“Kid at Heart” Angelica Blanch (IDEA Grad 2025) says everyone’s creatively strong in their own ways
Meet second-year student, Angelica Blanch (IDEA Grad 2025)! Her self-portrait for IDES 133 - Visual Studio taught last year by Jay Bassan is shown above.
“Everyone’s creatively strong in their own ways. One could be skilled at illustration, while the person sitting next to you is strong in their typography work. When it comes down to critique days or group assignments, it really helps to get opinions from people with different skill sets.”
Read Angelica’s story and check out some of her other work for a glimpse into student life at IDEA School of Design at Capilano University.
Self-portrait
The phrase “Kid at Heart” was something I’ve always been described as, and I thought it was only fitting to create my self-portrait based on that phrase. I was highly inspired by Andy Warhol’s style, someone who I’ve looked up to in my art and design pieces.
Self-portrait mood board by Angelica Blanch (IDEA Grad 2025)
“The Assignment” by Jay Bassan, Instructor
Create a mood board visualizing your Passion, Super Power, Values, Purpose and differentiation (students can use any medium for this).
“The Goal” by Jay Bassan, Instructor
To have students think clearly about how to imagine themselves as a brand and use their final self-portrait as an expression of that. This becomes one of the more interesting projects since it happens near the end of class and students are now comfortable enough with the camera.
I remind students that similar to sketching, where you decide where to put the pencil, pen, or mouse to compose your drawing, where do you put the camera to capture a moment or tell a story?
I get some interesting work.
Experience so far at IDEA School of Design
It’s been amazing! I love finally being able to focus on something that I love doing and being surrounded by instructors and friends who feel the same. It gets a bit tiring at times, but it’s all worth it so far!
Featured Work
“Dad”
This portrait of my dad is probably one of my favorites from first year so far! I love working with oils when I paint since it’s one of my favorite mediums.
“The 1975” Swiss Style Gig Poster
This poster was done in one of my classes this term. We had to create a poster for a gig poster designed in the Swiss Style (and of course, I chose to do it on one of my favorite bands). It’s very different than how I’d usually design a poster in my free time, so it was challenging despite how simple the style is.
“Kyoto by Phoebe Bridgers” Tabletop Photography
Tabletop assignment for Jay’s class featuring one of my favorite songs, Kyoto by Phoebe Bridgers. I loved the idea of curating a story around a song, and it was one of those assignments where the vision I had for this came to life!
“David Bowie ‘Heroes’” 60s Cultural Album Cover Design
Fjällräven Annual Report design
I had heard of Fjallraven a couple of years back when the famous Kanken bags were seemingly everywhere, especially for teenage girls. Over the past few years, I had also noticed they also sold clothing items and bags outside of the Kanken collection that seemed to focus more on the outdoors and on those who had a more active lifestyle.
When I delved into doing more research about the company for this project, I found that sustainability and the outdoors were two key features of their ‘brand.’ For my annual report, I wanted to emphasize these aspects of their brand in a form of collage work, which is something I hadn’t explored much until this project. Overall, I had so much fun on every step of this project, from conceptualizing to execution!
Jigsaw Brewery Campaign
Why did you choose IDEA School of Design over other schools?
IDEA advertised itself to be a ‘career-oriented’ program, which proves to be very true. Compared to other schools, that emphasis was what mainly sold me especially since I don’t really see myself in any other career other than in this industry.
I also appreciate how it pushes you to explore various fields of art and design, such as illustration, branding, and interactive design, which allows you to be a more well-rounded creative, something I constantly challenge myself to be!
“IDEA School of Design’s Bachelor Of Design in Visual Communication is a career-oriented program for the next generation of creative professionals with concentrations in branding, illustration and interactive design. IDEA School of Design’s Interaction Design Diploma is a two-year program with career outcomes in the field of digital product design and user experience.”
“The purpose of your portfolio is to demonstrate your creative potential. We assess portfolios on drawing skill, design and creativity.”
Advice for those considering applying to IDEA School of Design
Know the guidelines by heart, and don’t be afraid to attend the Portfolio Review Day. I had the opportunity of attending one even though my portfolio wasn’t 100% complete. This was also when I lived in Indonesia, so I had to prepare for it at 4 in the morning. If I was able to do it, you definitely can too! I also got feedback from my art instructors in high school, which helped when I needed a second opinion on what pieces I should submit.
"Breakthrough Moments" at IDEA School of Design
I used to think to become a great artist is to be a master at every kind of medium. Having been surrounded by my cohort so far has made me realize how everyone’s creatively strong in their own ways. One could be skilled at illustration, while the person sitting next to you is strong in their typography work. When it comes down to critique days or group assignments, it really helps to get opinions from people with different skill sets.
What's your favourite music video?
I have two in mind. One’s Kyoto by Phoebe Bridgers. One of my favorite songs, and I love how silly the music video is.
The other I recently discovered, and I’m obsessed with the lyric video! It’s called Henny in the Hamptons by Bren Joy.
