be rad…be foolish

I recently designed and coded an HTML email campaign for a web-based wine seller out of NYC.  In the span of one evening, I had to teach myself how to code tables.  I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

I also had to create an HTML landing page users would be taken to after clicking through the email.

Below is the main graphic I created.  Click on the links above to view copies I’m hosting.

I’ve been in talks with an ecommerce web design firm in Austin.  Part of the application was was to create a comp for a hypothetical client.

I had two options, a skateboarding shoe company and a women’s clothing company.  I was leaning toward the skateboarding shoe company and decided to commit to it.  I figured if I end up working for them, I wouldn’t get to choose the clients I work for.

Below is what I came up with after about a day’s worth of work.  As I designed it, I kept the word ‘mobile’ in mind.  I feel like this design could look good on a computer screen or a mobile phone screen.  I pulled the images from Google as placeholder images.  Otherwise, everything is my work.

I haven’t been happy with my capstone site since the first design.  I changed a jQuery hover over element to a basic slider.  Then last night I changed the entire interface design.

I’d been thinking about incorporating a sprawling urban landscape silhouette somewhere.  Originally I thought it’d go at the bottom of the div that drops down when you click on the About This Project button.  But given how the site will be presented to the user once I add a video clip I’m making in After Effects, I didn’t think many users would see this little bit of artwork I’ve created.

So it’s sitting in the header now.  That might change too.

I just finished the iMedia Showcase invite.  Was happy to design it with a few minutes here and there over the past week or so.  It was a nice break from working on capstone.  I used Trajan–inspired by AKQA’s website–as the display type and District Thin for the text.  District Thin has a pretty high x-height and was more readable than some other thin, san-serif fonts I considered.  Desaturated the blacks to various degrees for the text; obviously left the company logos as they are.

I think it turned out well.  Wanted to play with whitespace and a little bit of grid design.

*The logos aren’t pixelated on the print version, just this screenshot.

I’m home for Christmas.  And I’m bored.

So to solve my holiday malaise, a little unsolicited packaging redesign…

Keys Soaps puts out some great products and they’re doing some cool things with their labels.  The ‘Therapy Facts’ riffing on ‘Nutrition Facts’ is pretty clever.  I chose one of my favorite products of theirs and spent the past couple hours before dinner redesigning the label.  Choose a font, make the margaritas.  Retype the bulleted list, grate the cheese.  Resize and center all the visual elements, warm the tortillas in the oven.

Their current logo (the first in the series below) is wrapped around a cylindrical container.  The center column is displayed on the front of the tube.

Their current logo is too busy.  It takes an iconic image (the first aid symbol) and makes it unnecessarily complicated.  There is way too much text, the text that is there is too crowded and a lot of it is redundant.

I understand the desire to hit all the high-points of the product on the main part (center) of the label, but it’s too wordy.  I simplified for better product recognition.

I included the second (and last) iteration because I might be using the same font as a typeface used in a prior Keys Soaps logo in my first iteration. So in the spirit of true redesign, I wanted to include a unique logo design; and also because I’m not a fan of the current typeface in their logo.

In short, I wanted to refine the label, make it less wordy.  The new text on the left side isn’t so crowded; the smaller font size actually improves readability.  The first iteration has a heavy, serif logo typeface contrasted with a thin typeface throughout.  The second iteration has a heavy, san-serif logo typeface contrasted with a thin typeface throughout.  Everything’s in its right place, brand name, product name, brief explanation, product details and ingredients.  The two redesigns are more streamlined.

Here’s my redesign.  And here comes our enchiladas and margaritas.  Enjoy my redesign as much as I’m going to enjoy this meal!

Adios!

Probably my favorite assignment so far.  We were assigned to create an iPhone interface including a clock, alarm, calendar and radio.  I’m not sure I’ve ever obsessed over my work so much.  Loved all the late nights working on it.  Here are some screen shots.  And here’s the original file. iPhone Comp