B.S. in Visual Communication Design
Portfolio
Capstone Project: Production Lookbook & Props for Book-to-Film Adaptation of The Arrival by Shaun Tan
The Arrival is a wordless children’s graphic novel which illustrates the story of an immigrant seeking a better life for himself & his family; as he adjusts to life in an unfamiliar place, he meets & befriends other immigrants who help him along the way, and certain ephemera emerge as essential tools for visual storytelling. This project proposes the adaptation of the graphic novel The Arrival by Shaun Tan from book to film by presenting a production lookbook and sample props that would appear in the film, with a focus on ephemera. Creating the lookbook & props involved: close-reading & analysis of the novel; extensive research into typography, written language, currency design, accessibility, history, design within the film industry, and more; developing an alphabet for a fictional written language; designing & producing one serif & one sans-serif font for said written language; sketching & designing, then printing & emulating use-patterns for money, stamps, identification paperwork, immigration processing tags, luggage tags, a key, and a key tag; hand-lettering with quill pen & ink; clay modeling; painting; leatherwork; photography & photo editing.
Memory Translation
What began with a poem became a poem of its own; this pamphlet is a dedication to the memory of our planet. The starting point for this project was a poem in a foreign language, that I could not read & could not translate, but I could see, feel, and translate visually. Throughout much exploration, iteration & visual translation, the final design that materialized was an interactive, informative pamphlet about global warming, incorporating environmental photographs of a hand-lettered translucent poster, as well as transparent infographics with data sourced from NASA, a hand-made, recycled brown paper cover, and a recycled thread binding.
Bits n Pieces
Bits + Pieces is a convenient, nut-free & protein-filled breakfast trail mix for kids. Providing nutrition for growing children without the threat of allergens, this fun, tasty & on-the-go treat is exactly what the kids’ breakfast industry is lacking.