This project allowed me to combine my writing and design skills to create a book that offers a unique experience in the East Cesar Chavez neighborhood. The content of my book focuses on five non-profits in the neighborhood. I interviewed someone from each organizations and wrote a short profile about the organization and its role in the community. My design uses bright colors  and photographs that characterize the non-profits and the neighborhood. Throughout the book, when a new organization is introduced, I designed pockets that hold a small slip of paper. Each slip of paper has part of a quote from Cesar Chavez and a piece of a mural located in the neighborhood. When all the slips of paper are organized together, the full picture and quote is realized and represents the history of minority groups in that area of Austin.

I think this project shows how I have grown as a designer and learned to use design as a way to create an experience. I enjoyed learning the process involved in bookbinding and practicing those skills. One aspect of this project that was challenging was choosing paper and printing. The texture of paper I chose to buy didn’t work the best with my printing method.

This project was completed for Jimmy’s Graphic Design II class. My goal was to communicate the emotions of delight and joy, which I experienced by visiting two new places in Austin. For the Dolce Neve buttons I created vector designs of gelato cups dressed up in Italian accessories. For the Farmers Market buttons I used photos of vegetables from the market combined with vector elements to convey the colorful atmosphere. I chose to make my packaging by hand rather than on the computer because I wanted to include more texture. I also just like to cut and paste things together, and it was fun.

Dolce Neve Button Package

Barton Creek Farmers Market Button Package

This project was challenging because it required me to organize a lot of information in different structures using motion, while keeping all of the information on the screen. It was a little difficult to use After Effects with little experience, but I enjoyed the project and learned how to effectively design information in motion. While I don’t think this is the most sophisticated video ever, I think my color scheme and symbol design represent the places and information in the video, and I think my movement choices are seamless and meaningful.

Weather Report from Elissa Stanton on Vimeo.

This project was my first time using After Effects, so it was a learning process. I tried to use basic motion effects to emphasize each latch structure. I also included other graphic elements to reinforce the organizations. I think the movement patterns could have been more complex, but that my use of movement highlighted each latch structure. Sometimes the text is just moving across the page in a non-creative way. However, I feel that this project prepared me to build upon my skills in the weather video.

LATCH Location from Elissa Stanton on Vimeo.

LATCH Alphabet from Elissa Stanton on Vimeo.

LATCH Time from Elissa Stanton on Vimeo.

LATCH Category from Elissa Stanton on Vimeo.

LATCH Hierarchy from Elissa Stanton on Vimeo.

The poster documents everything I will need for an urban adventure. I chose to include mostly necessity items and a few items just for fun. The items I chose worked together to create a calm, warm color scheme. After taking and editing photos of the items I arranged them on the poster. I wanted to create balance in my design by placing larger items on opposite sides and balancing the colors throughout. I tried to piece the objects together in the most efficient and aesthetically please way possible, rather than following a specific plan.

This projected challenged me to communicate an internal thought process through a visual map. I like the way it turned out and I think it appropriately represents my thought process. I think the design looks sophisticated and that the style of my design is appropriate. It was difficult to only use words when necessary, but I enjoyed creating specific hair style illustrations in illustrator.

My perceptual map documents the senses I experienced while eating my favorite taco at Torchy’s Tacos. I created symbols to represent different tastes and textures and illustrated each ingredient involved. I chose to use bright colors and Rockwell typeface to mimic Torchy’s design style. I liked the concept of using spoons to illustrate the liquid ingredients. I think this project helped develop my Illustrator skills and challenged me to represent complex ideas visually.

This map represents my daily bike ride across campus. I think the design looks clean and my route is clearly illustrated. I included symbols to represent landmarks along my journey, I think the map could have more personality or dimension. It has a clean and functional aesthetic, but it doesn’t necessary communicate the emotions I experience while on the journey. My design does visually highlight the time I spend on the journey, which is an important reason I ride my bike sometimes rather than walking.

In Graphic Design 1, I designed three symbols to represent three different volleyball positions. I learned how to develop and integrate ideas to create a unique symbolic icon for each position. I combined literal, imagined, and abstract images and iterated by drafts to arrive at my final designs. The process involved in this project challenged me to think about symbol making differently. Learned to create iterations of a single design and test the limits of what can functions as a scaleable symbol.

Before taking Graphic Design 1 I had very limited experience drawing in Illustrator. This definitely isn’t my best work and I viewed this project more as an exercise to help me get the hang of things. I tried to apply highlighting some to give the illustration more dimension, but other than that I just copied the forms as best I could.

While I am not dissatisfied with my type specimen book, I think I could do a significantly better job now if I were to do it again. I chose to illustrate the uses of Scala and Sans Scala in my book. I chose a cool color scheme of purple and teal because wanted to create a academic, researchy tone. I thought the typeface it’s self could be used in a research or professional setting, so I attempted to carry that into the design, by using long vertical lines and curly brackets. I also learned a lot about book design and structure through this project, which I enjoyed.

I created this poster in Type once for the AGIA Awards. I chose to make the names of the award winners the focal point of my design. I used color and type weight to emphasize the names and experimented with how far I could push the kerning without losing legibility. I put the color against a black background to make it stand out more and draw in the audience. I think I could have improved this poster by using different type styles on the bottom to create more interesting and obvious hierarchy.