Every year, American University puts on an exhibition showcasing student design work, and in our branding design class we were tasked with designing the theme for the show. Before considering visuals, I thought about what unique aspects of design could be celebrated that were also specific to AU. I landed on the concept of collaboration, as the team atmosphere is one of the things I love most about design, and in my classes here in particular. No project is truly made alone—critiques, feedback from peers and professors, outside inspiration, and input from friends and family are all integral to the design process.
I considered how the concept of collaboration could be conveyed visually, and landed on photography as the main medium to create semi-surreal scenes where objects made for one person are adapted to be shared by many.
This concept has been chosen for the Spring 2019 Design Show—more work to come soon!
This project was an exploration in light as a method of creating typography, and I decided to use light for a Beach House concert poster to reflect their ethereal, floating sound. For this final iteration, I printed text on transparent films and shone light onto another large sheet of film, folding and distorting the type and
photographing the reflection.
This project was one of five Best in Show pieces at AU’s 2019 Design Show, judged by three professional designers in the DC area.
Practice is an art supply store with a focus on education and the idea that the brand can be beginner-friendly while still maintaining professional levels of expertise. The target audience is anyone who is interested in learning about and making art, whether they are just starting out or looking to deepen their practice.
I began with a logo and color palette that are based in the fundamental elements of art while still remaining friendly and experimental. I then included examples of the brand guidelines in potential practical applications.
For this “Bringing Art to Life at the MoMA” ad campaign, I decided to paint directly on models and photograph them. After looking for well-known modern portraits that used expressive brush strokes, I planned the shoots and painted the backgrounds, clothing, and models with tempera.
The final application for these photographs is a series of three posters (each 18” by 24”) advertising an after hours event at the MoMA. Replications are based on works by Picasso, Matisse, and van Gogh.
This project won Second Best in Show at AU’s 2017 Design Show, judged by three professional designers in the DC area.
What began as an experiment in translating music into something tangible become a more specific exploration into nostalgia and the many meanings of the word. Initially, I was drawn to how music can so strongly communicate emotion, and I thought about how (and if) it could be possible to use visual and physical means to communicate the same ideas in the form of a book. I decided on the theme of nostalgia to frame these audio visualizations and asked friends and family members to share songs that they felt fit their meaning of the word. When listening to these songs and deciding which ones to research further, I realized that each represented a unique facet of nostalgia. I became interested in these different meanings of nostalgia and how they relate to time, memory, and empathy, and wanted to explore these themes while at the same time reconsidering the limits of design and what constitutes a book. I experimented with many different processes of craft and image making to eventually land on these three visualizations included in this set, each inspired by a song, but independent from its source in its final iteration.
The songs used as catalysts for these three visualizations were These Days by Wet, We Can’t Be Beat by The Walkmen, and More by Riz Ortolani.
Peer Beer is a variety pack of beers where each flavor is inspired by an archetype in a friend group. There’s the Irresponsible Friend (beer spiked with tequila), the Pretentious Friend (a craft IPA), and the Uptight Friend (a sensible lager), and the descriptions on the labels are all written in the points of view of these individuals. To add personality to the packaging, I created illustrations of the characters and hand wrote all of the typography.
Con Prisa ("with haste" in English) is a fast-casual tapas restaurant intended to serve to-go style food in the DC area. With a focus on fun and variety, I began with a hand-drawn logotype of mismatched letters that could be used in eight color combinations. I incorporated the style of the logotype further by creating a hand-drawn typeface in a similar mismatched style for each menu section, accompanied by a pattern of rectangles in the restaurant's color scheme. This pattern carries on to the to-go box which unfolds to reveal stacked mini containers, sized to fit small servings of tapas. The interiors of the box and container are lined with a hand-drawn pattern, and were constructed to be held together by stickers of the rectangle shapes and the yarn that is also used on the menu.
This project was one of five Best in Show pieces at AU’s 2019 Design Show, judged by three professional designers in the DC area.
Matilda is a musical about a girl who discovers that she can move objects with her mind, and uses these powers to defend her friends in school. I made the type out of crayons and colored pencils and incorporated other elements from the musical to make a scene that freezes Matilda’s telekinesis in time.
In Fall 2017, I completed a semester-long project at American University that involved the production of an original book. Three of our five group members (Olivia Blomstrom, Alexis Cooney, and Stephanie Williams, with guidance from faculty member Anton Fedyashin) conducted original research on the topic while I, in collaboration with Jordan McCormack and with guidance from faculty member Anna Leithauser, designed the 72-page book. This design included all of the content spreads, chapter introductions, index/introduction sections, endsheets, a cover, and an original full-spread timeline. The copy of the book shown was hardcover perfect bound by my partner and I, and additional copies were made at Springfield Printers in Virginia.
Our focus was on designing a cohesive book with dynamic spreads that did not distract from the illustrations, but instead made the images and book structure more clear to the reader while still remaining visually interesting. Significant emphasis was placed on type hierarchy and creating and breaking rules for ourselves regarding grid and composition.
This poster was an exploration in movement and time as a method of creating typography and imagery, and I decided to use long exposure photography in combination with cyanotypes to create a poster for a Chunky Move Dance Company performance of GLOW. For the typography, I made large cyanotypes of the letterforms by leaving transparencies out in the sun layered over photosensitized fabric—this was to reflect the dance itself, where performers moved across a large light on the floor that would glow after being touched.
These book covers are redesigns of a series of Taschen books on architects. Type and image treatment will remain consistent throughout the series but composition will vary. For the imagery, I cut white paper to create the architects' iconic building shapes, using space and depth as the driving theme for this series. The images would be unique to the individual architect, but always in white to remain consistent, with one color being used for the spine and title.
For this Monet exhibition, I decided to focus on light, as it is so integral to Monet's work and often considered his true subject. Since a defining aspect of Impressionism is the changing nature of light, I reflected this in the exhibition signage by planning my designs around materials that change in varying light conditions. On the building exterior and gallery entry, a photochromic ink will be painted over the signs that will be transparent in the shade but will transform the color of Monet's work in the light (as shown in the photo mockups, where the signs are seen in different colors in the light and shade). For the museum entry, I took advantage of the huge glass doors to play with reflection, placing a translucent print of Monet's painting on the window that will reflect onto the floor when light comes through the door.
