Graphic Design
Assorted Projects using Adobe Illustrator
Poster Design
Over the last couple of months, I have been diving more into graphic design and starting to develop my portfolio through personal projects.
The two posters below are part of an ongoing series I am working on for a prospective company. The company, Missed Label, aims to create beautiful art that teaches the observer something new as they examine it.
From my previous bartending experience, I decided to make a series featuring classic, obscure, and notable cocktails. The first poster is designed to teach the layman how to order a Martini. With this design, I leaned into the Art Deco styling and depicted the sophisticated look of the martini. I achieved this through font choice, color palette and subtle James Bond reference.
I was proud of this work as it showcased my design ability through the poster layup and the artistry within the martini glass illustration. Although the different layers took forever to achieve the glass-like appearance, it was rewarding seeing the image unfold in front of me.
If I were to make changes to this piece, I would add more Art Deco styling elements along the edges and corners of the poster.
Above is another addition to my Cocktail series. The BORG was a popular college drink designed to be mixed with cheap ingredients for broke students. I wanted to elevate this drink by creating a blueprint-style drawing to blend the high class with the lowbrow, imposing an engineering aesthetic on such a simple drink.
I redesigned this poster from an original I first made in college to be scientifically styled with a working formula and accurate scaling.
I look forward to generating more of these posters in the future!
Currency Design
The goal of this project was to design a lifelike banknote that could be used to replace some of the modern currency around the world. I wanted to have fun with mine and use contrasting pastel colors, a silly picture of my friend to show some personality, and interesting and surf-inspired patterns.
My instructor specified that on most banknotes, a multitude of large and small patterns are used to prevent counterfeiting. For this project, a large emphasis on different patterns and original pattern production was involved, as well as maintaining cohesion when viewed from both sides. The idea of keeping the note complex enough to not be counterfeited while also being readable was also a major project objective.
By using subtle blues and contrasting orange, I achieved contrast to easily read the notes. The use of transparency also helps to reduce the replication by masking the different patterns
I tried to use the same patterns and motifs on both the front and back of the notes to create cohesion between the two sides while still having different viewing experiences. For example, the cross-hatched lattice is used as the foreground on the face side, while the tail utilizes the same pattern in orange as a background behind my wave. The transparent branches are used as a subtle detail on both sides.
Magazine Layups
Below are four examples of double-page spreads from my fictional magazine, Mayhem. These layups were designed throughout my year-long graphic design course and helped me develop and flesh out some of my tastes while learning the different programs - primarily Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. I tried to emulate different magazine styles and challenge myself to make each "issue" feel legitimate while still being different.
This poster is supposed to represent a feature of an event that I enjoyed. I chose the SWMRS, a pop punk band that I had recently seen in concert. I chose to recap the event and do a sort of Artist Highlight.
If I were to remake this poster today, I would adjust the text break on the body text to flow into the space to the right of the subtitle text more seamlessly. I would also adjust the text box of "On the Road" to cut off more seamlessly instead of leaving that strange square of picture on the bottom right of the crowdsurfing picture. I used only pictures sourced from the internet for this layup.
The editorial of the Supreme Skate team was one of my first, and I can see my improvement throughout the course. Although very clean and minimal, this design feels "empty" when compared to my later works.
The adjustments I would make to this are as follows; First, I would change the heading text to be larger and to a more contrasting color when overlayed on the photo. Knowing more about Illustrator now, I would use one of the transparency effects, like color dodge to achieve a dual-colored contrast with the black text.
Next, I would enlarge the green sidebar text to fill more of the space below it. Finally, I would add a couple more pictures as I enjoy the "busyness" of the SWMRS spread. I used only internet-sourced pictures for this spread.
Being big into fashion and thrifting at the time, I used my graphic design class to blend these passions. I took all the pictures and directed all the styling myself. I felt very proud of this as it combined my skills and passions for fashion, photography, and graphic design all into one. If I were to go back and redo this design again, I would adjust the cream "drop shadow" behind my heading text to allow the leading to be more consistent with the taupe and charcoal text and fix the typo on the bottom right subtitle text.
I used all my own pictures for this spread.
For my final spread, PABOTA was a fictional company I was tasked with generating promotional content to hand out to potential employees, employers, or clients. I modelled the company after what I imagined a design studio/consulting firm to look like when I was 18.
I still really enjoy the saturated and grainy finish applied to all the photos as well as the contrast with the pastel text. I would, however, reduce some of the iconographies, particularly the one in the drop-cap at the beginning of the third heading as it feels gimmicky and juvenile. I would also apply a transparency effect to the text within the brown line or change the color as it makes the text difficult to read.
I used all my own pictures for this spread.