Vanessa Shimon is a designer and illustrator driven by a passion for storytelling. Her interdisciplinary practice spans printed matter, brand identities, packaging, motion design, and more

Eventually
Illustration, Artist’s Book

We Will Not Be Silenced
Social Campaign, Motion

    

Planet 2049
Editorial

Taste of Teyvat
Brand Identity, Social Media

Miscellaneous
Personal Work

LOVE, LUCK, GACHA

Brand Identity, Editorial, Merch

BFA Communication Design ‘24 Thesis, Parsons School of Design. Featured on the Parsons Communication Design Instagram

 Where do we draw the line between harmless fun and a damaging addiction? 

As an adolescent, I was introduced to gacha: a monetization mechanic in which money/token is exchanged for a random prize. Consumed by an arcade game, I amassed hundreds of its collectible cards. My love for gacha extends to its various incarnations: gacha machines (gachapon), blind boxes, trading cards, and video games. 

This multimedia project offers an informative, critical, and empathetic dive into gacha.

The 92-paged, coptic-bound book explores four forms of gacha: their history, evolution, appeal.

The style embodies the “Japanese cute” or “kawaii” aesthetics of gacha, conrasting sharply with the ostentatious visuals of traditional gambling. This juxtaposition highlights the role of design in transforming the stigma of gambling into a seemingly innocuous spectacle.

The playful aesthetic of gachapon is a key inspiration for the typography. On the cover and section openers, the letters are stacked and jumbled, mimicking the arrangement of toy capsules inside the machine. Circular motifs and soft, rounded edges further emphasize the whimsical, childlike design that defines the gacha world.

Meanwhile, the gachapon randomly dispenses capsules containing stickers and labels. The stickers, featuring symbols of luck (cats) and trickery (rabbits), mock the rigged game of luck, while the labels taunt players for participating. Designed to frustrate and thrill, the gachapon is a critique of gacha through the medium itself.

"LOVE, LUCK, GACHA" blends anecdotes and critical perspectives, urging audiences to reflect on the complexities of gacha and by extension, the human desire to accumulate to no satisfying end.



Indonesian Film Festival in New York (IFFEST 2024)

Brand Identity, Motion Design

Designed with Qashka Rulino

 Every year, the Indonesian Film Forum (IFF) hosts the Indonesian Film Festival, which aims to promote Indonesian cinema to the global audience of New York City.

IFFestNY’24 culminated in a 3-day event, where we proudly screened shorts and feature films , including the American premiere of Teddy Soeriaatmadja “The Architecture of Love”.

IFFestNY‘24 Brand Guide 
The 2024 festival identity was inspired by Wayang, traditional Javanese puppet theatre that usually depicts folktales. We aimed to draw parallels between Wayang and film, each symbolizing the old and new guards of the Indonesian creative scene.

Printed poster, merch, backdrop, photobooth deliverables
The festival screened feature films, shorts, documentaries, and University of Indonesia student films. Beyond screenings, IFFestNY’24 also hosted a talk show with the renowned actress Maudy Koesnaedi.

The 3-day event ran successfully, attracting hundreds of attendees from various backgrounds.

League of Legends Series 4 Packaging Redesign

Packaging Design

© Riot Games

 As a Visual Design Intern at Riot Games’s Consumer Products and Expressions Team, I was tasked with a packaging redesign for the League of Legends Series 4 action figures.

This project focuses on refreshing the design, improve its reproducability, and advance it to a more eco-friendly space. These design and eco considerations were factored in while still maintaining the fantastical themes players associate with the IP.

The final design applied to 3 characters: Yuumi (Heartseeker skin), Lillia (Spirit Blossom skin), Sylas (normal)

While the current design is a cleaner take on the previous iteration, it needs to feel more modern. The mirrored splash art on the box is also a pain point for the designer to reproduce. From an eco perspective, the gold foiling also makes the boxes harder to recycle. These are the problems that must be tackled.

Current and previous iterations of the S4 packaging

 How would I modernize and improve the packaging to be more eco-friendly, all while maintaining a premium feel for League of Legends players?

A bold creative decision was to make the shift into a hexagonal box shape. 

A famous implementation of this shape (also known as the “Sushi Roll”) is the Patagonia Baseslayer. The shape is easy to open and requires no adhesive. When stacked on a shelf, the hexagonal boxes make up an attractive honeycomb shape, which eases navigation. This consideration would be helpful in the future, should Riot Games have a physical merch store.


The hex shape is also on brand for League of Legends and its Emmy-award winning show Arcane. In this world, "hextech" is a technology that democratizes magic for non-magic users. This concept has been translated to the design of the League client, becoming a tool for users to interact with the magic of the game. 

My initial sketches explore more radical approaches, playing with typography and custom hand-drawn elements that work alongside the 3D renders of the figure.


The project gained its footing once the focus was shifted to Hextech brand fundamentals. Circles, diamonds, and squares took precedence in the sketches.

The final redesign is based on the pill-like, rounded rectangle shape. This is a shape that is not used as much in the game client, and therefore doesn’t feel like a repeat of what players are accustomed to. 

The design elements are also simplified, opting for gradients to fill up spaces. The splash character art is used for a profile shot and to fill up two faces of the hex. The box also shows an alternate view of the figurine, allowing the players to get a better understanding of the product.


Pyperbleu Art & Handmade Goods

Social Media Graphics, Email Marketing

 Pyperbleu is an art and handmade goods based on Brooklyn that lives by the motto: “Art lives here.” It is a family-owned business run by Annabelle Gao, an influencer and NYC-based artist that creates paintings, illustrations, and ceramics.

The brand embraces the playfulness of art while maintaining a level of sophistication that befits their premium quality. Pyperbleu sells original designs as well as products by a “collective” of small businesses

As a Design and Social Media Intern, I produced brand assets, social media graphics, and short-form content on Instagram reels. I also brainstormed marketing strategies for product and event launches.




Eventually

Illustration, Artist’s Book

What’s a mother tongue when you’re estranged from it? 

“Eventually” is a zine about mandarins (the fruit) and Mandarin (the language). 

When I peel a mandarin, I think about my mother tongue that I’m no longer fluent in. There’s this unavoidable shame I feel as to not being a fluent Mandarin speaker as a Chinese diaspora.

The zine contemplates on this complexity through a form that mimics the peeling of a mandarin. As one peels through the zine, they will find my recollection of idle summers long past, learning to peel mandarins with my grandmother. 

12 hand-cut pages, bound with a paper fastener. Drawings are done with color pencils.


We Will Not Be Silenced

Social Campaign, Motion

Inspired by the anti-design movement, this Stop Asian Hate subway campaign uses a rebellious visual language (i.e. stretched type, bold colors) to demand attention to the overlooked racism against Asian-Americans. Ultimately, this campaign aims to capture the diversity of Asian languages while encouraging Asian-Americans to “make some noise”—break the silence, take pride in our heritage, and unapologetically exist in society.



Planet 2049

Editorial

This speculative project imagines a dystopia where the Earth is no longer habitable through Planet 2049, a periodical released by ORBITER, a fictional company advocates for a future in Mars. 

Selected works include essays, papers, photographs, and poems by artists, writers, and scientists in response to our changing climate and environment. Meanwhile, the aesthetics draw inspiration from the optimism of the Space Age while borrowing the sleek sensibilities of NASA graphic design. As an annual periodical, Planet 2049 presents facts and cases to convince its Earth-born audiences to start looking up to the stars and plan for their biggest move yet.

Taste of Teyvat

Brand Identity, Social Media

 Taste of Teyvat is a Genshin Impact fanmade cookbook I spearheaded.

The identity pays homage to the pre-existing media while transforming it into a unique, yet familiar aesthetic fans could recognize.

The direction is soft and playful, with anime and food illustrations to push the cookbook concept. Graphics for announcements, lineups, and storefronts reference the game’s interface while still maintaining a distinctive palette. The motion graphics utilize simple but effective transitions, with the merchandise as the main focus.

Motion graphics promotional videos. Illustrations done on Procreate. Animated on Adobe After Effects.

 Social media and storefront graphics

A flip-through of the cookbook, which features recipes, illustrations, and writing based on Genshin Impact
The project received an overwhelmingly positive response from fans of the game

Miscellaneous

 Playlist covers, printmaking explorations, unapologetic homages to everything I love.