Since many of our marketing materials are show specific, I created a smaller palette for each performance and then a broader palette for the more general marketing materials. The smaller palettes are more effective when the posters and banners for an event are on their own, such as a bus station ad or a large banner. The more general palette was created for consistency, but was still very adaptive and worked well with a variety of photographic styles. I was only given one typeface to use, so I used scale and color to create interest and a more effective visual hierarchy. The photography I was able to use depended on the company or artist that would be performing, so I worked closely with their marketing teams to get the best possible assets that we could use.

Brand Design, Environmental Design, Information Design, Interactive Design

The goal of my thesis project was to educate parents about the positive effects playing video games can have on their kids, connect parents to resources that will help them understand game content and inspire them to buy more games for their kids.

From surveying members of my target audience, I learned that shopping for video games can be a very intimidating experience for a lot of parents. Most of them avoid specialty stores and instead choose to shop at retail stores such as Best Buy or Target. To address this issue, I designed a retail space that would be found in a retail store like Best Buy or Target. This area organizes games by core learning skills so that parents can quickly and easily find games based on their positive benefits.

For these retail spaces I also designed engaging touchscreen displays that allows parents to learn more about any of the video games they are considering to buy for their kids. The bright colors and intuitive navigation also makes it easy for kids to browse games with their parents.

The majority of the parents I surveyed were either dissatisfied or unaware of the current ratings system, so I created a new ratings system that is easier for them to understand and incorporated them into a new package design for video games. The new system reads more like a nutrition label. It provides parents with the both the positive benefits of a game as well as a warning for any content that might be cause for their concern. It features relevant information from trusted sources such as Common Sense Media, The ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board), and Metacritic to give parents the information they need to decide whether or not a game is right for their kids.

Brand Design

The typography is similar to that which can be found on the colorful hand painted signs and art found in the market stalls and trucks that populate the streets of India. It also utilized worn wood and stone textures covered with bright and vivid colored paint. However, I tried to give these more traditional Indian visual elements will have a more modern spin, to reflect the fact that most of her films address the globalization of culture. The color palette for this film festival was inspired by the brightly colored silks commonly wore in India and vintage Bollywood film posters. I found that the old cracked walls of Mumbai covered with brightly colored paint to be a good visual representation of the optimism she is trying to convey.

Package Design

For this project, we had to choose an architect we admire and create a brand of house paint based on their work. I chose Le Corbusier, who was a French-Swiss architect and painter widely considered to be one of the pioneers of modern architecture.  His designs were known for combining the functionality of the modern movement with bold expressionism. He also studied visual art and was initially drawn to Cubism. Feeling that Cubism had grown too romantic, he co-wrote ”Apres le Cubism” with artist Amedee Ozenfant. This manifesto was his ode to the new artistic movement: Purism.

For the packaging, I created drawings inspired by Le Corbusier’s sketches as well as some abstract shapes inspired by his paintings. His paintings are full of bright, bold shapes so it was a fun challenge to integrate his forms into the paint labels while still maintaining a clear visual hierarchy.

Package Design

The objective of this project was to refresh an existing brand of tea, and I chose Traditional Medicinals. I have been enjoying their tea for years and have always thought their packaging was a missed opportunity. You wouldn’t know it from the current packaging, but what sets them apart from other tea brands is that it prioritizes its nutritional benefits ahead of everything else.

For research, I looked to images of vintage elixirs, medicine bottles and botanical illustrations for inspiration. I created a logo similar to the examples I found using a hand drawn Didone-styled type and Futura Condensed typeface. Initially, the design was looking a bit dated so I modernized the concept by assigning a bright, bold color to the boxes for each category of tea the brand offers (herbal teas, detox teas, women’s teas, etc).

Experimental Typography

The third and final project for Experimental Typography we had to choose a color, and then research and find subjects related to that color. I immediately thought of the urban legend that eating green M&Ms makes you sexually aroused. I filled a large area with green M&Ms and removed them one by one as if they had been eaten, revealing the type. One of my other ideas involved oxidizing thin copper to create a green patina. Usually this occurs naturally, but I accelerated the process by treating thin copper sheets with sandpaper, vinegar and sea salt. When I achieved the desired result, I cut the sheets to create letterforms similar to those found in the typeface Clarendon.

Brand Design

LuLuLemon was founded in 1998. The idea was for the store to act as  a community hub where people could learn and discuss the physical aspects of healthy living from yoga and diet to running and cycling as well as the mental aspects of living a healthy lifestyle. 

Leading a healthy lifestyle is difficult and most people can’t do it without a strong support system. The community aspect of this brand is what separates it from other companies such as Gap and Forever 21, and yet we see very little of this on their promotional materials. Being alongside others who are facing the same challenges gives people hope.

If their brand is centered around this community of people trying to exercise and live a healthy lifestyle then the brand needs to celebrate their diversity and speak to the motivations that they all have in common. Broadening their appeal to a larger audience will give them a much needed boost to their profits. Companies like Old Navy and Athleta found a great deal of success doing just that.

I tried to explore the type as a visual element and experiment with the negative spaces between the letters. I also explored symbols common with wellness and yoga such as the lotus flower, the hamsa symbol and the mandala.  When it came to color, I explored colors that one might find in serene and peaceful settings like a sunrise or a misty morning on a lake.

Brand Design

For this project, I had to identify problems that we felt could be solved by the design process.

I explored many different topics I could investigate for this project, but came to the conculsion that I wanted to help inform individuals and groups about everything that is happening in the local community to fight poverty.  It would help coordinate efforts between fundraising and local collection efforts to get what is needed to where it is needed most. It will link them to fundraising efforts and charities if they want to donate, and links to community service opportunities if they would like to volunteer. This guide would also help utilize these groups strengths. For example, it would guide teachers to how they can become tutors at local shelters and more business saavy individuals to how they can help the homeless to fill out forms and applications.

To accomplish these things, I developed a brand called Helping Up.

Since the idea here is to bring people together to fight poverty, I wanted this brand to communicate a sense of solidarity and teamwork. I also want it to communicate what it does, so it needs to communicate a sense of hope and the desire to help rebuild people's lives.The tone of the brand was upbeat and positive. It explored themes of compassion and equality. It’s goal was to motivate individuals and groups in the community to work together and invest whatever resources they can to help fight poverty here in the Twin Cities.

Brand Design

This project began with me recreating a sign from a farmer’s market made with a sharpie marker and a notecard. The objective was to take an example of poorly envisioned communication and improve upon the base elements to create something that demonstrates good use of hierarchy and composition. From there I developed into a visual system including a jar of honey, a website and a business card.

I researched the company further, tracking down the actual farm where the honey was produced. I kept digging until I felt I had a good understanding of who the company was and what they wanted to be. I achieve this, I explored ways I could combine bold typefaces like Chaparral Pro and Minion Pro with some of the hand drawn type concepts  I was considering for the initial sign I created so that it would stand apart from other similar products at the farmer’s market.

Book Design

For this project, we had to design a book around a theme. However, we were only allowed to use black plus two PMS colors. 

At this time I was reading a lot about everyday foods that have been used for thousands of years because of their health benefits so I decided to explore the topic further. I created a book that  explained the history and health benefits of these superfoods, and offered suggestions of how you can incorporate them into your daily diet. 
A "superfood" is a food that is unprocessed or is minimally processed, so I wanted photography that also shared those qualities. I looked for photography that looked at these foods closely and intimately without any dressing or touching up.

The typography was inspired by old medical journals, so I chose to use the typeface Adobe Jenson Pro since the letterforms closely resembled those in the typefaces that they used. I paired it with ITC Legacy Sans since they share many of the same qualities.