Fall 2020, Spring 2021
Production for the Graphic Designer, Letterpress
Production for the Graphic Designer
Tarot | Redesign | Subscription Box | Process Book
Tarot: This is the final set of 22 tarot cards I illustrated for our first project in Production for the Graphic Designer. I chose to create illustration heavy tarot cards because I am not the best illustrator and have never developed my own art style; thus, I felt that choosing to do illustration would push me to increase the number of design mediums I’m comfortable with. I also chose to do Studio Ghibli inspired cards because of the lush environments that Ghibli creates in each of the movie scenes. I also incorporate a pencil and watercolor texture.
Redesign: For this project, we chose a food or beverage item to redesign. I chose the to-go sushi boxes at Kroger, which are made by Hissho Sushi. I identified several issues, including the excessive use of plastic and lack of functionality, that I wanted to address. I ended up creating a much more minimal and sleek design that helped to elevate the regular to-go sushi boxes. I also wanted the design to tie back to more traditional aspects of Japanese culture, which is why I included the torii gate and omamori graphic elements. Red also makes you hungry; thus, it serves multiple purposes: enticing people to pick up the product and connecting to a Japanese color palette. The slogan—“For Certain Victory, Grab Hissho.”—is also meant to serve as a play on words, as Hissho literally translates into “certain victory.”
Subscription Box: This was a collaborative project between our class and a marketing class. This project required the design teams of two to three designers to create a style guide as well as design the identity system for the entire brand. Our subscription box was called Pressed On., and our service involved selling press on nails. To view the full style guide, follow the link below to the home screen and scroll to the bottom.
Process Book: I’ve designed quite a few portfolio pieces and process books during my time at IU, but this time around, I wanted to show my personality throughout the piece. I also knew I wanted to keep the general layout simple while emphasizing the overall process and growth during each project. I particularly like the Project Notes spreads because they help tell my story in a visual way.
Letterpress
Power of the Press | Clocks | Independent Project
Power of the Press: The title of this print is “Know You’re Shit,” which calls attention to the snarky tone of the print as well as the importance of grammar. Since I was in elementary school, I’ve taken extracurricular grammar and writing classes, which has turned “poor grammar” into one of my biggest pet peeves. The goal of this project was to create a print about a topic that was important to you, and normally, I would’ve taken a much more serious approach. This, however, was the first time I had ever used a letterpress machine, so I wanted to have fun while experimenting with the process.
Clocks: For this project, we had only two stipulations: The clock face must fit a 9” clock face, and type must be utilized in some way. For my clock face, I used a linocut, metal type and a laser cut acrylic piece to print out my design; moreover, my theme was Chinese New Year, as 2021 was the year of the cow. My chibi animals—the cow and snake—were hand-carved in linoleum and then printed with yellow ink. The chinese number characters were printed using a laser cut acrylic piece I designed in Illustrator and printed with white ink. Lastly, the arabic numerals were printed using metal type in black ink. All elements were printed on 100 lb red French paper, and after everything was printed out, I sent the clock face through the laser cutter again to carve out the infinite, Chinese pattern. The clock face was then adhered to 100 lb white, cover paper. While this was a difficult process because of alignment and lock-up, I really enjoyed my final product.
Independent Project: Our only requirement this project was that we needed to use the press in some way. As for my theme, I chose to take a humorous approach and show the world my “lefty” pride; moreover, I love the Simpsons and have fond memories regarding Flander’s “Leftorium” in the show. Thus, I chose to create my own leftorium in the type shop as well as turn myself into a Simpsons character. I used wood type, metal type and two linocuts to print this piece. The Simpsons me presented the most challenges with 5 passes through the press, and I used 100 lb yellow French paper. Alignment and drying times were two massive obstacles I faced, but I ended up with a few solid prints. I also carved out a hat that I wore every day to class, for it was also easily identifiable as a part of “Heidi.” One of my signs lives in the type shop with several left-handed tools that any lefty can use.