Animation by Jason Williams
Portshowlio is Seattle Central Creative Academy's annual portfolio show for its graduating students spanning the disciplines of graphic design, photography, and videography. Due to COVID, what is typically a multi-day, in-person show was confined to the digital realm.
I was nominated to lead the branding team to create the foundation of the show. With the first 4 weeks out of the quarter's 12 designated to laying the groundwork, my team worked quickly to design an identity that not only celebrated our class' incredible work for ourselves and potential employers, but acknowledged our resilience and triumphs despite the pandemic.
As brand lead, I was tasked with brand development, project management, and ensuring the brand guide was effectively communicated. With 56 students collaborating across 6 teams, clear communication and deadlines were of the utmost importance to guarantee brand cohesion.
Brand Identity, Project Management, Art Direction, Illustration
Miro, Adobe XD, Illustrator
Team of 10
Animation by Jason Williams
Leading the charge to brand Seattle Central Creative Academy's 2021 portfolio show
Portshowlio is Seattle Central Creative Academy's annual portfolio show for its graduating students spanning the disciplines of graphic design, photography, and videography. Due to COVID, what is typically a multi-day, in-person show was confined to the digital realm.
I was nominated to lead the branding team to create the foundation of the show. With the first 4 weeks out of the quarter's 12 designated to laying the groundwork, my team worked quickly to design an identity that not only celebrated our class' incredible work for ourselves and potential employers, but acknowledged our resilience and triumphs despite the pandemic.
As brand lead, I was tasked with brand development, project management, and ensuring the brand guide was effectively communicated. With 56 students collaborating across 6 teams, clear communication and deadlines were of the utmost importance to guarantee brand cohesion.
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Brand Identity, Project Management, Art Direction, Illustration
Miro, Adobe XD, Illustrator
Team of 10
01. Workshopping the Brand
The Class of 2021 voted on themes prior to the start of the quarter, settling on the concept "lost and found." With the theme open to interpretation, my team needed to flesh out the narrative and art direction.
After compiling 100+ images across various genres (cars, lifestyle, celebrities, packaging, architecture, etc.), we voted to determine what our brand is and is not. Each team member received 10 votes total, 5 for what the brand is and 5 for what the brand is not. Based on the number of votes, we placed the images on a spectrum to begin defining brand characteristics.
02. Developing Visual Language
Tonal Territories
We summarized the brand characteristics based on what words were commonly used to describe the images, then workshopped to narrow down to the three words that best encompassed the remaining adjectives. They were: multi-dimensional, curious, and intentional. We then built a visual vocabulary for each characteristic around type, line, photography, illustration, and texture.
03. Laying the Foundation
lost & found
To build the final concept board, we pulled images from each stylescape that resonated most with the brand's overall feel. The breakdown was 60% multi-dimensional, 30% curious, and 10% intentional. Lost & Found is visually expressed with mono-weight line illustrations, modern sans-serif fonts, small pops of color and gradient, the use of grid, and multiple planes. This expression manifests itself in portals such as windows and doorways, as well as optical illusions.
04. Crafting the Narrative
With our visual concept board defined, we had to decide which direction to take our theme.
After brainstorming as a team, one concept was a constant: portals. Just as we were beginning to find our footing as designers, the pandemic hit; ripped from a familiar environment, we were thrown into a virtual world where the primary mode of communication was through tiny boxes on a computer screen. The new challenge was navigating this new world, relearning how to connect with our creative selves as well as maintaining our support networks through these portals. From there, our narrative began to take shape.
Lost within the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic, the class of 2021 has journeyed from afar to discover our creative selves within new realities.
Step inside a portal and enter a new dimension—you never know what you might find.
See you on the other side!
Lost within the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic, the class of 2021 has journeyed from afar to discover our creative selves within new realities.
Step inside a portal and enter a new dimension—you never know what you might find.
See you on the other side!
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