The collection of images below is from my time spent at Blashfield Sign Company, Inc. in Fayetteville, NC as a Graphic and Environmental Graphic Designer.
Graphic design goes beyond the confines of print and digital. Large scale and viewed from a distance, this field of design tends to go unnoticed because we are surrounded by these in our everyday lives.
The goal of the signage changes with the intent of the use. It can be an eye-catching callout for a residential neighborhood from the road, or it could be to help someone who is blind find their way throughout the building with the use of ADA signage.
Hopfly is a small but popular craft brewery in Rocky Mount, NC. Hopfly is quickly gaining popularity due to to its experimental brewing style and modern appearance. The goal was to maintain the craft brewery feel but also position the packaging for distribution. The designs are based off of a crowd favorite Hopfly brews. The labels for a 12 oz. can and accompanying 12 count packaging were designed to combine Hopflys past cans and the modern approach mentioned in the brief. The design on the box has a more modern appearance per the design brief. The design of the can is split in half, the top half speaking to the modern appearance and on the bottom half a recreation of the first cans line.
Student Activities & Organizations is in charge of promoting a safer alternative for fun events to keep students from possible negative exposure outside of campus. SAO has the Student Activities Board under them and through SAB most of the events are planned and executed by them. Their requests are the precursor to the ads that are displayed throughout campus through print and digital platforms. The finished ads are a result of their ideas and approval. My job is to try and create ads that gets students to these events so their experience at ECU is a safer one.
East Carolina University’s School of Art and Design has a junior level show to showcase their work throughout the year. ECU SOAD needs a poster to inform art students and faculty about the shows time it’s hung up and where it is. Its background contents are influenced by Wolfgang Weingart and his use of a grid. His complexities within his work illustrates chaos being controlled by a grid or more. The purpose of this direction is to give the viewers outside of design a sense of perplexity while giving the design students a nod to design history.
The idea of manipulating shapes into letterforms intrigues the viewer and it is also a great way to avoid using typography that has been made already. Sometimes a client may need to have their own typeface or at least a few characters that can set them apart as a business and also gives them a sense of an identity. This was created at my own volition as an experiment to see what can be created though circles and triangles.
Research and Creative Achievements Week is an academic event for recognizing research, scholarship, artistry and other forms of creative activity of ECU undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students. The event provides students with an excellent opportunity to practice their presentation skills, be recognized for their work, and meet other scholars at ECU with similar interests. It is a great opportunity for students to get a foot in the door for their future careers.
A glimpse of what I find intriguing and would love to spend my time doing. The tactile nature of moveable type and the creativeness that can flow is in an element that has long since been forgotten by people who use modern technology only. Letterpress forces you to slow down and think about what goes where and why it should. These few prints and process images shows the possibilities of letterpress and how the tactile nature can and should be involved within graphic design today. The goal of these were purely aesthetic reasons and experimental ideas to take letterforms and create aesthetically pleasing work.
