Leizu: Rebranding of Dim Sum Restaurant

The Origin of Dim Sum
It was in the garden that the Yellow Emperor's wife, Leizu, first discovered silk. A silk worm cocoon fell into her tea and she noticed thread could be pulled from inside. She shared her discovery with everyone. This discovery lead to the formation of the Silk Road, a silk trading route that spanned across all of Asia And then to Dim Sum, stops along the route that offered weary travelers tea, food, and relaxation.



The Design
Dim Sum is about discovery and sharing. Traditionally you're supposed to eat Dim Sum in this order: steamed, exotic, fried, and desert. The menu has been designed to hang like a silk worm's cocoon, while signaling to the waiter (with different, relaxing hues) what course to serve next. Using the menu to signal the waiter was inspired by the traditional, tipping of the tea pot lid, to request more tea.

RUIN: skateboard shop

RUIN is a sidewalk surfing custom board shop. The idea was to create a shop , where father's and son's can work together to build and design their own skateboards. The skateboard above was designed and built by Heyward Coleman and given to me for a birthday present two years ago. The design on the skateboard is a sketch of mine.

College Pong Table

I found this image when I was cleaning out my inbox the other night. My senior year of college we needed a pong table for our apartment, so my sister and I set out to design a Delta Gamma inspired one. It'd be fun to design one again. :)

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband promotional keepsake

One of our deathmatch assignments was to create cd packaging/promotional keepsake for a band of our choice. I chose Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband, because they are an extremely talented group of guys who enjoy putting on an energetic performance for the crowd. I hand-illustrated their spacesuits and instruments and then photocopied the image of each of their heads. I wood-stained the box, wood-burned a design on the surface and sides, and overlayed a transparency on top of the cutouts of the band members. This packaging didn't receive high marks, but it was fun using different mediums.

The assignment-- create cd packaging for the following theme: The Kiss Off: Ten Ways to Say Good Riddance in Song. I'm not sure why I went with the voodoo doll idea for this project back 3rd qtr. It is way too cliche. I did enjoy making the packaging though. That was one huge voodoo doll. You could do a lot of damage with it! :)

As part of my Type 2 class in 2nd qtr. I attempted to draw a magpie and it's nest, only using a twig and India ink. The magpie nest as well as the bird are composed of a multitude of typefaces, all hand-drawn with a skewer. The perspective is so bizarre, but I still find it somewhat interesting two years later.

s+a

Thanks to Lisa Llanes, our superteam project (rebranding steak & ale) was recently featured on lovelypackage.com

While cleaning up some folders on my desktop, I came across this awesome image that I had originally found on a design blog. This type treatment served as prime inspiration for my melk branding/packaging for deathmatch. Check it out on my website: www.elenaschroeder.com

Poster: Wanagi Tacaku

This is another highlight from Sylvia Gaffney's class. The first day of class we were told to choose an insect and a Native American tribe of her list. My insect was the termite and my tribe was the Lakota Tribe. Our assignment, create a poster for either a museum, themepark, etc. event, using either cool or warm blacks, gray tones, and 3 layers of cut paper. 100 2x2 thumbnails, 30 3x3 , 12 4x6, and 3 24x12 drawings later (approximate dimensions) , we had ourselves a finished poster.

Remla: Apple Cider Vinegar

This apple cider vinegar packaging was created in Sylvia Gaffney's Color Theory 1 class back 2nd qtr. We were given a character and time period to use as inspiration. My character was Jessica Rabbit and my time period was 1940's America. The illustrations were hand-drawn and water color was the main medium used. It did not make the cut for my portfolio, but it's still fun to look at early work from the Circus.