TEAM
Jeffrey Omura, Candidate · Erin Koster, Campaign Manager · Jessica Wu, Head of Communications · Adam Green, Treasurer · Alyssa Gomez, Jr. Designer
Jeffrey Omura for New York City Council
I had the pleasure to work on Jeffrey Omura’s City Council campaign as Design Director. I redesigned the JO6 brand, with a nod to Elizabeth Warren’s progressive brand design (Jeffrey is a strong supporter). The campaign was a delight to work on, made up of actors, stage managers, and arts workers, fighting for representation. Watch out for Jeffrey Omura, he and his supporters are going places, that’s for sure.
Jeffrey Omura, Candidate · Erin Koster, Campaign Manager · Jessica Wu, Head of Communications · Adam Green, Treasurer · Alyssa Gomez, Jr. Designer
TOWNrelief
In response to COVID-19 crisis affecting our community, I quickly created www.townrelief.org to connect local volunteers with people seeking relief. The website is currently on pause because the state of Connecticut has gotten the virus under control and the infection rate is currently low.
COVID-19 is having a direct impact on our small town economy and health. Many community members were trying to donate their time via social media, but it was unorganized and getting lost in all of the other messaging and content. How would I make these vital volunteer connections to bring relief to those in need during the COVID-crisis?
I was determined to prototype a new product that helped make volunteer connections easy. I built out a solid brand with clear brand messaging, a simple and easy-to-use user experience, and created an online social presence in partnership with www.townmag.co.
I had over 50 volunteers use this platform to post their information. The one downfall was that I could not know (and for good reason) if the product was working. I sent various follow up surveys to volunteers to see if they were reached out to for relief - and the rate of use was around 25%, which exceeded my expetations.
It was a challenge and joy to design and portray Elizabeth Warren's message and vision. My goal has always been to use my creativity to create positive change and inspire others; and this campaign has allowed me to do so and more.
B-Stock
Utilizing technology to sell and move returned, excess, and other liquidation inventory from large corporation’s warehouse directly to the right business buyers through an online sales platform.
Jennifer Wehrmaker, VP of Marketing · Melissa Gieringer, Head of Communications · Beatt Productions, Videography and Production · Rajvi Bhatt · Sr. Email Marketer · Jennifer Cho, Jr Designer · Kush Patel, Jr Marketer · Mary Delawder, Sr. Developer
The secondary market for returned, excess, and broken inventory doesn’t have the best reputation; think middlemen, back-alley transactions, craigslist meet-ups. B-Stock’s product offering is a platform that allows businesses to sell their overstock in a more transparent and direct way to other business buyers. How do you brand and market a tool that transforms an industry, especially one that hasn’t changed for years?
We decided after a design-thinking offsite, that a rebrand of the business was necessary to build trust within the industry from both buyers and sellers and establish ourselves as thought leaders in the liquidation space. We wanted to, not only create a solid brand, but to take it a step further with a brand story. Our goal was to confront the ‘seedy’ side of the industry, and to show that our platform was the solution to the liquidation problem. We set out to update brand design, create relevant content, relaunch a new corporate website and with a bit of 5th grade humor, confront the issues that plague the industry with a specific campaign upon launch.
B-Stock Rebrand
I lead and executed B-Stock’s brand and corporate website launch, along with collaborating with the communications director to come up with campaign and new brand messaging. I touched everything, from user experience to writing and directing promotional videos. Our goal was to make B-Stock’s brand a more specific and trustworthy brand within the liquidation space, along with adding a bit of character and humor. The marketing team launched the “Everybody Liquidates” and “Bulk Lots of Love” campaign to promote the new brand and site launch and make some waves within the industry.
TownMag.co is my passion project. My mission is to tell real and raw stories of success and failure to bridge the gap between alumni and current students from Watertown High School. Read more on why I started Town Mag.
The year 2020 provided a time for reflection, and as the founder and creator of TownMag.co, I knew it needed a rebrand after 5 years running. With growth in mind, and more definitive brand and cultural values, I needed to make sure this brand represented everything that TownMag.co had become.
I created a new brand that was more inclusive of other communities and school systems if this product were to expand. I also made sure to make the brand more accessible from typefaces to color scheme. The product itself has been improved, with more accessible way for users to submit their alumni stories via video, voice, or text. Read more about it here.
High school is an incredibly important and challenging time in life and big decisions are made right when students graduate. American public schools are like bubbles, and though safe, they can shield a lot of important information. Alumni of public schools usually leave and never return to tell their stories, especially young adults on the cusp of their careers. How can I create a space for alumni to share their stories with high school students?
I set out to create a product in the form of a website that allowed alumni to share their own stories for current high school students to read. help future generations reach new heights and discover a multitude of divergent paths in life beyond the doors of Watertown High School.
Website offers way for alumni to share stories of their lives
WATERTOWN — Watertown High School alumni Colleen Murphy wants to share the stories of her fellow graduates. To that end, she has created the website Town, found at www.townmag.co. Read more from the Town Times.
We took TOWN and pushed it into reality. In April of 2018 and 2019, I partnered with WHS to host a Townies Talk Panel at Watertown High School and an Alumni Networking Dinner at Fino Wood Fired Pizza. Alumni Story Tellers were invited to return to the high school to share their stories, answer questions, and inspire current WHS students. We were excited to be off-line and in real-life, to share ideas, and inspire the community! We really appreciate the teachers who encouraged students to attend the event and we think the 90 minutes was valuable time that not only helped students understand specific careers paths, but also life in general.
Alumni Wisdom
WATERTOWN APRIL 2019 - In April, Watertown High School students discussed life after high school with recent WHS alumni. The event was organized by alumna Colleen Murphy… Read more ->
Town Magazine shows life after high school
WATERTOWN APRIL 2018 - "The materials that we produce and the stories that we share, can be easily applied to guidance councilors helping students figure out college decisions or teachers helping a student cope through a tough time. Many alumni are open to connecting with students and answering questions about career choices and student loans." Read more at the Town Times.
Behailu Academy is a free arts-based youth development program that provides the time, space and experiences for youth to find, define, refine and share their unique voices through the arts and artistic expression. I taught graphic design and photography twice a week for 2 years at Behailu, and I also redesigned their website and updated their branding.
Behailu offered graphic design and photography courses to their after-school students. I was tasked with teaching them to use the Adobe Suite and the fundamentals of graphic design. What curriculum strategy will empower young high school students to excel at learning the principals of graphic design, the tools and basics of Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and inDesign, while creating higher self esteem and exploring themselves and their own power?
After my first semester at Behailu, the second semester allowed me to refine and change my approach. Students were not interested in the technicalities of graphic design or learning about the pen tool; I realized quickly I needed to engage them in a different, more meaningful way. The one thing teenagers are most intrigued with? Themselves. I made sure to incorporate self-exploration throughout the remainder of the curriculum. Quickly, the projects they were completing were beautiful, honest, and skilled. View full curriculum here.
Objective: Students will learn to give a productive critique of each others work. Every student will have a chance to show their work but will not talk about it until after we critique it. We will start on a new tutorial about typography and image and how to combine them effectively.
Objective: Students are going to use their photography and Photoshop skills to explore how to express emotion and movement through their own portraits.
Objective: Students will work together to take photographs of their own hands and through design and self reflection, they will envision what lies in the palm of their own hands, acknowledging their own power to attain their dreams and goals.
Objective: Partnering with the Behailu poetry class, we will be taking students poems and laying them out on a poster for them to display while combining visuals that represent the poem.
Objective: Students are going to use their wildest imagination and put our Photoshop collaging skills to the test. Jumping into what Surrealism is and the history of surrealism, students will then create their own surrealist scenes.
Objective: Students explore how typography and image can be combined to create meaning, and how to combine them effectively.
Faraday Bicycles
Bicycling made irresistible. Faraday is the ultimate electric-propelled, utility vehicle. Designed in an IDEO lab, faraday emerged into the market as a sleek, lightweight bicycle, great for conquering SF hills and replacing a car during a commute.
Michael Lattig, VP of Marketing · Adam Vollmer, Founder and CEO · Lily Roosevelt, Marketer
The bicycle industry is an industry where there are many one time purchases of the product. Successful brands however, convert their buyers into brand ambassadors and into lifestyle brands. How does an electric bicycle start up not only sell their product and lifestyle brand, but encourage others to sell it for them?
In an effort to engage our customers past the point of just buying our product, we started building a brand that focused on the electric bike lifestyle and also encouraged our buyers to become brand ambassadors. We created the Faraday Riders Club and amped up social media outreach. We used the solid marketing base of the Faraday community to launch a new product via kickstarter, and raised above and beyond the goal to get the bike into production.
Faraday Riders Club
After purchasing a Faraday bike, a customer would receive this box of goodies and would become an inducted member in the Faraday community. As lead designer, I created, designed and produced all branded collateral as well as working closely with the director of marketing on strategy and budget.
Cortland Kickstarter
In an effort to gain funding for the newest Faraday bicycle, the Cortland step-through, I worked on creating the assets for the Kickstarter campaign, from online presence to photography to video. Safe to say, we achieved our goal of raising $187,821 and the Cortland went into production.
Neon Bandits
I collaborated with Neon Bandits, a start-up sock company, to create the brand identity, packaging, and sock designs.
Northeastern University
Oh my love for academia. Here is a collection of work from typography, graphic design, and design history at Northeastern University. This portfolio is near and dear to my heart.
Love and Helvetica
Love and Helvetica and Stark Raving Bonkers is a book I created that has two different dialogues. It’s a combination of 1960’s fashion photography and the booming typeface phenomenon of Helvetica. It includes articles about David Bailey and Twiggy and additionally Helvetica’s influence on typography then and now.
Collage Postcards
Bootstrap
Bootstrap is a non-profit research-based curricular modules for grades 6-12 that teachers throughout the country can use within the math classes to teach math and can be used in after school programs. It represents a forward movement in education and project-based curriculums. Visit them here: www.bootstrapworld.org.
Inspiring students to be excited about computer coding could be a pretty hard sell. Inspiring students to love math is overall an incredible feat. How do you brand a curriculum-based product to 6th graders and inspire them to learn more? On top of that, how do you create a math workbook that is on brand but also designed for optimum usability?
The goal of the brand is to show students how they can actually be superheroes by learning to code and present the many different ways they can use their ‘coding super powers’ in their futures. Their first superpower task? Creating a video game (who doesn’t love that?) To redesign this brand and the math workbook, I used a human-centered design approach, visiting classrooms in Boston, interviewing teachers and students. You can read more about the design-thinking process and my thesis here: Senior Thesis: Exploring Human-Centered Design
Bus2Alps
I worked for Bus2alps, a student travel company, as a designer, photographer, and tour guide. I designed graphics for website, social media, and company use. I led and photographed weekend trips for groups to the UK, Croatia, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic, Netherlands, and destinations throughout Italy.
Reebok
Reebok was my first graphic design and photography job. I interned for the Global Brand Marketing department in 2011 and returned as a part time worker in 2012. I worked on a range of projects, from creating retail campaign designs to photographing behind-the-scenes photography for video shoots on campus. I’ll always appreciate those who helped me grow as a designer and photography and those who gave me so many different opportunities to shine with my talents.