PRISMATIC is a new website for University of Nebraska-Lincoln Advertising Majors. I started on this project almost two years ago. Initially, it was myself and my supervising professor, Stacy James, who picked me out of her class to help with this special project. The first stage of the project was the previous entry, the advertising uncommons.

The second stage involved creating a team to help carry out the objectives I had created for the site. Over the past year we have been working on a visual identity. PRISMATIC was a name I initially chose because advertising is such a colorful business, literally and figuratively. Additionally, the UNL Ad Major is to students as a prism is to light: they enter as one but leave with the skills and knowledge to accomplish many things.

For this, the official logo of the PRISMATIC mission, the prism graphic was originally created by fellow team member Abigail Powers. Typography, graphic placement, and color scheme were my responsibility.

I am also the interactive designer for our website, now in it’s third phase. You can check on the progress of this project at unl-ad.me

The above was the final logo chosen for the Lincoln, NE event Awesome Camp. In short, Awesome Camp brought together Lincoln area creatives, communicators, and entrepreneurs for a day of sharing and networking.

The following were other concepts presented to this client.

I also modified a Wordpress theme for the Awesome Camp website. This can of course be seen at AwesomeCamp.com

I received the Quivira Capital project through a sub-contract with Social Buzz Media. They were helping Quivira Capital learn to use social media for their business. Their current website and logo, however, were in need of an update.

Quivira Capital provides several financial services, and they are based in Lenexa, Kansas.

The name Quivira refers to historic Indian regions in Kansas and was chosen to reflect our Midwestern roots.

Quivira is said to be one of the seven cities of gold that Coronado’s expedition searched for, thus providing even more of a financial tie-in. A request from the client was to include an element that symbolized a river to relate to the region where Quivira was located.

Next, I did a complete overhaul of their website. The following is a comparison of the old and new home page.

Quivira Capital's old home page.

Click to visit the new Quivira Capital.

I kept the look very clean and minimal. The home page has a simple JQuery slider. I used key phrases from their copy, underscored them using the river element from the logo.

The JQuery slider.

The interior “About” and “Services” page are simply informational text pages. The eRoom was created by their own IT.

The "About Us" page.

Lora Mae Frecks, the owner of Innoveering Nebraska, originally intended her business to be titled simply “Innoveering.” But due to e-mail not always being the clearest way to communicate, I used “Innoveering Nebraska” in the first round of logos I sent her. She was so pleased with the directions the design was taking that she officially changed the name of the business.

Big changes brought about by great design making me rethink everything!

-Lora

Designers seem fond of making “Cool Business Card” posts.  I realized that as a creative I needed even my business card material to be creative, and not just classic cardstock.

Meaning of the Red Balloon

As I designed my site, red balloons became a focal element. My balloons are red because I chose red as the primary color in my scheme, and they are completely unrelated to Nena’s 99. I chose the symbol of the balloon because it invokes feelings of childish freedom and imagination, and I believe that much creativity comes from allowing ourselves a bit of childish abandon. A held balloon is as free as it is grounded, and I work in much the same way: I enjoy taking my creativity to new heights, while at the same time practicing consistency and sensibility.

Card Materials

I decided rather quickly that I wanted my card to have an interactive element, which is the function of the red balloon. But I also knew I couldn’t just hand out balloons, so after much comparison shopping I settled on 3.5×2.5″ resealable ClearBags, and clear labels which the local awards/specialty shop Rixstine’s helped me find. Balloons were easily secured at the nearest party shop.  All in all, my new business cards cost around $125 for 500 impressions. Not too bad for what should be a more memorable business card!

Making of the Cards