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In my spare time...
...I do design competitions
I love the challenge of creating something unique and creative that meets the competition criteria. It's a great way to stay sharp and hone my skills as a designer. It also helps me to keep up with the lastest trends in graphic design and find inspiration in other contestants work.
Water made of binary code
Making Waves
Busan Metropolitan City and the Korea Maritime Industry Association hosted the 2023 Marine Contents International Contest to raise interest in the marine industry, raise marine awareness, and develop marine culture. The competition was part of the 17th World Ocean Forum 2023. The theme was 'Bluetechnomy' (a combination of the words blue, technology, and economy). The brief was to create a poster inspired by the theme that incorporated the logo, the title of the event and the date. The theme brought to mind artificial intelligence (AI) and it's increasing importance in our daily lives. AI is one of the biggest leaps in technology to date and it has caused a ripple effect. My work, Making Waves, is supposed to represent this effect: a drop of water falling and creating ripples is made out of binary code. When the binary code in ripples is translated to English it says “World Ocean Forum 2023 Bluetechnomy” repeatedly. The binary code in the drop says “Hello” repeatedly. This is supposed to represent the guests of the forum being welcomed and then becoming part of the conference. I chose to use binary code to represent AI since, at its most basic, computers are just ones and zeros. One of the most challenging parts of this project was the language barrier. Despite these difficulties, I was able to get 2nd place.
AI is one of the biggest leaps in technology to date and it has caused a ripple effect. My work, Making Waves, is supposed to represent this effect: a drop of water falling and creating ripples is made out of binary code.
Typo Day 2023
I designed three logos for the Typo Day 2023 competition, set to take place in Varanasi, India. The challenge I encountered was the requirement for the logo to fit within long and narrow dimensions, a unique constraint that added an extra layer of complexity to the task. Given this, and considering that this year's theme revolved around the sacred and typography, I began by brainstorming various sacred or religious symbols. My aim was to select symbols that were less Western-centric and had a more universal appeal, in line with the competition's location. After careful consideration, I settled on three symbols: the sun, marigold flowers, and stained glass windows.
The Secret Life of Trees
This series was inspired by the book The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. In his book, Wohlleben describes how trees communicate with each other and other living things and how important they and forests are for the world. With these descriptions, he is able to make the reader empathize with trees and understand them as more than objects or resources. I hope to do the same with my series (or at least make people question what they think they know) and inspire conservation of forests.
These posters were originally created for The Golden Turtle Contest but have been adapted to be a campaign for the Sierra Club.
Gallery
Zachary's Chicago Style Pizza: T-Shirt Design Contest 2023
I wanted to create something fun and meme-able that captures the essence of enjoying pizza. As we all know, animals are always a hit, and I thought sloths would be perfect for this design. They represent slowing down and taking a moment to enjoy life, which is exactly what pizza is all about. So, I created a design with a sloth hugging a pizza, and added the tagline 'Slow Down, Enjoy Pizza'. I hope you find my design almost as enjoyable as pizza itself.
