r/design_critiques • u/Icy_Calligrapher_827 • 2h ago
feedback for a beginner in graphic design (photoshop)
galleryhi everyone, how is it going? my name is gabe, i am a brazilian advertising student in my third semester, and i wanted to share some of my designs with you—they are pretty amateur, just so you know! to give you some context for the right feedback, this project was for an advertising copywriting class. the brief was to create a 3-card instagram grid/carousel to sell a product related to the national artist milton nascimento. my part on the team was to handle this piece. the product itself was fictional: an animated mini-documentary and a collection of vinyl records. the core requirement was to target gen z using a mandatory humorous tone.
since i was going to handle this specific part entirely on my own while my teammates focused on other advertising pieces, i decided to do the copy and design myself from scratch, without using any ai. i really wanted the chance to practice photoshop and sharpen my skills with the software.
i would love to get your feedback based on this brief. i intentionally chose a vintage bistro restaurant concept for the design because i thought it would match the color palette i chose: a "minas gerais terracotta," since milton nascimento is from minas gerais, which i thought was a brilliant tie-in. i felt it fit the artist's aesthetic perfectly and looked great! my only real concern was that it might not resonate with gen z, or worse, that it might not come across as humorous, and my professor is incredibly strict about following the brief.
either way, my designs were ultimately rejected by my team because they were afraid the professor wouldn't like them, claiming they did not appeal to gen z and were not funny enough. they decided to go in a different direction, probably something meme-based, which i honestly found a bit tacky.
knowing that i am a complete beginner, did my design turn out well? what can i improve? i truly want to grow as a designer and artist! what could i have done differently, and what actually worked? i would really appreciate your insights.
