Select Print and Brand Design
Award-Winning Graphic Design 2020
Digital, Print, and Publication Design
Overview
The Gallery at Penn College hosts an annual senior portfolio exhibition for graphic design students. In order to promote the upcoming exhibit, senior students are asked to design both a poster and a postcard as a class assignment. One student’s design is chosen by the faculty/professors, and their design goes into production.
My senior year, the professors chose my design for publication (exciting!).
Thrilled for the opportunity, I began to assemble print-ready publications for the poster and postcard. I was asked to create a smaller poster as well as a wall vinyl to be displayed at the exhibit entrance (the 2 final wall-vinyl options I presented are shown above). However, my designs did not make it into production—our senior show was cancelled due to the COIVD-19 pandemic.
As the nation transitioned to remote learning and digital communication, I refocused my energies towards creating designs for digital platforms. I created our senior show webpage header (our professors were generous enough to display our work online and, for that, I am very grateful!) and social media advertisements.
Deliverables
• 11x17 poster
• 8.5x11 poster
• postcard
• wall-vinyl
• website header
• Instagram advertisement
• Facebook advertisement
Award
This design won a national award from the Flux Student Design competition, which is run by AIGA Blue Ridge. You can find my design in the “Poster” category.
Featured In
Award Winner in Poster Design |  Flux Student Design Competition
PCT on Twitter  |  We are in awe of the work...
Nepa Scene News  |  Graphic Design Exhibit of...
Old Growth Brewing
Brand and Package Design, Student Assignment
Objective
To establish a brand given only the name of the company and 3 names of beers. This project gave us a lot of freedom in the realm of design.
Deliverables
• logo
• 3 bottle labels
• 1 package (6-pack)
Process Work
To start my project, I went to the store to study competitors. I considered techniques that would stand out from competitors at the point of purchase.
After analyzing competitors, I really wanted to understand the brand I was working with. Honestly, I didn't know much about the industries of lumber or beer. So, I looked into it and wrote down several definitions and notes to be sure I understood the terminology and content I was working with.
Once I felt comfortable with the terminology, the sketching process began--first by hand, then brought to the computer.
Full Solution
With a matte black background and contrasting typography, I established an elegant, high-end brand to stand out in the crowd. I carefully designed each letter graphic to mimic the name of the beer while still reading as the first letter of the beer type. It's a bold, yet elegant solution that gives a new spin on the craft beer industry.
M - Misery Whip is a saw, as seen on the right side of the M.
T - A timberbeast works with lumber, so I morphed lumber into the shape of a T.
W - Widowmaker is a detached/broken part of a tree, hence the broken branches in the W.
Presentation
For the presentation, we were required to construct the bottles. I printed vinyl labels and adhered them to the bottles and the 6 pack. Finally, I captured my own photographs of the bottles using our photography studio (shown above).
Au Courant
Print Design, Student Assignment

Objective
To design a conceptual and aesthetically impactful editorial feature and magazine cover based on a given article. The article expresses how fast food is not the main cause of obesity.
Deliverables
• full color 8.5" x 11" magazine cover with standard cover requirements (nameplate, dateline, coverlids, etc.)
• 3 spread feature design based on a given article with specified feature components (pull quotes, sidebar, etc).
Solution
I used Procreate to design illustrative imagery that boldly juxtaposes a salad and fast food. I made sure to pull several components from the cover, such as colors and illustrative style, for the interior spreads.
Award-Winning STEM Web Advertisements
Digital Design, Student Assignment
Objective
For this assignment, the professor instructed, “you need to create a series of banner ads for the She Can STEM campaign; a new PSA which works to inspire and encourage girls to get involved and stay involved with STEM.” We were told that the ad needs to be generated towards middle school aged girls, parents of middle school aged girls, teachers, and the larger STEM community. We also needed to keep a “consistent and scalable message and image, and have a compelling marketing message that drives viewers to click on the ad.”
Deliverables
• 1 leaderboard web advertisement
• 1 half page web advertisement
• 1 large rectangle web advertisement
Solution
I successfully completed this assignment by taking images from the She Can STEM page. The women in the photographs are actual women in STEM careers. I doodled some tools over them, relating to their career fields. The pink is meant to gear towards females even further. I also went with a unique tagline. I strayed away from the typical, overused taglines and created a hashtag with a common slang phrase. It fits with the audience and would certainly grab their attention. The doodles interact with the button to bring it all together.
Award
This design won a national award. It was a winner in the "social impact design" category in the Flux Student Design competition, which is run by AIGA Blue Ridge.
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