Professional Excellence at Texas State

Professional Excellence at Texas State, also known internally as the Fall / Spring preview, is a digital catalog of all of the workshops offered to the faculty and staff of Texas State University. It is released twice a year; in the fall and in the spring. The fall catalog introduces a theme that is carried into the spring catalog. In these two examples, I was in charge of concepts, design, art direction, and photography.

Both of these examples were very hands-on. For the catalog with the theme “A Thousand Fibers Connect Us,” I adhered twine to large pieces of foam board. I created a map of the university using one very long piece so that everything you see is connected. The theme continues into the spring with the title “The World is Shrinking As We All Know.” The map expands beyond the university and into Texas, the world, and outer space. After creating these large maps, I coordinated a photoshoot with another department of the University, then brought it to the computer.

The second example proposed an interesting challenge. A theme around hot air balloons was chosen and the project was nearly complete, when there was a major hot air balloon disaster in a town not far from the university. The theme was instantly rejected and we had to think fast, as the deadline was only one week away. After a productive brainstorming session, we had this idea built around stones. Strange at first, yet came together in the end. With the help of coworkers, we wrote words on stones expressing the university’s core values. I then photographed the stones in different environments and situations.