JESSICA CONRAD
GRAPHIC
DESIGN PORTFOLIO 01.
pg03. PROJECT 01. Form as Typology/ What is Graphic Design?
TABLE
pg07. PROJECT 02. From as Language/ Designing Visual Communications
CONTENTS
pg11. PROJECT 03. + Ex. 02 Form as Identity/ Logo Transformation + Color Study
OF
PORTFOLIO 01.
pg17. PROJECT 04. Form as System/ Working with a Typographic Grid/ Page Layout
DESIGNERS STATEMENT Student of University of Nebraska- Lincoln, college of Art + Art HIstory. This portfolio is inspired by architecture, pop-art color schemes, and the fundamentals of Graphic Design. Enjoy a compilation of work through my journey of GRPH 221, Spring 2014.
PROJECT 01.
Form as Typology/ What is Graphic Design?
THESIS
PROJECT 01.
While photographing the block of 21st and O Street, I found design problems to be solved through different visual categories related to graphic design. I found a city block that included both urban setting storefronts, as well as an electric plant, hosting much of the city’s electricity. The grungy, yet inspirational view allowed me to see these two different settings together, as well as separate. The block presented an interesting combination of visual context street signs as well as a setting containing pedestrian/shopping appeal. I chose to design the many elements of this city block to their different, specific categories as well as how they cohesively mesh together. While walking through the various elements of this city block, the possibility for progress in this area of Lincoln became a focus to relay in this project. Each category was displayed through individual boxes, which were arranged diagonally, and began to ‘grow ‘progressively to represent the possibility 21st and O Street has for improvement and innovation.Through viewing my discoveries displayed in this project, I hope one will be given a new perspective of the possibility and growth of the older, urban Lincoln community, while maintaining the simplistic, nostalgic view of an area that was once the most inventive part of Lincoln. The audience might gather a sense of creativity and uniqueness while walking the city block, and a better understanding of its cohesiveness after viewing this project.
01.
connotative
objective
index
s JEs subjective
core
denotative
iac
metaphor
conrad
PROJECT 01: What is Graphic Design? Designing systems for making meaning out of designed artifacts. Gathering form, organizing content, creating effective visual communications. JESSICA CONRAD Beginning Graphic Design/ GRPH 221 Professor Stacy Asher Universtiy of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Art + Art History Spring Semester 2014
micro
macro
micro
macro
index
core
metaphor
connotative
objective
subjective
denotative
PROJECT 02.
From as Language/ Designing Visual Communications
THESIS
PROJECT 02.
For me, this project allotted for a different way of thinking, which soon came easy after research and meandering through arious books of photographs and works of my favorite artists. i chose to take this project in a more abstract way, focusing more on the works of Surrealists and Dadaists, particularly one of my favorite Dadaist artist, Hanna Hoch. Hoch’s works immediately reminded me of this project description, as she often uses collages and different clippings to convey her message. Her work is greatly open to ones own interpretation, which is why I am drawn to her abstractness. She often reflects different figures, along with words, architecture, line and various aspects of nature. For this book cover, I wanted to showcase the city of Lincoln and it’s various recognizable buildings throughout the city, while also inviting ones own interpretation with the representation and play-on-figure, President Lincoln. For me, this project exercise was a fun, interesting expression of the city I have spent the last 3 years living in, which can also be contrasted to other elements of architecture from much bigger, recognizable cities. The representation of the famous monuments reflects what one may think of when they see a cityscape. The representation of Abraham Lincoln and the cityscape of Lincoln may be open to interpretation to what one may think of when one thinks of the word ‘Lincoln’.
PROJECT 03.
Form as Identity/ Logo Transformation
THESIS
PROJECT 03.
For project 3, Form as Identity, we worked with a pre-established symbol that could be used in a publishing field, as it has elements of a pencil and heart design co-existing together. The name of the publishing company we determined in class came to be, Paper Heart Publishing. After working with deconstructing this logo and applying 6 different adjectives to each transformation, a new symbol developed. This new symbol resembles that of two mountain shapes, along with a half circle, resembling a sunset. This new symbol reminds me of a ‘Patagonia’, mountain-esque inspired brand that could deal with hiking, skiing or just the mountainous landscape in general. When I began to deconstruct the symbol, I tried to keep in mind a stop-motion feel, as our final iteration of the transformation had to flow naturally with no jumps in between. Working previously with GIF projects in the past, once grasping this concept, became much more simple for me to comprehend. Although keeping in mind this transformation process, applying the adjectives to every slide became more difficult. While learning to bring these two concepts together cohesively, in turn morphed my final iteration and final symbol. I believe this iteration and symbol are successful because of the smooth transition and weight of the final mountain symbol. I am happy with how this project has evolved since the first iteration and believe this symbol is very versatile and cohesive and could do a fine job representing numerous brands under its category.
analogous
contrasting pairs of conditions
monocromatic
triad
complementary
wildcard
PROJECT 04.
Form as System/ Working with a Typographic Grid
THESIS
PROJECT 04.
This project implemented the structure, but was not limited to a series of grid systems provided within the project brief. We were asked to initially pick 3 grid structures to work with, all the while collecting examples of type from various sources we found in printed material. Little did a lot of us know, collecting type examples would be the most crucial part of this project. We found that if we did not have enough variation of filler text, middle grey and headline text, our final iterations would suffer. For me, I did as much searching for type examples as possible in order to implement a great final design. For my final 5 iterations, I chose to include a strong focal point throughout, as the bold headline text was my favorite type collected from preproduction. I also chose to incorporate a lot of overlap and layering, which was done in Photoshop post-production, after cutting, pasting and scanning my iterations. Finally, diagonal lines and circle elements were incorporated do cohesively tie all iterations together. In the end, I believe the flow of the narrative of the five compositions makes for a nice transition. The white space integrated among all five designs creates a balance that flows cohesively enough to know they are meant to be a series. Above all, I thought I grasped the concept of this project fairly well and was able to create five cohesive designs that can be seen as a series, as well as stand alone.
THANK YOU