This past semester, I took a course entitled Graphic Design I: Text and Image. This class is the first of 4 graphic design classes that we must take to complete our major. In this class we worked with clients to help create branding and promotional material for different events and programs. We also learned more about the printing process, specifically setting up files for commercial offset printing. We completed 4 major projects, each of which are explained in detail below with images of the final product as well as a large gallery of process work at the end of the post.
Project 1: College of Design Banner
Our first project was a quick, 2-week project where we worked in groups to create ideas for a large banner to help brand the College of Design buildings. The banner had to represent the different departments in the college, ranging in everything from landscape architecture to fashion and graphic design.
For my banner idea, (seen on the left) I wanted to illustrate the process and variety of design. I chose to do this using a hand-drawn sketch with different patterns creating a value gradation. The patterns reference the different design tools and principles such as line, form, pattern, interpenetration, value, simultaneous contrast, typography, repetition of shape, etc.
Project 2: Personal Business Card
The second project we did was based on preparing a file for commercial offset printing. We were given the opportunity to create our own business cards. Since I had already spent a significant amount of time designing my own business cards, I wanted to take a different approach with this project—to try something outside the box. So I decided I wanted the cards to form a pattern, almost like a game. I ended up creating a repeat pattern with sumi-e style inking. The final product was two cards, each with a different front and back that could be flipped and reversed to create a pattern.
Project 3: Beyond Peacocks & Paisleys
Our third project was to create promotional materials for a show at the Goldstein Museum entitled “Beyond Peacocks & Paisleys”, a show based on textiles from southeast Asia. We were given photographs of some of the fabrics and were assigned to create materials to help promote the show including a banner, a poster, a sample text panel, a postcard, and a bookmark. The show was meant to show people a different side of southeast Asian textiles that they maybe hadn’t thought about before, and how the production of these textiles have really impacted clothing manufacturing in the US. So my concept was that the show was ‘unraveling’ the myth of what people believed south Asian textiles were all about. To do this, I scanned strings and composited them with one of the more vibrant images from the show. The final product is shown above, but make sure you check out the plethora of process work I have in the gallery at the end of this post.
Project 4: Design Minor
Our last project for the semester was to create an identity and promotional material for the new Design Minor from the College of Design. Our clients mentioned that they wanted something kind of funky and fresh. So for my project, I took aspects of the existing College of Design identity such as colors, typeface, shapes, etc. and attempted at putting togethor a motif that would apply more universally to each of the departments in the College of Design (landscape architecture, product design, graphic design, etc.) What I came up with was a single isometric cube that I could morph and manipulate in shape and color to express the variety of possibilities that are available through the Design Minor. The isometric was a perfect medium because it could be interpreted in different ways, from graphic design and packaging, to architecture and interior design, to retail and merchandising. It also was representative of another important aspect of the Design Minor, design thinking—the idea that a simple cube could be morphed into endless configurations and possibilities. This is where the tag line “imagine the possibilities” came from, to convey that idea of limitless solutions, but also to get prospective students thinking about what they could accomplish with a design minor. The final deliverables of the poster, post-card, website wireframe, and advising materials are above, but check out the gallery below to see my process work.
Gallery
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