a portfolio by MARIA ELENA CARDENAS

GRAPHICBYDESIGN

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INTRODUCTION

My name is Maria Elena Cardenas, I was born in Mexico, raised in California, and now residing in the beautiful province if British Columbia. This portfolio depicts selected work that displays my growth since making the transition from fine arts and illustration to communication design. From an early age I’ve been fascinated with the art of visual storytelling, from illustrated books, posters, to album cover art. For those of us whom words often fail us,design is a form of storytelling at it’s finest. While the projects vary, my focus has always been to create work whose message or story is reflected (often literally) through carefully considered typographic hierarchy coupled with imagery.

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TYPOGRAPHY CARD COLLECTION

Print 8” x 5” (2012)

Card set of six classic typafaces from of old style, transitional, modern, slab serif, sans serif to humanist. The theme of drafting was elected to showcase the form or “architecture” of each typeface.Each card features historical background and defining features.

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IDEALISMS: PHILOSOPHIES ON MODERN TYPE

Print 8” x 10” (2012)

A printed publication containing four seminal essays from renowned typography experts Beatrice Ward, Jan Tschichold, Filippo Marinetti, and Herbert Bayer. Each spread is meant to reflect the individual typographic and aesthetic style of the authors.

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3 CLASSIC TYPEFACES

Print 10” x 8½” (2013)

A specimen book presenting the typefaces Baskerville, Clarendon, and Scala Sans in a historically appropriate manner. Each spread reflects the way the type would have been used when it was first designed. Included is a brief historical background on each typeface.

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MEMORIAL RING: OBJECT OF HISTORY AND EXCHANGE

Print 16” x 20” (2012)

Infographic poster depicting the history and significance of a ring made from an old piece of jewelry that once belonged to my late grandmother. To place the object in context, I elected the theme and symbolism of the Mexican tradition of Day of theDead as an ofrenda, or memoriam.

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OBJECTIFIED POSTER

Print 44½” x 66½” (2012)

Poster concept for the documentary film by Gary Hustwit. Inspired by the obsessive behaviour of the designers profiled in the film, the poster is a rendering of an inkblot test that servers as a reading into the mind of the industrial designer.

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“I AM THE WALRUS” POSTER

Print 15” x 24” (2013)

Expressive type poster that aims to reflect the tone and pace of The Beatles’ song “I am the Walrus.” Inspired by Victorian and 1960’s psychedelic posters, the poster is an expression of the song’s rhythm and the lyrics’ nonsensical aspect. Original Lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney Copyright EMI

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DELTA HONEY FARMS

Logotype, Package Design, Stationary (2013)

Delta Honey Farms is a small start-up bee farm located in the farmlands of Delta, BC. Their focus is mainly on local crop pollination, swarm and hive removal, and of course, raw honey. The main objective of this project was to design a logotype and honey label that was friendly, yet professional to represent them as a local and trustworthy business.

LOGOTYPE Although I wanted to flaunt DHF’s local and friendly vive,I also wanted to elevate their brand and showcase that they were rapidly becoming a solid business attentive to their craft. The final design was a logotype that was simple, friendly, and sophisticated enough that the company could grow into. Due to the small nature of the business, DHF wanted stationery and collateral that was simple enough to produce on a limited budget.

LABEL All of the honeys that DHF carry at any given time are limited edition. In order to make their local honey stand out from the production line, we created a punchy, yet simple label template that could be tagged with custom “flavour” stickers and information about the batch’s year and limited edition number.

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APPLES FOR APPLES:REDUNDANT TRADE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Information Design/ Motion Graphic (2014)

The dilemmas that plague our food system are what the design community calls “wicked problems,” for their complexity and need for fundamental changes in human behaviour. In particular, the concurrent import and export of identical agricultural products is a barrier to achieving a more sustainable food system. Apples for Apples: Redundant Trade in British Columbia is a motion storybook where content and visuals coexist to illustrate the environmental and socio-economic effects of a broken food trade system, in a swift and effective manner.

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designer MARIA ELENA CARDENAS

phone (604) 996-9187

email MEECARDENAS@GMAIL.COM

education CHAFFEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE Associate in Science 2005 Art/Visual Communication: Illustration

EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART AND DESIGN Bachelor of Design 2014 Communication Design

skills ADOBE IN-DESIGN......8/10 ILLUSTRATOR............8/10 PHOTOSHOP..............7/10

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2014