Work done for, and as part of, the Carleton Industrial Design Student Association (CIDSA) in the role of Graphic Designer. Completed in Affinity Designer and Adobe Illustrator.
Due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, our graduating class was pushed to hold our annual Grad Exhibit online on our university's website. As part of the effort, our volunteer group were tasked to design a layout and create icons for the exhibit. Among working collaboratively with my team members to design a layout for the website, I was delegated the job of creating the Award Icons for outstanding projects.
Each icon had to represent its own meaning, feel representative of the program of Industrial Design, and be percivable as something tangible & special. To convey these emotional qualities, the awards used a design language of isometric cubes, accented with gradients for a digital sheen. Thus, creating awards that are special, consistent, & recognizable. It is my hope that they could be recreated in physical materials in the future.
The final work can be viewed on the Graduation Exhibit website for the Carleton University School of Industrial Design.
The first task our team got to work on were creating mockups of different website layouts. This was accomplished within Figma, with deliberation of our final ideas in a video call over Zoom. The mockups that I contributed were meant to make browsing easier. However, we ended up using a design that would be easier to make with the Carleton website builder in the interest of time as we were approaching the end of May. We then delegated the tasks of creating media for the website, where I was given the responsibility of creating the Awards icons.
A memorable part of our Industrial Design education was in creating cubes and drawing them in perspective. I wanted to harken back to that time with the shape and feel of the awards, given more polish in the same manner as us students did throughout the program. The shapes in each cube were chosen with consideration:
The award for materials & tech uses different textures, deliniations, and shapes as a metaphor to the use of different materials and finishes in real projects. The Form award holds a wistful shape that alludes to an undefined beauty yet to be carved from it. For innovation, a lightweight shape inspired by the idea of the tesseract crossed with an abstract representation of a nuclear reactor - I wanted to avoid the use of cliched metaphors for innovation such as gears. The medical icon had the longest refinement through several iterations. I ultimately settled on the red plus arranged into a cube format. The Environmental award was shaped like a simple diorama with clouds and water helping to form the rest of the cube shape.
Printed poster created for guest speaker Sunil Achia from Healthcraft. Several iterations of the poster were created. Initially, more abstract and Swiss-inspired styles were used to attract attention. The final style was settled on after a meeting, and was visually inspired by repeatedly placed posters in downtown cores of Toronto and Ottawa advertising concerts and the like.
Printed 11 x 17" poster and Facebook banner image for a window design competition, held and sponsored by Wallack's Art Supplies & Framing in Ottawa, Ontario. Based around tight use of Helvetica to communicate information in a small space, superimposed on Wallack's orange. Perspective and contrast via the multiple shades of orange create visual depth and draw attention into the poster.
Poster for an event at Skyzone Trampoline Park.
Facebook banner image & printed CIDSA membership card for a start-of-the-year icebreaker event. The banner image utilised a warm coral red backdrop and shadows to establish an inviting atmosphere.