Elya Stumbaugh
elyastumbaugh@gmail.com
01.
Magazine: Green Brown Orange and Pink
Design a compelling magazine that showcases and celebrates the diversity of Chicago’s local artists and creative community.
Solution
The L (Loop) acts as a unifying theme, reflecting the way many local artist move through the city and connect with one another. The final design draws inspiration from various qualities of the train: its movement, color cues, sound, and event structural elements like the rounded windows—all while maintaining a sophisticated, readable layout. The result is a magazine that visually engages readers without compromising readability.
02.
Saltwater Seafood
Develop an Itameshi (Italian-Japanese fusion) seafood brand that stand out in crowded grocery aisles. The visual identity needs to convey a high-quality product while remaining playful and inviting enough to capture shopper attention.
Solution
Saltwater’s visual identity balances simplicity with boldness, combining strong geometric forms and delicate details inspired by woodblock stamps. A primarily black and white palette reinforces a sense of quality associated with luxury brands while creating high contrast that cuts through the the saturated colors of competing products.
03.
93Energy Brand Redesign
As 93Energy grew beyong solar installation into broader renewable solutions, the company needed an expanded visual identity that could support its future direction while honoring its origins.
Solution
The refreshed brandmark preserves the recognizable “heart” of the original 93Energy logo while introducing cleaner, more professional typography. A new primary blue palette was added to reinforce a sense of reliability, transparency, and long-term trust.
04.
Sandbox Theatre: Romeo and Juliet Illustration and Graphics
Illustrating and designing graphical elements for the print and digital marketing of Sandbox Theatre Collective’s queer reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet, ensuring the visuals align with the production’s 70s-inspired theme.
Solution
Drawing from the productions expressive use of colored lighting, star motifs were created to echo their emotional shifts while also referencing the iconic “star-croossed lovers” line. The central illustration positions Romeo and Juliet in opposing orientations, visually capturing the tension and imbalance in their relationship.
Social media posts designed by Emma Marie Montoya
05.
Florence + The Machine Concert Poster
Self-initiated poster design for Florence + The Machine’s performance at Experience Milano in Italy. The layout needed to be flexible enough to adapt into a live album cover and accompanying merchandice.
Solution
Experience Milano’s architecture features intricate, flowing forms reminiscent of Art Nouveau, a quality that parallels Florence Welch’s performance style. The poster integrates typographic cues and textural elements from popular pieces during the Art Nouveau movement, guiding the viewer’s eye through the composition with the same sense of graceful motion embodied in the venue and artist.
06.
Access Living Social Poster
Create an eye-catching poster and mailer for Access Living that effectively raises awareness of the organization’s mission and the broader conversation around accessibility.
Solution
In downtown Chicago, one of the most visible accessibility features is the raised sidewalk mats designed for blind and low-vision pedestrians. The poster design “connects the dots” of these tactile patterns to highlight the number of Chicagoans with disabilities, both visable and invisable. By reframing a familiar urban detail, the piece bring accessibility to the forefront in a clear, impactful way.
07.
Music is Alive!!! Album Merch
Develop a visually compelling album cover and merchandise system that thoughtfully merges two contrasting source albums. The challenge centered on pushing the boundaries of design samplying while unifying opposing visual and musical styles into a single, cohesive identity.
Solution
Key visual components were sampled from both albums and informed by deeper research into each artist’s history and stylistic approach. The resulting concept (Music is Alive!!! by Allies and Friends [and enemies]) explores how design can express community and bridge the gap between Holly Near’s softer, introspective sound and the bold, playful energy of Sid Feller and co. The repeated exclamation marks celebrate Feller’s exuberant style, while a restrained color palette reflects Near’s contemplative tone.
08.
Zine: Old Colony Elevators
Creating a zine that translate written observation about the Old Colony elevators, capturing what they feel like, sound like, and look like. The design must give readers a sense of “being there” while remaining flexible enough to accommodate future story additions.
Solution
The zine draws directly from the elevators’ visual language, incorporating elements such as buttons, number labels (repurposed as page numbers), and emergency exit maps. Although structured like a traditional book, it can be read both front-to-back and back-to-front, mirroring the elevators up-and-down motion and immersing the reader in the experience.
09.
Zine: Living in the moment manifesto
Tranform a simple bullet-point manifesto into a visually engaging zine that feels expressive, cohesive, and conceptually driven.
Solution
Drawing inspiration from concrete poetry, the manifesto was reinterpreted as a flowing visual narrative rather than a static list. Color was used to maintain distinction between individual ideas while harmonizing them into a unified, dynamic composition.