Over the past three years as a design student, I have seen my skills grow stronger with each project, class, and semester. My ability to choose color palettes, hierarchy of layouts, attention to details, and type selection has greatly influenced my stronger pieces. Even though I have been working with Adobe programs and the creative suite for 8 years, I can see my skill set and overall proficiency of the programs improving as time goes on. This growth is most evident in my Rules: Button Packaging, Cognitive and Information maps, and infographics I have worked on for my design internship.

AUSTIN BUTTON PACKAGING

Designing this project allowed me to get into the mindset of how we as designers can subtly influence the viewer’s thoughts and feelings through our design choices. For my first package, I designed a memento for Red Bud Isle dog park. I chose a script typeface and pastel yellows, cool blues and bright greens to go along with the adventurous experience of visiting the dog park. I designed playful, geometric dog silhouettes for my buttons to go along with the lighthearted, fun theme.

For the second package, I designed a darker more wonder-filled package for Palri pema od Ling Buddhist temple. I chose to use blacks and golds with ornate filigree designs to represent the regal, ethereal feelings of Buddhism. I set the type in a diamond shape and inverted the colors on the back of the package to represent the ideal of duality. I chose a quirky, odd typeface to echo the experience. For the memento buttons, I created icons symbolic of the trips experience of broken chains, an ornate mandala, and the words “how can you feel something you cannot touch.” I particularly enjoyed playing around with the idea of setting particular tone for the design and tailoring it to influence someone’s experience. There was a very fulfilling feeling creating a concept from idea to design to finished product that we handmade ourselves. Seeing all of those steps together was very fulfilling.

Through the button making project, I was able to grow in the sophistication of my work, particularly in my symbols and iconography. It’s not a new concept to me, but I’ve integrated more icons into my design work as a result.  I had a lot of fun designing the buttons-the icons are on point and show that growth. I am a very detail oriented person, so I appreciated how my attention to details played an important role in the craft of the project. I know I want to go into packaging design as my career. I get irrationally excited when I see good packaging design, so I appreciated how this project provided a mini taste of that medium.

COGNITIVE & INFORMATION MAPS

The cognitive map and the information map went hand in hand showing different ways to express an idea/data in a graphic way. I feel that they both showcase some of my strengths as a designer.

The cognitive maps shows the decision making process, represented visually with symbols. Symbols transcend the split between the rational and the irrational, the known and the unknown, and are very complicated things because of that. There is also a level of ambiguity that comes into play with a symbol. It needs to be efficient in what it represents and also be symbolic of a bigger picture. When deciding on the layout for the map, I asked myself “what are all the variables and component and dimensions to the decision?” I started with the question what kind of tea should I make, and honed in on the deciding factors, whether it be hot tea for sickness, iced tea for a hot day, time you have available to spend brewing tea, taste ranging from lemon herbal to white to chai tea to iced black to yerba mate. The mind steps determine the outcome—the process is much like a flow chart. I used mostly symbols and captions with very few words as symbols are often the backbone of a designers’ work. The symbols are nuanced and specialized to each kind of tea. I laid the map out as flow chart that is broken down into five sections: herbal, white, green, black, and special brews.

The information map allowed me to show the same pool of data that was visually translated into several different formats. I am very passionate about colors. To me, every word, thought, number, and sound is a color because I have synesthesia. I take pride in pinpointing exact shades and hues and I start each project off with a color palette and create my design from there. You can tell a lot about a person by the colors they are attracted to, so my information map focused on the idea of how the colors that you gravitate towards lines up with psychology of color. I conducted a survey of 50 individuals about how preferred color lines up with aura colors and what colors individuals aren’t drawn to and find unappealing. It is like an in-depth favorite and least favorite color survey. I took that data and turned into a series of infographic-style charts.

I took a more geometric and creative approach to all of the data charts. For the bar graph, I took the traditional idea of straight bars and curved the bars outward to make a semicircle, reminiscent of a rainbow and the colors of the light spectrum. I turned the favorite color data in a circular chart with each dot representing a different shade or hue and representing a statistical portion of the total number of people surveyed. The bright colors were the emphasis of the layout, so I chose simple, consistent text and a solid background.

INFOGRAPHICS

For my design internship this semester, I created a series of infographics about disability statistics in Texas and the United States. I intern at Texas State Independent Living Council, a non-profit who oversees projects for TxDOT and the State of Texas. Designing infographics has allowed me to hone my layout skills and symbols, along with type selection and hierarchy. This particular infographic was featured in the conference program for the statewide conference last month. I went with a monochromatic blue color scheme, because I see single colors as more attention grabbing and slightly edgier. The sans serif typeface goes along with that theme and the script typeface of the title is emphasized as the eye is drawn to it. I kept the design simple, attention-grabbing, and crisp. Out of class projects have really helped me grow as a designer, and I am quite proud of this particular one. This kind of project has helped me realize how much I enjoy layout and print design.