2013 design School Portfolio.

Designed at a beach in Los Angeles, California. Crafted in my apartment on Venice Boulevard. Bound at a printer in downtown Los Angeles. It's meant to symbolize a peculiar relationship between art and industry while demonstrating concepts I'd learned during my studies

— graphic design.

Some photographs of John Hansen's final portfolio.

0/ Overview

I set out to convey

thoughts and experiences I had while studying graphic design in Santa Monica, California after a series of substantial personal events which collided. I condensed my internal experiences through work and then into a book for my final portfolio.I crafted it using vellum pages printed with my original notes ripped from their sources and altered by my new technical capabilities to illustrate the emotive part of this experience.I tried to capture my evolving ideas throughout my studies as I never thought it would happen, it was important to me.The ideas and resulting artifacts were merged and physically combined with very heavy, nearly absurd and almost impossible, page stock ironically showcasing the prints of my work, all bound in an understated, dark, hardcover and deliberately drone book printed and finally bound in old-style in downtown Los Angeles throughout a bustling three days. I used vellum pages to house my notes so as to overlay my the work to give a sense the primal form which was then refined and presented through a contextual layer, the work I presented:

1/ On me

A flippant introduction.

Space with hand over vellum, intimate. To introduce me without content, just context. A suggestion of de-emphasis.

2/ On subverted Intentions

Intention subverted.

Short forms in staccato, rapid communication resulting in the absence of communication. Vague promises in large amounts, quickly.

4/ On the essentiality of Sound

Pregnant remnants.

Suggestion extracted in the shape and color of an erratic winter storm — violent and sweet.

4/ On white space

Two negatives make
a positive.

A book is a portal.

4/ On exhibitionism

An exhibition is today.

A book is a portal.

5/ On Constance

I was honored to be invited back to school multiple times to give a presentation on the portfolio for other students.

This isn't all of it, but many of the core pieces to get the idea across. I really enjoyed building it, though it was very challenging and presented several special stresses. It essentially combined everything I learned put together, then crafted with almost every tool I recently discovered put into one of the most permanent formats: print, and made to explain it over and over at the portfolio show. I got a job at startup that would soon be called Oubly (link soon) shortly thereafter where I started as a freelancer designing greeting cards (something I'd wanted to do for a long time) and ended up full-time designing many things, including my intro to user interface which I became immediately infatuated with.

I was wearing a blazer and trousers I'd gotten just for this from the Men's Wearhouse and I despised both articles because they were too snug and expensive for my situation ——— regardless, I was made to present and explain my work through this discomfort, which think was very powerful for my personal growth. This is precisely what I had been looking for, I navigated through the design program deliberately as I went to school on the GI Bill (which can be a challenge by itself) during a precarious time in life so I wanted to ensure I got the core.

Sheridan Lowrey invited me back later to discuss it with future students much to my honor.