Creating the Haute Treat brand and product line during my internship allowed me to investigate the nexus between luxury, science, and pet care. It was an enlightening experience. I set out on a mission to reimagine premium pet nutrition by highlighting the special use of insect biotechnology as the creative drive behind this brand. In addition to adhering to the strictest safety and quality requirements, my goal was to perfectly capture the spirit of refinement and luxury that Haute Treat stands for. The task of creating Haute Treat's brand identity was particularly difficult since it required every design element to represent the company's key principles of gourmet excellence, scientific foundation, premium ingredients, and luxury. With colors like amber, cream, and rich secondary hues, Haute Treat's logo, color scheme, and font were carefully chosen to establish the company as a pioneer in high-end, science-based pet nutrition. Our design approach was to fully immerse customers in the refined essence of Haute Treat, taking cues from sensory-rich locations like yachts and opera theaters. This exacting methodology permeated our marketing and packaging as well, guaranteeing that every item touched pet owners on an emotional level while emphasizing the brand's superior and scientific credentials. Haute Treat was the result of a collaborative effort that combined design and purpose to create a distinctive brand in a crowded market. This project showcases my portfolio and demonstrates my ability to take on challenging design problems, combine creativity with design, and develop a brand from idea to execution. It also demonstrates my dedication to using design to have a good, long-lasting impact.

This course project was an experimental exploration of graphic design, which resulted in the creation of the logo and menu design for "Benu," a three-Michelin-star restaurant located in San Francisco. After taking pictures of commonplace items, such as pots and pans, water drops, and sand, to make a logo that complimented the upscale Asian food served at the restaurant. Original photo editing and artificial warping were used to create the final logo, ultimately created using pictures of can openers, cups, and seed containers. Using this technique produced a logo that embodies balance and reflects the restaurant's culinary philosophy with its crisp cuts and smooth outlines. The bold linework of the logo, which is evocative of Japanese symbols, quietly alludes to Benu's Asian heritage. To balance the logo's sharp cuts with a polished, modern presentation that was appropriate for a restaurant with a Michelin star, I designed the menu with a similar approach. The combination of blue, cyan, and green was selected to represent the freshness and healthfulness of Benu's offers while also subtly alluding to salads and fish. The front of the menu has a sandy texture overlay that heightens the upscale experience by adding a depth of mystery. This project explored in-depth how commonplace items may serve as an inspiration for expert, high-caliber design work, capturing the spirit of Benu via inventive graphic design. It sticks out in my portfolio as an illustration of how to apply strategic design thinking and creative experimentation to the realm of upscale dining.

As a Graphic Designer for the Dammawood Meditation Center in Jurupa Valley, CA, I was tasked with a reformation of their webpage. With a previously outdated and uncoordinated design on their site, I redesigned it intending to create a corporate, modern, and easy-to-navigate site that expresses the calmness of meditation. On top of the website design itself, I continue to update pages on the website along with poster and thumbnail designs as needed for new content. To briefly explain my creative process, I selected a color palette of cool oranges, yellows, beiges, maroons, browns, and whites to convey that calmness while also referring to the colors of the robes worn by monks given that the meditation center is a Buddhist based organization. Along with that, simple but elegant illustrations in the background of each page as well as san serif fonts in different weights, I found, presented a clean, corporate, and modern feel, presenting the much-needed solution the client was after.

Our objective in the development of Solara, an EV user interface system, was to establish a user interface that was both intuitive and seamless, thereby facilitating the transition of drivers from conventional to electric vehicles. The project prioritized adaptability and personalization, employing a widget-based system that enables users to personalize their dashboards according to their unique preferences. This method guaranteed a harmonious equilibrium between accessibility, aesthetics, and usability. Our design process commenced with a comprehensive investigation of existing automotive interfaces, which included UI deconstructions, user surveys, and empathy mapping to identify common pain points. By conducting an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of systems such as Tesla's and Infiniti's, we identified critical enhancements, including the elimination of congested menus and the enhancement of reachability, that would facilitate a more user-friendly and efficient interface. We prioritized the rapid access to critical functions such as navigation, climate control, and entertainment by creating wireframes and user flows that were informed by the experiences of actual drivers. The interface design is characterized by a desaturated visual style with fluorescent blue highlights, which achieves a balance between a futuristic, tech-forward appearance and a mid-range aesthetic that is accessible to everyday drivers. The system's modular structure enables the creation of modules that can be customized to the preferences of each user, while simultaneously preserving simplicity and clarity. The final execution introduced a refined main UI with bold typography for critical vehicle information, an optimized cluster panel for navigation and driving data, and a structured layout that reduces cognitive burden. In addition, the system includes user-friendly interactions, including an intuitive hierarchy for safety features and swipe gestures for climate controls. We investigated the intersection of automotive design, digital interface adaptability, and user experience through Solara. The UI system that was effectively delivered by the project not only improves driver confidence and efficiency, but also ensures a seamless and engaging transition into the electric vehicle landscape.