Holden Kilbane: Designer

Holden Kilbane is a graduating senior attending the University of Southern California (USC) in the fall. Kilbane has worked as a  graphic designer since the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. 

Graphic design has been a big part of Kilbane’s life since middle school. He enjoys the process of designing and the reward of seeing people appreciate them. 

“Getting to make things for my friends I’d say it’s really rewarding more so than even having a client and being paid to do something,” says Kilbane. “It is nice to see how much people value your work when you do something for your friends and they use it or they appreciate it.”

Becoming a graphic designer for The Cardinal Times staff has taught Kilbane many lessons and has been a very important part of Kilbane’s high school life. 

“First of all, I enjoy just the process of making graphics. Sometimes when I was in class I would walk over to the mass communications classroom and spend some time there also during flex and I just really liked the work environment and the process of watching everybody working together at the same time. Obviously this year I haven’t had the same in person experience, but I think it’s still the same getting to meet a lot of people I work alongside well,” says Kilbane. 

Kilbane plans to continue learning more about journalism and graphic design in college. He is going to major in communications and minor in advertising. He plans to take some more journalism courses while in college. He has also joined  the American Institute of Graphic Arts club at USC. 

Before he leaves The Cardinal Times, he wants to give some advice to those coming into the position and those just starting out as graphic designers.

“Never turn down any graphic requests because the best way to get better is practice and every graphic you do it’s in your hands to make it interesting and valuable,” said Kilbane.