from anna sousek
from anna sousek
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Table of Contents 7
about me
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introduction
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part I
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exercise one part II
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poster design workshop
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screen printing workshop
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assignment 1
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project one
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design a deck
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part III
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project two
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conclusion
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About Me My name is Anna Sousek. (Pronounced So-shek) I’m from Nebraska. I’m a designer in training. I love God, family, friends, and food. Oh, and coffee too! I’m a quiet person, but I love to be with people, especially if it involves singing or dancing. I think you’re pretty cool for picking up this book.
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Introduction This book will take you through my experience of an advanced graphic design course. You will see work by me and the in between experiences throughout the class. The over arching theme for this class was social justice and human rights. This theme was to be portrayed in each of the projects which will be further explained through the rest of the book. I hope you enjoy!
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Part I
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THE SALVATION OF THE STATE IS WAT C H F U L N E S S I N T H E C I T I Z E N H A R T LY B . A L E X A N D E R
With the above quote as a prompt for this project, I took of f with an interpretation of my own. In simplest terms, my interpretation is that we as citizens need to look out for each other. If we don’t pay attention to what is happening around us then we could be permitting unjustifiable events in our community. Therefore, we must be watchful of the actions we commit and the words we speak. We must not stand by when injustices exist in our midst. Reflect on this quote by Albert Einstein, ”The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything“. Take part in making our world a better place for our current time and for our future generation by standing up for what is right. Our government is for the people and by the people. We decide our own fate when we take part in the betterment of our society or we remain in a state of ignorance to allow our state’s deterioration. Anna Sousek GRPH 421
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Combining Ideas After writing and sketching and researching and writing some more, I was able to narrow my choices to one solution. In my research, I came across a quote by Albert Einstein which is pictured below. I felt it combined the two quotes from two Nebraska natives I learned about while at the Capital. These two honored persons had a quote on each of their bust sculptures that I believe well represented the idea of being a watchful citizen.
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Nathan J. Gold It’s not what you do when you have to, it’s what you do when you don’t have to that makes the measure of the man.
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Red Cloud We don’t ask for anything but what is right and just.
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We don’t ask for anything but what is right and just. Red Cloud
THE WORLD WILL NOT BE DESTROYED BY THOSE WHO DO EVIL, BUT BY THOSE WHO WATCH THEM WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING ALBERT EINSTEIN
It’s not what you do when you have to, it’s what you do when you don’t have to that makes the measure of the man. Nathan J. Gold
We don’t ask for anything but what is right and just. Red Cloud We don’t ask for anything but what is right and just. Red Cloud
THE WORLD WILL NOT BE DESTROYED BY THOSE WHO DO EVIL, BUT BY THOSE WHO WATCH THEM WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING ALBERT EINSTEIN
It’s not what you do when you have to, it’s what you do when you don’t have to that makes the measure of the man. Nathan J. Gold
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THE WORLD WILL NOT BE DESTROYED BY THOSE WHO DO EVIL, BUT BY THOSE WHO WATCH THEM WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING ALBERT EINSTEIN
It’s not what you do when you have to, it’s what you do when you don’t have to that makes the measure of the man. Nathan J. Gold
We don’t ask for anything but what is right and just. Red Cloud
THE WORLD WILL NOT BE DESTROYED BY THOSE WHO DO EVIL, BUT BY THOSE WHO WATCH THEM WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING ALBERT EINSTEIN
It’s not what you do when you have to, it’s what you do when you don’t have to that makes the measure of the man. Nathan J. Gold
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“Final” Version I decided that the images of the men who spoke these words weren’t as important to include in the design. I also felt that the way I was representing them wasn’t fitting the tone of the words. In fact, they were kind of distracting. So I removed them to focus on the importance of the meaning of the phrases. The type can stand beautifully on its own.
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We don’t ask for anything but what is right and just. Red Cloud
THE WORLD WILL NOT BE DESTROYED BY THOSE WHO DO EVIL, BUT BY THOSE WHO WATCH THEM WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING ALBERT EINSTEIN
It’s not what you do when you have to, it’s what you do when you don’t have to that makes the measure of the man. Nathan J. Gold
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Part II
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Poster Design Workshop I was able to participate in a poster design workshop led by artist Justin Kemerling. He walked us through his regular process of mind mapping and fast paced brainstorming. I thought one of the most important things he had to say to design students is that we have to make someone else care about an issue that we care about. Design must be made relevant to your audience.
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Screen Printing Workshop
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Assignment One Leading up to Project One, I was challenged to design a poster that related to one of the Articles from the Declaration of Human Rights. My poster design addresses Article 5 which states that no human should be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Bullying is a crime against this human right and, unfortunately, is still a prevalent force among youth. Bullied persons can feel like they are alone in their suffering but organizations such as “The Bully Project� are working with youth to take out bullying at its source.
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feed. Project 1
a presentation by anna souse
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Design A Deck I was challenged to create a presentation deck to pitch my idea for my postage stamp idea. This was to help set a schedule and to keep strategies in line throughout project one. Project one’s goal was to design a postage stamp to promote one of the articles from the Declaration of Human Rights. My stamp represents Article 25 which states that every human being has a right to a standard way of living adequate to promote a healthy lifestyle. The basic need for this right is food, and so I went with that idea of telling someone to simply “feed” those who don’t have access to the resources to acquire adequate or healthy food.
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feed.
why?
plan 2-3 hours* amount of time for each day
Article 25
*includes research and creation time
“Everyone has a right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themself.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
a presentation by anna sousek
style vector graphics illustration typography simple to understand
inspire 48,000,000 Source: 2014 USDA Current Population Food Security Supplement
budget $15 - $20
12 Standard Forever Postage Stamps
$5 - $10
Designed Sheet for Stamps
$10 - $15
Promostional Poster
thanks don’t procrastinate or fudge the schedule complicate the design settle for “good enough” copy what someone has already done
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feed. Food insecurity is defined by the USDA as a lack of access, at times, to enough food or a lack of nutritionally adequate food for a healthy and active lifestyle. 48 million Americans lived in food insecure homes in 2014, spanning every county across the United States, affecting the young and the old. But there is hope. You can learn how to help at feedingamerica.org
facebook.com/USPS/
twitter.com/USPS/
pinterest.com/uspsstamps/
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Promotional Poster & Stamp Design The poster doesn’t promote the stamp itself, but a cause related to the message of the stamp. Through my research about food insecurity I came across some information about the “Stamp Out Hunger” movement which is an annual food drive through the National Association of Letter Carriers. Once a year, participating postal carriers pick up non-perishable food items from your mailbox. The food is then donated to the local area food banks. The poster promotes this particular food drive. The stamps bring awareness to “feed”. There are two different stamps: one with an apple and one without. This signifies the problem with food insecurity in America and around the world.
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FOREVER
USA 20
feed FOREVER
USA 20
feed FOREVER
48,000,000 Americans should not go hungry.
USA 20
feed FOREVER
USA 20
feed 48
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FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
d. feed. feed. feed. feed.
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FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
d. feed. feed. feed. feed.
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FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
d. feed. feed. feed. feed.
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FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
FOREVER
USA 2015
d. feed. feed. feed. feed. 49
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Postage Stamps Come to Life! Through the website zazzle.com I was able to place an order for stamps with my design on them. I was then able to use these stamps on thank you cards for those who influenced my learning experience and projects throughout the class.
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Project Two
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Fred Rogers’ Philosophy Fred Rogers was always willing to learn something new every day. He lived a life of routine that centered around his faith and his passion for children’s education. He was an advocate for educational television programs for children. He treated every person he met as a neighbor with the highest respect. His aura was so peaceful, patient and kind, and this attracted us to him. After reading through the many things that Mr. Fred Rogers’ had to say, I was quite inspired by his overall message of positivity, of accepting and respecting yourself and others. This project’s challenge was to create a box to communicate Mr. Rogers’ philosophy. I then moved forward to create a box to evoke his positivity through my design.
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Visual Research My visual research started out with finding different typographic treatments that I thought would evoke positive vibes. But as my process went on I started to think of representing a positive message through nostalgic imagery instead of using words.
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Mind Mapping To help Project Two continue in the right direction, the class reviewed all that Mr. Rodgers embodies. Basically, we made a mind map about Fred Rogers. This allowed concepts to be made more concrete once they were in plain English on a white board. Before this exercise, I realized I didn’t have an explicit concept but afterwards, I felt confident moving forward with a solid idea. My concept was about positivity but more specifically, it was about happiness, self love and respect, the gift of yourself and happiness all tied into a smile. The universal symbol of happiness, the smile, is to spread positivity to those who see it.
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Model Making This project relied heavily on hand made craft. I made many miniature models, working with different concepts as well. Paper, Scissors, Glue, Tape, Ink, Pencil, Crayon, they were all used in my experimentation. This process was actually a relief from working on the computer the entire time, I felt it was even therapeutic. It was an enjoyable experience and I have learned that graphic design can exist outside of the digital world as well.
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Making the Box This project was a great opportunity to learn about the wood shop and to get comfortable with using power tools. This was my first time making a box out of plywood and I was pleasantly surprised at the result. Without the collaboration with my team mates, I wouldn’t have been able to make the box so well. Craft is such a big component of working with physical materials since there isn’t an “Undo” button when you mess up or don’t like how something looks. The wood shop experience helped me gain confidence in working with physical materials and power tools.
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The Box The “final� design of the box turned out very different from what I had first envisioned. There is absolutely no text on the box at all, it is solely imagery that communicates the message. The message of positivity is made using the simple symbol of the smile, the global symbol of happiness. I would hope that anyone who sees this box would smile and spread their positivity to someone else.
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The Smiles Each side of the box represents what I see as an authentic smile captured within in a photograph. The portraits above are matched with their corresponding side of the box. Just as each person has a unique character, each side of the box is unique.
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A Thesis My intent for this project is to spread a message of positivity through the use of the universal symbol of happiness, the smile, on a three dimensional object. A smile is a unique feature for each person. One person can have a number of different smiles as well. There are smirks, grins, laughing smiles, silly smiles, and others. People say that a smile is contagious, that seeing others being happy makes them happy. The smiles on this box are personally significant because they are those of people I love. Their smiles are placed in patterns, a metaphor for the pattern of human behavior to use a smile to express their happiness. There is a question of what is authentic and what is fake? With the popularity of the selfie, the desire to look a certain way causes us to change the way we look photographed from the angle we take our picture to what our smile looks like. Whereas a picture taken of us by someone else, especially if unaware of being photographed, will show an authentic smile, a true representation of who we are. My hope is that the viewer will see this box and smile themselves. I believe that both positivity and negativity are contagious and I would rather spread a message of positivity than the latter especially when there are so many bombardments of negativity through the news and social media. I would hope that placing this cube in a public place that may lack some color would attract viewers to walk around it and smile. GRPH 421 Project 2 Anna Sousek
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Presentation I had the opportunity to present my box to my fellow design student colleagues in a gallery like environment. It was fascinating to see my own box and how it interacted with the other boxes in the space. During my presentation discussion we ended up smiling and laughing and I could not be happier with that result. My goal of my box making others smile was accomplished by that little moment.
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Conclusion I hope you enjoyed flipping through this brief presentation of some of my work. This was a compilation of my work from only one class so, if your curiosity is piqued at this point and you have any questions or comments, I would love to talk with you about my work! You can email me at the email address listed below. Stay cool and keep smiling. anna sousek annasousek@gmail.com
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goodbye keep smiling