"One person is better than merely int
with passion n forty people terested." // E. M. Forster
PORTFOLIO 2015
T
wo years ago I applied to the School of Visual Arts , a passionate, determined and slightly naive Alaskan, seeking direction in ex-
pressing my passion for concepts and aesthetics through graphic design. I worked exceptionally hard to be able to financially support my endeavor, t aking a year off school, before moving, to work two full time jobs without even an ounce of doubt in myself and in my new found goal. That seems so long ago now. In my time here in New York, I've learned more than I can express. My education has completely satisfied if not surpassed my expect ations. The opportunities I dreamt about are now real and accessible. However, these opportunities aren't as simply grasped as the optimistic twenty-one year old Megan had imagined. There are hardships, disappointment and rejection. After facing some of these obst acles this year, I have come to truly underst and the idea of being stimulated by rejection. In order to get to where I want to be, discouragement can't be something that slows me down, but rather something that reminds me that often our greatest hardships come before the greatest reward. I want to see the world through those young romantic eyes that refuse to succumb to reality. As I continue to develop as a designer, and as a person, my deepest goal is to never lose that thing that got me here: passion.
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MEGAN BOWKER // MNBOWKER@GMAIL.COM MEGANBOWKER.CO +1 (907) 232-4741
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S C E N TS / / ZINE
F R A M E YO U R R E F E R E N C E // PAC K AG I N G
20-33
1 0 -1 9
TAU B A AU E R B AC H// ARTIST I N V I TAT I O N
52-63
G R I M ES / / ALBUM C OV E R S
D I G S // A P P
86 - 9 5
96-105
TA B L E O F C O N T E N TS
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NEW REPUBLIC / / A M P E R SA N D
F I R ST THINGS F I RST // Z I N E
46-51
34-45
B AS I C B AS I C S // MAIL ORDER CATA LO G U E
64-85
A R T I ST L ECT U R E S E R I ES / / POSTERS
N E U S C E N TS // A I R F R ES H E N E R PAC K AG I N G
114-121
106-113
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PORTFOLIO 2015
FRAME YOUR REFERENCE
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SUBJECT // REPACKAGE THRIFT ITEM PACKAGING FALL 2014 // COMMUNICATION DESIGN INSTRUCTORS // JESSICA WALSH + TIM GOODMAN
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This project was based on re-packaging an object chosen from the thrift store in order to bring it new life. This frame packaging plays off of the idea of a frame of reference; the idea that people can see the same thing differently based on their personal experiences. The packaging is intended to be a sort of illusion that when in its package, a met al framework encases the actual frame to create a three-dimensional cube in perspective. When t aken out of the case simply becomes a frame.
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A small pamphlet is included with the frame that briefly explains the concept of the frame of reference as well as including a code to claim a free print and shipping of that custom print to fit the frame.
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The pamphlet cont ains the address to the website which enables the customer to log in through inst agram and choose a photo or upload one from their computer to have printed and mailed to them directly.
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SCENTS
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SUBJECT // BEST DAY EDITORIAL FALL 2014 // COMMUNICATION DESIGN INSTRUCTORS // JESSICA WALSH + TIM GOODMAN
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The brief for this assignment
My zine was based on the
The zine tells a simple
was to create a zine based
memory of my favorite gift
narrative of the perfume and
on the best day of my life in
I ever received which was a
uses typography and a few
order to convey the emotion
perfume bottle from my dad
old photographs to really
and feeling that exists within
when I was eleven.
engage the reader in the t ale.
that memory.
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“When I was eleven, I liked to draw and paint and curl my hair. When I was eleven, there was this... this perfume. 'Perfume is the key to our memories.'"
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"And on my birthday, my dad went to the store and he picked out an elegant pink lip gloss, and an elegant pink bag to match the perfect pink perfume that he knew I loved. I only wore it on special occasions because I wanted it to last forever. And I still do. I don't imagine I'll ever use the last drop.�
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FIRST THINGS FIRST MANIFESTO
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SUBJECT // FIRST THINGS FIRST EDITORIAL FALL 2014 // TYPOGRAPHY INSTRUCTOR // SCOTT BUSCHKUHL
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The First Things First Manifesto describes
We were asked to create a zine making a
the challenge designers face in determining
statement on this manifesto. While I largely
where to devote their efforts. Many graphic
agree with the author of this manifesto, I
designers have become completely dedi-
don't believe there is any one right answer
cated to commercial endeavors, while those
as to what designers should and should not
who signed the manifesto believe designers
do, but rather it is up to the individual to
and creatives should focus their efforts to-
inform themselves and then decide.
wards more cultural and beneficial pursuits.
For this reason, I made flash cards which reveal each example listed in the manifesto. One side lists the commercial design examples while the other side shows the example that the First
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Things First signers deem to be the "worthy" pursuit.
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T he f la sh c ard s allow fo r di s cu ssio n an d c o n s id era t i o n , w h ich I fin d t o b e the m o st valuab le a sp e ct of th e m an ife st o it s e lf.
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NEW REPUBLIC AMPERSAND
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SUBJECT // AMPERSAND EXPERIMENTAL TYPOGRAPHY FALL 2014 // COMMUNICATION DESIGN INSTRUCTORS // JESSICA WALSH + TIM GOODMAN
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Megan Bowker Megan Bowker
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"Girls" a Better Show Lena Dunham Caved to Her Critics on Race, and It Made "Girls" a Better Show
The main addition to the cast is the excellent Donald Glover, a comedian and actor on “Community,” who plays Hannah Horvath’s new boyfriend Sandy, a black Republican. The relationship is in full swing by the time season two begins. We first meet Sandy as he and Hannah are having energetic sex on somebody’s
couch. They canoodle in bookstores, chasing each other around the shelves. Meanwhile Hannah’s relationship with Adam—he was hit by a truck at the end of season one, and she is nursing him back to health while fending off his requests to date her—continues to chug pitifully along, in sad juxtaposition. Sandy is the confident and sexy alternative, teaching her new ways to be appreciated. “I love how weird you are,” he says. But the dynamic between them complicates by the second episode, in an especially satisfying scene. Hannah and Sandy are sitting on his couch, and that early adrenaline rush has started to wane. She is hurt that he has not yet read an essay she sent him. Sandy admits that he did read it, but didn’t like it. “It wasn’t for me,” he tells her. “It’s for everyone,” she says. The obliviousness of this reply is a jab at the idea that one work of art should be saddled with the responsibility to be “for everyone,” the question that has dogged Dunham so persistently: whether “Girls” is about all girls or about four girls’ very particular bubble. Hannah’s rant segues to Sandy’s political beliefs, blasting his views on gay marriage and gun control. “I would also love to know how you feel that two out of three people on death row are black,” she says, and you can feel a new gulf open up between them. It’s a strange feature of TV criticism that, once a specific complaint reaches a certain cultural decibel level, it can seep into the universe of the show itself. “Friends” was for years pelted with complaints about the whiteness of its cast and eventually added two black female guest stars, Gabrielle Union and Aisha Tyler, both great comic actresses. Tyler had a longer run on “Friends” than Union, but neither made for especially memorable characters, and the show dealt them nearly identical storylines, embroiling each in a love triangle with Joey and Ross. The pasted-in plots felt
By: Laura Bennett
like a cheap kind of appeasement, a cursory nod to the world outside the show. Other TV writers have been more direct: Aaron Sorkin staged arguments about feminism between Sam and Ainsley to fend off charges of sexism in “The West Wing.” “Modern Family” tried to explain away complaints that gay couple Cameron and Mitchell never kissed onscreen by devoting an episode to discussing Mitchell’s fear of public displays of affection. But a week later, Cam and Mitchell were as chaste as ever. That’s the problem with subplots designed to quash criticism: they tend to feel parenthetical, a quickly-dispensed-with detour from a protagonist’s main emotional arc. And it can be intrusive to be reminded that a show is so explicitly aware of its audience. But in the case of “Girls,” some amped-up self-awareness was just what the show needed. Season one, at its best, mixed quiet internal drama with a nagging sense of the absurd. The party scene in Bushwick was a great episode because it captured the genuine exuberance and anxiety of this corner of twentysomethingdom with a certain loopy surrealness: think Zosia Mamet’s Shoshanna, stoned on crack, streaking pantsless across the screen. But the first season of the show, like Dunham’s film Tiny Furniture, could also feel somewhat slight—all that trudging from unsatisfying part-time job to part-time job, the hooking up with people you half-hate, rendered with such diary-like naturalness that the depiction of urban hipster life could seem a bit too fond and close to its subject. Hannah’s self-indulgence at times felt suspiciously like Dunham’s. So far the biggest change in season two, though, is a new engagement with the question of what we should think about these people. Dunham uses the Sandy plot line as an opportunity to skewer both the complaints of her critics—Hannah herself
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This is an ampersand created
The article describes how the
Leah Dunham respond very well
for the New Republic Amper-
writer and main actress in the
to her critiques and addressed
sand series based on the article
HBO series, Leah Dunham,
the issue candidly in the show,
"Leah Dunham Caved to Her
received criticism for having an
this ampersand represents the
Critics on Race and It Made
all white cast because it doesn't
lack of diversity that initially
'Girls' a Better Show"
accurately represent the diver-
existed and the general predis-
sity of New York City, the place
position people have to spend-
in which the show is set .
ing time with those who are
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similar to themselves.
ARTIST INVITATION
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SUBJECT // ARTIST INVITATION PRINT SPRING 2015 // COMMUNICATION DESIGN INSTRUCTORS // JESSICA WALSH + TIM GOODMAN PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE // ADAM WAHLER
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This is a gallery opening invit ation for the artist Tauba Auerbach who is well known for the graphic nature of her artwork through the exploration of color, dimension and patterns. Tauba is most well known for her "fold" paintings in which she captures three dimensions in a two dimensional space by spraying a folded canvas with paint so that once unfolded it shows the creases and folds causing a tromp l'oeil effect . I imit ated this concept by folding a reflective sheet of mylar which brings the viewer to further question the surface and which also maint ains the creases of the folds.
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The invit ation comes folded inside a silver envelope and unfolds to reveal the artist's name and gallery event det ails in a similar style and format to Tauba's typographic pieces.
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The correlating website t akeover uses the same basic form as the printed invit ation: a fold-able interactive page that t akes over the Gagosian Gallery website with the det ails of the event .
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BASIC BASICS
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SUBJECT // MAIL ORDER CATALOGUE EDITORIAL SPRING 2015 // TYPOGRAPHY INSTRUCTOR // SCOTT BUSCHKUHL
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Spring 2015 Typography Instructor: Scott Buschkal Editorial Design
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T he b rief of thi s a ssig n m en t wa s t o
I ch o s e t o s el l b a sic it ems tha t I own
T he id ea sl igh t ly sat irize s "obje ct
c rea t e a ma i l order c at alo gu e s e ll-
an d tha t a l mo st everyo ne owns, bu t
st o res" tha t c an b e foun d in t h e cit y
ing a s e l e ct e d n u mb er of o b j e ct s
t o h e ight en them t o a n a r t st a t u s by
su ch a s Kio sk Kio sk or Are aware .
from ou r ro om . We were ex p e ct e d
c u rat ing the phot o gra phs a nd writ-
T hes e st o res c an b e pret en t ious
t o c rea t e a c om p a ny o r b ran d an d a
in g ab o u t them in a s o phist ic a t e d
a nd s el l b a sic a r t isa nal obje ct s for a
c onc ept b a s e d on t h e o b je ct s t h at
an d excl u sive t o ne.
su b st a nt ia l ly in cre a s e d pric e b a s e d
we cho s e t o s e l l .
o n their cu ra t ion an d ae st h et ic.
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Ph ot o g ra p hy by Me g a n B ow ker Ar t d i re ct i o n i n c o l l a b o ra t i o n w i t h Wi l l i e I p
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Tea r o u t ma il order sh e et in clude d a t the end of c at alo gue, alon g w it h d ire ct o ry of a l l of t h e it em s in clude d.
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DIGS
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SUBJECT // ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE DIGITAL APP FALL 2014 // COMMUNICATION DESIGN INSTRUCTOR // JESSICA WALSH + TIM GOODMAN
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T his pro j e ct derive d from s om e thing t h at we w ish we c ould cha nge ab out our environ m en t . S ea rchin g for h ousin g im m e diat e ly c am e t o m in d. In New York C it y, fin din g h ousing a nd ro om m at e s is a n igh t ma re for youn g adult s . We are of t en l ef t w it h on ly Craigslist a nd Fac e b o ok a s re s ourc e s . W hil e t h ere are h ousin g app s tha t exist , t h e ir iden t it y an d bra nd ing is gen eric an d t arget audien c e t o o bro ad. I crea t e d an app a s a s olut ion t o this problem . Digs us e s an a l go r it h m sim ilar t o t h at of d a t ing we b sit e s w h ich sugge st s ro o mma t es b a s e d on a s erie s of qu est io n s e ach p ers on an swers a nd how im p or t an t t h at que st io n is t o e ach p ar t y. Digs is my s o l u t ion for st uden t s, ar t ist s a nd yo u ng profe ssion als t o fin d a m at ch for h ousin g.
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T he ap p su g g e st ro o m m at e s b a s e d o n t h e u s er 's an swers t o the s erie s of qu e st io n s a ss o c i a t e d w it h liv in g h ab it s an d p ers o n alit y t y p e s u sin g an a l go r i th m s im ilar t o t h at of p o pu l a r da t in g we b s it e s .
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GRIMES ALBUM COVERS
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SUBJECT // ALBUM COVER PACKAGING FALL 2014 // COMMUNICATION DESIGN INSTRUCTOR // JESSICA WALSH + TIM GOODMAN
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OPTION // 1 Grimes' music has been described as "airy cyborg-pop" "electro-cotton-candy" it is heavily influenced by "postInternet" and brings many contrasts. By creating a typeface from overlapping gradient filled circles, this album expresses the "cotton-candy" likeness of Grimes' music while also expressing the dimensional confusion through
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protruding shapes and colors.
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OPTION // 2 T his opt ion is b a s e d off t h e sa me c on c ept of t ran slat ing Grim e s' "e le ct ro - c ot t on - c an dy" s oun d in t o a v isual exp erien c e . By usin g ho l o graph ic foil st am p on an a b st ract cust om let t erin g, this album c over 's sh if t in g c olor c orre lat e s w it h t h e d reamy audio exp erien c e .
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NEUSCENTS
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SUBJECT // 99 CENT ITEM PACKAGING SPRING 2015 // TYPOGRAPHY INSTRUCTOR // SCOTT BUSCHKUHL
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Rebranding and packaging of three
Naming the brand "NeuScents" t akes
items of choice from a 99 cent store.
the idea of a nuisance and replaces
I chose cryst al gel air-freshening
it with a "new scent". The packag-
beads. The challenge was to turn
ing uses the visual language of the
something dist asteful into some-
unique shaped beads as a pattern
thing sophisticated and market able
along the sides of the package as
at a higher value.
well as relating it to the degree symbol used in more sophisticated fragrances as a naming device.
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ABNORMALITY LECTURE SERIES
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SUBJECT // ARTIST LECTURE SERIES PRINT SPRING 2015 // TYPOGRAPHY INSTRUCTOR // SCOTT BUSCHKUHL
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These posters advertise for an artist lecture series including Alexander McQueen, Philip Johnson and Diane Arbus titled Abnormality. The concept for the lecture series focuses on the abnormal perspectives on each of these artist's fields and their departure from mainstream works. In order to visualize the concept, the posters show an imit ation wheat-pasted poster on top of what is considered to be basic or mainstream imagery from each specific field such as a gap ad, poor construction scaffolding and stock photography.
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THANK YOU. I hope a year from now, I can say that I've learned as much as I did in this past year, that my skills have improved as much and most of all that my passion for aesthetics, ideas and life continues to be ineffable.
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" Every ch ild is an ar t ist . T he problem is h ow t o rem ain a n a r t ist on c e we grow up." // Pic a ss o