3/28/15 – Assignment has not been assigned yet.

31/3/15 – This project is currently in the works.

In this module in Graphic Design II, we discussed the idea of rules, and how we are constructed by its boundaries. By playing games, we learnt that rules were only limits to what your potential could be; however, we had the ability to manipulate them and expand upon them. This led to our directional  section of the module, where we first focused on audio podcasts to give directions, starting with Deep Eddy pool. As I’m a fan of podcasts already, this was my favorite part of the module. Based of the podcast we listened to, it changed the experience that we had while we walked. Next, our assignment was to create our own podcast, giving directions from one direction to another. Using the app Audacity, I created a podcast directing listeners from Sorin Oak to the top of the Parking Garage. In the podcast, I talked a lot about fear and how it can penetrate us to do things we wouldn’t usually do.

Finally, the last section of the module was to create a two packages of buttons representing two landscapes in Austin. The buttons were to present experiences in the locations, based off a description the buttons came along with. Choosing to focusing both of mine on wellness spots (Town Lake Trail and Zilker Park), I wanted to emphasize the feeling your body felt while you were running or doing yoga in their respected place. All the buttons fit together and could be interchangeable with a similar palette and style. My Illustrator skills I learnt in Graphic Design I were heavily used in this section of the module to create logos/icons that could represent a feeling of a place.

https://readymag.com/u28813181/15566/13/

The type specimen book was our final project for Typography I, challenging us to apply the skills that we had learnt over the course of the semester. Paired up with a partner, we were to split up the work to create a digital design, as well as a physical design.

I believe our choice of font worked fondly with the speech by David Foster Wallace. “This is Water” is one of my favorite speeches, and I had heard it long before the semester had started. It talked about how life shouldn’t be still with our everyday routine, but we had to step out of our comfort zone and realize we are more aware of our surroundings than we realize.

The biggest challenges in the project was to keep constant margins that will work with the size and spacing of the font. Initially, we chose a more contemporary interpretation, by doing hierarchy to design which fonts to make larger or bold. However, it did not look as clean. Therefore, in our final draft we did have key quotes that we separated from the flow of the speech. This is does as well with the digital copy of the speech.

In both the digital and physical copy, it was interesting to see the limits to design; how far could you take a design without making it chaotic? I believe that the book was a simply, but beautiful piece.

 

Using a quote assigned to us, our assignment was to use a fellow classmates’ font and create a triptych showcasing: 1) The quote, 2) The display of type, and 3) one character from the typeface. My quote was: Sometimes you discover the picture you thought you had, that everybody thought we had, actually turns out to be wrong. This really hit home to me, because I had come to learn that life didn’t happen the way that I had initially planned. I did not picture myself away from home, and I was for the first time in my life completely lonely and fearful. It was filled with imperfections, which is what I showed in the middle piece with many holes in the shape.

Randomly-placed holes filled the poster, and I chose to make the poster lean more heavily on one side of the poster, showing the state of imperfection I was in. In the 26 lines, an individual character was highlighted in the sea of black, showcasing the typeface. The bottom logo linked the first and third posters together, making the three work cohesively.

This was the first project done in Typography class, and the first assignment in the Graphic Design program. We were given a quote, and with that quote, use the website Fontstruct.com to create a font based off of the inspiration from that quote. Pinterest was used as research for this assignment to gain inspiration for the quote. With that research, I decided to make my font based of the imperfections of the mind, especially when it freezes. Like when you get a brain freeze eating a cold desert, the brain shuts down momentarily, cutting off any thoughts you may have been having at that point. This was my interpretation of “a shiver of the workshop of the brain”. The mood was imperfect, and sort of scattered and broken for this reason. Though the website Fontstruct was very basic to use, I wish there was more options on the website to create beyond pixels.