Design Happens Atlas of Design Process by Nolan Fast
Design Happens Atlas of Design Process by Nolan Fast
Colophon
The typeface for this atlas is a few variations of ITC Avant Garde Gothic Std, mostly book, extra light, and medium. The binding is saddle stitched signatures with a perfect binding.
#bd4f37 #404041
Table of Contents
Foreword
01
Preface
03
Introduction
05
Project 01
07
Brief
09
Drafts
11
Final Design
25
Documentation
29
Project 02
37
Brief
39
Drafts
43
Illustrations
45
Documentation
63
Conclusion
75
Bibliography
76
Design Happens
Prof. Stacy Asher Assistant Professor of Art
Advanced Graphic Design Fall 2014
MAPPING FOR A NARRATIVE ATLAS During the Fall Semester 2014 at the University of NebraskaLincoln,students of Advanced Graphic Design / GRPH 421 authored a collection of maps, charts and diagrams that centered around the concept of “well being or happiness.� Each designed artifact addressed aspects of individual design research and illustrates various methods of investigation. The Atlas publication is a compilation of works that document research and explain processes. Projects engaged students in the invention of unique graphic systems that visualize information about happiness and well being. The designs represent quantitative and qualitative narratives and illustrate individual perspectives and interests.
These visual displays charting well being and system were compiled into an atlas, a book of maps, charts, illustrations or diagrams united by the interpretations of happiness and system that are found within a society. The atlas represents a coordinated body of methods, a scheme or plan of procedure that was used to organize data from design research. Various production methods were considered and students were encouraged to explore a wide variety of media and design strategies. These methods were evaluated on their effectiveness as generators of visual information with respect to their project goals and intended meanings.
Design Happens
Preface
This book is a snapshot of a period of time in my life, a time capsule showing a small part of my journey towards becoming a legitiment graphic designer. Inside this book is my thought process, my most basic artistic styling and how it helps me work through ideas, and what those ideas eventually become. The idea for the book to become something real, simply came from being assigned the task, but the phsyical nature of the book itself, came from the deepest parts of my imagination, with a little help and inspiration from designers all over the web.
Design Happens
Introduction
The goal of this book is simply to give you a deeper understanding and behind the scenes look at my design processes. It exists so that after viewing it you will have that much more of an understanding of who I am as a designer, how I get there, and who I can become.
07
Project 01 Visualizing Systems Happiness & Well Being
Design Happens
08
Project 01
Project Thesis/Brief
09
For this project we were to make a “map” of some sort that showed how something either in our own lives or in the general public’s lives related to attaining a feeling of happiness. The idea of a map could be translated many different ways, conventional or representational. We were supposed to have two maps, the first map is quantitative, with actual facts or statistics making up its content. The second map is qualitative, with its content being more personal and more ofa personal opinion than a quantitative fact. I decided to go with a timeline for my qualitative map. The map is a step by step breakdown of how my personal motorcycle has progressed from how it looked and ran the day I bought it to how it looks and runs now. All of the pictures I used were taken with a cell phone then edited in lightroom and photoshop, because at the time, my only intention for them was to share them with social media. My quantitative map shows pictures and relative locations of certian people’s motorcycles on a world map. The content comes from a facebook page that I am a member of, Suzuki GS750 Owners. I joined the page so that the members could help me rebuild my motorcycle and answer any questions I might have. Everyone on the page shares their build pictures and experience with everyone else. My qualitative map is much more successful than my quantitative in my personal opinion. I am probably bias given that it is a timeline of my persoanl bike, but I think it tells a much better and more interesting story, and has much more in depth and interesting content. The quantitative map is more of an extra for the timeline, as if it’s just a bit of background information for the larger qualitative map, but not the main event.
Design Happens
10
Project 01
11
GOOGLE MAPS HAD SOME GOOD
IDEAS [in theory]
Design Happens
12
Project 01
Ontario Canada
Columbia City, IN
Faaborg
Ontario Canada Netherlands
Sauk Rapids, MN
Moorhead, MN
Herning, Columbia City, IN Sweden
Sauk Rapids, MN Moorhead, MN
Alexandria, MN
Kortrijk-dutsel, Belgium
Cinncinati, OH Alexandria, MN
Pittsburgh, PA Cinncinati, OH Pittsburgh, PA
Palm Desert, CA Palm Desert, CA
Anniston, AL
Anniston, AL
Milan, IL
Pittsburgh, PA
Milan, IL
Pittsburgh, PA
Dracut, MA Searcy, AR
Dracut, MA Searcy, AR Kent, England Stockton-on-Tees, England
Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Leyland Lancashire, England
13 r 20 me Sum
it’s never really finished....
me Sum
13 r 20
Design Happens 13
it’s never really finishe 14
I was going to imitate the Faaborg, Denmark
Netherlands
Google Maps style of marking
Ribe, Denmark
locations,
Herning, Denmark
but
they
were
too
Sweden
g, Denmark
clustered for it to be recognizable.
Ribe, Denmark
Kortrijk-dutsel, , Denmark
Berlin, Germany
Belgium
So I decided to divide it up by Solingen, Germany Berlin, Germany
country, I felt that it still gave enough
Solingen, Germany
information to be interesting and still look aesthetically pleasing. For the qualitative time-line, I didn’t use my imagination to the best of my abilities at first, and went with a generic and common time-line. It delivered the information well
Kent, England Stockton-on-Tees, England
enough, but definitely wasn’t the
Ipswich, Suffolk, England
best way to deliver the information,
Leyland Lancashire, England
er 1
5, 2
01 4
Se pte mb er 1
5, 2
01 4
and needed a lot of re-thinking.
Se pte mb
ed....
Design Happens
14
Project 01
Not very
thrilling but this
next round of revisions
began to take
on a much
more
appealing
aesthetic 15
I immediately realized that the generic time-line wasn’t going to cut it, so I opted for a vertical, three bannered time-line that told more of a story than just a boring piece with too little information, but there was still a lot of work to be done.
Design Happens
16
Project 01
With every
revision it just keeps
getting
better and
better 17
18
Project 01
19
Design Happens
20
Project 01
[caffeine induced sav
ENGA So here’s what happened. After our
I hadn’t saved at all, and lost about 4+
final critique, I had what can only be
hours of amazing work. But, like a trooper,
described as an epiphany, and went on a
I stayed up and did everything all over
late night, caffeine riddled design session
again from memory. It wasn’t exactly what
and completely redesigned the whole
I had the first time, and no where near as
time-line. However, I sadly relearned a
good, but the final design is still WORLDS
lesson my professors have been telling me
better than the iterations I had before.
since I’ve been in college, back up your work and save often! Illustrator crashed.
21
vant style design sesh]
AGED Design Happens
22
Project 01
BOOM. vintage therapy
the crazy tank, while being interesting and one
this is where
of a kind, just wasn’t cutting it for me. so the gs750 got a much needed change in appearance, and a reimagined seat.
it all began
the bike
it’s like a
I just c
with the gs750
every ti
race
t
how I co
the bike needed
cafe racer
some work, quite a bit actually so I began in the only space I had
Happiness
the laundry room
is a sense of
accomplishment, from rejuvinating a 36 year old masterpiece of
d.i.y. seat:
machinery and flying down the road at it’s
questionable
having
a
(1) sheet metal (1) 3/4 in. yoga mat
speeds.
challenge
to
overcome, a task at hand,
(1) spare pleather
the bike runs! thought i'd have some
fun
it runs rough, but given
with the tank
the fact that I have zero expertise in motorcycle mechanics, I still say it’s...
because without a challenge, life would be
boring,
and who
wants that? It can be frustrating,
annoying, and make you want to
pretty freakin sweet the bike was together,
but untested
sell it on many different occasions,
but that shit’s totally
worth it. -Nolan Fast even though I had absolutely
no experience
with
upholstery, and didn’t have a clue how I would build a new seat for the bike, I took
challenge with fear. when it was all
on the little
finished, it obviously looked terrible. but I didn’t give a shit
when winter was over and I
finally
had the bike out, the
elements immediately exposed the
paint
for
what
it
was,
cheap and ineffective. soon enough it flaked and peeled away from the baking sun.
so the bike soon became a nice
sturdy black,
[I was damn proud of myself]
and to go with
the new paint I chopped the muffler off to allow the bikes
true obnoxious self to sound out for everyone to hear.
23
Suzuki GS750's
A Worldwide Collective
never
really finished,
a design
project that
e is
can’t get away from.
ime I walk by it, thoughts
through my head about
ould make it
better..
there is ALWAYS room for improvement
bobber style things change
(check em out bigger on the next pages)
I wanted to spruce up the bike a bit by painting the wheels a different color. originally I went with the red, but I wasn’t feeling it, so again I had to go with the black
so, how happy are you?
Design Happens
24
Project 01 - Final Design
vintage therapy
this is where
it all began
with the gs750
the bike needed some work, quite a bit actually so I began in the only space I had
Happiness
the laundry room
is a sense of
accomplishment, from rejuvinating a 36 year old masterpiece of machinery and flying down the road at it’s
questionable
having
a
speeds.
challenge
to
overcome, a task at hand,
thought i'd have some
fun with the tank
because without a challenge, life would be
boring,
and who
wants that? It can be frustrating,
annoying, and make you want to
the bike was together,
but untested
sell it on many different occasions,
but that shit’s totally
worth it. -Nolan Fast even though I had absolutely
no experience
with
upholstery, and didn’t have a clue how I would build a new seat for the bike, I took
challenge with fear. when it was all
on the little
finished, it obviously looked terrible. but I didn’t give a shit
[I was damn proud of myself]
25
the crazy tank, while being interesting and one
of a kind, just wasn’t cutting it for me. so the gs750 got a much needed change in appearance, and a reimagined seat. never
really finished,
it’s like a design
project that
the bike is
I just can’t get away from. every time I walk by it, thoughts
race
through my head about
how I could make it
better..
there is ALWAYS room for improvement
cafe racer
d.i.y. seat: (1) sheet metal (1) 3/4 in. yoga mat
bobber style things change
(1) spare pleather
the bike runs! it runs rough, but given the fact that I have zero expertise in motorcycle mechanics, I still say it’s...
pretty freakin sweet
I wanted to spruce up the bike a bit by painting the wheels a different color. originally I went with the red, but I wasn’t feeling it, so again I had to go with the black
when winter was over and I
finally
had the bike out, the
elements immediately exposed the
paint
for
what
it
was,
cheap and ineffective.
so, how happy are you?
soon enough it flaked and peeled away from the baking sun.
so the bike soon became a nice
sturdy black,
and to go with
the new paint I chopped the muffler off to allow the bikes
true obnoxious self to sound out for everyone to hear.
Design Happens
26
Project 01 - Final Design
Suzuki GS750's
A Worldwide Collective
27
Design Happens
28
29
Documentation Happiness Summit
30
Project 01 - Documentation
31
Design Happens
32
Project 01 - Documentation
33
Design Happens
34
Project 01 - Documentation
35
Design Happens
36
37
Project 02 Visualizing Narrative
Design Happens
38
Project 02
Project Thesis/Brief
39
For project 03 we read the novel The Circle by Dave Eggers and had to visualize the narrative in another way. Simply put, the novel tells a story in which the lives of the general public are becoming more and more public by technology and social media, led by a large corporation with ulterior motives and hypocritical agendas. In revisualizing the narrative we could be as literal or figurative as we saw fit, and tell as much or as little of the story as we wanted, as long as we had an artifact in the end that encompassed something about the story such as the theme or plot points. For this project I decided to make a satirical comic, or could almost call it a colleciton of short illustrated stories. I focused on the technology from the book called “See Change”. See Change was a camera that certain willing individuals wore anywhere and everywhere they went. The camera was constantly feeding anything and everything they did onto the internet so that whoever wanted to watch and comment about what that person was doing, could do so, and everything was shared. The idea was that if people could see everything you did, you could do nothing wrong, at least not without someone knowing. I visualized the idea of the camera into a living, breathing, monster that followed you arond, and was chained to you by a collar around your neck. It saw everything you did, and you had to go on with your life with this awkward, siveral hundred pound monster permanently fixed to your neck. I think my story boards are great, they are funny and ironic, while still retaining the dark veil from the story of what the camera was actually doing to people’s lives. My prototype was less than perfect, but was a great start and practice run so that in the future I can make something elegant and beautiful. Having never done anything like this before I’m very proud that my spreads turned out as nice as they did and captured the book very nicely, and in the future I can remake the book so that I have a wonderful artifact to share and remember this project by.
Design Happens
40
Project 02 - Mapping the “Circle”
41
We did a quick exercise in which we mapped out what we felt the “Circle� campus actually looked like. Our maps could be as literal or figurative as we wanted just like the main project. Mine was very figurative, and was more like one of those maps or signs you find in a mall to show you where you are and where everything is located.
Design Happens
42
Project 02
[IDEA SKETCHING]
43
[BRAINSTORMING]
I enjoyed the style and way this book is laid out. It really influenced my whole design quite a bit.
Design Happens
44
Project 02
[UP N 45
NEXT] Illustrations
Design Happens
46
Project 02
47
Character Design
Design Happens
48
Project 02
Illustration planning [Illustration Planning]
49
I rough sketched my ideas out first in light pencil, then when I had a layout I thought was good I went over it again with a darker pencil so that I had a nice rough draft to make a final drawing with.
Design Happens
50
Project 02
51
[Final Drawings]
Final Drawings
Design Happens
52
Project 02
53
[Illustration Planning]
Design Happens
54
Project 02
55
[Final Drawings]
Design Happens
56
Project 02
[Illustration Planning]
57
[Final Drawings] Design Happens
58
Project 02
59
[Illustration Planning] Design Happens
60
Project 02
61
[Final Drawings] Design Happens
62
63
Documentation
64
Project 02 - Documentation
65
I made a mock up of the book at the size I wanted it to be. I had never done anything like this before, so it was a whole new experience for me. I used a sewing machine to bind all of the pages together, which actually worked really well. However, I didn’t do any practice runs before trying it on my pages, so when I inevitably messed it up, I was stuck with what I had since I didn’t allow time to reprint. Even though the process didn’t go like I wanted, I learned a great deal in doing it, and in the future I now have the knowledge to make something really nice and professional looking.
Design Happens
66
Project 02 - Documentation
67
Since my mock up wasn’t the greatest looking thing I’ve ever made, when it came time to present our projects to Stacy and the class for our group critique I presented it in the form of story boards. I printed them larger and on nice paper with the crop marks to show the actual edges of where the spreads would lie. This was a very successful way to present because multiple people could view it at once and it was easier to talk about, it also showed the visual theme and styling for the whole book instead of just one page at a time.
Design Happens
68
Project 02 - Documentation
69
Since in the book the See Change broadcast the wearers actions at all times over the internet and people could comment and discuss at any given time, I felt that including that aspect in the book was a must. I tried to be as accurate to what I thought people in today’s society would usually say and comment on happenings like these. I stereotyped and satirized them a little bit for humor, but I think the message is clear and still delivers the point I was trying to make clearly and effectively.
Design Happens
70
Project 02 - Documentation
71
Design Happens
72
Project 02 - Documentation
73
This book is based on the plot from the book The Circle, by Dave Eggers. This short story revolves around a piece of technology from the book called See Change, which was a camera that people wore around everywhere so that people in society could see everything that they were doing. This was an attempt to reduce secrecy and corruption. I however, have taken a much more comical and satirical approach to the concept of See Change, but am attempting to show the frusration, downfall, and obvious reasons why having See Change in your life would probable not be a good thing.
A little about the author, Nolan Fast. I’ve never illustrated anything to this extent, I have always enjoyed drawing and doodling, so it was fun to hone that into something more tangible. I have little to no experience in making comics either, but I love that visual styling, so I was happy to give it a shot myself.
Design Happens
74
Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to learn about my process as a
graphic designer. I really enjoyed experimenting, crafting, and designing these artifacts, and hope you enjoyed learning about and viewing them. These projects took place during the Fall 2014 semester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under direction of Professor Stacy Asher. If you would like to learn more about me as a designer or see more of my work you can view my website at www.nolanfast.com, or get a hold of me with my contact information below. Nolan Fast 2109 Market Street Beatrice, NE 68310 Email: nolanfast@gmail.com Phone: 402.507.0572
75
Bibliography
Work referenced in the book or otherwise used as inspiration: All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen and Jory John Visible Signs by David Crow Various Google searches as well as many skims through Behance.net and Designspiration.com provided visual inspiration as well.
Design Happens
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Design Happens Atlas of Design Process by Nolan Fast