Design Assignment: Create Your Own Manifesto Book

man·i·fes·to : a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer

This past spring, I challenged my junior design students to create their own unique design “manifesto” books. There were some intriguing results. One of which was the following, by Endicott College graphic design student Meredith Lindsay.

Promotional Interactive Card

This card was created by and for designer Kim Keene. She is a 2009 graduate of the Ringling College of Art and Design. About the card, she says, “This was a self promotional interactive card. When you spin the side wheel it gives you all my many amazing talents and proficiencies. ” Check out Kim’s work at http://kimkeene.carbonmade.com/.

Frank Béla’s Business Cards

Frank Béla is a graphic and typeface designer from Hungary. He studied at Krea Design and Art School in Budapest, Hungary. Frank has years of agency and freelance experience and has shown at various exhibition such as, at the Museum of Fine Arts and online at I Love Typography and Typography Served.

Below are several personal business card iterations designed by Frank himself.

Business card, cd, and booklet designed by and for Mirtho Prepont

Impressive brand identity design for this business card, cd, and booklet portfolio set by designer Mirtho Prepont.
http://myworkonthe.net/

Resume Design Example

A clear typographic hierarchy, defined color palette and a touch of information design (in the form of a bar graph and pie chart) all contribute to the strong design of this resume by designer Jeremy Fleischer. He’s also got a great reel of his work up on his website at http://www.jeremeydesign.com/.

Click image for larger view.

Impressive Student Portfolio Package from Designer Sean Ball

The intention of a portfolio design is to present you as having a visual character, to differentiate you from the average creative and make you stand out – supported by your own unique creative vision and the work you have done to prove yourself. That’s just what designer Sean Ball has done with his promotional materials and portfolio.

Sean says, “This is a project done for my senior capstone class [at Oklahoma State University]. We were tasked with creating our own self promotional materials: business cards, resume, and a way to present our portfolio. I wanted something eye-catching, so I opted for some slick metal CD cases from American Digital. My resume, card, and a digital portfolio were placed inside, then cases were wrapped with a label. The design for this was also carried over to my portfolio book.”

“This is the second part of my self promotional project. We were asked to create a large format portfolio book to take to future interviews. This is a fairly large book, measuring at 11″x17″ for each page. Each project included has a large image, project description, design brief, an explanation of my solution, and project detail shots and images.”

http://www.behance.net/seanballdesign

Hand Made Self-Promotional Book by Loz Ives

Because Studio. / http://www.becausestudio.co.uk/index.html

Because Studio. is the independent design practice of Loz Ives, a young chap from the north of England who has a keen eye for detail, simplicity and relevance within the work he produces.

Working across a varied range of disciplines, from branding and print to website design, every project is approached with a fresh mindset, from initial research and concepts to final production, with the one constant being the aim to create engaging, well crafted solutions.

Folio 1
Limited run of 50 hand made self promotional books showing a selection of projects from the last 6 months. Singer sewn on the spine with a perforated wrap around and packaged in black bubble packs.

Award-winning “Best of Show” Portfolio by Danielle Kroll

Q&A: Interview

This HOW Promotion Design “Best of Show” portfolio by Danielle Lee Kroll captivates with a unique, distinctive look. The piece, created while a student at the Tyler School of Art, is impeccably made and captures both Danielle’s design and printmaking flair. Recently, I had the opportunity to ask Danielle a few questions about the project.

Where you a student when you created this piece? Was it created in response to a course assignment?

Yes, I created this piece for my Portfolio class senior year of college. I attended Tyler School of Art, which is part of Temple University in Philadelphia. The assignment was to create a self-promotion that represents your body of work.

How did you arrive at the idea or concept for your piece?

I tried to think about what specifically defines my style. I realized that I use a lot of patterns in my work, so a swatch booklet that emphasizes that seemed like a successful concept. There are five projects featured in the promo. Each of them have their own section that includes an image of the project and the patterns I used in it.

Read more »

Holiday Card from Chen Design Associates

About the Company
Chen Design Associates was founded in 1991 by Joshua C. Chen. Clients include: Verve Coffee Roasters, SFMOMA, Chronicle Books, The North Face, Public Policy Institute of California, Timbuk2, Pottery Barn, Stanford University, Yoshi’s Jazz Club, San Francisco Symphony and EMI Capitol Records.

Over the years, Josh and his team have received national and international recognition for their ambitious yet relevant design thinking. Nods from not only industry leaders like AIGA, Communication Arts, Graphis, Metropolis, Novum, and Type Directors Club, but also from the broader mass media including A&E Cable, San Francisco Chronicle, dwell and Organic Style confirms that good design isn’t just for a select few — rather, it has the ability to speak and connect to everyone. Most recently, CDA was one of twelve firms hand-picked to be part of San Francisco Graphic Design, an attendance record-breaking exhibition at the SF Museum of Craft + Design, showcasing the rich and varied SF graphic design community.

About the project
Collaboration of three companies — PaperSpecs, Chen Design Associates and Full Circle Press. PaperSpecs provided the paper, we provided the concept and design, and Full Circle the letterpress printing.

The card is inspired by holiday/advent calendars, where you open one “window” a day. That, along with the old-school “Concentration” game show where you try and solve a rebus puzzle provided the inspiration for the holiday promo. We came up with 5 themes that people could choose — from the more standard “happy holidays” to the quirky “television, beer & general laziness” to customize their own holiday message.

- Joshua Chen, Principal & Creative Director, Chen Design Associates

Did you make a holiday promotion this year? What was it?
Click here to comment.

Takahiro Miki, Tokyo, Japan

The portfolio of Japanese film director, Takahiro Miki.

http://www.takahiromiki.com/

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