Archive for category: General

Cassie Dee Johnson is a Graphic Designer who spends most of her days coordinating lovely printed goodness at a printing + packaging company in Northeastern Wisconsin. In her spare time, she can be found perusing wine shelves for the perfect hand drawn label or perfecting the art of nerdy-dancing.

1. amerrymishap // product images: pale blue, white + copper necklace
shop description: I’ve been following this Etsy shop for quite some time, and it’s really hard to stop myself from buying everything! The use of golds, blues and beiges are simply intoxicating and design is simple and raw. I especially love this pale blue, white and copper necklace. So lovely!
 
2. leahduncan // product images: sprouting print (in honor of ‘Sprout’), meadow tea towel  or succulent poster.
shop description: Leah Duncan’s work is simply wonderful. Her folky, charming, and whimsical-yet-modern aesthetic shines brightly on any medium. Whether it be jewelry, tea towels, pillowcases, or print design – her work is sure to bring a little smile to your face. This succulent poster would be the perfect addition to my living room!
 
3.  juliakostreva // product images: pink colorblock iPhone case or triangles in nude iPhone case
shop description: Looking for a gorgeous new phone case? Absolutely be sure to check out Julia Kostreva’s Etsy shop. Her work is very elegant with a touch of bold flavor. The color palettes are flawless, and the geometric aspect of her designs bring a little edge to her aesthetic. I’m really drawn to the triangles in nude iPhone case, my phone is in desperate need of some updated style!
 
4. shoprarebird // product images: brass minamalist chevron earrings
shop description: If you’re looking for beautiful, minimalist, down-to-earth jewelry, then shoprarebird is absolutely for you! Their jewelry is lovingly crafted and would enhance anyone’s collection. Personally, i’m eyeing up these brass chevron earrings. They’re a little slice of geometric happiness

This past weekend I had a great opportunity to be a featured designer at the Real World Design Conference at my alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. It’s an annual event put on by the dedicated and wonderful AIGA – UWSP chapter. It was so much fun and they wore us out! I was honored to be one of the five featured designers, along with Courtney Lancour, Tom Wilz, Michael Johnson, and Amanda Chavez.

As part of the conference, we got to review student portfolios (so much fun!) and give a presentation on what we’ve been up to post grade.
Portfolio Reviews: The portfolio reviews went great! There is some awesome talent coming out of UWSP this year and I look forward to seeing the student’s develop in the upcoming months, and for the younger students, years. I hope I was a great mentor for all the students and I hope to continue to be a resource for them! Being a portfolio reviewers was such an enlightening experience, I felt it was important to share their projects’ strengths as well as constructive things to think about. The time went by so fast with each student, and many of them had such great work we could talk all day. Great job to all the students I got to talk with (Lanea Zagrzebski, Adam Hintze, Emily Sikora, Alex Weinfurter, Dana Vanden Boogart, Sarah Rieder + the rest of the AIGA board)! They showed some great conceptual work in packaging, brochures, digital media, and even some brave sophomores with letterform projects. Please stay in touch and feel free to contact me with any questions at all! (:

The Presentations: It was so much fun getting to listen to the other Alumni speak. All of us shared our own perspective and life experiences since graduation, as well as tips for students and a creative body of work. I hope the students learned a lot, I know I did! I haven’t been out of school that long, but how do you crunch so much into 20 minutes?! Well, I failed at that, haha. I guess I had a lot to say, and that’s even after trimming my slides down. There was so much I wanted to cover and advice to give the students… And I forgot/ran out of time to mention half of them. I know that all the students are in great places to enter the design world, whether they believe it or not. The most important thing is knowing who you are and believing in yourself. Everything falls into place as it should and best wishes for the fun journey ahead!

PHOTO CREDIT: UWSP AIGA Board