SW GRAPHIC | Portfolio of Sarah Wu

Point & Shoot vs. SLR photography

swgraphic — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:15:45 +0000

Recently, I’m just getting my feet wet with photography, mainly to complement my blogging and travel activities. I have a Canon SD700 in my pocket while most of my friends are carrying around a digital SLR. There are some limitations as to what a point and shoot camera can do compared to a SLR camera.This doesn’t mean it can’t take great photos. You need to have an effective composition and lighting when it comes to point and shoot.

Point and shoot camera may be light and compact, but I still want to buy a SLR camera eventually. My next shopping list will be the Canon EOS Rebel T2i / 550D (body) and Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens. My friend Akito lend me his Canon Rebel SLR this weekend to try it out first. It’s very different then my Canon SD700, but I’m still trying to learn more on how to use SLR camera. It’ll be a fun learning experience. Here are some photos taken by the Canon Rebel EOS 300D.

Vases in my living room.

My mini bar collection at home.

This one is my favorite shot – memorable. My fiancé gave me a beautiful heart lock & key pendant necklace on Sat.

I made some spaghetti with tuna fish for my fiancé.

A Trip to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

swgraphic — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:28:27 +0000

My fiancé and I visited Puerto Rico before I started my new job at Disney. We absolutely loved the atmosphere and the old Spanish Colonial architecture. A visit to Old San Juan is like a trip back in time for us. I adore the buildings, streets, views, and the uniqueness of many other historical sites. I particularly liked the romantic walks down the cobblestone streets. In addition, El Moro is just amazing – filled with history and a great view.

I would definitely recommend any of my friends to take a tour of old San Juan. So here is a recap of the photos I took from this beautiful island. Photography can be tell a story and capture the history of this city. I hope you will enjoy this collection.

Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Puerto Rico

Top View From Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Puerto Rico

Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Puerto Rico

Here comes the Trolley!

On our way to Plaza San Jose

La Perla is a slum neighborhood aside of the northern historic city wall

Zoom in view of a house in La Perla

Northern historic city wall

Eating at our favorite restaurant

Old Spanish Colonial Design

More Arrchitecture

Old Spanish Colonial architecture

I love Puerto Rico Tees

Shopping in Old San Juan

Gran Melia Resort

La Perla, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Old San Juan Streets

25 Beautiful Wedding Photographs

swgraphic — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:33:27 +0000

My Boyfriend proposed this weekend! I’ve been with my boyfriend John for almost 10 years now, and I’m so excited to tell you that John and I got engaged on Saturday night. He proposed to me right before Valentine’s day. John and I are kind of simple and direct about things. So, He asked me if he can give me my Valentine’s day gift earlier. And he asked the “special” question. And I answered him Yes. Right now, everyone has told us to enjoy our engagement but at the same time we are being asked where and when we will get married. I know nothing about that yet, but I do know I want my wedding photos to look beautiful. Isn’t that every girl’s dream?

I started to look for wedding photos as part of my inspiration. The wedding photo packages are around $4,000- $5,000 Yuan. That’s like four or five hundred dollars to capture a moment of your life time. Here are some of my favorite wedding photos from China that I found. I especially like how some of them have the Chinese vintage style. Enjoy it!~

http://www.juxing100.com

http://www.kingho.net

http://www.szyumo.com/

100 Artist Exhibition in Brooklyn

swgraphic — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:42:18 +0000

It’s been months since the last time I posted. A lot of things happen during the past few months. I just started working for Disney Interactive Media Group as a Lead Designer. On top of that, I was invited to participated in “100 Artist Exhibition” in Brooklyn. My illustration has been accepted into Ouchi Gallery and I was busy trying to get my illustration printed at CanvasPop.com.

“100 Artist Exhibition” is the first huge group exhibition of the new year at Ouchi Gallery. The theme of this exhibition is a collaboration of 100 artists from Japan and NY, both pro and amateur, and to support them to take a step towards expanding their artist activity globally. This exhibition had already ended, however I did took some photos from the reception night. As you can see my photos are not the best quality, but it gives you a glance of all the beautiful works at the show. If you like arts, feel free to check out Ouchi Gallery for their upcoming shows.

Artist: Kahori Sagayama

Artist: Nao Asami

Artist: Kenji Umeno

Artist: PostposseNR

Misc Artists

Artist: Sayaka Nihongi

Misc Artists

Akito and I standing next to my Illustration

Close up of my art work

Artist: Kumiko Sato

Artist: Yoko Sanagi

20 Cool Asian Movie Posters

swgraphic — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:08:28 +0000

What else do you enjoy the most besides designing? I love to watch movies, especially Asian movies. When it comes down to the movie selection, I always want to look at the movie poster first.

There are so many great movie posters out there. To me, a great movie poster has to be intriguing, inspiring and one that tells a story. It should be original and beautiful. Ignoring the title, I want to be fascinated by the graphics and learn about the movie simply from the visuals. I want to know if it is a scary, funny, romantic or suspenseful movie based on the poster. Not surprisingly, all my friends known me as the “movie poster over the wiki plot” type of girl. These graphic visuals play a big part for me in the process of selecting which DVDs to watch. I have been watching alot of Thai movies recently, and I love every single one of them. Looking at another culture’s poster design is another source of inspiration for me. It is a departure from North American cinematic aesthetics. I’ve collected 20 cool Asian movie posters for your inspiration. I hope you enjoy them.

My Trip to Orlando, Florida

swgraphic — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:44:34 +0000

At some point in your life, you will run into a creative block, where all your inspiration and good ideas are running short. The good thing is that a creative block is only temporary. The best way to help overcome this is opening your mind to new inspirations by watching a show, going to the park or taking a vacation.

So for me to stop and walk away from my workspace and enjoy a trip to Orlando Florida for a week helped a lot. Exploring a different environment and looking at new things can help you be inspired. I was surprised by all of the new things I’ve experience at Disney World theme park. Visiting the Lego store reminds me of the new Pixel art trend. Here are some photos I took at Disney downtown. I hope you find them interesting.

Lego window display

Lego outside the store

Disney characters fruits.

Make your own dino?

A magnet store in Disney downtown. They do look so tasty.

Finally my favorite Sitch from Disney animation.

Wuchang Skateboards Design

swgraphic — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:48:33 +0000

I recently watched a movie called Ghost of Girlfriends Past. The plot talks about a guy who is haunted by the ghost of his past girlfriends. The story is very similar to Christmas Carol, where each ghost takes you to a different time in your life. As you may recall there is a grim reaper that shows up in the story of Christmas Carol and he looked scary with a skull head.

So, why am I talking about grim reaper in my design blog and it’s not even Halloween yet. Well, I just found an interesting skateboard design with Chinese grim reaper illustrations on it. They are called the Black and White Wuchang. In Chinese mythology, they are the grim reapers from hell whose responsibility is to pick up the spirit from the dead person.

This skateboard set is already in the Chinese market, designed by a young talented designer name Ray. He’s currently 21 years old and studies at Qing Hua College in China. This design grabs my attention right away. The mix of design elements on the skateboard using Chinese decorative elements are very unique and makes me want to explore more of these Asian decorative elements.

Cool wallpapers from SW GRAPHIC

swgraphic — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:29:42 +0000

There’s nothing better than having some beautiful wallpaper for your desktop. I recently found some of my old works and decided to make them into wallpapers. I thought it would be a great idea to share them. They are full of great color compositions and it’s a reflection of places that I visited. Feel free to download them and send it to your friends. Oh yea they are currently 1024×768, but more sizes will be coming soon.

Download size | 1024×768 | 1280×1024 | 1920×1200 |

A CD and DVD cover arts showcase

swgraphic — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:42:09 +0000

In the digital era, we download music and store them in our ipods or iphones. When is the last time you remember buying a CD or DVD? I still buy dvd movies, but I don’t recall the last time I’ve bought a music CD. The reason why I brought up this topic is because I’ve found this really cool showcase site featuring CD and DVD cover art. Check it out at http://www.mixtapewall.com. Enjoy!

Top 5 Inspirational Asian Showcase Site

swgraphic — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:42:30 +0000

I always like to look at Oriental websites in comparison to European websites. They got a very different look and feel and it’s always a good idea to get some inspiration to help you design something that really standout. It’s fascinating what kinda web showcase you can find out there, if you’re bilingual. Type in chinese search engine helped me collect so many cool showcase. Observing their design trends and style can be a great source of inspiration for me. So Today, I have collected the Top 5 inspirational Asian showcase sites for your enjoyment. I hope you like them and bookmark them.

1 – http://www.webdesignclip.com

2 – http://pages.sccnn.com

3 – http://dbcut.com/bbs/index.php

4 – http://www.bluestation.net/coolweb.asp

5 – http://www.art-noc.com

Some vintage advertisements.

swgraphic — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:19:16 +0000

I like traditional design also, so I like to check out stuff besides digital. I just ran into these vintage ads on the web. I have no clue why these vintage ads looks so creepy to me. What were they thinking back then? In another 30 or 40 years later, will people view our work and think it’s funny or creepy too? Check out these links for more Vintage ads.

http://pzrservices.typepad.com/vintageadvertising/creepy_vintage_advertising/index.html
http://www.weirdomatic.com/creepy-ads.html

2s-space, a studio from Xiamen, China

swgraphic — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:46:03 +0000

Are you an icon design lover? If you love Fantasy Interactive studio’s work. You must check out 2s-space, a studio from Xiamen, China. They specialized in icons and UI design. Check out their beautiful works at 2s-space.

Tweety Logo

swgraphic — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:19:35 +0000

Designed a variety of logo treatments for the Tweety.com pitch.

Skittles.com

swgraphic — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:16:31 +0000

Designed an overlay widget that displayed populated content from other sites such as Twitter, Youtube, etc. This connects their fans and consumers together and created the essence of the brand in digital experience.

I’m Featured on Web Designer Magazine Issue 158.

swgraphic — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:44:43 +0000

That’s right, I’m featured on the web designer Magazine issue number 158. I could not believe it, when Steve picked my portfolio. I am overjoyed to be featured in their industry portfolio section. I can’t stop grinning. It’s such an awesome recognition and honor. I wanted to thank everyone who always supporting my work. Oh yeah, You can pick up a copy from Barnes & Noble. Issue 158 is packed with a great mix of CMS, Mobile and tutorial guides. You’ll totally love it.

British Airways Passport

swgraphic — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:17:08 +0000

This is a logo lock-up for a British Airways campaign that drives booking to Midwest markets.

Dismantle The Rainbow

swgraphic — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:08:45 +0000

I designed the banner layout for the Crazy Core concept. It illustrates the unexpected nature of Crazy Cores by playing with the familiar metaphor of the Russian Doll.

J.U.I.C.E. Program

swgraphic — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:25:20 +0000

J.U.I.C.E. is a nonprofit after-school program for the Los Angeles youth. My layout emphasizes a vibrant and colorful take on how the youth center can bring positive change to a child’s life. One of the main focuses of the home page is the top image area where I highlight four different youths and their stories. Each youth has a different way of expressing themselves through hip-hop whether it may be dance, music or visual arts.

Shanghai Grill Logo

swgraphic — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:19:42 +0000

Shanghai Grill is a Chinese and Japanese chain restaurant in Albany. I was asked to redesign their logo and menu.

Summer Movie Logo

swgraphic — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:18:22 +0000

This is a logo design for the summer movie guide feature. I was involved with concept, design and the final execution.