Virus to Vis Comm

The coronavirus quarantine has been an unprecedented time of recollection for students and staff alike at Center Grove. Many have taken it upon themselves to pick up new quirks and hobbies. One of these individuals in particular is junior Logan Sheley, who discovered a newfound passion for graphic design. This hobby sparked him to create his growing Instagram account @sheleyeditz, of which he started posting edits on in June.

“I actually got interested in graphic design during quarantine this year. I was bored, like most people were, and thought it would be something cool to learn,” Sheley said. “I follow many graphic design accounts to see different ideas to add to my work, but my favorite graphic designer is @bradleyjackdesign. He is the best sports graphic designer, but he still tries to help new graphic designers. He often shouts out work from others and does tutorials to help beginners like me.”

However, like many students with hobbies that they are passionate about, Sheley faces occasional issues with time management. For example, many of his edits consist of over twenty layers, with cropping and effects also needing to be added. With edits taking these many layers to complete, time festers into a great issue. Sheley typically spends around two hours making each edit, although this can easily vary.

“The downside [of making edits] is I often find myself spending too much time on editing when I should be spending some of that time reading my Bible or working on school work,” Sheley said. “Usually I start out by planning how I want the edit to look. Once I have a good idea, I start by cropping out the athlete for the edit. The rest takes multiple layers of images and effects. Each edit is different, but oftentimes I have twenty-plus layers of images or shadow and light effects all layered on to look cool with the athlete.”

Despite that it is time consuming, Sheley continues to construct his many edits, which also act as stress relievers and opportunities to relax, that are posted onto his Instagram account. As a result of him being passionate about visual communications, he has decided to take it upon himself to take it to another level in order to make his edits even better.

“I actually changed my schedule for this year during quarantine just so I could take [visual communications],” Sheley said. “It has really helped me advance the edits I can make in my free time and is also a nice break in the day from everyday school work.”

Sheley’s Instagram page, with its now 30+ posts, focuses primarily on sports edits customly created for his friends, who are fellow student athletes. Additionally, Sheley combines his passion for school athletics and graphic design as the social media intern for the boys basketball team.

“The reason I mainly do CG sports edits is because many of my friends are athletes, so it is cool to do something for them,” Sheley said. “I have made edits for my friends currently at CG and for my brother’s friends that now play college sports. It is just cool to be able to make something for someone that I know I would like if I were them. I really just want to reach as many athletes and sports teams as possible.” 

Although some students may know what they will be doing once they reach college, Sheley, despite thoroughly enjoying visual communications and publishing his many sports edits, remains on the fence.

“Since I am relatively new to visual communications, I am not 100 percent on if I want to do it as a career,” Sheley said. “It has definitely been a thought though since I really enjoy making edits.”

However, Sheley still has high hopes for the future regarding his passion for visual communications, both for his Instagram page and for possible work.

“I’m hoping to eventually hit one thousand followers one day,” Sheley said. “And I am also hoping to work with college or professional teams one day.” 

For now though, Sheley continues to work for hours on creating edits for his athlete friends.

“I love sports, and I love helping people,” Sheley said. “I love how creative and custom edits are and that I could make someone’s day by making them something that normally only D1 or professional athletes would get.”