About
At the UIUC YMCA, I joined the communications team as a graphic designer in March of 2023. I worked there until May 2023 as an intern, and was called back to continue as a freelance graphic designer, working on a project by project basis.
I worked alongside fellow designer Emma Hong linkedin.com/in/emma-hong-b2144a19b to create graphics for various events used on social media, to conceptualize a logo, website, and light branding for the 150th anniversary of the organization, and to create various long format reports and program materials.
Timeline
Intern from March 2023 to May 2023
Freelancer from June 2023 to Present
Programs Used
Photoshop • InDesign • Illustrator • Canva
Skills & Practices
Layout Design • Vinyl Art • Branding • Illustration
What I Designed
150th anniversary branding, Annual/Insider Reports, Holiday Card, Wall vinyls, Ad material
The 150th Anniversary
Creating the 150th Logo
The creation of the 150th anniversary logo was a long journey. Initially, the route was going to be to make a clean and sparkly logo, which simply defined the event as a celebration. But the director and many of the YMCA's board felt that the original concept was a bit too nonspecific. So, I decided to take the logo into a more illustrated direction.
With it being the 150th anniversary, the tagline that was devised was "Leading change since 1873". So, I decided to come up with illustrations to represent that phrase. I went on to use the "0" in the 150 number as a place for art, since it took up a lot of real-estate, and could easily be read as a "0" no matter what I did with it as long as I maintained the general shape.
The image depicted within the "0" is of 2 people walking into the doors of the YMCA for the first time. Originally, it was going to be of an adult mentor and a child, but since the Y generally caters to adult university students, it was decided that both people in the logo would be relatively the same height. Once the general imagery was established, I then cleaned up how the "1" and the "5" interacted with it, to create harmony and connection. The upside down triangle in the logo is a call back to one of the original logos of the organization which featured a solid red triangle representing the holy trinity.
In the end, the logo showcased the "open door" policy of the organization, and all of the light that it has brought to the Champaign Urbana community at large.
Later in the process, I decided to revise the logo to increase the legibility of the tagline statement, but unfortunately, this revision came too later to properly implement, so I'm just adding it here for reference.
Tree of Memories
After the logo was established, I went ahead and created one more graphical element, the "tree of memories". One of the most important events in the 150th festivities was in the planting of an oak tree. I wanted to pay homage to that by creating a tree made of elements reminiscent of stained glass, which is a prominent building feature of the University Y. The triangles and circles were added as fruie, intended to be expanded and reduced in motion graphics that I unfortunately never got to make due to time constraints. Each one would have featured a photo from the past and present, framed inside a triangle, and highlighted by the surrounding circle.
Ultimately, this illustration is a depiction of the roots that the University YMCA has established in the broader Champaign Urbana community, and and is a hopeful glimpse into the future branches that will sprout as a result of its mission as time passes.
This tree was used mainly in the event website, and on the 2023 annual report as a cover image design.
Annual Report 2023
Toward the end of the 2023 year, Emma and I were tasked with creating the annual report. This was my first time creating an entire books worth of layouts, and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. In our 2 person team, my role was to come up with multiple variations of all the page layouts, and Emma helped me refine and edit them to fit the content. Using a library of photos from the distant past and the present, alongside text written by multiple people in the organization, we created an annual report which highlighted the broad spectrum of colors and groups at the Y, and was centered on the motif of moving forward. The tree on the cover represents the organization as a while, and nods to the 150th anniversary message of leading change into the future.
Interior Page Layouts
Various Unused Layout Concepts
Insider Report 2023
All Interior Page Layouts
Various Unused Layout Templates/Concepts
Art @ the Y
Wall Vinyls
At the Y, various artists from the community and beyond are invited to come and showcase their craft, for the inspiration of the students and others who are curious. During these events, Emma and I were tasked with creating various communications materials, such as wall vinyls, mailing cards, and social media posts. In this split of work, I created individually branded wall vinyls which varied in style based on our understanding of the artist and exhibition in question.
Holiday Card 2023
For 2023, the YMCA released this holiday card to donors, students, and staff. Each interior contained a customized message, so my task was to create cover imagery that fit the wintery vibe, without leaning too heavily into a Christmas direction; to make the card as accessible to multiple religions as possible. In this depiction, the Y is imagined as the base structure for a home, which has a warm candlelight glow, inviting anyone who passes by in the chill of winter inside to be embraced with warmth and family.
Various Sketches
Uniting Pride Newspaper Ad
An ad that went into the local newspaper highlighting the university YMCA's support for LGBTAQ+ students and the Champaign-Urbana community at large. The visuals are meant to showcase how different people in the community come together and harmonize, creating a threaded, interconnected union.
"Working with the team at the University Y has been an amazing experience so far. I've had many of my first publicized works come from here, and the team was so welcoming and encouraging the entire way. Working at the Y taught me more about how to conceptualize on my feet, and pushed me to create things as efficiently as possible under tight deadlines and using multiple channels for input and collaboration. "
C.P.