Travis Cumbest Portfolio

Hello my name is travis cumbest

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Travis Cumbest

Table of contents Dead Herrings

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We Are Here

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Sang Pa

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The Big Show

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The Otherside

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My Name is Ozymandias

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The Otter Society

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Shirtliff Ginger Ale

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Sony Annual Report

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Revelry 2021

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The Bruges Bus

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Portfolio

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Dead Herrings 4

Travis Cumbest

On a small island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, a light house with a dark, mysterious history and a foreboding atmosphere rests. Legends from the local mainland fishing village tell tales of an island where no fish can be caught and where sailors go to die.

This hasn’t stopped curious eyes from gazing towards it. As six visitors become trapped on the island with no way to return to the mainland until the next ferry, they must discover who has been picking them off one by one before all of them become Dead Herrings themselves.

For this project, we were tasked with illustrating and designing a board game using the rules and play style of an existing game. For this project, I chose my favorite board game. CLUE. I love mysteries, puzzles, games, the atmosphere of MuRdEr! *Cough*. I loved reading books as a kid like “Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle, “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie, and tons of the old school Detective Comics Batman stories from the 70’s and 80’s, so choosing this CLUE only made sense.

Another source of inspiration I used for this was a movie that came out a few years ago called “Knives Out” directed by Ria Johnson. I listened to the orchestral soundtrack from that movie probably a hundred times while designing this game, and I’m even listening to it now as I write this.

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Growing up, my family would always take trips to a place called Dauphin Island, Alabama. It was a small Island off the Gulf Coast, and it was a kid mystery hunter’s dream. It had an old Civil War fort on one side, a Hurricane Ravaged sand bar that stretched for miles on the other, and off its shores to the south was a creepy, copper colored, abandoned lighthouse.

When Spanish settlers first arrived on Dauphin Island’s shores, they said there were so many human skeletons piled together that they named it “Massacre Island”. Very appropriate. (It was later determined that the Native American tribes used the islands as a Burial Ground and as a place to shuck oysters).

So, it was only natural for me to use a mysterious island setting for my murder mystery board game. Plus, it’s exactly like “And Then There Were None”.

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Travis Cumbest

I chose the name “Dead Herrings” to allude to the logical fallacy/ literary device called a “Red Herring”, which is something that misleads or distracts from an important or relevant detail. I just changed Red to Dead and turned it into a very cool and ominous title.The name then gave me the iconography of a literal red herring’s skeleton. The fish iconography led me to changing the two D’s in the word mark to be fishing hooks.

I chose red because it’s in the phrase “red” herring and it alludes back to blood. Add some more fishing iconography, a dark and mysterious setting, and a cast of colorful characters with dubious motives, and you’ve got yourself not only a great board game, but also a great story, which is what I wanted. A great story.

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Travis Cumbest

We Are Here

2021 Gold Addy Judges Choice

Award Winning

As a creative director at the School of Performing and Visual Art’s Social Media and Marketing Team at USM, I was tasked with creating a commercial for our school. It was meant to be a message to a mid Covid-19 world saying that we were still open, and that we would get through this together, because we are a family, and we are artists, and that WE ARE HERE.

used for this video, and I even had to use some student’s instagram posts.

I was a bit worried about the reception of it, having worked so hard on it, so I was happy when the first word to come out of my director’s mouth was “Damn”.

In February 2021, this video won a Golden Addy and won the Judges Choice Award for student work. My hard work had paid off.

Our director showed me these Apple ads where the type was moving so fast you barely had time to read it, yet your mind could still tell what it said. I was hesitant, but I went for it. I spent a whole day and a half straight doing nothing but editing. I painstakingly went over every beat of this music so that the timing of every image transition would be perfect. Every single image the SPVA had was

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Sang Pa Coffee 10

Travis Cumbest

There once was a mighty and powerful king who ruled land in the East. His name was Fa Ngum. As he traversed the mountanous areas he called home, he passed over a hill and gazed at a vast stretch of land swarmed with giant, beautiful, powerful, grazing Asian elephants. He decided then to make this place the capitol of his new kingdom, and they called it Lan Xang or “Land of a Million Elephants.”

In honor of this culturally rich Asian country, I decided to base this project on the country of what is today refered to as Laos. It is a small country which borders five other countries, including Thailand.

For the coffee bag designs, I used a canvas sack to create an authentic and rustic texture. On top of the texture, a large secondary water mark of the elephant illustration can be vaguely seen. I placed the pattern on both sides of the bag to help express the feeling the culture gives off and to also fill the empty space.

A strip of the pattern was placed at the bottom of the bag to not only give the design weight, but to also bring attention to the label that holds the important information such as coffee type, brew, weight, and type.

The logo is placed in the center. The square design contrasts with the natural illustration, giving the logo a

more modern appeal. The type of coffee is then placed vertically next to the logo.

The menu follows similiar rules about gravity, texture, and contrast as the bag designs. The menu is full of not only different types of brewed coffee that are made from these Laos coffee beans, but it is also filled with a few authentic and delicious Laotian cuisine.

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Award Winning 2021 Silver Addy

As a continuation of the Sang Pa Coffee Company, I also designed this look book, which is intended to give off the feeling of what the Sang Pa company is all about. It includes images and scenes from Laos, map designs, my coffee packaging designs, facts about Laos, and more.

With a country as culturaly rich and beautiful as Laos, it’s really fun to show the research that went into the project itself and explain why I did what I did with certain aspects of my branding.

This project won a Silver Addy Award in 2021.

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Travis Cumbest

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Travis Cumbest

We Are Here

Another project I did for the SPVA at USM was a poster/ ad design for our annual event called “The Big Show”. The Big Show is similiar to the SPVA’s Revelry event in that the school hosts tons of different workshops, events, and speakers to share the experiences of other artists, dancers, and performers.

I decided to design this project as a ticket for the big show. I chose orange and blue because they’re attention grabbing and complimentary. It also helped that it wasn’t the cliche’ monochromatic red that is usually present when designing for anything theatre. I used a halftone image of curtains for the background to help give some depth to the image and contrast with the ticket itself.

The blue grid pattern presented on the ticket is indicative of a stage light, shining down to show a unique pattern and set the scene. While I very much could have used a normal solid spot light, I felt that providing a pattern gave the design a unique feeling and pattern. The display type is used in multiple different ways to help show the variety involved in the event without going overboard.

Because of Covid-19, this design was used primarily as a social media ad. The design itself however could also be used as a real ticket for the event itself.

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The Otherside

For my Senior Capstone Project, I invented a comedy club that uses an online platform to host its in-person performances, which would allow for maximum audience attendance during Covid-19. I named this club “The Otherside Comedy Club & Bar.” I created a website, three motion graphics clips, a video commercial, an ad campaign with social media ads, billboards and bus signs, and merchandising, including a pin, hoodies and shirts, a shot glass, and stickers.

I based my branding on the classic “why did the chicken cross the road” joke using chicken iconography.

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Travis Cumbest

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Travis Cumbest

Ozymandias

2021 Gold Addy

Award Winning

I had so much fun and produced so much cortisol making this video for my Motion Graphics II class. We had to pick a poem, record audio of our own voices narrating the poem, and then make a motion grahics video for the poem.

I had a little experience in voice acting from middle and high school. I bought my very first NTG-2 Microphone and Zoom H4n recorder when I was 13 so my friends and I could make voice overs for animated videos. I had saved up for almost a year and collected so many one dollar bills that the white haired man behind the counter at Guitar Center asked if I was a stripper. (An odd question to ask a middle school boy).

The poem I chose was Ozymandias by Percy Busshe Shelly. I loved the way he describs the environment and told a story using so few words. I read that poem so many times and imagined myself as the narrator, and what I produced is fairly close to how I pictured it in my head.

This was also some of my first work done with After Effects. The type animations came out great. I used about five different types of overlays and effects ranging from dust particles, lense flares, and blowing dust. I love telling stories, and this was a great way to visualize such an amazing poem.

In February 2021, this video won a Golden Addy for the MS, Gulf Coast in the category Elements of Advertising, Animation or Special Effects.

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The Otter Society 20 Travis Cumbest

Being the man of mystery I am, I love reading and watching documentaries about secret societies. I mean, who hasn’t thought about getting their friends together and writing secret and ominous messages back and forth through covert means? I had always really wanted to make one one day, so when my graphic communications professor asked for project ideas we might like to do, I quickly raised my hand and said “Secret Society Project”. So, we started work on creating an invitation set for an exclusive event held by a secret society of our making. We had to have an envelope, an invitation, an RSVP, a ticket, and a leave behind.

7974 Queen Court East Elmhurst, NY 11370

Mr. Wesley & Jenni�fer Cumbest 2930 Moon Lit Rd. Tecumseh, Michigan 49286

I created “The Otter Society”. It’s a group of one percenters who believe they have the literal “Secrets to Success”, and they only share their secrets and techniques with those they deem worthy. The otter represents determination, the snake represents the things blocking your path, and the moon represents power. I created a secret event called “The Super New Moon Masquerade” which is a black tie event where new members are initiated and existing members, if deemed worthy, advance in rank, thus gaining a little

more knowledge. The only way into the event is to use an RFID lapel pin with the logo laser etched into it. This works as your ticket, and the leave behind is a pure copper coin that helps you absorb cosmic energy.

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Shirtliff Ginger Ale 22

Travis Cumbest

Robert Shirtliff was a true American patriot if there ever was one. During the Revolutionary War, Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man in order to serve the continental army, and from then on she was historically recorded as being a high ranking bad ass.

That is why I chose to use her story as inspiration for my ginger ale packaging.

I wanted to try to stretch my photoshop muscles for this project, so my roommate and I went over to the University of Southern Mississippi’s School of Theatre, and they were very generous to let us use some of their costume pieces for my photograph references.

I knew that this project could have gotten very red, white, and blue, but I wanted to break away from the cliche a little bit, so I replaced the red with gold. It’s the color most associated with hops, and it gives the design more of an award winning feel. Patriotic scenes were then photoshoped into the back ground using a smoke effect, like on a battlefield.

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Sony Annual Report 24 Travis Cumbest

One of my first publication design challenges was to choose a company and redesign one of their Annual Reports.

For this project, I chose to redesign Sony’s 2013 Annual Report, which ended up having MANY tables, charts, and figures. I also ended up using many modern looking royalty free images.

I did decide that the thing Sony’s Annual Report needed was some color, which is why each section of the book has a colored theme. For a company that has its hands in so many different fields, I felt that the design desperately needed to represent that in some way.

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Travis Cumbest

Revelry 2021

As part of SPVA, I was tasked with directing the video ad campaign for SPVA’s 2021 Revelry Event. In this event, all four sections of the school, theatre, dance, art, and design, come together to host different events, workshops, speaking engagements, and activities for new, current, and past students to enjoy. Events include swordfighting, screen printing, dance demonstrations, figure drawing, and so much more.

This was for the third annual Revelry, and every year, the design for Revelry is a little different but mainly in its colors, so I knew I wanted to do something different, but I wasn’t sure how yet. At the time of this project, I was rewatching every Disney “TRON” movie, watching the TV show, and listening to the remix

edition of the “TRON: Legacy” soundtrack made by Daft Punk. That may or may not have influenced my design just a tiny smidge, so when choosing music, I presented a generic rock song and this really dark eighties synth music.

Everyone was in love with the song, and from then on we decided to make the entire theme for this year’s Revelry the 80’s. We did all sorts of 80’s related videos from workout videos to cheesy dramas, but I really wanted to encapsulate what I loved about the original analog, “scanimate” machines.

So, with my inspirations, I went to work, and I am very proud of the result.

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showcased

The Bruges Bus

2020 NATIONAL STUDENT SHOW AND CONFERENCE

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For this project, I had to design a food truck and its branding. The catch is, the food truck had to be based on a country.

For my country, I chose Belgium, which is known for their excellent food including chicken and waffles, french fries, and an assortment of delicious condiments.

Bruges, pronounced “Broo-jiz”, is one of the largest cities in Belgium and is rich with culture. So, with a little double aliteration, I came up with the name “The Bruges Bus”.

I created a coat of arms for this food truck consisting of a waffle with classic horns displayed behind it. I used this mainly as a

secondary logo, but placed it behind my word mark as a light accent.

I chose colors similiar to the Belgian flag, but because the Belgian and German flags are so similiar, I altered and switched some colors out to avoid confusion. This also helps to make this truck feel like its own entity.

The pattern uses every color, and I used squares to represent the square shapes on waffles.

I also designed packaging consisting of a food box, a fry box, wraps, stickers, sauce packages, punch cards, and a carrying case to hold it all. I used unique box shapes to show just how unique belgium really is.

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The food truck itself was very fun to design. The pattern was used as a trim to help carry the branding and give the design weight. The tan meets the blue in the front of the bus in a curved fashion to represent the curve of a waffle. The curve also helps to lead the viewer down to the menu and towards the ordering window.

I also created a one page website for the company that includes a homepage, a menu, the location of the truck on any given day, an about us page, and contact information. To see a video of the website, scan the QR code on the left.

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