For my graduate Conceptual Communication class, I had to do a project that would depict the idea of “compare and contrast.” I decided to do a genre study and create a set of book covers that showed the classic story of Red Riding Hood in six of the biggest genres on the market.
Mid-Semester Book Cover Redesigns
For our Conceptual Communications class we had to create weekly artwork based on a prompt. I decided to redesign well-known book covers based on each. Below are each of the three covers with their original photo references that I used to combine into a single image. One of my goals for these projects is to create a professional book cover using entirely free resources from Pixabay, Dafont, and other online sites (with the obvious exception of Adobe, which sadly isn’t free). Below you can see each photo I used in each cover, and you can find every resource free online.
Magic of the Real Kinetic Type Video
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVkyWKQu5F0&w=560&h=315] Last summer I was able to attend the Realm Makers virtual conference, where author ND Wilson was the opening keynote speaker. His perspective on the fantasy genre and the Christian author’s role was game-changing to me, and it really left me with a new perspective on God’s creation and fantastic storytelling throughout history. Wilson believes that we live in “God’s fantasy novel,” in that, God’s creation and history is fantastic, and is the origin for all fantasy fiction (Marvel comics inspired by the Book of Judges, for example). In the original keynote, Wilson echoed some of JRR Tolkien’s and CS Lewis’s beliefs on the fantasy genre, and charged his audience to live in God’s novel as a character they would want to read about. Since a lot of his points stuck with me and other conference attendees, I wanted to adapt his talk into a short video that explained his view on fantasy, informing them of a new and unique way to see God and storytelling.
Album Design: Ben Everson’s REST
I was able to design my first CD album cover and packaging for Ben Everson’s new release, REST.
Loaves and Fishes Sign Design
For my final project in my 3D design class, I had to create a sign for a business (real or fictional) and use simple materials like foam and insulation board to mimic authentic materials like wood and metal. I wanted to make a biblical themed restaurant that one would expect to see in a faith-based amusement park, and thought “Loaves and Fishes” could be a clever name for a meal stop. It was also a tribute to the new biblical tv show, The Chosen, produced by Dallas Jenkins, which I had been thoroughly invested in during the semester. I based the original typeface closely after the Orlando Holy Land Experience logo, combined with elements from free Arabic fonts online. The sign was made primarily of pink, half-inch insulation board cut and painted to look like a cartoonish piece of wood to fit the amusement park vibes I was going for. Check out this tutorial I followed to get the same effect. The letters were also insulation board cut with a laser cutter and spray-painted with textured bleached stone paint. I thought it looked slightly like bread (to help with the name, Loaves and Fishes). The fish and paint colors were … Read More
Lincoln Log Full Campaign
I took a web design class for grad school, and we had to create an entire website, logo, web banner ads, landing page, social media, blog, and full campaign for a fictional company of our choice. Below is my entire campaign and write ups on my design decisions (as well as some Easter eggs I slipped into the project). I ended this class with an A.
Dyslexia Ambigram Design
After seven weeks and over $100 of supplies, I created this interactive, spinning poster that raises awareness for the “cool” side of dyslexia. As an ambigram, rightside up it reads correctly, but upside down in reads phonetically: “disleksia.” I wanted to do it in a graffiti style because its “creative chaos” feel is what we dyslexics go through sometimes, and I wanted to express it visually for those who don’t understand the experience. The board circle spins on a lazy Susan and changes colors, misspells, and the letters and paint are even at different heights to create a constantly changing, moving piece. Each piece was made of spray-painted foam core cut out by hand and by laser. The entire poster stands at 30″ by 30″ and was submitted as a midterm grade for my masters of graphic design degree. If you’re interested in how dyslexia works and how it affects people’s reading, spelling, and creativity, check out my essay about the dyslexic superpower or watch my short infographic animation. I got an A- on this project.
The Making of Dyslexic Scrabble
For class, we had to redesign a board game. Traditionally in the class, our teacher required everyone to redesign Scrabble, though this year he allowed a variety of games we could remake. But, since I already had my mind thinking of Scrabble ideas, I chose to stick with the classic, deciding to make it into a dyslexic Scrabble board (affectionately dubbed Scrabdle).
US Currency Redesign
For my graphic design class in grad school, I had to redesign several bills of currency. I chose the US currency (‘cuz MURICA), and I wanted to do something that was both creative yet realistic. Because let’s be fair: if the US completely overhauled their green bills for something totally different, people would flip (remember when the $5 bill was changed to include purple colors). It also happens to be 2019, which is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing (and the limited edition Oreos that commemorated the event were “stuf” of legend). To do my own commemoration, I wanted to do a “limited edition currency” that I could imagine America issuing for a special year: something obviously different, yet not radically unfamiliar. I used micro-extended bold as my primary typeface, since it was a favorite font of NASA back in the sixties during the moon landing (it also happens to be my college’s typeface for all their branding, interestingly enough). As far as paper goes, I printed each bill on a glossy silver paper from Hobby Lobby to give it an official currency feel (as well as a sheen that screams SPACE).
Rivera Ardis Character Design
In my Advanced Digital Graphics class, we had to break out of our graphic design comfort zones and focus more on creating our own graphics to amplify our skillsets. One of our projects required us to do a character design or portrait, so I decided to draw my main character from my novel. While it’s not particularly my favorite digital painting ever, it taught me a lot about warm light and cool shadows, perspective, and drawing a character within a setting (something I’m pretty terrible at), so this was a really enjoyable project. I got a B+ on this project.