Emma Smith Design

Skills & Tools: Graphic Design, Science Communication, Video Editing, Partner Collaborations, Social Media Strategy, Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom), Canva

ROLE SUMMARY: As an integral part of the Marketing & Communications team at a material innovation startup, I supported the organization through Series A fundraising by managing a thriving online community of over 160K followers (@swaythefuture). My work spanned the creation of educational graphics, carousels, videos, and marketing materials deployed across channels, alongside daily management of social media accounts, the team inbox, asset library, and inbound inquiries. Below is a selection of my favorite designs, but view them all on Instagram @swaythefuture

Case study: Interview Application Post (spoiler, I got the job!)

Duration: <1 week

Skills & Tools: Graphic Design, Visual Storytelling, Social Media Strategy,

Adobe Illustrator + Lightroom, Cyanotype Printmaking

PROJECT SUMMARY: As the final stage of the interview process for the Content + Community Coordinator at Sway the Future, a climate tech startup that creates seaweed-based materials, I was tasked with creating an Instagram post for Sway's account. In line with their theme of optimistic and informative climate-related content, I decided to create a carousel post discussing plastic pollution and the myriad of potential solutions to the issue. To better integrate the concept and visuals, I collected trash from a local beach and used it to create cyanotype prints, which serve as the backdrop for the information.

In the past few years, social media has become saturated and impersonal, so I wanted to create a post that 1) is informative 2) can involve hands-on processes and 3) can make a positive impact beyond the screen.

PROCESS:

1. Ideation phase

2. Beach cleanup & cyanotype printing

3. Bring into Lightroom and Illustrator to design post

Initial Brainstorm

Ideation & Thumbnail Sketches

Inspiration posts & Sway assets

CYANOTYPE PRINTING: Cyanotype is a type of printmaking that involves using a solution to expose objects to the sun, leaving behind a silhouette of the shapes. I chose to work with cyanotype because a lot of Sway's posts are monochromatic, using white or off-white as an accent color against a colored background (the 'Progress Not Perfection' and 'Fossil Fuel' examples above reminded me of cyanotype printing). I've worked with cyanotype before so I had all of the materials already! I'm super inspired by seaweed cyanotype artists Oriana Poindexter and Anna Atkins!