Introduction to Design Process Book

I Had Mushroom To Grow in Intro To Design!

By Kai Konitzer (A FUN-gi)

Introduction / My Feelings on This Class as a Whole

I scheduled this class knowing I needed it for my major, but not quite knowing what the class would entail. I knew it was design, however, I did not know it was about what we would be doing in the real world of design. I for sure did not anticipate working so much with InDesign and Photoshop. In hindsight, I probably should’ve because it’s a DESIGN course, and design requires tweaking and editing, but alas, I was foolish and signed up for it anyway, knowing I’m bad at technologgy.

I ended up liking this class a lot more than I thought I would. Even though I’m still not great with technology, I am happy I have more tools to work with InDesign, and Photoshop, so I can practice with them more in the future. I think above all else, this class helped me learn InDesign, which I will for sure use in professional art career and in teaching.

Now, for the introduction to this book. I would say something cynical here, but I think the book title takes care of that. Overall, I enjoyed most of these projects I am about to introduce. Working without color was different, but I adapted, and did the best work I could. I was able to let my creativity flow, and I didn’t get stuck on really any part of any of these projects. I am going to talk through the process of how I got to my final work on each of my projects in this class. Enjoy!

This book was made as a part of the Introduction to Design course at St. Norbert College in the spring of 2023. The fonts used in this book are a variety of font styles in the Arima Koshi font family.

D School

D School was the first project we did in Intro to Design. It was a very short project, where we were meant to get a feel for designing for a client. We discussed ideas with our “client and then had to design what they wanted out of junk.

My client wanted to be the CEO of a store. I designed this retail store. The paper tents on either end of the store are the registers. The stamps, and random other things are merchendise. Lastley, the wine caps are the customers/ employees.

Dot/Line Project

In this project, we had to use only dots and lines to convey certain emotions. The three I picked were Chaotic, Longing, and rejection. This was an introductory project to get us comfortable designing things within the assignment (or “client”) perimeters.

On the left here are my first idea sketches for the word Chaotic. I did a combo of the two starred ones for my final (after some feedback from critique.

On the right are my first idea sketches for the words longing and rejection. I went with a slightly modified version of the starred one for longing, however, I was not satisfied with any of my drafts for rejection.

I revised my rejection drafts based on a few running ideas I had. I went with one. When the piece I created was put into in-process critique, I realized that it looked better when it was rotated.

Finals

I stuck to most parts of my drafts, tweaking just a tad. I rotated to top right (rejection) as stated earlier. I also got rid of one line in Chaos (bottom). I still believe though that the best one is the top left (longing). Even though longing is only 2 lines, I think it fits longing very well. These lines would just nearly miss each other. That is why it is my favoite.

Who Designs Research Project

For this project, we had to research a well known designer. I decided to research Aaron Draplin. He’s a pretty cool dude. He has his own graphic design company called Draplin Designs Co. (his logo is the bottom left picture). The top left picture is a compilation of designs he has created at his company.

Letterforms Project

For this project, we had to think deeply about the forms of letters. We were first challenged to write letters in different fonts, and then we printed. We carved the letters for the class, and then used them to print with ink. We had to potray our word with the letters. I chose hate beause it is such a strong emotion.

These 3 pages are my drafts of trying to draw fonts. I really enjoyed putting the word in a font that related to its meaning (ex. noodle is made of noodles). I had a lot of fun with this.

Finals

This piece plays with the idea that hate clouds your judgement. Hate is legible, but surrounded by ghost letters and smudges. This one is my favorite.

Hatefulness tends to stick around and drag on. That was the idea behind this piece. The letters are dragged down the paper as a representation of hate dragging on. This piece was orginally horizontal, but I switched it to have more space to drag the letters.

This piece is different than the rest. I did this with an ink wash (basically watercolor). It starts light and gets dark to show how hate consumes people. the splatters at the end are hate exploding and spilling out.

This is my straight print.There is nothing really cool or special about it. I did have to photocopy it to get it straight though because I just could not get it straight naturally for the life of me.

Iterative Illustrations Project

For this project, we had to choose an animal or a simple object. I chose a manatee. The purpose of this assignment was to get us to design the same thing in different styles and contexts. This was the longest project we did. We had to have 6 images on our final poster: 2 master artists (we had to imitate their style), gemometric, collage, continuous line, and typographic.

These are my first drafts of my geometric manatee. I built upon the bottom one and then put it on the poster. I decided it still looked like hot garbage, so I completely redid it. The redone version is on my final poster.

These are my first collage manatees. I took time to carefully build them all. Fun fact: the skull face one (the one I used on my final poster) has a well constructed face under the skull, but then I found a skull in a magazine, and thought that that would be cooler.

My continuous line iteration final is similar to this draft, but the draft I did has very bulbous flippers and tail. This draft is very similar to my final because I really liked the look of this guy.

Iterative Illustrations Project Continued

I chose Georgia O’Keeffe as my first master artist. She has a light, flowy style that I replicated with ink wash. This was my first and only draft. I ended up sticking with this design because I think it turned out well. I did take out the background though.

My second master artist is Banksy. Banksy is a street artist and works with spray paint. I made a stencil and did spray paint. This was a fail because of the overspray, but I used the same stencil for the final. I then photoshopped my final onto a brick wall.

This is the typographic variation that I didn’t use in my final poster. I didn’t use this one because there was not as much shade diversity. I think I made the right choice with which one to put on my poster, however, I do still like this other one.

Final

I really like the way my individual pictures look on my final. I think the final photos all look great. I do really wish that I could’ve come up with a cooler layout for my poster though. I also think that I do have a good balance of black, white, and gray too.

PSA Poster Project

The purpose of this project was to get us to work with a client, and design something within the client’s perimeters. I was given all the text that was on my poster and then had to make it into a cool poster. It was really interesting to work with a “client” and feel like I was actuallt doing a design job because I consulted them every step of the way.

Pictured above is a sheet of draft ideas I did for this poster. I designed it and then decided where all the text would go. I showed my best designs to my client and then he picked his favorite (the one pictured on the right).

I then went ahead and designed it digitally. I perferred this because it was much easier to move text around where I wanted it. The poster on the right is the draft poster I brought to in- process critique. It was almost what I wanted, but not quite there yet.

Final

This is my final poster. I ended up using this bright green color because people associate marijuana with the color green, and the bright green stands out. I personally love the way this turned out. The font makes it look like a warning. I like the way I set up the statistics too, so that the more important information jumps out at you first.

Vocational Questions

1. Are you called to creative work? If so, how do you recognize that calling?

I have been called to creative work since I was a kid. I’ve always enjoyed making are, as well as observing other artists’ work. I recognize this calling for art by making art when I have a creative idea. I also found my calling as an artist, so I decided to become an art education major to do art for the rest of my life, as well as instill the creativity in my kids that I have in myself.

2. What is something you’ve made in the last two years that you’re proud of?

I made a squishy head! I did this mold of my face out of dental impression putty and plaster. I put a thin layer of rubber onto the mold, then filled the rest with a squishy, soft foam. After I took it out of the mold, I spent many hours painting it to look more realistic with rubber paint. Fun fact: I stuck my tongue out when casting the mold, so the tongue on the head is real, and you can feel the tastebuds.