ANKITA THAKUR GRAPHIC DESIGN POST GRADUATE 2015
This book documents my learning experience through the image making module, during my first semester at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly thankful to Dr. Tridha Gajjar who provided her expertise that greatly assisted the work hereby documented.
edge looks unstable
black and white transitio
n
2 deforms
too fragmented
l
potentia
2 too delicate
the curves on 2 don’t complement th eU ft
r on the le
T heavie
2 isn’t re cognizab
le
01
LETTER INTEGRATION According to the briefs of the assignment, we were required to take our initials and club the letters to complement each other using gestalt’s principles. rules of the game • One could use only black on white background. • The font of each letter can vary.
‘A’ looks incomplete
no source for mass behind A
transition b/w black & white
unbalanced along stem
avoid gullies letters unrecognizable
DESIGN I
The base of the letter ‘a’ has been flattened to stabilise the composition by following the bar of the letter ‘t’. Similarly, the bar of the letter ‘t’ is provided with a bracket to follow the curve of the counter of ‘a’.
at
DESIGN III
DESIGN II
It was noted that letter ‘a’ lost its elegance with the new chunky base form therefore the bar of the ‘t’ was now taken as an horizontal extension of the same.
Typeface Nouvelle Vague ‘a’ and ‘t’ share a common stem and the terminals are modified to appear symmetrical. The contrast of the original typeface is maintained throughout the composition.
EVOLUTION OF FORM
u2
The form of ‘u’ was modified to match a ‘sans serif 2’ to eliminate the terminal details from both the original letterforms, for easy identification.
With the previous alteration, ‘2’ lost its continuity, therefore mass is added.
Since both the forms were identifiable now, I wanted to add details of the typeface, and therefore the curved tail in the ‘u’.
original letterforms overlayed on top of each other
highlighting the alterations in the original form. A midway had been sought to resolve the terminal of ‘u’ and ‘2’.
u2
typeface (u): Times New Roman (italic) typeface (2): Adobe Arabic (regular) The tail of the ‘u’ has been modified to integrate with the serif of 2. Minor modifications have also been made on the width of the letterforms to complement each other.
02 adventure RISK THRILL
DISCOVERY
OBJECT SIMPLIFICATION The assignment asked us to work on a theme and come up with an object. The object is then set in a particular mood/position and simplified in black and white, keeping the structure and functional details intact. The theme we chose is ADVENTURE I worked on the exploration and survival aspect of adventure, and hence- CAMPING IN THE WILD, my subject
a new discovery! BUT already holds a strong significance for hiding or covering.
A MASK?
BINOCULARS?
‘looking out’ for adventure could depict a destination or aim
EXPLORING
GETTING LOST CURIOSITY UNPREDICTABILITY SUSPENSE
SURVIVAL
TORCH?
seeking out exploring possibilities
SWISS KNIFE? survival camping isolation wilderness
What I did: OBJECT This particular torch was chosen as the subject since it is a handy one that wraps around your hand and gives the notion of activity. ANGLE To use the attribute of the torch light I placed it on the surface so I could use the light thrown on the surface in the composition as well. CROP Since the idea was now to use the light, the torch could be cropped to an extent that it is still recognizable. LIGHT Technically the torch is set in dark, the surface is lit by the torchlight. The light covers more space in the composition to depict the ‘exploration’ ahead. what I learnt: Any ordinary object could be translated to depict a new meaning by altering the - view, angle, and axial rotation, cropping, light
PROCESS: DESIGN I
simplification
setting the perspective right; also more breathing space
ALERT ACTIVE DANGEROUS
PROCESS: DESIGN II What I did OBJECT An army knife is a handy tool for cutting, piercing, fixing and in extreme situations- protect oneself. As much it is related with the survival aspect, it can also be used to harm; that’s our concept here ANGLE The knife is set diagonally open- appears ACTIVE CROP The paper opens up towards the top to show continuity LIGHT Top lit, so that the shadow of the paper and the knife are visible on the surface.
03
PICTOGRAM
Assignment briefs: Generate a pictogram based on any aspect of the chosen theme. My pictogram is a CAUTION/ALERT notice for the pedestrians to prevent stepping on snails. The final product has variationsone for the NID community, other for public landscapes.
left: My initial ideas were mostly concentrated in MINIMIZING THE DETAILS of the subject. But in pictograms, there is NO interpretation. The message has to be direct Above: I further tried to show the CONSEQUENCES of the action, ie. stepping on the snail. In the designs, the original form the the snail got distorted in order to follow the concept, hence, it failed as a funstional design.
What I did: The foot and the snail are depicted in elevation since that is the action we’re alerting the audience of, and hence, most clear. Technically the foot would be large than the scale, but to keep the subject clear, exaggerations have been made. The footwear is altered according to its context. what I learnt: There must be no ambiguity. The depiction must be clear to the audience without any second meaning. The viewpoint of the object must show the most informative side
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Public Parks