49 minute read
Growth: Process Journal
chapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
Advertisement
“The journey is never ending. There’s always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what’s right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment.” — Antonio Brown
INTRO
After months of working through project after project, finally we get to take all the work and organize it in these Process Journals. These books are so helpful to me because then I can take a step back and evaluate my work flow, and see how much I have managed to grow.
Growth in every aspect of life is important to me, especially in my work. I am always trying to learn and internalize all the information I can, so I can work my best.
EXAMININGTYPE
Reflection
My first reaction to learning the various aspects of typography is that it is all pretty daunting. There is a lot of do’s and don’ts that I need to remember. I need to keep in mind content, context, audience, material, and so much more. I feel a bit lost and don’t really know where to start with it all, which, coincidentally, is how I even feel about this document. It will take a lot of work for me to be able to comprehend all that we are learning because even if it is thorough, it is a fast pace. Overall, I am
feeling overwhelmed and lost, but that’s okay. I’ll be okay.
I know that this was a simple assignment, but somehow I still made it difficult for myself. Both the printed pieces of body type that I brought in seemed like they both had their pros and cons. The Serif body was very traditional and colonial, which was a good choice since it was talking about Virginia and its past. My biggest complaint was that the body type felt too close together in its
leading. I would have liked for my eyes to feel less constraint.
My other piece was a Sans Serif body type. It was a book on a modern artist, which I thought was neat since you don’t see Sans Serifs in printed books often, especially as body text. I felt it kept with the whole aesthetic of being modern, but was also very easy to read and was inviting to my eyes.
Examining Type | 5 | Shayla Kerr
SIXFACTORIALS
Reflection
This projects really helped me learn what it is that I personally like from type and what I don’t. I use it as a reference to help me decide what I want to use for my Process Journal we will be working on soon (hopefully). I lean more heavily towards sans serif fonts, actually, all my favorites are sans serif. I don’t hate serif typefaces, there’s nothing wrong with them, I just don’t prefer them. I don’t have a general preference for columns, but I do enjoy the 3-4 column look. It’s an easy way to have all my text organized and make it feel less like a term paper, which is exactly what I’m
trying to avoid. This assignment also made me more conscious about what makes type work and what doesn’t. I am still always second guessing how I am handling type, but it is comforting to know that I have a set of guidelines to reference for when I really am unsure. I admit it is getting easier and easier to handle type. The more I work with it, the more I find myself enjoying it. It still frustrates me and I still get lost and overwhelmed from time to time, but overall I find myself slowly getting comfortable.
Personally, I don’t think hierarchy has
been a big issue for me this semester. To me, it is sort of one of those things that comes naturally. It’s intuitive in my opinion.
Considerations for Good Typography
(especially with body text)
» white space» appropriate choice» breaking up large masses of text» visual hierarchy, organization» letter spacing» placement (on the page)» works with the non-type material» line spacing
» line breaks (widows & orphans, hyphenation, nice rag)
» cohesiveness
» justified alignment, has to work well » audience, connotation » color » readability » column width » orientation of text » structure of text » surface, contrast » overuse of special formatting » boxes around text
Six Factorials | 7 | Shayla Kerr
PAIRINGTYPE
Reflection
The exercise of changing and comparing text and then printing it was one that I really appreciated. As someone who is not very adept at wrapping text around her head, I really loved this exercise. It was a lot easier for me to see the little changes side by side. This is definitely something I will be implementing into my process because it really has helped me view text in the way that I need to. I still am not very confident with my eye for text in general, but I know this exercise is helping me take a step to help train my eyes and expand my skills. The two fonts that I chose where
Avenir LT Std and Gotham (TT). I have become a little obsessed with Sans Serif fonts recently and have been experimenting with different ones. I chose these two because they are very well made fonts and I love the way they look. I tested the fonts with various sizes and leadings to see which combination worked the best for the body text.
For Avenir, I was most happy with the three column formatting with typeface size nine and having the leading set to thirteen. My eye did not feel very constrained in any way or lost while examining the body text. With Gotham,
I went with the three column approach again. Gotham is already kind of a chunky typeface, so after experimenting, I decided on a size nine for type and fourteen for leading. I had a hard time deciding between size thirteen and fourteen leading for this font, and in all honesty, I think they both work fine for the font and its size.
Pairing
Typefaces
Pairing Typefaces | 9 | Shayla Kerr
Fluid Typography | An Essay by Ellen Lupton
Fluid Typography | An Essay by Ellen Luptonwith additional subheads inserted for the exercise
with additional subheads inserted for the exerciseto the next. By the early twentieth century, the classical page had given way to the multicolumned, mixed-media structures of the modern newspaper, magazine, and illustrated book.
Print and Digital — The New Paradigm
Today, the simultaneity of diverse content streams is a given. Alongside the archetype of the printed page, the new digital archetype of the window has taken hold. The window is a scrolling surface of unlimited length, whose width adjusts at the will of reader or writer. In both print and digital media, graphic designers devise ways to navigate bodies of information by exploring the structural possibilities of pages and windows, boxes and frames, edges and margins.
soft copy — a chameleon
In 1978, Nicholas Negroponte and Muriel Cooper, working at mit’s Media Lab, published a seminal essay on the notion of “soft copy,” the linguistic raw material of the digital age. The bastard offspring of hard copy, soft text lacks a fixed typographic identity. Owing allegiance to no font or format, it is willingly pasted, pirated, output, or repurposed in countless contexts. It is the ubiquitous medium of word-processing, desk-top publishing, e-mail, and the Internet. The burgeoning of soft copy had an enormous impact on graphic design in the 1980s and 1990s. In design for print, soft copy largely eliminated the mediation of the typesetter, the technician previously charged with converting the manuscript—which had been painstakingly marked up by hand with instructions from the designer-into galleys, or formal pages of type. Soft copy flows directly to designers in digital form from authors and editors. The designer is free to directly manipulate the text-without relying on the typesetter-and to adjust typographic details up to the final moments of production. The soft copy revolution led designers to plunge from an objective aerial view into
Subhead Sitka Reg, 13/13.5
Body text Josephine Sans, regular / style, 9.5/13.5
Subhead Mongolian Baiti Reg, 13/13.5
Body text Avenir LT Std 35 Light 9.5/13.5
Subhead Rockwell Reg, 13/13.5
Body text Crimson, Roman, 9.5 /13.5
Subhead Myanmar Reg / style, 13/13.5
Body text Segoe UI Regular, 9.5/13.5
the moving waters of text, where they shape it from within.
Interactive Typography
Digital media enable both users and producers, readers and writers, to regulate the flow of language. As with design for print, the goal of interactive typography is to create “architectural” structures that accommodate the organic stream of text. But in the digital realm, these structures-and the content they support-have the possibility of continuous transformation. In their essay about soft copy, Negroponte and Cooper predicted the evolution of digital interfaces that would allow typography to transform its size, shape, and color. Muriel Cooper (1925-1994) went on to develop the idea of the three-dimensional “information landscape,” a model that breaks through the window frames that dominate electronic interfaces.
Body Text as a Mass
Viewed from a distance, a field of text is a block of gray. But when one comes in close to read, the individual characters predominate over the field. Text is a body of separate objects that move together as a mass, like cars in a flow of traffic or individuals in a crowd. Text is a fluid made from the hard, dry crystals of the alphabet.
Typeface designs in the Renaissance reflected the curving lines of handwriting, formed by ink flowing from the rigid nib of a pen.
The cast metal types used for printing converted these organic sources into fixed, reproducible artifacts.
As the printed book became the world’s dominant information medium, the design of typefaces grew ever more abstract and formalized, distanced from the liquid hand.
Explorations by Shayla Kerr
Explorations by Shayla KerrPairing Typefaces | 11 | Shayla Kerr
VISUALSYSTEM
Reflection
I have always known where to find inspiration and references, but in this project, it helped me learn how to analyze what inspires me. It has helped me see and list off what I enjoy and want to emulate in my designs. Seeing what elements have been used and why they work or don’t work.
I really enjoy works that are bold and have a bright color pallet. Adding
personal touches to work is always nice too, like handwriting some text or creating your own images and icons. Things like that are what I have in mind for the Process Journal we will be creating soon.
Every day I just feel like with each project I am expanding my knowledge and learning more and more. I am becoming less and less worried about
typography since we have been focusing on the basics of the basics. Baby steps like these are letting me become more comfortable with type and become more confident in my work.
Publication Title: Process Journal by Millie McGuffie
Publication source: https://issuu.com/milliemcguffie/docs/reflective_journal_pdf
System elements
Feel/tonality:» Color:
» Content Seperation:» Images:
»» Clean
› Keeps color pallette per section
› Images on one side, text on the other› Majority are fully covering the page
» Large» Script:
» Text:»
» Blue› Uses scripts for all sections cover pages
› Double collum with no para. indent› etc
» Powerfuland numbers
»› etc
Visual System | 13 | Shayla Kerr
ANALYZINGGRIDS
Reflection
This project was in my personal opinion, the most unfun, but was useful to my eye. I know that it is important to be able to look at a layout and to see how it was constructed. It gives you an idea to how you can better your own layouts, or what you can experiment with. I already do this sort of thing with other types of art like paintings. I try to deconstruct the work and see what it was the painter did to create their work. It makes sense that we would do something similar in design.
Trying to look at the bones of a design is helpful and shows me all
the different ways I can use a grid in my work. Admittedly, my grid for this project was still very difficult for me to see, and I am still not very good at finding the grid in general. Hopefully, I will get better and as time goes on, spotting the grid on someone’s work will become second nature to me.
It was interesting to list off all the components that were on one page that interacted. The color palette, body size, placement, typeface choices, and so much more are just some of the many elements, I’m learning, that help brings visual harmony and sense to a spread.
MOSAIC ––– Identity for a Fictional Nation, and Welcoming Guide Year: 2018 Created by Tracy Thanh Tran
The Past + Future
Section Header: Flushed left in a sans serif font, closely resembling Gotham Black at 32/34, very large and bold as head of
hierarchy. Body Text: contrasted with header as a serif font, separating paragraphs by spacing, 12/17 in a font similar to Baskerville Old-face.
As the world was going through a refugee crisis, and 6.5 million people were displaced from their homes,
Page Setup: 6x10” page, 0.5 in boarder on top/bottom of page, 0.2597 in boarder on let/right of pages.
Photo: flushed left, similar to header and side caption, aligned with horizontal of body text, 0.125 pica spacing from body text.
m o s a i c ’ s h i s t o r y
Header: Small caps sans serif font, similar to Gotham TT Book, 12/14 and 180 tracking
Horizontal
Alignment: 2.9261 in from top of the page.
Columns: 14 columns /0.125 pica spacing
Side Captions: Flushed to very left of the page. Sans serif font similar to Claibri in a 9/12.
Color Pallette: All text: 2F5735 Photo: Overlayed with that same color. Background: FFE4D9
On Super Diversity: Reflections
Page Numbers: Centered on page, directly touching/ bellow the boarder, sans serif font
Analyzing Grids | 15 | Shayla Kerr
VISUALHIERARCHY
Reflection
Right now I am I feel like I have a good foundation for the project. I want to create something modern and fun, while also keeping the flow/hierarchy of the text. At first I was happy with what I was doing inside of the pamphlet, using circles to enclose the numbers. But now, I am bored with it honestly. There is so much more I could be doing with it that I just haven’t tried yet. Which is something I’m going to make sure I do tonight while continuing to work on it. I
just need to try new things and expand. It’s a little frustrating, mainly because I don’t like working with a lot of text, but it’s fine.
All I can really say is that the project went well. I enjoyed the look and illustrative approach I took, and my visual hierarchy could have been better. I wasn’t the most excited about the circles encasing the numbers, and maybe the subheads could have been a little bigger. I was just too scared to
change anything because I didn’t want to mess what I already had up. Looking back, this is something that maybe in the future I would like to try practicing again.
Visual Hierarchy | 17 | Shayla Kerr
s e p t e m b e r 25, 2018
Pamphlet Project:
All I can really say is that the project went well. I enjoyed the look and illustrative apprach I took, and my visual hierarchy could have been better. I wasn’t the most excited about the circles encasing the numbers, and maybe the subheads could have been a little bigger. I was just too scared to change anything because I didn’t want to mess what I already had up.
Reflection
chapter Visual Hierarchy title | page | 19 # | Shayla Kerr
DESIGNHEROES
Reflection
At the moment I have no problems with any of the designers and illustrators I picked for this project. I really love all of them, even if their work is drastically different. I chose them because I see a lot of myself in their work, whether it be stylistically or conceptually.
As for planning what this book will look like, that is another story. I want my book to be dynamic and fun, but I also feel like all my work is very childish, or not as mature as others. But, then again, that is me comparing myself to others, which I shouldn’t do. I just like my work to be visually interesting and dynamic,
but I also like to make things fun. What’s the point in making something if it can’t be a little fun or cheeky? I want others to enjoy my work just as much as I enjoy it, even if it is a bit frustrating at times. I am also a little frustrated with myself because I feel like my creative juices just aren’t flowing as easily. I’m taking the same five key aspects of the book and trying to figure out how to organize them in different ways, but overall I just feel like they’re all generally exactly the same. It’s been a hard week and it’s only Tuesday and my creative constipation for this project
has not been helping the mood. I justhave to keep pushing on through untilsomething good happens on accident.
Design Heroes | 21 | Shayla Kerr
chapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
I have only a handful out of the countless variations of spreads I experimented with during the process of creating this booklet. Eventually, I ended up with something I really enjoyed, and so did everyone else.
Design Heroes | 25 | Shayla Kerrchapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
chapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
This had to possibly the most difficult part out of the whole project. Remember when I was talking about creative constipation earlier? Well, it really hit me hard here. I can’t even begin to count how many sketches and variations this front cover went through. I saw a lot of my peers creating covers with their chosen heroes displayed on them, but that just really was something I didn’t want to do. Even when I did put my heroes on the cover I didn’t like how it looked. It never seemed to really work for me. I wanted to represent my design heroes in a different way.
I don’t even know where the idea came from, but one day I just thought about making a pattern. I have been having a really fun time making patterns recently in Adobe Illustrator for other personal projects. Each of my heroes had at least one small icon that they created that I also added into my spreads. I had the idea to take those icons and use them for a nice pattern for the cover. This also went through trial and error because I had to figure out how to pattern them in a way where the overall look was optically even. My other
problem was trying to figure out how and where to put my text. Just pasting my title over the pattern was too much visually, it looked very messy. Eventually, after staring at my screen for what felt like an eternity, I thought it would be smart to place my text in generally the same areas where the icons would be in the pattern. The blue color of the cover was to somehow include myself in this book of people I looked up to. Over the years I have personally watched my own growth and I find a lot of inspiration from that, and it just pushes me every day to get better and better.
Reflection
Design Heroes | 29 | Shayla Kerrchapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
This journal is finally OVER! I have no idea how many I had to redesign this journal. I felt like I was constantly at war between what was functional and what looked interesting. I guess that is the eternal struggle of a graphic designer, but in this project, it really seemed to kick my butt. One day the journal would look one way, and then the next day it was a completely different book. I know that book and layout design is definitely not my thing or my strong suit, but I have to admit, it is really nice when it’s all put together in my hands. This project was definitely a journey, and even now I am not a hundred percent satisfied with how my journal came out, but then again, when am I ever. I still can’t see grids very easily even after all the practice and study we have had, however, it’s not exactly the first thing I think about when it comes to layout design. It’s very important, and I know that, but I feel like I just need to be more conscious of this sort of thing.
Something good that came from this project, is that I can definitely see improvement from last year. I coined the term “design puberty” because that is the best way to describe what not only me, but I’m sure many of the others in the class, are experiencing. We are in the process of growing, bad
kerning is our acne, and grids are our growing pains. I might sound pretty negative about this whole experience, but I am actually very happy about everything that we have been doing. I’m not the best at it and want to acknowledge that, because it’s just the process of helping me improve. I am very proud of everyone’s work in class too. It was rough in the beginning, but in the end, everyone ended up with something great.
Design Heroes | 31 | Shayla Kerr
RÉSUMÉWORKSHOP
Reflection
This workshop was the one that I probably looked forward to the most. Making me résumé as professional as possible is always something I am trying to learn, and honestly, there are a lot of different sources out in the world with a lot of contrasting opinions. After I read my assigned article about résumés, I felt as dumb as a résumé looked. Everything the article told us not to today, I, of course, did. But, to be fair, a lot of what made my old résumé garbage came from different sources on the internet. How was I supposed to know what was good or bad for a résumé? I did know
that keeping it simple is always a good thing, but I also wanted to stand out a little bit from others. I now see that there are a lot of badly made résumés, and the ones that stand out are the ones that are made well.
Something that had me shocked was some of the résumé horror stories Leslie was telling us about. People putting confetti in their résumés or making them look like a chip bag. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. I mean, I wanted my old résumé to stand out, but even I knew that I should never do something like that ever.
It was very inspiring to look at some of the alums résumés. They were all unique in their own way but kept it simple and clean. It was also nice to get a sense of what is to come in the future. I am excited for the day when we print our business cards and create beautiful envelopes and packaging for our résumés.
100% Clever,0% Hired
Résumé Workshop | 33 | Shayla Kerr
shayla kerr
contact
270-872-6096
snkerr01@louisville.edu shaylakerr.com
@shayla_kerr
experience
freelance theater poster design
Louisville, KY | 2018–Present
Design and produce a theatre poster for client, with imagery representing the themes and mood displayed in the play being performed.
louisville cardinal
Louisville, KY | 2018–Present
Design and produce various media such as illustrations, typographic visuals, and front page of newspaper.
freelance
Louisville, KY | 2013–Present
Design and produce various media such as illustrations, logos, posters, fliers, and shirts.
skills
adobe suites
Photoshop | Advanced
Illustrator | Proficient
InDesign | Proficient
volunteer work
central hardin high school
Elizabethtown, KY | 2016 Illustrator of the Special Education Mural
education
university of louisville hite art institute
2018–Present
» University of Louisville BFA for Graphic
Design » Dean’s list 2017-2018
extra curricular
university of louisville
2018–Present
U of L Student Art League Vice President
2018–Present
U of L Student Art League Social Media and Advertising Officer
central hardin high school 2016–2017 President of the Central Hardin High School Art Club
2015–2017 Central Hardin High School Drama Club Graphic Designer
Résumé Workshop | 35 | Shayla Kerr
WOODTYPE
Reflection
When I joined printmaking, I knew that I wanted to somehow employ the skills I gained in that class with my graphic design skills. I am glad that both my favorite disciplines go so well together.
If I am being honest, the day Leslie mentioned that we would be using the print press, I had already had sketched out a handful of ideas. I just knew that there were so many things to do, but I am glad that Leslie structured this assignment that will give me and my classmates a little bit of a creative break. Everything for this assignment was laid out for us, all we have to do is design
how we want our type to look, seems easy enough. Something that I will probably be using multiple times is the etching information we will be acquiring after we go to First Build. I am interested in knowing how we will be etching out our sorts, and I want to use that same information to help me on a big project I have planned for in the future.
As for my sorts, I wanted to add to the schools’ collection something that would represent me, so that way I will always be a part of it even if it is only one inch by one-inch cube of carved
wood. All my crafts are important to me, including witchcraft. I like to combine my crafts if I am able, and I thought this assignment would do that well. I have used some witchcraft symbols, and I didn’t include anything that would be very scary. There is the Icovellavna, or the Celtic Shield Knot, which is for protection. Then I have included the symbol for Pluto, and finally, I have added the Pentagram, which does not represent Satan, but the five elements earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.
SHARED VALUES
EMPATHY STEWARDSHIP
INTEGRITY
TYPOGRAPHY 1 CLASS
Photos by Leslie Friesen
Woodtype Project | 37 | Shayla Kerr
Something that really made me love the process of print, even more, was watching Pressing On. It was really great at showing the progression of using the press and how important it still is to many people. I am saddened that all these amazing people with knowledge and the incredible collection will soon one day be gone, and their legacies went with them. It makes me want to take action and do what I can by keeping printmaking alive. It is such an important part of the world’s culture and should be protected and preserved.
It is because of this reason why I now understand why Rachel is always trying to recruit people into printmaking. She loves this craft, and what others to love it as well so that they can also protect it. I will do what I can, by helping her recruit more people into the class, and keeping the information I have learned so far alive and well. I will possibly even try teaching it to others if I can. Something I have been thinking about doing is creating more wood type for our library. We don’t have a large variety to use from, and a lot of the collections we do have are missing pieces of type. If I can help in some way, then I will be happy.
Lunchtime Movie
Thursday, Nov.15 :: 12:10–1:50 :: Schneider LL27 (Graphic Design Lab) Bring your lunch & enjoy a wonderful documentary about letterpress and some of its heroes. 100 minutes. Free for UofL students, faculty & staff.
http://louisville.edu/art facebook.com/Hite.Art.Institute Phone: 502.852.6794
Poster design: ©Letterpress Film llc
Photo by Leslie Friesen
Woodtype | 39 | Shayla Kerr
PROCESSJOURNAL
Reflection
Honestly, at the start of the semester when a Process Journal was mentioned, my first thought was, “Oh god here we go again.” At least this time I knew what to expect and how to make one. I am pretty sure though that this Process Journal is exponentially harder than the last. The time crunch I know for a fact is not hitting just me, but everyone in the class. If it wasn’t for the time crunch and other little side projects that have been taking up some time, this would be a little easier. I understand, however, that there will be plenty more time crunches in the future and thankfully I can say
that I think I am handling them well.
Designing this journal was also a bit difficult. I hadn’t really given it much thought over the semester because I was either focused one working other projects or trying to get as much material for the journal as I could. Designing this journal just accidentally slipped into the back of my mind. Right now I am close to comfortable with where this journal is in terms of design. The visual system doesn’t feel as fluid or strong as I would have hoped it to be. On top of that, there were just so many things that I would have liked to
implement that I just didn’t have time for. Over the Summer, I may do what I did with my first Process Journal and take time to redesign it.
So far I am most looking forward to seeing everyone else’s journals. During our quick crit, I could see that a lot of people were struggling as much as me, but they also had some really good stuff in the making, and I am excited to see it all finished and printed.
Process Journal | 43 | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
chapter Process title Journal | page | 45 # | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
Process Journal | 47 | Shayla Kerr
CREATIVE
SPRINT:
Creating an Alphabet
Reflection
This creative sprint was really fun for me. Not a lot of people know this, but I spent a lot of my childhood creating my own languages either for myself or to have secret talks with my friends. This assignment made me a little nostalgic.
It was interesting to see what other people were creating and how we had to combine them. It made me want to start up the hobby of creating languages again.
The letter that I had helped create looks almost like a dramatic cursive “z”. I enjoy the fluidity and curves of this letter. I tried taking this letter into Adobe
Illustrator and perfecting its form using circles and lines, but I think I liked the imperfections of the handwritten letter better. Also, the Illustrator version I made was generally garbage anyways.
Design Sprint: Creating an Alphabet | 49 | Shayla Kerr
CREATIVE
SPRINT:
Creating a Zine
Reflection
Making a zine wasn’t exactly something that was new to me. I like to make books and sometimes I also make zines. Going through the process of trying to figure out how images and text will be placed on a single sheet of paper which will then be cut and folded has always been the biggest struggle for me personally. I can never quite get the math right and something is always a little bit off. It happened again while creating the zine
for Typography. All of my images were drastically misaligned on the pages and were even backward. Creating a zine, something that is small and compact is very hard. I did enjoy taking a moment to do something creative that didn’t concern any of our big projects. It was nice not to have to worry about them for a second. I also enjoyed all the zines my classmates made. They all had their own
little story and felt a little more liberated that other work I had seen from my peers.
Even though my zine turned out very poorly, I hope to find time ones of these days to go back and try to fix it and make it better.
Creative Sprint: Creating a Zine | 51 | Shayla Kerr
Photo by Leslie Friesen
Reflection
Creative Sprint: Creating a Zine | 53 | Shayla Kerrchapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
AIGA WEEK:
Michael Bierut
Reflection
Experiencing the presentation by Michael Bierut felt like the second coming of Jesus, it was almost spiritual to me. All around me were where these important and creative people and for once I could physically see the sense of community around me in the design world. For once it’s not just faces and words on a screen, they’re all sitting in a room with me.
Michael Bierut has kind of become one of those figure in my life that helped me really reinforce that I know what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. I didn’t really know what to expect
since it was my first AIGA Louisville Design Week but hearing about Michael Bierut’s life and experiences were very fun and insightful. I want what he and others are doing at Pentagram. I want so badly to design things and work on projects that change people’s lives and add something to the world that people will see and recognize. I want my work to last and outlive me. At the end of the day, I just want to be doing something that is making me happy, in hopes that one day I will eventually die happy.
Seeing Leslie get the praise and credit she deserves was also one
of the highlights of my night. She does so much for us and the design community and I am just so happy that people recognize that. I am happy that everyone else loves Leslie as much as me and my peers do.
www.instagram.com/aigalou
www.instagram.com/aigalou
AIGA Week: Michael Bierut | 55 | Shayla Kerr
BRADVETTER
Reflection
Getting a chance to go and see Brad Vetter’s studio and his process was wild. It was a blessing and I am so thankful for the trip and feel like I have a newfound appreciation for typography. It was never my strong suit but now I am not so scared of it. This trip made me realize two things: First, my love for combining digital and traditional mediums was only further reinforced by seeing Brad do it with letterpress. Secondly, that Louisville is a great hive full of creatives. I always seem to forget this, but Louisville just has so many amazingly talented artists.
Growing up, all the creatives that I admired and looked up to were lived states away or in different countries. It was an amazing experience to be in what I can only describe as the physical embodiment of what it is like inside his head. I always forget that Louisville is this crazy town with a bigger art community than I thought. We have all these low-key famous artists that only live five minutes up the road and it’s great. All the artist I have always admired have always been in faraway places, so it’s exciting having some that live less than a mile away.
I have found that printmaking has been cathartic for all this. It really has helped with the stress of being busy all the time and being addicted to work and not having my time. I don’t know what it is about it. I don’t have the same feeling about it as I do with design. With design, I feel obsessed and excited. With printmaking, it almost feels like I am meditating. There is something about going through the motions of making additions to prints that just gives my brain a chance to shut off.
Photos by Leslie Friesen
Brad Vetter | 57 | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
Photos by Leslie Friesen
Brad Vetter | 59 | Shayla KerrPhoto by Leslie Friesen
chapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
Photo by Leslie Friesen
chapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
PERSONALWORK
Reflection
Since I have started actively participating as a Student Art League member, and currently, Vice President, I have made it my mission to do as much graphic design work for them as possible. SAL had no logo or branding when I joined and I wanted to change that. If you are an organization and want to be recognized, it would probably be smart to at least have a logo. The first meeting we had I started working on designs automatically. The first idea we decided upon was a cardinal with a paint pallet in the background. We decided it was good as a placeholder until we could come
up with something we felt represented us more correctly. We wanted to stray from the traditional theme of being a University of Louisville group.
Honestly, I am not exactly sure how the current logo for SAL came to fruition, but I do know that it was an accident. Despite that, I had somehow created a logo that fit all the themes we wanted to exude. Using a round geometric and equidistant type I had made, I took “S” “A” “L” and made them into a monogram that would be one form. Then to help distinguish each letter by changing its layer setting to Screen. I kept the logo related to U of L
be using the Gotham typeface. I wanted the logo to also be translatable if it was printed in black and white, but because all the letters are touching and have different colors, I couldn’t just make the whole form black. As a result, I made the decision to turn the letters into lines. I love this look because it looks like a stained glass window and reminds me of work from the Bauhaus period of design.
Now SAL has a logo for social media, to put on buttons and shirts, and more.
Personal Work | 63 | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
It wasn’t very necessary, but I thought it would be fun to create an entire typeface, or at least the alphabet, using only a circle and a square. Maybe one day I will turn it into some wood type for printing.
Personal Work | 64 | Shayla Kerr
Personal Work | 67 | Shayla Kerr
Personal Work| 69 | Shayla Kerr
Creating logos, I have been recognizing this year, is something that I am very passionate about. I love how sometimes some logos are just so smart in their design. Back during AIGA Week, when Michael Bierut was talking about when his dad said that Clark forklift logo was smart because the “L” looked like it was lifting the “A”, he said it shocked and amazed him. That perfectly describes my whole experience with logos, and that is exactly why I want to create them so badly.
I am practicing and learning as much as I can. Finding inspirations in almost everything, and even giving myself practice prompts. Some days, I even sit in the library and just stare at the logo mark books we have on the shelves. Never in my life have I wanted something for myself so badly, so I am trying my hardest to succeed and work hard.
Something that has helped me create my work is by taking a step back and trying to recognize the step in my process. If I am able to take a step back and analyze my workflow, then hopefully I can work more efficiently, and find even better methods that will help me creatively.
Right now I am proud of myself, even though I’m sure a lot of my logos are not the best, however; I am even more sure I’ll get better eventually.
Reflection
I find a lot of joy in creating logos, as I’ve already explained, but it really helps put my work into perspective when I apply my designs to mockups and see how it would work in the real world.
Personal Work | 70 | Shayla Kerr
PERSONALGROWTH
Reflection
This year I hit a really big wall when it came to myself. Every day I just would like looking at myself less and less, and started to feel really insecure, which hit me really bad because I haven’t felt like that about myself in a long long time. I have always been a heavier set girl but the last two years have been the two heaviest years of my life.
Something else I haven’t experienced in a very long time is severe anxiety. Some days, completely out of the blue, I will be so overcome with anxiety for no reason that I can find, and have to fight off an anxiety attack for maybe two
days at a time. Even when I was younger my anxiety was never this bad. I have found my ways of dealing with it though so I guess that’s good, but it still sucks that I feel this way and can’t control it.
All these things have been weighing on me for the past two years and I’ve gotten to a point where I am just really tired of it all. To help with the anxiety, I have to try and trick myself mentally and it works sometimes. And then sometimes I just have to ride the wave out and know it will be better in the end. To help with my self-image I have started doing something I didn’t really
think I would ever do, which is model. I was never one of those little girls growing up who wanted to be a famous actress or model, so this sort of thing was never really on my mind. I started mainly because I felt I needed some decent pictures of myself if I am going to advertising myself for freelance work. After getting the photos and seeing how nice I looked, I started to feel a little better about myself. So now I just kinda keep doing it. It doesn’t even matter if people on Instagram will like my pictures, a lot of the times, the photos I take of myself are purely for me.
Personal Growth | 73 | Shayla Kerr
The most recent of my favorite photos are where I am in front of greenery. I love nature, and hope to one day do a shoot at Bernheim Forest.
Reflection
Photo by Arry Schofield
chapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
Another form of modeling that I have been doing, but not as often, is nude modeling. So far it has all been for painting or drawing so the results how of my figure are varied, but it is just as helpful and cathartic.
I have enjoyed just being comfortable in my skin and not being able to hide anything and accepting that fact. Dong things like this have helped me regain a little bit of the confidence I had a few years ago.
Something funny that I have learned while modeling is that I, apparently, wear a lot of denim. Denim shorts, jackets, overalls, and even skirts! Guess I just look good in something denim.
Personal Growth | 77 | Shayla Kerr
Reflection
Nude painting of me doneby Shai-ann Vera, Fall 2018.
chapter title | page # | Shayla Kerr
Header: Gotham Black 76/91, Sub Head: Gotham Medium 10/14, Body: Gotham Light 8/14, Captions: Gotham Light Italic 8/14, Citations: Gotham Light 6/12.
