Independent Client, NorEaster Industries, Buffalo NY

NorEaster Industries is headed by Jason Bussard of Buffalo New York. It is a computer technology service company. This client project was a good experience because it taught me a lot about working with a customer, and communicating as well as cooperating. The theme for this business set was snowflakes, and the client wanted the tone of his complany to be simple, balanced, and colorful. These images include: Business card, Front of postcard, back of postcard, and a stationary letter head.

Modernism vs. Post-Modernism Posters

Post- Modernism

Modernism Poster

Modernism vs. Post-Modernism was a challenge for me. Designing in a post-modern way is difficult because it is the opposite of the education I have received so far in college. Usually things are supposed to be balanced, legible, rational, and purposeful. In post-modern there are no rules, and as the designer one can control the heirarchy of importance and unbalance the design as much as they artistically want to. I feel like both of my designs are successful. The post-modern poster was fun to do, but was hard to break the rules. I layered images, and let the elements fall into place how I instinctually felt them go. The Modern poster was simplictic and rationally designed, it showed off the Paul Rand quote, and the design did what it needed to do. I feel like the black and white background really holds the quote and supports it, and does not distract. The Graphic Design is invisible, and the content is being show cased.

Animal Crackers! Re- Design

Animal Crackers!

I remember eating animal crackers when I was younger and loving them more than anything. I think to children decades ago and presently, this "cracker" is an enormous part of everyday life and could use some re-invention. So I tried to make the design my own, and like what I came up with.

One of the most interesting things I am glad I worked through was the illustrations of the animals. Though it was a challenge I think this is the most polished Illustrations I've done in my short career as a computer artist. I wanted to appeal to children, and use simple colors. I chose the main pallet to be a take on primary colors, with a more modern greenish tint yellow, and darker blue. The circus tent was fun to design, and I think it added a lot of movement to the overall Illustration.

I chose to change the font of the brand, and I feel like it brought Barnum's Animals Crackers into modern times. The circus font, although a trademark, was out dated for me.

For the construction of my package I even added the string to carry the box, which I feel put authenticity into the package. I am happy with this design, and it was fun to do.

Book Jacket Design- Tom Wolfe

For this book jacket design I was given two books by the same author and asked to create a "set". They needed to look aesthetically similar, and have a cohesive design. I did research on these books and found out that plot wise although different, they are focused on a certain individual going through some type of journey in life. So, I decided to use Adobe Illustrator to compose landscapes and create a journey on the page.

I am extremely happy with how my designs came out for these book jackets. I feel like they were very imaginative and gave a new life to these books. I was really happy with how the illustration of Tom Wolfe's name turned out when I placed it on the design, and I feel like these jackets were very successful as a pair.

I am definitely interested in book jacket design, and would want to work on more projects like this one.

Theater Poster- Arabian Nights

For our Theater Poster assignment we had to create a promotional picture for the play The Arabian Nights, written by Mary Zimmerman. After doing some research on the plot and having a meeting with the director of the play I decided I wanted to be simple with my design.

The colors are cool and relaxing, and the silhouette of the city skyline lends a sense of mystery to the play. Also I like the way I contrasted the information of the play with the elements of the sky and buildings. The hierarchy of information is implied, and I feel as if the viewer could easily read all the important dates and times easily.

I designed the A and N in Illustrator creating a sort of "sword" shape and I am really happy with how the title came out. I also learned about not depending on strokes around my images to help them stand out, the moon and stars for example just have simple gradients holding them off the background. I feel as if my illustration style in this was really developed, and interesting.

Research: Package Design

The world of package design was just introduced to me "officially" and I will never feel the same about going to the grocery store again. Recently I was grocery shopping with my boyfriend, and I found myself being pulled down the isles even quicker than normal because he did not want to hear me rant about what I thought about all the packages.

I noticed that a lot of the inspirational designs I have found have a lot of interesting bold color and movement. I like simplicity, because if someone is at the grocery store trying to pick out the right box of cherrios-- chances are they don't have the time to figure out a complicated design. These elements are eye catching and not static. Here are some of the interesting designs I found online:

I will always be a sucker for illustrations. I loved cartoons when I was younger, and without the talent of drawing realistically, animations and illustrations of strange animals and people will forever have a space in my heart. I would buy these chips, no question. Solely on the basis of the funny illustration on the front. It's different, and it's fun-- which eating chips SHOULD be. I had to post this design, to share the excitement I had from it.

This milk carton design makes me envious. I absolutely love it. It is not weird at all to me that the milk splashes are colors, as if milk has turned to blood or colored juice. Which is the only weird thing I can see about the concept. I like the straight forward color pallet, and the simple design. I think this is a good example for a more high class design. Especially for milk, which seems like a hard task, how do you make milk LOOK more expensive than it is?

This is an idea I found when I researched animal crackers. I really like this concept, except that I know it may not be appropriate for children. Sure, parents would laugh at the box with bites taken out of the crackers, but wasn't there a traumatizing commercial for teddy grams, where they were shown fleeing for their lives when kids were eating them? It scared me when I was little.

This is cute, after all bread in general is not very exciting, but put a blue monster on the package that looks as if it is consuming the whole loaf in one bite, and the bread suddenly is given a little bit of life. And plus, if a parent has a picky eater for a child, and they won't eat their complex carbs--- I'm sure the kid would be pumped to eat from the loaf of bread with the fun blue monster on it.

Illustrations, Logos, and Working with Clients

This summer break I experienced what it would feel like without anymore college. I was finally fending for myself in the real world. My one "day" job cut my hours, so I turned to my knowledge of Graphic Design and art to earn me money to pay my bills.

I started posting banners and flyers all over my facebook declaring my mission : Designer looking for paying jobs. At first nothing happened, and I started to question my career path, but slowly things began to happen. A network I was not aware I had came through, and I started getting clients. I worked all summer, making enough to get me through month to month. At first it was hard to decide how much money charge clients, but once I realized the business situation was good for both parties I asked for what I thought was fair. After all, these clients were making out big time by going through a freelancer, and I was getting opportunities that would normally be given to more experienced designers, especially ones with their degrees.

The biggest challenge I had while balancing the business with the design, was how do I communicate with these clients? The majority of these jobs were done through email, so I had a hard time voicing my concerns, and understanding what my customer wanted from me. There was a lot of back and forth, which I figured was pretty routine, but also on some level- awkwardness.

I earned more money doing design and logo work this summer then I did at my "real job" and therefore I feel so much better about the career path I chose to follow.

I have discovered recently that my illustration style is very cartoonish. I have only been working with Illustrator for a few years now, so I have developed an illustrative style that could possibly be confused with inexperience, maybe? I love color, but at times I feel as if my logos are lacking a professional look because of their simplicity. I am leaning to perhaps try and work on my approach to illustrations when I am designing logos for clients so my personal style is more clean and mature. But I suppose with time comes comfort, and perhaps my style will connect me with clients I'll love working with.