Who am I? Who do I want to be? What do I want to say and how do I want to say it?
Design is often described as the practice of understanding others: their needs, behaviors, & motivations. But what happens when you turn that lens inward?
This book is a personal journey of self reflection and growth, exploring how a deeper understanding of my own personality shapes the way I design. Through statistical assessments and primary sources, I examine the patterns, preferences, and biases that influence my creative decisions. The goal is to understand not just how I design, but why. Looking at the idea of a living prototype, ‘proto’ refers to original or first in time, and ‘type’ refers to traits that shape thought and behavior
Prototype
FOCUSES
Typography
Layout
Hierarchy
Color Theory
Ideation
Copy
Color Theory
Exhibition
PROTOTYPE
a living first iteration of the self; unrepeated and unfolding in real time; learning, adapting, and taking form through experience, filtered by your personality type and traits
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 FRAMEWORK
Integrity, inclusivity, creativity, and collaboration are more than personality traits, they’re design principles. This is an introduction into how generalized personality traits have (un)consciously shaped my identity as a designer. Through an examination of my personality using standardized tests, it helped me start to formulate how personality shapes the way I think, make, and create.
02 FOUNDATION
At the end of the day, the Enneagram and the Myers Briggs tests are generalized personality tests, that don't personally know me. There’s so much more beyond a 100 question personality test. The best research is from primary sources from my childhood that further examine how life experiences influenced my personality and my career path in design.
03 FUNCTION
What's next: an introduction to my design modality, aka, my approach to design, and how understanding myself allows me to become a better designer for others. My work centers around the idea of human centered design (HCD), which, to me, is about slowing down enough to truly understand people, their stories, motivations, and challenges, so that every creative decision is rooted in a genuine desire to help their vision grow.
04 EXHIBITED
To expand this exploration, I engaged with two female mentors, using personality frameworks as a starting point for deeper conversation. Rather than focusing solely on test results, I explored their backgrounds, careers, passions, and perspectives to better understand how they communicate and experience the world. Through this process, I discovered that real understanding comes from connection and dialogue, reinforcing my approach to design as something rooted in listening, interpreting, and looking beyond the surface of digital data.
THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition draws from the second section of my book, Foundation, which explores how childhood shapes our personalities and who we become. Creating this exhibition gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own childhood, evaluate the experiences that have led me to this point, and help me find my true passions. During that process, I found it healing to write a letter to younger me. What surprised me most was realizing that the advice I gave her was advice I subconsciously needed to hear myself.
As someone who has always been inspired by quotes, I began thinking about how others could take part in this experience as well, and write their own letters.
My hope is that this exhibition becomes a space for connection, reflection, and inspiration. As a human-centered designer, I focus on the personal and emotional aspects of art and creativity, and I wanted this interactive exhibition to embody that philosophy. You never know, your words may be exactly what someone else needs to hear.
As you’ll see in the images below, I brought in a shelf to house mementos from my childhood to help viewers immerse themselves in my life in addition to how I described my childhood in the book.
The image on the right contains elements from my book that I recomposed to fit in pink frames. As pink was everything to me during my childhood, it’s reflected largely throughout this exhibition. To make it easier for viewers to quickly understand the interactive nature of the exhibit, I printed signage, shown here, and in the later images, to make participation simple. The cards are real examples of visitors’ letters to their younger selves.
I also brought in photo albums, books, baby shoes, my first binky clip that is in one of the highlighted photos, sunglasses, and one of my favorite hats- I was one for accessorizing.
UNBOUND: DVC BFA CAPSTONE EXHIBITION
Saturday, May 9, 2026
I offered a takeaway for those who visited my exhibition. The front branched off the idea of my showcase, based on section two of my book, Foundation. I included a quote that defined the project, and a sticker, elevated off the page a ¼ inch to add dimension. I chose a postage stamp because they’re a symbolic representation of connection and communication, much like my exhibition. As one individual writes a letter, they mark it with a stamp before sending it in the mail for another to receive.
The back card included my business information, the logo for my project, and an Instagram account dedicated specifically to this project (more information below).
THE TAKEAWAY
A Living Prototype is an extension of the social and interactive aspects of my exhibition, sharing anonymous letters to people’s younger selves through social media. The letters are emotional, raw, and sometimes humorous, offering honest reflections that are meant to inspire connection and self-reflection in others.
To bring the project full circle, I hope to eventually transform the collected letters from the exhibition into a book, creating a lasting archive of shared experiences, vulnerability, and healing.
@A_LIVING_PROTOTYPE
MORE IMAGES COMING SOON
To Prototype, my college finale:
I’m writing this two weeks after the exhibit concluded, one week after I have graduated summa cum laude from UWM with a BFA in Design and Visual Communication, and a minor in Art History, and two weeks into my full-time job at a marketing agency. To say a lot has changed in the past two weeks is an understatement, but such is life, and life is ever-changing and ever-evolving. I set out on this journey, writing a book, trying to discover myself, and in the process, I realized it’s not about me- it’s about the experiences and the people who have made my life what it is today. I am nothing but a collection of memories and shared experiences waiting to be retold- communicated. Communication, a process of conveying information between a sender and a receiver.I realized that communication is the closest thing we have to closing the distance between two people. Paired with design, I learned how to take something unspoken and make it visible, and maybe even something another person could recognize themselves in. That's what Prototype became for me; not a showcase of skills, but an act of putting myself out there, and hoping others do the same, bridging the divide, and creating a community. As I close out one chapter, and begin the next, I want to reiterate, were all a living prototype, a first iteration of the self, learning and adapting in real time.
A thought to my future self: Don't be so hard on yourself, learn from it, and remember younger you who used to dream about the milestones you're living right now.