assembly
Hey there, Thanks for picking this up. What you are about to look through is a graphic design exploration. It consists of several mini-projects mostly aligned to a central theme; Assembly. Through each miniproject I sought to learn something new about design and create a visually fun and interesting work. While the exploration lasted several weeks, with a new exploration each week, this short volume is some of the best explorations from the whole of the project.
exploration through assembly: a design study Caleb Anderson Jones
the relationship between texture and assembly Texture is assembly was the first major discovery I had in this exploration. Looking at different textures like folded paper and fur which are tangible textures as well as visual textures such as type on a page, I sought to show that texture relies on assembly of parts. To be more accurate, complex texture relies on assembly of parts while simple textures can simply be a singular part.
Do you see any Teletubbies in here? Do y mechanical helicopter that shakes when You think water moves fast? You should a week to climb out. Now, I don’t know e oath, that I’m breaking now. We said we’d Your bones don’t break, mine do. That’s way to water. We swallow it too fast, we c Normally, both your asses would be dead But I can’t give you this case, it don’t bel You think water moves fast? You should a week to climb out. Now, I don’t know e oath, that I’m breaking now. We said we’d Do you see any Teletubbies in here? Do y mechanical helicopter that shakes when Normally, both your asses would be dead But I can’t give you this case, it don’t bel Do you see any Teletubbies in here? Do y mechanical helicopter that shakes when Your bones don’t break, mine do. That’s way to water. We swallow it too fast, we c Look, just because I don’t be givin’ no m way the nigger talks. Motherfucker do tha Now that we know who you are, I know w of the hero. And most times they’re friend Well, the way they make shows is, they m if they’re going to make more shows. Som The path of the righteous man is beset o shepherds the weak through the valley o and furious anger those who would attem Now that we know who you are, I know w of the hero. And most times they’re friend Your bones don’t break, mine do. That’s way to water. We swallow it too fast, we c Well, the way they make shows is, they m if they’re going to make more shows. Som Now that we know who you are, I know w
you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it? Do you see a little Asian child with a blank expression on his face sitting you put quarters in it? No? Well, that’s what you see at a toy store. And you must think you’re in a toy store, because you’re here shopping for an infa see ice. It moves like it has a mind. Like it knows it killed the world once and got a taste for murder. After the avalanche, it took us exactly when we turned on each other, but I know that seven of us survived the slide... and only five made it out. Now we took an d say it was the snow that killed the other two, but it wasn’t. Nature is lethal but it doesn’t hold a candle to man. clear. Your cells react to bacteria and viruses differently than mine. You don’t get sick, I do. That’s also clear. But for some reason, you and I react the choke. We get some in our lungs, we drown. However unreal it may seem, we are connected, you and I. We’re on the same curve, just on opposite en d as fucking fried chicken, but you happen to pull this shit while I’m in a transitional period so I don’t wanna kill you, I wanna help you. long to me. Besides, I’ve already been through too much shit this morning over this case to hand it over to your dumb ass. see ice. It moves like it has a mind. Like it knows it killed the world once and got a taste for murder. After the avalanche, it took us exactly when we turned on each other, but I know that seven of us survived the slide... and only five made it out. Now we took an d say it was the snow that killed the other two, but it wasn’t. Nature is lethal but it doesn’t hold a candle to man. you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it? Do you see a little Asian child with a blank expression on his face sitting you put quarters in it? No? Well, that’s what you see at a toy store. And you must think you’re in a toy store, because you’re here shopping for an infa d as fucking fried chicken, but you happen to pull this shit while I’m in a transitional period so I don’t wanna kill you, I wanna help you. long to me. Besides, I’ve already been through too much shit this morning over this case to hand it over to your dumb ass. you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it? Do you see a little Asian child with a blank expression on his face sitting you put quarters in it? No? Well, that’s what you see at a toy store. And you must think you’re in a toy store, because you’re here shopping for an infa clear. Your cells react to bacteria and viruses differently than mine. You don’t get sick, I do. That’s also clear. But for some reason, you and I react the choke. We get some in our lungs, we drown. However unreal it may seem, we are connected, you and I. We’re on the same curve, just on opposite en man a foot massage don’t make it right for Marsellus to throw Antwone into a glass motherfuckin’ house, fuckin’ up the at shit to me, he better paralyze my ass, ‘cause I’ll kill the motherfucker, know what I’m sayin’? who I am. I’m not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain’s going to be? He’s the exact opposite ds, like you and me! I should’ve known way back when... You know why, David? Because of the kids. They called me Mr Glass. make one show. That show’s called a pilot. Then they show that show to the people who make shows, and on the strength of that one show they deci me pilots get picked and become television programs. Some don’t, become nothing. She starred in one of the ones that became nothing. on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance mpt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee. who I am. I’m not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain’s going to be? He’s the exact opposite ds, like you and me! I should’ve known way back when... You know why, David? Because of the kids. They called me Mr Glass. clear. Your cells react to bacteria and viruses differently than mine. You don’t get sick, I do. That’s also clear. But for some reason, you and I react the choke. We get some in our lungs, we drown. However unreal it may seem, we are connected, you and I. We’re on the same curve, just on opposite en make one show. That show’s called a pilot. Then they show that show to the people who make shows, and on the strength of that one show they deci me pilots get picked and become television programs. Some don’t, become nothing. She starred in one of the ones that became nothing. who I am. I’m not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain’s going to be? He’s the exact opposite
Complex textures such as fur or crumpled paper rely on many parts working together to create a particular feel or aesthetic. Unlike a smooth granite counter top which can be seen as a singular surface withholding the geological specifics, the complex tactile textures of crumpled or folded paper rely on the assembly of every crease and facet working together to bring about the texture.
Likewise the assembly of colors (or other flat elements such as text on a page) can bring about visual, non-tactile textures.
emphasis on the tile, not the whole image Tiling is something all print designers use on a regular basis to comp up large scale work on dinky laser printers. This exploration focused on that processes and thought about ways to focus on the tile rather than the whole image. When this exploration was first presented each tile was seperate and moveable to allow for user interaction and participatory design.
This combination of tiles was a plesant discovery as one of my peers assembled the tiles in a way that I would have never thought to. I was very glad to have this discovery and to see the importance of participatory design in action.
funny faces: tiles and participatory design What started as an emphasis on tiles lead to the discovery of what fun it could be to allow the audience to play an active part in the presentation of the work. The next exploration turned out to be a collaboration with Morgan Mooney, a fellow designer at the time. She was working on a similar extended exploration focusing on “renewal.� Together we came up with a participatory photograph experiment. Bisecting faces, we sought to create new images through mix-and-match audience participation. This exploration was another step in the tiling experiment for myself, yet spoke of renewal as well; with each half-face as it was paired with another half-face, there was a new meaning, perhaps a new personality, a renewal of the person(s). What ensued during the original presentation was unexpected fun and laughter as goofy faces were discovered again and again. The photo models are Morgan Mooney, myself, and my brother Micah Jones, another talented designer.
systems: assembly by nature Systems are assemblage by nature; visual systems, typographic systems (any given typeface or unified hand lettering such as calligraphy is a system within itself) grid systems, etc; just to name a few from the graphic design world. The system is an assembly of rules to regulate the outcome of a given product. In order to think about systems and their rules I began to developed a very basic set of rules to define a typographic system. The ultimate result of this exploration was a rough typeface. An interesting typography discovery was made in this exploration. I found that sometimes two contradictory rules governed the same product. One, there has to be a set of rules or values that govern the consistency and regularity of the product for cohesion and coherence. Two, many times these very rules must be broken in order to achieve maximum legibility of the form especially in relationship with one another. Though this legibility is only in association with the forms we already recognize and know.
layered letter forms In another collaboration with a partner in crime, Morgan Mooney we discovered many interesting effect when character forms elements are laid one on top of the other with opacity low (ten percent in this case.) I thought it would be interesting to see if there was a way to study typefaces as a whole unit as opposed to just looking at each letter individually. Often a reader will assume a word based on word shape rather than reading the word outright. With this in mind we began to look at words and their wordshape with the characters overlapped rather than abreast one another.
Helvetica Neue a – z
Helvetica Neue “Legos”
Helvetica Neue a – z
Helvetica Neue “Railroad Crossing” Left: Helvetica Neue “Railroad”
manual manipulation Okay, admittedly this may be getting a little bit away from the the “Assembly� theme, but sometimes you just have to do what comes your way. Using tools of the trade in an experimental manner, I thought about the massive impact that digital manipulation has in the design world. But what about manual manipulation? how can we manipulate imagery before we go digital? Using a flat bed EPSON scanner I manualy manipulating the image while the scanner is actually scanning. The result was fantastic, glichy, and fun.
Pistili Regular
Futura Light
Helvetica Black
Minion Pro Regular Left: Pistili Regular
Thanks for reading and looking. I hope you have been enlightened. I hope you see something new in design that you didn’t see before.