CatCreative_Portfolio

Hi Y'all!

My name is Catherine V. Henke, but I have always preferred going by Cat because the simplicity and friendliness always felt more fitting for who I am. Born and raised in Texas, I graduated high school a year early, leaving my small town at barely 17. I then came to Texas A&M - Corpus Christi to study Graphic Design, where I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in May of 2023. During my time there, I also pursued a minor in Business Administration and plan to start a master's in business admin. While academically gifted, I have always been drawn to the creative world. In the past years, I have participated in our non-profit event, One Day & the past year, I have interned with the TAMU-CC's Marketing & Communication department, where I have gotten the opportunity to work at a professional pace and developed into a designer I am now.

As you look at some of my proudest work, I hope you enjoy the final solutions as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Content

True Tales

Magazine Publication Case Study

Freedom Body

Packaging Series

Be the Broker

App Design Case Study

Hydrojug

Product Catalog

Lyssy & Eckel

Web Design

Best Maid

Rebrand

True Tales Magazine

Branding Publication Illustration

Overview

True Tales is a fictional true crime magazine focused on giving its readers educational content and new outlets to learn more. Readers can expect articles ranging from true stories, crime statistics, and advances in criminology, as well as less intense articles relating to new content they will enjoy.

Solution

For this project, I created a 24-page magazine publication with custom-illustrated elements. This assignment's options were to either create our own branded magazine or choose an existing brand. I decided to produce my publication titled True Tales, a true crime publication with content for avid crime enthusiasts who enjoy the gritty details and for the more relaxed and casual true crime audience. With multiple revisions of content and style to better connect with the reader and become more modern, this magazine has its place on a reader's coffee table.

Logo Process

With the original name intended to be True Mystery, the logo design process became more difficult due to the vast differences in the word's length. Thus with some more brainstorming, the name was changed to True Tales, a more catchy alternative. The logo began as a stacked option but, after much feedback, was reduced to a single line and absent of all-round edges to appear more modern and sleek.

General Process

Wordlisting and Flatplans

Original Logo Lockup Final Logo Lockup

General Standards

Cover Development

Originally designed to correspond with a different article, the cover began as photos manipulated with cover overlays, a preliminary design choice nixed from the piece, and then the cover art. With the feature article switched to the evolution of crime scene photography. With this change, I decided the cover should include sketch-style illustrations with found photo components to better fit into the publication’s feature article. I then added sketch-style illustrations to help censor images on the cover.

Draft Cover

Final Cover

Monte Stella - Bold Italic

Subhead

Proxima Nova- Bold

Proxima Nova- Medium

Monte Stella - Bold Header

Pull Quotes

Monte Stella - Regular

2

is the body copy used throughout the publication.

Illustrations

I drew sketch illustrations in Adobe Fresco to correlate the cover to the rest of the articles included.

Freedom Body Packaging Series

Branding Illustration Packaging Advertising

Overview

Freedom Body is a body care line focused on caring for its customers from the outside to the inside, focused on taking care of your skin and mental health. With 10% of profits being donated to an active mind, an organization focused on education on common mental illnesses like anxiety and depression; Freedom Body looks to make a difference.

Solution

For this collection, I created two packaging executions, one that had to be a milk carton and another a label wrap. Later, I expanded the project by adding a print ad and six social media ads to showcase the products.

In the execution, I illustrated wrapping elements associated with the scent of each product to engage the consumer to pick up, read and continue to turn the product around. The colors are also associated with its scent, making it easy to expand the line of products if necessary and easy for consumers to associate the products with its designated line.

Be the Broker

App Design

Branding UI/Ux

Overview

Spending Tracker is a free app available in the app store. While the app is functional, it needed a facelift in both the UI and UX departments. Spending Tracker, while not very pleasing to the eye, offers some great features like manual entires, customization, and easy accessibility.

Solution

After selecting an already-made app, Spending Tracker, I was tasked to redesign the app in an enjoyable way for users and change the user's overall experience. In the rebrand, I wanted to modernize the design and add new features to the app in the prototyping process. With a new name and new features, Be the Broker was created. While managing your finances is not something most enjoy, I wanted to change that with this app. With fun transitional screens, step-by-step instructions, color coordination, and customization, the app makes managing money enjoyable and painless.

General Process

Created in 2012, while the app's functions evolved, the aesthetic did not. Stuck in a similar look to the early days of the iPhone spending tracker lacked engagement and customization opportunities but was easy to use and complete user operations. Besides the muted neutral color palette, the app used red and green to help define spending habits, which the user easily understood. Most of this rebrand focused on the user interface.

Rebrand

With the original name needing a revamp, I came up with Be the Broker, with the tagline "Don't be broke, be the Broker" to help signify the app wants to help you better understand your finances. When creating the icon widget, I included the B to create an app that stood out amongst the users' home screen apps. Final

Brand Standards

To brighten the app's look, I revamped the neutral color palette but used pops of vibrant red-orange and a teal to emphasize on and off states and positive and negative effects on their spending habits.

Transition User Inferface

To create a more engaging experience for the user, I created fun transition screens that played into the app's functionality to make going about the app more exciting and enjoyable.

Scan Here

Open Sans - Regular - Body Copy

High Fidelity Wireframes

At the beginning of my process, I created an initial set of wireframes to help the layout be consistent and follow all possible user flows. There were initially 30 high fidelity wireframes created.

#918A75

Money #ffe8ca Paper #40CFB8 Cash Out #ff471d Big Spender #33333a Ink

Hydrojug Catalog

Publication

Overview

A small indie company now sold in central retail locations, Hydrojugs' influence has spread. Showcasing their newest products and accessories, this catalog was created with the thought of being mailed out to customers to see what is getting released in the spring.

Solution

The catalog I created a 16-page catalog. Besides its logo, Hydrojug only had minimal branding. So I expanded their color palette and wanted to show the brand's personality through product photography and organically shaped elements.

Lyssy & Eckel

Web Design

Branding UI/Ux

Overview

Lyssy and Eckel manufactures quality cattle feeds, deer feeds, show calf feeds, show lamb feeds, show goat feeds, horse feeds, cottonseed cubes, range cubes, minerals and custom formulations. They also offer a complete line of agricultural products including tack, animal health and wildlife products.

Solution

In the rebrand I wanted to make the site easier to navigate,Increase sales, and become an authoritative resource for our customers. Founded in my home town, I came into the project with lots of prior knowldedge of the brand and its customer base. Keeping their signature LE monogram from the original cattle brand of the company I incorpurated it into a new badge to better fit the new design choices. Bright colors were also brought in to the design. Intergration of hover states were added throughout the prototype to engage the customer to shop more areas of the cite. More customer images were also included to show how well the product in question works and also give opportunity for customer recognition.

General Standards & Logo

Screen Designs

#113e4a Rain #f0debd Feed Sack #d95843 Hunter #ff471d Grass #f1b150 Grain

Best Maid Pickles

Rebrand

Branding Publication Illustration Advertising

Overview

Founded in 1926 by the Dalton Family, Best Maid Pickles has been a Texan favorite brand. With lots of brand recognition behind their mascot Miss Smiley, the brand has been a staple in homes across the southern states. Texas-based and Family operated, the brand is sold at significant retailers, online on their site, and at their Emporium.

Solution

This project involved creating a new logo, where I adopted the short name Best Maid, an identity system, ephemera, packaging, advertisements, environmental, and an annual report. While designing, I kept in mind the goal of creating new branding that reflects the old will excite consumers and be easily adaptable for all business areas.

Logo Lockups Identity System

Packaging