PROFIL
EYou can say that art is everywhere.
However, whether you see it every day in
your life or not genuinely depends on your
perspective. For me, it intertwines around the
front-end layer of your digital screens. My
professional life revolves around email. I work
with the presentation layer – the one that most
consumers see and interact with in their daily
lives. Holistically, everything visual is built around
a foundation (a MIME type to start with),
especially when you are working on large-scale
email marketing platforms where logic and data
interlace together.
Taking the time to build something from
nothing (I do a lot of hand coding) is precisely why
my figure drawing and digital art are such
important hobbies to me. I technically started as
a child – placing certain shapes and varied lines
together in order to create faces and render
people – and have always drawn and used
computers. When it came to taking on a bigger
technical challenge, I transferred my skills to my
day job as an email developer. In a way, email and
the way users interact with it are far more
satisfying than most art pieces I create because I
enjoy seeing the effectiveness of my work and
how it improves my clients’ business.Over the years, being away from home has
meant that my art workflow has changed from
the original mainstays like Photoshop and Corel
Painter with a Wacom Intuos to a more mobile
platform – carrying my iPad Pro and sketchbook
each day to work means I can still make art part
of my everyday life.
I often find myself calling upon my art
background for my day job. Working with my
favourite applications like Procreate, Clip Studio
Paint and Adobe Fresco on the iPad Pro is the
perfect distraction for those days when I can’t
figure out an error on an email client.
All of this has helped me appreciate the hard
work I put in as an undergrad and though at one
point I sold art at conventions, that mindset has
shifted. Nowadays my hobby of drawing people
has made me want to explore what else I can do
illustration-wise to give back to my multicultural
Dominican, Spanish and Lebanese heritage and
vibrant community.DIGITAL ART
Aysha Marie Zouain on how her digital art translates into
creating better email marketing campaignsBEYOND PIXELSZouain is a senior email
marketing developer and
designer.
t: @blackendhonestyFEED
Beyond pixels
STUFF I LIKE
DANIEL VINNICOMBE
UI designer
w: https://orsolo.comREFACTORING UI
Adam Wathan and Steve
Schoger’s online book,
Refactoring UI, has been a
great asset and is useful for
all levels of design and even
development. It covers
everything from typography,
colours and how best to
approach web design.
https://refactoringui.com/book/LY F T COL ORBOX
This colour tool enables you
to create custom colour
palettes online. It’s great
when you’re looking to start
something new and you want
to quickly try out different
shades. It also gives you all
the information you need in
order to apply the palettes in
your work.
https://www.colorbox.io/FIGMA
If I had to pick one, I’d say that
this is probably my favourite
design tool at the moment.
Being able to access a design
tool on the browser has been
absolutely awesome and it
means that I can share work
with anybody collaboratively
whatever computer they
happen to use.
https://figma.com