The following project was the first assignment given to my introduction to graphic design class. For the assignment, we had to create greeting cards for three separate occasions. I chose high school graduation, birthday, and Valentine's day. The overall aesthetic of my designs was clean and modern, with an emphasis on the choice of fonts and colors rather than images. My target audience would definitely be young adults age 21 - 35, particularly those who choose to shop at stores like Urban Outfitters. With this in mind, I tried to match the certain sarcastic personality that Urban Outfitters has established for themselves.

The second project for this course was a series of educational flash cards tailored for a very specific audience. I chose to create character cards for the HBO series Game of Thrones. My choice for this content was to shed light on a relevant pop culture topic - and I know a lot of people have trouble keeping up with the numerous characters that appear on the show. For this assignment, I chose to base emphasis on visuals rather than text, as faces are usually easier to remember than names and written descriptions. I did include names as well as descriptions, but kept them short and easy to recall. Ideally, the cards would be sold in a wooden box with the show title embossed on the front, and the emblems for each major house would be etched below. As the series continues on television, new cards would be released each season to keep consumers constantly updated. 

Our third project was a group research presentation. We were assigned to choose two design groups from three cities; Columbus, Seattle, and Stockholm. Once we gathered information on our design and advertising groups, we then had to choose one noted graphic designer and one noted advertising agent and/or creative director at a major advertising firm. For my designer, I chose Chip Kidd, and chose David Oglivy as my advertisement figurehead. Additionally, we had to then choose two fonts to showcase to the class - one serif and one sans serif. Working in a group definitely posed challenges, but in the end we created a cohesive and visually appealing presentation and presented our research in a clear, informed manner. 

For the final project of freshman year, we were told to create an advertising campaign for a company with a specific call to action. The company I chose to rebrand is one of my favorite cosmetic companies, Tarte. I chose this campaign because their mission is to create beauty products that are ecologically sustainable, and showcase ingredients that are naturally derived from the Amazon rainforest. 

The final campaign consisted of three print ads; one for a magazine spread, and two billboards, and an eyeshadow palette case. In addition to the print ads, I also created a .gif that would appear on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.