Chasing Clarity Through Design

Melson Miranda, a Visual Communication Design grad student at RIT, is a user experience designer who is driven by curiosity and a love for simplicity. He shares his experience of winning the People's Choice Award at the CAD Visual Exhibition 2025 for his project Yves Saint Laurent | Persuasion Piece.

What inspired your project?

YSL has always stood out to me as a luxury brand — not just for its bold fashion, but for how it tells stories through form, texture, and tone. Before starting this project, my personal goal was to improve my lighting skills and learn how to work with metals in 3D.

Share the story behind the scenes, your process, any surprising challenges or aha moments?

This piece was built using Cinema 4D, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Audition. The project came together in about a week, with just one day spent setting up scenes in Cinema 4D. I worked with materials like rose gold and black aluminum — chosen after references that matched YSL’s visual tone — to capture a sleek, refined look.

My process isn’t anything flashy — I just have a good memory for visuals that inspire me. I spend a lot of time looking at design work, staying updated, and trying to be better with every project. What drives me is a genuine will to improve and learn from each piece. I wanted to push myself as much as possible. One surprising challenge was converting the YSL logo into a sphere using particles. It took a few rounds of trial and error before I finally figured it out. Rendering was another hurdle — I was still figuring out the right settings at the time, and I finally landed on a setup that worked because of this project.

How does it feel to have won the People’s Choice award?

I’m honored to have received the People’s Choice award for the CAD Visual Exhibition 2025, and even happier that people genuinely connected with the visuals. This wouldn’t have been possible without my professor, Daniel DeLuna, who always pushed me to level up. I remember attendees being curious about the process and asking thoughtful questions — those conversations were more rewarding than the award itself. I even had a small chat with reps from Adobe who were excited to know more about the piece, which meant a lot. This project became a turning point for me with Cinema 4D. It gave me the confidence to open it up more regularly — even just for simple mockups. I’m graduating this semester, and I’m looking forward to finding a job where I can learn and work on real-world problems, keep growing, and apply everything I’ve learned.

What advice would you give to future participants or creators?

I don’t think I’m at a place yet to hand out advice, but from one designer to another: be brutally honest with yourself. Make no excuses, and show up for work. AI is here to stay — don’t treat it as competition, treat it like a collaborator that can help with those early idea stages. And most importantly, don’t wait for a good sunny day to create — just start.