Tower Tools

March 3, 2026 By Shriya Atreya

https://www.canva.com/design/DAHC06eZpwg/tNn4psDpADqN9zmUEn6C1w/edit?utm_content=DAHC06eZpwg&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

FEB 2026

March 3, 2026 By Haley Ma

✿˖° ⋆ February 2026 ⋆˚✿˖°

Texas Politics Project

────────────────────⊹ ࣪ ˖♡˖ ࣪ ⊹ ────────────────────

Onto the final stretch for the Texas Politics Project! I designed a presentation page comparing the original designs with my suggested design from the feedback I received. De’sha then let me know about tailoring the comparison a bit more and to organize the figma file with arrows for each change I made!

I then created the final presentation page documenting every change from the current website to now! I made sure to highlight global changes and areas I looked over last time like the drop down menu and navigation! It was quite therapeutic seeing the before and after too!

KB Website Redesign

────────────────────⊹ ࣪ ˖♡˖ ࣪ ⊹ ────────────────────

Another project I am working on is redesigning the KB website to have a modern and refreshed feel! So far I have creative freedom while designing so it is very fun trying all sorts of layouts and designs! Above is some sketches I had in mind before designing some low-fidelity wireframes.

While creating the low-fidelity wireframes, I decided to explore different layouts for the buttons that navigate to a training page! I wanted to implement some variety in the overall visual design of the home page so some brainstorming was needed before completing all the high-fidelity wireframes!

This is where I am currently at while designing the hi-fi wireframes! Designing the icons was my favorite part but now I’m deciding how much variation can actually be implemented! But I am excited to see the multiple drafts all come together!

2026 STA Presentation Poster

February 25, 2026 By Asha Rountree

2026 STA Presentation Poster

This goal of this project is to create a poster for the 2026 STA Presentation following an “art gallery” theme. In the project specifications, I was instructed to split the STAs into two posters while still thinking about how these posters would fit side-by-side cohesively.

This was a fun assignment, because I got to explore different ways to present the STAs within an art gallery format, emphasizing their unique poses and expressions.

★ Design Drafts: To get an idea of how I could lay out the posters, I created a few rough sketches on paper. The left sketch was more classical inspired (primarily focusing on sculptures), while the right ones have a more modern gallery look.

I received feedback to incorporate both sculptures and paintings, and to simplify the layout of sculptures into a 2-D view (my original left sketch used one-point perspective to add depth). Using this feedback, I created the following sketches on Illustrator:

I created drafts of columns to place in the background, and played around with the layout of the photo cutouts. I tried to group interesting poses together in scenes that could be interpreted through sculpture or painting.

On this iteration, I formalized the background a bit more (adding texture, patterns, ect), and made the choice to include the poster title on a plaque to align with the museum theme. I also decided to orient the posters horizontally instead of vertically to leave more room for standing statues.

★ Pivot to Modern Gallery: Next, I received feedback that the current artistic direction leaned a bit too much towards Greek-style architecture, and that LAITS wanted to emphasize a more modern gallery aesthetic. This involved removing the pillars (which left more room for frames), and including more wooden/warm accents.

For my first draft of the modern gallery, I experimented with the layout of a few frame assets Shanda provided me, and thought about how statues could be organized.

I received some feedback to add light fixtures, and to make the frames more organically structured with breathing room around the sides. I also adjusted the frames so that there are even pockets for statues to be placed. I also made the backgound a little darker to make the paintings/statues stand out more.

I’ve begun thinking about how the two posters will fit together and what paintings/photo cutouts will be used. I scoured free photo archives online to find fun and recognizable paintings to include, many of them from the impressionist era. Overall, I want the colors of the paintings, the poses, and expressions to feed harmonious. I also adjusted the height of the pedestals to make sure they are visible over the title plaque.

★ Pivot to a new background: I have received feedback that in order to fully bring attention to the paintings, we will remove the statues, change the wall and floor to lighter, textured assets, add velvet ropes, and move the text to the wall. This edit in background will be accompanied by a re-ordering of the picture frames to better convey movement. I was given this reference to work off of:

After experiencing a second big pivot in the design direction of this project, I have a few questions:

What caused a lack of attention in the paintings of the original design?
What is the process in deciding upon a design pivot? Are all decisions made at once, or over time and communicated in one message?
After seeing this pivot, I feel a little bit like I lack agency over the creative direction of this project; is this something to get used to in client settings?

★ Reflection: Working on a poster with so many assets is definitely a challenge. Although I have creative liberty in my designs, there are specific criteria that I must adhere to, so it was important to strike a balance. The following are a few lessons I learned:

Project Scope Flexibility: When I first started drafting the poster, I wanted to include grand archways and columns, reminiscent of an ancient art display. However, when the project scope changed to focus more on a modern gallery look, I realized I would have to pivot my creative direction. I learned that even if I’ve started fleshing out one idea, the outcome of the project ultimately depends on the client’s needs and scope, and it’s important to be able to adjust accordingly.

Communication and Clarity: As I added more and more assets to the posters, making a big change (such as re-arranging the picture frames or adjusting the layout of the statues) became more difficult, especially because the photo and vector assets are dependent on each other’s positions. The main lesson I learned here is the importance of communication with the client; strong communication from the start eliminates the need for me to backtrack, and ensures the criteria for any time-consuming big changes is clearly defined.

Frontera Scholars Collective Logo

February 18, 2026 By Kate Shih

Frontera Scholars Collective Logo

Client: Jonathan Cortez

Task: The Frontera Scholars Collective (FSC) would like a logo that will be the branding mark for their organization. They want something clean and polished, while also providing an exciting feel to the design.

Status: Design proposal sent

Inspiration

I started by looking at inspiration based off of want the client wanted the logo to look like. He wanted the logo to be a dragonfly with stained glass style wings. Additionally, the colors had to be blue and gold.

Sketches

I then made a couple options, creating different dragonflies and trying out different text placements.

More Iterations

After receiving some feedback, I fleshed out and colorized some of the options from my sketches.

Design Mock-ups

We then chose 3 logos from my 6 and made some mock-ups for the client.

Feedback

I got a lot of feedback from the client on these three logos. Overall, he wanted the design to be more detailed and realistic.

LAITS T-Shirt Design

February 6, 2026 By Asha Rountree

LAITS T-Shirt Design

I was tasked with creating two designs for the annual LAITS T-Shirt: one Retro/Y2K inspired design and one Music Festival inspired design!

➜ Design Drafts: I started out by creating a Pinterest board of music posters/y2k designs that inspired me, and then ideated a few sketches for each theme. For the y2k designs, I was inspired by abstract shapes and stars, and dynamic lettering. My music fest designs incorporated more chunky lettering, and a more boxy structure. The y2K sketches are on the left, and music fest sketches are on the right:

My first semi-polished draft was for the y2k/retro vibe, and I took heavy inspiration from the abstract forms in the Pinterest inspo photos. I had fun playing around with different effects on Illustrator and Photoshop for this one:

Ultimately, I wasn’t sure the design felt cohesive enough for the T-shirt (especially between the smooth line art and pixelated graphics), and I thought I could convey the retro y2k theme in a stronger way. I then created a second draft for the y2k theme, inspired by a retro DS:

For the music fest theme, I created an illustration inspired by 80’s style 3-D lettering, and I included a sun because typically music festivals happen in the summer (and at ACL Fest, the hot sun is definitely a big factor). I created versions with and without a little music fest turtle, adding halftones for texture and duotone colors for contrast:

➜ Design Finalization:

The design that was chosen was the music fest design! I was then asked to create a version with a different animal as a mascot. I made two variations of the original design with a silly racoon:

➜ Tee Mockups:

I was then asked to mock up the existing music fest designs on tee shirts. I also was asked to consider different color options (monochrome vs duotone, different color combos, ect). Because of the amount of variables I had in my options (3 design options, monochrome/duotone, shirt color), I ended up making a whole bunch of tee shirt mockups and color combinations:

JANUARY 2026

February 3, 2026 By Shanda Horm

JANUARY 2026

──────────────────────────────────────────────

— Spring 2026 STA Roster Poster–

I worked on this assignment in December and the first half of winter break; however, I finished it up during this month and will share my process here!

This poster was very fun! I loved being able to return to Photoshop after spending many weeks in Illustrator. Having the freedom to create fun and expressive doodles was refreshing and I enjoyed myself a lot during the creation of this poster.

Since I was picking up the assignment, I was able to jump right in without having to do much planning. Taking in the previous feedback, references provided, and existing poster, I got right to work!

As we got the final list of STAs in, there had to be some adjustments to who was on which Spring Roster Poster. We swapped Classroom Support and Design for Computer Support and Audio from the Minimalist Poster to even out the amount of STAs while keeping a similar layout to the previous draft.

— Summer Marketing Pre-Roll Animation Continued—

After finishing the frame-by-frame animation for the graduation scene, I was tasked with making some edits as feedback came in. One of these was making edits to the pricing scene. I was requested to add more interest to the background of the scene and bring more attention to the text. Lila suggested make it as if they’re coming from fireworks.

Here is the New Pre-Roll draft (as of the end of January):