This project centered on implementing client knowledge and distancing one’s self from one’s own aesthetic in order to satisfy the client and embody the essence of the event being advertised in the poster, Design Culture Now.

My process for this poster involved more research than actual design. Natalie advised us to read important works by the designers we were meant to represent in the poster. I read blog post after blog post, poured over varying designs, and tried my best to emulate the overarching “style” of the designers being represented by the poster. During our first crit, Natalie crushed most of us for still being too scared to completely distance ourselves from our comfort zone. She said traces of our aesthetic could still remain, but those traces shouldn’t conflict with the essence of the designers being represented in the design conference. After mulling over her words, I completely ditched my initial iteration, which was reminiscent of Mondrian, in favor of a more modern, lively one– one that more accurately conveyed the conference. I took cues from Andy Gilmore and other contemporary favorites and learned a lot about color through using Kuler (using it A LOT).

This was my first assignment as a Type I student. We were asked to choose one word from the words given by Natalie and accurately convey the meaning of the word typographically. I went through more than 50 iterations to arrive at the final product of the word, “expulsion,” which I believe conveys the meaning of the word in an aesthetically pleasing and balanced way. However, my initial iterations were more complex, as I was just learning how to use the “type on a path” tool. During Crit, Natalie noted all of our designs didn’t necessarily convey the words we were given, rather, seemed directionless or aesthetically pleasing but disregarding of the meaning of the word. She advised us to think conceptually about the essence of the word and to try and convey this essence in the simplest way we could. As easy as it sounded at the time, it was infinitely harder than before. However, I learned how to think about things not only visually, but conceptually, and arrived at an iteration that worked with negative space– something I had not yet explored.