Icons- Black on White
Icons- White on Black
Icons- Pink

FROM CONCEPT TO ICON: NATURE, CITY, PEOPLE


What better way to represent these three concepts than from an aerial view?
In creating a project where something so complex must become so simple, I struggled to create something I felt captured the essense of these three concepts of nature, city, and people. That was until I realized that they are all ideas that can be represented on a map... The contour lines of the mountains in nature, the grid lines of the city, and the population bubbles for people.

2025, Concept Icons, Florence, ITA



Catherine di’ Medici Stamp Design
Beatrice Portinari Stamp Design
Eleanor of Toledo Stamp Design

INFULENTIAL FLORENTINE WOMEN


What really encapsulates Florence that people ought to know about and is still appealing? Women!
I aimed to find an appealing and interesting way to depict an aspect of Florence without eluding a more stereotypical depiction of Florence (vespas, cats, clothes hanging to dry, pasta, pizza, coffee, wine, etc). I decided to focus on some of the most influenctial Florentine women and turn them into playing cards. I matched the symbolism of the card suite with the personality of that woman and included details that encompassed her most notable accomplishment. 

Catherine di’ Medici was a powerful political figure.
Beatrice Portinari was a muse for Dante Allegheri and stands as a symbol of divine love and feminine power.
 Eleanor of Toledo influenced the creation of the Boboli Gardens.

2025, Postage Stamps, Florence, ITA



Book Cover Mockup
Book Covers/ Dust Jacket Mockup

DIVINIA COMMEDIA


Dante Allegheri’s Paradiso... designed and interpreted by me


Zine Book w/ Poster

In this project, I used the section of the Divinia Commedia, Paradiso, to encapsulate the way that I portrayed and viewed the writings. I chose to stylistically create a combination of 1960’s advertising and 1960’s book cover design. In terms of content, I was inspired most by the love story of Dante and his muse, Beatrice Portinari. Through the reading, she guides him through paradise, which got me thinking the best way to combine the two. “Paradise is calling”, except paradise is your love interest. 

2025, Book Covers, Florence, ITA




Book Covers
Existence Spread 1
Existence Spread 2
Existence Spread 3
Process Spread 1
Process Spread 2
Process Spread 3

MARK MAKING


Making marks and making meaning from one singular object.

Zine Book w/ Poster

This project began with a randomized object and the only perameters being to make marks with it and document them. I got a mounting bracket that is typically used to make sure that hardware components stay in place. I decided to break it up into 3 different parts and make marks based off of those parts and then assign meaning to the kinds of marks in association with the personality. Abstraction and making a new meaning became a key piece of this project and has expanded my thinking process evermore. 

2025, Zine Book, Richmond, VA






MY LIGHT UP SHOES STOPPED WORKING


An exploration of the continued spirit of my younger self

5.5”x 8.5” 20 Page Book, Stab Stitch Binding



In understanding the fondest memories of my younger self, I began to find the commalities in the joys in my present life today. It gave me a greater sense of connection to myself as a whole and allowed me to gracefully let go of aspects of my childhood that I neglected to think about. 

2024, Book, Richmond, VA
Front Book Cover Page
Book Spread #1
Book Spread #2
Book Spread #3
Back Book Cover Page
18x24in Poster Page

SADE ADU: AESTHETIC AND ENERGY


An exploration of an artist that inspires me.

23.4” x 33.1”, Zine and Poster

Sade’s continued influence in terms of her aesthetic choices and musical talent became a deep dive exploration where I considered why she was still popular and what she has done to maintain her popularity. Her nature and lack of interest in maintaining an image in the media is what made people grow appreciate her more. Few artists are able to maintain a platform when they release an album in 10 year increments, but Sade has proven the opposite of what most artists strive for; the spotlight. 

2024, Book, Richmond, VA
Front Book Page
Spread 1
Back Book Page

FUTURE ARCHIVES COLLABORATIVE EXPLORATION


An exploration of curatorial practices in relation to designers


18” x 24”, Zine


Prompted to collaboratively explore libraries and examine the ways that they create curatorial practices, I began to explore these methods through books and collections at my local college library. During the process of this group project, we all chose to highlight a different aspect of creating a collection through our own individual exploraation and group discussion. Fascilitating conversations about collections as designers only led to more inspiration and a well crafted book using the risograph and japanese stab stitch binding for the very first time. 

2024, Book, Richmond, VA




IMAGE GRID CONSTRUCTION STUDY


An exploration of color and shapes in relation to grids

18” x 24”, Poster


Experimentation with colors and the movement of photos and how they compliment each other in a larger scale composition became an important aspect in this study. I hoped to create a poster that suited aesthetic choices that I would make in order to better understand the concept for future projects. 

2024, Poster, Richmond, VA








DIGITAL NEGATIVE POSTER


An exploration of women and my maternal family.

18” x 24”, Poster


 I created this using the dark room for my very first time during a photography course. The initial creation of this poster was inspired by the maternal side of my family in correlation with excerps and readings about the female body and discussions of femininity. I included many photos of ancestors from my maternal family and added supplementary information based off of that to highlight the continued theme of the exploration of women. 

2024, Book, Richmond, VA





ARTIST TOUR POSTER


The creation of a faux tour advertisement based on my favorite artist.

18” x 24”, Poster


Prompted to create a poster including fake tour details about an artist, I decided to create a very visually busy composition with loud colors and distorted text and images. This was my first project ever using photoshop, and included plenty of trial and error, but helped me to become much more well versed in graphic design before starting in the VCU GDES program.
2024, Poster, Richmond, VA






         ABOUT

Sarah Brooks is a graphic designer at Virginia Commonwealth University in the School of the Arts. She is primarily interested in careers concerning Design, Creative Advertising, and Brand Development/Management. She holds a passion for building interpersonal connections through design, diversity of materials, and working with children.