A Collection of Iterations St. Norbert College Art 130 - Spring 2020
V y e l d a H y B
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D-School For this project we were given a partner that we had to solve a problem with. My partner had told me she struggled making friends. We then were required to make something in 10 minutes that would solve the problem. I decided to make a cardboard cutout of a person to represent a friend.
Objective/ challenges My objective for this piece was to get more comfortable sharing my unfinished work with the class. Because of the time constrant, I did not feel this was my best work I could have done. Seeing my classmates have the same insecutites made me feel like I was not alone. My biggest challenge with this piece was coming up with an idea on the spot as to what to create and finding the materials necessary to do so. The time crunch pushed me to go with my first idea and I did not have time to over analyze it.
Reflection Engaging with a real person changed the direction my prototype took because it made me take into consideration other people’s opinions and viewpoints. It also helped me get to know another person better than I did before. This ultimately changed the direction my prototype took because it was not just my ideas, it was another person’s.
viewed my work, thinking they may not like it. The pace was slightly stressful. I usually take my time to do work so I can do a good job. The fast pace felt different than normal. However, it pushed me to think quick and take some risks.
If I could go back and change anything, I would take more time to do the end project. I Showing unfinished work to felt that I could’ve made it a another person was slightly embarrassing. I did not want to lot better if I had more time. be judged for my work because I would add some more I knew that it was not the best I color and other pieces to the could do. I always hold myself cardboard cutout to make it unique and stand out. I would to high standards and did not feel like it was the best I could also try taking more time to cut have done. This caused me to out the cardboard which would have given it a cleaner look. be afraid of how other people
Obective/ challenges
Dot/Line
For this project, we were required to pick three words and then come up My objective with with a design using only dots and lines this piece was to represent that word. The three words to learn how to I chose were “scarcity”, “chaotic”, and represent words with “stability”. very few elements. This is an important skill to have as a designer because it is a more advanced way of representing an idea rather than just drawing a picture. The biggest challenge I faced was coming up with ways to represent these words using only dots and lines. I felt pushed as a designer to not rely on cliche images to represent the idea I was trying to convey to the audience.
Reflection Gestalt is the overall finished product or design of a piece, rather than the individual components of it. It relates to this project because our dot/ line compositions had to portray a word, such as “stability” or “chaotic”. In order to portray these ideas in our work, we had to make sure that every dot and line helped the viewer get the big picture or portrayal of the word.
done right. I do not like to be rushed. I would rather have too much time than too little in order to put forth my best work.
This project changed my idea of abstraction because I had always thought abstraction was meaningless and was just paint splotches or random sculptures that didn’t portray an idea. After this project, I realized It is difficult for me to that was not true make a “well-crafted and there is a lot of object”. I tend to be thought that goes a perfectionist and into abstraction. need to have lots For example, in of time to get things our project we
chose a word and had to portray that idea using only a few dots and lines, which proved to be very challenging. Representing ideas without illustrating them definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I had never done a project like this in the past. I was used to portraying ideas by drawing a picture. Sometimes it can be hard to get an idea across to an audience without relying on
drawing an object to represent it. This project taught me that I can represent ideas by just using dots and lines, and without making it an illustration.
I started this project by making five thumbnails for each word. I then chose the most successful iterations and brought them to life using paper.
I think using the ideas of gestalt and abstraction will come into play when we start doing more graphic design. Design is very important in marketing, which is my major. Being able to portray ideas in a design without per say “spelling it out� or drawing an exact illustration is what makes a design more professional/ successful. It will make the audience think a little bit, ultimately pulling them towards your product.
Chaotic
Stability
Scarcity
Typography For this project, we were able to come up with new ways to use fonts to express words. I choose to explore fonts that had to do with the word “music�. I was able to explore typography more and learn how to use typography as part of a design.
Reflection I really enjoyed playing around with typography and coming up with new fonts. I tried to play around with the words and use shapes and fonts that represent that word. This project helped me understand the value behind fonts and why they are meaningful before doing the Letterforms project. I realized how important typography is and that it can make or break any design one might have to create.
Objective/challenges The objective of this project was to learn how to portray ideas through typography. I learned that it is important to have fonts that match the idea you are trying to convey. The typography is just as important as the rest of the design. My biggest challlenge was coming up with new ways to represent the word “music� without just using music notes. I had to think about what music means to me and some objects that remind me of music. Then, I had to somehow incorporate those ideas into a font that matched.
Letterforms For this project, we were able to play around with using letter stamps and ink. We were required to make four iterations of one word, making sure the design of the letters somehow represented the word. I chose to use the word “music�.
This was my first practice piece using ink. It was rather messy.
Reflection Working with different letterforms has taught me a lot. For example, the way you print a word can have a strong effect on how the audience perceives it. I was forced to make multiple prints of the same word and found that the way each letter was printed (bold, shadow, off-centered, etc) could tell a different story about the word. I also learned a lot about the importance of making clean prints and making the spacing between letters uniform, as well as keeping the baseline the same.
This was another practice piece I did. I tried to find new ways to stamp the letters
If I were to continue to make more prints, I would make the baseline cleaner and push myself to create new designs that the audience would understand better. I would also take some points from my critique, such as making the word appear as MUSIC instead of CISUM, and try to clean that up.
Objective/challenges My objective with this project was to learn how to use ink and printing letters. I had never used ink before and found it to be very fun and different from other art projects I’d done. My biggest challenge was keeping a straight baseline and keeping the rest of the paper clean. My hands would get dirty and I would accidentaly touch the paper, leaving fingerprints. I also found it difficult that you could not just erase mistakes or delete them as I could in my other projects.
For this collage, I decided to paste pictures of some of the most successful musicians in the world. It includes The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Beyonce, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Elton John, and Justin Bieber.
For this piece, I wanted the shadowing of the letters to flow upwards, representing the idea that music lifts people up.
Object Iterations For this project, we were required to pick an animal and recreate it in several different styles. We made a typographic collage, normal collage, geometric iteration, and continous line iteration. We also made iterations in the styles of two master artists. I chose to create mine in the styles of Eric Carle and Keith Haring.
Reflection I learned a lot about photoshop through this project. I have used photoshop in the past but have always been really bad at it. It was always really overwhelming to me. I finally feel like I know the basics of the program and can use them well with the command keys. If I had to continue with this project for a year, I would continue to represent dolphins in new ways. I would love to add color to my pieces, especially the Eric Carle iteration because that is half of the beauty of his work. I would also get more detailed with my geometric design.
Typographic collage Through the process of doing my object iterations, I learned a lot about how to design a dolphin. For example, I learned more about how to draw and cut a good dolphin. The shape of the dolphin was very difficult for me to get at first and it took a lot of tries for me to understand how to properly draw it.
For this piece, I took magazine clippings of palm trees and the ocean to make the dolphin. I felt that these pictures best represented a dolphin’s habitat.
Collage
Master Artists Eric Carle
Keith Haring
The Keith Haring iteration was definitely the most challenging for me. It took a lot of consideration to understand how to draw a dolphin in his style. I had to do a lot of research about his work in order to really capture his style in my drawing. The most enjoyable was the Eric Carle iteration. I got to use acrylic paint and random tools around the house to make the dolphin look texturized. But I had a lot of fun with it because I love to paint!
Objective/challenges My objective for this project was to learn how to design one object in multiple styles. This pushed me to learn about different techniques when designing such as drawing, collaging, and painting. My biggest challenge was coming up with different ways to design the dolphin other than just centering it. Most animals can sit, walk, or be placed on other objects like furniture. However, a dolphin mostly stays in the same position so I really had to think about how to differentiate the positions in each iteration.
Continous Line
Geometric
Final
PSA Poster For this project, we were required to make a poster that informed the public about a topic we are passionate about using Adobe InDesign. My poster topic was mental health awareness.
Reflection It was challenging being limited to type only and not using pictures. I struggled with conveying my ideas without images. However, once I got started, it started to flow easier and I was able to just focus on the information instead of being distracted with colors and pictures. I used scale, opacity, rhythm, orientation, and negative space to create visual hierarchy by making the headline and call to action larger fonts because they are the most important thing for the audience to see. I also tried to keep a good amount of negative space so that I wouldn’t overwhelm the viewer. I used a lighter opacity when designing the middle gray box because I didn’t want to make it too dark and gloomy. I learned from this project how to use InDesign at a more advanced level than past projects which I think will be helpful going forward into other work. I also learned how to just focus on typography and not worry about colors or distracting pictures to convey ideas.
Objective/challenges My objective for this project was to create a simple poster that would inform the audience about an important topic. I did not want to add too much information because that could easily overwhelm the audience making them loose interest. I stuck to a few facts and a call to action where people could go to get help. My biggest challenge of this project was deciding which information to include on the poster. I didn’t want to include so much information that people would get bored and stop reading. But I also wanted to inform the aduience of this topic. I had to find a good balance.
20x20 talks For this project, we were required to create a presentation on a designer of our choice. I chose to present on an artist named David Carson. This presentation was unique because we were only allowed twenty slides, each of which we were to only spend twenty seconds on. We also used a voice over to present.
I was immediately drawn to David Carson’s work because I loved the typography he did. It was very abstract and different from anything I had seen before. His designs were chaotic but I loved it. All of his pieces had a common theme which made it seem like an organized chaos. When presenting to the class, I wasn’t a fan of voice recording myself. However, I think it pushed me to use technology more than I normally would. That was the first time I had ever done a voice over. I also enjoyed doing the voice over because I wasn’t as nervous to present, having been in the comfort of my own home.
David Carson
Reflection
One of the designers that my classmates presented on that I would research further is Ruth Ansel. I really liked the magazine covers she did because they were very simple. I also liked the old-fashioned feel to her work. I enjoyed learning about her and would be curious to learn more.
Objective/challenges My objective with this project was to learn more about a designer. David Carson had a lot of interesting facts about his work. I also fell in love with his designs and the unique chaos of his work. I learned a lot about his upbringing and what made him so unique compared to other artists. My biggest challenge with this project was trying to organize all of my information. I found a lot of reliable websites so I had to create my own timeline of his life. This proved to be very difficult but I think I made it work.
Reflection Class Overview: My biggest challenge in this course was taking the ideas I had and making a piece that portrayed those ideas in a successful way. A lot of times I would have an idea for a piece, but when I would go to recreate it, it would end up not having a good flow and would not represent the idea in the way I thought it would. I overcame this challenge by making multiple iterations of each piece, fixing the problematic areas, until the design became something I was confident about. I think this class has taught me a lot about how to create successful designs with good rhythm and composition. I learned that art is not easy and takes a lot of failed designs to come up with a good one. I will take that experience and knowledge with me to the rest of my design courses at St. Norbert College and hopefully to a career someday.
Vocational Questions: Something I have made in the last two years that I am proud of is a collage book. Since the Coronavirus outbreak has started, I bought a notebook and some magazines and started to make collages. I try to keep a color scheme going and make sure the images play off of each other, matching the overall “theme� of that specific collage. It has been a lot of fun and gives me something to occupy my time with. If I were guaranteed it would support me financially, I would love to do design for a living. I have always had a passion for art and love doing projects. It is a good stress-reliver and helps me take my mind off of everything else going on in my life. I also love playing around with colors and patterns, and trying to come up with successful designs that flow.
This book was made as part of Introduction to Design at St. Norbert College in the spring of 2020. The fonts used include American Typewriter and Shree Devanagari 714.