Hello!
I'm Allana :)

lifelong learner, and an information (UX), art, and design
student @ the university of michiganI'm planning on graduating in 2024! I hope I'll either be working with really cool people afterwards or decide to go to grad school.This semester (F23) I'm working on Korean Art Song Resource as a graphic and web designer, as well as supporting Art & Resistance with some designs!

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• About Me

Hi there! I'm Allana Tran and I'm from Lansing, MI -- although I often worked and went through school in East Lansing.Currently, I'm a senior undergraduate student studying UX design with a dual degree in art & design at the University of Michigan.I love solving problems and enjoy engaging in opportunities that allow me to further my understanding in designing for people and applying what I’ve learned to real world contexts. Information should be easily accessible for everyone and I believe good design plays an important role!

Ann Arbor
Art + Feminism
Wiki Edit-a-Thon 2023

Visual + Brand Design // Visual Designer

This is a visual design project for the annual Ann Arbor Art + Feminism (AAAF) Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon. The theme this year was art, feminism, avante-garde, games, and digital art (also cats). I was given a design brief and some examples of designs from previous years to work from. I designed logos, played with colors, and produced graphics and designs that would be used for both web and print, along with being used for holographic stickers and screen printed shirts. Overall a fun project to partake in that had a lot of work put into it. More images coming soon!

⎈ Commission // Winter 2023

Uplocalized

UI Design // Lead UI Designer

This was a collaboration project completed with 4 other UM students for an information based class. We were tasked to create a digital product to solve a problem in our local community (Ann Arbor). Small businesses in the area were struggling to compete with bigger corporations during this time. We wanted to design an application that could connect consumers with local small businesses as a means to encourage shopping local post pandemic lockdown.Link to Figma prototype

⎈ Collab // Winter 2022

UI/UX Design & Figma

In this project, I was in charge of the UI and visual design of the digital product. I created the app wireframe and interactive animations in Figma. Later I also put together the mockups.I also helped team members learn how to use Figma as a design tool and contributed to the design slides in our presentation where we explained how we incorporated UX/UI design concepts and principles into our product.

Next Steps

This project was created in a span of less than 2 weeks. If there was more time, I would've did user testing and garnered feedback to see what changes we should put in place to enhance the user experience.Overall, I think this project was a valuable experience for me in terms of working with a group, problem solving, and practicing the use of design tools and concepts.

Art-a-Thon 2021

Illustration // Lead Illustrator

These images were created in less than 2 days in collaboration with 2 other Michigan students for Art-a-Thon 2021. The theme was "Lost and Found" and had to do with our childhoods so we decided to focus on our imaginations as kids. We received 2nd place for our submission.

⎈ Collab // Fall 2021

Team Collaboration

All of us partook in the ideation and sketching processes for this project. We took inspiration from trends online, paper activities from our childhood, and our imagination.Since we wanted all the pieces to have a cohesive style, I took charge of the line art, while my group members did the overall coloring and composition. Since we had very little time to create 3 pieces, we worked together remotely over Zoom when we had time and exchanged files over email.I had a great time and later made stickers of our work :)

Artwork Description

“Our artwork addresses the Lost and Found task prompt because as we've become adults, we no longer partake in the same activities we did as children. Rubber ducks were a significant part of our childhood not only because we played with rubber ducks during bath times, but also during play time. As kids, we would always have various rubber ducks laying around throughout the house. Thus we wanted to focus on the activities and items that created core childhood memories and incorporate that with our idea of rubber ducks. Drinking out of juice boxes, playing on play-structures, raising digital pets, and the simple joy of going to get ice cream were all memories we wanted to display and convey the feelings of a much simpler time.”

Ground Connections Branding

Branding Design // Project Admin, Asset Designer

A collaborative branding project done over the course of the summer with other students for Ground Connections (University of Michigan, Duderstadt Center - Digital Media Commons).Ground Connections was a new name for the group under the Digital Media Commons (DMC) which housed the Fabrication Studio, Gallery, Design Studio, and Groundworks. A new name called for a new branding that could be used around the spaces to create a sense of cohesion.

⎈ Collab // Summer 2022

Team Collaboration

As a group, we went through the processes of ideation, discussion, and iteration. We presented and talked through our ideas to a group of administrators and were able to develop a color scheme and branding guide that worked in conjunction with current university branding guidelines.Additionally, I did logistics and admin work. I sent out meeting emails, created presentation templates, compiled PDFs, maneuvered Zoom meetings, etc.

Assets & Templates

Using the new style guide, I created assets (branch patterns) for use in print and web content. These assets could be imported into Adobe Illustrator where I included text documentation on how to use them.I also created presentation templates for our organization and remediated old Google Slides to fit the new brand and updated information. Also, I made lots of posters.

Positive Pauses (Work in Progress)

Social Interaction Design // Designer

This was a self-led independent project that had forced me to explore a lot of unfamiliar terrain.I wanted to create a positive experience using a combination of physical and digital mediums. I opted to make wish cards because I found the idea and experience of writing your wishes onto a card and putting it somewhere really warming and positive.For this project I had to figure a bit about coding as well, since I've never done anything like that before. It was a lot of problem solving on my part and that took up a lot of my time. I was able to do a lot before the deadline, but I plan to revisit this project again and make it better! Maybe do something with NFC!

⎈ Solo // Winter 2021

Try scanning the QR code:

Local-seek

Graphic Design // Project Admin, Graphic Designer

This was a partner project done during the pandemic lockdown. We decided to design an interactive program that focused on helping small businesses during the pandemic, as we knew many were having a difficult time.We worked on ideation, shared sketches, and made mock ups for this project together. My partner was especially skilled with Adobe Illustrator, so I took care a lot of logistics like research, presentation, and keeping us on schedule alongside a little Illustrator work.

⎈ Collab // Fall 2020

Community Engagement

The idea behind this project was to help local small businesses be able to still engage with customers during the COVID lockdown. We designed a community "scavenger hunt"-style adventure for local customers to participate in.To incentivize the program and encourage participation, we made gamified the concept and customers that participated were able to collect small items such as pins with customized designs that represented the local business they shopped at.

Sign & Symbol

The designs we came up with represented existing businesses as well as COVID safe procedures such as curbside pickup and social distancing.To keep a cohesive style for all the designs, we also decided on using a single "main" color and simple imagery. The simple imagery also helped with making it easier to create the line art version of the designs that can be used for other purposes.

The Compassion Project

Graphic Design // Graphic Designer

This was a project I did where I was tasked to focus on creating graphics aimed at children. I decided to focused on creating fun graphics to educate children on compassion and to encourage them to show love towards themselves and others.I believe that it's important to teach children about self care and compassion at a young age. I wanted to create images that depicted and promoted that idea with colors that pop!Since I was aiming towards drawing the attention of children, I used lots of bright, fun colors and simple shapes.Ideally this would be a campaign in schools to promote healthy conversations about mental health and the idea of loving yourself, loving others, and loving the planet. We're all growing and learning so let's help each other to have a big heart :)

⎈ Solo // Fall 2020