INTRODUCTION
TO
DESIGN
In-Process
FALL 2015 By:Laura Platteter
Table of Contents Course overview ............................5 Dot/Line .....................................6 Expressive Text ............................8 Object Iteration ...........................10 Designer Presentation ......................14 Children’s Book ...........................16
Course Overview
I
ntroduction to Design has developed me as a designer, but also as a person. Through creating various iterations for several projects, this class has taught me to not be afraid of trying new things - whether that be art related or life in general. Although the new software was confusing at first, I couldn’t be happier with the new abilities that have opened up a whole new world for me. I have been inspired to use my creative skills and knowledge, applying it to other passions of mine. Although I don’t plan to pursue design as a career, I will continue to use it to enrich my life as well as others’.
5
Dot/Line
D
ot/Line was all about creating abstract compositions under strict guidelines; allowing for only certain combinations of dots and lines. Gestalt is that it is a theory of how we see things explained through principles such as proximity, relationship, similarity, anomaly, continuation, closure, figure and ground. This theory was a focus while crafting our Dot/Line illustrations. When it comes to making these illustrations, it’s difficult to make them well-crafted objects because it can be time consuming and there’s a point where you just want to get it done with. Either you just cannot make that line straight or that circle round enough. I experienced this feeling, but in the end I felt like that the time I put into my illustrations was well worth it. So, I would have to say that I would rather spend the extra time to get the small details right. The Dot/Line project changed my idea of abstraction quite a bit. Before, I didn’t think much of abstract art, because most of it seemed so simplistic that it gave me the impression that anyone could do what they pleased or that the art didn’t have much thought behind it. I feel that I now have a better appreciation of this type of art, but it still isn’t my preferred form. When it came time to try abstraction myself, the task to represent the idea varied from being fairly easy to slightly more difficult depending on the word I was attempting to illustrate. The hardest part was remaining original while trying to make something that others would recognize as the word being portrayed. Many situations could benefit from the use of abstraction and the ideas of gestalt, but it really works with anything that could use some planning to get the best layout or design possible. At the moment I’m attempting to design a t-shirt for a club, and I’m thinking it might be a good place to use this new information. Overall, I enjoyed working with tight parameters, so there was some excitement already there in that.
The First Sketches
6
Attraction
Rejection
Opression
Attraction
7
Expressive Text
T
ext is very powerful. It can add meaning to a word, detract from it, or just be whatever. Expressive text was all about experimenting with different hand lettering to find successful and original solutions. Using many materials such as coconut, ink, chocolate, and charcoal, I was able to enhance the meaning of the word “chip”. I attempted to take advantage of letterforms by using styles that didn’t detract from my design, such as the sans serif font used in combination with the coconut, which also made the piece more legible and less chaotic. I learned a lot about typography that I didn’t know going into this project - from the basics to the more advanced aspects. One of the biggest challenges of expressive text was coming up with ideas. This was especially difficult when I created something I believed to be a good representation of my chosen word, because I had a hard time coming up with a fresh idea. To help me with this, I went back to my mind maps as well as took some time to do something else in between working on the project. If I were to continue to explore expressive typography, I would begin to experiment with buttercream frosting as my medium and play around with different fonts and decorating tips. After I had made several iterations for the word “chip”, I thought of this idea for the word “mine”.
First Sketchs
8
Mind Map
“CHIP”:The Final Products
Charcoal Iteration
Chocolate Chip Iteration: Came to be from my original idea to have write chip in chocolate chip braille. Eventually, it was decided that it would be best to have in written in English so more people could make it out as “chip”.
Ink Iteration
Coconut Iteration
9
Object Iteration
I
’ve been drawing horses, which are my favorite animal, for as long as I can remember. For this reason, making an abundance of horses in various mediums was enjoyable as well as explorative. The object iteration project challenged me to make work that was unique within set parameters. On the final object iterations poster we were to have at least one continuous line, collage, typographic collage, and geometric collage. We were also to create iterations in the style of two master artists. For me, that was Kara Walker and Kaethe Kollowitz. What I learned about my animal is that there are certain elements that really make the Arabian horse recognizable. These include its small chiseled face, arched neck, high tail carriage, and overall graceful appearance. The presentation of the whole poster, layout, borders, and such, amplified most of my iterations. Some I feel may have been better without borders, but the overall appearance would have suffered in my opinion. The borders had a harmonizing effect, as well as, keeping the squares prominent. Collage in general seemed to be the most challenging media for me to use and get a handle on. I think that’s because I prefer my art to be more realistic. For that reason, I really enjoyed drawing with charcoal for my master artist Kaethe Kollwitz iteration. Photoshop was a whole new world for me, so my editing stayed pretty simple. Of the Photoshop skills I was able to learn, I feel like the curves feature was the most useful for the project and I really like the effect. I’ll definitely use it on other pieces in the future. If I had to continue this project for a year, I think it might be neat to represent my animal with different elements of the seasons. I would probably use mediums such as paint and ink while also adventuring out and trying others, such as horse food or tack.
Arabian Horse:Master Artists Kara Walker
10
Kaethe Kollowitz
Arabian Horse:Continuous Line
Arabian Horse:Collage
11
Arabian Horse:Typographic Collage
Arabian Horse:Geometric Collage
12
Object Iteration:The Final Product
13
Designer Presentation
T
he designer presentation was an interesting research project that allowed each one of us to share information and finds on a particular contemporary designer. The Pecha-Kucha presentation style required was intimidating at first, but by the end I came to appreciate the 20 slides for 20. The thing that really drew me to Debbie Millman was her work in branding. This was especially after seeing the everyday brands, such as Kleenex and Campbell’s, that she gave new life to. What I found inspiring about Millman was how she shared her experiences and hopes that others don’t go down the same path as her, feeling too afraid of failing and not following her original creative dreams. I’m really not a fan of presentations in general, but I like our group and public speaking is a valuable skill - so I understand why we do the presentations. To be honest, now that I’ve presented and been through it, I thought the setup went really well. Therefore, I wouldn’t change a thing about this assignment.
Debbie Millman:A Little About Her When it comes to Debbie Millman, there’s just so much you could talk about. She’s a writer, educator, brand consultant, and host of the first ever podcast about design on the internet, Design Matters. Graphic Design USA even calls her “one of the most influential designers working today”. This is a piece from “Fail Safe” that caught my attendtion when working on the designer presentation. Although it seems simple, I think the piece is working becasue the text is centered, drawing the eye in, making me feel like I’m where I need to be to get what I love. Also, the different variations of green make each word pop while keeping a similar theme.
14
Debbie Millman:Branding At Sterling Brands, Debbie is the Design Group President. She’s stated that Design is essentially anything but design. It’s about anthropology, psychology, and economics amoung so much more. It’s crucial to obtain knowledge of everything, because everything other than design fuels design. Our awareness is impacted by what we have around us and what we are used to. If there is a new product, we will be more hesitant to try it. Branding is directed at getting us more aware of a certain product and sending a message in a more profound way. Her branding responds to the recession, and adresses what makes something valuable. It aids to communicate why a particular product will make a difference in somebody’s life. You know this is the case when they would be willing to pay for it no matter the cost. She also stated her purpose is “to make the supermarket a more beautiful place”. All the images shown to the left are branding projects that Debbie has worked on at Sterling Brands. I was interested to find that she updated the looks of so many wellknown brands like Campbell’s and Ben & Jerry’s.
15
Children’s Book
T
he collaborative children’s book project was very innovative in that it gave each one of us experience working for a client. It was our job to create images that were successful representations of the text given to us by an education student. We used our knowledge of typography to typeset the book so that it would also support the text and illustrations. The main reason I was drawn to Introduction to Design was because of the children’s book project. I thought illustrating such a book was just the neatest thing. When I first got my text, I wasn’t sure what to think about the collaboration aspect of the project. I think the part that surprised me the most in the beginning was finding out I was working with two authors. I thought that would have been more intimidating than it actually turned out to be, seeing that there were two of them and one of me. It all turned out fine and both authors seemed to have strong ideas for the book and I was happy to have their storyline. My authors were also very good at getting back to me in a timely fashion if I had a concern. However, they never had very much to say and regularly agreed with my own ideas. In a way, this was nice because that meant I had control over how I thought the book should end up looking when it was all done. Collaborating wasn’t even the challenging part, it was spending the time to get everything done the way I had it initially planned out. Spending hours on one page was too easy and many breaks were needed, but it was all worth it. Overall, I’m glad I chose watercolor as my medium. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about it seeing that I hadn’t used watercolor since my elementary school days. I feel it really brought the story to life and made the illustrations more realistic. I first had the idea to use watercolor when I read the page involving the Eiffel Tower. I was sold when I envisioned what I could potentially do with the sky. After seeing the layouts of others’ books, if I were to start this project over, I would try having one side of the spread for text and have the illustrations on the other.
Jaime’s Travels:A Summary of the Story Jaime is a little bird who lives on the St. Norbert College Campus longing for adventure. With the help of a compass, he sets off to travel the world, visiting many iconic destinations. After traveling for the majority of the day, Jaime decides to begin his flight home. Back in his nest, Jaime reflects back on his trip. The moral of the story is this, the world may be a beautiful place, but there’s truly no place like home.
16
Jaime’s Travels:Creating the Cover Art The cover for “Jaime’s Travels” was by far my favorite illustration I made for the children’s book project. The colors are vibrant, the hand letter has a charater of its own, and I feel it really captures the essence of St. Norbert College. After reading the text, the cover sketch was the first idea for the book that I had. The rest of the illustrations stemmed from the these first images. First Sketch
Final Product
First Watercolor Iteration
17
Jaime’s Travels:A Look Inside I started with thumbnail sketches and after, went directly to creating the final version by hand in watercolor. By the end of my book, I had absolutly fallen in love with watercolor. The textures are fun and add a realistic touch to each page. Making sure there was that realistic feel in my work was very important to me, because that’s what I find beautiful. Here are some of my favorite pages! Page 3: Niagara Falls
Page 5: Mount Everest
18
Page 7:Great Wall of China
Page 9: Eiffel Tower
Page 13: St. Norbert Tree
19