School project S6 – Sandblasting kills

For this project we has to create a poster expressing the horrors resulting of sandblasting jeans. What’s wrong with sandblasting jeans? Look it up on google. Here is the translation of the text featured on my poster.

The damned of denim. Thousands of workers are condemned by the sandblasting of jeans. Exposure to silica dust cause irreversible lung disease called silicosis. It is contracted by workers who inhale it. This desease continues to grow even if the exposure has ceased. Many companies refuse to abandon the practice of sandblasting, including: … (logo of companies).

As you can see, my approach was the horror movie poster. It is a photo-montage of around 15 images and bit of digital painting from my part.

 copyright Dany Pepin 2012

I know what you did last summer (part 2)

One of the things I designed while working for the IT department, was their website portal. It was just awful (white page with blue hyperlinks) and needed a revamp. I created over a dozen maquettes and one of them was chosen by the employees after two rounds of votes. I was surprised to see that the IT employees had chosen a really dark background since the college identity is dominated by a light color palette, but hey… that’s democracy for ya! I have no clue as to when the page will be implemented within the college website. NOTE: All these designs were created with Adobe Illustrator.

 

Discarded (some of my designs left out of the vote)

 

First round (my designs included in the vote)

 

Variations of the chosen design

 

Final choice

 copyright 2011

School project S4: Student web portal

This project was an actual contract for our school student web portal. We (the 2nd year students) had to design something that wasn’t corporative and felt younger. We each created several maquettes in photoshop and chose the one we wanted as our official prototype (Html/CSS). The latter would be judged for this competition and graded by our teacher. Here are my four maquettes and my official submission (see below).

This is my first concept (called “concrete”), and now that I think about it, the one I should have chosen as my prototype. I think my chances to win would have been greater. This concept was one of the few that was made an example of by the teacher after the disappointing first round of submissions.

I don’t quite like this concept (called “Graphic Pizza”) because it is too busy. But from what the teacher told me, the clients found it interesting because of the icons which would be good for an iPhone version of the student web portal they were thinking about creating. The teacher did not like that one at all. 🙂

This is my favorite concept (called “Black board”),… and the teacher’s favorite also. I like this one because it reminds me of my old days in school (late 80’s). Unfortunately, the client though it was too dark/black for the color palette of the school identity. Good point.

So I changed the “Black board” concept to the “White board” which is closer to what we see nowadays in classrooms. The light color palette works better with the identity of the school and so I decided that this would be my official prototype for the competition. A big surprise would be next. The client announced that the design students (our class) would be choosing three finalists and those three student designs would be then submitted for the school vote (all students). It was an extremely tight finish for the 3 finalists in which I was a part of. Unfortunately I didn’t win this competition, but one of my closest friends did.

 copyright 2011

School project S4 : Design conference poster

For this project we had to create a poster for a design conference hosted by a known designer (local or international). The target audience was the local creating community. From a list provided by the teacher, I picked Barbara Jacques from the firm Identica in Montreal.

The concept for this piece is simple, I played with the name identica, and wanted to show the individuality of the company that lives in the shadows of Cossette communications. What is the best symbol for individuality an identity… a fingerprint, a bar code, DNA? Yes, DNA! So instead of using the DNA double helix, I decided to design something that looks like the DNA dye-terminator sequencing and include a custom typography that would merge with the horizontal segments. A little contrast would make the letter stand out. The custom typo (title and host) is especially readable from a good distance. The informative text is placed in the lower right corner to balance the custom typo which is slighly on the left. The informative typo, recalls technology and the advancement in genetic science.

 copyright 2011

School project S3 – Packaging and Die-Cut

Last semester, I designed a simple box packaging for a brasillian papaya. This semester our task was to design a cosmetic product packaging for women or men. So to challenge myself and since this project was focused on die-cuts,  I decided to create a uncommon shaped box for both women and men. I created a fake name « [REN]essence » playing with the word « Renaissance » which was appropriate for a anti-wrinkle cream (women) and a shaving balm (men) since it rejuvenate the skin.

The packaging for men is dark, robust with sharp angles and gives the impression of man’s silhouette. The addition of blue glowing blades is reminds the customer that this is a shaving product and gives a techno vibe to the product, something men are attracted to. The inside of the box is composed of the « [REN]essence » logo arranged in a simple pattern on a blue background.

The packaging for women is cream colored with smooth curves that also mimics the silhouette of the targeted customer. The addition of flowers and leaves gives away a feeling of rebirth and rejuvenation which is the purpose of the anti-wrinkle cream. The inside of the box is composed of the « [REN]essence » logo arranged in a simple pattern on a pink background.

If you look carefully, the shapes and directions of the blades on the men’s product matches the leaves on the women product. This was designed to create unity between both product of the « [REN]essence » brand.

Finally, here are the boxes layout with bleed and die-cuts lines visible.

 copyright 2010

School project S3 – Skateboard design

For this illustration project we had to create a skateboard (or snowboard) design using only color pencils. So I took out my prismacolor crayon and draw a design that I called « Skate or Die ». You can see muscle behind the teared flesh. A reminder of what can happend if your skating unwisely. The tattoo of the letters DYP are simply my initial with a Y in between. You can see pictures of the process (here) and the final product (below).

 copyright 2010

School project S3 – EUFF poster

This is the first real competition the 2^nd year students had this semester. We had to submit three poster designs for the 25th European Union Film Festival here in Ottawa. I actually finished in 2^nd place! Here are my three designs.

The first one is promoting the discovery of european cinema. You can see the movie reel hiding behind a sheet of paper with the European Union logo. The paper is torn in the shape of the country included in the European Union. This is a photography based design. Only the text and some lighting effect were added with photoshop.

The second poster was the second place winner. The design is fairly simple. You can see the silhouette of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, with huge light columns coming from projectors behind the building. The light column are forming the roman number XXV (25) for the 25th anniversary of the festival.

The third was hand drawn in photoshop with a Wacom tablet. It is a James Bondesque style poster. Instead of a gun, the femme fatale is hidind a 8mm camera behind her back. I’ve made two variations of the poster.

 copyright 2010

Staircase Wall Art

After my girlfriend and I decided we didn’t want to paint the entire staircase the same color as the living room wall, I was tasked with designing an artistic transition instead of stopping the paint in a strait line along the wood ramp. So I started to play with circles and rings in photoshop and designed a retro-modern transition. The rest was only a matter of carefully hand paint the pattern. I’m very happy with the final result (last picture).

Visual test in photoshop (above), final result (below)

 copyright 2010

Blast from the past : DVD cover

I have a personal attachment to this project because it was about my grandfather. He did an interview in the 80s where he told is experience as a bomber tail gunner for the RCAF 425th squadron during WWII. As a gift for all family members, we transferred the recording on DVD and I designed a DVD cover and DVD background menu, featuring a picture of his bomber crew, the bomber airfield where  he was stationed, his Distinguished Flying Cross and the letter indicating the end of his tour.  This was designed in 2006.

 copyright 2010

Blast from the past : Brochure

This was one of the two design projects I did for my previous employer before I had to be laid off because of the economy in 2008. You can see below the outside and inside of the brochure. This was fun to design, but as a Geomatic Specialist, this was very far from my appointed tasks which are described in the brochure. Now as design student, I see many flaws in this project.

 copyright 2010