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Stepping back into my primary school years, I often found the lack of synergy between content and design in textbooks quite unappealing. Nothing resonated within their dusty confines, it was mostly just texts upon texts, a picture here or there; two elements that walked parallel to one another, never to cross.  It wasn’t until I saw the work of Erik Nitsche that I realized the two can harmonize in countless ways.

These book covers are an homage to him and the work he did for General Dynamics.

Branding was a whole new world to me when we were assigned the Madison + Mark project. I have never branded anything prior to this project and it was a nerve-wracking experience. The project required us to do research on the current trends of fashion and what makes a brand a brand. As consumers, we tend to become diehard fans of certain brands, but why? Is it the celebrity endorsement? The brand’s looks and feels? The amazing customer service? It’s all the above and more.

As for the project itself, we had to research the two types of brands in fashion (high end vs. low end) and create a brand from scratch in regards to the research. We created personas of consumers and who our target audience was and design from that. When I created my logo mark for M+M, I wanted to reflect the finesse of both masculinity and femininity in the brand. I kept a thin stroke on the exterior and emboldened the bottom mark to give it an airy, yet grounded feel.

The final part of the project was to create a Graphic Standards Guide which would summarize the brand’s identity into one cohesive booklet.  I took elements from the logo and used it as guidelines for the book’s layout, thus allowing me to change the flow halfway through for the subsidiary brand, Black Canvas, seamlessly.

I’ve always been an avid follower of Dwell Magazine. Actually, it’s the only magazine I subscribe to, so when it came time to redesign a magazine for my editorial class, Dwell was the lucky chosen one.

But why redesign something I was so keen on? Well…Dwell is not what it used to be. It became commercialized, with ads running rampant between the once spacious, elegant layout. It was hard to differentiate between a product review and an advertisement, it all blended into a convoluted farrago that begged readers to just put it down already.

My approach to the redesign was to address all the problems I had with the current looks. The primary goal was to give the overall layout an open vibe, with an abundance of white space for the content to breathe, similar to the Zen-like architectures. The second was to unify the feel in a way for readers to know where they are at any given time while adhering to the project’s guidelines.

We’ve all seen digital signage, we’ve all experienced it. It’s EVERYWHERE. Time Square wouldn’t be Time Square without its dazzling display of flashy signage (and for good reasons). Yet, the most fascinating perspective is not the one up front, but the one behind it.

From grids to zones, widgets to templates, digital signage can be as simple as static texts on a screen or as complex as describing the word “the” (go ahead, try it). There’s a myriad of ways which digital signage can take form, but that depends on who’s asking, and that’s the one thing I love most about the industry; a good design challenge of the unknown variable.

One day I could be designing signage for a fortune 500 company, who needs a way of displaying analytics, employee communication, emergency alerts, etc., while the next could be for a local mom and pop restaurant, who are looking to simply save on printing cost by switching to digital. Whatever the project is, it’s always a delight to transform ideas and needs into reality, or in this case, digital signage.

“If everyone is busy making everything, how can anyone perfect anything?”
- Apple WWDC 2013

This quote and the motion graphics associated with it had always stuck with me throughout my design career. The execution was simple but meticulous. The words carried weight but floated freely through space, and to a young graphic designer who was eager to dabble in everything, it was the anchor I needed to slow down and reassess my process.

Process is invaluable. It’s the documentation of my thoughts, research, and execution. It allows me to reinforce and articulate the actions I’ve made. And in a time where instant gratification is a societal norm, process tends to get lost in between the lines. But to a visual designer like myself, it became a valuable tool.

When I’m creating a video or motion graphics, I use process as a journey to get my message across. It helps clarify my actions and what it entails for the end audience. What am I watching here? Why am I watching this? Who is this for? When and where is it playing? I tie these questions into every elements I put inside my videos, ensuring each has an answer to give, giving it the weight it needs to impact viewers at the end. Because, well...designing without purpose is meaningless and purpose is meaningless without clear definition. Process is that clear definition.

Remember that time i went rogue?
Well...
working on TurquoiseCanyon.com was not that time. What it was, was an exploration of my Minor in photography, mixed with a dosage of web design and e-commerce. While the work I did was not revolutionary by any means, it was meaningful in allowing a small local business thrive in a competitive market.

Posters are my means of escaping from schoolwork, without escaping from school. When a request for poster designs pops up on the notorious bulletin board, I would participate if time permits. It allows me to just goof off and play, something I feel a lot of students/designers needs to free themselves from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

And hey, if I get chosen in the process, it’s just another bonus.

Yokai Field Guide is a one-off book created for my capstone course at GMU.  It encapsulates the various skills I’ve learned throughout the years and bundles it in the form of a fully handmade encyclopedia on Japanese mythical creatures.  

The cover is made from a Japanese wood burning process called “Shou-sugi-ban” or “burnt cedar board”, which made the wood more durable through charring. It also tied into a historical aspect of Japanese history where villages were burnt to ruins by Yoakis, leaving nothing but charred wood behind. The shou-sugi-ban was a series of trials and error. It required precision and commitment. There was no going back to burn an area, mistakes were permanent. Different results reflected the many errors; a hole meant too much idleness and aberrations meant lack of control. After burning enough wood to make the Pallet of Fire look like petty arson, I finally created a piece that would embody the content within. To finish up the covers, I applied linseed oil to preserve the delicately dried wood.

Paying homage to my most random elective, I decided to apply screenprinting as an embellishment for the front cover. While the process was simple, the paranoia of knowing I only had one chance to apply a perfect print, had my hands shaking (how’s that for counterintuitive?).

Maybe the Yoakis were on my side because it turned out exceedingly well.

The content itself is a personal take on how the creatures look and what to do in case of an encounter. Furthermore, it reflects my neverending fascination with the color spectrum and serves as an easter egg for those who flip through. Upon finishing the 200+ pages of content, I prepped the files for print. As this was a piece I said I would do 100% by myself, I went as far as purchasing a professional laser printer and guillotine cutter.

Queue the printing process, because printing a book is tricky. Paper orientation, margin calibration, color accuracy, and even the temperature of the printer’s fuser mattered, due to the semi-gloss coating of the paper. With everything taken into account, I hit the print button and turned on beast mode, slicing down crop marks as the printer churned out Yokais. As the last page printed and the guillotine came down once more, the inside content was complete. Or was it? To give it a touch of the outside cover, I sized down the transparency I used to make the screenprint and applied it to the inside cover. Now we’re talking.

To tie it all together (literally), I used a Japanese traditional 4-hole stab binding technique. It proved to be quite difficult due to the overall thickness plus wood covers, but nothing a little perseverance (with a little help from Mr. Pliers and Mrs. Hammer) couldn’t handle. Finally, after 3 months in the making and 2 years of various coursework, Yokai Field Guide came to fruition and it was worth more than the degree that came with it.

To any of my professors who read this page, thank you for imparting your knowledge in a critical part of this lifelong journey.

Throughout school, I’ve always been advised against pro-bono work. while I strongly agree, the point is moot when it’s for a good cause. Urban Art Syndicate is a non-profit group that helps low-brow artists present their work through networking and shows. Every year, they do one big collective show known as Urban Decay, which draws in a massive crowd from and to the DMV area.

I was fortunate enough to be asked by the director of UAS one year to help promote the show. It was the first time I was designing something of this caliber and also the first time working with a client. The requirements were tough, as there were no requirements, as long as it had all the necessary information (location, date, time, artists, sponsors). I like having restrictions when I design, it gives me some form of guidance instead of throwing me into the vast creative intersections of my mind. I thought about the show and what type of work was being presented. After a bit of brainstorming and a couple of sketches here and there, I popped into good ol’ Photoshop (my then design tool of choice) and viola, these postcards were flying their ways into mailboxes. 

The success of the UD4’s postcards also prompted a request for my design of UD5’s, UAS’ first ever show in Washington D.C. 

AIA was my first major tradeshow to design for at Mvix. Given free reign, I was tasked with creating an introductory brochure, along with content for the multiple signage displayed. To effectively market towards the targeted audience at AIA, I chose to focus on the harmony of technology and architectural space, hence the term “techorating”.

I’m a designer. Designers love shortcuts. Swatch is all about the shortcuts.

When I came up with the idea for Swatch, it was meant to utilize upcoming wearable technology to help ease the daily workflow of designers. Instead of clicking here and there to bring up certain panels, Swatch allows designers to tap the air to bring up desired functions. It can work with any apps because it translates the recorded motion into macros.

It also functions as a presentation utility, because as designers, we’re always being asked to see if this or that can be changed. Swatch puts that power into the designer’s hand (literally).

Design should always have a purpose. Always. But as a designer, I felt that just giving my work purpose was never enough. I wanted people to interact with the piece instead of just looking at it. When I was working on Typorigami for my Intro Typography class, I felt that people would feel more connected in learning the material when they can pick it up and make something out of it. Typorigami doesn’t just teach users about type classifications, but also how to fold origami, all within a ten-card, perforated booklet.

Since Mvix was going under a huge rebranding campaign, why not throw the website into the mix? So into the mix it went, mobile first.

To fully understand our clients and the problems of the old site, the team spent months sending out surveys and collecting user data. My role was to compile that data and convert it into a Data-Driven Design, while addressing the following criteria:

First, to match the newly minted branding, I developed a design system and style guide which detailed the colors, typography, iconography, scale, and UI patterns; creating a robust, yet cohesive framework that’s modular and expandable.

The second problem at hand was the lack of responsiveness of the legacy website. To answer this problem, a new mobile first framework was developed, consisting of a 12 column bootstrap grid. Thus allowing for the expansion of elements on a mid to larger scale, while ensuring everything was intact on mobile platforms.

Finally, the organization was too sporadic, which led visitors all over just to find what they needed (not to mention the constant pop-ups). To provide a cleaner user-flow, I remapped the site’s structure and grouped essential information together. This eliminated a majority of filler pages, but kept the necessities for SEO ranking.

During my tenure at Mvix, I had the opportunity to lead the redesign of their WYSIWYG template editor. The project itself was quite overwhelming for someone who was just acclimating to the company. Nonetheless, it was a challenge I gladly accepted. Why? Because it was also an opportunity to implement the UX process and show the team a new skill, the power of design thinking. Why? Because it will empower them with a methodology that’s effective at targeting the user’s pain point. Why? Because by effectively honing in on the biggest problems of the current application, it’ll allow for quicker design, development, and deployment. Why? Because time is money. Why? Because....

Just a hobby to break up monotony.