PROCESS BOOK
of
Irma K
Graphic Design Projects Clark University Spring, 2011
CONTENTS
1
POSTERS OF PERSUASION: Blood
Donation
3 Ethos 5 Logos 7 Pathos 11 REFLECTIVE DESIGNER: Project
Description/Artist Statement
15 RE-FRAMING THE FRAME: Staging 19 CITIZEN DESIGNER: Book
and Publicizing your Work
Covers on Design and Social Change
it all started with . . .
1
Iconic Images
RESEARCH for my “Donate Blood” posters led me to discover that the most conventional ways to persuade people to donate their blood are either to bully or guilt them into it. I found that images and slogans were used over and over in the same way and in the same concept: give blood—give life; donate blood—save a life; blood saves lives. To bring awareness to this cause, my idea was to break away from this convention and emphasize how vital, and yet exchangeable, blood is. Without blood, the heart would be a useless mechanism, and while some parts of the heart can be replaced with artificial components, only blood itself can generate its entire components (red cells, platelets, and plasma are used for transfusion).* Throughout the making of this project, I kept coming back to this scientific logic, and each poster that followed the previous one progressed into a simplified form of this logic. * http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood
Ethos We are running low. Donate. Can you spare a pint? Don’t think too long. Just do it. Logos 1665 - First successful blood transfusion* 2011 - No, there is no substitute for blood. Every 3 seconds someone in America needs a blood transfusion.* 60% of the U.S. population can donate. Only 5% do. 15% say they are too busy.* Pathos Blood. It’s something you can spare. It cannot be manufactured. It can only come from you. One pint. Three lives. (With one donation you can save up to three lives). * http://www.nybloodcenter.org/index.jsp
ETHOS POSTER Rough drafts
ETHOS
Blood cannot be manufacturedit can only come from YOU Have you saved someone lately? 15% say they are too busy
donor
donor
Don’t think too long. Just do it.
One pint saves three lives can
YOU
are you
Can you spare a pint? spare a pint every 3 seconds someone in America needs BLOOD TRANSFUSION
donor donor
donor
PATHOS
1-800-RED CROSS
WE ARE RUNNING LOW
Have you saved someone lately?
1665 - First Blood Transfusion 2011 - No Substitute For Blood
Details
Blood cannot be manufacturedit can only come from YOU
Revised
DONATE
DONATE
LOGOS
One pint saves three lives
1 1 1* *SOMEONE YOU LOVE
One pint saves three lives
1 out of 3 people will need a transfusion sometime in their lifetime.
blood saves
DONATE DONATE 1-800-RED-CROSS
designed by IRMA K
3
FINAL ETHOS
LOGOS POSTER Rough drafts
1665 - FIRST BLOOD TRANSFUSION 2011 - NO SUBSTITUTE FOR BLOOD*
1665 - First successful blood transfusion. 2011 - No, there is no substitute for blood.
*Science has its limits. People don’t.
People don’t
DONATE
BLOOD
Details Revised
5
FINAL LOGOS
PATHOS POSTER Rough drafts
Details Revised
7
FINAL PATHOS
9
FINAL SERIES
11
Posters of Persuasion: Project Description/Artist Statement I must admit I struggled with my ETHOS poster, because I had to attach an authoritarian voice to it, which meant it had to fit into an acceptable conventional form. However, further into my design process I worked up the guts to try a concept that is less expected. My second poster, LOGOS features a fragment of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, reminding us of how far technological advancements have moved human progress, but the lifeline, that can be so easily shared, remains in the bare hands of another human being. Humans are compassionate creatures, and, as advanced the science is, nothing replaces the power of human kindness. My tagline, “Science has its limits. People don’t,” reminds viewers of that power. The last poster, PATHOS, took the least time to conceptualize, because I decided that the words were not important: the image of bloodline going from a blood pouch to the heart to restore its beat is self-explanatory and powerful enough to carry out the message. The catchphrase, “It can only come from you,” emphasizes the value of blood without being too preachy or overly sentimental, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. The word “DONATE,” used in the same typeface, size, and color, gives visual consistency to all three posters and reinforces the visual message of each poster individually. Furthermore, a lifeline repeated throughout all three concepts suggests the importance of blood in an intelligible way and creates a sense of urgency for this irreplaceable “product.” A good poster should inform and persuade, but my goal was to avoid the type of message that
belittles human intelligence, like informing people that, “swallowing a plastic bag or placing it over your head might cause difficulty breathing” (if you are able to read this, you already know it). My approach to this project’s subject was influenced by Massimo Vignelli’s idea of Semantics, which is the search of the meaning of whatever we have to design. Vignelli stresses the importance of researching the subject and finding essential meaning of the project, because that’s what will provide the real base for a correct inception and will point to the most appropriate form for that particular subject. Researching blood transfusion and donation, I found who my target audience is: people no younger than seventeen years of age. Those who fit that criterion don’t need to be informed that blood saves lives; rather, they should be politely reminded of its importance and shareability, and this reminder, hopefully, will awaken their civic consciousness. With that in mind, I strongly believe that all three posters are appropriate in any English-speaking community, and my Pathos poster could be installed in any-language speaking public sphere. At first, I was intimidated by the size of these posters and the amount of space they will demand in order to be displayed. According to Vignelli, design without meaning is vulgar and has no reason for being. If my posters had no meaning, it would be a vulgarity in the size of 24” x 36,” times three. By thoroughly researching my subject, however, I was able to give my message credibility and make my design simple and clear. I feel confident that my posters are not contributing to the meaningless visual pollution, and that makes them O.K. to be as large as they are.
13
Ready for a group show.
Should we invite anyone?
1665 First blood transfusion 2011 No substitute for blood
Science has its limits. People don’t.
DONATE www.redcross.org
designed by IRMA K
YES!
15
Poster
Postcard
Each student designed a poster to promote Posters of Persuasion exhibition. I designed a poster featuring each student’s poster. A postcard was designed to invite faculty members and the head of the department.
Rough Drafts
ON I S A ST PO SU R PE S ER
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Designed by Irma K
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Poster
FINAL
Postcard
17
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Designed by Irma K
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Wit
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19
Design that strives for neutrality, that seeks to extinguish its relation to human condition, risks removing itself from the very nucleus of its purpose, which is, yes, to inform and educate—but also, to enchant. We’re not graphic designers but people who make graphic design. -Jessica Helfand The main message in Jessica Helfand’s article, “Can Graphic Design Make You Cry,” is that graphic design is made for humans by humans; therefore, the value of human narrative should not be sacrificed for the sake of neutrality that enables communication to the widest possible audience. My first impulse was to design a cover that provokes human emotion, but reading Helfand’s essay second time around, I decided to do exactly what the author is arguing: add human touch. I wanted to add human touch to the entire process of designing this booklet. My graphic design will be handmade. For the cover, I chose off white construction paper that is used more likely in craft projects than graphic design. I designed the cover and inside page in the way that allows binding without using stapes. The binding keeps this booklet together, but it also serves as a design element that integrates the cover and an article in a meaningful way.
Sketches
Revised
Constructed
21
Details
CRAFTING
23
FINISHING
25
FINAL SET
Photos courtesy of www.book-by-its-cover.com/fineart/sheila-hicks-weaving-a-metaphor
The design and craftsmanship for this projec was inspired by a Dutch designer Irma Boom’s work. Her designed book, Sheila Hicks: Weaving as Metaphor, is considered to be the most beautiful book in the world. The cover is white-matte paper embossed with what looks like one of Hicks’ weaved pieces. The pages have been cut to imitate the woven texture. This book is an object. It was designed to be touched. It looks like it’s been made by hand (it’s not, though). I wanted my booklet to have a similar feeling. If my cover design does not intrigue people to read Helfand’s essay, I hope the construction of the whole booklet will make them curious enough to open it. And who knows, once it’s opened, they might read it.
and it all ends here . . .
PROCESS BOOK
of
Irma K
Graphic Design Projects Clark University Spring, 2011
This is my first book documenting my designing process. It features two projects: poster series and a booklet. I never paid much attention to how I get from A to Z, and this process diary made me analyze my approach to generating ideas and getting them finalized. It was interesting to see how differently I approached these two projects. My booklet’s designing process was very different from posters’. Each next sketch for the booklet cover was somehow related to the previous one. The geometric figures and a question mark were carried to the final stages of design. As the idea slowly progressed, the elements of design narrowed down, until the details were refined and finalized. Posters’ sketches, however, vary and have no relation to each other, because I felt there were endless possibilities for promoting blood donation. In the next designing step I revised each poster sketch into a rough draft so it would be more clear which concept is the strongest and worth pursuing, and only then design started to take shape. Massimo Vignelli’s A to Z book helped me to organize my design process. I used similar layouts of his book to make my thoughts more presentable and understandable to someone other than me. I wanted this book to look like I knew what I was doing, and Vignelli always knows what he is doing, so I followed him.