I am Stephan Bechtoldt (besh-told), young and eager Associate Creative Director, web designer, problem solver, internet'er, car enthusiast, and nowadays, mobile enthusiast. I currently work at LGD Communications Inc. as Associate Interactive Creative Director.
Originally from Frankfurt, Germany, I now live in Miami Beach, Florida. I fluently speak English and German and am always looking to explore new ways of thinking about interactivity and design. I have a passion for good design, and I believe the interactions of people, with what I create, are wonderful moments that us designers get to engineer, and I am thrilled every time I get to do it all over again.
With 4 years of agency experience in interactive, web, and print design, I can find my way around some JavaScript and Flash as well. I love working in upbeat environments where I can brainstorm with everyone as much as possible. I am always punctual and am able to move mountains in a bind.
Let's get in contact!
Final 2011 Portfolio Coming Soon!
Wanted Opportunities: Interactive & Mobile
Gran Meliá Hotels & Resorts is one of the world's largest and most exclusive high end luxury hotel chains and the worlds largest luxury resort chain. The company operates
270 hotels worldwide, 12 of which are part of the Gran Meliá brand we are servicing.
The account is a full-service account and I was positioned as a designer working with the Art Director, Creative Director and Copywriters to produce
all items the Hotels and Resorts required. My main responsibility were print ads, this soon evolved to also include most print materials like fact sheets and rack brochures.
Most of the time I was following style guidelines set forth by the AD but in a few occasions I created original artwork such as one of the main print campaign ad visuals, restaurant ad visuals,
many restaurant logos and all online marketing materials. The scope of the work was very broad. Basically anything printed that a giant resort may need, we created for them.
Developed in-house at © LGD Communications Inc. in 2011
Items produced:
As Chairman of the University of Florida's 16th Annual Ligature design Exhibition, I was responsible for Branding, Organizing and Executing the entire event.
The logo which appears folded out of a single strip of material represents the twists, the turns and the directional changes that are endured and incorporated in any design.
We use the folded theme throughout the brand to raise awareness of the design process.
The exhibition was juried by the two guest designers Ken Barber (House Industries), Jan Wilker (Karlssonwilker Inc), Matt Sung (Designrelated.com), Karen Horton (Oxford Univ, Press)
as well as by Ellen Lupton (designwritingresearch) via our website. Each visiting designer was scheduled to hold one-on-one portfolio reviews with UF graphic design students and also
held a one-hour lecture about design.
Items produced:
An Identity and Business system for the Unesco World Heritage Site "Grand Canyon". The logo communicates cliff edges, stacked forms,
sheared planes and the brittle rock formations of the canyon. The letterhead paper, which is also employed in the style manual, is ruffled horizontally,
and thereby communicates the exposed soil layers of the Grand Canyon.
The business-card and envelope are made out of natural tan paper which represents
the pureness of the canyon, while hinting at the dry desert surrounding the area. The postcards serve as promotional materials alongside the branded hiking boots
by offering a free donkey ride ticket. The all encompassing style manual is bound in the same natural paper as the envelope and has torn edges demonstrating
the cliff-like layers of the Grand Canyon slopes.
Items produced:
"Russian Propaganda" encompasses materials for a faux exhibition about soviet propaganda posters of the cold-war era.
The materials are printed on silver reflective paper using black and red ink to steer the feel into a war-rememberance theme. The Brochure
guides visitors through each exhibited piece while translating the Russian lettering.
During cold war times many Russian soldiers spent their days inside nuclear weapons silos ready to push that tempting red button; to pass
time they would play cards and drink. In accordance I chose to provide a themed playing card deck as well shot-glass coasters to serve as
promotional items.
Items produced:
Two posters are advertising a faux exhibition about memories from my past. Each poster is inspired by memories I retained from living in two cities.
First Frankfurt/M, my hometown, memories here are early childhood, accordingly imagery is of early drawings, patterns from grandmothers' pillows and popular places in Frankfurt.
The second poster references Berlin much later in my life and accordingly the images are of graffiti, cool architecture and subway stations.
The tying theme are the "craft" constructed from actual buildings in each city's downtown area. They are formed into craft, lifting off and transcending the other memories depicted below.
This touches on my personal love for skylines and my obsession with remembering city skylines
Tasks Performed:
This is a conceptual packaging project. It "packages" a designer, namely Alexone of Brussels. As a product it
is a promotional or thank you item that could potentially be purchased at one of Alexone's exhibitions. Alexone is known for his
funky and in-your-face attitude characters which he pastes all over Paris and Brussels. This product is one of those characters,
of course with my personal twist to it, and it is meant to stand one's office desk.
Passers-by will see the fully customizable character and will get a sense of what the office-inhabitant is feeling. Accessories
range from speech bubbles to in your face items like the "bird-hands", the "rock-on hands" all the way to the "groovie-hands",
the burning cigar, the different Grillz and the big ole' chain saying "YO". Possibilities are endless. The complete package perfectly
embodies the brand and idea "you talkin' to me?!"
Tasks Performed:
This Project was a major task. As a class we compiled information about the UF Design Program that we felt underclassmen should and would like to know. The compiled text was then structured into sections and laid-out in a book-format. The design of the book is vivid and ever changing thus symbolizing the stylistic varieties and forward, fun outlook of the UF Design Program.
Tasks Performed:
The tools we use most, our computers, run on microchips. With Apple now switched to Intel products I did not
want to do an annual report on Intel. Instead I chose Intel's major competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Creating the report required
a large amount of research and familiarization with what it is, aside from the product, which makes the company interesting and a good idea
to invest into. What I did not know is that AMD and Intel both have HUGE amounts of capital invested in their factories called "Fabs".
Even better, AMD made many great images available to me and they just looked to good to pass up.
The report, though very thorough and detailed uses humorous and witty headlines to lighten the load. Also the report has two "intermission"
sections that showcase the awesome imagery. The Cover of the report is reminiscent of the face of one of the factory carrier-robots and
features pictures of the actual product printed on gold-reflective paper behind tinted transparency.
Tasks Performed: