Kenisha Rullan - Designer & Illustrator

Kenisha Rullan is a Designer and Illustrator based in New York City. She holds an BFA from Parsons The New School for Design and has a career at a creative agency. Kenisha’s interest in art began at a young age, she drew bubble letter names for her friends in middle school, and now combines images and typography with narrative in her editorial designs. “As a visual person, art and design helps me map out my thoughts and understand the world better. It’s just the way I respond to the things I learn about or am confused about. If it helps me, by sharing it to the world, I hope it helps others as well.” Kenisha’s thesis project “Let’s Learn Baybayin” is a collection of three books for kids and really anyone interested in learning a pre colonial script of the Philippines. The books cover the Baybayin alphabet, creating words by putting letters together, and a workbook for practicing Baybayin letters. Kenisha is part of Tagalikha, a collective platform for Filipinx creatives and Filipinxs pursuing creative fields, which is evolving and creating content for current events such as Black Lives Matter, the Junk Terror Bill, and art for activism. She also creates through Kapareha, currently researching Filipino patterns and motifs to learn more about the Philippines’ precolonial past.

kapareha.com/about
@kapareha

Was art always a part of your life growing up? When did you decide to pursue it as a career?
I grew up in a creative family. From a young age I wanted to be an artist, but throughout my life I didn’t exactly know what it meant to live as one. I didn’t decide to pursue a creative career until my senior year of high school when I started looking for colleges. I actually planned to attend my local university and get an English degree. But I kept hearing about this design school in New York City called Parsons. It was as if the universe was telling me to go there. So I applied. It was the only art/design school I applied to and after the thrill of college applications, I got accepted there. It was a hard decision, because it meant moving across the country away from my family and the school, let alone NYC, wasn’t exactly cheap. But I didn’t want the lack of money to limit my potential to grow. Although taking out student loans wasn’t preferable, I had faith everything would turn out okay. The following summer I moved to NYC without having previously visited before, but as soon as I got here, everything felt familiar to me. I wasn’t at all afraid to be here. I’ve now lived here for 5 years, graduated Parsons last May, and I work at an awesome creative agency while still being able to do my personal creative passions.

What drew you to editorial design and hand lettering?
I originally gravitated towards lettering because I was into graffiti when I was in middle school. I love bubble letters! I would draw my friends’ names in this bubble letter style and give it to them as gifts. They would happily slip it in the front plastic sleeve of their binders. Before I knew it, kids in my school I didn’t even know were asking me to draw their names too. Since then, lettering has been my way of connecting to other people and giving them joy.

I love editorial design because of the combination of images, typography, and narrative. But I think it’s more so my connection to printed matter. I am fascinated by the ability to embed information in the materiality of objects. I have always loved the tangibility of design. 

What inspires you and influences your art?
Stories are what inspire me, not just as an artist but as a human being. The world has gone through so much. Learning these lessons from others have helped me get to where I am today. And sharing these bits and bobs of interesting facts, words of wisdom, and stories are rooted in my work, and it’s driven by curiosity. As a visual person, art and design helps me map out my thoughts and understand the world better. It’s just the way I respond to the things I learn about or am confused about. If it helps me, by sharing it to the world, I hope it helps others as well.

How do you reflect your identity, personality in your work?
I’m forever curious and full of love for others. My personality is more laid-back. I like to act more than speak, and let my work speak for me. So I never try to rush my work process. As a Filipina, an Asian-American, and a 1.5 generation immigrant, I interweave aspects of my heritage and history into my work in hopes of inspiring others who are like me that they can do anything they set their mind to, no matter the obstacles. 

What are some of your favorite projects you've worked on?
Tagalikha—my friends and I built a platform for Filipinx creatives, where we highlight the talent and hard work of the Filipinx creative community in hopes of uplifting them and inspiring others to pursue their creative passions. Recently, we’ve decided to move on from this initial mission, and we’re evolving it into something we feel is more imperative today. Stay tuned!

Another favorite project of mine is my thesis ‘Let’s Learn Baybayin’, where I created three educational books for kids and anyone wanting to learn the pre-colonial written language through illustrated books. I break down the writing system for people to learn how to recognize the shapes as letters, how to put the letters together to create words, and finally, how to read and write each letterform. 

Why did you create Let's Learn Baybayin educational materials for kids?
I made this project because it upset me that everyone I asked, had no idea what it was. Not my parents, my grandparents, or my relatives currently living in the Philippines. It frustrated me that this beautiful writing system was not in the forefront of our culture. Why did our languages have to be filtered through a colonizer’s writing system? So I went down this rabbit hole of answering all the questions I had surrounding baybayin, which led to this need. How can I raise awareness of it and ultimately teach it? By the time I was studying it, there was plenty of information online and simple tutorials of the letters. I knew that it would rapidly come into common knowledge over the months. 

During the summer, I met someone who had a baybayin tattoo and I was thrilled to see it in a normal everyday encounter. But, he couldn’t answer me properly when I asked what it translated to. That devastated me. Because as a practical person, I believed that language was to be functional as well as beautiful. I was fascinated by the system and the information embedded in its strokes. I firmly believe there is more to it than we know. And if we all come together to learn more about it, what if we discover something about our pre-colonial history? That’s the ultimate goal. So the project aims to educate others on what it is, and teach it in a way that is easy enough for a child to understand. So it ended up being “for kids” because they are the future, but also it’s really for anyone who wants to learn. 

Do you have any upcoming projects or art pieces in the works?
I’m currently inspired by Filipino patterns and motifs. I started a research project diving deep into these patterns in hopes of learning more about the pre-colonial past. Follow along and learn with me!

Photos courtesy of Kenisha Rullan