TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
TO ME (Will Donohue)
INTRODUCTION This is a process book that shows the work that went into making each of the pieces assigned to me during my time in Introduction to Design. With the D*School project we were assigned partners in which we got to know eachother and solve a problem they had in which we were to design something for them to solve that problem. For my partner I designed a White Elephant party. For the Dot-Line project we were assigned to express three words of our choosing in the word list by using only dots and lines with construction paper. The three words I chhose to express were longing, exhausion and rejection. For the letterforms project we each had to carve out two letter stamps and use those to make a word of our choice using the stamps and ink. The word that I chose to make was anxiety. For the object Iterations project we had to pick a moving object and create multiple iterations of various kinds such as continous line drawings, collages, type collages, geomtric figures and master artists. This one was the most time consuming in my opinion. For the PSA Posters assignment we were given a clinet in class in which we had to make a PSA poster using their regulations and my partner had me do hers on sex education awareness. For the last project we had to research a designer from a list we were given and give a presentation on that designer. I chose to research Luba Lukova.
D*SCHOOL Objective: For D*School we were assigned partners in which we had to ask them questions. We went into more depth about the questions by asking them “why” with each question. After getting to know our partners we had to assemble something quickly that solved a problem that they had and had to present it whether it was complete or incomplete.
Talking to someone in class and getting to know them was a great way to start off the class, but it was hard in the exercise to find out the person’s “needs” after getting to know them for a bit. I felt a little embarrassed to show my unfinished work because I take pride in my work, but the activity was still fun. I wish I had more time to make the project better somehow. If I were to do it again, I would look for better objects for my presentation.
FINAL WORK
DOT-LINE Objective: For this project we were given a list of words in which we had to choose three of to portray using only dots and lines. We had to cut out numerous dots and lines of various sizes using scissors and an exact-o blade. We also had to cut out square pieces of paper onto which we were to glue the dots and lines onto. When we we ready to glue the dots and lines onto the paper, we had to stategically add the glue3 and put the pieces on the paper without getting any glue marks on the paper. Then we had to put an adhesive spray onto the paper and place it on the middle of a black styrofoam square. To me I think Gestalt would be seeing the finished piece as a whole rather than parts of it. Gestalt relates to this project because for our final critique we got to look at each other’s finished pieces as a whole and we were given the chance to give our incite as to what we believed was conveyed. It is sometimes difficult for me to make a wellcrafted object especially when I’m working with small construction paper pieces. I would like to have rather spend extra time to get detail right but I know that I procrastinate a lot so I would most likely make things quickly and less perfectly. This project changed my idea of abstraction because I didn’t really know how to convey certain words using just a couple of dots and lines, but now after this project I have a gist of that. It was sometimes difficult to represent ideas without illustrating them but in the end, I realized it wasn’t that hard. I could use this exercise later in life if I were to be given an assignment or project that had the use of abstraction or Gestalt.
SKETCHES
FINAL WORK
Longing
Exhaustion
Rejection
LETTERFORMS Objective: For the letterforms assignment we ultimately had to express a word of our choosing by using ink and letterblocks. To do that we first had to each carve out two letterblocks each by first tracing the letter onto a piece of linoleum and then by using a carving tool. This was pretty tedious and took some time to do. After carving out all the letters we used them and the ink to create our words, of which we had to make one regular straight word, one with spacing between them, one modified one, and one where we could do whatever we want. Fo my letter I chose to do anxiety. By working with letterforms this way, I learned that the people who actually print this way professionally have a lot of hard work. There was a lot that went into this and I can’t imagine working on a larger scale. After getting the process down pat though, it was quite fun to mess around with the letters a little bit in making my word. I really did enjoy making this project even though it took a lot of hard work. If I were to continue working with the typography and the letters, I think it would be interesting to see what the pieces would look like if I used color.
SKETCHES
FINAL WORK
OBJECT ITERATIONS Objective: For this assignment we were to choose an object that has a movable part, and for mine I chose to do a flamingo. We had to create many iterations of this object, starting by making various continuous line drawings. Then we had to pick two master artists and make the object in the style of their work. I chose Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring for my master artists. After the master artits we had to cut out pieces from magazines and make collages out of them. We had to do something similar with type by cutting outt various sections of type and trying to make it in the shape of our object. Lastly we had to make a geometric version of our object. After all that we had to scan out drwings and collages and put them into an InDesign document. I learned a couple of things about flamingos that I didn’t know before doing this project, such as that when flamingos are born, they are grey and they primarily eat shrimp which gives them their pink color. I think the most challenging media for me was the collages or more specifically the type collages because it was a lot harder to find text that would work with the collage as a whole. I’d have to say the most enjoyable media was drawing the master artists because it was a lot of fun to get inspiration from Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring and incorporate them into my work. In Photoshop I learned how to erase the background of an image using the lasso tool and the magic wand and I also learned how to lighten and darken certain aspects of an image using the curves. I think if I would have to work on this object for a year I would try and do a series of master artists.
SKETCHES
FINAL WORK
PSA POSTERS Objective: For this assignment we were chosen partners to work with and we acted as a client to them and vice versa. We were to come up with a problem and a public service announcment on that problem and give it to our partner to make a poster on. I was given the subject of the awareness that it is not required to teach sex education in Wisconsin. This was probably the most relaxed assignment and least tedious.
It wasn’t that challenging to use type only though it would have been a lot more fun to use images, but I did learn skills to work in these parameters if need be. I used scale in this project by making the headline bigger than the rest of the text to catch the eye of the viewer to create the visual hierarchy and the rest of the information came underneath the headline because we read left to right and up to down. The skills that I learned in this project that I can now take forward to other work are the skills to format my project in a way of visual hierarchy and the importance of information and I now have experience of someone handing me something to do within their parameters.
SKETCHES
FINAL WORK
PRESENTATIONS Objective: For our final project we were to pick a designer from a list we were given and we had to research the designer. For my designer I chose to research Luba Lukova. After researching the designer we had to create a powerpoint presentation with 20 slides, with only 20 seconds for each slide. I believe what really intrigued me most about my designer or what drew me to her was the way she designed pieces as a metaphor and I just thought it was really interesting. I was kind of nervous to present at first as I assume most were but all and all after it was done, I realized it wasn’t that bad. I would probably be interested to further look into the work of Victor Moscoso just because I really liked the trippy colors that he used in his work.
VOCATION QUESTIONS What is the difference between a good life and a significant life? The difference between a good life and a significant life is that in a significant life you have found meaning. If you lived a good life, you may have felt happy throughout it, but you may still feel unfulfilled. If you lived a good life you probably were financially stable or even rich, but you didn’t live a significant life, a life where you do something for a living, that you wanted to do all along. That is why I think, a life without meaning is a life not worth living
If you were guaranteed it would support you financially, what would you want to design or make for a living? If I knew it would support me financially, I would want to design my own clothing brand for a living. I believe that clothing is the best way for a person to express themselves, it has always been a dream of mine for people to wear clothing designs that I made, and I still believe that dream is attainable is some way.
BACK COVER
This book was made as part of Introduction to Design at St. Norbert College in the fall of 2019. The fonts used include Myriad Pro Regular, Myriad Pro Bold, and Myriad Pro Italic. It was digitally printed and saddle stapled at the college’s print center.