process NOTEBOOK
emma lettera art 309 prof. brooke scherer
Table of Contents
Process Material
Lettera
Table of Contents Project 1 Project Brief Research Sketches Process Work Final Designs
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Project 2 Project Brief Research Sketches Process Work Final Designs
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Project 3 Project Brief Research Sketches Process Work Final Designs
Sources
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Project 1
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Process Material
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one PROJECT Type as Function and Form
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Project 1
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Project Brief
Process Material
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PROJECT brief
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Project Brief
Project 1
The Brief Research two typefaces and create classification posters for each. For each typeface create another poster using the alphabet and numeric characters to create an image and using the same image create a third set of posters labeling typographic anatomy.
Target Market Because of their informative nature, the typographic posters are targeted to the general population that does not have extensive knowledge in typography. The goal is to educate these people and expand their knowledge and appreciation for the typefaces.
Requirements Choose two typefaces from the provided list (one serif and one lineale), and for the first two posters create informational typographic posters. Be sure to include the typeface’s purpose, the historical context, updates, the weights, full alphabet and numeric set, classification, and the characterisitcs crossbar, trminal, serif, stress, and stroke contrast. Serif: Humanist (Centaur, Jenson), Garalde (Bembo, Garamond, Caslon, Goudy Old Style), Transitional (Baskervilee, Bell MT, Perpetua, Minion, Georgia), Modern (Didot, Bodoni), and Slab Serif (Rockwell) Lineale: Grotesque and Neo-grotesque (Franklin Gothic, News Gothic, Din, Trade Gothic, Helvetica, Univers, Frutiger), Geometric (Futura, Century Gothic, Eurostile, Avant Garde, Avenir), and Humanist (Gill Sans, Optima, Meta) For the next two posters use the typefaces’ alphabet and numeric characters to create two images that relate together. Do not overlap characters, and no color is allowed. Include the name and classification of each typeface. For the last two posters, take you images and label typographic anatomy: apex, arm, ascender, bowl, counter (open/closed), cross bar, cross stroke, descender, ear, eye, leg, link, loop, serif, shoulder, spine, spur, stroke, tail, terminal, and vertex.
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Project Brief
Process Material
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Research I began my research looking for already existing informational typography posters. I focused a lot of my research on black and white compositions in order to study how designers created typographic color through weights and size instead of actual color. For my Avenir poster, I tried to find examples with geometric shapes and visual punctuations since it is a geometric typeface. For Bodoni, I looked for more elegant designs since it’s a high contrast, elegant typeface. I also looked at general poster designs that I thought were still applicable to the project. I began heavily researching posters that incorporated circles and curvilinear lines that I wanted to experiment with in my Avenir poster.
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Research
Project 1
Research
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Research
Process Material
Lettera
Top Left: Different weights create typographic color. contrast
Middle Left: Interesting interaction between visual punctuation and informative text. Creates a strong contrast.
Bottom Left: Note strong lines create movement and visual interest. Offsetting of “frutiger” draws attention to it and the cutting off of “1957”.
Right: Like the question mark in the middle left design, interesting use of visual punctuation. For project, the text becomes a bit illegible because of small size.
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Project 1
Research
Top Left: “Tokyo” is written in a heavy weight with letters that bleed together that makes it stand out from the rest of the composition written in a lighter weight. Also, note circular shape. It’s unique from the sharp angles seen in most other researched designs.
Top Right: Note the break up of the word “helvetica” is broken up with syllables and the use of negative space.
Bottom Left: Interesting way to display title and date with positive and negative space. Layered text creates an interesting texture.
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Middle Right: Experiment with the unconventional angles of text (possibly with the Bodoni poster).
Bottom Right More strong visual punctuation.
Research
Top: Experiment with the idea of using text to create the circular shape. Possibly with Avenir since it’s a geometric sans serif. Also note the date’s numbers size differences and putting Futura in the middle.
Process Material
Lettera
Bottom Left: Again, note contrast with black and white and the size contrast between visual punctuation and text. Bottom Right: Included in research because of visual punctuation and color contrast usage.
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Research
Project 1
Top: More visual punctuation research
Middle: Note different weights create typographic color.
Bottom: The slanted composition creates energy and visual interest. Note contrast within the names “Tony Stan” and “Joel Kaden” .
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Research
Process Material
Lettera
Top Right: Once again, I like the usage of curvilinear lines.
Bottom Right: Like the previous Gill Sans poster, the overlapping type creates a visually interesting texture and draws attention through size contrast to the informational text.
Left: More typographic color. The “H� at the bottom of the composition balances out the heavier weights at the top, making the composition not fall of the page.
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Project 1
Sketches
SKETCHES
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Sketches
Process Material
Lettera
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Project 1
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Sketches
Process Work
Process Material
Lettera
PROCESS work
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Process Work
Project 1
PHASE 1: Circles enclosing text caused the information to not connect and flow smoothly through the composition. It was suggested I tilt Avenir vertically and extend informational paragraph to follow the curve. I think I’m going to eliminate the heavy circles and instead create circles with just the text. Also, I’m going to combine all of my information into a single paragraph.
PHASE 2: More successful and open than phase 1 since the heavy circles are no longer constraining the composition. I think I’ll add the weights to the top circle and anatomy to the bottom circle.
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Process Work
Process Material
PHASE 3:
PHASE 4:
Added color, but I think I’m going to change it to cyan since red doesn’t seem to be appropriate for Avenir, and blue is more feminine. The date and type are too heavy. I think I’ll reduce the size and add a bar. Also, the alphabet as a circle isn’t looking right, so I am going to make it just a stroke and move the alphabet tot he bottom. Finally, I think I’m going to switch the weights and anatomy.
The numeric and alphabet set still aren’t looking right, so I’m going to try and put them back on a curved line but for the bottom curve to separate the weights and informational text. I’m also going to move the date back where I had it
Lettera
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Process Work
Project 1
PHASE 5: I reduced the bar size and used it to separate the date and type from Avenir, but the date and type are still heavy, so I’m going to reduce the weight to light. I’m also going to experiment with making the curved stroke blue and moving “designed by...” on two lines to add more visual interest. With the alphabet, I also added a stroke to balance out and connect with the stroke on top For color, I lightened the cyan because it was too bold and dark
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PHASE 6: I rearranged the anatomy so that it didn’t look as random and scattered. I also experimented with making the body of text two columns, but it didn’t read as well, so I’m going to change it back.
Process Work
Process Material
Lettera
PHASE 7: I moved the date and type to align with the edge of the informational paragraph to make it less heavy, but it doesn’t stand out enough anymore. I think I’ll move it back and space it out more, but keep it at a similar size. Also, I need to reduce the length of the body of text.
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Project 1
Process Work
PHASE 1: Originally, I attempted to put Bodoni at the bottom of the page and extend the “b” and “i”, but the serifs made it look odd, so I decided to scrap this composition.
PHASE 3: I rearranged a lot of the elements and added strokes to connect everything more together, but there is a large amount of negative space that was described as “anxious” during critique. Continue to explore other compositional arrangements.
PHASE 2: My second composition. There’s a lot of awkward negative space, and the sideways titled paragraph is an issue. Nothing is completely connected at this point.
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Process Work
Process Material
Lettera
PHASE 4: I got rid of the angled composition and made one vertical instead. I separated information with strokes, but it made the composition seem box-y and cluttered. It was suggested I write Bodoni in lowercase letters instead.
PHASE 5: The composition is more open now, but there is still quite a bit of negative space. There isn’t really anything visually interesting going on.
PHASE 6: I made the paragraphs to shape of the “b” and “d”, but it was too difficult to read. I experimented with making Giamattista and the type capital letters, but they didn’t connect well with “bodoni”.
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Project 1
Process Work
PHASE 1: More visual contrast is needed. I plan on going in and enlarging and minimizing key letters. Especially on the heart’s left side.
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Final Design
Process Material
Lettera
final
DESIGNS
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Project 1
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Final Design
Final Design
Process Material
Lettera
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Project 1
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Final Design
Final Design
Process Material
Lettera
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Project 1
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Final Design
Final Design
Process Material
Lettera
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Project 2
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Process Material
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two PROJECT Typographic Calender
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Project 2
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Project Brief
Process Material
Lettera
PROJECT brief
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Project Brief
Project 2
The Brief Create a functional typographic calendar thats monthly designs depict a quote visually created with expressive typography.
Target Market The calendar targets people who enjoy the movie Boondocks Saints since that’s the quote utilized for the calendar. This includes people who enjoy cult and underground films and often are attracted to products with an “edgier” feel. Because of the films gore aspect and guy-humor, the men are the main target market. This calendar is meant for people who want a visually interesting calendar just to inform them of the date. It is not meant to function as a planner.
Requirements For this project, create a functional calendar. Find a quote or set of quotes and create typographic compositions for a minimum of eight months and a composition for the calendar cover. The main focus of the design should be the quote, but to make it a functional piece incorporate the calendar. The calendar may be any size but no smaller than 3” x 3” . In order to achieve expressive typography, you can manipulate and warp the typeface, but do not sacrifice readability. The calendar must be creatively bound and have three professionally photographed pictures of the final product.
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Project Brief
Process Material
Lettera
Research I began my research by looking for poster examples that contained what I considered expressive typography. Some were strictly typographical, and others did have images. On the ones with images, I focused on how the typography depicted in the poster enhanced the expression of the image. As I got deeper into research, I began to focus more and more on the Futurist and Dada movement because of the energetic placement and manipulation of the words. I noticed that even though the typeface placement seemed sporadic and chaotic that there was a method to the madness. Type was placed close together the create denseness and appeared as though the text was being spoken quickly and jumbling together. Type placed farther apart drew more attention to the individual words and appeared less chaotic. Eventually, I began to look more for typography that pertained to the passionate nature of the Boondocks Saint’s speech. I wanted to create the feeling of shouting and preaching. Based on my research, I noticed harsh angles and diagonal lines achieved this instead of strictly structured horizontal and diagonal lines. Also, bold, heavy, and black weights evoked more shouting than airier weights. Later, I began to focus on individual words within compositions and how designers sometimes made letters different weights or sizes, and I tried to read the word in my head and listen to how it sounded. If a letter was larger or bolder in a word then that was were the stress was placed.
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Project 2
Research
Research
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Research
Top Left: Experiment with bleeding a word’s letters together to make them appear darker. Also experiment with the gradual change of weights to create value.
Process Material
Lettera
Top Right: Experiment with breaking up words, but make sure to break up based on syllable sounds since //“typography” looks like “typo” at the beginning.
Bottom Right: Note where word emphasis is. Bottom Left: Look at use of angles.
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Project 2
Research
Right: Most interested in the break up of the two columns with “Six Fois Par Mois� and the diagonal lines coming out of the figure that give energy to the entire composition.
Top Left: Note framing of column with title.
Top Right: Note diagonals create shouting.
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Research
Process Material
Lettera
Emphasized words seem louder then lighter weighted words.
The word seems dragged out because of the large spacing.
Emphasis of the word is clearly on the “o� which contributes to how a viewer reads the word.
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Project 2
Top Left: Exerpiment with bleeding words together and possibly making words fall off the page. And writing words within other words.
Top Right: More angles creating energy
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Research
Top Right: Included in research for use of color and texture.
Bottom Right: Interested in the way “tonnage� bends the paragraph to imply a heavy weight.
Research
Top Left: Interested in using the same letter for different words. Possibly with “DO NOT� in composition.
Process Material
Lettera
Top Right: Note movement created.
Bottom Right: Note typographic color and texture created.
Bottom Left: Circles create movement around the page.
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Project 2
Research Experiment with having emphasized words take up and entire half of the page and extra text take up the other half.
Experiment with creating a center aligned composition but add more visual contrast.
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Experiment with adding an exclamation point and having the emphasized word be in the middle of the composition.
Process Material
Research
Lettera
Experiment with bleeding a word into a block of color.
Writing a small column of text sideways.
Writing on a curve.
Warping words to imply speech.
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Project 2
Top: Experiment with titling lines of text to create curves instead of typing on a curve.
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Research
Research
Process Material
Lettera
Top Right: Note how “Strike back” is emphasized by it’s placement to “Cancer strikes one in five.” Possibly try for domain composition. Left: Note how different words are emphasized and separated with use of weight and size. Bottom Right: Experiment with combining right and left aligned bodies of text. Also, put some emphasized words at the bottom of the composition.
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Research
Project 2
Top Left: Interesting use of word as visual punctuation.
Top Right: Note gradual angling of words.
Bottom Left: Experiment with this grid style of creating boxes with paragraphs and words.
Bottom Right: Note right-angling of words to create a sort of stair stepping.
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Research
Process Material
Lettera
Top: Note overlapping and crooked lines of text. Creates a scattered sound and the paint splatters make the speech feel more heavy.
Bottom Left: Size difference in “elephantiases� makes it appear as though it is getting louder as spoken.
Bottom Right: The heavy underlining weights the words to the page, and the gradual size increase makes it feel as though the words are getting louder.
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Project 2
Left: Expressive type by using symbology within the word.
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Research
Right: Combining two words “shout” and “out” through color usage.
Sketches
Process Material
Lettera
SKETCHES
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Sketches
Project 2
Reverse curve. Too similar to first composition sketch.
Possibly combine? Use for another composition?
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Process Work
Process Material
Lettera
PROCESS work
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Process Work
Project 2
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PHASE 1:
PHASE 2:
The three groups of text disconnect from each other. I plan on moving them closer together. I also plan on emphasizing “watch” and “over” more.
I decided to bleed “over” off the page to make it stand out more and upped the weight on both it and “watch”.
Process Work
PHASE 1: The composition needs more energy, and there is incorrect emphasis on words. I think I’ll focus on “sick” and “poor”.
Process Material
Lettera
PHASE 3: I enlarged “sick” and “poor” and moved them more to the side. The line with “hungry” gets lost between the two words though.
PHASE 2: I angled “now” to make it appear as though the word is being shouted and to give the composition more movement. The composition is still pretty boring though since everything is going straight down the center.
PHASE 4: Angled the word “poor to mirror “now”. I think I’m going to do the same with “sick”.
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Project 2
Process Work
PHASE 1:
PHASE 3:
I need to create more contrast in the words connecting “evil” to “down”.
I experimented to text placement with “it is you” and “we claim”, but they both still seem out of place.
PHASE 2: I broke up the word “corrupt” and began adding more contrast between words. I also combined some more words on to the same line.
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PHASE 4: Put spacing in between the letters in “corrupt” to increase readability.
Process Work
PHASE 1: Composition doesn’t read as rain enough. Consider moving composition at more of an angle.
Process Material
Lettera
PHASE 3: It’s too hard to read, and “rains” doesn’t connect with the end of the sentence.
PHASE 2:
PHASE 4:
It’s starting to become similar to other compositions already created. Try and more off-center composition.
Added the same treatment as January’s composition. There’s a lot more energy and movement now. Still experimenting with secondary text placement.
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Project 2
Process Work
PHASE 1:
PHASE 3:
Still a lot of negative space a the bottom. Consider writing out the “do not” lines separately.
I placed the “do not”s at more unconventional areas where they fit better, but now it doesn’t read correctly. The same goes for the line in parenthesis. I think I’ll move that back to where it was and possibly give the same t treatment as January’s calendar.
PHASE 2: Steal’s “do not” looks out of place. Also the bottom line is much too long.
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PHASE 4: This works much better. I plan on experimenting with color more. Possibly make “principles” and “faith” red, too.
Process Work
Process Material
Lettera
PHASE 3: I varied up the composition by not making all of the text fall on the same curve. I also changed “behavior” to the sans serif since it is an emphasized word and looked out of place as a serif.
PHASE 1: “Cost” cuts off the page. I think I’ll move it farther down and bleed it off of the page.
PHASE 2: “Cost” works better. I tried to experiment with composition by separating the body of text, but it’s too disconnected now, so I’ll move it back.
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Project 2
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Process Work
PHASE 1:
PHASE 2:
I like the composition, but I think I’m going to explore a composition with more angles to give it energy and connect the two blocks of text more together. Also, explore other typeface options.
This has more energy. I’ going to explore secondary type placement more to make the block of text more cohesive. the “into true” creates some awkward negative space.
Process Work
Process Material
PHASE 1:
PHASE 3:
Tried applying March’s first composition, but it doesn’t look right with this body of text. “Reap” cuts off the composition like “cost” did.
Lower 3’s opacity and overlap the text. Enlarge “reap” again since it is the main word to emphasize.
PHASE 2:
PHASE 4:
My compositions are starting to look similair by being center aligned with single word lines.
I think I’m going to go in and bleed “reap” off the bottom of the page to create even more contrast.
Lettera
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Project 2
Process Work
PHASE 3: I separated the prayer into two columns as a solution to fit i the text. It’s also unique from the rest of my compositions in that aspect. Finally, I also went in and created more contrast between words.
PHASE 1: Once again, this looks a lot like some of my previous compositions. I’m gong to start over.
PHASE 2: I left aligned the text, but it’s all starting to look crowded. I need to find a way to fit in all of this text into the composition.
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Final Design
Process Material
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final
DESIGNS
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Project 2
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Final Design
Final Design
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Project 3
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Process Material
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PROJECT
three Type as Image
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Project 3
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Project Brief
Project Brief
Process Material
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PROJECT brief
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Project Brief
Project 3
The Brief Use hand generated 3D methods to visually express a word as image and incorporate these methods in to a commercially-driven applications.
Target market The target market of the eating disorder poster series is adolescent, mainly girls, between the ages of 14–25 because they are the most likely to develop an eating disorder. These posters aim to discourage this target group from developing eating disorder habits before they progress into anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa and to not be afraid to get help. The posters also target people who don’t know the detrimental health effects of eating disorders and believe that these disorders only effect models and girls. The majority of people with eating disorders are everyday people, and 15% of them are adolescent boys. These posters aim to raise the general population’s awareness of the severity of eating disorders.
Requirements Phase One: Explore various methods of 3D typographic form to create three words of your choice. The computer is not allowed. Professionally photograph each composition and submit all images as 8” x 10” prints with in an Itoya portfolio. No external supported imagery is allowed. Phase Two: Incorporated 3D typography into a campaign of three designs promoting a social or personal topic of your choice. These can be posters, postcards, or some other form of print media. The main message must be communicated through the 3D typography, but with supporting digital type. Include full-sized, high resolution prints within your Itoya portfolio for the project turn-in.
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Project Brief
Process Material
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Research I began my research by searching for photographs only depicting single words expressed through 3D typography. Originally I tried to narrow my search down to only hand crafted 3D type but realized that computer generated 3D type did fulfill the goal of the project. Even though it used the computer, it did use expressive material (computer generated) to depict a words meaning. I noticed that the less obvious the word was connected to the material it was created out of then the more visually interesting it was. For example, creating “coffee” out of coffee grounds was nice but predictable; however, creating “coffee” out of cup stains still conveyed coffee but was less conventional. Therefore, it was more visually interesting. I began researching how to make fake guts to create the word “guts” and stumbled upon a plethora of special effects makeup videos that give me the idea to do “stitch” and “acid” with special effects (despite never having done any special effects make up before). For phase two I started looking at poster design incorporating 3D type. I had some difficulty at first because a lot of the examples that popped up were computer generated, and at this point I was trying to steer clear of computer generated type. Instead I began searching for type created from food since I had decided I wanted to focus on eating disorder. This produced a lot more search results. As my research progressed, I realized that food was too predictable for eating disorders and the disorders core doesn’t center on food. They’re about control, so I began researching how to make fake vomit for a poster on purging. After this, I chose to focus my research more on the side effects on eating disorders and less on the symptoms because most people don’t know of the grotesque and detrimental nature of the side effects.
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Research
Project 3
Research
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Research
Process Material
Top: Note the utilization of different foods to create individual letters. The “d”, “i”, and “a” are a bit hard to read. The last four letters are the most successful.
Lettera
Bottom: Interesting how heart is used as a symbol to represent the word.
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Project 3
Research Right: Design is successful because of how cleanly the type is created. Also note use of visual typography created by the 3D method.
Top Left: Most likely computer generated. Still successful representation of the phrase because PB&J sandwiches are consumed frequently by children.
Bottom Left: Literal interpretation of “dog ear” . Note that “D” and “O” look similar and make it harder to read.
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Research
Top Left: More literal interpretation of words, but clean design makes it visually interesting.
Bottom Left: Note the creation of depth.
Process Material
Lettera
Top Right: The roundness and curvilinear lines suggest “playful� as well as the color choice.
Bottom Right: Note the disgusting nature of the 3D type. Try and achieve this in the eating disorder posters.
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Project 3
Research
Left: Interesting how the sentence is illustrated through the gradual disappearance of the copper wire so that both “copper wire” and “steal” are expressed through the 3D method. Right: A fairly boring poster, but included in research because of the clean design of the words.
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Research
Process Material
Lettera
Top Left: A bit hard to read, but interesting use of line and occasionally changing up the material used to created individual letters. Top Right: Playful design. Also note how color choice comes into play. Bottom Left: Again note clean design of the word.
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Project 3
Research
Top Left: The pretzel is an unobvious representation of New York. Makes the reader hungry.
Top Right: Interesting implementation of perspective into design. Notice the effect on color. Give the poster energy.
Bottom Left: Note use of different materials.
Bottom Right: Note use of positive and negative space.
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Research
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Top Left: Note how “carry on” is still easy to read.
Top Right: Again note use of positive and negative space.
Bottom Right: Interesting use of color. Bottom Left: Note how “kick” is slanted slightly to draw attention to it.
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Project 3
Research
Top Left: Note use of different materials and how the knife is used for the “d” even though it isn’t actually food. Bottom Left: Included because of composition created by the phrase “fast cooked poster” and the addition of fries at the bottom. Right: More clean type. Also note the use of color.
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Research
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Top: More clean type Bottom: Included in research because the different manipulation of various materials to create the words.
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Project 3
Sketches
SKETCHES
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Sketches
Process Material
Lettera
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Project 3
Sketches
Vomit is the color of what was eaten previously. It’s normally more brown unless the person has recently eaten a green vegetable. Occasionally it’s pink if the stomache is empty or the person ate light colored food. Probably use oatmeal and beans. Possibly an egg to give it a slimy texture, and some red food coloring. Also, consider making “control” out of the actual vomit and possibly use toilet seat.
Make sure each word is made with similar colored food. Try and get rice, beans, lentils, etc.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to make enough guts to make such a long word. Should probably create a back up plan just in case.
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Process Work
Process Material
Lettera
PROCESS work
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Process Work
Project 3
Light: I painted out a light bulb and screwed it into a lamp and turned off all of the lights in my room. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get as cleanly designed type as I wanted, and the overall photo lacked a “wow” factor, so I decided to scrap this idea and use it as a potential back up.
Run and Ooze: I used “zombie blood” from last Halloween for “run” since it was liquid enough to run down the wall but heavy enough to not drip too fast. Like “light”, it lacked a wow factor. I experimented to the word “ooze”, but the individual letters didn’t interact as well as “run” when dripping down the wall. I decided to scrap this idea too and use as a potential back up.
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Process Work
Process Material
Lettera
Stitch: For “stitch”, I used eyelash glue, thread, makeup, and fake blood created with maple syrup, red food coloring, and balsamic vinaigrette. The two pictures as the top of the page are my first attempt. Originally I put eyelash glue all over my arm and carved the word “stitch” into it, but it gave the skin this unrealistic glossy look (top left photo). The photo to the right is after I began peeling the glue off, and my skin became irritated; however, this gave me an entire of how to redo “stitch”. The middle photograph is my second attempt. This time I wrote out the word “stitch in eyelash glue, waited until it became tacky, and carved into it so that I created depth and had an area to put the makeup and fake blood. I also had a better idea of where to put the stitches the second time around. I also took my Copic markers and added a light blue and yellow to add color and make the area look irritated. The final pictures is a third attempt with capital letters. Unfortunately, I ran out of lash glue and was forced to use Elmer’s glue (lash glue is surprisingly expensive), but instead of drying tacky like lash glue, it became much more peely, and makeup didn’t cover it up as well. Also, I didn’t like how the stitches laid out over the letters. Overall, this attempt turned out to be a bit of a mess and was photographed for documentation purposes.
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Process Work
Project 3
Acid: I created “acid” with cotton balls, Elmer’s glue, makeup, markers, fake blood (same recipe as “stitch”), blood goo from a package, and alka seltzer pills. The top left image is my first (completed) attempt on my leg after a previous failed attampt that ended in a sticky glob of cotton stuck to my table and thigh. Because I didn’t have waterproof makeup, I ran into an issue with the makeup washing away whenever too many bubbles formed, and the bubbles would run into the word making it hard to read. I ended up painting black eyeshadow into the words overlay with blood goo to make them stand out more and give it a more charred look. It was suggested i try to add more bubbles and do it on cardboard instead of my skin. The three images to the right are from the second attempt. The top one looked the most realistic, but there were few bubbles. the second and third photo were better, but they don’t look like a realistic acid burn since that’s what I am aiming to depict. The bottom image is the dried and painted-over solidified cotton ball mesh that created the word “acid”
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Process Work
Process Material
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Guts: For “guts” I took sausage casing (ordered off Amazon because NOBODY carries them) and stuffed them with overcooked pasta soaked in red food coloring. I held the casings up to a funnel and added splashes of water occasionally as I pushed pasta through the funnel and formed it into paste. I made two strands that each took about two hours each. The three bottom photos to the left are my first attempt. Originally I wanted to do the photo in the grass because I thought the color contrast would be interesting, but I decided the image would be more effective if you could see blood splatters, so I moved to the concrete. In the end, I felt that the guts were too pink and looked sort of froze dried instead of fresh. I came up with the solution to soak the guts in balsamic vinaigrette over night (it smelled horrible). It added a brown blotchiness. The two top left photographs depict this, and I think the guts turned out much more realistic. During critique it was mentioned that the lowercase “g” made “guts” look like “quits”, so I decided to retake the photo with a capitalized “G”. Also, when I came back from Thanksgiving break, the guts had formed a thin layer of mold because of the moisture from previously soaking them. The pasta had also begun to liquefy and turn this rancid brown color which gave the guts and even more realistic look compared to the second retake. The photo at the top right is the end result.
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Project 3
Process Work
Preliminary Poster Ideas: “It’s NOT about food” was an idea I came up with in my sketches to create out of random food in order to reinforce the “control” poster with vomit. I made sure to used similar colored foods for each word to connect the letters, and it turned out okay. However, I ended up scrapping this idea after I decided to focus more on the side effects. “This is fat. You’re not” was an idea I came up with after I thought the leftover sausage casings looked liked strands of fat. I experimented with the idea and tried to created different type weights by overlapping layers of casing and cutting thinner strands for secondary text. I also added the extra strands in the bottom left poster to add some more organic lines. I ended up scrapping the idea for several reasons. First, I thought the overall design was boring. A lot of that had to do with the color. Second, I thought the message was stupid (to be blunt). As I stated with my other ideas, eating disorders are rarely about being fat at the root of the problem. I wanted to focus more on the deeper emotional and environmental reasons people develop eating disorders and also the detrimental side effects, so I scrapped the idea.
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Control: For the vomit I mixed black beans, peas, corn, oatmeal, oranges, milk, and leftovers I had in the fridge into a pot and heated them over the stove in order to make the oatmeal more chunky and thicken the milk. I later added an egg to give it a slimy texture. My first attempt was to write the vomit on the toilet seat, but unfortunately when I uploaded the images to the computer none of the photos were focused. My second attempt wrote control out on the floor. I originally intended to write it out in the vomit, but the egg actually made that impossible because the texture was too runny. I ended up spelling out the words with the vomit and used a towel to clean up around each individual letter. I also smeared vomit all over the toilet and a bit on the floor to make it look messier. For the poster, I intended to do a vertical composition as shown in the bottom left image, but after discussing it during critique, I decided to switch to a horizontal composition to eliminate extra visual information and focus on the word. For the supporting text, I removed the paragraph about eating disorders in general to focus on “control” more. I also removed “it’s about” when I changed orientation because the phrase looked out of place with the reduced supporting text.
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Lose More than your Weight: It surprised me to learn with this project that many people don’t know malnutrition causes the loss of mensuration. This is a symptom of people with severe anorexia nervosa and is often an indicator that the person is close to dieing. The letters are made out of tampons died with food coloring, and the “more than you” is tampon strings. With this, I wanted to create a shock factor with the bright red and use of, well, tampons. I wanted to express how serious eating disorders are through the severity of the symptoms. I ended up re-shooting the photo for a horizontal composition, and I put “more than your” all on one line to remove unnecessary, awkward negative space. I also added more blood splatters and fixed the “L” in “LOSE” so that it had more contrast against the blood. For this poster, I focused on anorexia nervosa because people suffering from bulimia aren’t normally underweight enough to lose their menstrual cycle. In fact many people with bulimia are actually average or overweight since they
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Do You Know the Cost: I used hair I pulled from my hairbrush and the shower (trying not to think about it the entire time). To create the letters, I ended up having to wet the hair to get it to do what I wanted. With this poster, I wanted to inform people how eating disorders cause hair to thin and fall out. and in a secondary paragraph how a thin layer of hair begins to grow all over the body to preserve body eat (another indicator the person will most likely die soon if not treated). I wanted to do this message specifically because with eating disorders the person is trying to achieve something they consider beautiful, but in the end he or she is achieving the exact opposite even though he or she cannot see it because of the psychological nature of eating disorders. The bottom left image depicts my original vertical composition. I was also focusing on hair loss instead of lanugo. I used Univers’s super condensed weight in order to mirror the thinness and vertical nature of the hair’s type. I re-shot the image, but this time with the phrase “Do you know the cost” to tie in more with the “lose more than your weight” poster. I gave general eating disorder information and changed the composition from the previous two to differentiate.
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Sources
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SOURCES Creativity 36: Annual Awards. New York: Collins Design, 2007. Print. Heller, Steven, and Mirko Ili?. Stop Think Go, Do: How Typography & Graphic Design Influence Behavior. Beverly, MA: Rockport, 2012. Print. Heller, Steven, and Véronique Vienne. 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design. London: Laurence King, 2012. Print. Lupton, Ellen, and Jennifer C. Phillips. Graphic Design: The New Basics. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2008. Print. Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Hoboken: J. Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print. Ordóñez, Hernán. Typex: Typography : A Teaching Experience. Barcelona, Spain: Index Book, 2010. Print. “Pinterest.” Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2013. Purvis, Alston W., Jong Cees. De, and Coultre Martijn F. Le. The Poster: 1000 Posters from Toulouse-Lautrec to Sagmeister. New York: Abrams, 2010. Print. Rivers, Charlotte. Handmade Type Workshop: Techniques for Creating Original Characters and Digital Fonts. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. Print. Roberts, Alice M. The Complete Human Body: The Definitive Visual Guide. New York, NY: DK Pub., 2010. Print. Simmons, Christopher. Just Design: Socially Conscious Design for Critical Causes. Cincinnati, OH: How, 2011. Print.
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