Brief
Dan defines the audience, metaphor, practical constraint, and what the work must make people feel.
Selected work · 2026
Dan BrackenCreative direction + graphic designTipp City, Ohio
Ideas first.
Tools second.
Work that earns its space.
A process-led portfolio of original prompts, generated passes, hard corrections, collaborative exports, and human-finished design.
Read the case studies ↓
Featured: Against the FlowFinal production artwork · supplied by Dan
Selected work
01—06Not just the answer. The decisions that made it.
Four case studies follow the same honest sequence: original brief, first render, correction, collaborative export, final state, and the lesson worth carrying forward.
Case study 01
Final campaign systemAgainst
the Flow
The original black-and-sludge campaign—before its later road-sign derivatives.
01
Original prompt
Turn cultural pressure into something physical.
Brief reconstructed from the May 15 exchange
Culture’s barrage becomes sludge and pollution. The swimmies become the practical, almost childlike practices that help someone resist the current.
The tone needed to be gritty, aggressive, and culturally observant—not a clean water metaphor and not a generic “be different” graphic.
02
First renderImage not archived
The first pass filled too much of the frame.
The earliest render itself was not recoverable. The critique was: maximal sludge detail, too little text-safe space, and a composition too busy to carry an entire campaign.
02
First-render file not found.
The feedback trail remains.
03
Pushback + training
Scale it back. Make the direction literal.
Dan’s corrections turned an atmospheric image into a usable design brief:
- Frame16:9 / 1920×1080 with deliberate negative space for message text.
- EnergyMore dramatic pipe angles; neon yellow-green or hot-pink accents.
- SubjectA boy or girl reduced toward silhouette, with the swimmies kept visible.
- MeaningThe swimmer must move opposite the flow—the composition itself has to preach.
04
Collaborative exportRecovered original
The metaphor became a campaign image.
05
Dan’s final renditionFinal files supplied
One master image became a weekly system.
Case study reflection
Negative space became the operating system.
The decisive correction was not cosmetic. Removing sludge made room for seven weeks of communication, while reversing the swimmer made the idea readable without explanation. The lesson: restraint and direction can carry more meaning than added detail.
Case study 02
Identity in developmentThe Burg
A new church identity organized around neighborhood, belonging, and a seat at the table.
01
Original prompt
More neighborhood than destination.
From Dan’s opening brief
“The Burg” feels like a corner bar in an Irish neighborhood—the place you go to hang out. More intimate than a huge church. More community-driven than talent-driven. More shared responsibility than trusting the hired staff.
The assignment was a new concept and logo with some Ginghamsburg familiarity, but a distinct social promise: this is where people know one another.
02
First renderFirst generated board
A church mark arrived before a neighborhood did.
03
Pushback + training
Keep the table. Lose the visual over-explanation.
Dan liked the green, the circular sign, and the table in the mark. The underline under “THE” felt oddly emphasized; the cross and hanging light together felt like too much; the type needed to stay in the Apex family.
A later round sharpened the calibration: paint strokes and scribbles were rejected, pattern experiments were abandoned, and solids won. The table icon integrated with real photography became the promising center.
04
Collaborative exportApplication study
The identity had to leave the logo page.
05
Dan’s current renditionMixed production status
The work became physical before the identity became final.
The poster was printed as an exploration, using real community photography and the plain invitation “Pull up a chair.” The shirts carry the most polished mark so far, but they have not been produced. None of these is being presented as a finished identity system.
Case study reflection
Applications exposed the brand’s truth.
The strongest direction did not emerge from polishing the logo in isolation. It emerged when the table icon touched photography, signage, apparel, and plainspoken language. The lesson: prototype the identity in public-facing formats before declaring the system solved.
Case study 03
Final production exportsOne Night.
Two Audiences.
A shared launch date without forcing two age groups into one visual personality.
01
Original prompt
Blend them—or let the split do the work?
From Dan’s opening brief
“This might be a little tricky… YG and Kids Club are starting on the same night… They each have a ‘look’ catered to their age groups. I need a promotional slide that promotes them both… either a blended approach… or a split-screen approach.”
The non-negotiables were September 9, the correct grade bands, and a 1920×1080 canvas.
02
First renderFirst generated pass
The split-screen respected both identities.
03
Pushback + training
Correct the system details before adding more information.
- CopyAdd “GRADES” before K–5 so the two audience labels use the same grammar.
- TypeMove “SEPTEMBER 9” into familiar system typography: Libre Franklin Bold.
- SignageAdd times, locations, and ginghamsburg.org/events without losing scan order.
- BroadcastMake the lower third genuinely transparent and much less intrusive.
04
Collaborative exportRevised announcement
The concept survived the correction.
05
Dan’s final renditionFinal exports
One idea, resolved for two real surfaces.
Case study reflection
Consistency is not sameness.
The system succeeds because it coordinates two identities without homogenizing them. The final lesson arrived through format: a great announcement can be loud, while a great lower third sometimes needs to nearly disappear. Dan’s acceptance was concise: “boom shacka lacka.”
Case study 04
Concepts pushed · no final selectedTaste
of Tipp
Not simply food—the flavor, businesses, and personality that make a town feel like itself.
01
Original prompt
Design the taste of a town, not a restaurant.
From Dan’s brief
“Taste of a town” is its flavor, vibe, and culture. It is not exactly food—though food is part of it. It is the businesses that make up Tipp City.
The existing frying-pan cue and Tipp City’s famous mum offered obvious visual material, but combining them without shrinking the event’s meaning was the real assignment.
02
First renderRecovered first render
The first board made the metaphor very literal.
03
Pushback + training
Simplify, isolate, reintroduce, and correct the mum.
The critique moved in deliberate loops rather than a straight line:
- ReduceTry one color; keep the strong pan-and-flame route.
- TestIgnore the mum, then reintroduce only a semblance of it into the flame.
- ControlTilt the pan for motion, simplify for small sizes, then restore a straight camera angle.
- CorrectThe mum looked like a splash; make the petals pointier and closer to the Chamber reference.
04
Collaborative exportMonochrome study
The system tightened without pretending to be solved.
05
Dan’s pushed conceptsNo final selected
Several clearer answers. No final answer.
Case study reflection
Exploration can reveal what not to finalize.
The process proved that the pan and mum can coexist, but it did not fully resolve whether the symbol represents civic character or food first. The lesson is not to mistake a polished option for a finished identity when the central strategic tension is still visible.
Supporting work
05Print campaign
Game On
An 8.5 × 11-inch, 300-dpi flyer blending school and fall-sports energy while protecting the center for final copy. The empty field is the feature.
Generational design
Play + restraint
These welcome-card explorations document a recurring lesson: color can carry energy without filling every inch, and playful typography gets stronger when the eye has room to land.
“Homie. Negative space.”
The shortest creative brief in the portfolio—and one of the most useful.Working method
Human × machineCollaboration without surrendering authorship.
Frame
Dan defines the audience, felt need, concept, production constraint, and what must remain true.
Expand
ChatGPT turns the brief into visible directions quickly enough to compare, combine, or discard.
Train
Dan corrects the model with specific visual judgment—hierarchy, symbolism, typography, restraint, and format.
Finish
The work is rebuilt, composited, typeset, adapted, and delivered for print, signage, screens, or apparel.
The case studies do not treat AI output as authorship by default. They show the exchange: where generation opened a door, where critique changed the work, and what actually reached production.