Natalie Orlando

The YMCA, a renowned nonprofit organization committed to promoting healthy living and community engagement, sought to enhance its digital presence. Recognizing the increasing reliance on mobile technology, the YMCA aimed to create a user-friendly mobile app that would facilitate easier access to their services, encourage member engagement and streamline communication. The primary goal was to design a mobile app that provided an intuitive and seamless user experience, catering to the diverse needs of the YMCA\'s broad user base. The app needed to offer features such as program registration, facility information, class schedules, and member profiles. While creating this mobile interface, I came across interviewing and gathering research to best understand customers\' needs at the YMCA. With that information, I created an interface that seamlessly covered needs and potential pain points. As a result, I was able to showcase this prototype for mobile app users to best understand the ability to sign up for this non-profit. In conclusion, I learned the process of information gathering and idea generation to better my user experience. I enjoyed the ability to collaborate with a non-profit and help solve problems with existing and soon-to-be members.

A series of collages featuring Marilyn Monroe broke out in the realistic lifestyle compared to her fame lifestyle. The intent of this project is to showcase the two personalities she had to face every day. From fame to heartbreak, these cards include each detail controlling Marilyn\'s lifetime. These collages, when carefully curated, become a canvas that tells a unique story. Within this creative realm, crafting a set of cards takes on a special significance, transforming ordinary pieces of paper into windows to a world of imagination and emotion. Each digital collage begins with a vision, a spark of inspiration that ignites the creative process. It might be a medley of vintage jewelry, a bouquet of blooming flowers, or a trademark for Hollywood. While keeping the theme of Marilyn\'s fame each card was designed to tell her story from two different perspectives. This project allowed us to use analogies to compare the two lifestyles through collage-making. I am happy to share the research of Marilyn\'s career in design. Description: The objective of this project was to create a set of 12 cards (two-sided) using a Surrealist game that employs the literary/visual device of analogy as your method for producing visual content about a contemporary/historical hero or villain of your choice. When designing the cards I kept in mind the use of scale, color, hierarchy, and the cohesiveness of cards. The main takeaway I got from this project is how to create a series of prints/cards and make them work together as a system. I also learned more about using color effectively in a project and how to tie it into a design.

The goal of this project is to move beyond visual representations and understand how abstraction plays a role in message-making. Using elements such as typography, text scans, images, patterns, and textures. I opted to design a pair of posters that link seamlessly when placed alongside each other. I created 2 final collages that are meaningful to me. These collages must go well together, be in black and white, and use type and image well together. For my posters, I wanted to show the link between 90s music and the traditions that followed. For this project, I made many iterations of handmade collages prior to switching to digital for the final two. For images, I found illustrations/photographs from books, magazines, and online. I got to work cutting out and pasting the pieces together to create unique compositions. Working with a hands-on technique, taught me how I can apply these techniques in a digital piece. One struggle I had was finding images large enough for my final piece. To make sure my images were not going to be pixelated, I checked the size prior to including them and made sure not to make any images larger than their actual size. Each image and type is a piece of a puzzle, carefully chosen to convey a specific emotion, concept, or idea. Through juxtaposition and layering, images interact, creating new narratives that transcend their original context. The essence of my design encapsulates the vibrant tapestry of music culture in the 90s, a pivotal era that resonates with a unique fusion of genres, styles, and revolutionary movements. In conclusion, Something I learned from this project is how to use hands-on techniques in digital pieces to create something different and interesting. Combining these techniques is something I realized I can use for future projects.

The objective for this project was to create a 16-page book with the use of a grid and hierarchy. Choose two fonts that work well together. Keep it limited to the use of only black and white. For the final project, print, cut out, and bind together the final piece. For this project, the goal was to create a 16-page book using text from “The Laws of Simplicity” by John Maeda. I started this project by setting up a grid in InDesign and placing the text to create a clean and consistent placement of the body copy text. I then played around with different iterations of the scale, weight, and textures of the type. I really wanted to play with the idea of very small and detailed typography. I used different weights, small and medium scales, and different curing types. I played with the negative spaces to create unique shapes through text. Once I had designed the files, I printed them out to produce my final craft. I did a saddle stitch for the final project, and cut the pages to perfectly line up. The big takeaway I learned from this project is how to take content from another person’s work, and design it into my own work. I learned how to style type to make interesting but cohesive designs throughout my book.

For this project, I was able to focus on one designer whom I took inspiration from and turned a biography into an art piece. Paula Scher was my person of choice, I was able to gather research about her design styles and efforts and put them together in an art form. This project is a set of zines and a newspaper article to showcase her style and achievements as an artist. The goal for this project was to create a publication design that resembled the artist chosen while maintaining the aspect of the designer in the final product. While designing I learned many styles and languages of the design world. I learned the aspect of language and the professional way to present yourself as a confident artist. Paula Scher has inspired me to take the project further to explore all branches of design she practiced. Each zine is filled with content related to the time era she was designing in., From student to employee, to CEO these zines cover her design life through a short story. Including studying, working in the studio, and becoming part of the corporate world. The encouragement to create a newspaper came from the time period she was learning design. Back in the 1990s society did not grow up with computers or graphics. They had to create their own publication design and create juxtapositions to create images for their design process. I took a spin on that culture and created a newspaper article to showcase the time period and craft it took to be a designer. In conclusion, this project has taught me the varieties of design and what brings design to the corporate world.