• Major: Film Studies — production elements + film theory, history, and aesthetic development.
• Minor: "I.D.E.A.S." (Integrated Design, Engineering, and Applied Science), concentrated in Digital Design — an interdisciplinary and project-based track in technical + aesthetic design aspects.
• Courses: Film, English, American Studies, Linguistics, Computer Science, Integrated Sciences, Studio Art, Theater

See higher-quality textures & detail → nathancheng.work/Misc-Posters-a…

SPCC is a small, discord-grown chess club that meets weekly in South Philly. The style reflects the eccentric and jagged look of the mosaic tiles seen throughout South Philly—most memorably in the South Philly Magic Gardens. The icon and background treatments blend this with a distorted chess board pattern, and the mark itself styles the club's initials into a knight piece.
Further treatments could take the checkerboard abstractions and geometric logo further with animations that represent calculated, mathematical thinking (e.g., the animations of @beesandbombs on Twitter).

A prototype for a drawing tool allowing users to "paint" with color-filtered selections of a pre-defined image. The original image remains hidden to encourage an improvisational approach to painting and remixing.

I made these because I didn’t want to wait for 3rd party developers to update to the new macOS app icon style Apple introduced with macOS Big Sur. I shared these icons on macosicons.com, where they’ve gathered over 3K downloads and counting.

3D variations on an umbrella form made with Blender 3D. See more → nathancheng.work/Organic-Machin…

An expressionistic, frenetic comedy filmmaking thesis in film studies for Wesleyan's College of Film and the Moving Image.
nathancheng.work/Robin-Goes-Out…

Proof of concept demo & pitch presentation for an immersive 3D videogame world introducing kids to sleep science. Inside a sleeping brain, players maintain brain function and fix neurons as they progress through the stages of sleep.

Interface & motion design for a bespoke web gallery that emulates the sparse, “zen” feeling of coffee table photography books & museum exhibits.

Assisting as the sole employee with sales, support, and administrative tasks while providing design, front-end, and UX tips to an outside web developer for a major overhaul of TALtech's websites and store backend.

• Collaborating daily with the VP of sales to identify user, business, and marketing needs and provide ongoing product strategy.
• Lead advocate for design best practices for mobile & web UX.
• Created tutorial videos using Keynote-animated motion graphics to explain communications technology for customers. Notable users include SpaceX, Nestle, NOAA, EPA, Loreal, 3M, and AT&T.

Designed and developed a simple website & brand refresh for a family friend’s small business.

Helped high school students improve their scores for ACT tests over one-on-one virtual tutoring sessions. That included making tailored study plans & feedback for each student based on their learning styles & personalities, distilling complexity, and motivating them to stay on track.

Turned footage that was thought to be unworkable into a compelling 40-min pilot episode for Betsey & Jackie Carroll's web series "And We're Live," making savvy changes to the tone, pacing, and dialogue of scenes as needed to solve production-related errors and technical issues.

Worked as a tech/design consultant and the sole administrative assistant for a non-profit theatre/arts organization, where I refreshed the branding, organized their records, and provided technical advice. I also created assets for their virtual events and designed a new website that doubled their online traffic.

Created video graphics for a critical virtual event of a new Sign Language play that was attended by dozens of stakeholders. I enriched the viewing experience with FaceTime-inspired floating cards for cast/team asides and subtitles, whilst seamlessly transitioning between documentary clips and play excerpts and integrating multiple kinds of interpreter feeds. I also worked with 6 sign language consultants to research and plan digital solutions in Zoom to make the event more accessible for both Deaf attendees.

Oversaw all stages of production for an 11-minute comedy film, including directing a 16-person crew over 4 days. The film stood out from 21 film theses and earned me the non-annual Frank Capra Prize for achievements in cinematic storytelling and combining humor with pathos. I also organized and edited a media library of over 400 assets, and researched and self-taught new equipment & production software as needed.

Led a team of 4 student artists & developers to develop a prototype based on my concept for an educational video game and immersive 3D world introducing kids to sleep science. This was part of a double-credit, application-based competition course led by Bethesda Softworks founder Christopher Weaver.

We received First Place for best concept & execution against three other teams by engaging a jury of 6 business, film, and game industry professionals from companies such as American Film Institute, Harmonix, Warner Brothers Games, Demiurge Studios, and Wesleyan’s I.D.E.A.S. Program.

I designed a content-driven and animated keynote pitch presentation and gave the opening and closing remarks. I also worked closely with the team to ensure that we collaborated well, wrote the design documentation, and worked to smooth out the cohesive visual style & concepts. We also integrated insights from research on three classrooms of target users, an interview with a sleep scientist, and multiple publications. At a critical stage toward the end of the project, I made significant cuts to the scope to ensure we had a minimum viable demo in time for the presentation.

Proposed a new brand and graphic identity to express a startup's health and ethics approach in the snack industry. Designed signs, sell sheets, and other merchandising materials that promoted their values and selling points.

Midterm paper for FILM308: "Television Storytelling: The Conditions of Narrative Complexity," cross listed with Anthropology & American Studies and led by Professor Elizabeth Traube.

People love to hate-watch "Riverdale," a teenage television show with a dark, gritty, and sexy take on the wholesome Archie Comics series. It's insane and superficial, representing much of what people despise about the subgenre of 30-year-olds playing horny high schoolers in melodramatic plots. A clip of a very cringe-inducing locker-room scene with ridiculous dialogue went viral on Twitter, leading many to wonder, "Why are they still making this show??" This paper explores what makes the cringe so addicting, fun, and aesthetically thrilling, and how Riverdale's devotion to narrative chaos makes it such a unique aesthetic spectacle.

Best concept & execution in competition for an videogame demo teaching a STEM concept to children.