Bechtel gr616 assignment 14 1

GR 616 OL2 CARMEN BECHTEL Assignment 14.1: Project 2: Phenomenon Magazine, Part 10

This week I completely refined my spreads based on the feedback and made a uniform and consistent minimal design for my magazine. I feel that everything has come together to create a cohesive and visually appealing final project.

I finished my cover design and made the masthead stronger. I also added captions to two spreads, and I think that really adds some depth and appeal to the finished product. I also just tweaked minor things based on some comments. I decided to go with the illustration spread as well. I really enjoyed this assignment overall!

June 2017

PHENOMENON MAGAZINE

DECAY The Beauty Within the Ruin

Decay is a word that brings distaste upon the lips and repulsion to the ears. It is the slow cycle that exists within us all, the living and non-living. It’s a quiet and inevitable breakdown into small pieces, a shell of what was once before. It’s no wonder we tend to shy away from the word, and all things associated with it. Yet there is a story within the past and the bones have things to tell. We can learn from what is left, if we’re willing to listen.

“Look deep into

nature, and then you will understand everything better.�

Albert Einstein

The Beauty is in the Details

Nature pulls back the layers to reveal the inner beauty.

Above & Left: Thick mushrooms ornate dead branches while moss brightens up peeling bark and downed logs.

' '

As a child, I walked the woods behind my grandmother's house and collected the natural wonders I found. I marveled at the small treasures that seemed to have been left just for me to discover. Forgotten farm equipment, empty snail shells, the tiny skull of a rabbit, and once a cow's skull sun-baked and gleaming. I would turn them over in my hands, count the teeth, look closely, trying to figure out how it all worked. There was decay at it's most final in my hands, and yet I had no feelings of fear or dread, only curiosity and wonder.

I would often bring them home and draw them, or later I would bring my camera to photograph them.

This lead to a love of nature and a perpetual curiosity throughout my entire life. This is how we as humans experience the word, learning from what was before and what was left behind.

"I have always looked upon decay as being just as

wonderful and rich an

expression of life as growth."

Henry Miller

What Was Left Behind

Intricate details follow the process of decay and make it a spectacular view.

Above & Left: Bright green moss coats rusted farm equipment, an abandoned firetruck, and a forgotten birdhouse.

We are a species that learns from experiences.

We study the past from what was left for us to find.

Decay is the ultimate accumulation of all the experiences an organism or object has had. It is the weather and wear of material, the compress of carbon to a diamond. Sea-glass beat to a shine. This is the beauty in decay, the wonder that we receive from the remnants.

“The poetry of earth is never dead.�

John Keats

Decay is not something we should revere with repulsion or fear, instead we should absorb the information with wonder and intrigue. It is just a biological trail of breadcrumbs; a faded natural blue print that we can try to read before it vanishes. ______