See higher-quality textures & detail → nathancheng.work/Posters-Flyers

A prototype for a drawing tool allowing users to "paint" with color-filtered selections of a pre-defined image. The original image remains hidden to encourage an improvisational approach to painting and remixing.

Final project for Wesleyan’s course ‘Form + Code: Computation in Visual Practice’ guided by Christopher Chenier in 2020. Made with code in Processing.

See demos → nathancheng.work/Photo-Painter-…

With the release of macOS Big Sur, Apple updated the design language of their Mac app icons to reflect iOS‘ squircle-shaped icons, along with some added depth and shading.

Many 3rd party app teams have now updated their designs to support this new style, but many others still haven’t! I made these because I didn’t want to wait.

Completed within Wesleyan’s Digital Art summer intensive in 2018 led by professor & artist Christopher Chenier.
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3D variations on an umbrella form made with Blender 3D.

See more → nathancheng.work/Organic-Machin…

Competition-winning art direction & business pitch for an iOS video game demo / proof of concept that teaches about sleep cycles and brain activity to children.

See and learn more → nathancheng.work/slumber-game-d…

A half-semester project completed for Weselyan’s Graphic Design for the Web course advised by graphic designer Rebecca Leffel-Koren. (Feb–Mar 2017)
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See animations & more → nathancheng.work/Duane-Michals-…

• Identified confusion & pain points in TALtech software from role as sole B2B sales/support contact and integrated those insights into 4 tutorial videos and an ongoing advisory role for new website design systems.
• Collaborating daily with VP of sales to identify user, business, and marketing needs and shape long-term product strategy.
• Sketching wireframes and advocating for design process and best practices for mobile and web UX, working directly with a design agency to overhaul TALtech’s dated website.
• Designed compelling, clear Keynote animations to explain communications tech for TALtech tutorial videos.
• Notable customers: SpaceX, Nestle, NOAA, EPA, Loreal, 3M, AT&T.

Edited a 40-min pilot episode for Betsey & Jackie Carroll's web series "And We're Live."

Audit, organize, and maintain documents and records, implementing new online tools/software. Oversee email account and website. Provide tech support & advice to artistic directors & board members.
Created high-quality assets, graphics, newsletters, and other multimedia assets for online events & conversation series. Designed and launched new Squarespace site + brand identity to promote virtual productions at the start of the pandemic. Boosted website traffic by 200%.

Designed & edited video graphics with subtitles, clips, cast/team asides, and ASL & BSL / visual & auditory interpreter feeds to captivate stakeholders. Oversaw a critical, sensitive virtual event for the development of a new Sign Language play made with and for the sign language community. Researched and planned digital solutions in Zoom & OBS to optimize accessibility for both hearing and Deaf attendees.

Oversaw all stages of production for an 11-min comedy film, including directing a 16-person crew over 4 days. Singled out from 21 film theses to receive the non-annual Frank Capra Prize for achievements in storytelling. Organized and edited a media library of 400+ assets. Researched, self-taught, utilized new equipment & production software as needed.

Led a multidisciplinary team of 4 to develop a software prototype for an educational video game as part of Bethesda Softworks founder Christopher Weaver’s admission-based, double-credit intensive and competition.

• Won 1st place vs. 3 teams by engaging a jury of 6 business/film engineering professionals as lead speaker in a business pitch & game demo. Panelist companies: American Film Institute, Harmonix, Warner Brothers Games, Demiurge Studios, Wesleyan’s I.D.E.A.S. Dept.
• Designed a content-driven & animated keynote pitch deck/presentation to captivate judges.
• Created unifying visual style / art direction and concepts for an immersive 3D world demonstrating sleep science in the brain to children.
• Wrote design documentation & delegated tasks to lead collaboration in a team of multidisciplinary artists & coders.
• Managed time & schedule by practicing Agile methods in daily Scrums for progress updates.
• Integrated research from classrooms of target users into product strategy and design.

Proposed a new brand/graphic identity to better express a food startup’s complete offering as leaders of health and ethics in the snack industry. Designed signs, sell sheets, and other merchandising materials to further promote this identity. Edited photographs for merchandising.

Midterm paper for FILM308: "Television Storytelling: The Conditions of Narrative Complexity," cross listed with Anthropology & American Studies and led by Professor Elizabeth Traube.

People love to hate-watch "Riverdale," a teenage television show with a dark, gritty, and sexy take on the wholesome Archie Comics series. Insane and superficial, It represents much of what people hate about the subgenre of 30-year-olds playing horny high schoolers in melodramatic plots. A clip of a very cringe-inducing locker-room scene with ridiculous dialogue went viral on Twitter, leading many to wonder, "Why on earth are they still making this show??" This paper explores what makes the cringe so addicting, fun, and aesthetically thrilling, and how Riverdale's devotion to narrative chaos makes it such a novel aesthetic spectacle.

Best concept & execution in competition for an videogame demo teaching a STEM concept to children.