“Could I interest you in everything, all of the time?” — Bo Burnham, Inside (2021)
DIGITAL & SOCIAL DESIGN
Speaking as someone who remembers when you couldn’t be on the landline and the internet at the same time, digital design has become a much larger part of my work than I ever initially realized.
It’s a fun and unique challenge creating designs that need to work across different sizes, platforms, uses, and goals while still feeling cohesive and immediately recognizable.
Similar to the rest of my work, I tend to lean toward stark, high-contrast designs with bold typography and visuals that immediately grab a viewer’s attention. Below is a collection of work from several different clients, along with a bit of a potpourri of social designs I’ve created over the years.
The Riverhounds and Riveters content has been an interesting series of projects: How do you stay unique and fresh while still emphasizing established branding and traditional Pittsburgh colors? I’ve found that the answer is being willing to play within that black and gold aesthetic, incorporating recognizable motifs while introducing dynamic accent colors like purples, reds, and blues.
Our theme night graphics have given me an especially fun opportunity to push those boundaries, drawing inspiration from existing IPs and pop culture touchstones such as Back to the Future, Napoleon Dynamite, Wicked, and EA Sports games. The result is work that can take on a completely different look and personality from project to project while still feeling distinctly connected to the Riverhounds and Riveters brands.
I had the immense privilege of working on social media graphics for the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance. With their work, it was important to build upon an already established visual identity: clean, vibrant, bold, beautiful, and proud. The challenge was balancing that aesthetic with the amount of information many of the graphics needed to communicate. Whether it was data-driven infographics, event details, or educational content, each piece needed to relay vital information clearly without sacrificing the energy and personality of the Alliance’s brand.
Early out of college, I was able to stretch my creative wings as the Social Media Manager for Craft Your Music, formerly the Center for Young Musicians. This was one of my first opportunities to really dive into creating vibrant, engaging content designed to grab the attention of potential students.
One of the biggest challenges was designing for an incredibly broad audience, from toddlers just learning to clap and dance to retirees looking to hone their skills. It provided an incredible creative outlet and resulted in a number of pieces I’m still proud of today, not only for how effectively they communicated their message, but for how much they allowed me to experiment, take risks, and grow as a designer.
Finally, we have the potpourri section, featuring work from MyBFF Social, a Pittsburgh-based digital marketing agency, as well as Premier Promotional Solutions, a promotional products supplier.
My work with MyBFF included graphics for Freedom Mortgage and Kinect Energy, both of which required working within strict existing brand guidelines while still creating engaging social content. My work for Premier Promotional Solutions offered a bit more room to experiment, including graphics highlighting branded chargers and charging cords, the Beat Cancer campaign, and the Reign Supreme ad, which promoted Premier’s latest offerings while capitalizing on the geometric design trends popular at the time.
