The Project

The beverage market is heavily populated with new products from year to year. With this in mind, what can we do to create a unique and stand out product with impressive branding to support its debut to the public? Considering target audience, packaging, and overall product/company branding?

The Solution

MOOSH! An oat milk, fortified with dehydrated mushrooms and supported by mascots called the MOOSH-rooms!With four kinds of adaptogenic mushrooms, MOOSH focuses on lowering stress and inflammation, boosting immune health, and easing fatigue. MOOSH delivers these benefits allergen free and on-the-go while also protecting our environment through the use of recycled and biodegradable materials.

Branding. . .

MOOSH's branding centers all around our unique selling point (USP), our mushrooms! In an effort to support our community MOOSH focuses on Accessibility, Individuality, Sustainability, and Quality through our brand and products.Our typefaces and logo reflect how MOOSH strives to be fun and welcoming to its customers. Our brand colors are a nod to the mushrooms we rely on and our flavor colors are treated in a way to make them appear more natural.Our four mascots, the MOOSH-rooms represent each of the four mushrooms present in our fortified oat beverages.

. . .Into Packaging

Our dedication to sustainability continues with our packaging. The cartons, chosen for their use of paperboard, come with biodegradable straws and PLA plastic to cover them.Each flavor follows similar guides for consistency and highlights a different one of our mascots to draw in consumers.

public transportation motion advertisement

Takeaways

MOOSH pushed me way out of my comfort zone as one of my first projects where I had the time to truly delve into it and think about as many aspects as I could. From creating the branding itself to physically assembling my cartons for the photoshoot, this project stretched all of my creative muscles to make them stronger!

Matka's Red

Pantone 187C
C0/M56/Y52/K40
R154/G11/B21
HEX #9A0b15

Polka Red

Pantone 188C
C0/M38/Y36/K56
R112/G14/B21
HEX #700E1S

To nod to Matka's roots, red is the primary color used in the branding, named aptly, Polka Red reflects the red used in historical Poland flags.Matka's Red on the other hand comes directly from the brand's namesake, this red is the same hex code that my mother has painted her kitchen, borrowed straight from the paint sample card.

Storefront

Social Media

Matka's Social media page + posts

Takeaways

Matka's was my first true dive into both branding and letterform creation. This project let me express my heritage in a way I never quite had before, allowing me to intertwine it into my designs and illustrations for this one-of-a-kind restaurant and brand.I learned a lot about typography and just how much work it takes into refining letterforms to create the perfect combination.

The Project

Psychology Today is a popular site and magazine that covers an immense amount of topics. How can we take a lesser known article and translate that into a captivating and intriguing, designed editorial piece with multiple spreads?

The Solution

Wolves are Not a Clear and Present Danger, an article turned into an editorial design that focuses on the hybrid use of photography, traditional materials and digital materials to push the warnings of political misinformation against wolves in the United States.

Photography Requirements

This project forbid the use of stock imagery, all images, graphic or otherwise, needed to either come from myself, or with permission from the photographer. The wolves and wolf-dogs featured in these spreads come from the filming sites of the Game of Thrones series with the photographs taken by their trainer, Emily Roach.

Wolves, political stupidity, and fear-mongering: Wolves are a clear and present danger, renamed "Wolves are Not a Clear and Present Danger" for the design, is a 2011 serious and informative article based around US politics and how politicians use misinformation to push anti-wolf legislation.The author, Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder and has been active in the field of animal behavior for decades.Under the Psychology Today media kit the article can also be classified as a “rant”. Other articles on cover were selected within the same date of this main article for consistency.

Takeaways

As my first dive into editorial work, this project showed me how much I love it and how much I love typography. I have always been an avid wolf lover and the chance to integrate that into this project allowed me to make it a bit more personal, including working around the imagery restraints and collecting information and ideas to use within the article spreads.

The Project

Non-profits are typically at a large disadvantage in terms of graphics and branding due to lack of funding for them. How can we revamp a chosen non-profit and give them a full branding overhaul to better serve their mission and boost their organization?

The Solution

The non-profit Block by Block was chosen to undergo an entire brand change, including their name to help the organization better stand out from similarly named companies and become more visually distinct from other organizations to draw more interest.

The Organization

Block by Block focuses on using the video game Minecraft as an immersive and participatory design tool for urban designing and placemaking in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Block by Block is a unique collaboration between the UN and Mojang Studios, the developers of Minecraft.

The first thing viewers often see in a brand is the logo. It needs to stand out and be memorable. Craft for Care's logo borrows directly from its main tool, Minecraft, being inspired by the blocks that make up the game.The logo has three main variations, the primary block lettermark, the horizontal lettermark, and the block mark which is also used in their social media icons.

Typography

The main typeface for all of CfC's copy, headings, subheadings, etc. is Gellix. Gellix is borrowed from the parent company Mojang to tie back to CfC's roots.Gellix is perfectly geometric and provides a wonderful array of letterforms and weights that pair perfectly with CfC's graphics.

Graphic Icons

For graphics, I created a system for CfC to be able to take and use to create icons as needed for their organization. Each icon features an 4x4 grid with a 'gradient' in the background while the main icon utilizes an 8x8 square grid to create the graphics.In the 8x8 grid the outer border is never used to keep the clarity of the imagery being created in the square.

Photography + Video

The video and photography for Craft for Care focuses on bright and uplifting imagery, the photographs used should not be dark or moody, that doesn't represent the mission of CfC.These photographs and videos were taken over the span of three shoots from the help of ten different peers and students as models and assistants.

'getting ready' CfC teaser video

'presenting' CfC teaser video

Brand Launch Event

To reintroduce Block by Block as Craft for Care to the world, CfC will feature one of their workshop event with new branding and social media opportunities to bring awareness to the cause and community chosen for the event.

photo opportunity backdrop

directional a-frames

area table tents

directional barricades

Event Invite

To truly highlight the importance of the event, Craft for Care will send out personal invitations to the event for prominent members and
supporters of the organization, like Mojang's creative director Jens (Jeb) Bergensten!

Social Media

Instagram is one of Craft for Care's most used platforms and that continues with the rebrand, examples of all kinds of posts, except for reels, are present to help promote the organization.

Website

Aside from Instagram, Craft for Care's website is the most important resource and touchpoint for the organization.
Donations, communication, news, and so much more all come from the website which also received a revamp to create a more unique page for users to experience and explore.

Every participant, unless they
already own one, is given a Mojang (Minecraft) Account to keep and play on, participants of a CfC workshop will recieve this special cape item to wear on their characters whenever they want.

Inside Panels

Outside Panels

Business Card

Craft for Care's block mark logo translates well into many things, especially business cards. This business card servers to educate the receive not only on the information of the specific person giving it to them but also on a brief description of what it is exactly that Craft for Care does for their communities that they work with.

Craft for Care's dynamic tagline "Building _____ Block by Block" calls back to the original name and gives it new life as a tagline that is adaptable to the many things that CfC strives for their projects to impact and create.These advertisements shown above were created to show off the work CfC does and the people that make the work happen to ideally get them to visit the Craft for Care site and hopefully support the organization.

Volunteer Wear

To help inspire others to give back as well as make it easier for participants to receive assistants, volunteers receive a branded work vest and construction hat to be worn throughout the entire workshop event!

CfC construction hat mockup

cfc volunteer vest mockup

Takeaways

This project truly tested all aspects of my design related talents. Being able to cover something as dear to me as Minecraft while also tackling a complete brand overhaul for an organization making a difference in the world was eye-opening for me creatively. This project taught me a lot about the complete branding process way beyond what is traditionally thought as branding and bringing that into event design and all the small things that an organization like this one may need. We can't underestimate how impactful it can be for a non-profit to have access to a good brand to truly make their work shine and bring them visibility.

The Project

Not all album art holds up their connection to their albums' songs. This becomes an even more tricky statement when the fact remains that not all listeners get the same feel or 'vibe' from the songs within the album. When a listener doesn't see the connection between the art of an album and the feel of their songs, what can we do to fix that?

The Solution

Well, we make one for ourselves! Sparky Deathcap's (RN Taylor) album art had this problem for me and I sought to fix it, make it feel closer to the songs I was hearing (available to listen to in the player on the left). To flex both my analog and digital skills and as a lover of physical music media, I chose to create my own album art and cassette insert for the album.

I wanted to represent the emotions and feelings I received while listening to this EP better than the original art had accomplished.I still wanted nods to the original piece so I decided to incorporate the use of red and white, circle motifs and the cap-like icon which I turned into a logo for the project. I used acrylic paint to get a grunge feeling with a rough and textured atmosphere. I edited the colors of the painting in-post to achieve the look of older film.

Original

my Design

New Logos

This project required me to tweak the icon the original had. I wanted to lean into the name Sparky Deathcap so I created a more bottle cap-esque icon derived from the motif on the original album cover and a playful skull that tied into the name. The letterforms are inspired from the original handwriting on the original album cover.I also needed to create a simple logo that would represent RN Taylor, the artist's brand name at the time of the EP release (now R-Corp).

Takeaways

This project allowed me to explore print media at a much smaller scale with my favorite form of music, cassettes. As a collector it was a joy to create my own special cassette artwork that connected fully and truly back to the way I feel about the songs in the album. I was also able to stretch my creative muscles in the analog area to create the painting for the album cover and insert!

The Project

On April 8, 2024, North America will experience one of three different types of eclipses, the most anticipated, a Total Solar Eclipse. These exact conditions for the USA, Mexico, and Canada will not occur again until August 23, 2044. For such an important event, many cities will be holding special events. How can we create an event that highlights this natural phenomenon and intertwines the culture of the city itself?

The Solution

An eclipse festival in the border city of Del Rio, Texas! Located in Texas, a mile from the Rio Grande and the Mexican town of Ciudad Acuña, Del Rio is home to Lake Amistad, contains the Val Verde Winery, as well as unique arts and culture.This eclipse campaign strives to do three main things, highlight Del Rio's unique Mexican/American culture, foster community, and attract new visitors to the town for the event.

The Roles

Creating the entire event and branding for it was not a one person project. My fellow designer Max Stromfeld worked with me on this project to make it a success!The two of us created and ideated the ideas for the event itself together while he tackled the website design and I took on a majority of the branding and all the marketing/merchandising materials for the event.

What?

Along with the solar eclipse itself, Del Rio will be hosting several events for families visiting and who live in Del Rio.- Kayaking on Lake Amistad
- Local Vendor Artist Alley
- Event Exclusive Merch Tent
- Stage Events Highlighting Local Musicians, Dances, and Scientists
- Community Mural Painting Sponsored by Casa de la Cultra
- Wine and Food from the Val Verde Winery
- Yard Games and Del Rio Parks

Why?

As stated, this type of solar eclipse will not happen again until 2044, this event servers to highlight this anticipated natural phenomenon and the city of Del Rio. As a smaller border city, Del Rio has a unique blend of Mexican and American culture along with many areas in and surrounding for tourists to explore.

Where?

Most of the main festivities will take place in Brown Plaza, the heart of Del Rio and where the town started. This area is important to the city so it is only natural that an event highlighting it take place within the plaza.

Moon Blue

Pantone 5255C
C91/M86/Y49/K65
R18/G19/B45
HEX #12132D

Sol Yellow

Pantone 7409C
C3/M36/Y98/K0
R244/G171/B33
HEX #F4AB21

The primary mark for the festival is inspired by both the eclipse itself and Mexican textile work. The mark utilizes geometric motifs largely present in those textile works, giving the impression of an eclipse as well as a flower which also holds signifigance in the textiles it is inspired by.Our primary copy (TXC Pearl) is designed by Texas-raised designer Andy Anzolitto. It is inspired by type in Texas Hill Country which is only 2 hours from Del Rio!"TXC Pearl is a playful expression of the narrative of a place, carrying forward into the future the stories of the past" -Anzoltto

The Website – Max Stromfeld

The website is the landing for all things about the Del Rio festival, from tickets to itineraries and FAQ. We wanted to highlight the events happening at the festival and how they connect to Del Rio.

home page website tour

activities page website tour

Memorable/Event Poster

This poster servers as a gift for all visitors as a memory for all of them to take home with them. This poster highlights the time, date, and location of this event with an illustration I created using illustrator and references of Brown Plaza where the event is taking place.

A free event with paid experiences

The eclipse event for Del Rio is a free event, however, if participants register beforehand they get access to a branded ticket in their preferred language that they can then use as a ticket to enter into some of the raffles happening during the event.While the event is free, many of the vendors will have goods and/or services for sale/purchase like the artists and Val Verde's goods.All visitors receive a free souvenir poster, eclipse glasses, and branded bottle of mini sunscreen to stay safe during the eclipse.

Takeaways

This project allowed me to really flex my research muscles, the most important factor of this project for Max and I was figuring out how to properly represent a culture and town we were in no way familiar with prior to the project. While challenging, it was one of the most exciting things about this project, figuring out how to reflect culture and experiences of this town into the event was a puzzle we lovingly put together throughout the entire process.