Alan Dennis
Graphic Design &
Illustration
Professional Designer &Â Educator
I have been a professional graphic designer, creative director, illustrator, and graphic design team leader for over 25 years working in-house and as a vendor for top design firms, Fortune 500 companies, and entertainment–consumer product giants including Disney, Marvel, Mattel Toys, NBC Universal, Warner Bros., Spin Master Toys, & Nickelodeon. I art direct photography and illustration, design logos, branding, style guides, packaging, point-of-sale, board games, advertising, brochures, trade show graphics, user interface, website design, and children’s books for worldwide brands.
​
As a highly rated educator, I have taught graphic design courses at several colleges for over 10 years.
I graduated, with Honors from Art Center College of Design.
Lucille Ball
Legendary Lady of Comedy
Barbie Collector Package Design
Black and silver duo-tone, silver foil stamp, grainy vintage photo style illustration and high-gloss calendering bring the glamour of a 1950’s red carpet premier to life in this Lucille Ball Barbie collector package.
PROJECT ROLE:
Project Lead, Design Concept and execution, Graphic Design, Art Direction of illustration and photography, Hand-lettered Logo Design, Mechanical Production.
​
CLIENT: Mattel Toys
Mickey’s Diner
Stark, clean white backgrounds, juxtaposed with bright color and dynamic composition bring the action, humor, and zany fun of Mickey’s Diner to life. Pop-out play pieces included to create your own diner play.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Book design, layout, pagination, mood and style, layout, typography, title treatment, art direction of illustration.
​
CLIENT: Disney
Play Ball Mickey Mouse
A Disney See & Touch Book. Young readers can enjoy the tactile feel of real sports balls through embossed textures.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Book design, layout, pagination, mood and style, layout, typography, title treatment, art direction of illustration.
​
CLIENT: Disney
Barbie Mariposa
Barbie Feature Doll Packaging
Lead doll of a large assortment for the Barbie Mariposa movie. Innovative doll package features die-cut 3-D holofoil butterflies Printing on acetate creates a translucent butterfly wing in the logo. The doll feature of the wings that spring open is clearly communicated through photography and graphics.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Design Team Lead. Structural concept, graphic design, logo design, hand lettering, art direction of illustration, copywriting, and photography, style guide design.
​
CLIENT: Mattel Toys
Mary Poppins
Five-color offset window printing creates a carousel environment placing Mary Poppins right in the scene of the Disney movie from which her ensemble is inspired.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Structural concept, graphic design, art direction of illustration and photography, logo modification.
​
CLIENT: Mattel Toys–Disney
Shimmering Lights Ariel
The Little Mermaid
Vacuum-formed clamshell design blister and dimensional chip pieces bring Ariel’s undersea world to life. The innovative try-me mechanism enables an activation button located on the doll’s back to be pushed from the package front.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Structural concept, blister design, graphic design, art direction of illustration and photography.
​
CLIENT: Mattel Toys–Disney
American Plastic Toys
Website Design
A fresh update to the website for the manufacturer of classic American plastic toys which for many decades continue to be a joy for children.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Working from simple wireframe notes, I designed all pages, menus, rollovers, and links. Provided Photoshop layered files and direction to web engineers and coders.
​
CLIENT: McHale Design–American Plastic Toys
Vector Pattern
Illustration
Vector step-and-repeat patterns for the Space Toons style guide.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Vector illustration and pattern creation in Adobe Illustrator.
​
CLIENT: McHale Design–Space Toons
VectorÂ
Illustration
Crisp, vibrant, circus-themed illustrations were used as product decorative sticker sheets.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Illustration from rough sketches to completed vector illustrations in Adobe Illustrator.
​
CLIENT: Spin Master Toys
VectorÂ
Illustration
Vector illustrations for the Space Toons style guide.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Vector illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. Characters and concepts were supplied by the client.
​
CLIENT: McHale Design–Space Toons
VectorÂ
Illustration
Vector illustrations for the Space Toons style guide.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Vector illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. Characters and concepts were supplied by the client.
​
CLIENT: McHale Design–Space Toons
Community
Counseling
Service
Annual Report
Community Counseling Service is a non-profit help center based on the USC campus. They assist pregnant teens, homeless, drug-dependent, and abused women. The design incorporates a blind emboss sculptural cover and torn paper illustrations to create a warm, tactile theme of hands of love and assistance.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Concept, graphic design, illustration, typography, creation of charts and graphs, mechanical production.
​
CLIENT: Community Counseling Services
Barbie The
Pearl Princess
Licensing Style Guide
Branding, style, and package design assets for Mattel licensees.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Design of window package, blister card, callouts, design of hang tags, and dress hanger card. Design and creation of a comprehensive style guide. The style guide gives Mattel licensees all of the basic branding direction and visual assets needed to create packaging for this product line.
​
CLIENT: Mattel Toys
SilentRunner
Sentinel
User Interface Design
Main console and navigation icons and button design for SilentRunner Sentinel® software from AccessData. This network forensics analysis and data visualization software retails for over $65,000. I designed new user interface graphics befitting the value and power of the software.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Concept, tone and style, graphic design, typography, illustration, icon, button, and rollover design, retouching.
​
CLIENT: AccessData
AccessData
Website
Banner Ads for various products and services
Website advertising with a quick focus on complex product features. These banner ads were frequently repurposed into different sizes and formats including magazine print advertising.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Concept, tone and style, graphic design, typography, illustration, retouching.
​
CLIENT: AccessData
Tech Deck Pros
Trading Cards
Trading cards for skateboard pros Tony Hawk, Daewon Song, Ryan Sheckler, and Paul Rodriguez. The cards were a pop-out insert in Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Graphic design, photo retouching, illustration, and mechanical production.
​
CLIENT: Spin Master Toys
Once Upon
A Time
Disney Princess
The Once Upon A Time series is an assortment of 12 packages I designed for Disney. These packages showcase the original theatrical movie poster. Each design fits within a systematic framework, which I created, as well as showcases the unique property branding and aesthetic.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Graphic design, layout, image compositing, and retouching.
​
CLIENT: Mattel Toys–Disney
Peter’s
Pumpkin
Problem
Original Illustrated Children's Short Story
Pro bono design for a book of stories and poems that were donated to children hospitalized over Halloween. My short story was the lead piece of the book. Concept, author, illustration, graphic design.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Author, illustrator, and designer.
​
CLIENT: Pro Bono collaboration of Mattel Toys artists, writers, and designers.
Spin Master
PowerPoint
Presentation
PowerPoint Deck for Spin Master
Girls and Preschool Division
Creative typography and illustration bring an element of fun, to a large PowerPoint deck for Spin Master Toys. The presentation highlighted the creativity and collaboration and success of the Girls and Preschool Global Business Unit.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Graphic design, custom typography, illustration, retouching, and PowerPoint animations.
​
CLIENT: Spin Master Toys
The Great Scarrier Reef Monster High
Licensing Style Guide
Branding, style, and package design assets for Mattel licensees.
​
PROJECT ROLE:
Design of window package, blister card, callouts, design of hang tags, and dress hanger card. Design and creation of a comprehensive style guide. The style guide gives Mattel licensees all of the basic branding direction and visual assets needed to create packaging for this product line.
​
CLIENT: Mattel Toys
