Over the last few years, I’ve seen a real development in my graphic design abilities! I used to use some elements that I would download off of sites for my graphics but those sites started to charge so I challenged myself to create the objects from scratch. Here are a few of my favorites.
One of my main jobs at the Ford Airport was creating videos. I created videos for the special events, information, behind-the-scenes, Human Resources, and much more. The first few videos I created were horrible. I cringe when I go back and look at them. I had created a few videos before I started working at the airport but I had only used my phone or basic software. At the airport I had access to high end software so it took a few weeks to learn how to use it. Over time, I also started to work more on planning my shots during events the best I could. I started trying new techniques such as the mask for the numbers at the end of the Looking Back at 2019 video. I had also started to work on my animation skills.
When the government was shut down in 2019, the airport purchased a Feeding America Pantry Truck to help feed the federal workers. I organized the truck and shot this video:
In May 2019, a Ford Tri-Motor airplane visited the Ford Airport and I had the opportunity to take a ride on it.
My first attempt at using Adobe After Effects to create a video.
This is the last video I created for the airport and my first attempt at getting an animated character to move.
The Pink Patch Project was an event the airport police and fire departments were running. They asked theMarketing Department to help guide them. I helped with the social media/poster design, social media posts, andtaking photos during the event. I also became a contact for the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.
Before the event, I took the patches around the airport for a photo shoot.
I also took photos during the event.
I never expected to be working at an airport during a global pandemic. It was stressful. You never knew if you might get sick from the next person you saw. We also needed to communicate with passengers throughout the pandemic. We fielded a lot of phone calls, emails, and social media messages from passengers who had as many questions as we did. I created several graphics which were used on social media, the website, and the video screens in the airport. I also created a page on the website used to pass along information to passengers.
We were looking for upbeat social media posts during the pandemic. I was working from home so I decided it would be fun to have a scavenger hunt. There were two versions (big kids and little kids).
I also created new cover photos for Facebook and Twitter. All of the photos used were my own personal photos.
These are some samples of some of the things created.
In January 2013, Muskegon hosted the 2nd Annual USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game which showcased the top 40 draft eligible players in the league for NHL Scouts. The game draws over 200 NHL and college scouts to Muskegon. These are two graphics I created to promote the game. The first one was posted when the rosters were announced. The second graphic was posted the week of the game to promote the game and also to show off the jerseys the players would be wearing. I chose the tag “It’s Our Turn” because the Canadian Prospects Game had just been played and I wanted to play off the rivalry between the two leagues.
Two of the Lumberjacks players were named to play in the 2012 U20 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship. Frederik Tiffels played for Germany and Rasmus Bengtsson played for Sweden. I posted updates on Facebook as often as possible. It wasn’t easy since the games were in Russia, played early in the morning (luckily I’m a morning person), and not all of the games were broadcast on TV. I would search for online streams of the Swedish games. Sweden made it to the final game against Team USA.
The Lumberjacks had their first player in USHL history named player of the week in October. I needed to come up with a graphic quickly for when the story was posted online. The Lumberjacks ended up with 6 players of the week awards in 2012-13. I kept the same theme for all 6 graphics. Two of the players won multiple awards so I changed up their pictures to change up the graphics.
During the summer of 2012, I started posting to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter when it was one of the players (and the mascot’s) birthday. The first few were just single pictures of the players and at that time it was really all I could do because my picture options were limited for those players. They hadn’t been with the team for the entire season so there weren’t as many pictures of them. Once the season started, it was easier to create the graphics. I was able to make sure I had enough pictures of the players as their birthdays approached. As the season went on, besides just posting the graphic and wishing the player a happy birthday, I also added for fans to “LIKE” the photo to wish the player a happy birthday. The fan interaction increased with this simple step.
Here’s a quick post for tonight. This is a graphic I did about exactly a year ago for the USHL Draft. I wanted to give fans a behind-the-scenes look. I think this was actually one of the first posts on the Jack’s Instagram account. I have an Android phone so I had to hear about how great Instagram was before I had the chance to play.
AR Media 