Final Story Board

Final Statement on Project 3

We had three objectives that were significant to the project. The first was choosing a haiku. The second was to gather objects that were concpetually related to teh haiku and using those objects to create marks. These marks were later used to render motifs we had conceptualized that visually communicated each line of the haiku. Lastly we were to translate the analogue shapes into digital files that could be manipulated in flash to make an animation.
The reason for choosing the haiku was the agreement between my partners and I on the strong inherent imagery. Moving into the animation I wanted to make smart, informed decisions to make the animation strong and dynamic formally and conceptually. The zoom in transition one takes the viewer through the open door. Soon after the "picture books" snap into the frame and the "paper weights" slam down onto the books to complete my second motif. The picture books exit the frame setting up a formal hint as to what motif was next. The spring time breeze enters the frame and leaves in the same manner mimicking a breeze like flow. There are subtle shifts in the typography that add to the dynamics of the animation. The word open shifts up into the open space of the first motif. "paperweights" comes down and sits on "on picture books." The word "breeze" gracefully fades and shifts to the right exiting the scene. As an animation I am pleased with the outcome. I think for my first time in flash, I accomplished something that isn't overly amateur.

Taxonomy Book Documentation

We went took our original concept of nature vs manmade, which seemed to be a little obvious and default, and transformed it into a new direction with the same base ideas. Instead of having a comparison of objects that were found in nature and objects that were manmade, we decided to draw connections between the natural and synthetic objects. Leaves resembled in an abstract way a book. There was a connection between rocks and coins, gems and currency. Pressed flowers made tags and such. We focused on these aspects and compared them in the spreads following the "chapter" pages.

Semester Reflection

A dead end Iteration: a Past Project Critique

At the beginning of the year I chose to do my dot project on a hurricane. The concept was fine, but the formal excecution was not quite up to par. The project as a whole could have been pushed further and explored more deeply to solidify a strong message. There was a lot of concideration in this project but perhaps consideration in the wrong areas. I was stuck in a mind set of communicating the obvious. Rather than taking the oportunity to transform my book using imagery, it seems to me like the book was "safe."
I should have taken the imagery into more consideration. There was a chance to use altering imagery instead of supporting imagery. Although there seems to be a slight nudge at the idea of altering vs supporting, I never really took advantage of, and exploited the strength of altering imagery.

Semester Reflection:

Throughout this semester I have grown as a designer in more ways than I thought possible in a few short months. The harder I worked and the more I pushed the stronger my work became. It seems obvious but really, nothing can be so obvious that it is obvious. One thing that I will utilize for the rest of my life as a creative person is the skill of iterating. Quantity, Quantity, Quantity seemed to be the theme for me this semester. Before this semester my process of making was a lot different. I would chose a concept, usually the first in my mind, and try to execute it to the best of my ability. In design I've learned to exhaust everything in my brain. What good is an idea if it is only a thought. Everything must become a visual artifact. Everything needs to be put on paper and evaluated. By exhausting every thought possible, it is then easy to push past the cliche and find an original idea, a fresh concept. This method of making has led me to grow in multiple ways. The two most important are the rate at which I work, and the level of conceptual and formal strength. This idea of quantity makes quality, really hit me mid-semester and will affect my work from here on out.

In the first project I struggled to get where I needed to be. I would say my work was decent. Diving into the project I struggled conceptualizing my theme. The beginning stages of a project are the most crucial and critical to producing meaningful, brilliant work. Because of some gray areas in  my concepts and formal decisions, my book was lacking what it needed to be great. Craft was sacrificed on a few pages due to the time crunch. This boils down to time management, which is another skill I have started to harness.
In the second project I really pushed my self to create something I was truly proud of conceptually and formally. I tried to iterate on every decision made throughout the project. I think Pushing myself from the start allowed me more room to explore the posters in the end. Also, I spent more time digging deep into all aspects of the project to strengthen my posters. Because of the amount of iterations I did, I feel like I was more easily able to stronger work than in project one.
Project three was possibly the most enjoyable and the most frustrating at the same time. I struggled creating motifs that weren't overly obvious or too far of a stretch to comprehend. Visually communicating an idea in one shape gave me a run for my money. I enjoyed the hands on approach to gathering the marks that would create the motifs. Moving into animation, the project became more frustrating but more exciting simultaneously. I have found a new affinity for motion graphics. I think animating typographic compositions would be exciting.

All in all the semester turned out pretty good. I can see growth, which excites me, but I still have a ton of expanding to do in order to be the designer I want and need to be. The fundamental principles I have learned in this semester have enhanced my work already so much. I am excited to see where I go from here.

Final Revised Motifs

 

There is a use of repetition and rather sharp geometry in my motifs. This also informs the use of a geometric sans serif in they typographic treatment. I found it effective to have shapes repeated within the motif but not in a "copy & paste" manner. The way I achieved this was by mastering the technique in which the marks were made. This gave me similar results in shape with subtle nuances throughout, revealing the mark of the hand.  In the open shop has a repeated shape made by a price tag. Paper weights on picture books is composed of marks that were made using the spine of three different books. Young springtime breeze is made up of the manipulation of a book page to give wavy, windy like appearances. Each of the analogue motifs were transferred into vector images in illustrator.

Taxonomy of Marks: Natural vs Man Made

Jessie, Abby and I have a haiku that considers the natural and man-made.

In the open shop

Paperweights on picture books

Young springtime breeze

The first line automatically denotes man-made.  The second line includes natural and man-made.  The third line speaks to natural.  It's goes from man-made to natural. 

One way we want to classify is create two categories

MAN-MADE   v.    NATURAL

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ORGANIC  v.  GEOMETRIC

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BRUSH STROKE  v.  IMPRESSION 

(with the impression, it'd be like dropping something or making stamps of it)

Another considerations:

1. man-made v. nautral --> method of mark making --> medium used
2. man-made v. natural --> object used --> medium used
3. man-made v. natural --> organic v. geometric 

Possible Format Sizes & Page/Binding Materials

1. 8 x 9 in square
2. maybe put 9 marks per square page
3. spiral bound
4. bright white paper to allude to the brightness of spring
5. using wire-o's like in the book project

Mark Making

The haiku we ended up choosing was . . . In the open shop, paperweights on picture books, young spring time breeze. After deciding on the Haiku it was time to make marks with the objects that we gathered that were linked to the haiku conceptually. This is some insight to my process.

Who is Leo?

Leo Lionni is a designer, writer and sculptor. In this reading he talks about his process and makes a generalization of most artists process. The act of making is sort of an unexplainable action. He states that if art was removed from his life he would still have the urge to make things. I too have the urge to make things. I find myself doodling, sketching, folding paper clips, and paper while listening to lectures. Personally my process is a little different than what he states. His theory is interesting; the idea that we subconsciously, at the deepest level, become what we are making, designing, or drawing. I just don't think of myself becoming the subject or tool I am using. I do find myself subconsciously at a deeper level making instinctual decisions based on the conceptual and formal qualities of the subject. Although at some level I am purposefully making decisions based on concept and form there are always a few that just happen. I feel like Lionni is right when he says this is inherent in everyone's work.

Thumbnails for Motifs

Iterate Iterate Iterate

Project Two Deliverable. Reflection

DELIVERABLE- Line Posters

Activating and arranging graphic space in the posters was a bit of a struggle for me in the beginning. I had a hard time getting started with these. Creating an interesting composition while making the photo, line study, and typography interact meaningfully was a big obstacle. Once I got around to it, iterations started flowing and I feel like I was able to push the posters to the place they need to be. In the Paseo poster I arranged the graphic elements in a grid like fashion; a non mathematical, orderless grid that is. I sliced the photo and the line study into strips. I placed them in an alternating pattern then began to delete information. The play between positive and negative space began to play more, creating visual interest. The composition progressively becomes more solidified as your eye moves down the composition reinforcing the cohesion of the overall composition with its visual elements. Formally the juxtaposition of the photograph and line study is a comparison. The windows of the building mimic the blocks of black in the line study. Conceptually, the photo of the government housing juxtaposed with a progressive line study is interesting. There is this interesting play between a seemingly low place in society and a progressive line study. The Paseo area doesn't have that great of a reputation today. There is a lot of crime. Although some might feel like the neighborhood will always be stuck in this cycle of violence and crime, I feel like there is hope and potential for progression towards a safer community. The process from line study to the final poster was lengthy. The basic line study was manipulated by introducing vertical lines making it a complex line study. The line study was cropped and paired with a photo I took of a low income housing unit off of Paseo. The majority of the process was spend on the integration of typography. After finding a typeface that worked the question was Bold or Light. After deciding to give the type the same treatment as the composition (cutting of blocks) I printed out a bunch of "paseos." The analogue process of cutting and pasting the altered type was quick and efficient. The iterations were then translated into illustrator. After that it was just a matter of finding the right placement and alignment.
 

The Troost poster took a while to get where it is now. I arranged the space by filling the entire frame with the pairing side by side. Integrating the type was lengthy process as well. Finally I decided on having the text hand written. One of the lines in the poster acts as a baseline. Formally the juxtaposition is along the lines of continuation. Parts of the line study line up with the blinds and others line up with the negative space. The pairing is composed of some droopy blinds and a curvilinear line study. Conceptually the juxtaposition speaks to the hardships of the majority of neighborhoods on Troost. The strong black and white image of the broken blinds gives a powerful message in itself being damaged but the point of pairing it with the curvilinear line study was not only for continuation but for concept. The wave like structure seemed like a good way to portray the ups and downs of a lot of families in the troubled neighborhoods. The lines created by the blinds start to ascend on the right side. So reading the image left to right gives a glimpse of a community trying to move forward. There has been a lot of communal groups and businesses trying to tie the neighborhoods of Troost together to become more of a community that is safer and better for all.  The process in line studies was a warped one. The line study started out as a basic line study that was moved into a complex line study. The basic line study was manipulated in the scanner. Then it was projected on multiple surfaces to create new lines and angles. This was paired with an photograph I took in a neighborhood off of Troost. The pairing was put into illustrator and vectored. The photo was put back into its photographic nature while the line study was left as a manipulated vector. The type was a toss up. The decision between a typeface and a handwritten text was a tough one. After deciding that the san serifed informative typefaces weren't working, I moved on to some humanistic type. It was easy for these to look cheesy. I wrote TROOST in my own handwriting a bunch and played with tagging and graffiti like text. I then scanned them and vectored the text.
 

The West Bottoms poster is powerful in its simplicity. The poster has a lot of white space. Centering the image and line study was more of an aesthetic choice than anything. The typography is what creates a lot of visual interest in the poster. I feel with out the shift of the text the poster would become static and therefore boring. Formally the juxtaposition between the smoke stack and the random line study was a comparison. The width of the line study was almost identical to the width of the smoke stack. the emphasis in white space in the line study directly correlated to the emphasis of the open sky in the framing of the photo. Conceptually the juxtaposition between the smoke stack and the random line study had a lot to do with the white space. The negative space allows the viewer to breathe. Theres an open airy feel to the simplicity of the composition. This mimics the open, deserted feel of the west bottoms. The smoke stack speaks to the factory like setting of the west bottoms.  The west bottoms is an industrial place that has lost a lot of its boom but has recently found hope for progress. The revitalization of the west bottoms has been on investors minds for a while. The san serif typeface is used for its clean, industrial look. The process in this poster wasn't all that complex. The sky was cut out of the photo and the bounding box was removed from the line study. Once again a lot of process was spent on type. More specifically the placement of type. The way it is in the final poster is the most dynamic and interesting choice. The type is aligned with the rings in the smoke stack.
All in all I am proud of my work. I feel like I can truly say I spent a lot of time pushing this project more than I did the last. Consequently the work turned out stronger. Although I would have liked to play around with color more the Black and White images are more powerful.

Linear Evolution

BASIC

COMPLEX

RAW MANIPULATED

FINAL EDIT

JUXTAPOSITION

This is the evolution to one of my posters. The line study started out as a basic progressive study. In the second phase it was built upon by introducing vertical lines. The original was rotated on its side and then manipulated with a second progressive study used as a grid. In the next step the basic line study was manipulated in the scanner and projected on a wall and photographed. 

Paula Scher Response

Paula Scher is a designer located in New York City. She has been located there for most of her career. Her work is heavily influenced by the city itself. She talks about this rich melting pot of cultures influencing her work which is interesting because not only is the physicality of the city influencing her work, the human demographic is influencing her work. In the sense of physicality, the cities tall slender buildings are mimicked in her condensed san-serif typography. The compact, intricate grid system of the city is reflected in some of her posters. A good example is the jazz fest poster. She makes the analogy of her work being like the gridlock and traffic jams at a stand still. Some said it was influenced by constructivist but she argues it was 90% New York that influenced it. undoubtedly the constructivist had a hand in influence but not as much as the city itself. New York is a loud in your face city and this is seen in Paula's work. The large text and colorful designs say NEW YORK. As far as correlation to the project we are doing, there is a lot. We found lines within these neighborhoods and throughout the city and tied typography into it. She is doing the same but on a larger, more physical level. Instead of making a poster and aligning text to the architecture and line work of the city, she actually does it in real life. She designs a lot of the signs in new york for store fronts and businesses. Each is different according to the business or area. Just like each of our posters and typography is different according to the characteristics of the neighborhood. This video was really interesting. I definitely drew some inspiration from this.

Vector vs Bitmap

There are pros and cons to both. Often vectors are used to easily scale images and bitmaps are more of a raw image. 

Vector: 

-easily scalable

-smooth

-clean

-high contrast

-easily manipulated

Bitmap:

-raw file

-good for photographs

-rougher image

-prone to pixelation

Poster Itterations & Partner Critique

poster iterations