laura nelson design portfolio

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Laura NelsonPortfolio

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Table of Contents3 Stationery

5 Business Card

7 Photo Montage

9 Logo Design

11 Brochure

13 Photodesign

15 Webpage

17 Flier

19 Event Ad

ContactLaura Nelson

Contact Me:

333.333.333

laura@lauranelsongdesign.com

3333 Laura AvenueFriendswood, TX 77546

Find My Work Online:lauranelsondesign.comhttps://lauranelsondesign.wordpress.com/laura@lauranelsongdesign.com

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StationeryDateFebruary 28, 2015

Programs UsedIllustrator, InDesign

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesA stationery design including a letterhead created for Sewful Living.

ProcessTo begin the design of this I drew some sketches of possible logos. I decided to use a sewing machine to represent the business. I used Adobe Illustrator’s pen to to de-sign a sewing machine that would have enough detail to be recognizable, but basic enough to make the logo versatile in different sizes.

I used InDesign to create the stationery. I wanted to have a consistent and unified feel throughout the stationery. I chose a fabric texture for the background and increased the opacity to make the design favorable for writing letters. I chose to go with a basic left aligned layout. I added a faint watermark to the page for repetition to create unity. I added “stitching” at the bottom of the page to emphasize the sew-ing theme and add visual variety and interest.

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Business CardDateFebruary 28, 2015

Programs UsedIllustrator, InDesign

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesA stationery design including a business card created for Sewful Living.

ProcessI used InDesign to create the stationery and business cards. I wanted to have a consistent and unified feel throughout the stationery. I chose a fabric texture for the background and increased the opacity to make the design favorable for writing letters. I chose to go with a basic left aligned layout. I added a faint watermark to the page for repetition to create unity. I added “stitching” at the bottom of the page to emphasize the sewing theme and add visual variety and interest. In designing the business card, I took the same elements so that each piece of the stationery would feel like part of a set.

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Photo MontageDateFebruary 14, 2015

Programs UsedPhotoshop

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesDesign a spiritual montage using a quote and at least two photos.

ProcessI began this design process with the message in mind. I chose two images. One that I felt represented someone drowning and the other a hand. Hands denote action and reaching out. I used the water image as my background and placed the hand on another layer. I then created a mask and used the brush tool to blend the hand image into the water background. I also went over the hand image at a low opacity to allow some of the air bubbles to appear on top of the hand. I applied an overlay effect to the hand photo at 50% in order to help the color of the hand blend with the water. I also liked that it added a feeling of light on top of the hand to match the lighting on the man.

When it came to choosing typography, I wanted a typeface that felt long and sink-ing so I chose Innercity and Hagin Caps Medium. I made drowning and help (the two main points of the message) larger than the rest of the text to help it become a focal point in the piece.

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Logo DesignDateFebruary 21, 2015

Programs UsedIllustrator

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesA logo design for Spring Fitness with three different options provided for the client to choose from.

ProcessIn order to create these three logos I began with sketching different concepts that would communicate spring and fitness. I then took my sketches to Illustrator and create digital sketches in black and white for my three strongest concepts. I mainly used the pen tool to create the logos, but also used the shape tool as well. I focused on making sure that there was enough negative space in each logo to keep the clar-ity of each logo when it is made smaller. Color was the last element I added to each logo once I felt it communicated well in black and white.

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BrochureDateMarch 29, 2015

Programs UsedPhotoshop, InDesign, Illustrator

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesA brochure created for Bridge Tutoring explaining their philosophy and services.

ProcessThe first part of this project was designing a logo for Bridge Tutoring. I sketched out various ideas. Once I found a concept that married the message of a bridge and education I created several digital variations in Illustrator. I then fine tuned my final selection.

For the brochure I began by sketching out ideas on how to organize the information and make sure the message is clear. I used InDesign to organize images, text and shapes. I used the eyedropper tool to pull colors from my images into my design. I wanted to add a repeating element to create unity in the piece, and so I designed the dot bridge. I used Photoshop to create a clipped image and wrapped the body text around that.

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PhotodesignDateFebruary 27, 2015

Programs UsedPhotoshop

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesCreate a photodesign using a personally taken image and a quote.

ProcessI began this design process with the message in mind. I chose two images. One that I felt represented someone drowning and the other a hand. Hands denote action and reaching out. I used the water image as my background and placed the hand on another layer. I then created a mask and used the brush tool to blend the hand image into the water background. I also went over the hand image at a low opacity to allow some of the air bubbles to appear on top of the hand. I applied an overlay effect to the hand photo at 50% in order to help the color of the hand blend with the water. I also liked that it added a feeling of light on top of the hand to match the lighting on the man.

When it came to choosing typography, I wanted a typeface that felt long and sink-ing so I chose Innercity and Hagin Caps Medium. I made drowning and help (the two main points of the message) larger than the rest of the text to help it become a focal point in the piece.

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Webpage DesignDateMarch 14, 2015

Programs UsedNotepad++, Photoshop

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesA website design for Sewful Living using HTML and CSS

ProcessIn order to create a website design for Sewful Living, I used the Notepad++ text editor. I wanted to design a site that matched the style of the logo and stationery. I used the same texture for the website background that is used in the stationery. I added that file to my folder so that it would link to the CSS and HTML to display properly when the site is run. I chose not to incorporate the font used in the logo name. While I like that font, I feel like it is too decorative to use in the website. I chose to use Trebuchet MS for the headers because the g closely resembles the g in the logo title. I felt it was a good compromise in finding a complimentary font to the logo title without being too loud. I changed the body background color to a tan in order to have it more unified with the texture background. To find the best color for this I used a sample in Photoshop from the texture image to find the HEX values that would correlate with it. I aligned all the elements with a center alignment for this site. I wanted to repeat the sewing theme so I changed the border to a dashed line to make it look like the body had been stitched onto the background. Visual hierarchy was created using different font sizes, color variation and font variation.

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FlierDateJanuary 24, 2015

Programs UsedInDesign

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesA flier created to advertise Vouant Communication’s annual Graduate Leadership Conference.

ProcessIn order to create this flier I began sketching concepts that would create visual hi-erarchy and a strong focal point to express the intended message and captivate the intended audience. I then used InDesign to transfer my drawn sketches into digital form. I used a large image as my main focal point. I chose a large, bold font for the title so that the reader’s attention would be led to that. I used a strict alignment on the page that lined up with the “D” from the title. In order to add emphasis to the details of the conference, I chose to break the grid by placing the date, time and place opposite the other information on the page.

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DateFebruary 1, 2015

Programs UsedPhotoshop, Microsoft Word

CourseCOMM 130 - Visual Media

InstructorEmily Kunz

ObjectivesDesign an event ad using a scanned image and Microsoft Word.

ProcessI began designing the ad by sketching out different layouts. After choosing a layout, I used Microsoft Word to create the ad. I scanned an image from National Geo-graphic to use for the ad. I used different font sizes to create visual hierarchy within the page. I decided to use repetition to drive home the message of the ad by creat-ing keys from a keyboard to display both the title and the date. I chose to use left alignment and have an ample amount of negative space.

Event Ad