Graphic Designer Profile - Maria Ppiros

Cheryl Rabbah · April 20, 2021

In part three of the Graphic Designer series, we spoke to Maria Ppiros, a graphic designer and illustrator, about her latest designs, being in the first group to graduate from a new course, and background.

Pictured: Mothers Day 2021 Card Collection

A little bit about your illustration & graphic design background

My specialised areas are graphic design and botanical illustration, with my background coming from a combination of both study and practice-based work. Having a University degree in Design serves as my foundation; however, I rely on my client work and business connections to draw ‘real-life’ inspiration from. I love working with people and learning things along the way but most importantly, I am passionate about helping people – whether that involves executing their dream invitation design, capturing the essence of their business in a logo, or depicting flora to help the public develop pro-environmental attitudes.

Pictured: 'Happy Mother's Day' featuring Waratah

What inspired the Mother’s Day card designs?

The 2021 Mother’s Day cards were inspired by a range of research work I am completing investigating the use of native Australian botany as an educational tool for promoting the environment to the public. The illustrations on the Mother’s Day cards come from the larger body of work and I wanted to make these works more accessible to the public, so thought that a small series of cards would be perfect!

Pictured: 'I love you' featuring Australian Cotton Rose

What do you use for your illustrations

I use a range of mediums to create my work! For my traditional pieces I tend to use watercolours, pencils, pastels and charcoal, but for more contemporary and experimental work I use a lot of mixed media – which can be anything from ink to paint to collage. But for all my graphic design and digital work (digital illustrations), I use a range of programmes including Adobe Photoshop CC, InDesign and Illustrator.

Pictured: 'Mother's Day' featuring Feather Flower

The degree you completed

Last year I completed a ‘Bachelor of Design: Illustration and Animation’ at the University of South Australia and as this degree was new in 2018, I was amongst the first cohort of students to complete the programme. Now I am a research student at UniSA, completing my honours this year and going on to do higher research next year. My research work looks at the use of botanical illustration, particularly native Australian flora, and how it can be used as an educational tool to foster pro-environmental attitudes (as I described above). I love combining my love of botanical illustration and graphic design together with my research. I also find client work, such as event stationery and business branding, to be super refreshing from my research and I also find that they complement one another and generally enhance my skills and knowledge set.