I’m Gary Meacher—a creative professional, educator, and nerd. As a visual communicator, I employ the use of design as a tool for solving problems. Let create, learn, and have fun together!
Student Work
Type Specimen Poster
Project Brief
Design and produce a type specimen poster. After selecting a typeface family, research the typeface designer and typeface applications. Write a blurb summarizing your research. Explore opportunities to contextualize your theme and the designer's work by considering biographical, literary, cultural and historical reference points to inform your design. Design a poster promoting the designer and the typeface. The poster's concept must be based on your research.
Deliverables
Printed 18” x 24” Poster
Project case study collecting research, sketches, mood boards, all design iterations, time tracking, progress journal entries, and a brief project reflection
Portfolio Website
Project Brief
This project will encompass the design of a personal portfolio website for you. Considerations should be made based on prospective viewers of the site like Freelance Clients, Art/Photography Clients, Graduate Schools, Employers/Art Directors.
Remember the function/purpose of an online portfolio:
Showcase your work, flexibility, and range of design/art skills
Demonstrate your Design/Art style or aesthetic
Introduce you as a creative professional
Serve as a digital first impression
Deliverables
PDF of all web pages (both "full" and mobile)
Mockup images of the website in use on a phone and a computer
Project case study collecting research, sketches, mood boards, all design iterations, time tracking, progress journal entries, and a brief project reflection
Packaging
Project Brief
A manufacturer wants to create a new high-quality candy product that includes three varieties. You have been hired to create the product as well as the branding: name, logo and packaging. These should hold a seamless and coherent brand experience. (Note: Each semester varies in the specifics of the project. Some years I allow for the student to choose their product category—other years I focus the class on one unified theme)
There are easily thousands of candy brands currently on the market, so how does your brand differentiate itself? What is unique about your product? Think specifically about the size and shape of your candy. If it's a chocolate—Is it a bar? Pieces? Powder? Who is the consumer? Can you add a unique element to the product? Is there new technology in the industry that you can use to your advantage?
Think about your audience. Who is buying this product? Why? You don’t want to turn away—or turn off—your audience with a bad brand or non-unique experience. When thinking of packaging possibilities, compare other items that function similarly to chocolate/candy packaging. Do they create a better user experience? How?
Deliverables
Company Logo
3 hand-built packages with partnered “pre-press” files
Product photo shots of each package
Project case study collecting research, sketches, mood boards, all design iterations, time tracking, progress journal entries, and a brief project reflection
Identity Package
Project Brief
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Deliverables
Logo
Business Card
Letterhead
Style Guide
Project case study collecting research, sketches, mood boards, all design iterations, time tracking, progress journal entries, and a brief project reflection
Advocacy Poster
Project Brief
This project involves collecting data, organizing the data, and showcasing the data in poster form. Students determine their individual interest around a topical issue. Topics might range from Health and Safety to Social and Political, etc.The challenge is to create an informative and visually appealing poster that conveys a message to its viewer.
Considerations should be made to the audience, function, and placement of the poster.
Specifics to keep in mind:
The design should be vector-graphic dominant
The design must have a call-to-action
Poster will be 18" x 24”
Deliverables
Final design should be submitted electronically and printed at full size for your final presentation
A mock-up image showcasing an example of an ideal place for the poster to be displayed
Project case study collecting research, sketches, mood boards, all design iterations, time tracking, progress journal entries, and a brief project reflection
eCommerce website
Project Brief
Students will apply their design process to an eCommerce website (online retail). The emphasis on this project is in the customer experience, building trust with your design, product searching/filtering, and checking out.
Students will select a retail category that interest them and narrow down product offerings to a manageable size.
Feature Requirements
• Shopping Cart
• Checkout process
• Product filtering/searching
• Include testimonials or product reviews
Deliverables
PDF of all web pages
Adobe xD Interactive Mockup
Project case study collecting research, sketches, mood boards, all design iterations, time tracking, progress journal entries, and a brief project reflection
AIGA: Get Out The Vote Poster
Project Brief
Students use design as a tool to raise awareness, engage citizens and increase voters communications, education, registration, and access to information. AIGA designers were mobilized to address key civic engagement challenges via this poster design challenge.
Deliverables
Final design should be submitted electronically and printed at full size (11”x17”) for your final presentation
Project case study collecting research, sketches, mood boards, all design iterations, time tracking, progress journal entries, and a brief project reflection
Book Cover
Project Brief
Students will create a book cover/jacket. The "book cover" includes the front, back, spine, and inside flaps of the book. The design should be eye-catching to lure in potential readers and capture the story and its themes as the reader's first impression. Ultimately, if the cover doesn't reflect the content of the book, the design has failed.
The books subject matter will be approved by the professor.
Deliverables
Final PDF of the book cover design
Photo mockup of the cover design on a physical book
Project case study collecting research, sketches, mood boards, all design iterations, time tracking, progress journal entries, and a brief project reflection