Visual Communication
Visual communication is, to me, the medium with the largest capacity for beauty. Saying something through objects and color has a certain elegance to it, when done well. Outside of engineering, photography is a hobby of mine and I believe every image has a story to tell. In the engineering space, visual communication mediums provide the opportunity to simplify paragraphs of information into a single image or two (often accompanied by a descriptive caption). See below for a selection of my visual efforts, from both within engineering and without.
Intralox End-of-Summer Intern Presentation
The PowerPoint that Matthew Richards and I created to showcase our efforts during the summer of 2021. Take special note of moments that fully utilize the freedom afforded by the visual medium such as the video segments, data graphics, screencaps of CAD models, technical drawings, and more. Though not perfect, this presentation laid the groundwork for many of my future presentations in ME 2212, ME 4243, and my summer at ExxonMobil.
ME 4611 Presentations
ME 4611 Thermal Systems Laboratory involved giving presentations in front of the entire class every week in varying length formats. Six-minute long talks were about the experimental plan for an upcoming experiment, the data results from a previous experiment, or on a thermodynamic topic of the presenter’s choice. The powerpoint seen here was the latter and is actually two back-to-back six-minute talks on the Chernobyl Disaster.
ME 2212 Final Presentation
The PowerPoint that my ME 2212 Sophomore Design team and I created and presented at the end of the semester. It had to, within the prescribed time window, provide all necessary background information, convince the audience of a need for the product, go in detail into our design and all choices and considerations we made, and convince the audience of the design’s feasibility. Note that the document had to be converted to PDF due to size restraints on file uploads and thus some animations may fail to appear and cause some slides to not be readable.
Mason’s Day Out - Kindness Challenge Announcement
As part of my duties as Senior Class President in high school, I wrote, directed, and edited a video announcing the school’s kindness challenge, an initiative to promote social wellbeing.
SPM Oak Grove Video
Oak Grove School held a STEM outreach event for middle schoolers yearly, but during Covid times the event went virtual. For SPM sophomore year, I created a video introducing students to engineering at LSU, which can be seen at the left. While definitely a sophomoric effort, it shows how the visual medium can be used to communicate across distances and achieve desired goals (in this case, promoting the LSU College of Engineering).
Various Organization Graphics
In my roles in on-campus organizations, I have created many graphics for the sake of advertisement (posters), fundraising (merchandise like shirts and stickers), and brand development (logos). See a few on the right.
Photography
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I must be a very accomplished author (by wordcount solely). Every picture is framed to convey a message. The extent of that message, and what it means, are up to interpretation, but the picture is put out into the world nonetheless. Take the image on the left for example, which I took in Rome. The aspect ratio is non-typical. This was done out of necessity for the quality of the image, but the overbearing width (framed by foliage on the right and water on the left) conveys the vastness of Rome. The domed structure in the background almost appears to be resting atop the bridge in the image, with the hill on the left rivaling the buildings on the right. The pixel density of the image is purposefully reduced, giving it a painting-like quality. A filter has been overlaid to make the greens pop and the yellows appear washed.
Advertising for Kate Pigott
My work in high school caught the attention of local children’s book author Kate Pigott who has contracted me to create advertising graphics and videos on occasion for her books I See You, Green Dinosaur, Green Dinosaur Pancakes, and The Flying Horses of City Park.
OTES Signage
At my on-campus job, I have learned the limitations of visual communication and the most important attributes when using a primarily visual, static communication medium. Many freshmen take tests in the OTES Computer-Based Testing Center and corralling students in the right direction, telling them the rules, and getting them to their assigned seats is done almost purely by signage and was very confusing to new student when I first arrived. In addition to overhauling the direction of people movement in the Lab, I’ve led a crusade to overhaul the signage. There were too many signs, many of which were not important. This led students to experience sensory overload and ignore ALL signs. I have since removed all signs in the lab and replaced them with a few key, simple signs that direct them to the check-in, notify them of the most important rules, and highlight the locations of the restrooms and exits. See on the left for a sample sign which condensed several individual letter-paper-sized signs into a single large banner that can be centrally located at the check-in stations.
ExxonMobil End-of-Summer Intern Presentation
I was fortunate enough to be placed in the unique situation of having two distinct intern experiences in one summer. The first half of my summer was spent in fixed equipment and the second half was spent in machinery. Thus, while other interns had to introduce and provide background information on their area of work, I had to adequately introduce two unrelated fields in the same timeframe and without losing the audience. The presentation seen at the right showcases my effort, which was very well-received by the plan management in attendance.
LSU MechE Capstone Design Final Presentation
At the culmination of the first semester of LSU Mechanical Engineering Capstone Senior Design, my team had to present to a panel of industry experts. The slide deck is seen to the left here, with the slides I made and presented called out in the top ribbon. Adequately and succinctly explaining not only our project but also the background information on mechanical seals to the varied audience of professors, students, and industry professionals was a fun challenge that I believe I met admirably.