Process Book - Head in the Clouds by tdtran

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thien tran

Intro

Where It All Began The world of graphic design extends far beyond my initial impression. Even through this singular introductory class, I discovered the scope of its reach. This being the first design tech + graphic design class I’ve ever taken, there were many challenges that I had to face. The many new technologies and skills that I had to learn now seem invaluable to me. This book goes through my thought process and growth as a graphic and digital media designer. Thank you for seeing my journey.

TABLE of CONTENTS intro 2 project 1: 6-word memoir 4 project 1 process details project 2: typographic abstraction 8 project 2 process details project 3: GoTV Poster 12 project 3 process details project 4: character logo + mark 16 project 4 process details project 5: syntax & semantics 22 colophon 24

Project 1 6-Word Memoir The Start of Something New Starting this class has been super interesting for me. I’ve never really done graphic design or focused on the graphic design aspect of art until now; which frankly is a shame. I feel like I missed out on some of the foundational skills before just jumping into this class, but so far it’s been very manageable, enjoyable even. Before this class, I had never touched an Adobe program. Navigating the different applications and slowly learning how to use them intuitively has been a bit of a challenge. Why is it that there are several programs that achieve the same products? Why use one software over the other? The images attached were created using Adobe Photoshop and AI generated artwork to convey a story of our lives in six words. A six word memoir if you will.

Project 1 Process Details The Wheels are Turning During this project we spoke about AI and using AI to formulate ideas and support parts of the design process. Although we didn’t get to go deep into the ethics of AI in design and art, it opened the floor for reflection on AI’s impact on the industry. These AI generated pieces were some of the preliminary choices before I setttled on the two pictures that I did.

Project 2 Typographic Abstraction Baby Steps I felt very out of my element with this project. I’m still very new to graphic design and feel as if I’m not used to looking at art through the GD lens. I’m not huge on abstraction/abstract art. Not to say that I dislike it but I did find it challenging to resist the need to make sense of the letters.

Project 2 Process Details

Chugging Along It feels wrong to say that I’ve approached this project with a kind of nonchalance, but most of the artistic decisions made were instinctual or on a whim. I thought these lines looked good here and there and for the art board on the top-right, I simply wanted to make a face. This was also my first time using and navigating Adobe Illustrator which was confusing for lack of a better word. However, in the end I was satisfied with the results. It helped me push the boundaries on how I see or process certain shapes and lines with the cultural or social context already attached to them. 11

Project 3 GoTV Poster In the Zone These weeks spent working on Project 3 were very rewarding creatively. The project allowed for more input from the students which in turn feels more satisfying to work on it. It’s definitely pushed me a bit out of my comfort zone. I’m not used to designing posters and being aware of typography, kerning, and spacing. This has posed a challenge on how to choose what is visual pleasing but also drives home the tone and point of the poster. Also doing fifteen iterations of the same concept really made me wrack my brain on how to approach the same idea with different tones. At one point I couldn’t get my files to transfer over so I had to redraw from memory the designs I already came up with, which was a blessing in disguise. Being able to do the designs over for a second time let me see which ones had clarity and which ones needed even more refinement.

Project 3 Process Details Illustration and Design For Project 3, I felt as if I fell back into familiarity with the style I decided to use for the poster. This was my first dabble into InDesign so I felt that if I tried anything too extravagant I wasn’t going to be able to execute it to the extent that I wanted to. So, I opted to find the right mixture of graphic design elements 14

and pure illustration itself. I started with a sketch in photoshop that varies greatly from my usual art style and took that as a stylistic challenge. Afterwards, choosing which fonts, where they would be placed, and the color choice for the atmosphere of the poster were where I struggled the most. I wanted it to feel grimy and unsettling; so I could illicit a certain reaction from the viewer. The murky water in combination with the matter-of-fact nature of the quote were the main driving points for this feeling. Using InDesign felt very foreign at this point, but hopefully in the upcoming projects I’d be better at it.

Project 4 Character Logo + Mark From Walking to Running Project 4 was the one project that I was most excited for. Perhaps it’s because a lot of people stereotype graphic design as logo and UI/UX design but it felt like a taste of what GDI can be. I have never done or even attempted logo design before so this really got the creative juices flowing for me. Having the freedom to choose any characters from pop culture media (movies) definitely motivated me to really try and represent these characters to the best of my abilities. I think this project in particular really let me hit this productive flow-state and really encompasses the design process through my eyes. I chose Remy and Linguini from Ratatouille. Choosing characters from an animated movie proved to have its own pros and cons. The characters already have their own distinct character designs, personalities, and quirks. This makes it harder to stray away from completely ripping from their designs to make these logos. I wanted them to have my own flair and style whilst still reminiscent of their source material. I also didn’t want to simply copy these characteristics that their designers have already rendered and built upon, so choosing the right sketches was very difficult.

Project 4 Process Details

Running in Circles After narrowing down my choices, I went through a long process of trial and error. There were several iterations of the same sketches and having to narrow it down even further from there took a lot of back and forth. I spoke with a lot of my peers and asked for their input. In the end, I kind of forced myself to make the choices that I felt were the strongest for the characters themselves. I didn’t stop with just the iterative sketches though, in Illustrator itself I tried out different variations and even added some elements that I found to be missing. After seeing it Illustrator, I was able to come up with more parts that would fit together to make a better, more representative whole. Especially when it came to Linguini, adding that one shape at the bottom of the chef’s hat allowed the skillet/pan to shine through stronger, as well as allow me to be more creative with color choice. 18

With Remy’s logo, I got the best of both worlds. The text for the type mark was hand designed and written by me. Originally I wanted the text to be stand alone but found that it was missing something. So as I was rendering the pictorial mark for Remy, I thought “why not” and decided to try rendering the text as well. Immediately the designs clicked together. After speaking with my peers, it was clear that each one could stand alone, yet the combination of the two seemed the illicit the best reaction. I was very happy with how these designs turned out. It was beyond satisfying to go through this long process and come out with two logos that were clean and felt real.

Runner’s High The largest time portion of this project for me was transferring the logo from the concept sketches, to the draft, and then on to the final project. This part was the most fun for me. Being able to see the ideas that I’ve worked on painstakingly become real was very cool. I also learned a lot of Adobe Illustrator in the process. It let me dig into the technical aspects of the application and a bit about how to streamline the process.

Project 5 Syntax & Semantics A Whole New Wor(l)d This was a challenge for sure. It was a completely new way of thinking for me. Learning how to think extremely objectively about design is a useful and often invaluable tool for design. So, it took me a while to come up with the syntax for each of the items I chose. I chose to do different kinds of sound devices. Specifically headphones/headsets/earbuds, etc. I have a decent amount of knowledge on this topic, so I thought it would be fun to challenge myself to see them objectively rather than just within the context of what they do and how they do it.

I started with just typing up paragraphs in a Word Document and slowly learning how to be more descriptive each time. This would also help when it came down to formatting in InDesign, as I could just copy and paste my text from here. In the end I learned about several InDesign functions such as using paragraph styles and learning different shortcuts and quality-of-life commands. I felt as if the visuals of this project came second to the purpose of this assignment. It was more to help us make connections between design and context. The conclusions people tend to draw automatically were laid out in a step-by-step process which was really cool to do.

Colophon Thien Tran ARTS 102 Professor Daniel Machado University of South Carolina Columbia Fall 2023

Heading typeface: Lato Black, 24pt Subheading typeface: Lato Black, 14pt Body Text typeface: Lato Light, 12pt

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