alex cotton design portfolio

Alex CottonPORTFOLIO

ALEX COTTON:83756 Novilla Dr.Indio, CA [email protected]

BROCHURE 04

LOGOS 06

BUSINESS CARDS 08

LETTERHEAD 10

WEB PAGE 12

EVENT AD 14

FLIER 16

MONTAGE 18

IMAGING 20

CONTACT TABLE OF CONTENTS

BROCHURE

Description:5.25in x 5.25in (when closed) vertical trifold brochure for an iOS app called Hiker’s Harvest.

Date: 03.26.16

Course/Instructor:Comm 130 - Emily Kunz

Program(s)/Tools: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop

Objectives:• Set up and align a two-sided, folded document.• Create an original, new logo and use it in a brochure.• Incorporate quality images. Incorporate at least four quality images.• Trim for a full bleed and print in duplex (two-sided) color.

Process: I wanted to make sure the finished product would be large enough for the text to be legible without pushing everything else off of the page, but I also wanted it to be able to be printed on a single page. I set up the InDesign document to 5.25in x 15.75in so it would easily fit on a 11×17 sheet of paper. I used graph paper to create a smaller version of the brochure to get a solid grasp on how the folding would affect the design. I used Illustrator to cre-ate the logo, which was build using a 9×9 square grid. I built the the phone app graphic in illustrator and incorporated the leaf shaped waypoints thoughout the brochure to tie it all together.

BUSINESS CARD

Description:Business card design; front and back

Date: 02.27.16


Program(s)/Tools: Illustrator, InDesign

Objectives:• Use the basic tools in Illustrator & InDesign.• Create a new logo to fit a company or personal image.• Use the new logo to design business card.• Apply typography rules, keeping small copy.• Keep designs simple with light watermarks and drop shadows and

plenty of white space.

Process: Prism Studios is a fictional business I created for this project. I wanted to do something colorful and fun and the idea of incorporating a prism popped into my head so I opened up google to do some research. I sketched half of the prism in illustrator, and then duplicated, flipped, connected, and adjusted the prism’s outlines. I created a bright color pallet and then found a suitable blending mode to make the colors transparent and blend when stacked. I use a strong type and kept with the same overlapping effect to really sell the design.

S T U D I O S

Alex Cotton

3487 Santa Monica BlvdSanta Monica, CA 90406

[email protected] DESIGNER

LETTERHEAD

Description:Stationary design

Date: 02.27.16



Objectives:• Use the basic tools in Illustrator & InDesign.• Create a new logo to fit a company or personal image.• Use the new logo to design letterhead.• Apply typography rules, keeping small copy.• Keep designs simple with light watermarks and drop shadows and

plenty of white space.

Process: With the logo completed, i appplied what I’ve learned about layout, contrast, and white space to make this stationary functional. The background is the logo blown up and mostly transparent.

S T U D I O S

Alex Cotton

3487 Santa Monica BlvdSanta Monica, CA 90406

[email protected]

760.808.0477SENIOR DESIGNER

WEB PAGE

Description:Webpage design

Date: 03.12.16


Program(s)/Tools: Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign

Objectives:• Size and optimize an original logo as a .png for a web page.• Acquire a working knowledge of HTML.• Acquire a working knowledge of CSS.• Identify hex colors to match logo, using Photoshop color picker.

Process: I used Photoshop to pull the hex values from the colors in the logo and used HTML and CSS to layout the web page. I tagged all of the sections in HTML so I could use CSS to apply specific size, font, and color attributes to each section. I alo used CSS to round the corners at the top of the page.

LOGOS

Description:Logo design options for a local Attorney

Date: 02.20.16



Objectives:• Create three completely different, original logos to fit a company or

personal image that will appeal to the audience.• Market research: gather opinions from at least ten people about which

logo appeals most to them.• Use only the Illustrator tools to create and draw your logos.• Refine one logo with variations for color

Process: I decided, right away, that I wanted to stay as far away from anything cliché as possible. The logo would be for a law practice and it would NOT include a gavel or scales of justice. I decided to use the first letter of each of the partner’s names, and make it look strong and sturdy. I also wanted it to be a little abstract. I broke down the M and the K into their most basic parts and then began shaping them until they looked more like and M and K.

EVENT AD

“Begats” are more interesting when they’re yours.

Thursday February 25th Shadow Hills Ward

77-482 Washington St. Bermuda Dunes, CA 92253

Description:Event Flier for a Family History-a-thon to raise money for the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund

Date: 01.30.16


Program(s)/Tools: Photoshop, Microsoft Word

Objectives:• Comprehend image sizing (how pixels and inches work together)• Find, scan and import a high-quality image.• Create a full-bleed design.• Choose a color scheme and typeface(s) that work for your message and

audience.• Learn to use only Word design features without using any Adobe

programs, including Photoshop.

Process: I used photoshop to scan the background image and Word for layout.

FLIER

Description:Black and white flyer for a graduate leadership conference

Date: 01.23.16


Program(s)/Tools: Photoshop, InDesign

Objectives:• Apply the design principles and use appropriate typography.• Incorporate basic InDesign skills to improve basic flier layout.• Retrieve image and logo from links on this page.• Create a project folder with image, logo and InDesign document to keep

links in InDesign intact.

Process: My process began with sketches and then I chose the one I liked most and rebuild it in InDesign. I wanted the photo to fade to white without affecting the people in the image so I removed the background of the image in Photoshop and then used a gradient mask to fade it back in.

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MONTAGE

Description:Spiritual montage design project

Date: 02.13.16


Program(s)/Tools: Photoshop

Objectives:• Use the FOCUS design process with strong focal point and flow• Unify a layout with a consistent theme and dominant spiritual message• Learn to blend two or more images together gradually, using masks• Photoshop skills for layout with multiple elements• Use a mask to apply a filter to one part of the image• Apply typography principles• Format type: Legibility; Small copy & Title with varying text size.

Process: I searched unsplash.com for an image with a good amount of negative space so I’d have plenty of room for the other images. I was also looking for something with imagery that could be used as a metaphor. Once I had the background chosen, I searched for a quote containing the word “lighthouse” and “LDS”. Then I found two other images that would also fit with the quote. I used Photoshop for 100% of the editing and blended the images with masking layers.

IMAGING

Description:Photoshop photodesign project with an uplifting quote.

Date: 02.06.16


Program(s)/Tools: Photoshop

Objectives:• Learn basic photography skills.• Choose a color scheme, take a photo to match those colors, then

incorporate the colors into the layout.• Use a digital camera to take a quality image, then download it.• Adjust image levels, saturation, color balance, sharpen tool on separate

layers for NDE (non-destructive editing.)• Size and crop the image, then place on an 8.5×11 page layout.• Use layers to design text, and repeating graphic elements in Photoshop.• Print with full-bleed margins. Trim only 1/8″ (0.125) from all four sides.

Process: First I photographed these apples in a Target while shopping with my wife, then I used photoshop to edit the image, adjust the color, and add the text and design elements.

alex cotton design portfolio

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