What is a dental dam? 

A rectangular piece of latex used as a barrier method for oral sex.

Why should I care about these weird latex squares? 

Access to safer sex methods is important for everyone, but not everyone’s needs are being met by traditional condoms. This need is especially great for Lesbians and Bi women, and really anyone having oral sex! Currently, dental dams are made by a select few companies, cost more than traditional condoms, and are not often sold in brick-and-mortar stores. When someone wants to practice safer oral sex method, their choices are to plan ahead and order dental dams online, hope to find dental dams being sold at the store, or use a traditional condom cut into a rectangle. 

Why shouldn’t there be a nice dental dam option available in stores?

What do I want to do with this project? 

First, I want to move away from the term “Dental Dam” because it is confusing and clinical. I’m thinking something like “oral barrier” instead to identify the product. 

Second, I want to market these products to LGBT people. I want to do this by making the product look fun, friendly, as well as using a color scheme that is reminiscent of the gay, lesbian, and bi pride flags, but is not the exact colors. 

I want to make the product fun and inviting because studies have shown that women who have sex with women rarely actually use barrier methods. My product will not be intimidating, awkward, or overly “sterile” and medical feeling. 

My Solution

I selected the brand name Töfrateppi for my brand, because in my research I discovered that this is what Icelanders call dental dams. It means “magic carpet”. I wanted to move away from and avoid the use of “dental dam” on my packaging, so this word was a perfect fit! It is cute, fun, playful, and invites curiosity, instead of hesitation and fear.

I chose to use a simple, minimal brand design so that the bright photography and patterns on the packaging could stand out in the condom aisle in a store or in a display booth at a Pride event.

For my brand extension, I created stickers to help boost brand loyalty and public image, a poster and t-shirt to advertise, and a lubricant bottle package.

For my Point of Purchase display, I created a full-scale shelf to display the Töfrateppi boxes and stickers. The shelf would work well on a table or countertop in stores or in a display booth at a parade or event. I chose to paint the shelf crisp white so that the bright colors of the boxes are able to stand out. I screen-printed the logo and “go down with confidence” slogan onto the shelf to emphasize the brand as well as give a cheeky hint as to what the Töfrateppi product is.

Process Book

June 2018

The Planet is a student-run publication at Western Washington University. With a dedicated team of journalists, editors, photographers, and designers, The Planet magazine is produced quarterly. I joined the design team in Spring 2017 as a volunteer Shadow Designer, and moved into the Assistant Designer position for Fall 2017, and Winter and Spring 2018. As designers, we work with the Editor in Chief, Photography Editor, and Science Editor to create the page layouts and infographics for each story.

Rakuten Kobo is an online bookstore, selling ebooks and ereaders around the world. For this project, I redesigned their logo, created stationery, and arranged new brand guidelines. Because this company creates a platform for a diverse range of creative expression, I chose to utilize an unobtrusive and relatively minimalist design that can frame the content held within the books.

February 2018

12 weeks, 8 team members, 9 books. For one quarter, my team and I developed and produced nine editions of our fully illustrated story book. We did everything ourselves, from the writing of the story, to the illustrations, to the printing, to the foil stamping, to the letterpress, to the hand-binding of each book. This book has seven chapters, each with a foil-stamped title page and pocket containing a unique hand-crafted artifact relating to the events taking place in the chapter, as well as one or two illustrations.

Each of us on the team was chosen to have a particular job title, mine was Creative Director. Once we all decided on a theme for the book, I developed a color scheme for each chapter and the accompanying artifact, brought several typeface choices to the team to then select, as well as organize who was assigned each task and color scheme.

More detailed information on my contributions is shown in my personal process book. The group process book can be viewed here.

December 2017

An annual grass roots, non-profit, street music festival that occurs in neighborhoods around Seattle. The festival occurs for 2 days in June, and has is part of the global HONK! family.

For this project, I worked to develop a new brand identity for Honk Fest: West. The purpose of the redesign was to pare down and define the color palette, select fonts that play well together and are less busy-looking. The redesign continued the history of the community-based, handmade, and accessible feel, while cleaning up a cluttered and inconsistent brand identity. As an event that takes places throughout Seattle for only 2 days of the year, the redesign made HONK! Fest West more inviting to the audience by making it easier to navigate and feel less scattered. The design will be adaptable and applicable across the global HONK! events, between the internal Seattle even, and over future years of the festival. 

Using my logo redesigns, I developed and coded a website for the new Honk Fest: West.

February 2018

In my free time, I enjoy maintaining a fish tank and frequenting my local fish store. I have found though, that it is often very difficult to figure out which fish, shrimp, or plant to purchase for one’s tank, often requiring those who seek to keep healthy, thriving tanks to spend hours researching and discussing with experts only to receive mixed and conflicting information.

For this project, I chose to tackle the freshwater aquarium shrimp. There are several popular choices, each with slightly varying qualities. In these two posters, I present the most important information that an aquarist may be interested in in two formats: a full-color, illustrated poster, as well as a grayscale poster. For these designs, I was heavily influenced by aquarium-related packing design and the interiors of fish stores. I worked to design my posters so that they would fit in on the wall of your local fish store, to help customers decide which shrimp is best for their tank.

November 2017

In this project, I created a style guide for one of my favorite places: the Sonoran Desert. I selected a type and color scheme, and I developed illustrations, icons, patterns, and textures. I compiled this into a spiral-bound book.

Spring 2017

This goal of this project was to redesign the packaging of a product commonly found in convenience stores. I chose to approach microwave popcorn packaging sold as single bags head-on. After conducting user interviews and did a light comparative review of the market, I found that the major painpoints of the current design were unclear flavors and consumer concerns about health and nutrition. My design focused on increasing the legibility of the packaging flavors and nutrition benefits, while maintaining the safety indicators necessary for a hot bag of popcorn.

Process Book

April 2018