PURPOSEFUL ACTION | Graphic Design Portfolio

PURPOSEFUL ACTION

SELECTED WORKS

PURPOSEFUL ACTION

COPYRIGHT © 2023 BY HORRICO XU

All right reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted in any form by any means photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission from Horrico Xu.

DESIGN DOES NOT OCCUR BY CHANCE, IT IS A PURPOSEFUL ACTION , DRIVEN BY CLEAR OBJECTIVES AND STRUCTURED PROCESSES. AS A DESIGNER, I AM ALWAYS DRIVEN TO FIND THE MOST EFFECTIVE DESIGN SOLUTION THROUGH THE ITERATIVE PROCESS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROJECT 01

Esprit Rebranding

RETHINKING IDEAS, REFORMING IDENTITY

DESCRIPTION

A rebranding project for the revival of Esprit.

APPROACH

I chose the Esprit, an international fashion brand that has identified love, peace and harmony as the core values. The new Esprit will retain its original soul and continue to integrate social responsibility into its practices, encouraging people to express themselves creatively, actively fulfill their social responsibilities, and drive them to get involved and make a difference. Based on this, I designed a completely new visual system, defined detailed visual standards and proposed 18 different extensions to bring Esprit to life.

COURSE

GR 604: The Nature of Identity

INSTRUCTOR

Hunter Wimmer DELIVERABLES

Brand Guidelines

Brand Extensions Website

CATEGORIES

Branding

Editorial Design

Experience Design

PROJECT 02 Stuck!

GENERATING IDEAS, CONVEYING INFORMATION

DESCRIPTION

A project to create a type system for a podcast.

APPROACH

I defined the overall design style based on the content and tone of the stories. I chose black and red as the main colors to evoke a sense of restlessness and helplessness, and there was a strong contrast between bold serif typeface and clean sans serif typeface. I also used a red crayon to draw lines echoing the grid structure between the texts to highlight some key words, so as to make the complex transcript easier to understand.

COURSE

GR 601: Type Systems

INSTRUCTOR

Hunter Wimmer

DELIVERABLES

Chapbook

CATEGORIES

Typography

Editorial Design

.

PROJECT 03

All Facts

ANALYZING IDEAS, CONNECTING AUDIENCES

DESCRIPTION

A UX project that helps improve an important aspect of people's daily lives.

APPROACH

I developed a fact-checking app to help improve the ability of young people who rely on social media as their primary source of information to identify fake news. Through a series of research, I clearly understand the needs of the target audience. Based on these, I selected one of the most useful features from the brainstorming sketches, which includes fact check ratings, fact check archive and online news forum. After several rounds of sketching and user testing, I created three different task flows to show how the app provides a successful user experience for the target audience.

COURSE

IXD 606: User Experience Design

INSTRUCTOR

Ryan Medeiros

DELIVERABLES

App

CATEGORIES

Experience Design

Innovation

TASK FLOWS (1 OF 3)

Vivian wants to submit a topic for fact checking.

Outcome: She got a pop-up notification indicating "Submit Completed".

TASK FLOWS (2 OF 3)

Vivian wants to rate other users' post.

View this post (scroll down the page to see the full post) Return to "News Forum" page Click the rating icon

Rate this post and write a comment Click "Submit" Get a pop-up notification indicating "Rating Completed"

Outcome: She got a pop-up notification indicating "Rating Completed".

TASK FLOWS (3 OF 3)

Vivian wants

Outcome: She got a pop-up notification indicating "Share Completed".

a pop-up notification indicating "Share Completed"

PROJECT 04

Transition

DEVELOPING IDEAS, EVOLVING DESIGNS

DESCRIPTION

A project to develop a visual system for a local art exhibition.

APPROACH

I chose to show the works of Jarek Puczel because most of his works focus on the expression of emotions, which can arouse the emotional resonance of many people. Based on the theme of this exhibition, I created a series of gradient elements associated with "transition" and developed 3 different deliverables to elevate both the artist and his work to help the audience further understand the transition process from the real world to the perceptual world.

COURSE

GR 601: Type Systems

INSTRUCTOR

Hunter Wimmer

DELIVERABLES

Brochure

Exhibition Spaces

App CATEGORIES

Editorial Design

Environmental Design

Experience Design

PROJECT 05

Life in Red

REFINING IDEAS, PLACING COMPONENTS

DESCRIPTION

A color project based on experimental typography.

APPROACH

I developed a series of conceptual posters to explore how red objects and their meanings are perceived in our daily lives. After several rounds of practice, I determined 9 subjects related to red, and visualized these subjects through experimental typography. I chose to create all the words and phrases in the form of a physical experiment, which enabled me to better capture the details of each subject to convey more insightful visual ideas.

COURSE

GR 613: Type Experiments

INSTRUCTOR

Tracy Merchant

DELIVERABLES

9 Printed Posters

Poster Packaging

CATEGORIES

Typography

Packaging

PROJECT 06

It's A Gym Thing

DEPLOYING IDEAS, SOLVING PROBLEMS

DESCRIPTION

A branding project based on problem-solving.

APPROACH

I created a brand It's A Gym Thing to provide a professional and healthy fitness guide for beginners who go to the gym for the first time. I developed 3 different deliverables, the first deliverable is a training plan that helps beginners better achieve their personal fitness goals. The second deliverable is an event that allows beginners to learn and experience some commonly used equipment in gyms, as well as analyze some potentially dangerous fitness equipment and exercises for beginners. The third deliverable is an app that provides a convenient platform for beginners to learn relevant skills before going to the gym.

COURSE

GR 620: Visual Thinking

INSTRUCTOR

Sandra Isla

DELIVERABLES

Event

Training Plan

App CATEGORIES

Branding

Environmental Design

Experience Design

Experience Area

01 02 03 04

Staff

Experience Area 05 06 07 08

ENTRANCE

Check In

TO MY FAMILY

My dear parents, thank you for your support and unconditional love. You will always be the role models in my life, I hope I can pursue my dreams as bravely as you.

My dear grandparents, thank you for all your care. You have always respected and supported my decisions, and I hope I can always make you proud.

My dear Eddie, thank you for always being there. I am so lucky to have met you on this journey, and I hope we can go through every journey of this life together.

TO MY INSTRUCTORS

Hunter Wimmer, Sandra Isla, Ryan Medeiros, Tracy Merchant, John Nettleton, Jeremy Stout, and Phil Hamlett. Thank you for your guidance. Each of you has taught me things about design, helped me overcome many difficulties, and gave me more confidence as a designer. Without you, I would not be where I am today. I believe this journey will be one of the most memorable in my life.

TO MY FRIENDS

Yutong Jia and Siyu Dong (at AAU). Thank you for all the help. You made me realize that I am not alone on this journey. I hope we can all have a bright future.

Betty Yuan, Yiwen Tang and Yonghuan Xiao. Thank you for always stand by my side. I would not be here if it were not for your support.

THANK YOU

CONTACT

Horricoxu.com

Design@horricoxu.com

SCHOOL Academy of Art University

School of Graphic Design

MAJOR

Master of Arts

Graphic Design&DigitalMedia

INSTRUCTOR

Phil Hamlett

COURSE

GR 700: MA Portfolio Seminar

BOOK TITLE

Purposeful Action

TYPOGRAPHY

Metronic Slab Pro

Filson Pro

PHOTOGRAPHY

Pexels.com

Unsplash.com

PRINTING

IngramSpark

PAPER STOCK

Mohawk Superfine Eggshell

100# Text