Julia Marsh Art Director & Graphic Designer
2013-2017 Selected Works
Graphic Design Portfolio 2
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Table of Contents 1-2
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Curriculum Vitae Personal Projects
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Publications
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Web Design
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Branding
37-40
Illustration
Curriculum Vitae Art Director & Graphic Designer
Experience Art Director, AdmitSee, 2015-present First designer hired, now visual head of a rising San Francisco EdTech startup. Sole curator of the brand, style, and visual mood of the company. Constantly producing new concepts for advertising and product design. Working closely alongside UX designers and backend developers. Includes web design, creation of style guide, advertisements, infographics, presentations, as well as copy writing and proofreading. Design Director, The Catalyst, 2013-2015 Co-founder of UC Santa Barbara’s contemporary literary arts magazine The Catalyst. Lead in the design, development, and compilation of graphic and layout materials. Managed a team of 10+ contributing designers, delegated tasks, taught InDesign, and oversaw all aspects of design for the 80-page publication. Art Director, WORD Magazine, 2014-2015 Head of a large team of designers, photographers, and illustrators. Supervised and assessed all graphic materials in order to ensure the design’s quality and appeal. Branded, compiled and polished each 60-page publication. Focused on layout design, graphics, photography, typography, writing, and set design. Graphic Designer, The Grapeseed Company, 2013-2015 Operated as the in-store creative lead. Photographed products and executed photo shoots with models. Created advertisements for both print and web use. Developed label and product design as well numerous marketing programs, including the company catalog, brochures, and newsletters. Graphic Designer, Lucidity Festival Art & Installations Department, 2014-2015 Created maps for festival villages, banners for the Lucidity website, and related flyers for both print and online use. Designed the layout for department reports, rendered digital versions of hand-drawn charts, selected and enhanced photographs. Photographed and recorded Lucidity Festival related activities and projects. Director of Design, The Daily Nexus, 2012-2013 Head of layout design for UC Santa Barbara’s daily newspaper. Trained new hires, taught InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Constructed the paper’s layout, designed infographics, charts, advertisements. Operated within extremely tight time constraints. Multimedia Intern, The Naval Postgraduate School, 2012-2014 Originated and produced graduate-level educational material with the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Duties included script writing for lengthy educational modules, media development, graphic design, theory research, and audio editing.
Education
Tools
2011-2015
Adobe InDesign
UC Santa Barbara B.A. English Literature Double minor in Multimedia Communication and German Studies.
Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop Adobe Lightroom Adobe Premiere
2014
SketchApp
Freie Universität, Berlin Semester abroad. Took courses in German and English literature. Maintained 2 design positions while overseas.
ProCreate App Wacom Tablet
Extracurriculars & Awards
Skills
2011-2015
Visual Design
• 4 year member of UCSB all-female a cappella group
Art Direction
• 3 year member of the UCSB Mock Trial team
Editorial Design Digital Photography
• 2 year member of UCSB’s daily newspaper
Typography & Lettering
• 6 times featured on Dean’s Honors list
Illustration
• Nominated for Individual Excellence Award for the Office of Student Life’s 2015 Leadership & Activities Awards
Visual Literacy B, UCSB, Winter 2012 Strategic Digital Media A-, UCSB, Spring 2013 Art History: Ren-Baroque P, UCSB, Winter 2014 Intro to Photography (Mechanical Image Making) A, UCSB, Spring 2015
Watercolor & Ink Writing & Proofreading
Interests
Relevant Studies Intro to Contemporay Art A, UCSB, Fall 2011
Web Design
Watercolor & Ink Monterey Peninsula College, Summer 2016 Expressive Typography General Assembly, Winter 2016 Typography for UX Design General Assembly, Spring 2016
Hiking & The Outdoors Raised in a redwood forest, I have a deep passion for mountains and nature. Travel I’ve visited dozens of countries across the globe, and love to take part in foreign cultures. Family Eldest of 4 siblings, very close.
Designing the Impossible Nelly Ben Hayoun, Fall 2016 Value of Beauty (Lecture) Stefan Sagmeister, Fall 2016
Multimedia Communication (Seminars) A, UCSB, Spring 2013, Winter Art as Therapy (Lecture) 2015, Spring 2015 Jessica Hische, Winter 2017
Contact julia.j.marsh@gmail.com juliajmarsh julia-marsh
Graphic Design & Photography Personal Project
Edible Women Poster Series As part of a photography project in 2015, I staged an intimate encounter between two women. The intent of the photo series was to bridge gaps between gluttony and the grotesque. I revisited these images to create posters which instead illuminate the confidence these women have. Barcode stripes are used as a subtle reminder that by viewing these images we are “consuming� the women. The text is segmented to encourage viewers to engage more closely with the work in order to read the message.
September 2016
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Illustration & Print Personal Project
Derrière Gift Wrap I created the illustrations for this project using the Procreate App on an iPad. Why not help the process of normalizing our diversity than by wrapping gifts with colorful bottoms? Derrière Gift Wrap presents race and body image as approachable subjects; ones so friendly that you’d gift wrap your Aunt Linda’s christmas socks with it. What’s next? Armpit hair thank you cards in all colors.
October 2016
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Typography & Graphics Personal Project
High Sierra Bookshop This poster features manipulated typography layered over a vectorized square of High Sierra topography.
On this trek, topographical maps and books became my companions; they were great sources of guidance and inspiration.
My approach to this design was influenced by tour posters I’ve seen throughout Europe. Bold lettering paired with dark backdrops tend to create a sense of urgency.
In homage to this incredible experience, I created this poster for an imaginary book company, High Sierra Bookshop, which provides essential literary companions to hikers like myself.
The content of the poster was inspired by an experience in July of 2016, when I hiked 70 miles on the John Muir Trail in the California High Sierras.
September 2016
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Typography & Product Design Personal Project
Raisins to Stop Smoking Throughout my life I’ve seen the negative affects of smoking. As a child, I’d try to come up with creative ways of helping family members quit.
The golden symbols suggest some of the health benefits of quitting, such as healthier lungs, heart and brain. The punny tagline for this product reads, “There are so many raisins to stop smoking!” Each pack will feature 5 to 10 reasons to stop smoking.
Years later, I’ve created Raisins to Stop Smoking, which simply requires that a smoker replace their oral fixation with raisins.
This project is a work in progress. I am in the process of adding more diversity of color and the back panel.
Raisins are rich in alkalines which actually help to reduce nicotine addiction. The style of design used for this project was satirically inspired by the luxury often associated with smoking. I created all the line work and typography from scratch.
January 2017 - In Progress
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Progress Shots Raisins to Stop Smoking
Each box of raisins comes in a carton the same size as a pack of cigarettes to encourage a seamless transition out of addiction.
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Lettering & Research Personal Project
The Partner Review Project With this social experiment, I hope to provide insightful commentary on the ways we interact with other humans in this interconnected era. My prompt is simple: Write a Yelp-style review for a past or present romantic relationship. Include how many stars you’d give them, out of 5. I collected honest letters from dozens of different people that describe the good and bad of their partners. I am still in the process of collecting and analyzing the results. When the project is complete, I will include my analysis as captions beneath each letter.
November 2016 - In Progress
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Letter Samples Partner Review Project
With so many stories and forms of handwriting, the book itself is an art object.
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Photography & Art Direction Personal Project
Lady in Pink For this personal photography and art direction experiment, I took inspiration from the UCSB photography course I was taking at the time, which focused on “mythsterious images.” I chose to focus on concepts relating to unrealistic expectations of the female figure, and the romanticization of dieting and fasting. With the premise of creating a “mythsterious image,” the hyperfeminine character is portrayed as contemplating a feast of beautiful, yet inedible objects. All props and staging, as well as photography and concept were my own for this small shoot.
April 2015
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Art Direction & Editorial Design Director of Design
The Catalyst The Catalyst Literary Arts Magazine is a student-run collective that produces a submission-based quarterly publication, as well as a design & writing course and music and arts events. I helped to found The Catalyst in 2013. For nearly 3 years, I was the magazine’s Director of Design. My duties included managing a team of 10+ designers and creating congruent, visually exciting issues each quarter. I also taught new members how to maintain the magazine and helped to organize our large community arts events. These samples are a small fraction of the work I created for The Catalyst.
April 2013 - June 2015
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Various Covers The Catalyst
Each 80 page issue is filled with original student art and writing.
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Photography & Editorial Design Art Director
The Veggie Sweater How many times have you shown up to the grocery store without a reusable bag? Skip bags altogether with The Veggie Sweater, which features a dozen pockets each suited to your grocery shopping needs. As Art Director for WORD Magazine, I encouraged this type of eccentric thinking. I conceptualized this project, created the sweaters, recruited models, directed the shoot, and designed the spreads. The publication’s university advisors described it as “the most representative WORD photo essay of the past decade.”
February 2015
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Art Direction, Photography & Editorial Art Director
Smokin’ at Sunrise While Art Director for WORD I had the opportunity to conceptualize, photograph, design, and direct many projects. For this mountaintop shoot, I recruited two beautiful strangers to pose together while smoke bombs erupted all around them. The concept was to capture the magic of misty Santa Barbara sunrises. We hoped to amplify the dramatic colors in the sky with blue and purple smoke. The strong contrast actually draws the viewer’s attention toward the natural beauty in the scene. A picture from this series was chosen as the cover image for the issue, pictured below.
November 2014
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Visual & Web Design Art Director
AdmitSee Homepage As Art Director for the EdTech startup AdmitSee, it is necessary that I understand the psychology of our users. Since joining AdmitSee I’ve become dextrous with web design and UI/UX, and now create responsive designs across our website. The homepage is designed to convince users of our company’s value and relevance. I crafted the wireframes, color scheme, font choice, graphics, etc. I also give frequent presentations to keep the company aware of my progress at all times. In future iterations I plan on inserting more playfulness by using icons, color, and animation.
September 2016 - present
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Visual & Web Design Art Director
AdmitSee Plans & Checkout In the face of a highly ineffective pricing plan and checkout flow, I collaborated with our UX designer to create an appealing flow and aesthetic for our pricing page. Here, the different options are clearly presented for users to easily assess and value.
mythical creatures and piĂąatas lighten an otherwise boring portion of the site. Also shown is our new checkout page. Though not visually thrilling, it is wellorganized and a smooth experience.
Whenever possible, it is my intention to insert delight into our website. This means
June - August 2016
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Visual & Web Design Art Director
AdmitSee Mobile Pages Featured here are the new homepage, profile, and packages pages for mobile. Since being promoted to Art Director, I’ve been able to prioritize the improvement of our mobile site. This has required signficant time investment. We are still in the process of updating the visual design and interaction of each page. My primary hope is that the graphics accurately and clearly portray the data.
July 2016 - present
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Brand & Typography Freelance Work
Flappers & Philosophers The brand design I created for this short film takes on a Great Gatsby-esque feel with ornate typography and accents. I took direct inspiration from Jessica Hische’s typographic style. My client encouraged me to pursue a more complex concept for the identity, as most promotional materials would appear in a large format. If I were to revisit this project, I would perhaps create a more simplified version for the logo for future branding purposes.
June 2014
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Brand, Photography & Layout Graphic Designer
Grapeseed Co. Catalog & Product As the in-house Graphic Designer, I produced The Grapeseed Company’s catalogs, advertisements, postcards, and labels. I also photographed products, directed models, and assisted clients at special events and fairs. To the right are products from the 2015 company catalog. All featured photography is my own.
February 2015
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Watercolor, Ink Illustration
Watercolor Samples Last summer, I took a watercoloring class through Monterey Peninsula College. Watercolor and ink are two of my favorite mediums to experiment with. I sketch most of these illustrations with pencil first, often only drawing from my imagination. I then layer on coats of paint, letting water do much of the work, and once I dry I outline each illustration. These samples demonstrate my love of illustration and bright color.
June-December 2016
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Various Paintings Watercolor Samples
Several of my personal styles of illustration explored through the mediums of watercolor and ink.
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2013-2017 Selected Works
Graphic Design Portfolio t