ABOUT ME

I am a graphic designer with formal training and education that began with photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology and has now evolved since the digital revolution into graphic design. I currently reside in the Washington/Baltimore Metro area in Frederick, Maryland.

After receiving my Associates degree from RIT, I entered the field of photography as a mural specialist working with museums such as the National Gallery of Art, Ellis Island, the National Holocaust Museum, the Casa Bacardi Visitor Center, and the National Park Service-Harper’s Ferry John Brown Exhibit.

As a working professional in the field of photography and design I continued my studies in visual communications and graphic design at the American InterContinental University receiving my Bachelor’s of Fine Art in May of 2012. Now my career continues to expand in the field of graphic design.

SERVICES

My services include but are not limited to:

  • Print Design and Page Layout
  • Graphic Design
  • Digital Illustration
  • Logo Design
  • Photo Manipulation


    • Contact me and let me know how I can be of service to you!

MY WORK

Save The Bay

This poster series promotes and highlights the recreational, environmental, and economic resources of the Chesapeake Bay. The posters are composed of the typical icons of the Chesapeake Bay: The Bay Bridge, marsh grasses, thee blue crab, stripped bass (Rockfish) and a Great Blue Heron in flight against the shining sun. Each poster uses the same theme and background graphics with the exception of one element that highlights one essential aspect of the bay.

Feathers, Fur, and Fins

The collages were created by thinking about things I like to do. I am an avid sportsmen so as I listed these things I noticed my theme had an underlying elemental concept: sky, earth, and water. That turned into feathers, fur, and fins. Watching and hunting wildlife and being in the outdoors are my favorite pastimes. The sun on the water from a boat or blind and watching the woods come alive with the sunrise are special moments captured in these collages.

Eighth Grade Science Textbook

The design project was to create an eighth-grade science text book complete with a cover, illustrations, 3 inside pages, and a corresponding home page mock-up. The topic is plant science with an emphasis on plant biology reproduction cycle. All illustrations are original art work created in Adobe Illustrator. The cover design is created in Illustrator and the page layout is in Adobe InDesign.

The Invisible Hunger

An advertising concept campaign about creating awareness of childhood hunger for recognition of the organization Share Our Strength. It is not readily apparent but, in the U.S. 1 child in 6 suffers from hunger. The tag line “The Invisible Hunger” combined with the statistic of 1 in 6 is the theme of the ad campaign. The Tag line and accompanying orange shape are set to be on the outside of the page. The ads are designed in order to use them as either a right or left page.

LOGO Designs

This is a small collection of conceptual and actual logos I have designed. My personal logo for MK Graphic Design conveys my ties to traditional graphic design, in that, the M is a stylized ink pen. Negative space is used to finish the K in MK. The NTP logo was for the Department of Energy's National Transportation program. The other logos are conceptual ideas of ficitional companies or redesigns of existing logos.

Environmental Graphic Design

The project is a locator map for a large shopping mall. The entire map was redesigned in order to make it easier and more intuitive for the patrons of the shopping mall. The map and store list are color coded for easier identification and location. Mall amenities and services are identified with custom illustrated symbols. The map is designed for backlit displays (black background) and printed flyers (white background).

Live @5

The poster series is a promotion of the summer concert series “Live @ 5”. The featured band of the opening concert is The Kelly Bell Band. The poster emphasizes on the bass guitar and the skyline of Frederick City. The concept for the poster is based upon the band’s image, their music and the event. The event is an outdoor concert held in Baker Park in the city of Frederick, MD. It is not a big city but its historical background and intimate setting are reflected in the poster design.

Typographic Poster

The poster is a promotion for the fictional American Typographic Convention for 2012. The theme is “connect with type” and uses the featured typeface of the convention: Century Schoolbook as the central design element. The theme is communicated with the featured typeface by using the pronounced serifs of the typeface Century Schoolbook and connecting letterforms to create interesting and intersecting shapes. The ATC logo is created through this method.

Event Poster

The poster is a promotion for the largest fund raising event of the year for our church. The poster is composed and designed with a retro style reminiscent of the art deco age of art and design. The poster is influenced by the artist A. M. Cassandre. Using simple shapes, san-serif fonts, bold colors, and unusual boundaries gives the impression of a poster for an old fashion country festival of the early twentieth century.

DVD Package Design

The package design uses only typography as an element for the redesignof the DVD Cover for the movie “Knowing”. In the movie, a series of numbers are deciphered that tell of disasters that are to happen in the future. As they unfold everyone wonders what happens when there are no numbers left on the list. The concept of an hourglass and the numbers as the grains of sand convey this theme. Even the title is composed of entirely numbers.

Conceptual Brochure Design

The project is to provide two design concepts for a brochure design. The objective is to provide one page of two layouts with different color themes and typefaces to promote the same product. One layout is highlighting tthe brand and the quality of the construction and the other promotes the usefulness of the products. The layouts differ in size as well as color and style.

Promotional Campaign

A promotional campaign for the Flying Barrel home-brew supply and Brew-On-Premises brewery promoting the newly relocated and expanded store and brewery facilities. The entire campaign consists of:

  • a full color brochure of the product
  • a merchandising logo magnet
  • flyer/newspaper advertisement
  • website mock-up pages

Promotional Campaign

The logos of Leap Frog, My Own Leaptop, and the Learning Path are redesigns of the original logos. The character and web interface are original designs. All are used in the overall marketing campaign. The entire campaign consists of:

  • a redesign of the product logo
  • a full color brochure of the product
  • package design
  • a character created to introduce the toy
  • website mock-up

Strategic Vision Document Design

This document and cover were created for the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy and the Director of the National Nuclear Security Administration. I was solely responsible for the concept and production of this document, using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. The full document can be found here.

Infographic and Accompanying Article

The article is about the tornado classification system, the Fujita Scale. The article explains what a tornado is and then goes into detail about the Fujita scale. The infographic shows that when the intensity of a tornado increases the frequency of an occurrence decreases. The tornadoes show the range of miles per hour for each class.

Renewable Energy Guide

I provided graphic support for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program's Renewable Energy Guide for Highway Maintenance Vehicles.The infographic is of a maintenance vehicle building that utilizes energy saving technologies for heating and cooling, as well as techniques to supplement lighting the interior of the building.

MCC Program guide thumbnail image

MCC Annual Program Guides

The annual Program Guides for the McLean Community Center are the main marketing and information document produced. My first project was to inject a new and fresh design into the guide. I decided to replace the random color scheme with a seasonal color scheme. I am solely responsible for the design, graphics, layout & production of the guide, and also some photography.

McLean Traveler poster/postcard thumbnail

Promotional Posters/Postcards

The McLean Traveler is a travel program offered to the McLean community by the MCC. This project allowed me to create a brand and logo specific to the travel program. The center has many programs appealing to the varied demographics across age, gender and category. The McLean Traveler now has its own unique identity amongst these programs.

MCC Class email/postcard ads thumbnail

Email and Postcard Advertisements

The Center actively advertises when the new classes are about to start. These ads were created and marketed to parents and children, about the upcoming Summer classes and camps. The flyer was delivered to area schools as a take home item for parents. The other two ads were part of an email blast.

Teen Center Posters

The MCC has a dedicated teen center, The Old Firehouse, which offers many programs for the McLean area teens and young adults. These posters are a few of the parties, trips and events offered for teens and their parents. Each of these posters were created as original art with Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.

Identity and Print Design

Conference materials celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) Office. A logo and identity was created and used for the posters, banners, postcards, program, 10-year Lookback document, and kiosk presentations.

FEMA Factsheets thumbnail image

Public Information Facsheets

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) Officeoversees many programs to respond to threats to our nation. These factsheets were produced to let stakeholders such as State and local agencies know how to cooperate and enlist these programs for use in their jurisdictions.

CONTACT ME

michael@mkdesignpro

Send me an email and let me know how I can be of service to you,
or just to tell me what you think of my site and my work.

Michael Kalmar
michael@mkdesignpro.com