project: “Genealogies of Freedom”
Client /Prof: Courtney
completion status: Finito!
staff guidance: Suloni
STA team members: N/A
description/plans: create a 11 x 17 event poster
To be completed: Mar. 3, 2019

In just 2 days, I had to create an event poster for the History department again. It was really fun, in a sense that I had to focus more on the text and the typography than the graphic design itself. I am learning a lot about alignment, text sizes, and how important layout is for design! The image used had to resemble one of Andy Warhol’s works, and that section only took me about 10 mins. Laying out the text took most of the time, but I am ultimately super happy with the result!

I haven’t updated my blog in awhile, so here we go…

project: RUS Promotional Material
Client /Prof: Mike/ Dr. Rice
completion status: In progress (waiting to hear back)
staff guidance: Suloni, Tate
STA team members: N/A
description/plans: create a 5×7 postcard for RUS promo
To be completed: Feb. 12, 2019

Following up on the 8.5×11 and 11×17 RUS promotional poster/flyer, Tate has asked me to work on a 5×7 postcard. Since he has already created the front side of the postcard, my job was to create the backside that matches both my flyer design and the front design. After messing with different designs, I decided to stick to the front design more so than the flyer design. These are the final versions I came up with, and Tate and I are waiting to hear back from Mike and Dr. Rice !

project: “Brexit in Global and Historical Context” Flyer
Client /Prof: Courtney
completion status: completed [Feb. 28, 2019]
staff guidance: Suloni
STA team members: Olivia
description/plans: create a 11 x 17 flyer for the History Department event
To be completed: Mar. 12, 2019

Another big project I have been working on as been the flyer for a History Event called “Brexit in Global and Historical Context” Courtney. Suloni has asked me to be the ART DIRECTOR for this project, meaning that I would assign the graphics to someone else (which turned out to be Olivia), communicate with the client, and also work on the layout design. At first, I was scared to jump into a more of a leadership role, because I am still doubtful about my skills and experiences in design. But ultimately, I was super glad I stepped out of the comfort zone, because Courtney and the event organizer loved my design! A huge shoutout to Olivia who has helped me with the colorization of the image for the poster, as well.

Before taking a jab at the layout design, I first focused on communicating with Olivia and giving her the assignment. It felt funny that I was teaching someone else how to do things like “color overlay” and giving instructions, because I was in Olivia’s shoes when I first became an STA. How the turntables!! I came up with a thorough instruction so that Olivia would feel comfortable working on the graphics, as well as understand Courtney’s requests clearly.

Because the B&W version of “Paul Revere’s Ride” looked like an antique illustration, I initially wanted to incorporate an old newspaper feel. This is the first version I came up with:

Although Courtney liked this version, I was not too happy with it because nothing really “stood out.” I wanted the text and colors to pop, and so I came up with a different design…

There were some adjustments to make in terms of the text and the placement of things, but Courtney and James ultimately chose this one as the final version! With Olivia’s graphic, I had to add the text bubble, “European Union” sign on the house, and the red “Paul Revere’s Ride” text at the bottom; I wanted the font and the word bubble to match the overall style of the original image. Overall, I am super happy with how this flyer turned out, and most importantly, very content with my ability to do client communication! Everything went smoothly (maybe beginner’s luck?), and I am excited to take on more projects for the near future.

project: Mellon Scholars Seminar
Client /Prof: Mellon Scholars
completion status: completed [Feb. 26, 2019]
staff guidance: Suloni, Tate
STA team members: Jac
description/plans: lead a Photoshop seminar for the Mellon Scholars
To be completed: Feb. 26, 2019

Another project that Jac, Tate, and I have been working on for the past 2 weeks have been the seminar for the Mellon Scholars. For Part 1 of the seminar, Jac started off with a presentation about design and the visual “guidelines” that come with creating any promotional materials, like a flyer. Then Tate gave a brief overview about Photoshop and useful tools, as well as some important terminologies. I then led the group to make a flyer identical to my 11×17 flyer I made for RUS promo. Although at times it was difficult, because the group varied in their experience with Photoshop, I think it went great, overall. For Part 2 of the seminar, we were able to do a one-on-one with the scholars regarding specific things they wanted to work on utilizing Photoshop. I helped Ricardo with photo editing, as well as helping Michael with his flyer design at times. I hope that the Mellon scholars thought the 4 hour cram session of Photoshop was worth awhile!

This is a google doc that Jac made for the overview of what we should do for Part 1: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zVTbTAjzfuu7HF5FjEP-G83k1K7FvSRpiMO_qTIQjcA/edit#heading=h.5x0d5h95i329

FINALLY, not really a project, but now that both Olivia and Clarissa sent in their avatars, I was able to update the STA blog banner:

I did like 30-40 photo id’s and have been working on an updated photo id instruction… It’s coming along! http://sites.la.utexas.edu/kb/

I have also worked on miscellaneous things. For an example, I updated the STA banner:

Happy 2019! I’m very thankful to be back at LAITS working as a Design STA for almost 2 years now. Since then, I think I made a lot of progress as a designer and grew a lot just as a person. I’m very excited to work on various projects this semester !!

So far, I have been mainly working on the Russian Online Class promotional poster since I got back from winter break. I started off with different drafts for the 8.5 x 11 poster:

Ultimately, this is the design that I came up with after consulting with Suloni and Tate, as well as getting Dr. Rice and Mike’s approval:

So after the 8.5 x 11 poster, Tate has asked me to make a similar version for the 11 x 17 poster. This is the original one I made:

Tate has suggested a few edits I could make, such as:

-Move “Learn Russian” and “Summer 2019 – Online” higher on the poster. Make them all caps and the same size (Roughly the size of “Learn Russian” right now, maybe just a hair smaller)

-Separate the images and the other text more. I recommend moving the large bottom image (with all of the Illustration characters in it) to the left. I also recommend making the CREES logo more of a part of the group of the other two circle images, and move all of those up to the top right.

-Play around with the sizing and color of the text for varied emphasis. Use the reference image we talked about as a guide.

-Also, something I didn’t mention; try to get the text to bend around the circle images a little more! It’s something that happened in your 8.5×11 mockup (either on purpose or not) and balances the poster well!

So I made 2 different versions (still not final) – I personally like the blue version better than the orange one, because it encompasses the poster as a whole without overpowering the other colors.

Other than that, I’ve been working on miscellanious things, like photo ID’s, coming up with STA meeting times, Cascade, and talking to Mike about updating the LAITS graphic design website page!

The past week, I have been mainly working on Vlabs. I realized how tedious it is and how there is actually a lot more work that goes into it than I thought it would. Shoutout to all the other STA’s who have done more than one!!!! I could not work on it until I finished up with the AIH project and then RUS412 to catch up on, once the AIH content stuff was over with. Now I have the chance to work on the eAnthro project!

Other than that, I just made a final adjustment to the “sneeze” illustration. I fixed the nose, made her face a little wider, and made her ear bigger. I am looking forward to working on my next RUS illustration, which is going to be of a TV tower in Moscow.

I also finally got a chance to dive into the AIH banner designs, and here are some of the mock up’s I came up with. The noun-project icons and the colors and the text are all interchangeable, but I think overall, I like the navy background with the strips going diagonal the best.