I have had the privilege of interning for Aleksandr (Alex) Khomyakov of Khomus, a well respected graphic design practice with over a decade of experience. During my tenure as an intern, I was able to touch three different projects. I had the pleasure of getting involved in Slowbooks, “A minimal, no-frills alternative to manage self-employed taxes,” conceptualized by Alex himself. I primarily worked off of Alex’s web homepage design, making it interactive in Figma, then flushing out other page designs and a checkout experience. This led me to research various SaaS payment platforms, like Lemon Squeezey, in order to bridge the gap between ideal aesthetic and practical implementation. I was also tasked with testing Framer to develop the Slowbooks site and figuring out how payment platforms would work and feel in this site builder.
While working with Alex, I was also given the opportunity to brainstorm concepts and design sketches/rough mockups of T-shirt designs for Domino’s new merchandise, coinciding with their late 2025 brand refresh. I got to visualize heat with Domino’s new “mmm” slogan and play around with the brand’s updated food photography and typeface. My final project for this internship was to finish designing a puzzle Alex had begun plotting and create its packaging. The goal of the packaging was to speak to the name of the puzzle, Stinky Puzzle, and utilize the wonderful typeface Alex had sourced. Three main concepts came to mind while designing the packaging: a puzzle box that actually stunk to use because the reference image was black and white and incomplete, a box that looked like it contained stinky, hazardous waste, and the box that we landed on — a sarcastic one with copy that highlights why the puzzle “stinks,” from a spotlighted terrible review, to its incredibly ill advise on puzzling technique. Following the cat theme of the puzzle itself, I rounded off the packaging with graphics inspired by the act of puzzling in a house with a cat — no puzzle piece is safe.