These are are recent designs that I've done as exercises for the Art Institute of Portland or live projects for clients.
Some of them use original photography, but most of these layouts use copyright-free images found on the internet. I use web safe fonts for body copy and compressed images to decrease load time. Web standards are a must.
I almost exclusively use Adobe Creative Suite for anything I design, and my mock-ups are no exception. Photoshop is my friend.
Since computers don't do the work for me, I rely on my education in typography, layout, photography, color theory and design principles to formulate the most effective design solutions. The creation process is fascinating.
Marathon Education Partners
As the project manager for the Marathon Education Partners website, I supervised a team
of designers and developers and was responsible for the project from concept to
completion. I also scheduled milestones and communicated with the client during and after
its construction.
The client was very pleased with the outcome and I was happy to help them.
MarathonEducationPartners.org
Doctor Pfau
Dr. Richard Pfau has been the dentist my family has trusted for years. I remember visiting him when I was a little kid. He's very professional and a super great guy.
He and his staff needed a website new branding to help their business, so I was more than happy to give them a hand. They're all so personable, they're just like family.
If you need dental work done, schedule an appointment today!
DoctorPfau.com
OTSEA.org Redesign
The Oregon Driver + Traffic Safety Education Association asked me to redesign their site. Along with giving a new look that appeals to a younger audience, I also created a more balanced layout, juxtaposing the pictoral and typographic elements to establish a more clear hierarchy. I also created a more organized navigation to help users get to the desired information quickly.
Some might consider the subject of traffic safety to be uninteresting, so it was my responsibility to give it a feeling of movement and stylishness. I'm very proud of this site.
OTSEA.org
PSI-MFG.com
PSI Acquisition, LLC. is a company I've worked for since 2007. I was hired through Chemeketa Community College, which is a great way for students to find local employment. CFO Tim Hysell and I worked together to create a very smooth, fluid design that coincides with the companies initial branding. We used a design that was very high contrast, with more metallic tones that let the products take precedence.
PSI-mfg.com
StoryTime.com
For this assignment, the goal was to create a fictional online book store. Since I have a couple kids, I thought - why not focus on children's books?
I chose a peaceful, outdoor theme at twilight because that's usually the time I read to my kids. The ripped paper came from the condition of some of my daughter's books.
This design uses a grid, so it's proportioned well. The header and footer give it a good sense of closure while the additional subheads and buy buttons create a unity and repitition.
StoryTime HTML page
NeedleInAHaystack.net
Needle in a Haystack is a fictional clothing store based in Cannon Beach. The colors used throughout this mock-up were taken from the background image, connecting the foreground to it, giving it uniformity.
Image and text placement are balanced, reassuring the user that the business is stable and trustworthy.
When I recieved my Associate of Applied Science degree from the Visual Communications department of Chemeketa Community College, I looked back at the projects I completed and smiled. I'm as proud of them today as I was then.
Here are some examples of my work during those two years.
Shakespeare Festival Poster
The idea behind this poster for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is, Julius Caesar is the focal point of the story, and the other players have positioned themselves to corner the king.
I used a modern looking chess set as a metaphor for the situation, and felt it was an interesting contrast to depict a timeless story in such a way.
Positioning and depth of field were used to achieve the effect and the minimal typography adds to the feel of the composition.
Stillfire Album Cover
Stillfire is local band comprised of some friends of mine and they asked me to help them with the cover art of their first big album.
The front cover consists of major image manipulation and typographic treatment to a pre-existing font. The background and foreground are working together to create visual hierarchy. Many adjustments and revisions were made to end with this finished product. The refinement only strengthened the design.
Movie Poster Project
This was for an exercise in photography class. Since I modeled for the shoot, I was told I didn't have to participate, but I did anyway because I love movies and I knew this assignment was going to be a lot of fun.
Many hours went into this piece, but it paid off because the entire class voted this poster the best of the whole class. I used actual movie typography and many photoshop effects to get the desired look and feel for this.
And, yes, I did adjust my face to look thinner.
Book Cover Project
After I read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, I knew this was a world of fake, seemingly happy, plastic people. So, I went to my local Goodwill store and picked up a couple 12" action figures. I specifically wanted one with hair and one without because I imagined the futuristic city people as clean shaven and the "savage" as having wild, free-flowing hair.
I took pictures of the two and manipulated them with photoshop, giving the bald guy a huge, distorted smile with fleshed over eyes and the blonde guy huge eyes. The visual metaphor is, the city is plagued with hundreds of thousands of sightless, stupid people and the only one that can see clearly is the so-called "savage".
Blurred Lines
This book cover for Martin Chittenden's book, Blurred Lines, uses large typography with subtle hints of the book's intense subject matter.
This piece uses color, texture, shade and shadow in an engaging way. The edge of the Nazi flag and almost hidden splash of blood from the tip of the knife are intersecting uses of color. The two textures of brick and concrete add realism while the darkness and shadows give the cover the precise feel of the subject matter.
It looks a little different than the cover the publishing company went with but, regardless, you can order his book here.
Portfolio Invitation
When I graduated from Chemeketa, we had a portfolio show, so my invitation paid homage to MARS ATTACKS!
I wanted it to look like an old trading card from back in the day, so I included creases, tattered edges and the like.
If you look closely, you can see lorem ipsum in old english on the chest of the main alien and a "no comic sans" sticker on the helmet of an alien in the back. I like those hidden little personal touches.
I am honored to have been taught how to design logos by Jeff Pollard, who is a pretty awesome logo designer. Check out examples of his work on his website: Pollard Design.
Here's what he had to say about me: "Phil Riehl is one of the more prepared students I've had during my time at Chemeketa. I never had to worry about him not making it to class on time or hitting deadlines and his desire to improve creatively is evident from the outset, thus he absorbes information efficiently and effectively and always asks relevant questions during the design process. Phil's creative abilities will continue to evolve rapidly and from a professional, ready-to-hire standpoint he is fully prepared to hit the ground running."
That being said, take a look at some of the projects I've completed in the past few years.
Therapeutic Balance
Wendy Ryder of Therapeutic Balance in Salem, OR worked with me to refine the concept of her logo.
I sketched it with pencil and paper first, brought it into Photoshop and outlined, colored and shaded it.
The task took many weeks of modification and fine tuning, but in the end, it was very worth it. It's exactly the way she wanted it.
ODTSEA
The Oregon Driver Traffic Safety Education Association hired me to create their new website and this logo became a part of that.
It uses a classic typeface, state colors, and pictography specific to Oregon. The circle gives it a more friendly feel and it's reminiscent of the Oregon State seal. The ODTSEA board was very impressed.
International Tech Corp
ITC is a company that turns garbage into electricity and fertilizer. The process of doing this is highly scientific, as is their logo.
We used scientific symbols and shapes to convey this and a color scheme that reflects the natural elements of sky and earth.
The refinement process took some time, but I believe this logo will withstand the test of time.
KnitLid.com
This design for an online knitted beanie store uses pictographic representation in the first letter to immediately show the viewer what sort of business it is.
When the knitting needles break outside the bouding box, it creates an interesting, asymmetrical design.
Works well in black and white or color.
Buddachen
This design for an asian restaurant took a different route that didn't involve an image of Buddha himself. Instead, the bamboo trees were added to create more atmosphere. Bold, stylized lettering was used for the various applications: outdoor signage, menus, apparel, etc.
Red and gold are an appropriate color choice for this restaurant; they make the name leap off the page, which attracts customers.
Marshall's Auto Body
With this logo, the client had a very specific idea of how he wanted to be represented and I worked with him closely to achieve the goals he set forth. The flaming letterforms give this buisness an edgy, almost dangerous vibe. The graphic is actually a diagram of an intake manifold that was modified to fit this logo.
To offset the upper grittiness, the typography below is very classy and strong to graphically demonstrate the stability of the business.
StrictlyEurope.com
Since Europe heavily uses the rail system for transportation, it makes sense to use a modern train in the logo of a European travel website.
Helvetica is the typeface of choice, here, because of its use in the majority of european countries as well. Contemporary, bold, iconic
iStoreDiscounts.com
The graphic and color choices were made based on the fact that the client wanted the customer to feel as if their business is the tickets to savings. Therefore, most tickets are tan and brown and shaped like this.
The tilting of the type gives the name a sense of urgency and motion, the difference in color seperating the letterforms, making them more legible.
Real Pro Construction
Since the owner of this company mainly works with lumber, I decided to implement a woodgrain background in this logo.
The oval shape is pleasant and the warm and cool colors compliment each other well. I wanted to give it a sense of strength and honor, which is reflective of the company's owner and the work he does.
Logo Design Final Project
This was a final project for a logo design class I attended during my time at CCC. We were given little information and needed to solve a design problem based on that.
The word "blazon" means to display or proclaim, which made me think of the knights of old and how they would show allegiance to their group by presenting their coat of arms.
After studying heraldry, I knew of the pictographs and symbols they used and chose the sun because the root word, "blaze" means a very large burning fire. The typography is very reminiscent of early 18th Century tapestries as well.
It's bold, unique and classic. I really enjoyed this project.