NC STATE UNIVERSITY - OIED
What do I do?
I'm a Graphic Design intern at NCSU's Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity. Our goal is to help push forward the minority communities at NC State and make sure they have safe spaces and events for conversation. My job, in particular, is to help brand and market those events, and help bring the requests of the coordinators to life.
I work with student leaders, employees, and fellow interns to help create lively and stylized marketing that still fits within NC State's rather stringent brand guidelines. You can see some more examples of my work below!
Black History Month
I was put in charge of creating an identity for the overarching series of events held in celebration of Black History Month at NCSU! There were a lot of them.
Creating an identity that encompassed the culture and style of the community while fitting the individual requests for events and representation was a challenge, but allowed me to iterate and experiment in unique ways.
One of my first tasks within the project was to create promotional materials for a living wax museum, titled Blacks In Wax. This design served as a great point to experiment stylistically and develop a unique look for the rest of the designs to follow.
AACC Swag
The African American Cultural Center was given a chance to make some cool merchandise, so my supervisor and I split tasks to take on the challenge!
This taught me quite the lesson in navigating client requests and having good project management. These designs went through far more review and scrutiny than our typical work, which made the already huge task much more daunting.
The designs were also very limited in nature, with many of the prints being one to two colors tops, as is the standard in a lot of merchandise. I got to see design through a lens I don't usually, and task myself with designing something bold and interesting within more constraints than most of the stuff I've made before.
This was a very difficult project. But, it's incredible to see your work out there, tangible. I've come to appreciate the kind of challenge these circumstances put on me as a designer, as it's some great fun to think outside of the box.
The African American Cultural Center Doors
The AACC wanted to decorate their space and make their entrance more engaging, so I was tasked with developing a new look for the doors!
These, much like most things on this campus, had to abide by some strict guidelines. They wanted it to be centered around the colors I used for Black History Month, so I used that alongside a pattern consisting of West African Adinkra symbols they use often. I created the unique pattern for this occasion and gave it a bright, vivid gradient to catch students' eyes. I'm very proud to see my work up at such a scale, representing such a great organization.
Late Night Breakfast
A simpler job I had, just creating some marketing for an event focused on helping students cap off the semester on a good note!
Kurudi Nyumbani Art Gallery
I created a digital billboard for an art gallery being held in the African American Cultural Center! I wanted to give it a distinct style within State's guidelines, so I used a mix of flatter, simpler illustrations and textured strokes and styles. Also created a unique pattern to be used in other memorabilia around it!
Black Movie Night
The student center where the AACC is based also has a huge theater! I was tasked with creating some cool promotional material for it, so I came up with two concepts, one more photo-based (they preferred this one) and one that looked like more traditional State branding!
Miscellaneous Work
More to come!