicked the look and feel of the original slides. But as I experimented, I discovered a style that felt much more compelling, and decided to follow that direction instead. The result is two striking poster designs, born from the same source material, yet visually distinct and entirely unique.
While the inspiration still came from the medical slides, the way I incorporated them evolved far beyond what I originally imagined. In the first design, the X-ray and lungs remain the focal point, staying true to the medical theme. But for the second, I took a completely different approach. I'd been working on an unrelated poster centered around eyes and found one image I really liked. After image tracing it in Illustrator and bringing it into Photoshop, I experimented by layering one of the slides as a texture using the “Glowing Edges” filter. Through a lot of trial, error, and playful distortion, the result became something glitchy, surreal, and entirely new.
For me, this project wasn't just a step back into the graphic design process after a summer away from it, it was about exploration: embracing unexpected inspiration, adapting through experimentation, and letting the creative process lead to outcomes that surprise you.
With how these turned out, I don't feel as though the project is truly finished. There's more I can explore here, and if I come across new slides in that shop, I'll likely return to expand on the idea. Looking ahead, I expect to keep seeking out unusual objects and using them as sparks for design. There's beauty everywhere - it's just a matter of noticing it and shaping it into something unique.
