Graduate Thesis Project
Branding, UX/UI
Spring 2021

Inspired by challenges faced during the pandemic, Friendhood is a mobile application that seeks to alleviate the challenge of developing community during a time of limitation and isolation as well as improve mental health by fostering the formation of intentional, friendly support systems. Based on their profile and selection of interests, users are placed in a group or neighborhood of people with like-minded interests. The application automatically sets up the first neighborhood meet-up, which occurs within the app. The virtual meet-ups include conversational prompts and in-app games to help break the ice and encourage conversation. Users also have the ability to explore other neighborhoods and in-app events to maximize their chances of connecting and forming friendships with other people.

Graduate Project, User Experience Design
Spring 2020

The Family Caregiver App is a mobile application for family caregivers, where all caregivers whether family, friends, or hired assistance can connect and stay updated on the well-being of a loved one. The primary objective of the application is to alleviate the pain points of the caregiving experience and enhance the quality of care. The application is meant to serve families caring for a loved one with a disorder or disease that affects cognitive function, such as Alzheimer's. Users can create a new care team or join an existing one. From any screen, users can track day-to-day health and well-being, including medications, symptoms, behavior and other cognitive, or physical functions of the care recipient. Other features include a calendar of the care recipient's schedule and caregiver shifts, health data displayed in various graphs to show changes over time, and a dated diary format to easily review activities and health status on a given day.

Graduate Thesis Project
Branding, Interaction Design, UX/UI
Spring 2021

MYHTY, an abbreviation for "my home therapy", is a set of tools that assist adults in continuing their therapy at home and improving motor function. The project aims to serve adults who have suffered a stroke or other medical emergency and have impaired motor function, and may have lost or do not have access to physical therapy. The first tool, a physical therapy board game, focuses on improving hand mobility and dexterity as it is a significant focus in a heart attack or stroke patient’s recovery. The game involves multiple modes of gameplay—each method exercises hand mobility and dexterity as well as flexibility and coordination, and can be adapted in several ways to adapt to the user’s abilities and continue to challenge the user as they improve. The game was laser cut from birchwood, which was chosen for its cost effectiveness and accessibility to the user. The files for the game will be made available at no cost, so anyone can make their own.

The second tool, a tablet application, serves to record therapy exercises and track a user’s progress over time. From the dashboard, a user can select an exercise and easily record several sets of the chose exercise. As many physical and occupational therapy exercises are measured through time, the exercise detail screen includes a stopwatch to track the time it takes the user to complete a set of a particular exercise. Other features of the app include a statistics screen where a user can view their progress over time, a database of exercises, scheduling, and goal setting.

Graduate Thesis Project
Packaging, Print Design
Spring 2021

BetterTogether is a subscription box that seeks to help families grow, share, laugh, and encourage one another. While Friendhood served to connect people and help them find community, BetterTogether is focused on building up the community already established at home. The primary objective of the project is to encourage and improve communication within family units, and create opportunities for engagement and bonding. Within the box, a user will find three to four 3rd party products and a collection of branded paper goods. Four types of cards make up the collection paper goods and are designed to create a range of opportunities for families to Grow, Share, Encourage, and Remember together. The cards are named as an extension of the brand and color-coded to create an association in the mind of the user.

Graduate Project, Interaction Design
Spring 2020

Chattercise is a play-based speech therapy game that speech therapists can cater to the level of their patient (primarily ages 3-6) and parents can easily incorporate into daily activities. The objective of the project was to encourage and create opportunities for parents to continue speech therapy with children at home. The cube would come with a starter set of action and word cards intentionally selected by the speech therapist to create opportunities for auditory bombardment while keeping the child engaged and entertained. Gameplay involves rolling the cube and performing the action card or articulating the word presented on the face of the cube.

I had the great honor of being selected as a participant in the Spring 2020 iteration of MODERN BILLINGS, which is an exhibition program at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Using space from Clear Channel Outdoor as programming sites, MODERN BILLINGS features works from a variety of artists on billboards—elements of the city that traditionally present commercial advertisements rather than cultural curiosities. The large-scale installations provide an intervention opportunity for contemporary art in urban landscapes while offering a public exhibition platform for under-recognized artists.

The work I created for the exhibition speaks to the growing issue of plastic pollution and its affect on marine life—specifically embodying the physical experience with the statistical impact of plastic entanglement.

The exhibition was featured on Glasstire and Fort Worth Culture Map

Logos and branding is where I first found my passion for graphic design as I get to come alongside a client as they build their business and help bring their vision to life! AriseProducts and ProfitSquad were both client projects.

As I am passionate about mental health and have personal experience in using various resources to improve my own mental health, I wanted to spend a semester diving deeper into the subject matter and finding the areas in which services, tools, or the way in which the subject matter is spoken of can be improved. I specifically looked into adolescent mental health as I had previously come across resources that posed concerns for teen’s mental health when workin on the project, Kith & Kin, in 2018. Also, since I knew from experience that many colleges offer on-campus counseling services, I was curious what was offered to high school students. As I took a deeper dive and conducted research into mental health, I did in fact discover a plethora of articles, journals, and studies related to teen anxiety and depression, many of which come to the conclusion that today’s teens (in America) are more anxious and at greater risk of depression than previous generations were (when they were teens). While these resources have varying opinions on why teens are more anxious, the more important lesson here is that mental health is clearly an issue among teens, now more than ever, and needs to be addressed.

However, with the vast number of mental health mobile apps, organizations and online resources that are available for use, I concluded that it may not be an issue of resources necessarily but rather an issue of stigma and a need for a streamlined message.

Therefore, I came up with the idea to create a toolkit of assets that are adaptable for any institution and a variety of environments. I imagine institutions, such as schools or camps, using the toolkit to improve communication between adults and teens, encourage conversations about mental health, and create an environment of open communication.

I designed the poster campaign, shown here, as a small study in the aesthetic and functionality of the toolkit. I envision the toolkit eventually including a takeaway/handout, group activities, shareable content, and experimental design. To reflect the intention of the toolkit being adaptable, I strove to create a design that allowed for modularity. I chose the format of a poster as it can be arranged to fit within any space, whether the institution has spaces that can fit only one poster or 5+ to create a larger, billboard or mural-like installation. I chose the messaging “We Are Here” as it allowed for interchangeable secondary messaging (i.e. “For You,” “To Talk,” etc.). In summation, the campaign consists of a series of 6 posters (6 different designs) with interchangeable color and text, which ultimately allows for there to be 12+ possible poster designs and more opportunity to mix and match however the user so chooses. The call to action (i.e. body copy) as well as the logo are placeholders and can be easily changed by the user as they see fit.

I also created a few examples of how the campaign can be carried into social media.

During my independent study in printmaking in the fall of 2019, I set out to develop a project that was collaborative, interactive and had the potential for multiple outputs. After discussion with my professor, I chose to create a letterpress postcard that consisted of a grid from which a letterform can be created. I’ve always had a passion for typography and have designed tools in the past that designers can use to brainstorm and create letterforms.

For this project, I developed a grid from which anyone, designers and non-designers alike, can create their own unique letterform. I constructed the grid in such a way to allow for an array of possible outputs that still maintained a similar underlying structure.

Using the printmaking facilities and equipment at UTA, I developed two polymer plates, mixed ink, and “printed” over 100 postcards on a Chandler & Price platen press. The postcards are to be sent out to a diverse group of people who will then create a letterform and send the postcard back. My hope is to receive enough responses to create an entire alphabet. I am currently in the process of distributing the postcards.

As part of a 6-week project, I was tasked with analyzing a locale and consider how, if any, design had been incorporated and in what areas could it be improved. Being a resident and former student of AISD, I chose the city of Aledo as the focus of this project. During the research phase, I reviewed city history and any available city data as well as examined architecture, building materials, color, signage, and competing/similar cities. Using the research I collected in conjunction with my past experience in conducting market research and developing strategic marketing plans, I developed a succinct analysis of Aledo and formulated design guidelines to help lead future development. I organized my research, conclusions and guidelines into a booklet format.

In late August 2019, I contacted Aledo city officials and asked for a meeting in which I would share the document, review its contents with them, get their feedback, and inquire if they would be interested in incorporating the document into their current development processes.

The timing could not have been better as only a month or so prior, Aledo had begun the process of updating their strategic plan and hired a consulting firm to help them do so.

I met with City Administrator, Bill Funderburk, and City Secretary, Deana McMullen on September 16, 2019. Both were thoroughly interested and excited about the information presented in the document, especially as it drew conclusions that complemented discussions they were having with their consulting firm and brought up other insights they had yet to consider. At the conclusion of this meeting, they invited me back to meet with and present the booklet to the Aledo Economic Development Corp., which includes the mayor, Kit Marshall, among other members on Thursday, September 19. In this meeting, members offered similar sentiments as Bill had in the first meeting, finding value in the information provided in the booklet, and concluded that they will use it as they continued to develop the strategic plan.

I received an email, pictured below, shortly after the second meeting from Bill, which reiterated their initial responses and included additional thoughts on the booklet.

The full PDF version is available for viewing here.

In the spring of 2019, I created a new poster every week for 10 weeks that depicted a current social, environmental, or health and wellness issue. The objective of this semester-long project was to build upon my technical and creative skillset and establish a weekly design practice as well as present an issue from a different and hopefully more relative perspective.

Three posters in particular, shown first, were created as a series speaking to animal cruelty and endangerment.

The “Preserve” poster earned Gold in United Design Alliance’s Annual International Poster Design Competition in June 2019.

As part of a human-centered design project, I conducted research in the different facets and methods of communication. During this research, I uncovered several resources on how today’s communication tools and systems, such as cell phones and social media, affect relationships. I kept digging as I was curious if the way we engage and the quality of that engagement today has changed for the better or worse with the rise of technology. I narrowed my focus to childhood development and family dynamic, and examined areas in which communication could be improved. I discovered research on the physical, mental and emotional benefits of family dinners and a growing amount of articles and organizations promoting and supporting the activity. I decided to build a tool that can assist in improving engagement and fostering community among families at the dinner table.

I chose a card game as it does not use technology and can be easily incorporated into the dining area. The game incorporates four types of cards: Icebreaker, Challenge, Game Time, and Categories. An Icebreaker card includes a question for deeper and more meaningful conversation among the family. The person who drew the card picks who must answer the card. The questions range from fun and thought-provoking topics to serious and personal topics. The Challenge cards includes a different action that the person who drew the card must perform. The Game Time card includes a game that all players must participate in. Every game will be playable at the table. Finally, the Categories card includes two different topics and is played by all players. The player who drew the card picks the topic and starts off the game by naming a person, place or thing that fits the chosen topic. Each player must name a person, place or thing that fits the chosen topic. Play begins with the player who drew the card and continues clockwise. The first player to repeat an answer or not answer after 5 seconds loses and ends the round.

In Spring 2019, a professor recommended me to the director of the UTA Gallery who was needing a designer to create a poster for the Spring 2019 BFA Exhibition. The Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition is a showcase for recent work created by the graduating seniors of the University of Texas at Arlington's Department of Art and Art History.

I sent the gallery director two options, both shown here, and he selected the version using modular type (left). The poster was posted in various locations around the Fine Arts Building on UTA campus.

Brickmarket is a fictional kitchenware and home furnishing retailer.  In order to convey a cohesive visual language as well as unity and variety, I spent a majority of my time developing and refining typographic hierarchy as well as multi-page layouts. The catalog is meant to appeal to women, ages 25 to 40, and express a high-end, rustic and urban brand.