J U S T I N L A D I A

T H E P O R T F O L I O O F

HELLO!My name is Justin Ladia. I’m a freelance designer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and I like making things and stuff. I’m particularly interested in the application of two-dimensional practices into three dimensions. Allow me to show you what I can do.

This portfolio contains 17 projects that span

various genres of design including illustration,

branding, and typography. Thanks for taking the

time to look through my work and I hope you

enjoy what you see in this document!

THE ALPHAbET SERIES

cURRIcULUm vITAE

wAREHOUSE xIx

PROJEcT vEcTOR

LA LIgUE DES RADIOS ScOLAIREF+S

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cONTENTS

wHITEHILL

wHy NOT LAmP

THE 365 PROJEcT

EUckHOv

bUDDy bbQ: DENIm DILEmmA

SPRINgbOARD <11-12>

EybAybAy

wELcOmE bAck SymPOSIUm

gAS STATION vILLAgE mARkET...

PROJEcT 16-bIT

DITcHbALL 34

THE mANITObAN ILLUSTRATIONS

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SUmmARy

Justin Roy LadiaNAME

August 31 1988D.O.B

ADDRESS

justinladia.comWEB

hello@justinladia.comE-MAIL

PHONE

@jrladiaTWITTER

cURRIcULUm vITAEI’m an energetic, enthusiastic, and unabashedly nerdy interdisciplinary designer formally educated in interior design with a [self-taught] passion for graphic and web

design. I’ve delved into the development of different types of work widely spanning

various scales, and I’m particularly interested in the application of two dimensional

practices into three dimensions. Besides my various technical assets, I fare well under

a collaborative environment whether that is between the client and myself, the team I

am a part of, or both. Practice, process, and learning are all very important to me,

and I constantly attempt to improve throughout each of my projects.

EDUcATION2008-2011 B. Env. D. [Environmental Design / Interior Design]

Faculty of Architecture,

University of Manitoba

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

2004-2006 Dakota Collegiate Institute

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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EDUcATION2002-2004 La Salle Green Hills

Mandaluyong, Manila, Philippines

wORk ExPERIENcEFreelance Graphic Designer

I’m currently working on smaller-scale graphic design projects for clients around the city of Winnipeg. Clients include

SkullSpace, the Gas Station Arts Centre, Envol ckxl, and the University of Manitoba.

The Manitoban – Volunteer Illustrator

Provided illustrations for various articles in the University of Manitoba’s weekly student

newspaper. Illustrations were drawn to specifications given by the various editors of the Manitoban.

October 2012 –

Gas Station Theatre Village Market

Designed an illustrative identity for The Gas Station Theatre’s annual summer farmer’s market event.

The farmer’s market hosts local fare and features bands from Winnipeg. The formed identity for the

2011 and 2012 seasons was translated into 11”x17” posters, flyers, newspaper advertisements, web

banners, and several transit shelter posters.

June 2011 +

June 2012

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wORk ExPERIENcESpringboard: The University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture Year-End Exhibition –

In collaboration with Shawn Stankewich

Developed an identity for annual year-end exhibition of student work from the Faculty of

Architecture. Deliverables included logos, posters, e-mail invites, wayfinding, a modeel of the

faculty and its buildings, and necessary signage.

April 2011 +

April 2012

Atmosphere 2011: Mediated Cities – In collaboration with Evan Burgess

Created an identity for the Faculty of Architecture University of Manitoba’s annual conference,

Atmosphere. A website, programs, various information posters, and maps were inspired by the imagery

of media and the city.

February 2011

Warehouse XIX – In collaboration with Sean Gallagher

Compiled, edited, and designed a 512-page journal of student work from the Faculty of Architecture.

We worked closely with Friesens Publishing, the students of the Faculty, and a few professors

to create a cohesive and collaborative book about the future of design, its beginnings, and its

inspirations.

March 2010 -

November 2011

Graphics Team, Students’ Architectural Society [S.A.S] –

In collaboration with Sophia Sengsuriya

Designed posters and other promotional print material for the events of the Faculty of

Architecture’s student council.

September 2009 -

March 2010

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wORk ExPERIENcEThe Illustrated Guide to Words

Illustrated a 13-episode comic called

“The Illustrated Guide to Words” for

the Manitoban. Comic series humorously

differentiated between two commonly

misspelled homonyms.

2007-2008 Software

Illustrator CS4

InDesign CS4

Photoshop CS4

Microsoft Office

Dreamweaver CS4

Flash CS4

AutoCAD 2012

SketchUp

Revit

Coding Languages

CSS

HTML

jQuery

PROFIcIENcIES

Sales Associate

Hudson’s Bay [St. Vital]

Provided customer service and fashion

expertise in both the menswear and the

footwear departments.

2006 -

INTERESTSInterior Design, Exhibition Design, Graphic Design,

Furniture Design, Web Design, Illustration, Typography,

Branding and Identity, Photography

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PROJEcT vEcTORPortraits | 2009-11

I once came up with the naive idea to single-handedly create a yearbook for my first year

design class. Part of my ambitious plan was to create unique portraits of each student in

my year to accompany their assigned page in the publication. I photographed the majority of

people in my class, encouraging them to portray themselves in a way that was more expressive

than the typical highschool yearbook photograph pose. I managed to “vectorise” about fifty

of these photographs, and I later turned some of them into postcard-sized prints.

Amanda

Marcello

Blaise

Lindsey

Alex

Nathan

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wHITEHILLIllustration | 2009

One of my old co-workers approached me, asking me to make to make something for her then

boyfriend for his birthday. She described him to me as an avid snowboarder, and asked me to

turn one of his snowboarding pictures into an illustration that was more or less inspired by

pop art. The first version of the illustration was printed and framed, and several digital

variations were designed and included in this present as desktop wallpapers.

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bUDDy bbQ: DENIm DILEmmAPrint | 2009 | Designed during a partnership with Sophia Sengsuriya

Sophia Sengsuriya and I were voted into the Graphics position of the Faculty of Architecture’s

student council, Students’ Architectural Society. One of my first assignments was to create a

poster for the annual party of first-year and second-year students called the Buddy BBQ. The

BBQ is themed, and all attendees are expected to come in costume. That year, the theme was

“Denim Dilemma”, and so I simply took two of my colleagues and asked them to dress up in all-

denim outfits and photographed them holding up the information in the building’s courtyard.

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wELcOmE bAck SymPOSIUmPrint | 2010 | Designed during a partnership with Sophia Sengsuriya

Students’ Architectural Society held a small get-together for the students of the Faculty of

Architecture right after getting back from winter break. The symposium was simple, and used

the student lounge as its venue. I created a poster that reflected the values of the event by

having my fellow students interact with each other and various objects, including hand-cut

letters naming the event. I also used the lounge as the backdrop of the poster, which was

photographed from atop a ladder.

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DITcHbALL 34Print | 2010 | Designed during a partnership with Sophia Sengsuriya

The Faculty of Architecture annually holds a quasi-sporting event invented by the students in

the late seventies eloquently called Ditchball. The winter sport can be best and succinctly

explained as a hybrid of football and wrestling, done in a ditch made of packed snow. The

game is brutally physical, so I designed a poster that illustrated the chaos of limbs that

one would see flying around in the ditch. The aesthetic was intentionally made to be lighter

than the intense nature of the game to represent how ridiculous the entire event is.

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THE ALPHAbET SERIESIllustration Series | 2010

The Alphabet Series is an ongoing project with a simple premise: I take a letter, find an

adjective or verb that begins with that letter, and represent that word using the letter’s

structure as the framework for the illustration. The project currently has two letters

completed – B for break, and R for reverberate.

B is for Break

R is for Reverberate

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wAREHOUSE xIxEditorial | 2010 | In collaboration with Sean Gallagher

Warehouse Journal is the annual student-run publication of the Faculty of Architecture University

of Manitoba, which features student work in the departments of Architecture, Interior Design,

Landscape and Urbanism, Landscape Architecture, City Planning, and Environmental Design. In

2009, Sean Gallagher and I were given the opportunity to edit the nineteenth volume of the

journal, and we endeavored to create a dynamic and energetic publication.

That year, in addition to featuring student work, we wanted to touch on what inspired each

featured project as we felt it added a different perspective to the understanding of the work.

The projects are sectioned in three different chapters – Locus, Evenire, and Theorea (Latin

for places, events, and theories) – which pertain to the main inspiration of the projects.

In addition to that, the book contains four different interstitial sections relating to the

origins of the journal, the Faculty, and the future of design. Warehouse XIX features 243

students in 287 projects in 512 pages.

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Each project’s main inspirations are listed on the top corner of each spread, which is accompanied by information about the designer and the project below.

Page numbers where one would find their other projects made by the same designer are listed next to the designer’s name.

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Locus chapter divider.

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wHy NOT LAmPLighting | 2011

Born out of the desire to design something that was truly self-expressive, the Why Not

Lamp combines three-dimensional functionality with the more two-dimensional sensibility of

typography. There were many shifts in this project’s conceptual evolution, starting from an

attempt to make something extremely mundane seem humorous, to a side-tracked exploration of

kitsch, then furthermore to the impact of words (especially curse words). In the end, the

final incarnation of the project took all of the smaller inquiries and mashed them together

to create a surprisingly positive product. This lamp summarizes a great personal lesson

learned throughout the three years spent Environmental Design program, which includes shifts

in perspectives, enlightenment, and optimism. The lamp consists of 24 laser-cut pieces which,

when bonded in order, show the physical transformation of the word “why” to “not”. The inner

structure of the letters was advantageously used to house the bulb and the other required

electrical components.

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EUckHOvTypography | 2011

This first foray into typography was inspired by old marquee signage from classic American

cities like Chicago, and by a Chekhovian attitude towards the idea of the machine. I origi-

nally intended to make a no-frills, sturdy and structured three-dimensional typeface until I

found that I enjoyed the geometry of the construction lines I used to make the letters better

than whatever it was I was attempting. So, whatever it was I was working on was ditched, and

I designed a font which hopefully pictures the complexity of the alphabet’s construction.

This typeface was brought together by geometry and rigor, method and structure, and I felt

that it needed a name that married the ideas I was trying to portray. I settled on creat-

ing a portmanteau from the previously mentioned Anton Chekhov – one of the greatest, most

headstrong Russian writers of all time, who happened to also be a doctor – and Euclid – the

“Father of Geometry”.

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EybAybAyTypography | 2011

Before the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, Baybayin was the writing system used by

ancient Filipino peoples. I learned about the glyphs early in my elementary years, introduced

both by my Art and Philippine History teachers. Even then, I found that there was something

special about the lost script and I held on to the knowledge of it ever since.

I wondered what it would have been like if the country didn’t adapt the Roman alphabet forced

upon us by the Spaniards. I asked myself what Baybayin would look like if it were still used

today in this modern, post-war world. So, after researching and re-introducing myself to the

ancient alphabet, I experimented with the forms of each phonetic symbol until I felt like

they would be able to sit next to a typeface like Helvetica or DIN without looking like it’s

from a different era.

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PROJEcT 16-bITPortraits | 2011

Project 16-Bit started out as a little Facebook project called Project 8-Bit. That original

project carries the same premise as Project Vector in which I turn a person’s portrait into

a particular visual style. The intention of 8-Bit was to develop a new technique or style

for myself. After practicing and developing the technique with a few portraits, the process

evolved from its basic 8-bit roots to a more detailed visual style. I couldn’t justify calling

the latest portraits as “8-Bit”, so I changed it, the act almost alluding to the historical

progression in video game history.

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F+SWedding Invitation | 2012

One of the people I went to school with approached me, asking my help to make a wedding

invitation. The limitation, with her being a young adult in university, was that it must

be very, very budget conscious, while still maintaining a vintage, earthly, and whimsical

aesthetic. All the materials for this project were found within the university’s bookstore,

and the print jobs were done within campus.

Envelopes with three different designs were made for the event.

Map component.

Info component.

RSVP card.

The logo appears on each of the cards.

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LA LIgUE DES RADIOS ScOLAIREIdentity | 2012

Local French-Canadian radio station Envol 91.1 asked me to come up with a logo for their

K-12 school radio league La Ligue Des Radios Scolaire. The challenge of this brief was to

design an energetic logo that would be visually appropriate for both elementary and secondary

school children, which exuded the feeling of competition. The initial ideas suggested for

the logo included incorporating a microphone, or using sport imagery like hockey sticks or

boxing gloves. While I did play with these suggestions and submitted a few sketches involving

sports equipment, the final incarnation was a departure from both of the initial ideas. The

logo was instead inspired by electricity and radio waves, a reference back to the roots of

the competition.

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THE 365 PROJEcTIllustration Series | 2012

Early in 2012, I was feeling listless and I was needing a creative outlet to pretty much

say or do whatever I want. To remedy that, I decided to make an anonymous Tumblr blog where

every day I posted a new image or illustration. So far, the experiment is going well – I’ve

developed a few new techniques for myself, and I’ve surprised myself with what I have done

and what I’ve figured out.

034/365 005/365

003/365007/365

030/365 038/365

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SPRINgbOARD 11-12Exhibition Identity | 2012 | In collaboration with Shawn Stankewich

My fellow collaborator and I were tasked by the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture

to come up with a cohesive identity for their annual year-end exhibition, showcasing student

work from the departments of Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape and Urbanism, Landscape

Architecture, City Planning and Environmental Design. We had to come up with an identity that

would completely represent the multi-faceted and complex nature of these departments, the

design process, and the potential future represented by the collective of upcoming designers

from the Faculty.

Several products were envisioned for this identity including e-mail invites, event posters,

maps, a simple model of the Faculty, studio description posters, and signs for way-finding.

Wayfinding

Studio poster

Studio poster

Laser-etched model/map of the Faculty.

Map-holder with maps.

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gAS STATION vILLAgE mARkET + PATIO SERIESPrint Advertisement | 2011 + 2012

The Gas Station Village Market is an annual summer–long farmer’s market hosted every week by

The Gas Station Theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The challenge of this brief was to marry the

imageries of locally-grown food and music, while displaying a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour.

The process of making this poster was an extremely enjoyable one; I had to do a bunch of

different things to achieve what was asked.

In the summer of 2011, I was asked to turn this final concept into an 11”x17” poster, a flyer,

and a couple of newspaper ads. The next year, the concept was re-applied into small posters,

advertisements in festival programs, newspaper ads, web banners, and – most exciting of all

– large bus shelter ads.

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THE mANITObAN ILLUSTRATIONSIllustration Series | 2012 – 2013

The Manitoban is the weekly campus newspaper produced by students of the University of

Manitoba. One of these student editors, Silvana Moran, was responsible for the graphics of

the publication and she would regularly ask her graphic design and illustration friends if

they could help her draw accompanying illustrations for various articles in the upcoming

issues. I’ve taken on these volunteer illustration requests on a semi-regular weekly basis

since the beginning of October 2012, for the purposes of exercising my illustration muscle,

to develop new techniques, and to just have a bit of fun drawing things for this young,

energetic publication.

October 17 2012 | Don’t diss the commish

October 10 2012 | Not your father’s Oldsmobile

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November 28 2012 | Feeling lonely?

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January 9 2013 | Giving your evergreens a home

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January 23 2013 | The video gaming feature

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February 6 2013 | Student group Praxis calling for gown donations

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February 13 2013 | Trust issues

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