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

[email protected]

3333 Laura AvenueFriendswood, TX 77546

Find My Work Online:lauranelsondesign.comhttps://lauranelsondesign.wordpress.com/[email protected]

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.

Business CardDateFebruary 28, 2015

Programs UsedIllustrator, InDesign



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

laura nelson design portfolio

Documents

hand photo

hand image

hand blend

design favorable

business carddatefebruary

design process

visual variety

business cards