Tag: jimmyl

The first module in Graphic Design II is called rules because we explored how to create an experience by listing steps that would enhance a certain aspect of our chosen locations. We created two packages, complete with instructions and buttons or patches which would serve as mementos of the experience.

For my first deliverable, I created a button and guide for the Umlauf Sculpture Garden. The button blends into the front of the package because it takes the place of the eye on the sculpture.

 

The second location I chose was Uncommon Objects. My memento for this deliverable includes a vintage photograph I bought at Uncommon Objects, meant to be used as a patch.

 

 

For this project we created a series of typographic posters. We chose from several fonts and performed two operations on an individual character from each font. Then each of the posters was printed using a vinyl cutter outfitted with a pen in place of the blade.

In this first poster, the letter ‘x’ in Cooper Black has spikes and stripes added to it. I added the curved spikes to complement the rounded serifs of the x. The striped pattern also adds an interesting dimension to the x, as if it has been folded and unfolded. I am very pleased with how this poster turned out especially because it was an Honorable Mention in the Student Juried Art show on campus in Spring 2015.

In the second poster, I filled a capital E with a geometric pattern and cut it in half. I positioned the parts of the E to look as if the top part is falling off the bottom bringing movement and an eye catching tension to the composition of the poster.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG_tRDjuwHg

In this class wide project, we collaboratively created a one-shot music video for Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off”.

This video took four complete shots to make along with weeks of story boarding and planning with the other Image Methodology section.The most interesting result of this project was that even as it turned out completely differently that what I envisioned it to be, the imperfections and differences in the final product add a fun character to the video.

Below is some of the initial brainstorming for the video that I came up with, as well as a link to the pdf of the story boards.

pdf link here: entire

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htiB6WHm4BA&feature=youtu.be

This is a thirty second video created using found sound and scanned textures and appropriate motion to feature a constellation illustration.

I developed a lot of new skills with this project by learning to animate in AfterEffects and gather my own images and sounds. The first step to this project was to chose a constellation to feature. I chose Lupus, the wolf, for both the visual distinctness and interesting mythology as a sacrificial animal or ‘victim’. ‘Sacrificial’, ‘victim’, and ‘ancient’ are the keywords in my decision making process for sound, illustration, motion and background of this video.

My illustration style is meant to highlight the angular nature of the wolf’s body in the arms, legs, and spikes of fur.

To create the background of the video, I scanned various materials like cloth, rocks, cotton candy, and many others. Then, the resulting mages were overlaid in the video to create layered motion. My sounds are taken from vending machines, automatic doors, and the rumble of a dishwasher.

I think my video successfully portrays the main ideas behind the mythology of the constellation, and creates outer space-like depth in the background. The meticulous, calculated revelation of the stars and the rushed entry of the illustration even further enhance the rather carnal, callous imagery in my video.

For this assignment a section of David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day inspired the creation of a book cover. Metaphor played a very important part in this assignment because we made a cover that metaphorically represented the lesson in the story.

The story I was assigned was about the author’s distaste for new, haute cuisine and its tiny, nutrition-less servings. In the story he humorously describes how satisfying a reliable street hot dog is over the fancy food he declined.

While making this cover, there was a lot of brainstorming and iterating of the same idea. It took me the longest to solidify the metaphor that I wanted to convey. This project was especially meaningful because it encouraged me to put plenty of thought into the content of the designs I create.

Finally, I decided that the metaphor was meant to convey the idea that, although appealing, extra flourishes can disguise the essential nature of many things around us. In Sedaris’ story, the presentation of the food distracted from it’s nutritional purpose. With my cover, I used a pocket knife with many extra extensions to show the same idea. This idea worked especially well because not only is the open knife visually appealing, but the wear and tear on the most basic blade in the knife emphasizes the metaphor.

 

You hope that it isn’t too far. 

 

For this assignment, I created a blog inspired by the quote above. I captured about 10 images to display the story of a character who might live in a world created by that quote. After collaborating with a classmate, some of the images and captions changed to make the message even clearer. My character is a scientist traveling down to the bottom of a very deep, alien ocean all by himself. My images are meant to evoke the simultaneous loneliness and comfort that memories bring someone on a long journey.

 

 

 

 

For this booklet design, we were given a commencement speech and asked to set it in a booklet form. The booklet was to have page numbers as well as spreads designed with a quote we picked on one page and regular spreads.

I worked with a partner to ensure the booklet was legible and attractive.  We pulled basic lines through the entire design to create continuity. In order to get an even number of pages that would bind together nicely, we added an about the author page at the end of the booklet. I think that solution worked well because it made sense with the design and created a functional book in our desired type size and spacing. All of the type is justified, and we reviewed each page to check for typos, widows, and orphans in each paragraph. That process was definitely the most challenging because of the attention to so much detail.

I carefully cut and bound multiple copies of the booklet to achieve the best alignment and page size. I used staples to bind the book, and used a blue paper to connect the booklet to the website which made use of the same blue color. However I am proud of how well the final booklet turned out.

For this assignment, we were given another student’s typeface and asked to make a series of three posters- one displaying the entire font, one showcasing one characters, and the final poster showing the quote that inspired the font. All of these were to be in one color, including white.

I created each of these posters to enhance one of the features of the font. I chose a dark blue which seemed most fitting for the ocean theme of the quote and the swirling nature of the descenders in the font.

In the first poster I displayed the entire font in the blue on a white background. I think this made the curly shapes in the round letters and descenders stand out.

In the second poster, I chose to bring out the wave-like curl of the descenders in this font by enlarging two of the Ks and putting their descenders in the center of the poster.

In the last poster I decided to highlight the intricate assembly of the letters by using a dark background so that the ground will stand out against the white text and reveal the dots and circles the text is made of. It was also interesting to use the descenders of words like ‘rivers’ to  nest other words underneath it.  This was the most experimental of the posters.

 

This is the type specimen I designed for the display font I created using FontStruct in Typography I. It was inspired by the quote “And it occurred to me that these must be holographic viral projections from an autonomous continuum that was somehow intersecting my own.”

The hardest, but most fulfilling part of this process was modulating the font design by creating identical pieces which could be in each letter. For example, I standardized the vertical strokes to all be the same thickness and have a notch in the top. I did the same with the descenders, horizontal strokes, and diagonal strokes. Once I was able to integrate that in all of my characters the designing went much smoother.

I decided that this font should have a rather tall x-height, to enforce the very meta and above-it-all ideas in the quote. I also took inspiration from the wire connections of computer chips in the horizontal strokes. The color choice of this specimen is my favorite part, because when printed, the complimentary colors create an interesting “ghost” version of the type when the viewer’s eyes shift. I think this adds a lot to the total design and brings in the holographic concept of the quote.

I decided to call the font Viral because the quote suggested to me a futuristic, other worldly and maybe dangerous looking visual, such as a kind of viral infection or virus on a computer.