“Be Merry, Give Original”
Creative Overview
Inspired by Miracle on 34th Street, this year’s holiday’s creative featured a classy, classic, nostalgia-evoking style with a modern twist. The messaging aimed to put the customer first–people over profits– with a focus on gaining customer loyalty by adding value to their lives.
Through graphic design, decor and copy, we aimed to:
• Engage small audiences with targeted messaging.
• Speak to customers in a way that shows we care about helping find the right gifts, rather than just selling products.
My Part
All print ads, interior signage for all branches (both generic and promotional), creating layouts for vinyl window displays, interior decor installation.
Model photography: Ben Sandall
Vinyl Production and Installation: FASTSIGNS
Thumbnail: Friends and Family Card by Hanna Sperber
1. Interior display on the stairs down to the Supplies department (41”x70”)
2. Concept (L) and final vinyl (R) product for the downtown branch store, Husky Central.
3. Concept (L) and final vinyl (R) for the main branch store windows overlooking the parking lot
This is a small sampling of the various in-store promotions we ran during the holiday season. Some were also tied to an online component that were handled by Hanna Sperber, the other designer at University Book Store.
“This is #howIhusky”
Creative Overview
Customer and fan campaign focusing on real fans and fan submitted images. Fans were featured using their submitted images from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, tagged with the created social media hashtags #howihusky and #behuskyeverywhere. This campaign also doubled as a way to advertise the new UW adidas athletic line for the upcoming football season.
My Part
All print and web ads, except email, interior signage for all stores (both generic and promotional), and layouts for the vinyl and banner window displays.
Model photography: Ben Sandall
Vinyl production and installations: FASTSIGNS
41”x70” Concept (T) and final (B) product for U District parking lot windows
Example of a couple 22”x28” distributed to the branch stores
The cherry blossom campaign is one of University Book Store’s many goodwill campaigns. This campaign celebrates the blooming cherry blossoms in the UW campus’ quad. The 2019 campaign was a fresh redesign the campaign from the previous, now retired, design to create a more community focused campaign. As the lead designer, I wanted to create a more traditional feel, by pulling references from Japanese woodblock designs to create our overarching design.
All illustrations created using ProCreate, final layout created in InDesign
Marketing Copy & Haiku: Nick Carr
2019’s employee banquet invitations with a Tex-Mex/Southwest theme. The illustrations are in the tattoo style of American Traditional and the table runners are reference from traditional Mexican serapes. The front of the banquet invite was later repurposed as an 11x14 poster displayed in various employee only areas.
All illustrations created in ProCreate, final layout completed in InDesign
Copy: Nick Carr
Employees were to cut or tear the blue area as their RSVP
Illustration created in ProCreate
Layout created in InDesign
Employees were to cut or tear the blue area as their RSVP, and check their preferences.
Illustrations created in ProCreate
Layout created in InDesign
Created in ProCreate
Created in ProCreate
Created in ProCreate
Created in InDesign, colors eyedropped from a serape found online.
Small sampling of some of my illustration work created with traditional media, Procreate and Adobe Draw. For more examples of my work, take a look at my Instagram page @darlenebydesign!
11”x14”
Created for Inktober 2018
Procreate, based on a previous black and white illustration done with micron, client wanted the gun to have a specific skin and color.
Original design created by Bungie, Inc.
Created for froggyforeal, created in Illustrator.
2.5”x3.5”
Created during Inktober 2019
2.5”x3.5”
Created for Inktober 2019
8.5”x11”
Created for a print ad
This is a sample collection of a few of the print ads created for The Stranger, Seattle Gay News , Mill Creek Living and a few miscellaneous sources, that aren’t directly connected to an overarching campaign.
Banner illustration on The Stranger ad and companion bookmark, created in Illustrator
All Layouts created in InDesign
All model photography and editing: Ben Sandall
Copy: Nick Carr
Quarter page ad, we wanted a cheesy but also perfect ode to Burt Reynolds and his bearskin rug.
This ad features one of University Bookstore’s well known LGBTQ+ booksellers and his iconic work apron.
Showcasing our Husky Pride merchandise, this also features three of our LGBTQ+ employees
Quarter page ad, featuring three of our book club leaders, as well as, employees.
Quarter page ad, part of a larger rebrand for the books department this design uses a combination of the original University Book Store logo font and a found font.
Banner created in Illustrator.
These bookmarks were created as a sibling of The Stranger ad, they feature the same fonts and colors as the ad just laid out differently. Additionally, they have a QR code on the back which allows people to join our enewsletter list.
This was placed inside one of the festival exclusive booklets, it features an illustration created by me (with Micron ink, cleaned up in PhotoShop) and the 2019 Pantone Color of the Year “Living Coral.”
A commissioned design created for the Yakima Association of Paraeducators.
Design created in Illustrators
Shirt was printed by a local company in Yakima and distributed to over 400 paraeducators in the Yakima School District.
Small sampling of logos created for professional and personal use, all created in Illustrator.
![[Commission] "Be Notorious"](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5526c00ee4b0bf561a8ef281/1605431236819-F1AZD9WLNYLZFOTLT3ZI/IMG_0264.png)
![[Commission] Twitch Subbadges for froggyforeal](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5526c00ee4b0bf561a8ef281/1605431238547-99DC407KS4J5TX46ON2U/new+spread-01.jpeg)
