A Process Book For Introduction to Design By Madeline Gassner
ART 130 Introduction to Design Professor Katie Ries St. Norbert College Fall 2016
Introduction: “Be an art major,” they said. “It’ll be easy they said,” was the common statement I received from friends and family when I told them that I wanted to become an art major. My ‘easy major’ proved to be the exact opposite. Countless hours in the studio and design lab while staring blankly at my computer screen. Countless rants and tears about working with Photoshop and InDesign was not exactly my calling. Countless thoughts about wondering why I was in this class and what I was going to do with my life had entered my head. Countless ink splatter stains and band-aids from cuts from my Xacto knife blades. And countless phone calls to my mother to complain about how my art was starting to feel like a chore. This class was designed to make a girl go crazy and it just about did. Here’s my story of how I survived my ART 130 Introduction to Design class.
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Table of Contents: D - School Dot / Line Mind Map Typography Object Iteration Data Visualization Pecha - Kucha Presentation Closing
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D - School: The objective of D - school crash course was to get close to a client to be able to discuss and explain ideas and future products that one would be trying to sell. This lasted a class period and consists of several short interviews with a classmate to be able to design the perfect gift to give to someone. I thought that working with another classmate on this project was a great introduction to this course. Working with the real ‘client’ helped to change my direction of the prototype I was trying to create and it was great to get automatic feedback from that person. However, the shortage of time was difficult to create something amazing for my client. Although I wouldn’t go back to change my first draft of this project, I think it was a great learning experience and realistic to how work can be in the art world.
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Pictured above is the end product of D - school crash course
Dot / Line: The objectives of this project was to create compostions based off of a word and combinations of dots and lines. While working on this project, one aimed to create strong compositions using rules of gestalt and by appropriating value, scale, and order to create a visual hierarchy that is abstract. Although I understood the objectives and the outcome of this project, I hated it. I found it extremely difficult because I lost my interest very easily and found myself rushing to get this project done. I did find it easy to express myself and the emotion I wanted to put into this work. Overall, I think this project thought me a lot about abstract art and the rules of gestalt but it was not one of my favorite projects.
Pictured above are thumb-nails for the Dot/Line project
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Finished Product: Pictured on the left side are the final product of the Dot/Line project Since, I completely dreaded this project and I was not happy with my grade, I had that I needed to put more time and effor into my work rather than rushing through to get it done and that my lack of focus and desire to work on this project affected my grade on the project. This project taught me that I need to set time aside to work on my art projects and that I need to put in as much effort as possible. In the end, I wish I would have had a great first draft but live and learn.
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Mind Map: The objectives of creating a mind map was to get thinking about how words can be associated with one another. It was also to show how one word can have several differnet feelings and emotions behind it and one has to decide how they wish to interpret the word that was chosen for this project. I thought that this part of the typography project was extremely crucial because it showed the direction that I wanted to go when it came to thinking of the word I had picked. I think without using a mind map for this project it would have been very difficult to get a sense of direction on where I wanted this project to go.
Pictured above is a mind map used for the Typography project
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Typography: The objectives of typography was to create emotions based off of lettering to expand and play off of the content of a given word. This project was to experiment and create new varieties of hand lettering with various mediums and to think about emotions and connections between various words. I absoutely loved this project! It taught me how to express my feelings and thoughts behind a word and the mind map helped to create stronger pieces in this project. I also think that this project had a great variety with working with several different types of mediums and it was great to go outside of the box.
Pictured above are thumbnails for the Typography project
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Some Typography Thumbnails:
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Finished Product:
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Object Iteration: The objective of the object iteration project was to work with a specific object that would be recreated in several differnet styles to create a collage as the final piece. This project was to experiment with differnet styles of mediums and drawings and to show a range of creativity and style in experimenting on drawing new objects. I had some issues with this project. I loved working with a specific object but I wished that I could have been able to draw this object off of my artistic style rather than having some set ways on how to do it. I think it was difficult working several iterations such as the collage and the type collage because they were not my favorite to work with. My favorite iterations that I did were the geometric and continous line drawings. I also struggled with this project because I had never worked with Photoshop or InDesign at all so that was a big adjustment for me. Overall, this was another favorite project of mine but I wish there was more time creating things by hand rather than computer.
Pictured on the side is a mind map that was used for the Object Iteration project
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Some Object Iteration Thumbnails:
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Finished Product:
Pictured above is the final product of the Object Iteration project. Despite having some issues with this project, I feel happy with my end product. If I had to make any final edits, I think that I would remake my Master Artist iterations to make them stronger and then place them on the final print of my project.
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Data Visualization: The objectives of the data visualization project was to create visual hierarchy based off a chosen set of data. This project was about working with credible data, principles of design, and a limited color palette to represent accurate data. This was one of my least favorite projects because it had dealt with working a lot with Photoshop and InDesign, which I still did not have a lot of experiencewith. I found myself wanting to create extra work for this project but decided to go against it and do what was easier to make my final project look aesthetically pleasing and accurate. I had wanted to create something elaborate and artistic but I found with this project that it was easier to go with simple and then elaborate it in InDesign. Although my skills with Photoshop and InDesign were increasing, I still did not care for this project because it did not have as much ‘hands on’ work as the other projects did. However, I did like that we got to work with color in this project and found that it made my project stronger rather than just using black and white.
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Some Data Visualization Thumbnails:
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Finished Product:
Pictured above is the final product of the Data Visualization project. I really struggled working with this project because I did not want to use data that would be too difficult to represent. I eventually decided to work with one of my favorite bands, Nirvana. I wanted to create a look for my data that went with the grunge feel and late ‘80s and early ‘90s vibe. I also wanted my data to look artistic but also accurate and originally wanted to create watercolor album covers for each album I wanted to talk about. I then decided that it would look better to create an ink wash background and have the actual pictures of the album covers so that I could have both vibes in my final product. Overall, I did not really care for this project but I am happy with my final product.
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Pecha - Kucha Presentation: The objective of the Pecha - Kucha presentation was to research an artist that we found interesting and to give a short presentation about their work and how they influenced the art world. Another objective of this project was to be able to find reliable sources and be able to perform good public speaking skills and to show the importance of art in another way. Susan Kare was the artist that I had picked for my presenation and she is famous for creating the Apple icons during the 1980s and working on several typefaces that would be carried throughout the products that Apple still sells today. In all honestly, I hated this project. I hate public speaking and anything having to talk in front of crowds. However, I do love to research things I find interesting and to gather information and knowledge about a subject. I think this was a good project for me because I was able to research an artist I did not know a lot about and I was able to work on my public speaking skills.
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Closing I believe that every individual is called to make creative work even if that means it is outside of creating something creative with art. Everyone has a talent and some people do better with creating things such as poetry or excellent cuisine. I believe that I am called to creative work through my art and especially when it comes to working with something that I am passionate about. I recognize this calling of mine by working with new materials and mediums by trying to work outside of the box. I also try to sketch out any ideas or inspiration that comes to me. I like to work creatively with my camera by trying to capture new shots and whatever catches my eye. I feel that I am called to make a difference in the world with my art and to make a statement. I would personally love to work for a big corporation such as National Geographic and talk about environmental issues such as climate change. If I was guaranteed to support myself financially, I would love to be able to take pictures and publish them as pieces of art in art galleries and museums. I also would love to be able to own a tattoo parlor and design tattoos. I am a big tattoo fan and love how people use them to tell about themselves. I think tattoos are great pieces of art because they can be personal and meaningful or people can use themselves as a ‘human canvas’ to display different types of artwork. I think in general it is important for people to be able to express themselves and to answer their call to creative work, whatever that may be.
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