Project Descriptions

Yellowjackets Poster:

The Kansas City Art Institute partnered with the Folly Theater and allowed the junior graphic design students to make a series of posters for their upcoming jazz concerts. Some directors and designers from the Folly Theater came to our school and examined our posters to choose the ones that they felt depicted the jazz artists or bands in the best way. Much to my excitement, my poster for the Yellowjackets was selected out of an abundance of poster designs! They used my design throughout their theater to promote the Yellowjackets concert, and they even introduced me onstage as the designer at the concert. It was a humbling experience overall. I spent a lot of time listening to the Yellowjackets, to come up with something that I felt symbolized their sound. I illustrated a pair of shoes because all I felt like doing when listening to their music was tapping my feet. I became enveloped by their songs, and that is where the yellow ribbon came from. The funky patterns reflect their uniqueness, and of course I had to add a little yellow-jacket on the shoe to hint at their name.

Herbs and Spices Booklet:

The goal of this project was to research three herbs or spices of my choosing and create a brief informative booklet with the found research. The booklet included information about the origins, historical uses, common uses, benefits, and a recipe is also included for each herb or spice. I learned a lot in regards to applying research to a project to create something that was relevant. My goal was to create something that felt like a quick read, so I made the type a bit larger, added bold images to break up the text, and playful illustrations. I chose colors that were similar to those of the herb or spice to make it easy to navigate through the pages by color.

Dual Enrollment Pamphlet:

I made this pamphlet during my time as an intern for the marketing team at Saint Charles Community College. I feel that this proposal shows my ability to work with specific information while adding a fun twist to it. My main goal was to come up with a design that was unexpected and completely unique from their frequently used color choices. I wanted to design the pamphlet in such a way that it felt inviting and charming, because such information can feel overwhelming at times.

Gallery Invitation:

The information and imagery used for this particular project was all found from an artist file in the Jannes Library at Kansas City Art Institute. The goal of the assignment was to re-do or remake something using the items from the artist file of your choosing. In the artist’s file that I chose, there were many postcards that were inviting people to come view William Thon’s painting exhibitions. I gathered and combined the information from various postcards to create a tri-fold invitation. A particular painting by William Thon stuck out to me, which allowed me to create a color palette based upon that specific painting.

Spice Jars:

For this project, I conducted research about how herbs and spices are displayed in stores, as well as conducting research on their packaging. After visiting many stores and paying particularly close attention to the spice section, I came to the conclusion that the majority of herbs and spices are packaged rather boring. I then decided to make something exciting that would stand out if displayed on a shelf. I chose to use glass jars because they can easily be reused. The jars came with a teaspoon-size scoop that could be used to measure out the spice. I designed colorful labels with individual patterns that mirror the essence of the herb or spice.

Manifesto Book:

This colorful book includes an assortment of designer manifestos, including my own. I have chosen a different color for each manifesto to symbolize the individuality of the designer and the words that they have written. I included large page numbers to suggest a sense of light-heartedness that pairs well with the spirited words of the manifestos.

Digital Illustrations:

I have included a collection of my digital illustrations because they provide a small peek into the things that I make for my own enjoyment. I believe that it is essential to set apart time to make work for yourself without any sort of restriction. These personal projects help me to grow as a designer by allowing me to have total creative freedom. I often find that my illustrations help to form future design decisions as well.