Leah Bancroft dot com

Bent boutique is a brand created for an online store that sells apparel and accessories. The original concept for this project was to brand a concept store for an idea that I would like to one day fulfill.

For this project I have created a brand, website design for the brand application, and business cards and a letterhead. There is also a brand guide that helps define to future users of this brand how they are able to use the brand in different applications, and hopefully to inspire their designs, rather than restrict.

During my time at VFS, I had an opportunity to be a part of the Adobe Reel Ideas Studio project. In the second term of school I was chosen to be a part of a team as a Junior designer. Creating initial sketches, mind maps, and mood boards, we were able to effectively brand the Reel Ideas studio and continue applying the brand consistently throughout the rest of the website design. It was a great experience to be able to work on a large scale project with a diverse team of students, alumni, and teachers. Here is a link to my experiences and process.

The project was fast paced, deadline oriented, and subject to changes at any time which I feel gave me a great advantage in being familiar with how projects function in the industry. I was also able to take on more responsibility as a Junior designer, moving to being in charge of designing the ‘At The Theatre’ section of the website, where the documentaries form Cannes 2007 were showcased online.

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Launch Project

Versa onscreen magazine is for young women ages 15-18. For my final project at VFS I chose to create this magazine as an alternative type of publication than what you would normally find on the shelves today. For this project I also acted as Creative/Art Director, Editor, and Project manager. There were many different stages of this project that each took tasks to complete. From thorough research, to working iteratively when designing articles and the final brand, the experience I gained from this project took my understanding of project process to a new level.

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Launch project

The brief for Night Owl Gum was to create a snack/food product aimed at college students. After conducting research through surveys and interviews, I came to the conclusion that college students were constantly too busy to cook, eat healthily, and often didn’t have the money to spend on eating out. Because of these results I decided to create a product that focused on blending with the average female college student lifestyle. By narrowing my audience, I found it easier to satisfy one type of persona, than to try and go for such a large range.
With my new audience defined, I created mood boards, mind maps, and researched into direct and indirect competitors to get in the right mindset. I ended up developing a gum product that would give my audience energy when they needed it for studyin, partying, and overall fresh breath. It also acted as a meal replacement. These images are examples of the types of advertisements for Night Owl gum that would appear in women’s magazines.

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A photographic essay of typography found around downtown Vancouver. I went out to photography different styles of band/event posters found on walls, windows, and posts. It was an interesting collection to put together into a poster format.

I have a strong interest in typography, and enjoy trying to define what it is about a specific shape or form of a letter that speaks to me.

Recreating a DVD package and functioning DVD of a Dick Tracy episode now in the public domain. I have a background in DVD authoring so I found this project familiar, and fun to work on. I enjoyed creating a package and style that referenced the era it was from, but also making an effort to make it more relevant to a more modern audience.

Here are some screenshots of the final DVD package.

During my year at VFS, I did motion graphics and explored the art of design in motion. Working in a team of two, we created an infographic on meditation. Firstly working with a writer to come up with a script, storyboarding, and moodoards, we developed a clear vision of what needed to be said within the piece. Creating assets, and working with After Effects, I learned a lot about work flow, and the important of a solid folder structure. I also had a lot of fun working on the audio and voice over for this piece.

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Working as Art Director on a music video done for the song ‘Lies’ by Michelle Carter-Leigh, I was able to take on many leadership responsibilities. We worked in a team through pre-production, production, and post production, and kept in communication with our artist to make sure we were meeting the mark for her expectations. Shooting on the blue screen, we used Adobe After Effects to combine our graphical assets and live action footage to tell the story.

The process of this project was very organized, but the creativity for was able to flow into a well rounded music video. Here is a blog post about some of the process we went through.

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Fashion Factory was part of a 2D Graphics course taken at VFS. The assignment included taking photos of interesting shop windows in the local downtown area, then using Photoshop to create a new display. I decided to push my skills using displacement maps and blending modes to create a fashion spread for a magazine concept.

I really enjoy blending photography with 2D elements. I am always completing new tutorials to keep pushing my skills further.
Here is a link to a post which shows some original screens for this project.