Littlefoot popcorn consists of packaging of two different flavors: white cheddar and caramel. The display contains images of bamboo and tree trunks. The target audience is for children from the ages of 3 to 10. The concept started off of teddy bears and expanded into brown bears and panda bears. There is a mix of illustrative drawings along with photographic texture of bear fur. This project requirements were to create a product and a display. I decided to create something for kids to expand my range of products.

The brown bear box contains the caramel popcorn flavor, while the panda bear contains white cheddar popcorn flavor. I illustrated the faces of both bears using illustrator. I tried to think in terms of what would attract kids to certain packaging. i really wanted to show the product in a creative way, so I found boxes with a laminate circle and designed the faces around that. I thought that a visual image of another face looking back at you would be eye catching for little kids. Originally, I had the faces on top of a flat color, but it seemed to be lacking something. After mixing the illustrative face with an image of bear fur, the design stood out much better.

Forté is a miniature 4 pack of cognac designed specifically for strong women. The target audience was for powerful and strong women who like to drink something more rich and strong. The idea behind the design was leaving a mysterious and sexy vibe. I wanted to give an intense feel so I chose to highlight the eye color to make the bottle seem like it was staring at you. There are three different flavors: cognac classic, cognac amber and cognac sapphire. Cognac classic is the smooth and rich flavors of cognac that is aged to perfection. Amber has hints of maple and sapphire the taste of mixed berries. 

I decided to use the miniature wine bottles for the size since it's a convenient small "to go" size. I used the same color of the eye to highlight certain font and to differentiate the packaging flavors. The box design, I decided to go with more of a muted tone. I wanted the eyes to be the first thing you saw, so I went with a natural leaves feel. As if there was someone in the woods peering out at you from the dark. 

I mostly used Illustrator and Photoshop to design this piece. Also by printing on the plotter, the shiny paper gave it a glossy feel. 

One of the projects that I designed for the Minnesota Zoo was for their annual picnic. For this I needed to create a postcard and an ad. Some of the required guidelines were to have an image of a Hawaiian monk seal since they were the new display in the spring. 

I started with the picnic postcard since that came first. After combing through a lot of monk seal photos, I chose this particular one since it makes eye contact. I also had used this monk seal as the base for the zoo camp tee shirts that I illustrated. I used the provided text and the same image of the aloha text from the spring catalog that had a Hawaiian theme.

Few weeks later, there was a request for a picnic ad. The zoo wanted the same guidelines as the picnic mailer postcard. So sticking with the same image and some rearranging for the new size requirements, I used the same elements used int he previous postcard. Using the same white curved tab to highlight some information to make it stand out a little more. I also added the color of yellow to the phone number bar as it seemed that the whole image needed a contrasting weight at the end. Otherwise, the text and the blue background seemed to keep going on with too much space.

I worked on different ads for the zoo for different magazines such as the Twin Cities Business and Where magazine. There were also ads that were for the counters at certain locations which were called skyscraper countermate ads.

These first two ads were designs I had created for the Where magazine. As the ads are seasonal, I had created a spring and fall one. By searching through the zoo's images, I had to develop these images by erasing the background.

An ad I worked on for the visitor's guide followed the same style of the white background. Using a penguin that I had found that is looking at the tagline seemed to work out the best. Since this ad was going to be placed on a white page with other ads, the zoo did ask for a thick border around the ad itself.

There were promotional ads for the top counters of grocery stores. We called them skyscraper countertop ads. These ads would promote certain events or deals at the zoo. One in particular, that I had designed was for the winter passport. Using the winter passport logo and finding images, I had found this amazing owl that looks down which would lead the reader's eye to the following text. These ads were used in many different venues as well. 

When I used the image of the owl, I figured I would use the same color scheme, since I wanted to keep it simple. Also with that color scheme, it conveyed winter at the same time. Using the orange from the winter passport logo, I used it as an accent color for highlighted attention.

The Lost app was created from a personal experience. I have a friend that tends to wander and get lost. So this app is designed for finding friends when someone gets lost. It lets you set up events that you are going to and link certain people to that event. So if someone gets lost you can use the app to find that linked person with your phone! Similar to using a GPS to find a location. Unlike other apps that similar, I wanted this to have a deliverable which would be a bracelet that would track your location. 

The process of this app, was to go through and figure out who the target audience was, what constraints I would have and what was needed. I sketched out a small site map and then the actual frames/pages. After trying to figure what was all needed, I proceeded to prototyping on paper. Then finally, designing the actual pages and usability.

While at the Minnesota Zoo, I worked on several different print materials such as table toppers, buckslips and postcards. 

Legislator Postcard (images 1-3)

One of the projects was a postcard for the legislators day. This postcard was to invite special members to an event. Using Photoshop, I altered the lynx photo by cropping it and altering the saturation and hue. The back of the postcard with the information is using the same design pattern provided.

Azul Trifold (Images 4-6)

I had to create a trifold for Azul using their guidelines. They provided me with a standards manual booklet for design. In the booklet among other information, it provided photography style and color scheme. It also provided a style of how Azul wanted the trifold to resemble.

After sorting through the Zoo's extensive photos, I chose the three that seemed to portray the same photography style that Azul requested. I also had to photoshop the saturation levels and adding some filters to have that jeweled tone feel to the images.

Membership Buckslip (Image 7)

Buckslips are little slips of paper with information. I had made some buckslips promoting membership to the zoo. Using the same colors that they had used for part of the membership design, I had created this buckslip with an eye catching photo that was provided by the zoo.

Promotional Table Topper (Image 8)

Another promotional item I created was a three sided table topper. Using the same colors as the educational department, I created a gridded layout of information.

Taking Steps Together is a nutrition and cooking program for urban families through Hennepin County Medical Center. This program was created to help families learn how to cook healthy meals. This was a branding opportunity that needed a logo, business collateral and deliverables such as a brochure and a postcard.

This was done for a class to help the students see what it was like to work with clients. The clients wanted a very kid oriented and illustrative feel to the logo. After many sketches, the one they chose was one that incorporated food and cooking utensils. Along with the branding, was a need for a standards manual. After many sketches, and through many editing phases of the top sketches; the finalized logo that I came up with was the foot logo shown in closer detail in image 2.

For the process, I started with the logo creation. First step was creating about 100 sketches of possible logo ideas that would fit the idea of what the clients had suggested. An example of some of the process work of the sketches done is shown in image 3-8. Basically this step was really for brainstorming. So even though some of the sketches weren't ideal, it did create more ideas. From there, I had to narrow the sketches to the top five.

Among those five and after many critiques, I kept tweaking the logos. Narrowing the logos to two, I made different minor variations of those two logos. After finalizing the logo, I created the standard manual. In the standard manual, I wrote about brand identity, logo, variations of the logo including font and color as well as collateral information. A few example pages of the standard manual is shown in image 9-11.

Full PDF of the standard manual provided upon request.

I also made a couple of suggestions for collateral that I thought would fit the brand and theme of the program. The last few images are examples of a postcard, a brochure, some business collateral and some fun ones like a soccer ball and notepad.

The member monk seal was an event at the Minnesota Zoo for the grand introduction of the new Hawaiian monk seals. For this, I had to create a package of different collateral. I had to create a canister, which is basically a huge banner that stands up. This canister had to have certain elements in it including a picture of a monk seal and certain text. The canister does have a good amount of negative space at the bottom; since it was required for the setup.

I got to choose the photo of the monk seal from a few of the photos the zoo had of monk seals. The text and font were chosen by the client to fit a standard with another program. I chose to use the colorful ocean background to attract eyes. It also paired well with the header text and color. An example of the canister in display is also shown in the second photo.

Another design I had to create for this member monk seal opening was a letter/email design. Using the same theme as the canister, I used the eye catching header with the bold background.

The last collateral I created for the opening was a table topper/tent. Following the same theme as the canister, I used the same background. The header was a little bit longer so I had to adjust for that.

The Comfort Box is an app I created for my thesis. I started to work on my thesis my junior year but the actual app was applied senior year. This was based on the thought of how Americans work in the United States compared to other countries like the ones in Europe. Often times being overworked or zoned out, I thought about an app to not only get you moving but get you out of your comfort zone. Small tasks and changes to not only get you moving but get you out of your comfort zone. Small tasks and changes to not only brighten your day but possibly somebody else. 

How does it work? It gives you different types of tasks to accomplish everyday. Everything from wearing something bright in color to paying ti forward and paying for somebody's coffee. Just little acts to get you out of that funk of the same everyday life. Not only is it something small that doesn't take a lot of time but it also gets people to really take a break from mundane life. You'll never know what tasks you'll get everyday.

It starts out by signing in to your account, then taking a mood quiz. After that, it gives you tasks to do everyday. As shown in images 3-6, it ranges from walks to meeting new people to wearing something bright in color. This app affects not only the user but those that the user interacts with as well. You might have to ask a coworker about their day and make their day by just asking. It affects you and those around you.

For a closer look on how the application would work, I did make a video for my thesis. Visit you tube: https://youtu.be/ZuQi4LNVMcw. 

Every year at the Minnesota Zoo, they have a program for kids. This program teaches the kids about the animals and they get to do all sorts of activities. Every year, they have a tee shirt for the kids. That year, I had the honor to design the tee shirt. The guidelines for the tee were that it had to be a monk seal sine the seals were going to be the new exhibit. It also had to be a vector image.

By using one of the images provided (3rd photo), I used it as a base for creating a vector seal. I used Adobe Illustrator for this task. By creating several layers, I used parts of the photo to create the shape and base of the vector image of the seal. Each layer had a different element. For example, one layer was just the seal's facial expressions, another his body color only and so on.

Along with the camp and tee shirts, the zoo also usually has a catalog that comes out talking about the event. I provided some photos taken from the Minnesota Zoo catalog of some of the kids wearing the tee.

RTB is short for React to Business. There would be weekly react to business meetings where the team would assess necessary changes inside the store as well as the window storefront depending on the last week business and sales . I would create the visual document with all the specific details that would be sent to the stores.

This particular document would always consist of a storefront along with marketing signs and flyers. After the storefront, it would have detailed changes and information on moves inside the store. While the layout for the file was done in InDesign, the photos had to be done in photoshop and the marketing in store signs were done in Illustrator. After the details of the inside store moves were decided and got the approval, I would work with the buyers for the information needed such as style numbers for every accessory or garment.

Along with this digital document, I updated floor maps using Illustrator and post them to the public folders where any store could look up to confirm the location of the fixtures and tables.