Hello and thank you for being part of J465 this semester. Together, we will undertake a series of projects and assignments that are meant to build your abilities as designers and increase your expertise in the core Adobe programs that are the tools of the trade. You will be designing logos, illustrations, layouts and animations that will showcase your creative vision and your unique personal style.
You will use this site throughout the semester to post your work, as well as descriptions of your creative process and analyses of the finished products. As authors, you may post additional thoughts and reactions any time you see fit. As part of the class, you will also be designing and maintaining your own J465 website, showcasing your project and exercise work. To read the full syllabus for J465, please visit our syllabus site at www.stevelayton.net/j465/s25.
Good luck — and once again, thanks for being here.
When I designed my conceptual illustration, my intentions were for the design to embody the deep betrayal that maquiladora workers, particularly women, faced under NAFTA. The narrative extended beyond factories; it showed the illusion of opportunity and the harsh reality of exploitation. I decided upon industrial colors to illustrate erasing workers’ identities, leaving only the bland production machinery. The viewpoint of women employed in these factories was nameless; they were recruited for their ease of control, closely monitored, and ultimately discarded when they became a burden. I aimed for my design to produce a similar feeling of being destroyed by a system that valued them for their labor, not as human beings. I examined actual photographs from maquiladoras to provide a visual foundation for the story. Observing pictures of tightly packed sewing stations, where workers cramped beneath bright lighting, influenced my perception of the physical environment I aimed to show. The infinite lines of machines and individuals highlighted that these factories were not hubs of opportunity; they represented an empire of endless labor. This understanding impacted the repetition and structure of my final work.
Women working in maquiladora factories symbolized how individual identity was erased under NAFTA’s system. The overwhelming scale of maquiladora production lines stretches endlessly without regard for the workers inside them.
Early sketches.
I examined authentic photographs taken within maquiladoras, but the design evolved once I began to sketch. I was determined not to show violence. The genuine heartbreak portrayed was in how the exploitation became almost routine. During my initial sketches, I explored the concept of workers blending into the machines, gradually losing their human characteristics. These sketches influenced how I constructed the final layout, duplicating the human figures with the mechanical structures until they nearly vanished.
As I moved further into the design, I understood the importance of illustrating the emotional and social repercussions and highlighting the physical effects endured by workers. Incorporating health statistics anchored the project even more effectively. Charts depicting the elevated rates of respiratory ailments, gastrointestinal issues, and injuries among maquiladora employees made it clear that the damage was not a hypothetical but a real-life tragedy. The comparative graph illustrating the differences between maquiladora workers and other demographics, such as housewives and those employed outside maquiladoras, emphasized how significantly worse the conditions were within these factories. I strategically placed this evidence toward the conclusion of the design, as it served as a compelling final argument against the notion that NAFTA generated genuine opportunity.
Health data shows maquiladora workers faced major health risks, including respiratory illnesses, injuries, and long-term health problems.
This was a part of my ASF side-spread. I wanted to include real-life data showing the detrimental effects the maquiladora factories caused workers. This graph shows health data maquiladora workers faced major health risks, including respiratory illnesses, injuries, and long-term health problems.
Comparison showing maquiladora workers suffered far worse physical health outcomes than other working groups.
This graph illustrates a comparison of health issues across work groups. Compared to housewives and non-maquiladora workers, maquiladora employees report significantly higher rates of musculoskeletal symptoms, difficulty breathing, and other health issues. These disparities highlight the physical toll of factory work under poor conditions.
Reflecting on the final piece, I believe it encapsulates the complex betrayal central to the maquiladora system. It went beyond merely broken promises; it included lives taken, health compromised, and identities destroyed for profit. Through my choices regarding color, structure, and the elements I decided to include (and exclude), I aimed for the design to prompt viewers to face the human toll frequently obscured by trade agreements that typically present only one perspective.
For project 3, I chose the story on old technology. The main idea of the story is about the increasing demand for older technologies, such as, vinyl records and Polaroid cameras. Vinyl records are the main focus of the story, which is why I chose “Vinyl Revival” as the headline, since there has been a rise in demand for vinyl records after years of slowing dwindling sales. To conceptually convey the idea of v records making a come back, I looked for inspiration in heart monitors to show that vinyl is not yet dead. I subtly used the rising and falling pulses to convey the diminishing demand of vinyl and then a sudden jump up to show that there is still a want of vinyl, by consumers. I also added a recorded needle to make it clear that the pulse is being created by vinyl records. For the headline font, I used a 16-bit font face to convey a sense a downgrade to draw upon the old technology concept. The green color I used was from the color palette of the film The Matrix (1999), I felt that the bright green is not only eye catching, but also provides a retro feel, drawing on the old computer screens with bright green code on a black background. Finally, for pages 3 &4, I took the grid background on the spread and used it in the side bar. I also added the pulse and record needle to the bottom the page to further connect the opening spread image with the remainder of the story.
For our second to last creative project in this class we were tasked to create a four page magazine article (two spreads) choosing one of the three stories we were given, our main priority was to crate a conceptual illustration for the article of our choosing and display the story text in a creative way. the three stories we could choose form were:
DIY HOME: A story about the perils of making your own home a “smart” home.
OLD TECH: A story about why obsolete technologies — like vinyl records and film cameras — are still with us.
WEARABLE: A story about the inevitable junking of wearable tech.
out of the 3 I decided to go with Old Tech (seen in my spread below)
Click the Image above to see my 2 full spreads!
When thinking of concept ideas I first thought of an image like the one show below, the evaluation of man walk thingie, but that idea died quickly because of how dumb I think things are when people just put legs and arms on inanimate objects and personify them.
After that idea I then thought the irony of buying old tech on new tech, I know I’ve done it to buy an old camera thats most likely worst quality them my iPhone Im buying it off of, its a funny concept to me. This was I the idea I then decided to base my main illustration off of, I thought it would get the point across of what the story is about. I also thought the tea line I chose for the illustration went perfectly with it all. Past being the old cameras and vinyls we still hold on to after years of new and “better” tech, Pixel being the new and improved tech we have available now.
when it came to displaying the story and imagery around it I thought about a cool way to show past tech right next to new tech, a side by side.
I think it’s an interesting and different way of showing both Past and present, while also framing the story text.
As for the side bar info. I wanted to think of another interesting way to frame this information inside of having a colored rectangle indicating to the reader that this is different info form the story around it. I began to think of things on theme of this tech story thats also a rectangle… a phone screen!
To show some different/ to better block the information in the side bar I decided to show it as a text thread so it’s easier to fallow.
I had fun with this project, I don’t get to work with text/ magazine layouts that often so getting to do a project like this is always fun to me. it helps me better my thought process when it comes to layouts, visual elements, and overall flow of a project. if I was able to do anything thing different I would try and push myself with the visual a little more, I like the final version I have I would of just liked seeing it maybe a little more cleaned up. But overall I’m happy with I created in the end.
When this project was introduced I was excited about being able to choose an article of my own. I decided to make a cover image and magazine layout for an essay I wrote in Spring 2024. The story is about how media depiction of space and intergalactic travel has warped humanity’s expectations of what space is and could be despite the realities and limitations of space explorations.
During the brainstorming process, I tried a few different designs for the cover image. Similar to the final product, most ideas made use of use photographic and illustrative elements. Instantly, I loved the idea of showing space from inside a fictional cockpit.
When beginning to design the cover image. I felt that it was necessary to combine elements from the fictional Star Wars universe and from the reality of space exploration. I found that the best way to do this was to depict both kinds of spacecraft outside from the perspective of the viewer.
I did have to spend more time creating the spread layouts than expected because I ran into difficulties. I knew I wanted to bring the first part of the story onto the cover image, but this part gave me the most trouble because I had to adjust the two different text spaces to fit their placements while still having the text connect between the two pages. However, I did enjoy finding and/or creating various elements to add character to the second spread. I found it best to use the same typeface for the subheadings as the main title to connect those elements. I also had the idea to add pops of the blue and red hues from the buttons in the cover image to emulate the iconic lightsabers from the Star Wars franchise.
For the bigger elements, I felt that it was important to use these elements to give more context to readers who may not have seen the movie the article references throughout. The chart entitled “Portrayal vs. Reality” makes more general comparisons between the franchise’s sci-fi depiction of space and the real conditions of space. This chart can also serve as a concise summary of some of the points made later in the article. For the photograph, I wanted to use a scene from the movie to show how fictional the world is; while looking for the specific scenes, I kept finding photos from filming on set that featured the director giving directions to different actors and thought this could be an interesting way to show the fakeness of the Star Wars worldbuilding. In the photo I chose for the layout, you see J.J Abrams in his typical work attire instructing his two leads in their first on-screen interaction while wearing their unrealistic galactic costumes.
I loved working on this project because I feel like I had a lot of creative freedom from being able to pick my own story to designing pretty much every detail of the spreads’ layouts. If I were to change one thing about my design it would be to bring the primary color of the inside of the ship in the cover image to the story spread as a background color and make the story text white. Overall, I am happy with my final layout and cover image and feel that I executed my vision for this project.
For this assignment, I used the article “Old Tech.” I chose this one because it is something I am interested in. However, it was not the one that gave me the most creative inspiration. During the drawing process, I kept getting more ideas for the wearable tech story, but none of them felt fulfilling. After reading the article the part that struck me most was that we are not getting rid of old tech due to nostalgia. That idea alone was what started the creative process. I began brainstorming things that were nostalgic about old tech for me. I couldn’t get this image of an old TV screen in the dark as its light illuminates its surroundings. I built my entire design of the illustration of the old TV on the front spread. I found a stock image of a TV I felt looked the closest to the one in my head and I built off of that image to create my illustration. For the screen of the TV, I used the grain effect on a box. This gave it a screen-like look. For the title, I used the warp tool and the Silver Streak font. I played around with the bulge effect until I felt they looked natural. I also changed the title of the article to something more fitting of my design angle. I felt that “Channeling The Past” in conjunction with my illustration gave a good insight into what the story was about. To drive home the nostalgia factor I created a pretty standard 90s pattern. Although I was born shortly after the ninety’s they have always felt very nostalgic to me, and I would say they are for a lot of people. I created this pattern by using references from real-world patterns in the 90s and making a small arrangement of the shapes I saw, then using the pattern tool to create the final product you see. By adding this pattern I was also able to introduce a color palette. The color pallet I chose I wanted it to feel tech-like and have the same nostalgia as the pattern I created. Therefore I went with vibrant shades of; blue, yellow, green, and pink/purple. I felt the vibrancy honed in on the technology while the colors captured the ninety as well. For my body text, I wanted to use a standard legible font since my background was already a bit overwhelming, so I used Bitter. For my subhead font, I wanted to also use a standard font, so I used Bebas Neue. On the second page I wanted to use the same pattern but not obstruct the story itself so I made a triangular shape at the top to connect the two spreads. The story text was a lot shorter than I thought It was so I played around with the layout on the second spread for a long time, trying to balance it. I ended up centering most of the story in the middle of the spread and using other visual elements to fill the space. I made the sidebar match the same color already seen in the pattern and used the same fonts I used for the body text just making it a bit smaller. The Last Thing I did was create the two illustrations on the second spread. I realized that I should include some of the technology listed in the sidebar as a visual element so I illustrated a floppy disk and a vinyl record, both of which featured colors already established in the pattern. I placed them in the blank areas and decided I liked the look of the vinyl being enlarged and going off the page. Overall this project was fun and allowed me to learn more about magazine design. I would say I should probably have used a lighter background color but I played around with using white instead of black and it didn’t look good to me. I also think I could have laid the second spread out better.
For this project, I designed a conceptual illustration and two spreads for the “DIY Home” story by Nick Bilton that was provided to us. This is a column about the writer’s experiences with “smart home” devices such as security cameras and locks that are connected to the internet and to the user’s smartphone, and his generally frustrating experiences with them.
I decided to use “Keep It Simple” as the headline for this story because something that runs through the story is the sense that it’s much easier not to have to deal with the complication of connecting your phone to things in your house; as he says “rather than making life easier, [the August Smart Lock] took 10 times longer to unlock than if I had taken the key out my pocket and turned the lock.” “Keep It Simple” references the KISS principle of design (“Keep It Simple, Silly”), that cautions against over-complication. According to the Interaction Design Foundation, “simplicity guarantees the greatest levels of user acceptance and interaction.”
Ironically, I initially found myself over-complicating this design at first, with the pixels from the key all over the page. Eventuallly, I realized that the solution to what was becoming a frustrating design was staring me right in the face, and I settled on this layout, which uses white space to emphasize the headline and keys. I also chose this font for the display text because of its simplicity.
The idea behind the illustration is twofold. First, the pixelated key references, on a very surface level, the idea of something physical becoming electronic. Second, the breakdown of the key into disappearing pixels references the intangibility of something that is electronic or controlled electronically. That is, if your phone runs out of battery or the wifi goes out, your key ceases to exist. Bilton closes his story by telling the reader about how he had to re-connect all his gadgets after his router died. This is an additional complication of “smart home” devices, but also speaks to the way in which the “internet of things” can actually make things harder to access because of their ephemerality. This is what the dissolving key references. The other keys on the carabiner provide contrast with the immaterial key. I decided I wanted to do a photo illustration because I felt that would emphasize this contrast between the real and the immaterial.
Before making the final photo illustration, I made a mock-up of the key to test both its appearance and the technique. I used a stock photo from Adobe for this. I used scatter brushes with a square pattern to create the pixel effect. The holes in the key are made with the same brush on a masking layer that creates areas of transparency. I then duplicated key and set both layers to different colors and offset them to create the glitch effect.
Once I had a sense of how I was going to make the glitched key, I moved on to the final photo illustration. The photo I used was of my own keys (with all the cards and tags removed), arranged in the particular shape that I wanted, and photographed with a digital camera. I used the same technique on the pink key, reduced the opacity of the shape and traced where the outlines of the key ring and the brass key would have been behind it, to create the impression of intangibility when compared to the other keys. Pink, blue, and the resulting purple mixture were chosen to complement the color of the carabiner and match the photo with the graphics.
For the second spread, I continued the pattern of purple pixels from the key, almost as if those pixels had blown in from the first spread, tying the package together. I also used the same colors and effect for the boxes in the sidebar. Because the story was so short, I decided to make the “sidebar” a full-page graphic.
Ultimately, I’m very happy with how the first spread especially turned out. I’m much less familiar with Photoshop and with photo illustrations than I am with Illustrator, and I feel like I learned a lot in the process about the more illustrative tools in Photoshop.
The article I chose for this project is the DIY House, written by Nick Bilton. Throughout the passage, Bilton expresses his frustrating experience when setting up a DIY smart home. To visualize this experience, I collected ideas that would symbolize both the DIY element and the frustration these gadgets can cause. The illustration is a blueprint or an instruction manual on how to build your house, with speech bubbles coming out to add the details of the smart gadgets being implemented. There are symbols that depict errors and network disconnection to visualize the common struggles people can face with technologies. The illustration within the opening spread is framed with a silhouette of a smart phone, giving additional context of the smart technologies while also making the reader emerge into the experience firsthand.
The use of blue and white strokes weighs in on the idea of a blueprint. The bright, warm yellow symbolizes error and warning, which ultimately brings more attention as it contrasts with the rest of the simplistic visuals. The font used for the opening spread is Montserrat, as it is widely used in mobile applications and matches the simplicity.
The illustrations are used in the continuing spread, with a lower opacity level to use as a motif. The sidebar utilizes the same yellow used on the opening sheet to attract attention. Inside the sidebar contains cutout images of the smart gadgets introduced in the article to provide additional information about them.
For my influence I chose Yusaku Kamekura. I found him in one of the graphic design books that we looked at in class. The reason I chose him was because I felt he had a blocky color art style that resonated with my art style. In Graphic Design I, I made a poster that was similar to his method of color pieces put together to make one design.
Kamekura was a Japanese graphic designer who studied at the Institute of New Architecture and Industrial Arts located in Tokyo, Japan. The school took inspiration from Bauhaus. After his education he started working at Nippon magazine. In 1960 he became their managing director. Throughout his early life as a graphic designer, Kamekura gained inspiration from Bauhaus as well as Cassandre, and constructivism. He is best known for his work designing the 1964 Summer Olympics Tokyo poster. He would later go on to work at Nikon and design a series of logos for the company.
In terms of the influence I took from him. I was deeply drawn to his poster called Graphic ’55 Exhibition, 1955, seen on the left here. I think the circles, colors, and overlapping of both make for a distinct visual and a great artistic choice. This style can be seen in my poster with the wheels of the bike. I felt like they were visually captivating. The bright colors that Kamekura utilizes throughout his posters are an aspect I also wanted to take in with my poster. Through multiple posters of his I took the color dropper tool so I could use the exact vibrant colors that he used from his works. The back wheel on the bike has a little bit of overlap in terms of color where the bike chain is, I also added that style in inspiration from his Graphic ’55 Exhibition poster, as well as the “Little 500” text. In Kamekura’s work he often does a sandwich method in his work where he’ll have one line first, then the second increased in size and a bolder color, then more text below it to emphasize the text in the middle. I tried to do that with my text in my poster.
Another work that I took inspiration from was Kamekura’s poster called Nikon Mikron Binoculars, 1955. Upon immediate inspection of this poster, I was inspired to make a bike with the shape that the eyes are made in this poster. Hence why I used the above poster to as well to include the main visual to be a bike in my Little 500 poster. Again, the colors are vibrant and eye catching, The pink here can be seen in my poster too. This poster was the one I used to help me pick out my font, a lot of Kamekura’s posters are in Japanese and so I wanted to find something in English and came across this poster. The main link in my poster in yellow takes inspiration from the fonts used in this poster on the left. The art style of doodle type shapes were another thing I took inspiration from. I tried to draw my cyclist in a similar style as the yellow hand seen in the above poster.
I really enjoyed making this poster. I unfortunately, was crunched for time, but if I could go in and revise my poster I would add more color and a border around the poster that kind of looks like the checkerboard race flag but instead of black and white, I would replace every black square with colors I used in my poster to create a rainbow checkerboard. Overall, I think Kamekura has a minimalist and clean style with vibrant usage of colors, I tried my best to use his influence within my poster.
My Poster for the Little 500 Influence Project(Theophile Steinlen)
This is the final design that I decided to go with for my poster. My inspiration was Theophile Alexandre Steinlen. He was a French painter who had a very unique painting style. I used my typography to reflect his writing style by tracing his handwritten letters and forming them into the words I wanted them to say. I also attempted to create drawings with brush strokes that were reflective of the ones in his paintings. Below are the paintings that I used for reference.
Designing the Little 500 poster through the lens of Josef Müller-Brockmann’s work was an exercise in restraint, structure, and purpose. Known as a key figure in the Swiss International Style, Müller-Brockmann emphasized clarity, order, and functionality in graphic design. His iconic Musica Viva posters and his seminal book Grid Systems in Graphic Design guided my process, showing me how structure can elevate visual communication. I wanted to emulate Brockmann’s Beethoven poster in particular. I started by sketching the composition of the wheel and adding elements of Brockmann’s influence as I went. I eventually got a good idea of how I would make it in Illustrator, mapping out where the typography would go.
Initial sketch
As I transitioned to the digital phase, I focused on incorporating Müller-Brockmann’s key principles: clean geometry, typographic hierarchy, and grid-based composition. The biggest challenge of this process was staying true to Brockmann’s minimalist style while simultaneously communicating to the audience that the centerpiece is a bike wheel. The grid design on the right side of the wheel signifies the motion of the spinning wheel. Brockmann’s work does not typically incorporate bright colors, but considering this is an IU event, I felt like the bright red was a must-have.
Josef Müller-Brockmann began his design journey in Zurich, Switzerland, where he studied architecture, design, and art history. He later opened his studio and became a leading figure in Swiss graphic design, known for pioneering the International Typographic Style. His work emphasized grid systems, objective communication, and the use of sans-serif typography to create clarity and order. Over time, Brockmann’s designs evolved from more illustrative compositions to purely abstract, structured visuals that prioritized function over decoration.
Poster for the Zurich Town Hall by Müller-Brockmann
