Theresa Choi

Design Blog

Finished works, process sharing, works in progress, and inspirations

Trade Show Booth 2016

The client was a cloud-storage firm with a wonderfully quirky marketing theme: goats. So I designed this backdrop for their upcoming trade show. It captures the whimsy of their existing marketing with the goat flying a kite - a tetrahedral kite which bears resemblance to the company logo. The illustrative style is sure to stand out at a convention where most companies will do the typical "tech" look.

Below are a couple of alternative designs. The client preferred the illustrative route to the geometric.

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Sketches in Places

Hand sketched from life with a pen.

Rue de Bearn, Paris

Place des Vosges, Paris

View from Maiori, Italy

In the 8th arr., Paris

Hayes Valley, San Francisco

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Paris Neighborhood Map

Last summer I stayed at an AirBNB in the 11th district (arrondissement) of Paris. It was a cozy studio with a great view out to the Sacré Coeur in the distance. We got to know the neighborhood by walking. We would have a noisette and thé at a cafe in the morning, then proceed to explore and eat our way through the neighborhood. This map includes most of the places we visited near the 3rd district (troisieme). At the time we were there, a number of famous eateries and bakeries were closed for the summer vacation so if you're a learned Paris traveler, forgive me for going during August. Note for first-timers: don't go in August! Lots of shops are closed and most Parisians are out of town, leaving only the sweaty tourists.

WIP

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Resume Re-Design WIP

For an artist, there's nothing worse than making your own business card and designing your own resume. The agony, the OCD, the procrastinating...but sooner or later, it must be done. Here's a WIP of my re-design.

I design in black and white first to focus on composition and contrast. Then color is added in. This one has a desaturated palette.

Theresa ChoiWIP, resumeComment
Riesling Infographic

As a fan of Riesling, I'm often surprised how many people I meet have never tried it. So I made this infographic to give people what they need to know about Riesling. I started the design with blocking in the data and a rough layout. There were several changes as this piece developed, including moving the bottle to the right instead of my first inclination to have it be on the left. Hope this is useful to someone!

Basic layout.

Basic layout.

Final infographic.

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Icons for web

Because I love cookies. Some of my favorites here.

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Book Design

A couple of mockups.

Theresa Choibook design, mock-upsComment
Icon Design

Working on an icon set for a website. Please see the ILLUSTRATION tab for more in this set, and the VIDEO tab to see animated versions of icons from this set.

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More photo retouching/color grading

While the following images are video stills, the same retouching principles that work on photos work with videos. Video is somewhat more limited in what can be done as one is working with a series of moving images. My color treatment always has a purpose: to enhance the mood of the image, to better represent what the image felt like at the time it occurred so the viewer feels more than what the raw footage offers.

Before: a little dark and low contrast overall.

Before: a little dark and low contrast overall.

After: giving some warmth and light to the girl's face adds to the emotion of the scene. I also minimized the background contrast so that it would not compete with the main focus.

After: giving some warmth and light to the girl's face adds to the emotion of the scene. I also minimized the background contrast so that it would not compete with the main focus.

Before

Before

After: creating some light, when done skillfully, can completely change the feel of the image.

After: creating some light, when done skillfully, can completely change the feel of the image.

Before

Before

After: an edgy look to match the client's hip branding (green is their main color).

After: an edgy look to match the client's hip branding (green is their main color).

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Photos: Before & After

Raw photo and then after color grading in Photoshop. 

Theresa Choiphoto, retouching, color grading, fashion Comment
A Present
box.jpg

I wrapped a brown cardboard box with textured paper and added a white paper strip with a layer of decorative paper on top. A white ribbon ties it all together. The color is slightly more blue than Tiffany blue, and with white it feels festive and elegant.

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