BACKGROUND

I was the graphic design intern for the City of Tuscaloosa’s Strategic Communications office from May 2022 to May 2023. Throughout my year as an intern with the City, I worked on many campaigns, projects, and graphics. Check out some of the highlights below!

LITTER CAMPAIGN

One of my biggest projects was crafting a title, hashtag, branding identity, and graphics for a $20,000 littering campaign funded by a grant for the City’s Environmental Services (ES). This grant funds education and awareness of different environmental needs, and I was tasked to focus specifically on littering and litter prevention. I created the campaign title, Tuscaloosa Trash Talk, and the hashtag #TidyTuscaloosa.

BEHIND THE DESIGN

My first task was a graphic for the sides of the City’s brand-new mechanical arm garbage trucks. I learned from Tuscaloosa ES that it’s a safety concern for the waste workers if the trashcan is not in the correct place, especially with the new mechanical arm trucks. That’s why I decided to focus on curbside etiquette for trash pickup using a three-step process that not only helps to keep workers safe, but also helps toward the goal of litter prevention. I utilized the campaign’s color palette and fonts in all graphics to keep things cohesive. The color of the trashcans in these graphics matches the city trashcan color, and it was the perfect place to put the city logo. All graphics also feature the campaign hashtag and a website link to find more information.

CELEBRATION ON THE RIVER

Along with a new logo, I designed 100% of the graphics for the City’s 2022 Fourth of July Celebration on the River (COTR) event held at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater, including billboards, signs, social media graphics, event headers, and slides for the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater screens.

BEHIND THE DESIGN

The previous logo used shades of red, white, and blue, like one would expect to see for this holiday, but the shades (teal and coral) gave off a tropical vibe. In the new logo I designed, I kept the same elements like the fireworks and font but changed the colors to the standard color codes of the United States of America flag and added stars to replace the tropical vibe with a patriotic one. I also removed the stroke around the letters so the new logo is easier to read. I also created slides for the screens at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater that would be shown during the event. The slides included sponsor thank yous, event times, and ads for upcoming City events, along with a memorial tribute to DJ Chuckie who had recently passed away. He had been the DJ for Tuscaloosa’s COTR for many years.

THE HUB

The City of Tuscaloosa’s intranet, the Hub, centralizes all city employee communications and resources in one easy-to-access location. The primary goal of my work was to increase the understanding and use of the Hub among employees.

BEHIND THE DESIGN

My first task was to make one-sheeters for employees to learn how to do certain things on the Hub, like bookmarking an article, RSVPing to an event, recognizing a coworker, and more. I created the hashtag #HubHowTo for this series of one-sheeters that provided a step-by-step process with screenshots. The PDFs I designed are now available on the Hub for employees to view, download, and print. I also made slides for the Hub to go on the TV screens throughout city hall that corresponded with each of the one-sheeters. The colors I used are from the city’s visual identity, including Industrial Gray, Champions Gold and Choctaw Black.

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