CT Design

Check it out! Voyage Chicago, a company that has been compiling inspiring stories throughout Chicago, interviewed me and created this article on my design work!

Meet Cory Turek of CT Design - Voyage Chicago | Chicago City Guide Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Turek. Cory, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far. I started drawing from the early age of one year old, waking up with visions of what I wanted to create that day. Mixing […]

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Hard work pays off! This is a lyric video I had the pleasure of designing for Chicago's hard rock band Aeraco. This is only one of many projects to come for these guys, to be sure to stay tuned and show some love!

Aeraco - Withered Rose (Official Lyric Video) Aeraco's lyric video for "Withered Rose" from the album, Baptized By Fire. Album is available now via Dark Star Records association with MVD and Sony Music E...

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An editorial and bookbinding project that I worked on about 26 different teas and their different sources and brewing factors. It was designed for easy navigation, arranging the pages from A to Z and changing the color from page to page to match each respective tea. Due to the higher amount of Asian teas in the book, I decided to go with a similar look and feel with both the binding and page layouts by emulating block stamps commonly used as signatures in Chinese and Japanese culture. The book is held together using a hardcover version of Japanese stab binding.

The slenderman digital illustration was drawn in Adobe Photoshop, while mu***os mario was drawn in Adobe Illustrator. The Avenged Sevenfold lyric music video was made by combining motion graphics and recorded playthroughs of a level I designed and built in the game Minecraft. The letterpress and woodblock prints were all designed by me and ran through old printing presses at Columbia College Chicago. The tongue drum was built out of an African hardwood called padauk and 3/4" birch plywood, while the sheets next to it are a musical composition I wrote for playing on it.

This is an editorial project that I helped work on for Phoenix Children's Hospital. I was in charge of designing the cover as well as the layout of the content for the inside pages. I also helped do extensive color balancing of all the photos used in this 2014-15 annual report.

This is a redesign for Two Brothers Brewing Company that involved researching their company history and place in the market to create a concrete sense of brand essence and values. I then allowed this new-found information to guide me through my creative process to create 3 separate concepts for their beer bottle labels. I was tasked to create labels that not only feel true to Two Brothers, but also provide greater differentiation from their competition, that tell a story, and are memorable. Based on the concept behind their current logo, I decided that the main element of my thinking will be duality: it could be the owners Jason and Jim Abel, science and creativity in the beer brewing process, or even the fluidity and rigidity of structure found in the labels themselves. Colors were kept the same so that my chosen concept could be applied to the rest of the beers that Two Brothers makes.

This is a website redesign I did for Thal-Mor Associates INC., a distributor of various brands' motion control and specialty products for electronic machines. Due to the high amount of products they carry, I chose to use a modular user experience. The look & feel was based on their printed sell sheets, but I encorporated motion and transparency to make the site more visually appealing. The website scales between all screen sizes to promote usability.

View Full Site Here:
http://www.thalmor.com/

Lyric Video Still
See Full Video Here:
http://www.ct-design.co/portfolio/scardust/

A lyric music video I helped develop for the title track of Scardust's new album, Sands of Time. The concept was to use light and dark imagery in combination with the album art to convey emotion and to extend upon the artwork's look and feel.

This is a website design I did for a new restaurant called RBK American Grill. The client loves simplicity and a modern look & feel, which I incorporated into the user experience and styling by making it a continuous scrolling page with flat fields of color. The website scales between all screen sizes to promote usability. The photography was all lit, shot, and edited by me.

A branding project that I worked on for a director, actor, and screenwriter named Nick Albaracin. It was designed to really highlight the imagery used in his videos. The main colors are black and white to not conflict with the colors of the imagery. The business card is based on film and is actually printed on clear plastic to allow for projection of his information and face if one holds a light up to it. Nick's website is designed with motion backgrounds pertaining to each of his different projects, depending on which page the user is on. When the user hovers over each of the icons on the subnavigation, a video preview is played. The website scales between all screen sizes to promote usability. All versions of the website are both designed and coded by me.

This was a promotional editorial project I worked on for the release of the Playstation 4 game Little Big Planet 3. The gameplay is based around building your own platforming maps and sharing with friends, so I decided to promote using crafts that people can make themselves to interact with the officially licensed Playstation Sackboy plush that's for sale. The spreads were developed for placement in various videogame magazines, while the Crafting Booklet was developed as part of the package when you purchase the game. All photography used in this project were taken and edited by me.

A branding project I did for an intuitive life coach, clairvoyant, and spiritual advisor named Janis Culotta. Her logo is based on the marriage of a meditating woman, butterfly, and lotus flower to communicate spirituality on several levels as well as incorporating a personal symbol of hers, the butterfly. The colors also are meant to communicate sprituality, specifically the colors of chakras. As part of her branding, I also designed butterfly icons used as bullet points on the business card. The card stock I chose to print the business cards on has a blue shine when viewed from certain angles to make the cards memorable to the audience and also communicate spirituality or divinity. The logo on the front side has a spot-uv coating to provide a tactile aspect and bring out the colors of the brand.

A branding project I worked on for a cullinary consultant named James Kaucher. The logo is made from from combining a briefcase and measuring cup to communicate business, precision, and the culinary arts. There are also icons that I designed as part of his branding to highlight his skills, as seen in his resume.

Animation Still
See Full Animation Here:
http://www.ct-design.co/portfolio/edu-protect/

I was tasked to create a short motion graphic as part of a commercial for a new product called Guard Llama (Edu-Protect before the rebrand). I worked closely with the owners of the company as well as the commercial director to create the storyboard and base the animation on their branding. Created using Adobe Illustrator CS6 and Adobe AfterEffects CS6.

Lyric Video Still
See Full Video Here:
http://www.ct-design.co/portfolio/cradle-of-filth/

A lyric music video I helped develop for the re-mastering and re-release of Cradle of Filth's song, Dusk and Her Embrace. The concept was to make the album art come to life through motion graphics that take and extend upon the artwork's look and feel.

This is a branding project that I worked on for the newly opened cafe in City Newsstand, one of the largest newsstands in Chicago. I spent a lot of time studying the customers, visual aspects, and overall feeling of the cafe to get a grasp on what their branding should look like. The tan color of the interior exposed brick walls go well to communicate the warmth of temperature and service by the employees, while also helping to communicate its urban setting. The project includes a logo, embossed business card, hand-written chalkboard menu, sidewalk sign, now open banner, punch card, and gift card.

This is a branding project for a new wine called Cancion made by the Castillo Juan Navarro vineyard in the La Mancha region of Spain. The goal was to have a United States release of the new line appealling to contemporary culture while still maintaining some of the vineyard's rich heritage. Some marketing research was necessary in order to figure out the competitors, target audience, and how to establish the brand from there. Three different concepts were developed ranging from traditional to modern. I redesigned the vineyard logo as well as the new logo for the Cancion wine line. Three different bottle concepts were developed ranging from traditional to modern. The chosen concept is based off of Tom Merello's painting style and Spanish architecture to communicate authenticity, family heritage, quality vines, and ambition.

These are various projects that I worked on for Bodine Electric Company, a manufacturer of electric motors, gearmotors, and speed controls. Throughout all I was tasked with providing a cleaner/more modern look & feel while still fitting within their corporate branding. Such projects include redesigned product landing pages, new email campaigns, banners, motion graphics, photography, a t-shirt, and their 110th anniversary logo.

This is a branding project I worked on for a new healthy energy drink called Arc. Some marketing research was necessary in order to figure out the competitors, target audience, and how to establish the brand from there. I decided to use Sicilian blood oranges as a main ingredient, along with some added vitamins that take the place of caffeine to help energize the body. The branding from that point is taken mostly from Sicilian culture to give the target audience a sense of adventure and energy that will make them become a customer.

These are various projects that I've done for the Chicago-based hard rock band, Aeraco. Their logo mixes antique gothic/blackletter text with typographic flourishes to make the mark memorable but also to communicate their hard rock genre. The projects include promotional materials (guitar pics, t-shirts, and fliers), their electronic press kit, a digitally illustrated skin for the front of the drummer's kick drum, as well as the album artwork for All or Nothing, and the insides and back cover of Baptized By Fire.

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