Let's make something rad!
A taste of some recent work
Art Direction & Identity: HalfCup Creative
Motion Design & 3D: Zach Healey - Central Motion
HalfCup Creative Co. // Eric Morton
Hi! I'm Eric Morton, I'm a graphic designer currently based in Edmonton, Alberta. I grew up in a town north of Edmonton called Slave Lake. I left home to study Visual Communication and have been working as a professional graphic designer since graduating NAIT in 2019. Logo and visual identity projects are my favourite type of work!During my time as a designer I've had opportunities to work as the only designer at a start-up, a member of a few small creative teams, a few different corporate in-house gigs and a whole pile of freelance/personal projects. Digital, print, analog, whatever it may be large or small, I'm ready for it.I really love graphic design. Particularly, I love the challenges and rewards that come along with the process of design. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing a well executed project that exceeds targets and leaves a real impression on the audience.Every project has individual challenges and problems designers need to solve. This regular variation and complexity is what keeps me on my toes, allows me to learn every day and most importantly it makes me love the work that I do!Fun Fact: During the discovery process for a project I find music and visual samples that I feel communicate the tone I'm looking for. Often times I try to listen to playlists that match this tone to stay mentally focused!
The Sheet with Jeff Marek
Art Direction: Led the creative brief and defined the visual tone
Graphic Design: Logo and identity design
Collaboration: Worked closely with motion team to prep assets for 3D workflow
Feedback: Provided iterative feedback to ensure visual consistencyThe Sheet is a hockey podcast that sits in a unique spot in the hockey media market. Frontman Jeff Marek left the big traditional media space to join a small digital network where he could have more control over his show and content, while also connecting more with the most dedicated hockey fans in his audience.#1 It's gotta involve a score sheet!
#2 Friendlier than most hockey content. Hockey is for everyone!
#3 Make it green!
After a little back and forth and a round of revisions we settled into this S emblem that contains a small icon kit for working within the show and can change for specific topics or uses. The emblem also features Jeff's hand written J.M. initials.The emblem is packaged inside a fun wordmark that's bold and hard hitting, inspired by sports and skateboard magazine covers.The score sheet elements were implemented primarily through background to provide contextual texture to brand imagery as well as in the motion featured throughout the show.As a special treat to Jeff we did some sleuthing and found out his favorite hockey game. The score sheet in the intro and the player names are inspired by this particular game. Jeff's glasses were specifically featured heavily in the intro as it's something he mentioned wanting to work more into his identity. (Unfortunately headshots with the new glasses have not been shot.)Motion Design: Zach Healey - Central Motion
In The Dome Podcast
Art Direction: Led the creative brief and defined the visual tone
Graphic Design: Logo and identity design
Collaboration: Worked closely with motion designer to prep assets for 3D workflowIn The Dome is a hockey podcast focused around the Calgary Flames. The hosts are two guys who, through thick and thin - ride for their team in hopes of victory night in and night out. This show isn't about polish, it's not about bein' pretty! It's about showing up and getting to the dirty areas of the ice night after night.Fighting through the grime and pulling inspiration from the city the Flames call home were two essential elements for making this project come to life.
It was important that this could look like something you'd see scrawled on a wall somewhere in the Saddledome (the Flames home stadium). A mark that looks like it could be left by another passionate flames fan after a wicked win on home ice. I also wanted to be able to hand something off to the hosts, two guys not particularly confident in their visual design talents. This meant creating something that didn't feel too delicate, something that felt harder to mess up and easier to handle.Motion Design: Zach Healey - Central Motion
Personally Foul
Art Direction: Led the creative brief and defined the visual tone
Graphic Design: Logo and identity designPersonally Foul is a basketball podcast hosted by two friends who want to bring the viewer into the fray. The hosts are two guys who love sports, beer and the occasional flying elbow.The important notes from the client on this project was a sporty typeface and a final result that would look cool on a hat.
The skull emblem was created to show some personality and edge and reinforces that these guys always have basketball on the brain. Through animation it can come alive but even in stills different orientation of the eyes can convey different personalities within the show.With the top of the skull removed this left opportunity to replace the basketball with other sports equipment in case the podcast branched out to cover other sports like hockey and baseball.Since the show is based out of Edmonton, Alberta the hosts opted for a blue and orange color scheme that pays homage to the Oilers but the kit is flexible in case they are focusing coverage on a specific team and need additional graphic support.
Daily Faceoff
Art Direction: Led the creative brief and defined the visual tone
Graphic Design: Identity design
Collaboration: Worked closely with motion team to prep assets for 3D workflow
Brand Toolkit: Integrated key art into the style guide. Defined visual styles to ensure consistency across a broad brand offering. Created logos for various off-shoots within DFO ecosystem.Daily Faceoff has been around for a while and needed a refresh for their live show Daily Faceoff Live as their content offerings expanded and productions got more complex.This expansion was started with the delivery of the Daily Faceoff Free Agency Special in 2024 and this design language has informed subsequent projects within the Daily Faceoff ecosystem beyond just the Dail Faceoff Live show, including for Fantasy Hockey content and web article support on DailyFaceoff.com(Updated base Daily Faceoff logo kit. Original logo designer unknown)
An important element often asked for by Frank Seravalli, head editor at Daily Faceoff is that the visuals always clearly say HOCKEY. It was always a key goal within the creative development of these projects to inject hockey elements, and reinforce that message.Motion Design: Zach Healey - Central Motion
Blue Jays Happy Hour
Art Direction: Led the creative brief and defined the visual tone
Graphic Design: Logo and identity design
Collaboration: Worked closely with motion team to prep assets for 3D workflowBlue Jays Happy Hour is a baseball podcast focused around the Toronto Blue Jays. The hosts are two guys who really make you feel like a part of the conversation. The show's existing elements no longer fit the scale and they didn't know where they were looking to go visually.I listened in on the show and got an idea on the type of content and energy going out through the podcast. They were passionate about baseball and they had a calm friendly demeanor you might expect in a smoky sports lounge of days gone by.Old smoky bars made me think to the mysterious palm reader machine you might find in one of those old joints.I like to take analog things and make them digital. Cards especially. Baseball cards made an easy connection to tarot cards and we arrived at the final look. Smoky lounge X Mysticism X Baseball.
Projects for sports fan podcasts that share part of the teams name can be difficult to brand and advertise without impeding on the team's trademark. The choice to look very different than other shows / properties in this space also allows BJHH to avoid confusion with the official Blue Jays brand marketing/visuals.Colours inspired by alternate Jays jerseys.Motion Design: Zach Healey - Central Motion
The Leafs Nation After Dark
Art Direction: Led the creative brief and defined the visual tone
Graphic Design: Logo and identity design
Collaboration: Worked closely with motion team to prep assets for 3D workflowTLN After Dark is a hockey postgame livestream focused around the Toronto Maple Leaf. The host has cultivated a dedicated community over a number of years through high chat interaction. Their existing elements needed to change when they were acquired by The Nation Network.I listened in on the show and got an idea on the type of content and energy going out through the podcast. It felt like a conversation with some guys at a bar near the rink right after the Leafs game.I used old beer neon signs and also classic Toronto neon signs (like Zanzibar) as visual reference for the final logo trio that came out of this project.The intro is meant to carry the energy from the end of the game out of the rink and into your screen.
Motion Design: Zach Healey - Central Motion
West Edmonton Mall
Graphic Design: Logo and identity design (Sharky's Grill, Beachview Bar & Beachview Snacks at World Waterpark)My time at West Edmonton Mall gave me a lot of opportunity to work on a variety of print and digital marketing. My day to day projects could cover something for the World Waterpark, a menu design for events at the Fantasyland Hotel or a corporate ad on the NHL Digital Dasher Boards. The variety was excellent and I had some opportunity to work on some really awesome projects with a talented and dedicated team. I've collected some of them here.
For additional details on individual projects above please feel free to reach out!
(It's Just a Hotel. was an unused campaign concept I pitched during the end of my tenure at the mall and was not used my WEM)
Money Line
Art Direction: Led the creative brief and defined the visual tone
Graphic Design: Logo and identity design
Collaboration: Prepping asset kit for motion designerMoney Line is a social media show used to cover sports bets of the day. It's quick, to the point and built on a reusable toolkit. The identity is made up of a set of repeated elements that come together to form a comprehensive little show.
The idea that made this one fun was making it textured and making it feel like it could be analog despite the all digital distribution.Motion Design: Zach Healey - Central Motion
Graphic Exploration
Enclosed is a collection of projects I've worked on over my years as a designer. It's a combination of personal projects, volunteer opportunities, helping out my buddies and whatever else I ended up clicking 'export' on.I like to try to always be learning something new and discovering new joys in the process and the work I do from day to day.
If you'd like any additional information on any of the projects in here feel free to contact me.
Illustration
IllustrationOver my time as a graphic designer I would find myself waiting on client emails, waiting on approvals and sometimes just waiting for my own brain to work through a problem. I've tried to spend a lot of that time drawing and expressing myself through my illustration work.
I really enjoy doing illustration. Hoping to one day work on toy packaging!
Thank You
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