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Summer Marketing Asset Update

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(3/31 )Leilani and I were made aware of AFR 320C being added to our list of $500 courses which meant we needed to update and reupload a few finalized assets:

  • Website edits
  • COLA email graphic
  • Tuition Guide
  • Animated Pre-roll

I reorganized the animated pre-roll course list segment to fit in AFR 320C, then I moved on to the COLA email graphic. This course title was quite lengthy because it is cross-listed with 3 other courses–PLUS it had 1 core and 3 flags. (AFR 320C/HIS 320T/MAS 320C/RIM 320C Power and Place: Making Texas History)

The Rise and Fall of German in Texas Posters (TGDP)

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The Rise and Fall of German in Texas Posters (TGDP)

I was tasked with continuing to work on the Texas German Dialect Project retractable posters. These posters had already been in the works, and I had to adjust based on client feedback. The client wanted 3 vertical posters with an icon key. Additionally, the client wanted the dates on the timelines to be proportional to the actual time (for example, if the date is labelled “1930-1934”, it should be clearly indicated that the event took place over that span of time).

Here are the posters that I was given to start with:

Changes I had to make:

  • Create icons and develop a visual key
  • Work on making date ranges look like a range on the poster

Creating Icons

This first thing I had to do was develop a visual key. The client wanted icons that represented 5 different types of events: society, immigration, schools, newspapers, and key event. I used Illustrator to draw icons, staying on brand with the colors given to me.

Society
Immigration
Schools
Newspapers
Key Event

Redesigning the Posters

Now that I had icons, I could move on to putting the posters themselves together. The main thing I wanted to focus on was how to show the date range. I settled on added a transparent box behind the event description and using arrows to indicate it’s date range.

After using this technique and adding the icons, the posters ended up looking like this:

Second Drafts

After sending my designs to the client, I got feedback to make sure that the events were proportionally distanced from each other and to add photos + captions to the poster.

Project status: Waiting for feedback

History SZB Posters

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History SZB Posters

I was assigned to help create posters documenting the life of George I. Sanchez for the SZB building. I was given pictures and text, which I was then to format on posters using Adobe InDesign. The process mainly consisted of cleaning up the photos in Photoshop (sometimes converting to grayscale, removing blemishes, and adjusting them so they weren’t skewed), getting all the elements onto the page, and then rearranging them to make sure that the text was not too overwhelming and that the images were big enough.

View the exhibit:

Save the Date

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Save the Date

The theme for STA Presentations this year was movie productions! The presentation poster was themed around “The Peanuts Movie” film poster, so Save the Date was to be similarly themed.

First Drafts

I decided to display the important information on a clapper board to keep with the movie theme. However, after doing that, the background looked really empty, so I added film strips behind it. I used the LAITS logo colors as the accent colors for my design.

Additionally, I came up with a secondary design because I felt that the colors on the clapper board may be unnecessary, and the black letters for the less important information (“Save the Date”, “College of Liberal Arts”) might be too bold. I also switched the order of the colored film strips in the background (and brightened them) to match the order they are in in the LAITS logo.

Lastly, I created an option with a different accent font choice. This is a font that matches the one on “The Peanuts Movie” poster, so I thought we may want to see what that looked like too.

This is an alternate design that I thought could work as well. I was also able to get the STA roles information in using this layout.

For style one, I received feedback to:

  • Add STA photos to the film strips with a color overlay
  • Replace “College of Liberal Arts” with the LAITS logo

For style two, I received feedback to:

  • Try and add more personality, as the black was a little overwhelming, and it wasn’t very dynamic
  • Rework the hierarchy/arrangement so that the date is more prominent
  • Add the LAITS logo

Second Drafts

For the first version, I added the STA cutouts to all the film strip rectangles because it looked a little odd to have some empty, even if they were covered with something in front. I also moved “Save the Date” to the slate because it became hard to read in the top left corner when I added the STA photos.

For the second version, I tried to add some movement by creating a new, curved film strip and tilting the film slate. I also added the date/time/location to the film strip because it was more prominent there and put the STA roles under the slate.

We decided to go with style 1, and I received feedback to:

  • reposition the STA photos so that they weren’t being blocked by the film slate
  • make the LAITS logo grayscale

Third draft

After adjusting the graphic according to the feedback I received, it ended up looking like this:

We then decided that there was too much white space in certain places, so we decided to use the more dynamic photos of STAs that were also used on the presentation poster. After deciding this, the graphic looked like this.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this assignment was a fun way for me to practice both my layout and graphic design skills. I don’t have as much practice with Illustrator, so making graphics for this assignment was a new and fun challenge. I’m also happy that we decided on adding the STAs inside the filmstrips—I think it’s a lot more visually interesting and unique. Here is the final design!

February Progress

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February Progress

February was a busy month for me as I got a bit behind on my major project, the IPE animation for Dell Health. But luckily I have some good news!

We’re halfway there!

We now have 4 out of 8 IPE animation done! I believe with the current progress, we’ll have all animations done by April 1st. Here’s one of the completed animations to show how they are looking so far.

I realize that the main challenge I come across with the animations is delivering the narration through the visuals in an engaging way while also being clear to understand. Sometimes there are terms that are too specific or broad for me to display in an icon or a looping character animation.

We also have yet to get completed client reviews on the first pair of animations sent over so hopefully that won’t impede the process.

That’s all I have for February to be honest. Given my timeline, this will most likely be the project I talk about in March too haha. But I look forward to seeing it come together!

January 2025

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JANUARY 2025

— IPE PROJECT —

I finished a lot of the illustrations for the IPE project by this point, so I was tasked with other assignments related to this project. One of them was revamping some PowerPoint slides:

The request for the first two slides was to rearrange the information already on the slides. For the third one, I was asked to make an illustration with all the doctors together.

— 2025 STA PRESENTATION ROSTER POSTER(S) —

In the second half of the month, I was assigned my first poster (yay!). However, it turned out to be two posters as it would be a roster of all the STAs for the 2025 STA Presentations. I was a little intimidated at first, but knew I could reach out to De’sha if I needed any help! The poster(s) were going to draw inspiration from The Peanuts Movie.

The first big challenge was tackling the theater chairs. I decided to make them in Illustrator so I could easily resize them if needed. Initially, I left the chairs with flat colors and was going to shade them in Photoshop.

However, I decided that I would be giving myself extra work if I decided to shade and light each row of seats by hand. So I decided to use the gradient tool in Illustrator to simulate shadows. Before landing on my final iteration, I went back and forth between Photoshop and Illustrator multiple times to get the shadows to my liking.

Now, it was time to arrange the seats and put the STAs in!

Below is the final iteration I did for January and I will continue editing these posters in February. Through each iteration, I felt the least satisfied with the lighting. Yet, I believe I’ll feel better about it once I start editing the lighting of each STA.