Nikolai Designs is a freelance design company created by Nikolai Pugh. As a designer I will diligently work on all projects to ensure the best work possible for each client. Work includes anything from advertisments, campaign materials, CSS, HTML, illustrations, spreadsheets, and layout designs.
This logo is something I have worked on and thought about for a while before executing in Illustrator. First, I came up with a sketch idea. After multiple designs, I decided to settle on something simpler and more whimsical. When I originally worked on designing this logo, I knew I wanted it to be for a type of restaurant; however, that slowly changed into a tea shop instead. Bubble tea is incredibly delicious! I love the fun colors in most of the stores and wished more of them incorporated the light, airy feel in their logos too! I wanted to make the logo I created fun, but also holding some sophistication to it. If I were to envision Mitsu as an actual place, I could see it as a nice hangout spot for young adults, mostly college students, and even young business workers enjoying a treat after a long day. Aside from keeping this in mind, I also wanted to keep true to the meaning of the word Mitsu. The word has different meanings, and the two that stuck out to me was the words ‘shining, bright, and tree’ all of which are rejuvenating and lively. This is showcased not only in the sleek modern design, but also in the color choices! This was fun to create and was a joy to watch the idea come to life.
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Crows mean a lot to me and while the misconception of them is that they are bad omens, crows are symbolic of new beginnings and good luck! Another thing about crows is that they, along with foxes, are often two animals my significant other and I often either draw art of, buy jewelry of, or tend to find comfort in. They are representational of us in several ways, mainly due to us sticking together through thick and thin, as well as our strong bond. So, being able to include this illustration is something that I really wanted to do.
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I decided to look up some spa ads to see what I could do to update it and make it stronger! Along with the advice from my peers I figured out what to do. I wanted to keep the picture I originally had, but I changed it a lot. One thing I did, other than cropping it, was I edited it quite a bit too. I also decided to find another picture that really captured the spa vibe! Both images were edited and enhanced in photoshop, before being moved to Illustrator to finish the product. To make the text more visible, I also added an overlay over the images, and kept the text box on the bottom behind the text there. I am very happy with the result of this piece.
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I decided to make it look as though it was sitting up and had folds. This was to make it more presentable and to show off what it would look like if it were printed. I am still insanely proud of the design of this as well as how the images accent it very well. The main goal in this project was to include colors that matched with the colors of the company, and i even wanted the food to showcase that as well! Overall, I really enjoy the way the refined piece came out.
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This is a piece that I did earlier on in my graphic career at SNHU. We were supposed to pick a famous designer and base a calendar from their creations. I ended up picking Milton Glaser, as he and Paul Rand are two of my favorites, and wanted to capture some of his colorful and contrasting designs. I have always been a fan of his Bob Dylan poster and that was one of the main influences with the design! I decided to completely change up the layout and took some advice from my peers and made the colors visible even between the calendar dates. Originally, I had made the boxes black and had the idea that people could write on it using a silver marker or something like that. Though, with this new idea, I adopted the original white box layout of most calendars. I wanted to keep the fun edges in my design, so I made sure to keep rounded edges, which could easily be done even on a full calendar booklet.
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I still use a pixel design of this logo as a web graphic. I did take the advice of one of my peers and decided to make a vector out of it! The image includes my common username for most sites, as this was what the original icon was for, and still incorporates the colors to it as well. It shows off my original character nicely while still fitting into the idea of my personal brand products, with different colors, of course. Since it is now a vector piece it will be easy to scale it down or make it larger without losing any of the overall design. I really wanted to add the red orchids from the original drawing too and decided to add one behind the fox head instead. Red orchids are symbolic of passion and desire, while also often symbolizing strength and courage as well. I believe that this suits me as it shows how far I have come as an artist and displays my determination too. I really appreciated the feedback I received because it was one of the pieces, I really wanted to do more with.
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Here we have my People magazine mock-up. One of the main things I did was edit the image more to make her appear more like a vampire! That was the whole point of the original ad was to make it have a Halloween vibe. First, I did an overlay to the model’s hair and added in a red texture over it, so her hair appeared burgundy in color. Then I decided to frame her face a bit more and added in some dark blush to the top of her cheek and had it run a little. Then I darkened her eye makeup, as well as her eyebrows just to give it more of the contrasting vibe most of my other pieces have! I also edited her eye color, making them appear golden just to add to the overall theme. After finishing up editing everything, I added more of a blur around the model to bring more focus to her face, which really made her standout behind the text even more!
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I decided to do a collage of sorts to show off my photography skills. I worked on editing the images so they all worked well together and seemed to tell a story. I really wanted to hold some type of theme with them too, and the main theme for this, in my opinion, is that of a dream world— or a fairy garden of sorts. A calm and relaxing place that invites anyone who enters. Then, I worked on arranging the images in a neat way, as well as editing the edges for a more aesthetic look
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Both of my tentacle prints go together as a series. It was something I worked on to come up with both a sticker design idean and a print for a shirt. I love the overall aesthetic of them, as well as the grungey look that the slime provides. They were incredibly fun to work on and I made sure to use colors that would definitely pop. The shirt colors would be either black or white.
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This is the second tentacle design I did in the series and I intend to continue adding to it as well. This one I wanted to play around with not just the movement and shape of the tentacles, but with that grungey style too. It doesn't have to be dark to be up in your face! It just needs to be creative and new. I used complimentary colors for this piece and decided to go with a more beachy vibe than I did with the other one too.
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These designs go along with the brouchure I created too. I wanted them to showcase those vibrant colors of the company in the images as much as possible and played with the colors when working with the text on each piece. I had fun with these pieces. Basically, they would be double sided table tents. You could flip it to see the other lunch deal that was avaible.
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