1013 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19107
717.395.0807
abigailzug@gmail.com
www.abigailzug.com
COVER LETTER I’ve always loved stories. Ever since I was little I was always reading, imagining, and creating my own worlds and stories for the characters that I loved. As I got older, this love of stories translated into a love of writing and communication. When it came time to start thinking of jobs, careers, and colleges, graphic design seemed to be the perfect fit for me because of the inherent basis of communication, coupled with stunning visual designs and art. I love graphic design because it always tells some sort of story if you look hard enough - whether it’s book or publication design, where it helps to visually explain and accompany the words, or a logo design and identity system, where the goal is to condense a brand’s history and future goals into a visual format. It’s always fun to hear viewers talk about the feeling of a piece, without knowing its history, to see how they interpret the work. As I began coursework in the graphic design program at Drexel, I also fell in love with typography. The history of the alphabet, letterforms, and their design is so rich with cultural relevance, and their complicated history was so fascinating to me that I chose to pursue this area of study for my senior thesis project. My interest in stories, and my love of typography, are what really drew me to publication and book design. Of all the classes that I took in school, those were my favorite because I felt I could immerse myself in whatever I was designing and connect with it in a way I didn’t feel about other types of design. I also really enjoyed getting to play with all of my favorite things - stories, typography, and photography - in one consolidated, tangible format. I’ve been following the work of Chronicle Books since before college - without really being aware of it - and have been wanted this fellowship since my senior year, at least. I love the work the work that you do, and think it would be such a fun and rewarding experience to get to design with you.
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HONORS
EXPERIENCE
CERTIFICATE of Excellence
USER EXPERIENCE ASSOCIATE / JUNIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER, RAZORFISH HEALTHWARE
39th Annual University and College Designers Association International Design Competition, 2009
March 2009 - Present; Philadelphia, PA
41st Annual University and College Designers Association International Design Competition, 2011
- Completed various UX tasks for a variety of clients: Competitive & Landscape Analysis, Content Audits, Sitemaps, Wireframes, and User Research
41st Annual University and College Designers Association International Design Competition, 2011
- Annotated UX and design documents with technical specifications for developers
41st Annual University and College Designers Association International Design Competition, 2011
- Collaborated with the software development team on internal projects
- Responsible for multiple projects with time-sensitive deadlines - Collaborated with the design team on identity design for client pitches - Created website comps for client presentations
AWARD of Excellence
- Updated website comps and style guides with new imagery and copy
Graphic Design: USA, 2009
- Experience with presenting alone and in groups, internally and to client, largest presentation was about 60 people
GOLD AWARD Creativity 41 Annual, 2011
4A’s iaas graduate - institute for the advancement of advertising studies January 2013 - April 2013; Philadelphia, PA
SILVER AWARD Creativity 41 Annual, 2011
- 1 of 3 members selected from the entire Philadelphia office to participate - As a group of 7, pulled together a Summer 2013 advertising campaign and pitch for an internationally recognized ice cream distributor
EDUCATION DREXEL UNIVERSITY
PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY
Philadelphia, PA Graduated June 11th, 2011 B.S. in Graphic Design Cumulative GPA: 3.69
Philadelphia, PA August 2007-May 2008 Pursued Coursework in Graphic Design Cumulative GPA: 3.97
- Personally responsible for collecting and analyzing user research, persona development of target audience, assisted graphic designer with designs - Pitched strategy, campaign, and concept to Brand Manager, 4A’s Executive Board, 5 Executives from advertising agencies within the area, about 40 others
SKILLSET FINE ARTS
SOFTWARE
Drawing, Painting (Acrylic), Screenprinting, Film Photography (Minolta X-500), Digital Photography (Canon Rebel XSI & Nikon D80), Typesetting, Letterpress (C&P Pilot Tabletop Press, Vandercook), Bookbinding, Hand-Lettering, Crochet
Adobe CS4 - CS6: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, After Effects Microsoft Programs - Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio Additional: Keynote, Omnigraffle, Morae Observer. Adequare knowledge of XHTML, CSS, PHP, Wordpress development.
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803 COFFEEHOUSE
IDENTITY & BRANDING, PACKAGING, GENERAL PRINT This project was an exercise in branding a company beyond logos and stationery, as well as an introduction to packaging. 803 Coffeehouse is a fictional cafe, drawing inspiration from an urban environment, bold typography, gritty photography, and layering of texture. The sepia tones and warm colors are meant to invoke the warmth and familiarity of a neighborhood cafe, while still keeping a fresh edginess with pops of color in slight variations of the traditional primary colors. All photography is original. Executions include logo concepting and design, menu design, expanding the logo to a full identity system, packaging design, and stationery design.
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VERNER PANTON ARTIST BOOK BOOK DESIGN
This book highlights the work of lighting, furniture, and interior designer, Verner Panton. Using bright colors, patterns, and bold shapes, I attempted to capture the whimsy and quirkiness of Panton’s imaginitive design style, without overpowering his impressive work. Certificate of Excellence, 41st Annual University and College Designers Association International Design Competition, 2011
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TERRAIN PACKAGING PACKAGING DESIGN
This is a fictional packagaing project for the URBN store, Terrain. The knockdown packaging set introduces a bit more color and energy into the designs than their current packaging, and draws inspiration from the variety of colors in nature and how color reacts to sunlight. Executions includes package concepting, template creation, and packaging design.
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CANNERY ROW BOOK COVER This is a book cover concept for Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Cannery Row follows the everyday lives of the individuals that live in the rundown and desolate outskirts of Monterey, CA, a home to the social outcasts of the town. Instead of one continuous plot, the novel is broken up into snippets and vignettes that show particular details of an individual’s experience. For my concept, I wanted to show the lonliness and worn-out tiredness that was pervasive throughout the community. I used the imagery of a dingy, beat-up sardine tin, which also represents the sardine canning factory where “Cannery Row” gets its name. Executions includes concepting, design, and some serious photoshopping.
Cannery Row - Certificate of Excellence, 41st Annual University and College Designers Association International Design Competition, 2011 Cannery Row - Gold Award, Creativity 41 Annual, 2011
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IN THE COUNTRY OF LAST THINGS BOOK COVER This is a book cover concept for In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster. This book revolves around a dsytopian society where the main character, Anna Blume, must fight for survival amongst the masses left homeless and poverty-stricken. In the design of this book cover, I used gritty illustratrations to represent the broken, battered world that the characters lived in, where futures were uncertain and each day was a struggle. All illustration is original. Executions includes concepting, design, and illustration.
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URBAN LEGENDS MUSIC FESTIVAL
IDENTITY & BRANDING, WAYFINDING & SIGNAGE, MOTION GRAPHICS Urban Legends is a ficticious music festival that celebrates local Philadelphia music artists. It takes place every summer on the Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing. The signage design draws inspiration from the excitement and energy of live music, as well as the urban environment. Materials include different treatments of brushed metals and colored, laser-cut acrylic and glass. Executions include logo concepting and design, signage design, environmental & location scouting/ planning, map design, and a motion graphics piece available on my website.
stage food parking
august 13-15 2010
11AM The Silence Kit
stage food parking 4PM 3 J’s in the A.M. 5PM Mystery Machine 6PM Joe Damico 7PM The Bala Hounds
Abigail Zug // Publishing Design
12PM Rio
12PM Stellarscope
1PM The Redwalls
1PM Chickpeas
2PM Andy Kimbel
2PM Frankie No Finger
3PM Astral Arechetype
3PM The Roots
4PM The Swimmers
4PM Freeway
5PM Andrew Lipke
5PM Sissy Mary
6PM Matt Duke
6PM Chops 7PM CUZ
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EPHEMERAL MAGAZINE
IDENTITY & BRANDING, PUBLICATION DESIGN Ephemeral magazine is a fictitious publication that highlights all pieces of emphemeral graphic design. Each issue would include interviews, some feature articles, highlights of ephemera and design related book review and news, and an typeface case=study with historical and modern references. This particular issue features an article on WPA-era poster design. Executions include logo concepting and design, publication and spread design including: cover, table of contents, news/reviews highlights, feature spreads for one article including 2 gallery spreads to showcase the work written about in the article.
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TYPOGRAPHY & HAND LETTERING These are two examples of a school and personal project involving hand lettering. Typography of letters have always been a passion of mine, even before I began pursuing graphic design, and I’ve always enjoyed playing around with letterforms and hand lettering. The “Luxury” project was an assignment in manipulating lettterforms to play off of and inspire each other. The project on the opposite page was my holiday card for 2012 - I drew the lettering and screenprinted the cards; edition of 200.
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THE ART OF COMIC BOOKS EXHIBIT IDENTITY & BRANDING, SIGNAGE, EXHIBIT DESIGN
This was a group project for an environmental graphics class - the assignment was to choose a museum in Philadelphia to design an exhibit for, taking into account the nature of the the museum and the general audience. Our group chose to highlight comic book illustration at the Philadelphia Museum of Art - we broke our exhibit up into 4 sections, each representing a genre of comic book. In each of the those sections we then highlighted specific influential illustrators and characters. The exhibit also contained wall and floor cases to house examples, floor decals and large wall graphics, and a timeline divded by commonly known eras of illustration. The section that I was responsible for designing was Science Fiction comics, as well as the corner case graphics, and logo. Our group also chose my iteration of the wall graphics and typography lockup for each section - this was then applied to the other sections for consistency.
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30th STREET STATION PUBLICATION PUBLICATION DESIGN, PHOTOGRAPHY
This publication was also a study in local Philadelphia architecture. The assignment was to create a small, informational publication on a specific building in the city; I was assigned the train station, 30th Street Station. My concept behind the design of this publication was to highlight the beautiful details of the building that passersby and local Philadelphians probably either don’t notice anymore or take for granted, because the train station has become such a part of their routine or they’re always focused on something else during their travels. Design elements from the building that are used throughout the publication are the brown marbled texture, as well as the hexagonal shape of the light fixtures. All photography is original.
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LARS VON TRIER FILM FESTIVAL POSTER POSTER DESIGN, ILLUSTRATION
This poster was designed for a fictional film festival centered around contemporary filmmaker, Lars von Trier. The design is centered around the most famous of his works, Dancer in the Dark, starring Bjork. If anyone has seen Von Trier’s films, they’re very dark and often depict the phsycial and mental destruction of women at the hands of society. I represented those themes in my poster by showing the illusion of the central character fading away, with the abstract texture in the background representing the chaos and downward spiral of their lives. Illustration style is minimalistic to represent each character’s fragmented hold on reality. All illustration is original - illustration of Bjork is based on a photograph taken by Nick Knight.
THE FIFTH ANNUAL PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
JANUARY10-18, 2010 THE BRIDGE THEATER
GOLDEN HEART TRILOGY: BREAKING THE WAVES IDIOTERNE (THE IDIOTS) DANCER IN THE DARK
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TECHNOLOGY & LETTERFORMS: SENIOR THESIS BOOK DESIGN
This is my senior thesis project, a study of how technology has affected letterforms and the development of typography over time. I did extensive research into 4 main areas: the development and evolution of the alphabet, Gutenberg and the invention of printing, the industrial revolution, and the digital revolution. I really wanted to examine the quirks of design styles and letterforms in a historical context, so each topic also contains a timeline, allowing readers to see previous and future influences on typography. The timeline lives at the front of the book, and an abbreviated version runs along the bottom of each page. The fold on sections, denoted in orange, also show how a particular artistic style, movement, or technological advance has been reinterpreted in modern times.
Certificate of Excellence, 41st Annual University and College Designers Association International Design Competition, 2011 Silver Award, Creativity 41 Annual, 2011
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EVOLUTION OF THE ALPHABET
paper is invented in china
mesopotamian pictographs cunieform hieroglyphics
movable type is invented in china phoenician alphabet roman rustic writing manuscripts roman half-uncials
PRINTIN
caroline miniscule gothic script printing press gutenberg bible
claude garamond johannes gutenberg brings printing to europe
geoffroy tory first roman type styles are designed
3150 B.C.
2000 B.C.
850 B.C.
0 A.D.
875 A.D.
1450 A.D.
1500 A.D.
NG & GUTENBERG
the linotype machine is invented
william caslon designs caslon
bodoni is designed didot family is designed rococo era john baskerville
THE INdUsTRIAL REVOLUTION
giambattista bodoni firmin didot fat face type is popular
wood type posters ornamental type
adobe releases creative suite lithography
first slab-serifs are designed
max medinger designs helvetica
arts & crafts art nouveau
first sans-serifs are designed
revival futurism
tuscan style typography is introduced
apple releases pagemaker dada
robert besley designs clarendon
de stijl constructivism bauhaus sans-serif
THE dIGITAL REVOLUTION
revival
jan tschichold herb lubalin tschichold publishes die neue typographie
phototypesetting eric gill designs gill sans
computer aided design emigre magazine ray gun
the computer is invented
first digital type foundry created
1625 A.D.
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1700 A.D.
1800 A.D.
1900 A.D.
1980 A.D.
2005 A.D.
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