The Numeric Institute is a research and development institute that celebrates the form and function of numbers. This is a desktop calendar designed for the company to use as a promotional piece. To celebrate numbers, I used many different typefaces to create one large number representative of the month. Recognizing the high printing cost of this product, I also created a version of the calendar in black and white for a lower.
This is a poster designed for a concert occurring in Downtown Winston-Salem. The goal of this piece was to create a poster that had a Disney theme but appealed to all ages. This was accomplished by using the primary colors often associated with Disney. Since nothing says Disney like Mickey Mouse, the “Mickey Shape” was used as a very subtle background. The information was arranged within the three color sections for easy reading. This poster was put up all around town to advertise the event while the second design was used for the web.
While working at The Bloom Agency, I designed this statement stuffer for Southern Community Bank and Trust. This piece was placed inside the envelopes for all September statements. This gave it a reach of 31, 000 people. The challenge was to create a mailer that would advertise a new program the bank had while keeping with the colors, typefaces and logo already within their identity system. The piece introduces the program and leads the reader through the important by first explaining the program, then offering information on how to use it and ending with a call to action.
Another piece designed while working at The Bloom Agency is this billboard for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. This is an annual event sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. There were three walks in the Piedmont Triad Area with all of the billboards looking the same, just changing the walk dates and location. I designed multiple billboards and these designs are continuing to be used each year.
The challenge for this project was to read the award winning book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and then re-design the book jacket. After reading this book a few things stuck out to me...........
These are two social justice posters to bring awareness to deforestation. For the first one, I illustrated a tree and placed facts about forests and deforestation throughout the branches. The second poster uses a grid system to represent how much of our ancient forests have been destroyed. By turning the photo into a grid, I then represented the percentages at the bottom within the photo. Only 20% of the boxes show the trees still green to represent the small percentages of forests remaining today.
After seeing the current business card for Neaco, a local home decor store in Blowing Rock, NC, I decided to re-design their identity. Their store is filled with bright colored, contemporary designs and this is the opposite of what their current business card portrays. First, I re-designed their logo. After deciding on a color palette, I created the business card. To incorporate the new color palette, as well as distinguish between job titles, the employees will have a different color business card based on their position. Once these were designed, I also created letterhead, envelopes and a gift card to go with the identity system.
For this piece, I worked with the Peace College Wellness Center to create an installation for their theme “Healthy Body, Healthy World, Healthy Mind”. After seeing the amount of plastic bottles and cans that are used on a daily basis, I decided to design a piece that would show this large number. Rather than simply putting a recycling symbol on a piece of paper, I wanted to actually use the recyclable items to deliver the message. The goals of this project were to encourage recycling through art, promote sustainable behavior and provoke thought by turning a common, recognizable symbol into a piece of art. With the help of the campus as well as family and friends, I collected all the bottle tops and can tabs over a month. The final piece is created with 783 bottle tops and 467 can tabs.
For this project, I worked with the Admissions Department at Peace College. Along with two other students, we created posters to promote "Peace Traditions". I chose to do my poster on Peanut Week. These posters are going to printed/mounted [24"x36"] and hung in the new Admissions Department so they will be seen by prospective students as they tour the college.
Of all the graphic design specialties, there are a few that I would love to work in. Information design is an area that I think I would excel in. “Graphic design is about framing ideas, projecting attitudes, promulgating styles and managing information, but not always at the same time.” The way information is given to people greatly affects their comprehension of the material. By working on the information architecture and managing such a large amount of type, the information is more successful. Advertising and Branding is another area I believe I would enjoy working in. If I went into this area, I would want to work in a design firm where I would be able to work for many different clients so I would be designing many different things instead of sticking to one client and one style guide. Environmental design also seems like something I would really enjoy. I tend to design with a very simple, clean line feel. In designing signs in theme parks and other venues, my design style would be very effective.
Flywheel Design is a firm I found in Durham. When looking at their website, I saw a variety of design work including: print, web, identity and experimental. The print area seemed to have a variety of pieces including posters, brochures, magazines, and wine bottle labels. The identity section also had a lot of pieces that looked like projects I would enjoy working on.
I have been asked in another one of my classes a few times now, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” and “What do you want to do with your major?”. I have really had to think about this a lot recently and think about what will make me happy. I’ve decided that my ideal job would be to work in a medium sized design firm. I don’t want to work somewhere that is so big, I don’t get to know all the people I work with. On the other hand, I don’t want a place so small that I only have a couple people to bounce ideas off of. I also want to work in a firm that has a fun atmosphere. I definitely don’t want to be in a firm that has no sense of design throughout the space and especially not a cubicle. I would love to start off somewhere as a junior designer and be able to learn from those around me and move up within the firm. I don’t want to work in the same firm for my whole career because I want the experience of working in different design firms with different people.
What are yalls thoughts on this for the homepage? The four boxes would be clickable to go to that piece or you can browse through the portfolio nav on the left.
After our crit on Wednesday, I made a few changes to my site. I took away the outlined boxes where my art and descriptions are and made the boxes look like the other two. I chose to use a darker shade of the background color to put my art in so it flows with the rest of the page and keeps the page structured but is suttle enough to not take away from the art. I also used more of the space within this box to show a closer view of the tree that I illustrated. (graphic design will be in a different color to show the section you're in...it's just not in this pic)
This page shows what the graphic design portion of my portfolio would look like. After clicking on graphic design in the portfolio nav, this page would come up with the first piece in the main box with a description under it. After viewing this piece, clicking on the right or left arrow beside the box would navigate throughout the pieces in that specific category. I am going to include the actual size of each piece within the description to give the viewer an idea of how the piece is intended to be viewed.
This tutorial used the pen tool in photoshop along with lots of layer effects and brush effects. I still don't understand the pen tool in photoshop but, one day I will! CLICK HERE!
After completing the wireframe, I went ahead and designed one of the pages. My portfolio is broken down into four sections. My artwork will show up in the box and you will be able to click on the arrows to move between pieces within each category. The page layout between each section will be the same to have a uniform look.
In this tutorial, I learned how to do simple type treatments using the layer properties options. After doing one of the type treatments, I spend some time testing other elements in this section and creating my own type look.
I used Garrick's instructions on how to make rounded corners and it's just not working for me. Does anyone know why this is what the corners look like? It's like the background is showing through slightly around the corner images...
I made the browns match in Dreamweaver and when I preview in Safari the colors are fine. BUT, in Firefox, the brown for the corners and the background do not match even though it's the same color. Any ideas?
Here is where the tutorial is.
