Hannah O'CONNOR

As a Graphic Designer, I am passionate about using text and visuals to raise awareness, portray a difficult experience, and uplift people’s moods. I combine graphic and illustrative styles to tell a story in most of my work. I am, however, flexible within the industry and enthusiastic about learning new techniques of visual communication.

My interests lie in analysing propaganda and activism; how they work and the methods of design that come into play when creating material of this nature. As well as analysing and assessing, I create pieces of work that I hope raises awareness on certain things and make people think more deeply about them.

There are so many different issues in this world that need to be addressed, but I focus my attention on issues that I am most passionate about; mental illness, rape culture, feminism, and grief.

I am most inspired by Shepard Fairey, a contemporary artist who creates pieces of art that have political and social emphasis. With a bold, graphic style, they force the viewer to contemplate issues of politics, gender-based violence, and capitalism. I respect his approach to activism and how he helps out in this world. I also greatly admire South African graphic designer, Megan Bird.

I use Adobe Illustrator to create most of my work, and within my style, I draw inspiration from both Shepard and Megan. Therefore my pieces turn out as a combination of both illustrative and graphic aesthetics.

While activism is mostly my core focus in my body of work, I want to experience different aspects of the Graphic Design industry. I want to participate in projects for book design, packaging, brochures, corporate branding, and more.

Hopefully, with the importance of social media, and the focus on it, young creators will make use of design tools and methods to bring meaningful change to this world. At least, this is what I aim for.