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Project Overview

For this project, my two team members and I were tasked with creating a library of information about soft robotics and wearable technology. This library would also serve as a foundation for our later projects. We decided to build our library as a website in Figma, with the goal of making the information easy to navigate and understand for someone unfamiliar with soft robotics. Since we were also new to the subject, we first needed to develop our own understanding before deciding how to communicate it through the website.

FigJam Process

We started by creating a shared FigJam to collect our research and organize our findings. We divided the research among the three of us, and I focused on how soft robotics works, its history, its ecosystem, its cultural and environmental impact, legal considerations, and unexpected applications. Over the course of a week, we gathered information from reliable sources and began identifying how it could be organized on the website. Having our research in one place helped us build a shared understanding of the technology and gave us a clear foundation to move into the design process.

Website Process

With our research organized, we began developing a visual identity that connected to the technology we were presenting. We created a moodboard in our FigJam with references that helped us explore possible directions for the website. Our color palette drew inspiration from the pink and blue appearance of the octobot, one of the soft robots we encountered during our research. We also compared several typefaces before choosing Almarai. These decisions gave us a consistent visual direction as we translated our research into the website's pages.

Website File

View Figma File Page Directly

The finished website brings our research and visual identity together into a resource that introduces visitors to soft robotics. I am very happy with how it turned out, especially considering how unfamiliar we were with the subject at the beginning. Working together helped us connect our individual research contributions and create a cohesive project. One of our favorite features is the dark mode switch on the landing page, which highlights the octobot's glowing appearance. This project helped me understand how organizing research early in the process can guide both the content and visual direction of a design.

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Project Overview

For this project, I was tasked with designing a brand that interacts with the local community. I developed Lily Pad Landing, a concept for an animal conservatory focused on the conservation and rehabilitation of animals that live in and around freshwater. I chose this direction because of my personal love of animals and my belief that local wildlife is an important part of the community. My goal was to create a visual identity that reflected this connection and made the conservatory feel approachable.

Initial Planning and Research

I began by deciding what kind of organization I wanted to create and outlining the research that would inform its identity. After choosing an animal conservatory, I interviewed a local conservationist about their work protecting and rehabilitating wildlife and their connection to the community. I then organized the interview findings into ideas I could apply to the brand. This helped me move beyond my personal interest in animals and consider how the conservatory could communicate its purpose to the people around it.

Moodboard

With my research in place, I created a moodboard to explore possible visual directions. I collected references for color, typography, and imagery that could help make the identity recognizable and approachable. The moodboard gave me a starting point for sketching and helped connect my research to the visual decisions I would make next.

Sketches

I started sketching mascot ideas using a red-eyed tree frog and a macaw because of their bright colors and recognizable features. Exploring both animals allowed me to compare different directions before committing to one.

Early Ideas

I then brought the ideas from my moodboard and sketches into digital drafts. I explored typefaces and color palettes to see how they could work together as a visual identity. This stage helped me narrow down the options and consider how each choice supported the overall character of the brand.

Using those combinations, I developed early versions of the logo and brand name and compared how the mascots worked with the typography. These drafts helped me refine the branding direction and bring the separate elements into a more cohesive identity.

Finalized Logo

I chose the frog direction because it felt like the strongest fit when used alongside Lily Pad Landing's name and freshwater focus. Although the red-eyed tree frog that inspired my early sketches is not native to the United States, I used it as a starting point for a stylized mascot rather than a representation of a specific local species.

Final Style Guide

The final style guide brings the mascot, typography, and color palette together into a consistent system. This project helped me understand how research and visual exploration can shape a brand around its purpose and connection to a community.

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Project Overview

For this project, I was tasked with designing a booklet around a word from another language that doesn't have a direct English equivalent. I chose the Japanese word “komorebi,” which describes sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees. Since I am also learning Japanese, this project gave me an opportunity to connect my language studies with my design work. My goal was to communicate the meaning of the word through both the typography and the physical experience of the booklet.

Inspiration

I began by looking at Japanese posters to see how designers approached composition and typography using Japanese characters. Because Japanese and English have different writing systems, I wanted to study references that could inform how I worked with both languages. These posters helped me explore possible directions for the booklet while considering how the characters could become a central part of its visual identity.

Sketches

From those references, I began sketching ways to make the lettering reflect the meaning of komorebi. I experimented with adding leaves to the characters and using the white space around them to suggest light passing through a forest canopy. These sketches helped me explore how much I could alter the letterforms while keeping them recognizable.

Initial Drafts

When I moved into digital drafts, I chose to develop the idea of white space breaking into the edges of the characters. This felt like a more manageable way to communicate light filtering through trees than illustrating each character as a tree. It also allowed me to focus on the typography without adding details that could make the characters difficult to read at smaller sizes.

Development

As I developed the booklet, I expanded the ideas from my initial cover into interior spreads that broke down the meaning of the word. This gave the typography a clearer role beyond the cover and helped me establish a structure for the content. Rather than relying on one image to explain komorebi, I could guide the reader through its individual characters and how they contribute to the overall meaning.

Final Booklet Spread

In the final layouts, I moved away from the white-space treatment around the characters and introduced yellow accents to represent sunlight. These accents also helped emphasize information throughout the booklet. I organized the interior spreads around individual characters that make up komorebi, beginning with the kanji for “tree.” This direction gave the booklet a more consistent visual system while keeping the meaning of the word at the center of the design.

Print Samples

With the layouts complete, I began testing how the booklet would work in print. For my first sample, I used watercolor paper for the cover because of its texture and rigidity, paired with standard printing paper for the interior pages. The sample revealed problems that weren't apparent on screen: the paper creased more easily than I wanted, and printing showed through the interior pages, making the content difficult to read. These issues helped me identify what I needed from the final paper choice.

Final Booklet Photos

After the first print sample, I looked for paper that would hold up better to handling and keep the printing from showing through. Coincidentally, I ended up working with Japanese washi paper made for woodblock printing. It had the thickness and tactile quality I was looking for, and its warm, off-white color gave the booklet a character that I felt suited the design. I finished the booklet using a traditional Japanese bookbinding technique to connect the physical construction with the language explored inside. This project helped me understand how typography, materials, and binding can work together to communicate an idea.

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Project Overview

For this project, my partner and I were tasked with designing a visual identity for hypothetical Olympic Games in Istanbul, Turkey. I designed the main logo and event pictograms, while my partner developed the colors, motifs, and typography. We built the identity around creativity, heritage, and diversity, drawing from our cultural research on Istanbul. I then worked individually to apply the identity to a warm-up jacket with interchangeable zipper charms that athletes and fans could trade. This gave me an opportunity to bring my interests in fashion, branding, and sports together through an item people could wear and personalize.

Initial Inspiration

We began with cultural research and a visual moodboard to establish a direction for the identity. Ottoman art became an important reference, particularly its floral motifs and decorative patterns. These references gave us a starting point for the forms and details we wanted to explore. We chose red, blue, and gold based on the cultural references we collected, then used our three guiding themes to connect those choices into a shared visual direction.

Logo Sketches

From our research, I was especially drawn to the floral motifs in Turkish and Ottoman art. I began sketching ways to translate those forms into a recognizable Olympic logo. This stage helped me explore how a cultural reference could become a simpler mark while still connecting to the identity we were developing.

Finalized Logos and Pictograms

For the final logo, I combined a tulip with the Olympic flame. The tulip stood out in our visual references, and its shape offered a connection to the flame that allowed me to bring both ideas into one mark. For the event pictograms, I worked directly in Illustrator to explore forms inspired by the brushstrokes in the pottery we researched. Working digitally made it easier to experiment with those strokes and develop a consistent approach across the different sports.

Style Guide

My partner and I brought the logo, pictograms, colors, motifs, and typography together in a final style guide. Although we divided the responsibilities, our decisions influenced each other throughout the process. Seeing the elements together helped us establish a cohesive identity and gave me a foundation to reference when designing the artifact in the second part of the project.

Artifact Sketches

My first artifact idea was a field guide for visitors attending the Games. It would introduce Istanbul's food and wildlife alongside athlete profiles, similar to a sports match program. As I considered the amount of content needed and the project's short deadline, I shifted toward a jacket. This direction gave me a more focused way to apply the identity while exploring my interest in clothing design. I then began sketching how the jacket and interchangeable charms could work together as one concept.

Final Artifact

For the final jacket concept, I explored colorways inspired by Turkish and Ottoman patterns, the Olympic colors, and Turkey's red and white. I also designed interchangeable country-related charms inspired by Olympic pin trading. These could be exchanged and used as zipper pulls, jewelry attachments, or keychains, encouraging people to personalize the jacket and use the charms beyond the Games. I am especially proud of how this project brought my interests in fashion, branding, and sports together while building on the identity my partner and I developed.

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Project Overview

For this project, I was tasked with designing graphics for a preexisting or original event. As a Chicago Bears fan, I chose to create a visual identity for a hypothetical Super Bowl in Chicago. I wanted the designs to connect the energy of the event with the character of the city. This was my first substantial sports graphics project, so it also gave me an opportunity to develop my skills in image editing, typography, and creating a consistent identity across different formats.

Visual Reference Archive

I began by curating an archive of graphics made in and around Chicago. These references helped me explore how the city's identity could inform the event's visual direction. Rather than relying only on existing sports graphics, I wanted to draw from Chicago itself and build a design language that felt connected to the location. The archive became a reference point as I developed the logo, typography, and promotional materials.

Logo Sketches

With those references in place, I began sketching ways to incorporate the Chicago skyline and flag into the logo. Both felt like recognizable elements that could establish the location of the event. I also explored combining Art Deco influences with modern forms to reflect the architectural direction I wanted to bring into the identity.

Initial Logo Development

I then translated my sketches into digital logo drafts, exploring how the Chicago references could work together as one mark. This stage helped me move from individual ideas toward a clearer direction for the event's identity. Developing the logo also gave me a starting point for the visual elements I would carry into the other graphics.

Initial Poster Drafts

My early poster drafts were an opportunity to test the identity while developing my approach to player graphics. At this point, I was still learning how to integrate cutouts of people into a composition with a professional finish. As I worked through the drafts, the visual direction became clearer. I chose Rosella and Helvetica to bring the Art Deco and modern influences together, giving me a more consistent foundation for the final designs.

Final Designs

Finalized Logo

Ticket Purchase Confirmation Email and Digital Ticket

Player Graphics

With the logo finalized, I applied the identity across materials that would support the event experience. Moving beyond posters helped me consider how the same visual language could work in both promotional graphics and practical formats, such as an email confirmation and a digital ticket. The final graphics featuring Bo Nix and Caleb Williams show the progress I made from the initial poster drafts. By this stage, I had a clearer understanding of how to bring player imagery, typography, and the event's identity together. I am especially happy with the improvement between these designs and my early work, both in the image editing and the overall compositions.

Post-Project Presentation

I brought the project together in a final presentation showing the identity and its applications. Looking back at the work as a whole helped me see how much the designs developed throughout the process. This project gave me a stronger foundation in sports graphics and helped me understand how a consistent visual identity can connect an event to its host city.

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Project Overview

For this project, I was tasked with designing a toolkit around a health condition affected by social stigma. We could choose from prediabetes, postpartum depression, or colorectal cancer. I chose colorectal cancer because of my family's history with it and my interest in how discomfort around the part of the body it affects can shape conversations about it. I developed ColonAssist, a toolkit concept intended to make information and screening instructions feel more approachable.

Research

I began by reading the assigned articles about colorectal cancer and organizing the information in a literature matrix. Breaking down the material helped me develop a better understanding of the subject and compare ideas across the readings. This research gave me a foundation for considering what information the toolkit should communicate and how to present it clearly.

Branding Drafts

With my research in place, I began exploring the toolkit's visual identity. I chose to work with the awareness ribbon because of its recognizable connection to cancer awareness. Blue became the starting point for the color palette because of its association with colorectal cancer awareness. These choices gave ColonAssist a connection to its purpose as I developed the rest of the identity.

Finalized Logos

After developing my drafts, I was able to finalize the logo and typeface for my toolkit. The drafts were refined into a shield framing a person in the shape of the awareness ribbon to symbolize protection. The usage of blue is meant to represent colon cancer awareness and create a feeling of tranquility and trust.

Style Guide

I brought the branding decisions together in a style guide to establish a consistent direction for the toolkit. Having a shared visual system helped me connect the packaging and printed materials while considering the different roles each piece would serve. I wanted the contents to feel like parts of one resource, with information that was easy to follow.

Infographic + User Journey Map

I then explored how the research could inform both the information design and the experience of using the toolkit. The infographic gave me a way to present information visually, while the user journey map helped me consider the steps someone would move through. Together, these pieces connected the visual identity to the toolkit's intended use.

Box Construction Exploration

After developing the visual direction, I began exploring how the toolkit could work as a physical package. Making print samples allowed me to move beyond the flat layouts and consider how the box would fold and come together. This stage helped me connect the graphic design with the construction of the object.

Box Contents

This is the cutout sheet of the box.

This is a prototype of the instruction sheet. This sheet would be used to inform the user how to to perform their self-screening.

This paper would provide the user more information about colorectal cancer.

This paper would provide the user with FAQs and answers about colorectal cancer and ColonAssist.

Initial Toolkit Prototype

I assembled an initial box prototype to see how the packaging worked in physical form. Moving from a cutout sheet to an assembled object gave me a clearer view of its proportions and how the graphics appeared across the folded surfaces. It also provided a reference for developing the final prototype.

Final Toolkit Prototype

The final prototype brings the visual identity, packaging, and printed resources together into one toolkit concept. This project challenged me to consider how design could make a sensitive subject easier to approach while keeping the information organized. It helped me understand how branding, information design, and physical construction can work together to support a user's experience.

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Women's Ice Hockey at Virginia Tech

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