Introduction

{ }The clock struck 9 and the thunder rolled. I was sitting under a tree watch-

ing the sky get darker. It started to rain, the drops spiraling hard on the parched

ground made the world sizzle alive once more. I ran from the protection of my

tree to dance wildly in the rain. The storm had knocked the world: an apple here,

a mushroom there, a broken necklace that had slithered off somebody’s neck.

Things, like ideas, lay everywhere waiting to be caught by a wayfaring stranger

with an eye for beauty whether absurd, horrific, or genteel. I collected them all,

and went home to my mom, soggy and dirty. She wasn’t a happy. Her nose curled

into a snarl and her eyes crinkled with rage. She grounded me to my room for

the entire week. She threw away everything I collected, but I managed to sneak

in some mushrooms. I spent that week painting the mushrooms and made them

into something beautiful. I gave them to my mother. She smiled again.

Since then, I have been collecting things, real and imaginary. In pictures, on

the back of soiled business cards, across oxidized newspapers the color of an

old-man’s decaying set of teeth. I’ve been collecting them with the same enthu-

siasm as a little boy stuffing his pockets in the rain at dusk. For what is a designer

but a collector of ideas?

Presented before you are some of these collected imaginations spun into

reality. I hope they bring you a smile or two.

Branding & Identity

01 Manhattan Ensemble Theater

MET was an award-winning, nonprofit theater company based in New York City from 1999 to 2007. It was founded by writer-producer David Fishelson with the stated mission of creating theatrical adaptations from stories found in fiction, journalism, film, biography and memoir. It was sold to The Culture Project in 2007.

Because the theater revolved around the art of writing and the art of theater, I wanted the logo to be a symbol of both those fields.

The typeface used for the logo is a modified version of Ostrich Sans Rounded, black. It was selected because:

• The rounded edges of the typeface, in keeping with the symbol above it, produces a more modern and cohesive look• The logo is more approachable because there are no harsh edges• Type that has long and fine serifs has a tendency to become illegible when used on television. Larger san-serif fonts are best.

The logo needs a circumference of at least 512 px of space to prevent cluttering.

Style Guide

Created as a concept brand-redesign, the color is a deep velvet red, and the typeface is both modern yet art deco. The symbol is a curtain, a fountain pen, the pages of a book, and an M. There are an almost infinite number of ways you can use it (to seal an envelope, on organizational packages, as patterns) which further add to its charm.

HEART OF OHIO

HEART OF OHIO

HEART OF OHIO

HEART OF OHIO

C: 0M: 0Y: 0

K: 70

C:0M:25

Y: 0K: 0

C: 60M: 90

Y: 0K: 0

Style Reference:The typeface used for the wordmark is a modified version of Cornithian Bold Condensed, small caps. When using it with the symbol, it is important to set the outline of the type in red or grey, while the interi-or in pink or white.

Elsewhere (stationary, website, business cards), a Geometric Sans-Serif typeface should be used; for headings, Avenir Bold set in small caps with 12 px worth of letter-spacing, while the body text should be set in Avenir Book.

Heart of OhioHeart of Ohio is an independent non-profit providing primary

medical care services, as well as OB/GYN services. The goal of the organization is to “provide high-quality, holistic and sensitive care to

meet the healthcare needs of our community, where [they] honor every person with loving service.”

A number of ideas went into this redesigned concept brand identity. First, I wanted to create a logo that would be visible at

smaller sizes yet instantly recognizable. I wanted something that celebrates Ohio and most importantly, I wanted the

brand to look completely unique. I’ve observed that many healthcare companies use either a cross, or heartbeat set against Helvetica to

display their corporate identity. In order to create a unique identity, I outlined

a map of the state of Ohio and placed a heart within. A warm, pastel-pink makes the logo

approachable yet fun , while the heart-red provides a subtle increase in value that

gives the overall composition a cohesive identity. In black and white prints, the logo is a rich, elegant grey that is legible

yet distinct.

Pentachrome

There should be at least 512 px worth of white space around the logo to avoid clutter. It must not be printed in ex-tremely small sizes, and if it is, then the butterfly should be reduced to a pure vector.

The butterfly should always remain in the same position: above the text and centered. For legibility reasons, a mini-mum size at which the logo may be produced is recommended no smaller than 6.5mm / 0.25” high

I started Pentachrome as a design agency in order to build my portfolio. As such, I am the lead designer and am responsible for the branding, client acquisition, and website design.

Before starting the company, I thought long and hard about what a designer does. Essentially, he or she takes something that already exists, and morphs it into something not only beautiful, but which also meets the needs of the client.

Hence, the butterfly with a distinctive blue and yellow. Those colors are opposite hues and therefore make for an eye-catching composition. Furthermore, they are my favorite colors. I chose a Didone typeface against a textured paper for the traditionally modern look the combination creates.

The butterfly is depicted from a top-view, as if captured for a lepidopterist to study, suggesting a scientific approach to design. Pentachrome is a company which seeks to value numbers as much as designs, and to use metrics along with beauty to bring profitable results for its clients.

Strategy.Discovery.

Customer Experience.Roadmap.

Contact Center.Business Case.Messaging.Strategic Marketing.

Sage Consulting is a strategic consultant firm founded by Colorado-based Kathi Gurin. Kathi asked me to design a brand identity, website and infographics for her firm.

The model she uses to advice her clients involves the use of overlapping circles within which she isolates various stages of a company’s life cycle. She wanted to integrate that in her brand’s identity and wanted it to be simple, yet eye-catching.

After experimenting with a few designs, I decided to create a sage green circle circumscribed within a yellow one. Why?

First, it meets Kathi’s criteria of using the circular life cycle model in the logo. Secondly The circle, as a pure form, brings to mind a certain ideologically, it symbolizes eternity, for it has no beginning, no end. It is timeless. And that’s what this logo strives to be.

The inspiration comes from a Venn diagram– a graphical representation of ideas and problems in sets and subsets, a graphic that strives towards solutions. The first circle represents the sun, the source of life in our planet. The second evokes a Sage plant. Taken together, the logo represents the nurturing that Sage Consulting brings to its clients. From a branding perspective, the logo can be used in a variety of interesting ways– from patterns to stickers and buttons to web design elements and infographics/presentations. I have included a few examples on the next page to demonstrate this principle. It is an extremely simple logo in which form and function are perfectly married, and most importantly, tell a story.

Besides the logo, I have so far built a word and powerpoint template for their documents and reports, and am currently building their website.

Sage Consult ing

Gray ’s Auct ioneersI am currently employed at Gray’s Auctioneers, an Auction

house based in Cleveland OH, as their Design Director. I oversee the principle photography of every item that is consigned to be auctioned off, design their Newsletters, Catalogues, and Advertisements (both print and digital). Since joining the firm, I have radically re-designed the look of the company.

For example, when I joined the firm, they were composing all of their catalogues on Microsoft Word and editing pictures using IrfanView. I re-designed the look of their print catalogue using InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom. I am also changing the way product photographs are directed; instead of having pictures of products against a generic white background, I have created a digital room to which the photographs are imported too. This gives the photographs a much more luxurious feel, while also showing how they would look in the real world. Everything looks much more cleaner, fresher and simpler.

One other change I made is with regards to e-newsletters. Instead of using standard MailChimp templates, I design the monthly newsletters using Dreamweaver. Statistics have shown that applying these design principles improved click rates and reduced the number of monthly unsubscribes. I am trying to make video a larger part of their marketing efforts.

I am also in the process of re-booting their brand, starting with a new logo, which you can see on the facing page. It’s a grey stripe with “Gray’s” written on it in a Didone typeface. You may be wondering, “but what is the idea behind it?”

Stripes are everywhere around us. They make a empty box look special. They can add a unique versatility to any design. Nature has striped animals, man has striped pages and temples and flags, stripes are fun and happy, they are universal. There is a lot you can do with this logo–use it in a lot of creative ways such as a 4th of July advertisement, or as a pattern; the neutral grey colour ensures that it can blend easily into any design, and it can also be used as a ribbon!

The didone font evokes a traditional look while still managing to remain modern. It saves 45% more space than the previous logo, and is 80% more legible. This fact was demonstrated in a presentation I gave when proposing the new logo.

Lastly, I am rebuilding their website from scratch. To see a beta version, please visit test.sanwaldeen.com or scan the QR code below:

Gray’s

Graphic Design

02

Columbia University’s Oral History Master of Arts program holds an annual exhibition to showcase student projects. I was assigned to create the poster for the Spring 2014 show entitle The Social Hall.

Since there were thirteen students all working on individual projects, I decided to assign each person vectored icons that summed up what their project was about.

The colors used are happy and eye-catching. There is an interplay of tension: the bright blue is balanced by the smaller spots of color spread throughout. The several small icons spread across the top half are balanced by the large text in the bottom half, and the simplicity is balanced by the use of a grid.

Columb ia Un ivers i ty

For this project, I was assigned to create characters that will be printed on a punching bag for kids. The client wanted illustrations of a black male and a white female resembling UFC fighters.

I started by creating a word mark for the company. “Battle Bodies,” is typed in Acropolis HTF Black. Its a slab-serif typeface that has hexagonal edges, which make it look like it is carved out of stone. That tough look goes well with what the client was trying to achieve.

The male character is modeled after body builder Ronnie Coleman. The Mohawk was an added touch to make the character look more fiery and aggressive. This is balanced by the playfulness of the colour purple. The red, white and blue camouflage tattoo was created upon the client’s request.

The female is muscular without looking too masculine. The colors are bright red and golden yellow. These are colors at the top of the spectrum; as such they are hard to miss, especially to a child’s eye. She wears a slight smirk on her face, which is balanced by a certain meanness in her eyes .

Battle Bodies

The Firehouse Su ite

The Firehouse Suite is a collection of oral histories collected by Maggie Argiro that explores Jazz at the now gone Columbus Music Hall.

The cover, depicts the firehouse surrounded by illustrations (drawn by Ms. Argiro) of things that appear at different points within the oral histories. Thus, the theme of the cover plays upon the interconnected nature of the stories. They are drawn in a disarmingly childlike manner imposed on vivid pastels.

Earthdance Delaware

There is a very famous 12th century poem written by Attar called Conference of the Birds. The book tells the story of a group of birds that embark on a journey to find a mythical bird that would lead the flock to spiritual prosperity. But really the story is about transformation.

Carrying that theme over, I constructed a poster depicting a hummingbird with a quote by Maya Angelou — “Everything in the universe has rhythm, Everything Dances” — typed inside the bird.

In keeping with Earthdances’ design tradition, the type itself is psychedelic; yet, in keeping with modern design, the colors are clean and flat.

I choose pastel pink, yellow and blue. The reason I chose those colors is because yellow is known to be the highest frequency color in the spectrum. The opposite of yellow on the color wheel are blue and pink. The entire combination therefore produces color harmony.

There is also tension in the entire composition: the vertical stripes are balanced by the bird below. The icons of people dancing adds another element of play to the poster.

Furthermore, it is informative. It gives away the entire schedule for the day’s events along with venue information while still managing to retain its simplicity.

The poster will be printed in three sizes: 4 x5, 11x17 and 8.5x11

Teardrop in the Ra in

This is the cover design for a novel I will be publishing later this year. The story is set in 1960s Bombay, and traces the lives of a couple following the hippie-trail that lead to heroine addiction.

The novel deals with themes relating to love, happiness, and how their dynamics fluctuate because of addiction. The woman in the photograph on the cover looks like she is both lost and in ecstacy, representing the characters in the novel.

Paki stan Arts Counc il

This is a concept poster designed for the Pakistan Arts Council. It depicts a photograph of a sculpture. The photograph was heavily edited using Photoshop and Illustrator to obtain the warm, yet moving tone of the picture. “Pakistan” is set in green because that is the color of the country’s flag, thus invoking familiarity and sense of history.

Website

03

Pentachrome ’s Webs i te

I created the website for my company, Pentachrome Designs.

If you visit the web-page, you will be greeted with a menu that has an HTML 5 video running in the background. The video is of ink dispersed in water. This re-inforces the fluid nature of creativity.

The website features a magazine that delivers content about the design industry and section featuring tutorials on how to use the Adobe Creative Suite.

I have optimized the website for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) using keywords, metadata, content publishing, google webmaster tools and google analytics.

You can check out the website by scanning the code below.

www.pentachromedesigns.com

Maggie Arg iro ’s Webs i te

I developed a personal website for Maggie Argiro that showcases her work as an oral historian, which revolves around interviewing people and preserving their stories.We decided to create an ear icon because this emphasizes the personal nature of oral history and the careful attention Maggie gives in listening to her interviewee. The website uses Columbus’s sky scape as a background flowing through the entire page. The primary typeface used for the headings is Ostrich sans, while the body text uses Archer, a slab serif font meant to invoke the feel of a typewriter.

The website is divided into four sections: “who I am,” “what I do,” “portfolio,” and “contact.” It was created as a single-page, responsive website, so no matter what device you view it in, the contents will adjust themselves. Anchors have been placed throughout the page to give it a flowing parallax effect. Meticulous attention has been paid to every aspect of the design: from the icons to the code, to the favicon

that appears next to the browser .The page has been optimized for SEO and uses custom webfonts by

Adobe. This efficiently aids search engines as they crawl the website.Ms. Argiro requested a section where she can post to a sound-blog

on a monthly basis. Go hear for yourself by scanning the QR Code to the left.

www.maggieargiro.com

Growth Matr ix ’s Webs i te

GrowthMatrix Inc. (GMX), is a marketing consultancy firm based in Columbus, OH that advises businesses throughout the world. It was founded by Dr. Glenn Bryan. He contacted me to re-design his website. He wanted something that is clean, simple, and easy on the eye.

As such, I used a lot of white space, which gives the entire website a very clean, clutterfree look. Green, being one of the most soothing colours for the eye, was selected to create a calming effect and because it’s used in GMX’s logo.

The absence of colour makes brings a visitor’s attention to the content. A traditional serif typeface is used to reinforce professionalism. The text is set in gray type instead of black so as to decrease contrast.

To see the website, scan the QR code below or visit:

www.growthmatrix.com

Richard Buckalew’s Webs i te

Richard is a Mathematics professor at Ohio State University (OSU). He wanted me to build a website for him that was easy to use, simple, fun and professional while still looking like an OSU Wesbite. He also wanted the ability to use Mathematical notations on some of the pages.

I started the design by making a very simple navigation that is always legible, then incorporated mathjax scripts so as to easily load mathematical notations. The colors used are red and orange, both OSU colors, while Richard’s wordmark is set in a clean white Helvetica Neue.

To retain the simplicity, I decided to play with Typography more than graphical elements. To take a look at the website, either scan the QR code below or visit:

http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/buckalew.2/index.html

Personal Webs ite

I wanted to do something extremely different with my personal website; as such, it is very experimental.

It’s an interactive website where visitors are asked to follow a “path.” One path leads to my professional resume, whereas the other takes you to my creative portfolio.

There are illustrations hidden throughout the website (and more are being added), that change colour once somebody visits them. These hidden surprises are like a discovery the user makes while exploring the website.

Go explore by scanning the QR Code below, or by visiting:

www.sanwaldeen.com

Photography

04

Previous Page:

Left:

Karachi, Pakistan. 2012.Taken within moments of each other, these pho-tographs demonstrate how color can change the mood of the composition.

London, UK. 2013.Taken on Christmas day, this picture depicts a sculpture bathed in a bright red light. Is he an angel, or is he the devil?

Muree, Pakistan. 2013.A concept ad I created for Ray-Ban. It uses the same design language and typography of the company.

San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2013.The people who deserve love the most, often are deprived of that need. To depict this message, I added the heart using Photoshop.

Right: