Emma L Cowley

To see more recent examples of my work, please email me at ecowleygd@gmail.com.

Since July 2020, I have worked as a designer at Claire’s & Icing, specializing in product for ages 12+ including stationery, drinkware, homeware, party accessories, keychains, bridal, holiday items, and more.

My responsibilities include lead and assistant designing, tech packing, and overseeing product execution from conception to production. I communicate daily with buying teams and overseas vendors regarding cost and product development.

I also assist our in-house trend team with trend research, including seasonal comparison shopping in Chicago and New York City.

1 BOOK (140 pages)

When challenged by age and illness, Art Paul didn’t stop creating. After serving as Art Director at Playboy for 30 years, Art dedicated every day to his fine art. At ninety, he let his wife, Suzanne Seed, sort the lifetime of drawings he’d haphazardly stashed away. A new theme emerged in his later work—he dealt with aging in drawings that were whimsical, philosophical, even playful, about blindness, aphasia, dementia, and death.

Together, Suzanne and I compiled and categorized Art’s drawings and writings to create Every Line is a Road. Observing his mostly black & white, linear drawing style adopted toward the end of his life, we combined his distinctive sketches and optimistic writings with a modern typeface (Futura), exemplifying his positive outlook on aging, illness and death. The result is a curated celebration of some of Art’s most personal work, a gift to the world from the person who knew him best.

1 EXHIBITION POSTER

1 BOOK (64 pages)

13 POSTCARDS

The “space between” is hard to define. It is liminal; a boundary or threshold. It can be disconcerting and mundane, but there is value in liminal spaces and transience; it is where the mind rules without distraction. Mute but actively observant, we piece together these liminal situations and reflect. Design, after all, mediates; I am an observer and a maker. I am drawn to indeterminate spaces that inspire the mediated and choreographic projects I produce.

This year-long project consisted of one research and one production semester. I wanted to express the feeling of being in “the space between” through 2D and 3D graphics, photography, and words. The exhibition poster is a combination of three posters, the results of preliminary graphic exploration of the topic. The book consists of a research paper, my own photography of “the liminal”, and two-dimensional graphics throughout, representative of space and travel. Each of the thirteen postcards features a photograph and a handwritten letter to a person, place or situation concerning a transitional event or feeling.

1 EXPLODED VIEW

1 ORTHOGRAPHIC DRAWING

1 HERO DRAWING

1 CONSOLE CONCEPT

After choosing an object, in my case a small game console, I completed four sets of drawings. By taking the object apart, I was able to complete an exploded view drawing, showcasing nearly every part of the console in isometric form. The orthographic drawing documents the console’s top, front, bottom, back, and left and right sides. The hero drawing is a perspective drawing incorporating shadow, highlight, and detail. The fourth drawing is a theoretical re-design of the console with callouts. (All drawings done by hand.)

Just for fun!

1 BOOK (24 pages)

An introduction to the aesthetics and mechanics of typographic form and usage. Students complete a type specimen book, combining a story or book with a typeface. The students’ goals include representing elements of the story and presenting technical and creative use of their chosen typeface. They gain an understanding for the measurement system distinct to the discipline of typography; learn recognition and classification; explore alignment, hierarchy and legibility. This course introduces students to universal and essential qualities of typography in the context of design practice.

Combining the classic dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and the typeface Helvetica, I wanted to create a type specimen book that represents each equally. The novel is from the past but in many ways it represents the future—censorship, technology and surveillance are all still deep concerns in American society. Helvetica is a neutral typeface but it’s timeless. The result of this pairing is a new life for the novel and a new meaning for the typeface.