Alex Sweet  Product/UX/UIBrandIngPhotographyTravel
Information
branding & visual design

COLLECTED PLACES

2024



I picked up street photography in the fall of 2023 as a way to document my travels more seriously. Prior to the trip I did to Namibia last September I had only ever shot on iPhones (not the latest either). I picked up an SLR camera and got to work in what turned out to be an incredibly fruitful attempt at travel street photography. I’ve always loved designing for print, so I decided to compile the results of the first 6 months into a volume, complete with stories behind certain photos, cultural details, and my own stream of consciousness style musings that I jot down on the go. 

This first volume will set the tone for what I anticipate to be many more. As of writing in July 2024 I have multiple drafts out to multiple printers, having noticed that small-batch photo book printing gets expensive quickly. My end goal is to distribute these amongst family and friends, those who have seen my work on Instagram, etc. so cost is a decisive factor. Once the details are sorted out I’ll have copies available for anyone who wants them.





IBM INSTITUTE FOR BUSINESS VALUE

2024Ai prompt engineering, report/cover design, visual design, branding
Created while at IBM
I worked together with the head of design at IBM’s Institute for Business Value, the internal organization responsible for designing and publishing the yearly C-Suite reports. These reports are an industry standard each year from all the major tech companies, each eager to position themselves as “thought leadership” with their cutting insights and hot takes on industry trends. 

For the 2024 edition, the CD wanted to explore the hype around AI image generators, utilizing things like Stable Diffusion and Control Nets to replicate the tricky images nestled deep in Reddit threads (the living pulse of this world).  Together we spent months exploring the capabilities of the tech, alternating between attempts to get very specific results and opting for a roll-the-dice approach. In many ways this project became more of a research opportunity for the both of us to explore what things like Midjourney and Dall-E mean for designers at big tech. We made ourselves in-house experts on the subject, which truly was at the forefront of digital culture at the time. Ultimately our experiments didn’t make it past a wary brand department and even if they had, the internal politics around the issue were dangerously tight. The team pivoted at the last minute to a safer, arguably completely unnoticable alternative. Knowing this was the likely outcome from the beginning, I had always planned to post the half-baked reject covers here. 

Tiliani

2024Branding, web, logo, photography
Client: tiliani restaurant
A few friends of mine were opening up a restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan using their now decade of experience in the fine-dining industry. I was lucky enough to help them out with a few basic design assets as they got started. The food at Tiliani is truly phenomenal. The menu rotates according to what is seasonally available, and they manage to very successfully stick to a local, responsible method of sourcing ingredients. Things like the olive oil come directly from the founder’s grandfather’s farm in Lebanon, while most every-day ingredients come from agreements with local farmers. It’s impressive the amount they’re able to tell you about the honey, the flour, the pepper, etc.

Although the food is broadly termed “Italian,” the term feels completely arbitrary when you the plates arrive at your table. To lean on an equally arbitrary term, this is “artisan” food, and the meals are truly unexpected. Interestingly, the cooks have decided to produce a menu that is 100% Halal certified, an approach that makes more sense when you situate the restaurant in the heart of the largest Muslim diaspora in the United States (Dearborn, MI).

Brand details are simple, with a high contrast lightweight wedge-serif logotype drawn up bespoke in Glyphs. We teamed up with another of our friends for the food illustrations. Beyond the logo, the meat of the project was the menu design, with 4-5 in active use on any given night. We figured out a handoff strategy so the Tiliani team could make their own updates, which given their exigency and high standards ends up being every single day. Lastly, a light splash page was created on Squarespace as a placeholder. The page has since been taken over by well meaning chefs and so I will not post the link to it here.


Pivot Plant Jerky

2020Branding, snack packaging, logo
Client: Pivot/Mindwell  

Pivot is a Chicago based vegan snack brand, and one of the only brands offering vegan jerky alternatives. As part of their re-launch in 2019 I designed them a brand identity and packaging system to go with their new name. The identity attempts to capture a conceptual interpretation of the word Pivot, with visual motif's pointing to the chaos of everyday life and the ability to cut through it all with a change of direction. 


The Art of Wine

2018Illustrated typography, branding
Client: College for Creative Studies
The Art of Wine is an annual wine auction fundraiser held by the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI. I created the look and feel, custom typography, and patterning for the 2018 auction inspired by Detroit's art deco architecture. The drawings were vectorized for easy manipulation and longevity, allowing us to easily print in gold foil for some of the final deliverables. The typography and patterning was used as a wrapping to elegantly house the auction items and fundraiser details and menu items, as well as being printed large for use on fabric and vinyl wall decorations.


Danee Co.

2017Branding, stationery, logo
Client: Danee
A simple, playful brand for a Colorado based freelance design producer. Together we came up with what I consider a very simple but very effective brand that maintains a bit of personality in it’s minimalism. Once I established typography, logotype variations, colors, and set a few basic guidelines I extended the brand to her portfolio and resume documents, about 15 pages in total. Lastly, and just for fun, I took these fancy photos of the business cards, which are from Moo and do indeed have a gold inlay on the bespoke typography. Danee used some of these on her social media accounts I believe.






Alex Sweet 

Available for full time + Freelance
© 2024 All work created and owned by Alex Sweet

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