Graphic Design by Aidan
Thank you for visiting my Graphic Design page!
Scroll down below to see some selections of my work from this unit.
Biopic Self-Portrait
I made this to show my 7 favorite pieces in one photo and for it to enter my portfolio. This is a self portrait because i define myself through my art.
Jahsiah and Nascar Aloe Digital Drawing
This was a digital drawing I made in Adobe Photoshop using a digital drawing tablet of my two favorite rappers.
Hit the Slopes- Snowboard Designs
For this project, we made our own snowboard designs with a completely open-ended prompt! We made these as an homage to Jake Carpenter, the Vermont native who founded Burton snowboards and passed away in 2019. Using an official board mockup project file, these original designs are offered as a pitch to Burton for a new board design!
Vermont Network and Mosaic Designs for Social Change
For this project, we partnered with The Vermont Network to create graphics that addressed issues of violence, disrespect, mental health, and other challenges that young people face. After a presentation from the local group Mosaic who work to protect victims of sexual violence, we chose and researched topics that could be used by The Vermont Network and their state-wide partners to promote healthy relationships and prevent violent behaviors. Using the organizations’ brand toolkits to guide us, these designs were offered as posters and square social media posts to promote their work, and this will be shared all across the State. I made my designs about bullying, both in person and online.
Learn more about The Vermont Network and Mosaic by clicking on the links!
Personal Media Artwork Branding Logos
For this project, we designed logos to represent ourselves and our own professional work as media artists. After brainstorming and creating some logo ideas, we shared these with the class for feedback and finalized our designs for presentation on the work we will be creating into the future. Look out for this logo more soon!
Fiddlers Green Construction Company Logo Ideas
For this project we worked with a construction/design company in Stowe called Fiddlers Green who focused on building homes and managing properties in some of Vermont's most beautiful areas. We submitted logo ideas for consideration to represent their Vermont-based construction work and to visualize the mythical Fiddlers Green from folklore of an afterlife where fiddlers played without ever tiring, like the company's work ethic and values! In addition to making logos, we also designed color schemes and mockups of t-shirts for employees featuring logo ideas.
Maxim Magazine Cover Design
For this project, we designed our own magazine covers with original photography and graphics that were exact replications of the original magazine layout and styles. Using a copy of the magazine as our guide, we measured the layout specifications and created our own design with InDesign using photo edits from Photoshop and vector elements from Illustrator. I made my cover for Maxim magazine with masculine studio photography.
Nordheiim Musician Logo Designs
For this project we worked with a Burlington, Vermont-based musician who goes by the name of Nordheiim. Nordheiim produces techno and house music, so our logos worked to represent the vibe of electronic music and also incorporate Nordheiim's love for biking and the outdoors. Check out his music at https://soundcloud.com/nordheiim
Paula Higa Dance Designs
For this project, we worked with a dance team based out of Burlington, Vermont. Led by Paula Higa, a professor of dance at University of Vermont, they specialize in deeply meaningful and metaphorical dance pieces to communicate through movement. Paula suggested we make designs with the PHD lettermark and that we could reference Brazil, her native country, in our works. These are some logos and a demonstration social media banner that I submitted to be considered!
Learn more about Paula Higa Dance at https://www.paulahiga.com/
Holiday Animation and Postcard Design for Montpelier Alive
For this project, we worked with an organization called Montpelier Alive to create original graphics for postcards and animation to decorate downtown Montpelier. The animations were turned into a full reel sequence and are being projected onto large building walls in downtown Montpelier this holiday season, so if you are in Vermont, make sure to check out our work in person!
Press play on the video file to jump to my animation sequence.
Cappuccino Culture- Coffee Drink Can Design
This project was a class design challenge to create a logo and package design for a new coffee drink by a fictional company called Cappuccino Culture. For this challenge, Cappuccino Culture were hiring our class to design branding and a package “cover” for a new iced coffee drink called Vermont Sunrise. These were some of my design concepts, and I used my favorite designs to showcase the product on these can mockups!
Spectrums of Light- Color Wheel Design
After learning about color theory, this project offered us an open-ended chance to create a design to showcase our own color wheel. These color wheel designs had to showcase the primary and secondary colors in a way that was functional rather than just a decoration. For my color wheel, I made a photo manipulation where I combined several photos of my hand holding color glass orbs in the color spectrum. With this method, my colors didn't come out as vibrant as I wanted, but I love the manipulation work on this.
Build An Identity- Branding Designs
To practice some of the graphic design and branding work we’ll be doing with clients this year, we started original identity design work by practicing with fake businesses. After learning about these businesses with a creative brief, we worked to design a set of logo concepts, a color scheme, and a demonstration half-page advertisement for them. My business was Pawsitive Attention and they wanted branding to fit an elegant pet daycare "spa" image.
The Big Show- Event Poster Design
For this project, we practiced designing posters for shows taking place at Vermont’s biggest music venue, Higher Ground in Burlington. Although we were allowed to use a logo and a photo of the performers, this design is fully original! I imagined the event as if Spooder Man was performing...
Cartoon Portrait
This was our first real design project to make vector art. We used the Pen Tool to learn about creating vector graphics with closed shapes and layers to create cartoon versions of characters!
Line It Up- Typography Alignment Design
This was our first project using InDesign to organize typography. We chose interesting pieces of text and used typography design principles like alignment, justification, and font variations to communicate visually so the type could speak beyond the words. I made my design based on quotes about life and death, set to a textured painted background.
Three Sides Is All You Need- Triangle Design Challenge
This was our first graphic design challenge where we all had the chance to create a design based on an open-ended prompt, with prizes for the most creative and most technically complex designs. This design challenge prompt was to create an interesting abstract or concrete graphic using triangles as building blocks for our visual form.
Spell It Out- Typography Art Piece
For this project, we used typography as building blocks for our own original art pieces. We used functions like type on a path and vector text editing to stretch, bend, and arrange type as a graphic object. I made this design based on a photo I took in class one day exploring the idea of a gritty "American Wasteland."
