Portfolio by Andre Ornelas
Projects & Assignments
Part of my education sought to learn to be creative beyond photography and video production. This section is dedicated to all the graphic design projects I have done for clients, education, personal practice, and so on!
2024-2025
Florida Atlantic University
Art Minor Requirement
Moving back to Boca Raton to complete my education at FAU, I had to complete more credits to graduate. I was advised to take an Art Minor that would allow me to have more creative classes and act as a fill-in for those necessary credits. Here are a few pieces I've made as I complete the second half of my education.
2024
Visual Design Lab II
One of the final classes taken at FAU, this class completed the remaining elective credits for both my major and minor at FAU.
Project 1 - Animal Logo - Swamp Rabbit
Statement:
For this project, students had to research an animal naturally resident to Florida. For this assignment I choose the Swamp Rabbit.
2024
2D Art Foundation
Taking an art minor during my time at FAU, 2D Art Foundation was a required class I had to take. During the class, I learned some principles of beginning art. This includes tint and tones, Close Chuck Squares and micrograph.
Project 2 - Micrography
Statement:
My second to last art project had students choose a subject and design it under principles of micrography, an art style that utilizes text to form an image once completed. We also learned how to grid in this module, so we learned by designing Frida Kahlo. Frustrated that I had struggled with drawing Frida, I chose to continue my design using Frida, as she was the subject I initially was learning how to draw.
Project 3 - James Ornelas Portrait, through Close Chuck Squares
Statement:
My second to last art project had students choose a subject and design it under principles of micrography, an art style that utilizes text to form an image once completed. We also learned how to grid in this module, so we learned by designing Frida Kahlo. Frustrated that I had struggled with drawing Frida, I chose to continue my design using Frida, as she was the subject I initially was learning how to draw.
2024
Visual Design Lab 1
The first graphic design class after I left NSU due to the pandemic, I took this course during my junior year, and reintroduced myself to Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
Book 1 - Beautiful Birds of Boca
Statement:
To prepare for our final project, students were assigned to create an informative book about anything they'd like. This book was created to show birds found around Boca Raton Florida.​
Book 2 - Class Portfolio
Statement:
This small InDesign project compiles ALL of the assignments created for this class. Below are statements for each assignment.
10 Logos for fictional companies
Statement:
Simply put, this project had students create 10 different designs for fictious companies.
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Logo Design Redesign
Statement:
For this assignment, we needed to find a well known logo and redesign it using basic shapes and forms. Seeing the Nike Logo being a checkmark, I deconstructed and reconstructed the design in this redesign version. I also added an octagon to resemble a soccer ball, as it is one of the known sports supported and utilized by Nike.
Mashup Designs with Pointillism
Statement:
The class started by familiarizing students with the Bauhaus, Pop Art, Abstract, and Expressionism movements. That said, students had to select two movements from this module to create a design that merges these movements. Having only eaten a packet of M&Ms for breakfast, this became my inspiration. I designed this mash up with the Pop Art Movement (1950s -1960s) and the Digital Revolution popularized in the late 20th century. I looked at the ampersand symbol and realized it looked like a 3. I was also inspired by how I wrote the ampersand, confirming the notion of making M&M into a minimal digital design. Students then learned the elements of graphic design: Point, Line, Shape, Form, Texture, Color, Value, and Space. In this, I manipulated layers by clipping a Halftone adjustment to the layers I already had, and so, this remix was born.​
Positive and Negative Poster
Statement:
Maybe one of my favorite projects from this class, students learned how to create posters that incorporate positive and negative spaces in a design. This design was inspired by The Backrooms, an internet community that makes a world of liminal spaces. Below is a passage of what I wrote for the assignment's theme:
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Theme: The Freedom of Liminal Spaces
Liminal Spaces are familiar spaces casts in the uncanny. It is also the place a person resides during a transitional period in life. This can be physical, emotional, or metaphorical limitations. Color represents a person's emotional state during troubling times, a liminal mind, if you may. Uncertainty dwells as life goes from being full of color, to being monochromatic greys. The key may be bright and big, but a shadow of hesitation plagues people from taking action. The keyhole is small, but the center is a clear straight path to get out and access a larger area in life. Grain is used to represent the memories of being in liminal space.
2022-2023
Nova Southeastern University
Graphic Design
During my "first" freshman year, I attended Nova Southeastern University.
One requirement of their Art + Design Major/ Graphic Design concentration
had students participate in ARTS 2190 Introduction to Graphic Design.
This section is dedicated to those projects.