Renewal by Brooklyn

RENEWAL RENEWAL

PROJECT 01 Project 01 was assigned to get us started on our overall theme this semester. I began thinking about water in various and new ways. Because the topic is personal to me, I decided to choose religion and water. In my personal experience, water has been a huge part of ritual and renewal in my church. I wanted to take this topic and discover the what makes this ritual special. I chose a select group of eight churches in the downtown Lincoln area to concentrate on.

PROJECT 01 INSPIRATION

In first starting to think about my project I began visitng the churches and looking at baptismal fonts. These fonts really gave me inspiration for the rest of my project. Each font seemed to be unique but also follow a form of tradition that had come before. The following images show my discoveries in the churches and also some images from online sources.

I began to think about my project in terms of baptismals and the shaptes these vessels were. This became a huge inspiration in the design of my project and how I atarted thinking about form within the context of water.

I researched traditional baptismal fonts and the imagery that went with them. I thought further about how individuals interacted with these objects and why these pieces needed to be so perfect and beautiful. My inspiration came from the experience individuals wanted and needed from their belief system. It also showed me how important these small fonts became to individuals. To some it could just be a storage for water, but for many it was much more.

This image became one of the most intriging for me. I wanted to know why it was in this dark space but the experience in front of this font seemed so personal and intimate. I continued to think about this as I made my first drafts.

These two fonts are from local churches in Lincoln. I found them when I was making visits to the churches in the area. Although they are not from the same church or denomination, they seem similar or near the same experience.

In further explorations online, I found a wide variety of fonts based on churches and denominations. One common theme was the use of this font for baptismal purposes.

This was another font at a local church. The font was different than the other ones I had seen, but it retained a certain aethetic that made it seem ritualistic and traditional.

PROJECT 01 RESEARCH

I started to gather information on local churches by visiting or talking to members of the congregations. These individuals seemed to have a sense of community and connection to the rituals they desribed to me. My notes show how I was thinking about his part of the project. I also looked to maps and phone books to inform my work. These sources became a new way to look and think about the impact of churches. I organized my information into a spreadsheet and handwritten map shown on the next spread.

MAPPING

I started to look at other maps to get inspiration for our mapping project. I wanted to to see what other local maps looked like to influene my work.

I also turned to Google and mapped out the area that I was trying to target. I wanted to get a sense for the number of churches in the downtown area. The numbers became overwhelming and I ended up narrowing my research down to just eight churches.

PROJECT 01 DESIGN

I began to think about the water coming forth fron the font and what that meant in a design sense. I thought about the inspirational images and how this map shape that contained the area churches could be incorporated.

I started to form this system of representing the information that I had gathered. I made a key and was thinking about icons and how to visual display this information.

I found out that the eight sided font represents a new creation. This lead me to further my ideas about visual language and how to talk about this traditional symbol of faith.

I began to think in these types of cross, octogonal, and circular shapes. I also used black and white in my map and a traditional typeface, Garamond.

This entire time I was thinking in terms of my final atlas. I made the pages the sizes I thought my final would be and I wanted to have my project represent pages in a personal book, something like a Bible.

I also looked to my own personal texts for inspiration and research. I looked at my Bible and noted how the pages were laid out and what it felt like. This was extremely influencial for my final composition.

PROJECT 01 ZINE

As we were nearing the final critique of our first project, we were assigned to make a zine. Basically, it is a very low-tech design. This creation was my favorite. It also really helped me with my vision for the project. I used black and white images printed out and cut and pasted all of the materials together.

It has a very tangible and personal aura about the work and it goes with the idea of religion. I also played off of a church song that I sing. I used it in terms of water and how the Christian community believes in being one body but we are also one body of water in that. Many of the compositions I came up with in one hour showed interesting correlations to the ideation behind my project.

PROJECT 01 IN PROGRESS REVIEW

At the first official review of our first project, I decided to print on this light tan paper and give it an older feeling. I kept the design traditional and the layout clean. I wanted it to reference the Bible and feel like some chart you would find there.

After the review, I had to make some changes. My designed seemed very cluttered and I needed more of a system. I also added a chart of the denominational breakdown. I then went back and had my instructor and colleuges review my work before I printed the final.

PROJECT 01

PROJECT 02 For project 02 we had to build on our last project in a more qualitative manner. Again, we are still desgining for the final atlas, but we also wanted some deliverable for our progress. I decided to move away from black and white and into color. I wanted to get out of the atlas format and do more of a square format.

PROJECT 02 INSPIRATION

I knew that I wanted to make my next project more modern and less traditional looking. I started to gather more inspiration and look to contemporary artist to help me make the step.

I stumbled upon this image and it changed the route of my project. I saw the imagery and knew that I want to start incorporating more photos into my desgin. I have a photography background and loved the way they included these geometric shapes into the composition of the image. They also used color and a layering effect that I stared to implement.

I knew I wanted to do a timeline of Christianity and the evolution of baptismals. I found this great design of a timeline and used it as inspiration for that aspect of my project.

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ic ol m B r h t o ef an, Ca R c d l li n, O ra nge e A 1870 th u 1532 L ch Chur 1517 c i l o Protestant Reformation Begins ath an C m o R One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church Holy East 1054 33 ern O Great Schism rthod ox C hur t ap

I also began a color study and landed on the colors on the bottom right. I thought they portrayed a calming mood and definitely read water. I had a few other colors that were not working, located at the top of the page, and I ended up layering the green and blue over the black to make it pop a little more.

PROJECT 02 RESEARCH

I started my research by looking up all I could find about baptismals in Christianity. The following image is a page out of my notes in which I gathered from various sources.

I continued my research by looking up the origins and procedures for various rituals within the Christian community. I looked up the Biblical references and how you actually perform them.

These rituals became more interesting to me as I started learning more about them. I soon learned how essential water is in some faiths and the symbolism behind the ritual.

PROJECT 02 DESIGN

I began sketching the layouts of my pieces. I wanted to include as much information in these two long and horizontal posters as possible. I struggled with the layout and kept coming back to resketch.

I then sketched the rituals in a very basic and sketchy manner. I began thinking about it in a step-by-step process.

PROJECT 02 IN PROGRESS REVIEW

The digital representations of my sketches are on these pages. This is not what I wanted for my final desgn and I was really having a hard time finalizing my layout. I like the experiments that I did with the different geometric shapes and the incorporation of images.

To test my color system, I started to use different colored backgrounds and attempt to do something more modern. I really felt like I started getting somewhere once I designed the materials on the next page.

I switched my format to vertical and began overlaying colors on black. I would then trace these geometric shapes and exclude them from the overlay, leaving just the black and white image to show. I also started arranging the text and layout of the poster to have a system and be able to be read easily.

I moved my format once again to a square. I continued to use the overlay and incorporated more colors. I also added some images using the previous technique I talked about.

PROJECT 02

My final compositions for project 02 are displayed below in detail and on the next page in full format. I used the same colors and overlaying technique in a square format. I took the icons from project 01 and brought them back and talked more about immersion and non-immersion baptism.

In this final design, I used my sketches and drew the step-by-step procedure to the rituals on the computer. I also incorporated the information I had gathered on the rituals and Biblical references.