Portfolio

hello, Esteemed faculty!

I’m Nick Romanowski and this is my
Design Fundamentals Portfolio. I feel
that I’ve learned quite a bit over the past
two semesters and that as my library
of work has grown, so has my skill
level and the quality of what I produce.
Crafting this portfolio has given me the
opportunity to truly look back at all that
I’ve done and see the real evolution of
my ideation, process, and finals. I am so
excited to share my work with all of you!
I am also quite excited to finally have
the chance to use my favorite typeface in
a project for this program, go Bebas!
 Map - journal
A journey of and through
process... that nearly
got this first year lost
several times on campus.
join me as i document my
travels from hayes to
treasure in moleskine 1.
FInal Thoughts
The goal of the Map to Journal
assignment was to document and
retell our story in a way that was both
aesthetically pleasing and able to convey
as much information as efficiently as
possible. During my Treasure Hunting
experience, I listened to my iPhone’s
music library on shuffle and recorded
when a song change occurred. Keeping
the focus on music, I decided to retell my
story in a comic book style. The story is
specifically influenced by the Guardians
of the Galaxy series, as they prominently
feature music or the idea of a mix-tape.
 Stencil
More fun with positive
and negative space, but
with animals this time.
it is shockingly difficult
to find a typeface with a
symmetrical lower case
“t” Who knew?
 Beginning
exploratory
sketches, elements
of positive and
negative space
were not taken
into account.

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Further
quodist, ut bus, nimagna exploration
incorporated
]nobit offici iduntiae contrasting spaces
in the animal that
simus. also played into
the letterform.
FInal Thoughts
Grasping the concept of positive and
negative space was something that I
initially struggled with when we began
this assignment. However, as I began to
grasp it, I was able to manipulate space
and mesh those contrasting elements
of each animal with the form of a letter.
I ended up settling on a tarantula
embedded in a lowercase t. Finding a
typeface with one that fit my needs was
surprisingly difficult. The application or
creation of the stencil was an exercise in
patience and attention to craft as both
took a significant amount of time.
 USer Scenario
Centering some design
around a human, that’s
what this speculative
user scenario is all
about. follow mr.
Business on his fictional
foray into the future.
 Thumbnails and storyboard
to layout and plan content for
each slide of final product.

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]nobit offici iduntiae
simus. Conceptualization and
refinement of micro/macro
based data panes. Text boxes
with related imagery magnify
and describe parts of overall
image in final product.
 COLUMBUS-NYC
is Joe’s daily goal
and the hyperloop
can help him reach
his destination in a
timely manner.

JOE BUSINESS
is a businessman in a
hurry. Every morning
he makes the quick
commute to NYC
from Columbus.

6 AM COFFEE
is a necessity for Joe
STORE SPEEDY TRAVEL
is the aim of the
300
400
500
FInal Thoughts
The Speculative User Scenario came
200 600
and the Cafe in his hyperloop and 760
apartment complex mph is fast enough 100 700
makes it convenient for any commuter’s 0 800
to get his fix. daily needs.

around just as we were beginning to

discuss and read about how to handle
data. As a result of this, I was able to
devise my micro/macro content panes
TAKING A COTA COMFORT FIRST
that described what was happening in
each large scene in my presentation.
bus helps Joe make is another goal of
his way downtown to hyperloop. Joe views
Columbus’ hyperloop digital feeds of NYC

SHOPS HYPERLOOP
transportation
center. 6:30 am
partly cloudy
as the pod zooms
through its tube.

I was able to show the environments

COTA
and places that my user interacts with
while also describing their actions
OH
OH NY
NY
AT THE READY
is the hyperloop pass
in his smartphone’s
and interactions with great verbal and
visual detail. Overall this was a great
wallet application.
The pod is just a scan
away.

assignment on working with human

WORK AWAITS
Mr. Business as he
arrives in New York
City thirty minutes
after his intial

centered design and data conveyance.

departure.

SCAN TO GO A HAPPY JOE

through the gates to arrives at work on
the pearly pods. Our OH NY
time all thanks to
OH NY

dear Joe’s speedy the wonders of

journey is mere the technologically
steps away. magical hyperloop.
 Movie Poster
Serving you 80’s slasher
film realness, that’s
the goal behind slain.
Guaranteed to have you
screaming in fear with
poor plot and cringe-
worthy credits.
 Visual elements
and logo concepts.
Sketches for
organization
and appearance
of studio logos,
title, and other
components.
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Overall layout
quodist, ut bus, nimagna and composition
sketches. Several
]nobit offici iduntiae concepts for final
poster aesthetics.
simus.
 FInal Thoughts
The movie poster was a fun way to
educate us on combining the Creative
Cloud in projects. We utilized Illustrator,
InDesign, and Photoshop to create
a poster for a film with a plot of our
creation that featured us somewhere
in the composition. It took me several
rounds of ideation to settle on an idea
that I liked, but I thoroughly enjoyed
creating the poster after I had a general
idea for how it was to look. I wrote my
plot based off the poster as I felt that it
would be easier to create the imagery
first than to write a story.

DESIGN 2110 - ASSIGNMENT 7 PRESENTS

A FRIGHTFUL FILMS - NR PRODUCTIONS PRODUCTION A NICHOLAS TIMOTHY ROMANOWSKI FILM NICK ROMANOWSKI A MYSTERIOUS KILLER “SLAIN”
ANIMATION EFFECTS
MUSIC
BY NICHOLAS PENTONY DESIGNER
COSTUME
NADJA DEWBERRY SUPERVISOR TAYLOR “T-SWIZZLE” OLSEN BY E. SCOTT DENISON & THE 10:55AM STUDIO DESIGNER CLAIRE SPICER
CRITIQUED PRODUCTION

ilms! NR CONSULTATION BY MICHAEL KELLNER BY GABE TIPPERY INTO THE PROGRAM MARY-ANNE BEECHER & FACULTY R
rightful MENTAL ADVISED PLEASE LET ME R
RESTRICTED
VIOLENCE, GRISLY IMAGES,
MAJOR CARNAGE, GORE,
POOR WRITING, INDESIGN’S
INSTABILITIES, AND GOOD
OLE’ 1980’S CHARM
productions
 FInal Poster
Go big or go home, they
say. 34x34 is pretty big
and can hold a whole lot
of design. let’s go bold
and blow things up with
a look into the future of
the hyperloop.
 Visual and informational
element exploration. Several
vehicles for data were
conceptualized. Also includes
sketches for shared element
between Transport group
members.

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Thumbnails and sketches
quodist, ut bus, nimagna for overall poster layout and
content hierarchy. Several
]nobit offici iduntiae backgrounds and storylines
were considered.
simus.
“CONNECTING
A NATION” Aerodynamic Carbon Fiber Shell

A century ago, the revolution

that was the railroad connected
our country for the first time. In the
FInal Thoughts
future, the Hyperloop aims to do
the same on a much grander scale.
Onboard Electronics
The dimensions of such a task were quite
Gone will be the days of long train
rides and the toxic emissions that
they produce. Instead the sleek
daunting at first, as generating enough
pods of the Hyperloop will connect
major cities all over the United content to fill a 34x34 inch space is no
States, rapidly transporting people
and cargo with ease. Aluminum Support Frame simple feat. This assignment required a
“SPEED AT THE lot of ideation on my part. Several grids
FOREFRONT”
760mph
Braking System
and the layouts that accompanied them
550mph were generated and abandoned. Each
140mph
layout told its own sort of story and
80mph
http://hyperloop.global/press/

With a max speed of 760 mph, Takeoff/Landing Gear

influenced the story that I was trying to
the Hyperloop is truly designed for
the rush of our modern world. The tell. I eventually decided that I wanted
breakthrough magnetic levitation
technology combined with a sleek,
aerodynamic pod and a vacuum
to focus on the pod of this new form of
sealed tube help this new system
achieve unbelievable speeds in a
virtually frictionless environment.
transportation and so I made its blow-
This absence of friction and drag
allows the pod to bypass all other up the center of attention, with other

THE
forms of transportation.

Magnetic Levitation Array

information existing at the edge.
http://hyperloop.mit.edu/

HYPERLOOP. Nick Romanowski, Design 2110, Dension

 gestures
a collection of some of
my best gestures of some
interesting subjects.
you’d be surprised at
how difficult it is to find
things to rapid sketch in
a dorm at this place.
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simus.
 Interior study
enter a sensorial
overload of sorts with
epcot’s favorite sensory
orientated figment,
figment. prep yourself
for an educational
joyride in the ohio union.
 Thumbnails and preliminary
storyboarding for content
flow and layout of final
product. Also included are
pose sketches for Figment.

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3D modeling
quodist, ut bus, nimagna process for
generation of
]nobit offici iduntiae Figment graphics.
Imagery is from
simus. Blender and shows
digital mesh of
character.
FInal Thoughts
The union was a hotbed of sensorial
activity so it was initially difficult to
decide what it was that I wanted to
do with the data that I had collected.
However, after some ideation I decided
to craft a storyline around a favorite
character of mine and the fact that I had
just started working at the union. The
character was not of my own creation,
but the model and graphics that I used
of him were. Loosely based off of the
ride, “Journey into your Imagination” at
Epcot, my story follows free-spirited and
curious Figment around the building.
 Ortho view
So, I heard y’all like some
process. Well then have
i got a treat for you.
Process to execution,
all wrapped up in (well,
on, i guess) a bristol and
chipboard box.
 Unfolded and
combined view
sketches for
boxes. Shows
calculations
necessary to create
shapes as well as
connection system
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required face.

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Evolution of
quodist, ut bus, nimagna projection
mapping content.
]nobit offici iduntiae Sketches explore
framing of media
simus. and After Effects
composition shows
generation of
projected video.
FInal Thoughts
From the start of this assignment, the
hope was to utilize projection mapping
in some way. This combined with a
desire to projection map real Hayes
lead to the concept of crafting and
putting video onto a model of Hayes.
The model building is made up of four
different segments that each feature the
required face and utilize it in some way
to connect to the other parts. In order
to ensure everything fit together, the
laser cutter was used to ensure extreme
accuracy and precision in regards to
measurements.
Link to outside media
two nights with no sleep

Remap
makes a pre-designer
weak, often resulting in
an accidental power nap
in critique. Ideation to
export in one go, check
out my poppin’ remap tho.
 Conceptualization
and basis for
video idea. Beat
of song combined
with spin of wheel
generated idea.

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After Effects
quodist, ut bus, nimagna composition
generation. Shows
]nobit offici iduntiae layering, content,
and video played
simus. back for peer
feedback.
FInal Thoughts
With the Remap/Visual Narrative
assignment we were challenged to
revisit the Map to Journal and use
the information gathered to create
something new, to retell the story of our
journey. Remembering my initial tellings
focus on music and my feelings of
cluelessness being a first year wandering
around campus, I crafted a sort of
promotional video for Ohio State. The
kinetic type and graphics are driven by
music and the content they share comes
directly from my treasure, the Views of
Campus wheel located in The Union.
Link to outside media
 Installation
my pal Hayes and I go way
back, so my space and
i were super tight. we
spent a whole lot of time
conversing with each
other so that i could
bring their story to life.
 Generation and exploration
of used form. Reduction of an
“A” placed on top of itself is
used in establishing pattern
as well as transition to 3D
form.

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Layout and space occupation
quodist, ut bus, nimagna conceptualization. Evolution
of sketches to actual size
]nobit offici iduntiae prototype to pre-install
shown.
simus.
FInal Thoughts
My building installation occupied the
space above the elevator in the Hayes
Hall lobby. It was located their because
its goal was to convey the purpose of
the elevator itself. The transition shown
through manipulation of form and
color is meant to show the floors of
Hayes. In my interpretation of things,
the rigid black and white pattern at the
base represents the Academics in the
basement, As things move upward they
become colorful and more 3D, as the
elevator reaches art foundations. Design
exists at the intersection of the two.
 Augmentation
we augmented the heck
out of hayes, so why not
hit up the human body
next? let us diverge
from the beaten path as
augmentations converge
to tell a thoughtful tale.
 Sketching
exploration,
followed by
Illustrator file
of combined
augmentation
view.

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3D model used
quodist, ut bus, nimagna to generate form
showed. Flattened
]nobit offici iduntiae 3D model was
then imported
simus. into Illustrator file
on right for laser
cutting.
FInal Thoughts
Augmenting the body is an exercise
in augmenting something with a rich
story, one that we are very familiar with.
My partner and I decided to craft a
narrative on convergent and divergent
thinking and how their use in tandem
with one another is ideal for complete
thought. My augmentation, which was
an abstraction of the spine, represents
convergent thinking with spikes heading
towards a central column. The piece was
constructed by laser cutting the flattened
mesh of a virtual 3D model of the actual
structure and then assembling it.
 Gift Design
beat the clock to unwrap
the story that lay within
unsuspecting bristol and
ink. keep it all together
with some rubber cement
and remember that three
is a holy number.

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simus.
Sketches and early
conceptualization of
packaging and opening
experience. Followed by
final Illustrator files of laser
cut packaging components.
Inspiration of video content
shown next to stills from
video. Works on the left
were sampled from Nicole
Reimer’s portfolio website
and were either directly
incorporated into or inspired
parts of final composition.
FInal Thoughts
With the gifting assignment I crafted
a narrative using a quote by Stefan
Sagmeister. The quote discusses setting
deadlines on your ideas and making
them holy. The packaging for my gift is
styled like a clock and its “hand” moves
towards a deadline, indicated by a red
dot, as you peel an outer band off. This
passage of time reveals a QR code to the
finalized idea that Sagmeister mentions.
In this case, it is a motion graphics
composition in which I brought my
recipients portfolio to life in the style of
one of her design icons, Saul Bass.
Link to outside media
 Character
look at that mischievous
grin and the playful
twinkle in matte black
eyes. such character in
a character, for Story
makes like color of
clothes and is primary.
 Pose and silhouette
study. Several
options were
explored with the
hope of conveying
personality
through whole
body.
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Further aesthetic development.
quodist, ut bus, nimagna Elements such as facial expression, hair,
clothes, etc. are sketched in order to
]nobit offici iduntiae refine and finalize character design.

simus.
Toothy smile
Always happy and eager to explore,
but missing a tooth in his youth
Colorful, yet worn clothes
Bright primary colors convery Rodger’s
joyful dispostion, while patches and dirt
show his unattended reality
Rodger
Muddy shoes
Pristine years ago, but now coated in the
dirt and mud of the lot in which Rodger
plays
Dirty face and unkept hair
A carefree youth left unattended hasn’t
the time to worry about hygiene
Pocket knife and slingshot
Adventurous trinkets purchased with Rod-
ger’s small allowance
FInal Thoughts
Rodger’s development was a wonderful
exercise in using several different
aesthetic elements to convey one
cohesive and overall story. His narrative
was constructed and refined rather
quickly which gave me a lot to draw
from when generating a physical
manifestation of that character. His
playfulness is conveyed through color,
pose, and facial expression and his sense
of adventure through his props. Since
drawing is not my strongest skill he was
created in Illustrator with highlights and
shadows being applied in Photoshop.
 game design
the intersection of
analog and digital: wii
remotes and light on
a physical board, with
magnets to elevate the
fun. let’s get physical
with this physical game.

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Game board development.
Original digital concept
to traditional game board
to magnetic board with
projected board.
Development of game
mechanics and player pieces
(paint brush Wii Remotes).
Java code that establishes,
backs and evaluates player
performance and game
mechanics also shown
FInal Thoughts
Paint! is a game that was intentionally
designed to exist between pure analog
and slightly digital. It utilizes technology
in a unique way while also relying on
physical pieces and interactions. Cards
are delivered to the user from a virtual
deck and then actions are performed in
the physical realm. These digital flips
are triggered by pressing a button on
physical remote. When challenges occur,
each player is instructed to perform a
pose and the most accurate and fastest
is awarded a win based on a scoring
algorithm.
 Projections
Panaromic Projection
Mapping takes video to
the max. Stretch things
out with my custom 4:1
aspect ratio. video is
cool in wide screen, but
better in ultra-wide.
FInal Thoughts
Panaromic Projection Mapping created
as a live accompaniment for the Olmsted
Falls High School Wind Symphony.
Pitched and executed by myself, the
project used three projectors shooting
towards six choral shells on the back
of the stage. The three projectors played
three video streams simultaneously to
create a 3840x960 video. The ultra-wide
canvas allows for shocking reveals and
ultra-wide content. Video content was
created in After Effects and Blender
utilizing a mix of existing film and
original content.
Link to outside media