Alyshia
McDonald
Hey there! I’m Alyshia, an Edmonton-based designer specializing in print, digital, and front-end development. I find inspiration in the work of other creatives and the wonderfully talented people in my life. I love that design includes such a diverse range of disciplines and the way in which it can be applied to almost anything. As I advance in my career, I am most excited to help clients get their ideas out into the world through meaningful and effective design. Over the pandemic, I took time to slow down, get outdoors, and start sewing again!
Dreaming: The Prague Sessions - Album Cover
The album art for Dreaming: The Prague Sessions represents it’s upbeat and toe tapping nature. Like the music itself, the colours are bright and energetic. Their warmth instils a feeling of joy while the overall design feels nostalgic and reminiscent of the past. The more moody and dramatic movements of the piece are represented in the fine lines and delicate details of the imagery.
The concept is inspired by the shapes within music: the physical form of the instruments, the notes on sheet music, and the motion that takes place while different sections of an orchestra play in unison. Furthermore, the artwork captures the fluidity and movement that exists within the music of Dreaming: The Prague Sessions.
Ultimately, I wanted the artwork to capture the feeling of a really great morning. You wake up from a good night’s sleep feeling energized and you remember what a nice dream you had. The sun is shining, and your favourite song is playing on the radio. There is a bounce in your step as you walk out the front door.
WasteWise - App
WasteWise is an app created by the City of Edmonton to aid residents in the disposal of household waste. This redesign includes improvements to the user interface and adds functionality, making for a more efficient and streamlined user experience.
Royal West - Brand
This rebrand of Royal West Homes is designed to modernize the image of the home-building company, making it more appealing to young families. The project includes updates to their business stationery and website.
The new brand features bold colours and clean typography. The custom wordmark utilizes negative space and a simple window graphic to create the appearance of a house between the two words in the logo.
Trips to Earth - Speculative Design
Trips to Earth is a neuropharmaceutical that allows human beings to experience a variety of earthly ecosystems that no longer exist. The context of this speculative design piece is a bleak demonstration of a future in which human activity has led to irreversible ecological collapse. The goal of this critique is to make viewers question what they want the future of our planet to look like.
The product advertisement for Trips to Earth features a pharmaceutical drug that can only be obtained with a doctor’s prescription. One dose offers a hallucinogenic simulation that stimulates the nervous system to mimic the effects of being present in one of Earth’s many ecosystems. This particular variant allows users to experience sounds, feelings, and visuals that are unique to the Amazon rainforest.
Like the most pharmaceuticals, users are subject to a range of side effects including those associated with psychotropic drugs. While complete ecological collapse might be hard to imagine, pharmaceuticals are very real in our world. The use of a prescription drug to solve an issue that does not yet exist, grounds this hypothetical concept in reality and speaks to the Western world’s compulsion to medicate its problems.
City of Edmonton: Waste Drop-off Facility Signage
The City of Edmonton has established several drop-off services, including Community Recycling Depots, Eco Stations, and Big Bin Events, to aid in the disposal of residential waste. We studied the user experience of these drop-off sites in an effort to understand how information design impacts the way people use these services. Our goal is to improve the user experience of waste drop-off facilities through the creation and implementation of efficient, effective, and informative site signage.
Eco Stations allow residents to dispose of oversize waste, household hazardous waste, and recyclables throughout the year. Clarity has been added to the waste fees signage by separating free items from paid items and utilizing iconography. Bin signs are larger and offer more contrast, and a wayfinding map helps users navigate the site.
Community Recycling Depots are unsupervised, 24hr sites that allow residents to dispose of household recycling. Bin labels are more descriptive about accepted items, while introductory signage is straightforward and action-oriented to prevent message fatigue.
Big Bin Events allow residents to dispose of large household items at no cost throughout the spring and summer. Sandwich boards give users information and instructions prior to entering the big bin site, entry and exit signage utilize human-centered language.
Research methods used: literature review, ethnographic research at Community Recycling Depots, expert interviews, precedent analysis, and surveys to refine new signage solutions.
