Caitlyn Cotter Design

My design portfolio for St. Edward's University, Class of 2014

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Field Guide

I created a field guide to some of the beautiful architecture around downtown Austin. I wanted the book to feel very clean and organized while emphasizing the buildings themselves. I did this by keeping the pages purely black and white. The color only enters in the photographs. I created the book in InDesign and took the photos with a Rebel T2i. I wanted the book to feel almost like a coffee table book. I kept it 8" x 9" so that the book feels large and bold but is still manageable. 

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Site Redesign

link

I redesigned the website for the Dominican Joe coffee shop on Riverside and Congress. Their existing website is dark and heavy which does not reflect the atmosphere of the coffee shop at all. I selected my color palette by choosing colors they used in their decor. I wanted the website to be light, fun, and bold. There were a lot of hangups during the coding process that really slowed me down. Despite that, I was able to get it functioning and close to what I had in mind.

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Concept Map

I created a concept map which tracks the spread of the Bubonic plague. I divided the information into four distinct sections in order to make it easier to follow the information. I wanted to keep the color palette simple. I used black and purple to evoke a sense of disease and death without being too overtly morbid. The background is an image of piled bones. I wanted this to be very subtle to help reduce the shock factor. I created vectors of European citizens from the 1300s based off an image from a history website.

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Timeline

For this project I selected what I felt were some of the more significant events in the history of graphic design. I attempted to create a timeline that was easy to read and helped you to get a clear sense of the order in which they happened. I built this over the course of the semester, so as I took note of an event, I added it to the timeline.

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Locating Place Book

This assignment asked me to capture what a certain area in Austin is all about. I wanted to give my reader an understanding of what East 6th street is like. Austin is famous for dirty 6th, on the other side of I-35, but I wanted to focus on the fresher and (in my opinion) better side of 6th street. I chose to do this by focusing in on and profiling 6 businesses on the street. They are all different and wonderful in their own way. I also included poetry, prose, and lyrics that I feel focus on the idea of belonging or home.

One thing that sticks out about East 6th street is the juxtaposition of the clean and modern businesses next to dilapidated houses. I chose to represent this duality in the typography and hierarchy of the text.  

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Symbol for a Cause

I was asked to create a symbol that speaks about a cause or issue prevalent in our society today. This symbol represents Euthanasia. I attempted to keep the vector very clean and sharp but still feeling drippy and organic. This relates to the ongoing debate about the morality of doctor assisted suicide as well as capital punishment. 

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SIte Redesign

For this project I redesigned a Wikipedia page into a book format. Wikipedia has various images and table elements that I needed to incorporate into the text block. I chose to cleanly divide the page and place those elements there. I also chose to offset the text on the page a bit. The text blocks are pulled in towards the spine which was inspired by some of the old manuscripts I saw when I visited the Harry Ransom center on the UT campus.

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Visual Effects, Shapes, and Gestalt

I was exploring the Gestalt principle of closure. This is where various elements work together to indicate a shape that is not there. I started with the usual example (top center) and played around with it. I made the circles larger and smaller to see how this would effect the visibility of the triangle. Then I played with not only the size of the circles, but their placement as well. I noticed that when the circles are not on the points of the triangle it does not have the same impact (bottom center and right).

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Locating Place

This video is an advertisement of sorts for the Locating Place book I created. The idea of belonging and home is carried over into this motion piece, as well as one of the songs I included in the book itself. This was created before the book was so there are some stylistic discrepancies between the two. 

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Identity Series

I was asked to design a set of buttons for a fictitious event at the Blanton Museum of Art about Dada. The buttons each focus on a different Dadist. Each set contains a portrait of the artist, an example of their work, and a typographic piece with their name. Each set is color coded. The poster design is inspired by Dadist typography, though I chose to clean it up and organize it more than they did. Since this movement is largely German, I decided to put the names of the days of the week in German.

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TASA Booklet Part Two

I was asked to create a program for a TASA conference held at St. Edward’s. We were only allowed to use two spot colors and any mixture, tint, or shade of them. Due to the structure of the book the file is divided in two. I wanted the book to be colorful, bright, and inviting. The pamphlet is text heavy so I created a piece that is lighter and happier to help make it more readable. I did try to leave ample white space in order to balance out all of the color.

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TASA Booklet Part One

I was asked to create a program for a TASA conference held at St. Edward's. We were only allowed to use two spot colors and any mixture, tint, or shade of them. Due to the structure of the book the file is divided in two. I wanted the book to be colorful, bright, and inviting. The pamphlet is text heavy so I created a piece that is lighter and happier to help make it more readable. I did try to leave ample white space in order to balance out all of the color.

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Weather Report

For this project I had to create a motion piece which represents a weather report in the future. The idea is that they images are floating in the air on a holographic screen and are controlled with a touch by the person who has called the report up.

The video shows various ways that you can organize the information you are viewing.

I encountered a few problems and restrictions along the way, but as a whole, I am quite pleased with the final video.  

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Instructional Design

I was assigned to create something that instructed one on how to introduce yourself. I knew that I wanted the poster I created to have a nautical theme. As I researched historical practices of sailors, I came across what was known as the "Sailor's Handshake". It was a preventative step that sailor took when they met new women at the docks. It was a method that allowed them to tell if a woman had syphilis before they slept with them.

Because this is kind of a gross and antiquated practice, I chose to take the poster in a more satirical direction. I ran with the fun and more modern take on what an old document might look like.

I hand drew the poster using a tablet in Photoshop and added the text in Illustrator.

I am happy with the illustrations and the feel of the poster as a whole, but I do think that the typography could use some tweaking in order to really make it settle and look as if it belongs.

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Kitchen of Meaning

"Pastiche" - A hodgepodge

The word pastiche has multiple meanings, but the one I chose to portray is a "hodgepodge". I wanted to show a collection of items that some eccentric might collect and label in his drawer. While they are random things, he curates them with care.

I was happy with the outcome of the project, but there is another step I could take it. While I could not access these specific items, I would like to eventually improve it by bringing together my own hodgepodge of items and photographing them in order to show depth and a cohesion that I cannot achieve from images pulled from multiple sources, as I did here.

I really struggled with the typography at the base. I eventually was able to find a hieratic scale that I was pleased with, as well as a few typefaces that further the idea of a pastiche of antique items. 

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Material Studies

"School Daze"

For this final poster, I had the challenge of photographing a reflective surface and making it feel even. I wanted the attention to go straight to the stark white lettering on the black binder.

I cut the hole reinforcements using a exacto knife. After photographing the scene, I had to go back and photoshop the image. I whitened the lettering, evened out the black of the binder, and touched up the shape of some of the letters to make the more stylistically interesting.

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Material Studies Process Book

In this project I had to create a typeface out of an everyday material. I ended up quite pleased with my project as a whole. I felt like I created something unique and challenged myself.

I wanted the final image to look like a student, bored in class, started to doodle using something they had on hand. Creating a letter "z" with circular hole reinforcements was difficult, but I am happy with the way I worked through it and made something different.