Category Archives: Conceptual

Conceptual Magazine – Wearable Junk

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Making this magazine was a bit of a challenge. It took me awhile of on and off designing and drawing before I finally got something decent. I wanted to make the style of my spread customized with a hand drawn style. Alongside that I wanted to experiment with the idea of random fridge magnet letters that you might see in a junk drawer. To me it was a random but creative way of adding a unique touch to the overall design of the magazine spread. The rest of the text I used the Bitters font for a simple but serious legible font for the reader to view.

The article by Nick Bilton references the Apple Watch, FitBit, and Google glasses. So, likewise I wanted to try my hand at drawing those gadgets to add to the opening spread. Everything but the text is hand drawn by me. I chose to illustrate two junk drawers next to each other for the opening spread and added some recognizable items that are common to find in a junk drawer. You can find a tape dispenser, push pins, rubber bands, measuring tape, post-it notes, a singular red crayon, and a singular clothes pin. Together they all resemble items in a junk drawer as well as emphasizing the metaphor that Bilton uses referencing wearable tech being not usable enough except for decorating the junk drawer.

The second page of the spread has the familiar looking tech from the opening spread as well as some “junk” decorating the page. I also added some of the optional sidebar in the spread. It was a bit of a challenge with the main text not being very long. I wanted to just have the main text and no sidebar, but after 30-45 minutes of frustrated fiddling with sizes and measurements, I realized I needed to bite the bullet and add some sidebar to the spread. I didn’t have a lot of space and I didn’t want to squeeze everything in as it took away from the overall cutesy and simple design of the page. So, I removed some things while still getting the main gist although I do think there’s still some space that could have been more creatively utilized if I had kept experimenting with it.

Overall, it was a challenging and dragging process (on account of myself) but I really put myself out of my usual creative comfort zone. In doing so I was able to take the reigns of how I wanted the overall conceptual design to look and I think I did a good job.

Conceptual Illustration: Old Tech

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Click the image to view both full spreads!

For Project 03, we were tasked with creating a conceptual illustration for a magazine spread based on one of three topics: DIYHOME, OLD TECH, or WEARABLE TECH. Each topic came with an article to base the conceptual illustration on, along with some sidebars and images to include in the spread. I chose the OLD TECH topic, which features an article by Nick Bilton about how old technology continues to be relevant in today’s world despite the introduction of new gadgets and technology.

In my illustration for this article, I wanted to depict how newer generations are continuously reaching for old tech, while some older generations are trying out new gadgets. I illustrated young and old people on a film strip and placed it on the opening spread. To unify the opening spread with the next spread, I continued the film strip along the bottom of the next page. I added a faded old newspaper background to give dimension and texture to the pages, which looked a bit plain and overly white before.

On the opening spread, I included a quote by Ellen Weinstein on the right-side page: “Though people may be obsessed with new gadgets, many also cling to outdated technologies like turntables, film cameras, and books.” I think my conceptual illustration represents this quote well. I found this quote attached to the real article posted on the Seattle Times website and thought it fitting to include in my spread.

After adding the text to the next spread, I realized the article was very short, so I had to get creative to fill the remaining white space. I started by adding a callout within the article with a quote I thought was important. This helped lengthen the article but not nearly enough. I looked for images in the provided materials but was disappointed to find none. I ended up finding my own image, which I feel fits alright, though it’s not my favorite. I wished the article had come with an image to add.

Next, I designed the sidebar from the provided materials. I made it larger than usual to fill the space, given the short article. I like how it turned out, though I wished it didn’t have to be so large. Finally, after adding the sidebar, there was still some room at the bottom. I brainstormed and tried rearranging the page, but it never looked right. Ultimately, I decided to add some of my own copy at the end, summarizing the article’s message in one sentence. I really like this addition as it pulls the spread together nicely.

Overall, I’m decently pleased with the outcome of my conceptual magazine spread. This wasn’t my favorite project, as I struggled with coming up with a conceptual idea. I don’t think conceptual illustrations are my strong suit, but I enjoyed exercising this skill throughout the project!

Conceptual Magazine Spread

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Click on image for PDF view.

The entire conceptual design unit was a challenge for me. I found it difficult to come up with powerful concepts relating to the stories we were given. For this magazine cover I chose to work with a story that explained how wearable technology, once thought of as something that would change how we live on a day to day basis, was underwhelming compared to it’s expectations.

The design for the cover depicts a waiting room, with several wearable devices sitting in chairs to convey the message that these products are not exactly ready to change the world quite yet. I chose to use Times New Roman typography to reflect the vibe of a bland waiting room. I used some images I found online for the story section and repeated the design of the jawbone to make the cover cohesive with the second spread.

It was challenging to find a way to fit the sidebar story onto the second page, considering how long it was. I am satisfied with how the main story fits in horizontally at the top, I felt like the “Epic Fails” story looks clean, having an entire block to itself. This has been my favorite project so far, I enjoyed making the magazine spread for the London Underground story in Graphic Design I, so I was excited to see that we would be getting a chance to do it again.

Project 3- Conceptual

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Vinyl Revival Opening Spread. Depicting a heart monitor and record needle.
Click to see full pdf

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.

Tech. Conceptual Illustration

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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.

Conceptual Illustration

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Click the image to see the full magazine spreads.

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. 

Conceptual Project Reflection

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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.

Conceptual Project

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DIY House spread thumbnail
Click the image to view the PDF

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.

RoboBlast Magazine

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For this project we created a magazine layout for 1 out of the 3 topics. I chose the topic about Phonebots, which is about robots who sole purpose is to waste the time of telemarketers. I took inspiration with the title being called Phonebots. The best way was to illustrate a robot on one side and with the robot holding the phone on the other hand. For the other page on the right hand side, I had the bright idea to draw the robot hand holding the facts to bring more illustration to the spread and not be just words.

Project 3: Magazine Spread

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For my magazine spread I chose to do the phonebot story. I chose this because it seemed the most interesting to me from the moment I heard about it. I also was able to imagine an conceptual illustration for this as soon as I heard what it was about. I decided on the name scams for scams because its simple, rolls off the tongue and adds intrigue for the audience.

Click the photo to see the full magazine spread

I chose the muted green color as my base because I felt like it fit well with the colors used in the illustration. I decided to go with a scam likely call because it is an image that anyone would understand. At first I toyed with the idea of it on the screen where it is still ringing and you have to choose to accept or decline, but with this story I felt like that wouldn’t make complete sense for the first thing you see. So I decided to have the phone call answered and put 20 minutes because in the story they talk about how one time a bot had the scam caller on for over 20 minutes. I also played with the location of the time, because on an actual phone call the time goes above the name of the caller, but as I drew the animation it looked like the time the call was taking place, so I decided to make it less realistic and put it under (where I think most people imagine the call time to be anyways).

My biggest problem I had with making this magazine spread is the length of the story. Since it’s such a short story I knew I needed to add more things to the spread. I knew I wanted a sidebar so that was able to easily take up two columns. I also knew that I wanted text boxes of things the bot can say that was quoted in the article to pop up on both spreads of the article to keep the continuation going. As I said prior this story intrigued me a lot that I even did some outside research on the company. This research helped me find the logo for the company that I was also able to add onto the second spread. The logo was sadly only in not the best quality but I still wanted to include it in my project. I decided to also add a tiny phone with the phonebot’s number at the end of the article to tie it all together and clear the dead space. I think this tied everything together on this page and also the previous spread while still giving information from the article.