Sincerely, Crystal

Challenge:

Creative Direction and design for the AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Francis Ford Coppola - the 50th recipient of the Award.

The American Film Institute presented the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award to Francis Ford Coppola on April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

All proceeds from the AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute support the American Film Institute as a nonprofit organization.

The special aired on TNT and TCM.

STATS:

32 billion+ Press and Media Impressions

112 million+ Social Media Impressions

Half a million views for On-site event signage

Assets include:

Logo

Invitations

Tickets

Escort cards

Menus

Photo Stops and Press Runs

Tribute Book

Tribute Website

Outdoor Advertising

Challenge:

Creative Direction and design for the AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Nicole Kidman.

The American Film Institute presented the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award to Nicole Kidman on April 27, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Esteemed artists and leaders from across the entertainment community gathered to celebrate Kidman and her indelible impact on the moving arts, including Ava DuVernay, Cynthia Erivo, Morgan Freeman, Barry Jenkins, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meryl Streep, Keith Urban, Lulu Wang, Naomi Watts, Reese Witherspoon and many more.

All proceeds from the AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute support the American Film Institute as a nonprofit organization.

The special aired on TNT and TCM.

STATS:

89 billion+ Press and Media Impressions

79 million+ Social Media Impressions

Assets include:

Logo

Invitations

Tickets

Escort cards

Menus

Photo Stops and Press Runs

Tribute Book

Tribute Website

Outdoor Advertising

Challenge: Creative Direction on marketing and environmental design for the AFI FEST Film Festival - taking over the TCL Chinese Theatres and various locations in the Ovation shopping center in Hollywood.

We focused on the tagline “Film is for Everyone” encouraging people to write in their own handwriting and various languages to convey that films unite us all.

STATS:

18,000+ tickets sold

30% increase in sales from the previous year

Visibility on Environmental design by 342,000+ Ovation Hollywood visitors over the 5 days of the festival

Client: South Coast Repertory

Challenge: South Coast Repertory's 2016/17 Theatre season had an objective from the marketing director to create a brochure that could be put up online at the same time that it went to the printer.  View the interactive brochure.

Solution: Working with playwrights and the marketing director, I led the graphics team and created key art for each show, and a brochure and an online version with even more content. This was our online brochure, advertised throughout the theatre's website, through email art and online advertising as well as signage. 

Client: South Coast Repertory

Challenge: For this gala ball, the committee wanted to focus on wowing those that were invited - showing that the organization was strong even after the economy had dipped the year before. 

Solution: I had boxes lined with red velvet and designed a screen printed "ticket" invitation in white on acrylic to fit perfectly inside.  Tied to the lid was the rsvp card with an image from a production at the theatre and the direction card.  

To mail these, they were wrapped in a printed band so that the receiver would see that it was a special box sent to them.

Results: The fundraiser exceeded its goal and raised over $530,00! The committee also loved the invitations so much, they had gold ribbon tied around the “ticket” to create ornaments for their Christmas trees!

Client: South Coast Repertory

Challenge: Create key art for all productions months before it is cast or designed.

Solution: Working as the graphic designer for a regional theatre, the main portion of my job is creating the key art for all of the productions months before it is cast or designed. Working with the marketing director, artistic director and associate graphic designer, these images carry the production's advertising for 3 months to a year.

Each piece of key art has a different process, from assembling stock photos, organizing photo shoots and doing the compositing and editing.

These images are translated to direct mail, signage, online and print advertising, videos and social media campaigns.

Client: UCP of Orange County

Challenge: Founded in 1953, UCP-OC was originally established as United Cerebral Palsy of Orange County to assist people of all ages affected by cerebral palsy. Over their 60+ years of service, however, they have observed great demand for services for children with disabilities. In response, they have streamlined their focus to children while broadening the programs offered, as well as the range of disabilities served to include autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other developmental delays. In order to help every child reach their full potential, their services are highly individualized, from simple delays to complicated lifetime conditions.

Because of this wider range of children and families they now serve, today they go by the name of UCP of Orange County (and UCP-OC for short).

Solution: I worked with NDM Communications to establish a new brand to communicate their new services.  

Since their existing logo could not be changed, I decided to embrace the crayon texture and bring it to other elements throughout the brand. The design layouts use photographic portraits of UCP-OC children that are then augmented with established UCP-OC symbols and/or custom illustrations that are created with similarly simple lines. 

Art directing real patients of UCP-OC, I brought in props and environments through sketches that highlight the child's dreams and ambitions instead of their disabilities. 

My custom illustrations convey: A child’s limitless imagination and potential. A personal connection to a child and his/her interests, “Life without limits” – from the child’s point of view.

Results: All new collateral, website design, Therapy Center decor, email templates and social media assets were developed for the brand.

Client: Eastern Michigan University

Challenge: Create key art for EMU’s theatre season with no budget!

Solution: I created collages from royalty free imagery, drawings and textures from elements around the theatre. This art was used on posters, in brochures and in print advertising.

Client: Ronald McDonald House Charities, Southern California

Challenge: At Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California, they express the mission through their programs, which include six Ronald McDonald Houses in Bakersfield, Inland Empire, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Orange County and Pasadena. They also operate two Ronald McDonald Family Rooms at CHOC Children's Hospital in Orange and CHOC Children's at Mission Hospital. Importantly, they are also one of very few Ronald McDonald House Charities chapters across the world that operates a cost-free, medically-supervised Camp for children with cancer and their families, Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times. They needed cohesive marketing materials for their chapters as well as for in-store marketing.

Solution: Working with the SoCal chapter, I worked to develop marketing collateral informing readers of their locations and services. We also worked to develop posters for all of the Southern California McDonald locations with information on what to do with the donation boxes at the registers.

Client: Sandra Tsing Loh and South Coast Repertory

Challenge: For the production of The Madwoman in the Volvo, we wanted to use the writer and star for the key art. We had a budget of $0 to pull of a look that would serve the life of the production and marketing campaign.

Solution: Armed with a green screen, the in-house photographer and an actor with her own clothes, (and a fan from my garage) we photographed Sandra in our makeshift studio. Photoshopping a background of a flaming volvo, we achieved the professional and a bit campy feel we were going for!

We carried this final look through the digital advertising, posters and social media.

Results: The script was recently published by Methuen Drama in the UK, using the key art as the cover design!

For South Coast Repertory
Photos by Benjamin Horak
Art Direction by Crystal Johnson
Final composite by Benjamin Horak

Client: South Coast Repertory

Challenge: Create an invitation conveying the theme “Setting the Stage”

Solution: The theme was "Setting the Stage" so I did just that!  The save the date came in a standard sized aubergine envelope, that folded into a stage.

For the invitation, I focused on all of the elements of theatre - going from a sketch, adding in costumes, lights, sound and a set to a final product on the stage. On the right, was a hidden pocket with a pop of chartreuse with the rsvp card and instructions for the event.

Client: Self

Challenge: Create an invitation suite fit for a graphic designer!

Solution: The objective on this wedding invitation set was to set the tone for a formal but fun wedding!  Since most of the guests were coming from out of state, the save the date was an elaborate box complete with magnet, bubbles and a link to the couple's information on an app.  Once it was time for the actual invitation, I designed a book with engagement photos and details on the wedding itself.  

Client: South Coast Repertory’s Theatre for Young Audiences

Challenge: Create kid-friendly key art, programs and marketing for well-known stories

Solution: Since each play has its own style, I used a variety of methods to advertise each show. From illustration with colored pencils, to vector artwork, to realistic photos turning into paint - each piece of art could stand alone. I created key art, programs, activities and lobby engagement for the performances. 

The key art is used in print and online, included in email marketing campaigns, the website, brochures and more.

Here are some of my favorites that include original illustration.

Client: South Coast Repertory

Challenge: This theatre season, the objective from the marketing director was to create a brochure that could be put up online at the same time that it went to the printer.  

Solution: I created a brochure advertising each show for the season and led the graphics team to create a deeper online version with even more content. This was our online brochure, advertised throughout the theatre's website, through email art and online advertising as well as signage. 

Results: One of the suggested packages for subscription was even featured in American Theatre Magazine. 

Client: South Coast Repertory

Challenge: To create a standout piece with a magical twist that would give a taste of the event taking place at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel.

Solution: I printed the save the date with lenticular printing, revealing the masquerade theme with the gala committee listed on the back. 

For the invite itself, I designed a fold out package complete with embossing, foiling, custom pockets and hand placed jewels and feathers - that made this piece stand out among the rest. 

And at the event itself, the program fit right into the decor.

Results: The Gala fundraiser met its goal of $500,000! And the theme was carried out through the event itself - greeting guests with their own masquerade mask to use through the evening.

Each year, a group of volunteer donors gather to create the annual fundraiser for South Coast Repertory - the Gala Ball. A committee meets to decide what the best invitation package will be! 

For the "Nothing But Blue Skies" Gala Ball - I focused on a custom envelope.  I had them lined and constructed by hand with textured peacock blue paper.  Each card was printed on gold paper and foiled with the event's logo that evoked something from the 1930's while blending with a modern event. 

I incorporated a peacock feather into the logo as a symbol of good luck. The feathers were incorporated into the event decor and in the wrapping on the event program on the dinner tables.

The goal for this gala was to create something colorful and exciting!  

I designed a booklet with acetate so that the triangles would fall away revealing a standing ovation.  I designed a piece to be printed on a digital press, with a small pocket on the back to tuck in the rsvp and direction cards.  

I used the invitation design as the backdrops for the photo area and band backdrops at the event itself. And the evening progressed through the jewel tones on the piece!

Ten Restaurant Group is a group of three restaurants, nightclub and comedy lounge under one roof. I worked with djs, designing flyers, working with street teams and agents. I also designed advertising, in-house signage for a new hookah lounge, all menus and worked with various comedians to launch a comedy night.

Working with a client to design a logo for her photography business, I worked with 6 different concepts as initial drafts - focusing on classic, modern imagery. We ended up going with a clean logo inspired by a camera frame, with a black, white, navy and pink color palette.