Favorite Typeface: Futura
Favorite Software: Adobe After Effect
Dream Job: URBN Design team, Urban Fashion and/or Music
Ki Beard is a Southern Maryland-based designer pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Design (BSD), expected in 2026. His work spans multimedia, branding, web design, and motion graphics, with a focus on storytelling through moody, cinematic visuals. He draws inspiration from music, fashion, gaming, and urban culture, creating compositions that feel immersive, edgy, and unmistakable. Ki’s approach emphasizes tone, atmosphere, and visual impact, often leaving space for interpretation.
Outside of digital work, he practices drawing and illustration to explore form and movement. His goal is to produce work that is culturally resonant, visually striking, and impossible to ignore.
Adolescence & Social Media
Balance: Adolescence and Social Media
Social media has become a dominant force in adolescent life, shaping identity, relationships, and self-worth during a critical stage of development. While these platforms offer connection and creative expression, excessive use can contribute to anxiety, sleep disruption, reduced attention span, and harmful social comparison. Constant exposure to curated images and opinions can distort reality and intensify pressure to perform or conform. The issue is not the existence of social media, but the absence of balance.
Young people are still developing emotionally and cognitively, making them especially vulnerable to its effects. Promoting digital literacy, healthy boundaries, and offline engagement is essential to ensuring technology supports development rather than undermines it.
View senior book here.