Nicole Kawakami, Fall 2023

P OR TFO LIO

Nicole Kawakami

Nicole Kawakami

I was born in the U.S. and grew up in Japan. Art has been the way to express myself since I was little and decided to come back to the U.S. to explore the field more. When I started studying fine art, I got an opportunity to design a New Year’s greeting card for a volunteer fire department in my hometown in Japan. I started getting other commissions, such as designing logos, flyers, and business cards, and realized graphic design is the perfect field to unleash my creativity. I have studied Graphic Design / Advertising at Grand Canyon University, and I am excited to jump into the field.

Nice Ice

A graphic designer was called to rebrand a family-owned small business. The goal was to design a new logo, vehicle wrap, and stationaries for Nice Ice, an ice cream track in the Central Phoenix area.

Single Page Ads

Designers are often required to design pieces with unique methods. Those single-page print ads were designed by using both traditional and digital media.

Trick Star

The project was to come up with a start-up brand idea and develop brand identities. The brand I developed is Trick Star, a faux engagement ring company, that supports women working in the service industry.

Since the brand is a ring company, I wanted to use the shape of the logo. The big star on the top left represents a diamond and the brand name. The name is inspired by the word trickster because the purpose of the brand is to protect hardworking women from unwanted attention by wearing a faux engagement ring. I combined the word with star to encourage women to shine like a star. The branded idea came from my own experience. I worked as a server throughout my college years and experienced sexual harassment from customers. It is a common problem in the industry, and almost all female servers have dealt with the unwanted attention. One day, one of my co-workers recommended I wear a faux engagement ring so customers would stop hitting on me. The solution worked, but I believe the thing needs to be changed.

I decided to develop a jewelry brand that protects hard-working women while raising awareness of the problem in the industry. The target market will be working-class single women who struggle to deal with unwanted attention. Trick Star offers faux engagement rings so women can tell they are ‘unavailable’ without saying a word. The brand also donates part of the revenue to nonprofit women’s organizations to support more women outside of the target market and raise awareness of the sexual harassment issue in the service industry. The goal is to create a world where everyone feels safe and enjoys a day.

Papago Hive Honey

Papago Hive Honey called a graphic designer to create package labels for their products. They wanted to include a symbol that represents Arizona since all the ingredients come from local farmers. They also requested to use an element or phrase to showcase the quality of organic honey.

Healthy Paws Fun Run

A graphic designer is assigned to design an emblem, t-shirts, and small swags given away at a dog owner networking event in Portland, Oregon. Choice of swags was left up to the designer, and I decided to design items that the dog owner could use with their furry friends.

Fre elance Works

Here, I am showcasing the work I have done as a freelance graphic designer since 2019. I have worked for a marketing advisor in Phoenix and designed advertising pieces for small businesses in the U.S. I have also worked for a theater group in Tokyo, Japan, and developed flyers and logos for upcoming events.

Clients:

Above The Bar Digital, Roman Grass, Nanashi

Chocolate Package

Harison is a well-known chocolate company that sells its products at Walmart across the U.S. They were planning to redesign the Swiss chocolate package and called me to create a package design with a print-ready format.

INGREDIENTS: SUGAR, COCOA BUTTER,

CONTAINS: