Welcome to J465

Featured

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Steve Layton

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.

Influence Poster: Paula Scher

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Abigail Shavers

This is my influence poster project for j465.

Dima Shiryaev Influence Poster

Posted on March 30, 2025 by Ayumu Nakajima

Dima Shiryaev is a Russian graphic designer known for his experimental and diverse design style. His work includes posters for nightclubs, festivals, and exhibitions, notably collaborating with Kunznya House. What defines Shiryaev’s art style is the use of typography, bold geometric designs, and use of contrasting colors.

The reason I chose this designer is because I have been struggling to find my own artstyle. Seeing Shiryaev’s style allowed me the power of creative freedom, incorporating different elements. To represent his work, I viewed certain posters with similar styles, specifically the Samo DJ poster and The Villars poster. I appreciated the combination of loose, sketch style with contrasting bold, geometric shapes. To incorporate these, I illustrated the silhouette of the bike with the trackpad to give a sense of roughness. Other elements include using boxes to separate each item, contrasting colors, and using varying font styles.

Blue Shoe Publishing

Posted on March 5, 2025 by Mattea Romanelli

Click the image to get a better look!

click to get a better look!

For this project we were told to create a logo for a made up publishing company. We had full creative will to do whatever we wanted, we just had to tie it to a publishing company. when I stared this process I just stared writing out words and names i though sounded fun or that I enjoyed. From the beginning I wanted my publisher to be mainly for children books, so i wanted the name kind of resembled that in a way.

Original Sketches! (Click to see better)

As you can see above after writing my ideas down, I started to sketch my two favorite ideas (Horse Hands and Blue Shoe). In the end I liked my Blue Shoe idea better, so i decided to work on it more.

Here is where I stared to play with layout, typeface, and what shoe design i was going to use in the logo. i went thought a lot of variations in the beginning, but in the end i landed on this design.

click to look!

This is where i was playing with what shade of blue i wanted to go with for the final design!

click to look!

Here are my real world mock-ups for the project!

click to get a better look!

In the end I am vary proud and happy with what I created! Form what I wanted in the beginning to what I ended up with im happy with the end results. I had a lot of fun with this project!!!

Windmill Publishing

Posted on February 25, 2025 by cajacard

Click here for Brand Guide

This is the text for the reflection of our first project, this should be real text by class Monday 3rd of March.

Bass Publishing Logo Design

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Lillian Henninger

This will be a reflection for our first project in J465. I promise this will be real text by class time next Monday.

Click the image to view the full brand guide!

Rooted in Vision

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Claire Blackwell

The Making of EyeLeaf Publishing

For Project 1, I created a logo for EyeLeaf Publishing, a fictional book publishing house that represents insight, growth, and creativity. The goal was to design a brand identity that reflects thoughtful storytelling and organic discovery. The eye leaf symbol was inspired by the idea that books broaden perception, much like a third eye, while also nurturing growth, like a leaf. The eye represents vision and awareness, while the leaves and ink droplet tie back to nature, storytelling, and publishing.

Click this image to see full pdf!

The design process for EyeLeaf Publishing began with sketching various eye leaf concepts by hand, allowing me to explore different visual interpretations of the brand’s identity. Once I identified the strongest design, I digitized it in Adobe Illustrator, focusing on refining the symmetry and balance of the elements to create a polished and cohesive look. For typography, I experimented with multiple fonts before selecting Beloved Sans paired with Montserrat, achieving a modern yet inviting aesthetic. To complete the design, I chose an earthy green color palette, inspired by nature, to symbolize wisdom, creativity, and the organic essence of storytelling.

The final design is simple yet symbolic, adaptable across various branding materials. I created five logo variations, including vertical, horizontal, and monochrome formats to ensure versatility across print and digital applications. Mock-ups demonstrate how the logo would function on book covers, websites, and marketing materials.

This project taught me how to balance symbolism and simplicity within brand design. Through refining my Illustrator skills and experimenting with typography and color, I gained a deeper appreciation for brand identity and cohesion.

Logo Project: Ephemera Books

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Diana Traas

Click the logo to see the full brand guide

For this project I wanted to encapsulate the aesthetic and vision I have of reading books into a publishing company. Right from the beginning I wanted to play on using a luna moth but I didn’t know what my company’s name would be or how I would add my logo into the design. It seemed challenging. At first I played with the name of “Ephemera Publishing” but I didn’t know how to have the wing represent the P in a symmetrical way. That’s when I thought of “Ephemera Books” since this is a publishing company, it’s most likely publishing books. For color choice, I used two distinct colors found in a luna moth which is this green color and a dark purple/maroon color. From the logos we had seen in class, I wanted to strive to make a logo that had both the design and logo name hidden in the design to get the synergy seen from example logos. I think it made for a really strong design. I’m really proud with my design and I think I conveyed my aesthetic vision how I wanted to. I wanted to be a publishing company that targeted people who read books on a “Pinterest” aesthetic level (i.e. mood boards, dark academia, cottagecore, etc.). I think if I were to rework the design at all, it would be to make the ‘E’ and ‘B’ in the design more prominent, I struggled with that a lot initially but where I came to an end felt pretty good.

Vivid Pineapple Logo Design

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Nick Fossi

Click the logo to see the full brand guide!

The first part that I came up with for the name of my company was pineapple. When thinking of a name I sort of just started thinking of the first words that would come to mind. Pineapple was one of those words and it stuck with me throughout the brainstorming process. The “vivid” part of the name did not come until the process of designing the logo. The original name was going to be “Sweet Pineapple,” but when designing the crown of the pineapple, I noticed a “v” shape within it. I decided that I should include a word that started with a V instead and ultimately settled on vivd\id. I felt with vivid I would be able to create a compelling brand voice for the company.

The process of the logo design began with sketching it out. My original idea was keep design the crown of the pineapple as it normally is, with it being made of leaves. One of the leaves however, would be a feather of a pen. I kept drawing it in different ways, but it never seemed to look right. I then thought about designing the crown in the style of a book. After a few tries I ended up on a design I liked and stuck with it through the whole process. All that was left to do was design the logo in Illustrator.

The final design is meant to portray a pineapple with an open book as the crown. This of course represents the brand’s role as a publishing company. I didn’t want to do anything to the main shape of the pineapple, as it is quite a recognizable figure and something people would notice right away. I made sure to choose bright colors to go along with the “vivid” part of the company name. I also felt that bright colors are good way to make the logo stand out. For typography, I settled on the font “Tarif” for the design. I found the font on Adobe Fonts when looking under the filter “funky” and liked the look of it.

Overall, I enjoyed working on this project. I’ve sketched logos in the past just for the fun of it, but I liked getting the opportunity to experience the full process of logo design. It was interesting to learn more about brand guides, as well as researching examples of other brands to give me a better idea of how to go about creating mine.

Ladybug Publishing Logo Design

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Abigail Shavers

Click the logo to see the full brand guide.

The first element I chose for my brand was the brand voice. I knew I wanted to make my brand voice welcoming and inclusive because I feel that those are important qualities for any entity to have in relationships whether personal or business.

The hardest part for me was choosing a concept for my company. I had a few trial-and-error concepts before I landed on Ladybug Publishing. I tried coming up with names and logo mocks for various ideas, but none felt strong enough until I came up with the visual idea of a ladybug. One that I worked on for a while was an illustration of a peach pit, but it didn’t give the sophistication that a logo should and didn’t have much symbolism or purpose behind it either.

The visual concept started with a small sketch of a ladybug, but it felt too intricate and unmemorable for a solid logo design. Then, I began to sketch just the ladybug’s body and focus on the spotted design element. I started to like this design because the foundational shape of the body is circular and makes for a good circular logo concept. During my sketching, I realized that the shape of the closed wings against the body came to a point in resemblance to a pen stylus. Then, I decided to manipulate the shape of the wings to emphasize the negative space between them, so I could integrate a stylus shape into the ladybug’s body. Finally, I utilized the negative space even further by adding contrasting detail elements to emphasize the stylus illustration more. Both the ladybug and pen stylus stand out while remaining balanced within the illustration because of my use of bold colors which are both iconic and contrasting.

The typography was the second easiest decision for me. To stay true to the brand voice, I felt that a sans serif was more welcoming and less stiff looking; personally, I am also drawn more to the look of sans serif type. When looking through Adobe Fonts, I came across Tomarik, and immediately downloaded the font family and implemented it into my design. I feel that Tomarik perfectly combined the welcoming and inclusive brand voice by having an imperfect line weight while still looking professional.

Overall, I love my logo design, and I am glad I spent a lot of time in the brainstorming process to reach a concept and design that I am proud of.

Portal Publishing Logo Design

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Kiya Warrick

Click image to see brand guide

When I was brainstorming for this project, I kept coming back to the word portal. It was the word that encapsulated a great read. When reading an excellent book it’s hard not to feel like you have stepped through a portal. The word also has a lot of creative energy, so there were plenty of references.

I enjoyed this simple star shape I kept coming across and was constantly playing with its shape in my head to try and incorporate a book-like image. A couple of days later I was reading and laid my book on the bed. When I saw it I recognised it looked like the exact half of the shape I wanted to use.

I created this logo with the idea that it would be two open books facing one another with a shape that resembles an abstraction of a portal between them. I chose these colors because I wanted them to feel reagal, or adjacent to vintage fantasy books. I also chose them to be very inviting, since we want to invite people to read our books, and step through a ‘portal’.

I had a lot of fun with this project; its creative freedom made it enjoyable. I did face challenges though. I had a hard time making things symmetrical. There are imperfections in the logo that if I had put a little more work into wouldn’t be there.