There are two main kanji in Prospect – an elegant ancient formal language and the machine type. Machine type is for digital displays and anything that the common folk would read. The formal language would be used in logos and unreadable by average citizens. Here are some of our typographic experimentations using the machine type and Photoshop.
Cee cleans her dad's rifle using the manual that came with it...Here are our proposals:
And the approved finals:
We're back and we have our last quarter and blog posts scheduled! 
Please enjoy these stickers created for Jack the Mercenary and Cee the teen Prospector that made the cut to get printed and hopefully get some screen time!
A re-envisioning of the title sequence:https://vimeo.com/191722597
Packaging: Laserdisc, of course. 
Poster Series:
Voila!
Special shoutout to some software: Frame.io is magic for collaborating with AfterEffects & Premiere online.
We've gone dark, working hard to stay on schedule. According to the timeline, we should be wrapping on The Thing this weekend. We're far enough along that I don't want to spoil anything from the video, but I will share some of our inspiration, good old Bauhaus designer, Jan Tschichold:
I'll also share something embarrassing, if only to generate more content for this entry... I'm learning digital painting at great expense to my ego and available time...
Moving along...
Here are some process shots from the first poster.
A re-envisioning of the title sequence: https://vimeo.com/189472461
Packaging: 
Poster Series: 
Taa-Daa!
For a Photoshop project, I made many attempts at an elaborate photo-collage before landing on something that was simpler but still utilized what we had learned and met the requirements. Jason and Jill are two teachers who have reassured us that something doesn't need to be "pretty" in order to solve the problem at hand. So, with that quote in my quiver, I bravely sally forth into uncharted Photoshop territories.
Initial concept looking like some sort of yoga-informed digestive aid...
Hot Mess: Gringott's meets St. Peter's meets Hubble, meets Stock Photos (this PNG Cloud is literally in everything ever made.) Dat shado tho!
Jason looked sympathetic when he asked for more blending—he really wanted to see something turn in to something else.
So I started on abomination #2... alas, I hardly knew her. RIP Aborted Skully. 
Enter: the third and final concept—perhaps not as grandiose or ambitious YET somehow, thoroughly adequate.
I give myself bonus points for finding an appropriate use for the Mr. Robot font*.
*Should You Be Brave with Your Typography
*The Fictional Brands of Mr. Robot
Sorry, it was too easy:
My BA is in Film Studies and movies are a huge part of what fuels my creativity. I'm a long-time member and friend of Scarecrow Video in the U-District, I even had a free-rental account until I ruined it by habitually returning movies late. About a year ago, Scarecrow became a non-profit 501c3 to avoid going the way of most video rental stores in the age of Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix. I'm not able to offer much in the way of volunteer hours working the floor at Scarecrow, so I offered my services as an entry-level Graphic Designer.
My first mission was to create a horizontal half-page advertisement to be featured in the SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival) magazine. With very little guidance and no constraints save for the dimensions, I created pitches for 6 concepts with rough sketches that I presented to four members of leadership at Scarecrow. They were pleased with all the concepts and could see them working for multiple avenues but were particularly drawn to two for the SIFF magazine.
ORIGINAL SKETCHES (they went with idea #5)
INITIAL ROUNDS:
FINAL ADVERT:
I've been a little day-late / dollar-short on this project so far, so I wanted to really dig in and try to knock it out of the park. Here's the assignment:
Aromas is the name of a coffee roastery in Charles City, Iowa. They are a small, family-owned, mom ‘n pop style cafe with a focus on quality coffee for the common person. Since 1996, Bryan and Cara have carefully hand-selected every coffee they roast to ensure their customers are always drinking the finest coffee available in the city.
To celebrate the opening of their second location, Aromas have crafted a blend just for the occasion. It is a 50/50 blend of hand-selected coffee that captures the sensation of new beginnings and a growing coffee family.
Required text for Aromas Coffee Bag (Front Panel Only):
Aromas Dwelling Blend
A 50/50 blend of Colombia Montabella and El Salvador El Manzano
Roasted for you on _____
Dwelling is equal parts cinnamon and ripe stonefruit, with a round, juicy finish that lingers until the very last sip.
105 North Main Street Charles City, Iowa
No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives
Net weight 2 lbs
Project specifications: Final trimmed size: 8.25” tall x 5.5” wide
Colors: You may choose to make your design one color or you may choose to create a multicolored front panel, it is up to you. Images and/or illustrations are permissible.
Design requirements: Create a typographic design that combines 2 typeface families, flourishes & vector elements (lines, dots, patterns, etc.).
Make sure you create a hierarchy of information.
Don’t let the ornamentation overpower the type. Solve the type & ornamentation hierarchy first before you add imagery and/or color.
I started by just dumping the text into IDD and shoving it around. That was the worst false start yielding utterly uninspiring garbage.
With a mood-board that was pure after-thought:
So I sat back down with paper and pencil, and made some hierarchical sketches. I became curious about the real-life coffee shop Jill had mentioned so I did a Google Street View and found that the original location, a turn-of-the-century three-story brick building was really lovely, while the new location was an boring 1970s retail rambler.
I decided to create an homage to the original location to celebrate the opening of the new one by building the architectural storefront in illustrator and using it on the packaging.
I got a little carried away, creating a full color version even when I knew that whatever I used would be monochromatic, likely black or white.
I re-did my mood board with a new palate but the same fonts I'd originally selected.
I tried a lot of different things, including forcing a coffee-colored water color into the background:
Before getting the feedback from prof. Jill Vartenigian that I'd hit the sweet spot with this iteration:
I'll stare at something for so long that I can no longer discern what's working and what's not -- if there's time between working and reviewing for reflection, it's easier, but that's not the schedule we're working on. Peer and prof. feedback are the two most essential things -- I'm so grateful to Wynn, Kenna, and Liz for ALWAYS graciously offering input to help nudge things along when I'm too cross-eyed to see the way forward.
Sometimes necessity (plus a lack of equipment or know-how) will drive a project in a certain direction. I've heard it said in filmmaking that the true measure of creativity is how you cope when things go horribly wrong. Ironically, while trying to film and edit for the theme "Enlightenment," we were broadcasting from the Dark Ages.
Although the aesthetic was planned to be layered and abstract, the lack of tripod, malfunction of a slider, pouring rain, and inconsistent ambient light helped to drive the look and feel to a not-altogether-intended art-house film place... hit home by Kenna's brilliant suggestion to use French music.
https://vimeo.com/154271049
I want to get good at motion graphics, I'd like to work for R. Greenberg & Associates or Digital Kitchen. I'm delighted to imagine a future that can incorporate my crusty Film Studies Degree. Enlightenment was my first attempt at kinetic type, I know I have a very long way to go--here's my inspiration for the type treatment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2pHk2ln8Q4
All Hail Richard Greenberg!
