Semester 3

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ajiteshlokhande semester<3 graphicdesign

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Sem thai gayu, Thank you baki chhe . . . Try as I might, I cannot express how ecstatic I was to start my first semester in Graphic Design. This semester has been full of new starts, experiments and discoveries; academic & otherwise. On this note, I would like to say a HUGE thanks to all my faculty, for helping me learn and push myself; to all my friends for bearing with me and my panic attacks; to my seniors for all their free pep talk and indispensable advice; to all my batchmates for their support in staying up late and raising the bar for the entire batch with their brilliant work; all the designers and artists who have inspired me & my parents for always being there for me and believing in me. Yo GD!

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CONTENTS

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Colour

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Typography I

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Photography

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Science & Liberal Arts

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History of Graphic Design

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Illustration & Drawing

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Experimental Poster

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duration faculty

3 WEEKS ANIL SINHA

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Colouring the form, Forming the colour Our very first course in Graphic Design was colour. Picking up where the foundation colour course left off, the overall learning from this course was about the relationship between colour and form.

“Colour can change the meaning of the form.�

Colour and form cannot exist in isolation; manipulating their interaction helps us convey meaning effectively & concisely.

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Research, Reimagine, Remake

We looked at various colour models and the theorists behind them. Evolution in these theories ran parallel to advances in science.

We formed groups and then using our research, interpreted the theories, found out their limitations and created models that reflected the same.

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Our group chose to study Arthur Pope’s colour theory. After we understood the unique features of his theory, I created mockup nets to arrive at a model that was easy to understand and highlighted the key points in Pope’s colour theory.

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We synthesised our research & created two informative AND visually appealing models.

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The final models

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Another assignment involved analysing and researching the characteristics products possess, project & we perceive with colours.

The same analysis was to be done with our own personalities too.

Finally informat compile form of a d

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y, this tion was ed in the document.

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Visuals for State Transport The next two weeks involved reflecting a state’s culture and essence through visuals for its transport. The state I chose was NAGALAND.

Ideation sketches

Selected Primary Form

Hornbill State bird, Bold form depicts the vitality of the Naga people.

Counterform of Hill

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Feather Depicts the kind and softspoken nature of the Naga people.

Hilly Road, Textiles - Depicting the terrain & culture

Iterations for transport exterior

Using the Final Form, Explorations using colour were made.

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Colour Explorations

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Exploring different colour combinations; ranging from basic formulas to thematic ones.

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Final Exteriors

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In this way, the primary form was adapted to the exteriors of a train & a bus.

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Interior Posters

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Information Panels

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duration faculty

3 WEEKS TARUN DEEP GIRDHER, KRITI MONGA

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Just my Type . . . Type. The Love of my Life. One of the main reasons why I came to Graphic Design. I was tremendously excited for this course. The next 3 weeks were going to be one of the most exciting, active, engaging, energy and fun-filled times during this semester.

Whether it was understanding the anatomy of a letterform or discovering the beauty of express -ive handlettering. I cherished every second of this course.

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Personality “ Types � The first few assignments introduced us to how type enhances and can also be used to manipulate the meanings of words and ideas. To this end, we started with writing our own names and analysing how our personalities were reflected. Along with this, we kept sharing the history behind type and letterforms

and through their study we looked at the cultural, political and scientific circumstances that led to scripts etc. as we see them today. This deepened our understanding of letters and made us see the bigger picture surrounding them. In this way, we saw how the art and science of typography fit into the narrative of society at large.

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In another exercise along the same lines, we paired up with each other and got to know the our partner batchmates on a deeper level. Their likes, dislikes, dreams, fears etc. What gave them their unique identity. Based on this rapport we developed, a few key characteristics were chosen. Explorations depicting these characteristics were made.

Understanding how different typefaces had their unique personalities & how playing with font sizes and styles can be used to tweak their qualities was a critical takeaway from this assignment.

Some of the explorations depicting the word “easygoing� for my batchmate Sweta Bhardwaj.

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Final composition

After plenty of rounds of iterations, discussions and comparison, this was the chosen composition that depicted Sweta’s easygoing nature.

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Back to basics During the second week of typography, we grabbed our brushes, rolled up our sleeves and started our love affair with calligraphy and other forms of handmade typography. Watching the letterforms flow and learning to control your arm and hand to achieve this was an unforgettable experience.

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We were introduced to the different kinds of calligraphy styles. Becoming more aware and in control of your hand while drawing letters was an important objective of this course.

“ We don’t need to have fixed ideas about how letters should look. Letters can also be “drawn” instead of just “written”. ”

Taking a break from the meticulous nature of calligraphy, we also tried our hand at expressive brush lettering; learning how to hold the brush, the different techniques etc. we could use to create beautiful letterforms. 26

“Uncials” calligraphy

Brush lettering

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The third week had plenty of delights, debates and excitement in store for me. It all began with a walk through the city, looking at handpainted signs and documenting them,

Choosing the most interesting one and plotting it on a graph,

Of Jalebi & Graph-da

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Recreating it on a much bigger scale and then comparing our samples.

After this, we were divided into groups and assigned selected samples.

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And that’s how team Jalebi came to be . . .

Together, we set out to sketch, make variations and develop our first ever humble version of a glyph set. This is how our glyph set, fondly titled “Jalebi” began.

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Developing forms, guidelines and establishing a language

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Vectorizing the hand drawn letter-forms.

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Trying out variations of the form.

Using the vectors to create a working font.

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Aa jlebI Ce. Aa Aek zekoreifv izsple faqpPes Ce. Aa Aek vef ma Aave Ce... And thus the beautiful, curly and flamboyant “Jalebi” font came to life.

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duration faculty

2 WEEKS SAURABH SRIVASTAVA

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Clickity Click . . .

A picture is worth a thousand words. In this section, I’d like to let the images speak for themselves. Brief context explained where necessary. Using a DSLR for the first time was like being endowed with superpowers.

And with great power, comes great responsibility...

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The First step

These are some of the very first images that I took with a DSLR. I was in awe of the quality of the images it produced. Getting a hang of its features and potential. 40

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Bringing into focus

Experimenting with different focal lengths . . .

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Don’t say cheese!

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Capturing a person’s nature through environment & lighting. 45

Becoming a poster boy...

Developing a theme and then staging and photographing a poster for the same. 46

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Rittika in her element

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Amdavad ni sanjh . . .

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Street Photography in the evening. Khadia Market. 51

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duration faculty

1 WEEK MADHUSUDAN MUKHERJEE

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Nothing is what it seems . . . This SLA was an eye-opener to a plethora of ideas. And in addition to all the theory, what I particularly liked about this course was the way we used all this theory to analyse and decode the messages underlying the media all around us.

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This means That . . . Our first SLA course in Graphic Design began with an introduction to semiotics. To do this, we learned about different school of thoughts and thinkers who contributed to the science of semiotics. Beginning with structuralism, we drifted through a myriad of subjects and viewpoints. Peirce was one of them. We understood different models of how meaning making and

how perception worked. We also tried applying this knowledge to decode the messages around us.

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Everything is a text. Not just the kind that floods our smartphones. In the sense that, everything around us tells a story.

To be or not to be

That, is the answer. Understanding how meaning and signification is arbitrary and artificial. Everything exists because of some thing else. Everything has its own identity only because it doesn’t have the identity of something else. I am me because I am not you. A circle is a circle only because it is not a square. This fundamental observation of semiotics helped us in understanding post structuralism and see how it manifested in art, design and society. How it affected our behaviour and the messages we’re surrounded by.

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Communism - More than a class apart . . . This was one of my most favourite parts of the course. I had always been interested in learning about communism. But this section took things to a whole new level and made us look at how it fit into the whole structure and functioning of the society. It really made us sit back and look at society in a completely new way. Learning about the dynamics between the classes put things into perspective and we realised how comprehensive our decisions as designers should be. “ All profit is theft. Because, forget being equally divided, the workers don’t get a single penny of it. They are alienated from the fruits of production. Turned into mere machines that are fed with the fuel of daily wages. Stripped of their humanity. � 58

A Family “Freud” We concluded the course by studying about Freud and his theories on psychosexual development. We learned how a human being’s personality was strongly linked to the way his/her Oedipus complex was resolved. Our way of understanding the dynamics of parental-filial relationships & the conflicts therein.

Sexual energy and aggressive energy are two sides of the same coin.

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1 WEEK TANISHKA KACHRU

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Looking at the past, Foreseeing the future History of Graphic Design was another fun course where we introspected and looked at how graphic design has evolved over time. We looked at how social, economic and technological circumstances have affected and interacted with design. All this study of history ran parallel to a rather interesting assignment. Wherein, each day, we nominated an artefact of Indian design to our own hypothetical “Indian Graphic Design Hall of Fame”. This two way learning led to a deeper understanding of how to look at history and use the same understanding as a designer in analysing design objects.

Walter Benjamin Author of “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”

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Crafted by Hand The Arts & Crafts movement is considered a key moment in the history of design. This was the period when William Morris revived the crafts and respect for traditional techniques over industrial processes which led to the production of crude and unaesthetic products back then.

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Modernism Getting with it. Simplicity, Functionality, Utopia - the three key words that define the modernist movement. Looking at some iconic examples of modernist design, we understood the ideology behind the movement and at the same time we parallely looked at how this European movement affected the Indian design scenario.

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The Swiss Peaks The Modernist movement reached its peak with the Neue Grafik magazine which was considered to be the pinnacle of the Swiss International Typographic style in design. This magazine ran from 1958 to 1965 and is a critical point in design history as it consolidated the ideology and agenda of the Swiss International style.

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Moving beyond modern. Studying the dawn of Post-modernism, we looked at how philosophical and semiotic trends manifested themselves in the area of Graphic Design. Redefining of good design, doing away with ornamentation while embracing it in an ironic way at the same time is what Post-moderism stood for.

“ Culture produces Design.�

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Millenial milestones Nearing the millenium, Postmodern Graphic Design reached it’s peak. Designers like April Greiman, Stefan Sagmeister etc. created groundbreaking work that went beyond mere meaning-making and acted as a clear commentary on the prevailing social scenarios. While at the same time, retaining the sense of irony that underpins Post-Modernism.

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Purpose Indian Graphic Design Hall of Fame

FUNCTIONAL

DECORATIVE

STORYTELLING

SYMBOLIC

DOCUMENTARY

COMMERCIAL

3300 BC 2800 BC 2300 BC 1800 BC 1300 BC

Indus Valley Seals

A lot of Folk art such as Madhubani, Warli etc. have arose in different time periods. Legend has it that Madhubani was used to welcome Lord Ram to Ayodhya.

Aum

Folk Art

800 BC

Ashoka Pillar

Time

300 BC 200 AD 1700 AD 1750 AD

Infographic showing the evolution of the nominated objects.

Devanagari

Rangoli

Bindi

Block Printing

The Devanagari script is used to write Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Bodo and Sindhi. Gurmukhi is its sister script. Brahmi & Gupta are its parent scripts.

Alta

1800 AD

1850 AD

Ravi Varma Goddesses

The original Pillar depicting the lions was erected around 250 BC. The Govt. of India adopted it as its emblem in 1950.

1900 AD

Truck Art

Bollywood Posters

1950 AD

2000 AD

2015 AD

Satyajit Ray Posters

Amul Campaign Rupee Symbol

Tricolour Doordarshan Gandhi Silhouette

Common Man

Chumbak

History of Graphic Design _ Semester 3 _ B.Des 2015 - 16 _ Ajitesh L. Krishnokoli R., Ritu, Simoul A., Shweta R.

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duration faculty

5 WEEKS IMMANUEL SURESH, SIDDHARTHA TRIPATHI

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Back to the Drawing Board . . . All of us were really excited and looking forward to these two courses. It was after a long time that we were drawing again; and this time, we used the skills we had picked up in foundation and sharpened them, channeled them in a new way. Such that we utilised the full potential of meaning making that illustrations and visuals hold. Thus, the first course, Drawing & Visualisation was a skill oriented course where we brushed up on our drawing and representation skills. We acquired a set of new techniques and thus prepared ourselves for the fun that lay ahead for us.

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Draw me like one of your batchmates The course began with a new technique that we tried out : making a portrait of our batchmates with negative space. Hence, I started by blackening a sheet of paper with pencil and then drawing my awesome friend Ravisankar Vallomparambat Panikassery’s portrait using the negative shapes on his face. I drew the highlights by erasing out areas with different intensities. The result was delightfully beautiful and had a serene quality to it.

“Ravisankar contemplating the meaning of life”

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The portrait assignment ran parallel to the other assignments. During the course of this assignment, we tried our hand at traditional portraiture using charcoal. The steep learning curve that was a characteristic of this semester was most evident in this course, as I saw the improvement in confidence and technique with every new portrait.

“A minute change in viewpoint causes a huge change in the drawing.

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Blind Contour Drawing Bringing your hand & eye in harmony.

Experiments Galore! I also experimented with how drawings can be manipulated & what effects this led to. 78

A surreal effect achieved by photocopying a drawing. 79

Figuring out how to capture likeness. The “Eyes” have it . . .

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Trying out different mediums. In my case, I felt the pen to be mightier than charcoal 81

Paper on Paper Further working on our representation skills, we did this simple yet useful assignment where we drew a piece of paper and its folds. It started with a simple piece and we added more folds with every drawing. Thus discovering the nuances of light, shadow and how they created texture.

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Being one with nature.

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Observing the foliage of plants with a gentle, patient and curious gaze not only put me in a zen state of mind but also added to my representation skills.

“When you draw the plant, grow with the plant.�

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Flows & folds Another exercise that was very zen-like, here we looked at drapery and tried to capture the flow of the fabric. This was done by drawing the folds, light and shadow in a harmonious way.

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A Perspective Retrospective We revisited perspective drawing with a fresh, new outlook. An example of this was the freehand perspective drawings I made. A couple of them were done with pencil. The most interesting bit was

working directly with ink and brush on paper. The way I slowed down and focused my mind to observe the environment refreshed my approach towards drawing.

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Yeh ilu ilu kya hai? - Illustration After two weeks of brushing up on our drawing skills, we started with one of the most anticipated courses in Graphic Design - Illustration. The timing couldn’t have been better as the course began right around the time when “Chitrakatha�; the international student animation festival was coming to an end. Hence, we got the chance to talk and interact with illustrators and animators from all over the world. In this way, Illustration started on a very inspiring and exciting note.

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A for Ahmedabad The first assignment in illustration had us going around Ahmedabad, looking for its peculiarities, letting its “Amdavad-ness� sink in with all our senses. We sketched, wrote & ideated concepts that could convey our interpretation of Ahmedabad.

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From hello to “ Eh Halo! � Thus, after much introspection and nostalgia, I made a poster that resembled the lively circular formations of Garba. The poster used stamp-like elements inspired from the environment of the city. I drew a set of elements & then photocopied them to get this friendly yet bold effect. 94

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Ahmedabad to Mumbai & back Taking the previous assignment forward, I made a series of posters that connected the two cities that had been my home. Thus these posters connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai were born.

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Being Hergé For this one-of-a-kind assignment, we were given artists who have proved to be movers and shakers of the illustration world. My artist was Hergé, the famous french cartoonist. We read about our artist, got to know their style and their life. We made a short presentation about the same. After this, in an interesting switcheroo, we were paired up. Each of us had to do a selected painting of our partner’s Artist in our own Artist’s style..

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This was the painting, “Blossomy”, that I did in Hergé’s style

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Blossomy à la Hergé.

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Billions of Blistering Barnacles ! ! ! How on earth did I even end up here?

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Dalwada Diaries This was surely one of the most fun and unforgettable assignments I have had this semester. Each one of us was assigned a traditional Gujarati snack. We were supposed to “research” i.e. go out and eat! And observe. My Dish was the omnipresent “Dalwada”

We made a recipe illustration in a format of our choosing for our respective dishes.

Developing a style and grammar through exploratory sketches.

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After the “research�, I sat down & explored the different ways & techniques I could use for the recipe book.

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Sample pages from the handbound recipe book

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Cras Toge

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shing ether

A 39-minute crash assignment where we came up with and illustrated a story with five given keywords.

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Another crash assignment wherein I collaborated with Monica from GD(PG). We came up with this two sided, dangling poster about why mess food tastes different outside. 110

“Two sides of Mess Food” because a onesided poster wouldn’t do justice

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A Tale of Two Frogs For our final assignment in illustration, we had to choose a story/poem/song that we would like to illustrate. I chose a Japanese folktale about two frogs. I read the story and after getting a good idea of the tone of the story, its light-heartedness and humorous nature, I started developing my

characters and the treatment that I wanted to use for my story book. And in this way, after much exploration, trials and troubles with the IT center printer, my first ever story book was born.

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One was Kyoto, that had a palace

A sample spread from the book.

The other was Osaka, where ships sailed through...

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In Kyoto lived a frog, his happy home by the stream

In Osaka there was one, in a marsh where lily pads gleam...

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duration faculty

1 WEEK RUPESH VYAS

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Getting GD out of 2D The last course of this semester. I wanted to end it with a blast, and undoubtedly I did. The brief given to us was very open-ended and thus I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.

And that is why, taking Graphic Design out of 2 dimensions was my starting point for this experimental poster.

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Anamorphic Awesomeness And so Ritu and I set out to realize our anamorphic idea. After looking for spaces where this could be achieved, we finally settled on a space near the GD studio. We rejected our initial location in the foyer due to logistical issues. Thus, in the spirit of being experimental & adventurous, we started making our posters by drawing an inital plan of the morphed letters using grids and a bit of visualisation with Photoshop. Every now & then during the initial drawing, we kept making sure the drawing was visually corrected.

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Everything Connects . . . But it is the quality of the connections that matters. Our poster was about communicating this key quality of the design process. The poster was a metaphor as the words, “eve”, “ryt” and “hing” had different colours. As if these words had some connection. However, this colouring didn’t hold any significant meaning. It is this misleading nature of arbitrary connections that we wanted to point out.

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Wait ‘til the lights go out . . .

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And that brings us to the end. It was undoubtedly a roller coaster full of discoveries, trial and error, laughter, late nights and most importantly - f u n .

That’s all for now folks . . . 129

seeyouall nextsem<3

This document has been set in “Montserrat” by Julieta Ulanovsky. Body text has been set in “Fontin” by the Exljbris Type Foundry.

Images courtesy

http://blog.8faces.com http://teaching.polishedsolid.com http://www.colorsystem.com/ http://www.comicvine.com http://www.inspectorinsight.com https://zafarimam.wordpress.com http://artebetopiccolo.blogspot.com http://cseweb.ucsd.edu Oedipus illustration: http://marvipacete.deviantart.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ agrawalkavya?fref=photo https://www.facebook.com/jimmykano

YO GD

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