OBEHI EJELE

DESIGN PORTFOLIO
Contact 07908 622078 @obehiejele @obehiejele obehiejele@yahoo.com

ABOUT ME
Hey there, I’m Obehi Ejele, a British, East London born Graphic Designer and
Illustrator that studied Media Arts at Jamestown Community College, New York,
USA. I am working as a Junior Designer at Frank PR, bringing a creative breath of
fresh air, life and youth to an already established brand while helping to create
visuals for pitches and sell ideas. I also work as a freelance Designer and Illustrator.
OBJECTIVES
To work in a creatively challenging environment that will further
push and develop my skill and knowledge in design. I aim to mix
innovative design with eye-catching illustration to give a fresh
take on my visual pieces. I aim to bring to life and communicate
my clients’ visions to the best of my ability.

EDUCATION ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS

Jamestown Community College St. Bonaventure’s Catholic Secondary 2018 2016 & 2017
September 2016 - December 2017 School Jamestown Community College Jamestown Community College
Major in Media Arts September 2006 - July 2011 Media Arts Award Student Art & Design Exhibition
GCSE 12 A*-C New Media Runner Up
St. Angelas & St. Bonaventure’s Sixth 2018
Form College Jamestown Community College 2010
September 2011 - July 2013 Student Art & Design Exhibition My Money Art Competition
A levels in Media Studies, Economics, Fine New Media Winner Regional Winner
Art (C,C,C)
2018
Best of SUNY
(State University of New York)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Student Art & Design Exhibition
Work selected for primary exhibition

Jamestown Community College Frank

Marketing and Web Office
January 2017 - December 2017
Junior Graphic Designer
Working alongside the Director of
Marketing and Branding to create a wide
range of print and web design pieces for
Jamestown Community College and The
Weeks Gallery at Jamestown
Community College.
May 2018 - Present
Junior Art Designer
Working alongside the Creative Director
and the Creative and Design Executive to
develop the in-house brand, create and
pitch visuals and sell ideas.
Clients include Huawei mobile, Lucozade,
Ribena, Skoda, Volvo, Green Flag and more.
TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY
Software: Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects,
Lightroom and Premiere Pro. Microsoft Office Suite; Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
Publisher and Outlook.
Operating Systems: Mac OS 10.8 +, Windows 10 +
Photography: Extensive experience with digital SLR cameras. Adept in
Lightroom, portrait and regular photography. Skilled in photo colour correction
and photo editing.

*References available upon request

D&AD NEW BLOOD
AWARDS 2019
 OVERVIEW
The Design & Art Direction (D&AD) New Blood Awards
are a graduate showcase, in which several companies set
marketing and advertising briefs to young creatives to
interpret and tackle.

This year I responded to Adidas’ brief to create a campaign

for young girls between the ages of 14-19, from cities
including London, Paris, New York and Tokyo. The aim
was to encourage girls to get involved with the sports that
needed the greatest shift. These sports include tennis,
swimming, rugby, weightlifting, and boxing. The city I
focused on was London and the sport I chose was boxing.

The brief presented itself with a lot of challenges for me.

I wanted to create something that would connect with
women, so a lot of my research involved talking to my female
friends about the brief and what routes would be more
appropriate to go down.

Feel free to zoom in and read through each slide individually.

It involves the whole of my thought process, insights
and execution.
 JAMESTOWN
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
2018 STUDENT ART
AND DESIGN
EXHIBITION

*Jamestown Community College 2018 Student Art & Design, New Media Winner
*Exhibited at 21 Youth Street, Carnaby St, London
 BACKGROUND
After I was content with this, I began to illustrate with OUTCOME
more composition and shape in mind.
As well as the piece being exhibited at the JCC 2018
The Jamestown Community College (JCC) Student Art Student Art and Design exhibition, it was also later
and Design Exhibition is held annually at the Weeks Gallery showcased at 21 Youth Street, an exhibition in
in Jamestown, New York, USA. The exhibition sees over four Carnaby Street, London, centred around the topic of
hundred people in attendance per year. mental health, self care and self love within the black
community. The feedback from the piece was amazing.
The illustrated piece titled ‘Boy in the Corner’ aims to create It opened up a lot of conversation on the stresses of
awareness and conversation around the topic of mental academics, coping mechanisms and how difficult it can
health. It was also created to reflect the effects of anxiety be to tackle these problems coming from a culture that
from an individual and personal perspective. ‘Boy in the views mental health as a taboo.
Corner’ won the Jamestown Community College 2018
Student Art and Design New Media award.

IDEA/ WORK FLOW

Mental health is an issue I found myself struggling
with a lot, as did other students around me. When I felt
myself sometimes slipping into a depressive state, I
imagined myself disconnected from the world around
me, secluded and in a state of panic.
Following this, the next step was to get it printed at
I knew I wanted the piece to be large and displayed life size and then cut it out so it can physically be
in a corner, so the first step before illustrating was to placed in the corner of any exhibition or viewing.
mockup how that might actually look and work.
 JAMESTOWN
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
2017 STUDENT
ART AND DESIGN
EXHIBITION

BACKGROUND
The brief was to create the promotional poster and banner
to be showcased around Jamestown Community College
(JCC) and the local community.
The JCC Student Art and Design Exhibition is held annually
at The Weeks Gallery in Jamestown, New York, USA.
Utilizing a wide range of vibrant and energetic colour,
the aim was for the posters and banners to stand
out against JCC branded promotional work when
showcased in and around town.
OUTCOME
The project was met with a lot of positive feedback,
praised by creatives and academic students alike for
taking a bold step into new territory for the university’s
promotional work. I also received positive feedback
in diversifying the figures drawn, an idea which was
developed a lot later in the creative process.

IDEA/ WORK FLOW

During my time spent at Jamestown Community
College, I realised there was heavy priority placed on
students who took up more traditional and academic
courses. As a result, the poster and banner were
designed with the idea of shifting importance to the
student in mind, referencing and drawing inspiration
from Michelangelo’s ‘The Creation of Adam.’

I wanted to place emphasis on the hands because it

acts as the point of life seen in the original image.
Switching the hand of man with the hand of an artist
gives the idea that there is life in creativity and that
creatives are more important than we see them.
 JAMESTOWN
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
TOTAL FITNESS

*Photographed by Torrey Johnson

 BACKGROUND
Total Fitness is a fitness centre located on the campus of Jamestown Community College
(JCC). It is accessible to the College’s students and the local community. The centre is also

OUTCOME
where all of the college’s athletic events are held.

IDEA/ WORK FLOW

The logo was rolled out in 2018 across Total Fitness merchandise, socials and
promotional content.

The brief was to redesign the JCC Total Fitness logo, which was old and outdated.
JCC Total Fitness wanted a more modern and fresh logo that would embody the
culture of the centre while appealing to both students and older members of the
public.

To achieve this goal, the logo redesign features strong and slanted lettering to create
a more athletic feel. The athletic presence of the logo was stressed in order to
empower and encourage members on their health and fitness journeys.

The logo began with a completely different direction, leaning towards a more
prominent collegiate look.

We quickly revised this, remembering our audience was wider than the college itself.
During a brainstorm, I experimented with a logomark combining a ‘T’ and ‘F’ which
we decided to proceed with. We created several variations until finally settling with
the one displayed above.
JAMESTOWN JACKALS
2017 SEASON

*Photography by Carl Leichtenberger

 BACKGROUND
The Jamestown Jackals are a minor league basketball
team based in Jamestown, New York. Their twelve game
home schedule sees over four hundred people in attendance
per game.

The Jamestown Jackals wanted a set of individual

player posters for their whole roster to be sold at home
games. The primary aim was to brand and design a set
of recognizable print merchandise for home fans. The
secondary aim was to create poster layouts that were vivid,
dynamic and pleasing to the eye that also worked well with
each player.
OUTCOME
The brand made primary use of a baby blue which
The new posters were rolled out weeks before the
we wanted to add to and develop. In order to do this,
IDEA/ WORK FLOW we brought in bright orange sparks to complement
season began in the surrounding Jamestown area
and the official player guide booklets were given away
the colour and add more energy to the player
We had a photoshoot with the players and I was then during the season. The fresh look helped the Jackals
photography.
handed all existing merchandise and branding to appear more in unison, giving them an instantly
to re-haul. recognizable aesthetic by the time the season
was over.
The goal was for everything to be as captivating
and sleek as possible while incorporating the brand
colours. We referenced existing NCAA (National
Collegiate Athletic Association) material, advertising
and merchandise for inspiration and direction.
HUAWEI MOBILE UK
SOCIAL POSTS

*Project created with Frank, Camden, London

 OVERVIEW
Huawei is a leading global provider of information and
communications technology, infrastructure, and smart
devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains
- Telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services
- Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person,
home, and organization for a fully connected, intelligent
world.

Already a dominating force in the Chinese smart device

market, Huawei looked to expand their territory to the United
Kingdom. One of the ways they planned on doing so was by
utilizing their social media pages and creating clever posts
that either parodied or tied in with current news and affairs.

Huawei approached Frank to create these posts for

various social media outlets. I was assigned the task
of sourcing current and talkable media affairs that
could be turned into social posts as well as designing
them, putting a fun and playable twist on Huawei’s
brand guidelines.
 Jamestown
community
college 2017
student art and
design show

BEST OF SUNY 2018

Art Exhibition

*Exhibited at Best of SUNY (State University of New York) 2018 Art Exhibition
*Jamestown Community College 2017 Student Art & Design, New Media Runner Up
 BACKGROUND
The Jamestown Community College (JCC) Student Art and
Design Exhibition is held annually at The Weeks Gallery in
Jamestown, New York, USA. The exhibition sees over four
hundred people in attendance per year.
The SUNY Art Exhibition (State University of New York) is held
annually and showcases artwork created by SUNY’s talented
student artists from across New York State. The Jamestown
Community College art department selected five students to
represent them in the state-wide exhibition. Entries were then
juried a second time for a final Best of SUNY Art Exhibition in
Albany, New York.
While creating these pieces of work I quickly
found myself prioritising linework, expression and
composition over.
I incorporated the idea of falling diamonds throughout
each piece and wanted to bring it to life by drawing
several of them from different angles.
OUTCOME
This triptych set was showcased at the JCC 2017 Student
Art and Design Exhibition. The pieces were then chosen
by SUNY curators to be presented at the Best of SUNY
student art exhibition. It received a lot of positive feedback
due to how much it stood out next to other traditional
pieces.
I found that many looked for deeper meaning from the
pieces where there was none. The self-portraits were a fun
project of experimentation and a way of finding my feet in
design and illustration. The style I discovered here, would
then follow into other pieces of my work.

IDEA/ WORK FLOW

This personal self-portrait project began as a simple
creative outlet in the form of illustration. They were crafted
to be central parts of my first portfolio and were designed
to capture my emotion, expressive nature and persona.
Inspired by the mark making techniques of comic art, I
noticed my personal taste and style of illustration quickly
falling into that category.
Colours were kept bright and simple to let the linework
stand out. I avoided using too many shades for highlights
and shadows. The aim was to have the face and expression
take centre stage by trying to balance other artistic aspects
of the set. This proved to be difficult at the beginning so I
spent a long time experimenting until I found my rhythm
and a style of Illustration that I could call mine.
OBEHI EJELE
DESIGN PORTFOLIO
Thank you for taking your time to read through. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact!

07908 622078 @obehiejele @obehiejele obehiejele@yahoo.com