ANNA LEE
INTRO GRAPHIC DESIGN A Portfolio of Work // Fall 2013 University of Nebraska - Lincoln Professor Stacy Asher
CONTENTS
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GRPH 221 PORTFOLIO
Form as a Typology / What is Graphic Design?
Brief | 7 Process | 8 Results | 9 Executions | 10-11 Exercise 01 | 12-13
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Form as Language / Designing Visual Communications
Form as Identity / Logo transformation
Form as System / Working with a Typographic Grid / Page Layout
Brief | 15 Process | 16 Results | 17 Executions | 18-19 Exercise 02 | 20-21
Brief | 23 Process | 24 Results | 25 Executions | 26-27 Exercise 01 | 28-29
Brief | 31 Process | 32 Results | 33 Executions | 34-35 Exercise 01 | 36-37
ŠAnna Lee University of Nebraska - Lincoln BA Graphic Design Fall 2013 Typeface: Futura Print Location: FedEx Office Print & Ship Center 6105 O St #2 Lincoln, NE | 68510
GRPH 221 INTRODUCTION
Graphic design is problem solving through type, space, and image; the process of creating a composition through various forms that conveys a message to the audience. Every element of a design communicates with the viewer. This portfolio is the summary of a semester long exploration of how form can be manipulated to create a dialogue between the artist and the audience. Through a series of projects and exercises experimenting with images, line drawings, logo transformations, and type I gained a greater appreciation for the creative process and deeper understanding of graphic design.
01 PROJECT BRIEF FORM AS A TYPOLOGY / WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN? We were presented with the challenge of going out into our environments and gathering evidence of graphic design artifacts. These artifacts were then used to create systems of organization to further inform us what graphic design is, and how different meanings can be derived from it. For me, the project was a chance to explore with a lens and capture examples of the multitude of design artifacts that we pass by unknowingly each and every day.
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01 THE PROCESS FORM AS A TYPOLOGY / WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN? I decided to begin my project without a specific system in mind, and to let the photos that I found inform my systematic study. I began my exploration in the Haymarket area of Lincoln. I discovered that graphic designed elements are absolutely everywhere. From street art, litter, and architectural design, to store signage, posters, and traffic signs; everywhere I looked I encountered graphic design.
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01 THE RESULTS FORM AS A TYPOLOGY / WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN? After exploring for a few hours, I had gathered an extensive collection of images of graphic design artifacts. I took pictures of practically everything I encountered; with the plans of letting the images further inform the system of my design. I then began to categorize my photos into different classifications and typologies.
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core metaphor denotative
objective micro connotative
index macro
01 EXECUTIONS
objective micro
metaphor
connotative
denotative
core
index macro subjective
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I ended up wandering through an ice cream parlor, a pizza restaurant, and a couple of coffee shops, and for that reason I focused my matrices around these aspects. The representation of coffee seemed to be the most consistent, and that led me to creating a typology of all of the artifacts that I gathered that represent hot coffee. The examples all contain the classic convention of wavy lines to represent heat. I feel that my exploration was a success because it led me to many artifacts that I had never previously noticed when walking this city block many times before. The project forced me to think about graphic design and systematic organization in an entirely new and challenging context.
subjective
FORM AS A TYPOLOGY / WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN?
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01 EXERCISE FORM AS A TYPOLOGY / WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN? This was an exercise in using text to convey a message on a larger scale. Billboards pose an interesting challenge, as they are typically viewed from a vehicle, and can only be seen for a matter of seconds. When designing a billboard, making an impact is key to successfully communicating with the audience.
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No one gets in his or her car and thinks, “I hope to see a billboard on the way to my destination.” Advertising, by nature, intrudes on people’s lives. This is why it is absolutely necessary to create captivating work.
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02 PROJECT BRIEF FORM AS LANGUAGE / DESIGNING VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS Project 2 presented the challenge of expressing a word’s meaning through visual form. We explored how different forms, rhythms, and values could be used to communicate a certain emotion. For example, the use of diagonal lines can create a sense of dynamism, while calm horizontals express a sense of stability.
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02 THE PROCESS FORM AS LANGUAGE / DESIGNING VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS We began by exploring the visual meaning of common relatable emotions in small ink drawings. This was a useful exercise in discovering what types of forms relate most closely to different emotions. After exploration through the ink studies, we were able to further expand into the realm of dealing with more complex words and emotions. Each of us was assigned an uncommon word and then began searching for images (both abstract and representational) that expressed the definition of our assigned word. I was assigned the word: Blithe. 16
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THE RESULTS FORM AS LANGUAGE / DESIGNING VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS Many of the words were subjective and difficult to assign visual content to, but after exploration through many different images, it became clear how the word’s meaning could be expressed to an audience. We then prepared a series of line drawings and images to represent our respective words.
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02 EXECUTIONS FORM AS LANGUAGE / DESIGNING VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS Our found images and line drawings then evolved into a single poster that represented the word solely through image and form. This in itself was rather challenging. When the process was done, I felt that I had a much stronger grasp on expressing emotion through line, form, and image. I realized that every aesthetic decision evokes certain emotions and relays a message other than the objective intended message.
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blithe
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02 EXERCISE FORM AS LANGUAGE / DESIGNING VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS Visual literacy is the understanding of relationships between formal considerations. Shape, color, organization, and compositions are all vital to the understanding of visual language. In the field of graphic design, being visually literate is very important in order to communicate effectively and successfully relay a message to the audience.
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READING QUIZ
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03 PROJECT BRIEF FORM AS IDENTITY / LOGO TRANSFORMATION Project 3 was an opportunity to explore form in greater depth. We collected a library of logos and icons, and categorized them to further investigate the different forms that they took on. This collection of icons served to inform the next step in the process, which involved isolating a single icon and transforming it into an evolved form.
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03 THE PROCESS FORM AS IDENTITY / LOGO TRANSFORMATION We explored the different actions of disturbance, disintegration, diffusion, re-collection, re-organization, and the evolution of a new symbol. Through a process of ideation we exhausted the possibilities of how the symbol could be taken apart and re-configured to express each action. We then took the strongest ideas and created them in digital form.
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03 THE RESULTS FORM AS IDENTITY / LOGO TRANSFORMATION This process resulted in a collection of seven symbols: the original and the 6 evolved forms. The symbols were organized in a series to express the process that the original logo underwent in becoming the evolved symbol. The whole series created a narrative for the viewer.
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03 EXECUTIONS FORM AS IDENTITY / LOGO TRANSFORMATION Project 3 not only created a more in depth understanding of form and how form can be transformed, but also allowed us to experiment with expressing action through form.
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disturbance diffusion
disintegration re-collection
re-organization
icon new symbol
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03 EXERCISE FORM AS IDENTITY / LOGO TRANSFORMATION To take the project a step further and explore a different element of design, we chose the strongest symbol from the collection and used it to experiment with color. The symbol was colored according to different color combinations, and provided the opportunity to experience how colors interact with one another, and how they help to further express meaning through the forms.
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04 PROJECT BRIEF FORM AS SYSTEM / WORKING WITH A TYPOGRAPHIC GRID / PAGE LAYOUT This project approached typography in an entirely different form. Rather than focusing on the words themselves, and the messages that they were expressing, this project focused more on the forms and the visual way that different forms of type could interact to create depth and interest.
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04 THE PROCESS FORM AS SYSTEM / WORKING WITH A TYPOGRAPHIC GRID / PAGE LAYOUT The project began with collecting a library of type that we found interesting and expressive. This portion of the project was very informative and exciting. It allowed me to experience the endless variation of type that exists in the world and how that type interacts.
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04 THE RESULTS FORM AS SYSTEM / WORKING WITH A TYPOGRAPHIC GRID / PAGE LAYOUT We combined our collection of type into a series of abstract publications. These publications were meant to emphasize hierarchy, depth, balance, and use of white space. All of this was accomplished simply with found typographic form.
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04 EXECUTIONS FORM AS SYSTEM / WORKING WITH A TYPOGRAPHIC GRID / PAGE LAYOUT The type library was utilized to create five separate compositions that were meant to emphasize the form of the type rather than the message of the words. This was a challenge, as I am often looking for the underlying message, and this level of abstraction was new for me. We created a series of compositions that had a cohesive look and feel, while still keeping their individual identities.
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Alvin Lustig
(1915 - 1955) New York School Movement
Life and Work of Alvin Lustig
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Alvin Lustig had a groundbreaking approach to typeface design. Evidence of the influence of his work can still be seen in modern graphic design. During the 1940’s and 50’s, in the robust beginning of the New York School movement, Lustig was revolutionizing the way type publications were designed. He had a simplistic approach, with clean abstract shapes, a very apparent use of the grid, and simple san serif type. The current preference among modern designers to utilize fragmented images, photo-illustration, minimal typography and rebus-like compositions can all be traced directly to Lustig.1 The area of book jacket design is where Lustig left his greatest impact. He changed the whole approach to design with his radical layouts
and simple use of images. In James Laughlin’s book “The Book Jackets of Alvin Lustig,” he describes how Lustig’s method “was to read a text and get the feel of the author’s creative drive, then to restate it in his own graphic terms.”1 Lustig’s innovative interest in creating visual meaning through minimal use of visual signs has greatly impacted the sphere of modern design. His work has a sense of timelessness and grace, and will forever serve to inform the world of graphic design.
Cultural Events of Lustig’s Era
EXERCISE
World War II: World War II greatly affected design in its era. Many army and antiwar posters were made. This major event just could not be ignored in graphic design. Many movements, such as DADA, more or less directly reacted to WWII.2
Color TV:
FORM AS SYSTEM / WORKING WITH A TYPOGRAPHIC GRID / PAGE LAYOUT Alvin Lustig had a groundbreaking approach to typeface design. Evidence of the influence of his work can still be seen in modern graphic design. He had a simplistic style, with clean abstract shapes, a very apparent use of the grid, and simple san serif type. The area of book jacket design is where Lustig left his greatest impact. He changed the whole approach to design with his radical layouts and simple use of images. His work has a sense of timelessness and grace, and will forever serve to inform the world of graphic design. 36
Color TV was introduced in the UK and the United States, however it took years before the program was actually broadcasted in color. Nevertheless it was a big turning point in motion and film design.2
Vietnam War: Long conflict in Vietnam began. Many anti-war posters reacted to this event. It shaped political society in the United States and also the graphic design of the time.2
“The visual arts would be described as an activity that takes place within the field of cultural production. Like all other fields, this field is constantly changing, as is its membership and its discourse.”3
New York School Movement
(1940 - 1979)
New York School stands for very diverse group of New York-based graphic designers in 1940-1970 producing posters and identity. Most significant designers of this movement were:
Paul Rand Bradbury Thompson Alvin Lustig
1 www.alvinlustig.com | 2 www.gdh.2rsolutions.cz | 3 Visible Signs, David Crow
I make solutions nobody wants to problems that don’t exist. - Alvin Lustig
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