By William Miller class of
Design? Design.
When it looks cool.
Vocational Question
Are calledyouto creative work? If so, how do recognizeyou that calling?
Yes!
I have always been drawn (haha art pun) to art classes in school. My mother is an artist and my sister is an architect so I guess it’s hereditary, but I’ve always felt like I want to create. I don’t really know what or where but I’ve always known I want more than the regular 9-5 jobs I had been working before coming to St. Norbert.
My first step in that direction was deciding to study graphic design, and in doing so I have found something to be passionate about. I have very much enjoyed every art class I’ve taken here and would love to find a way to incorporate creating in my career, whatever that may be.
Dot Line
Gestalt encompasses the basic principles of design and art, it involves things like composition, proximity, similarity, figure, and continuation. It sets a foundation for the physical composition of art pieces and describes how our interpretation relates to an artwork. Understanding these concepts brought more insight to the brainstorming process in terms of how to better communicate a feeling onto a canvas.
Pictured are my first 15 thumbnail sketches for the original three words I had chosen.
During the process of making a “well-crafted object”, I am miserable. Making sure everything is to my liking especially when working with small pieces can be very tedious. But I think it’s worth it in the end. It’s gratifying to look at a finished project and be pleased with it. So I would say when I’m in the process of working I’d rather make things quickly with less attention to detail, but when I’m done and looking back I am glad that I took extra time and worked hard for it.
I’ve always appreciated abstract art but felt as though I lacked whatever it is that enabled people to create it. This project helped me realize it isn’t always thats serious. Sometimes it’s just about the vibe that a little circle or line is giving you. I think anyone can do abstraction because it is so subjective.
This is the second edition of 15+ thumbnails. The designs are starting to become more refined as I figure out which direction I want to pursue.
At first it was a bit challenging to think non-illustratively because I think most people use that way of thinking as the default. Not using illustration forces you to find more creative ways of portraying a feeling or emotion.
I think the ideas of Gestalt and abstraction will help me express myself more effectively in the future whether that be in art projects for school or a job, or even everyday things like decorating an apartment. These principles of composition will help my life to be more aesthetic overall
The concept of this project was to create abstract images that portray the feeling of certain words using only a variation of paper “dots” and “lines”, hence the name of the project; Dot Line.
These are my final variations of each word.
Energetic Terror
Letterforms
In this project, we were studying letters and their form to better understand how type can influence one’s work.
Collectively, the class carved an entire alphabet to use as print type. Using these letterforms, we were to create multiple variations to portray the word we had chosen.
But first, we explored different ways of portraying letters in our sketchbooks.
I learned a lot about letter’s shapes and their negative space, as well as how they fit together aesthetically.
If I were to continue working on the letters DRIVE, I would play more with the forms’ variations like making the tread within the letters instead of cut out of tread.
I enjoy sketching and tagging so this was a fun way to merge our sketchbook assignments with the street art styles I am inspired by.
I have always been intrigued by type, whether it be fonts or drawing my own typefaces.
Straight Print
This iteration is a simple, straight print meant to act as a clean standard for how the letterforms should look.
Typographical Variation
This is a variation in which I dragged the type over itself while the ink was still wet. In my mind, it looks as though someone drove over it with their car.
First Modificaton
In this variation, I used a Hot Wheels car by rolling it through the ink and “driving” it on the paper. I think it turned out pretty cool, Tokyo Drift vibes.
Second Modification
For my final modification, I made a linoleum print resembling a tire tread and then cut out the letters in paper and used them as a stencil.
Iterative Illustrations
For this project, our task was to choose an object or animal to make various iterations of. I had chosen the Toco Toucan from the South American region. With this choice we were to make multiples of each: Continuous Line, Geometric, Photo Collage, Type Collage, and the style of two artists of our choice. My two artists were Banksy and Jean-Michel Basquiat. We would then choose the best one or a couple of each type to be featured on a poster.
The best word I could use to describe this project was “bittersweet.” I enjoyed a couple of the iterations and despised others. It also was quite a bit of work but arguably paid off when finishing the final poster. I say arguably because on one hand it was cool to see your completed works aggregated into one piece but at the same time it felt almost lackluster because of how much work was put into each iteration just for the final result to be one standalone poster. Overall, I enjoyed this project.
Through this process I learned that the Toco Toucan has relatively simple features and it was challenging to find different silhouettes for this animal. That being said, the simplicity of its features; a large beak, small body, black and white feathers, means that each piece needs to be well done or else it just won’t look right. The toucan is a true testament to the “less is more” sentiment in how all parts of it are important to its overall form without needing more than a couple defining features.
Continuous Line
Photo Collage
I’ve had prior experience with Photoshop but I had never worked with InDesign before so it was great to learn another addition to the Adobe suite. The Levels tool as well as the image curves adjuster in Photoshop are incredibly beneficial to editing your photos in a grayscale project like this one. We also learned to make a grid in InDesign as “step 0” before adding anything else to the file. This was very helpful to create a smart layout and making sure all of the images had the same spacing in between them.
The most challenging medium to me were the collages. It’s difficult for me to look at something complete like a magazine and imagine using smaller pieces of it for an entirely different work. But this skill comes with practice, I understand why we had to do multiple iterations. Eventually, the first edition of collage turned out to be my favorite as well as the piece to be featured on the final poster.
The most enjoyable medium was spray paint for the Banksy inspired iteration. I’ve always loved street art so making a stencil and “tagging” was pretty fun. Although the final version featured on the poster is a photoshopped brick wall, the keen eye might be able to find a couple toucans around the greater Green Bay area. I can neither confirm nor deny.
BANKSY
The image on the right was my physical stencil, all of the white negative space was cut out.
Basquiat
Here, the brick wall is photoshopped. I think it still looks pretty realistic.
The artist iterations were definitely my favorite. I mentioned enjoying the spray painting process with Banksy, but the charcoal and oil pastels with Basquiat were another side of the same coin. I had just as much of a good time sitting in the studio and getting my hands dirty. It was really cool to emulate the styles of artists I admire and am inspired by.
W.I.P
Not all of my iterations were present, and the composition was missing something in this Work in Progress edition for critique.
Final Poster
If I were to continue this project with a toucan for another 4 weeks, I think it would be fun to try a couple other artist-inspired iterations like painting or some other medium that I don’t use all that often.
It’s increasingly important to continue exposing yourself to art and other things you are not familiar or even comfortable with. If we only stick to the things we know we like, we could become complacent. Complacency is one of life’s greatest enemies.
PSA Poster
This project was meant to mimic the process of working as a designer and a client. We were paired up with one of our classmates and both tasked to create a poster for the other. The client would provide the idea and all of the text and the designer would (duh) design the poster. The design needed to be intentional and well thought out because we were limited to using ONLY text and once again the project was completely in grayscale.
Pictured above are 20 thumbnail sketches of various possible layouts.
To the right are six contenders for the final poster, these were presented to the client and the stars above were their two favorites. (Not my favorites, as is a casualty of the job.)
Using only type for this project was daunting, but not as bad as I had expected. It pushed me to find ways of being creative using less.
This project helped reinforce the visual ideas we have been working on all semester of scale, negative space, symmetry, proximity, and so on. It served as a great practice of minimalism and the notion of “less is more”. By using only text we were forced to find creative and effective ways of portraying a message with the limited resources available to us.
Rest makes you best!
Final
Poster
As you can see, there were minimal yet effective changes that needed to take place before this poster was successful.
For this poster I used scale to create a visual hierarchy by making the main title the largest font, the subtitle slightly smaller, the body copy smaller, and so on. This is a simple but effective way of commanding the direction of the readers’ eyes. I used a black rectangle behind the main title to provide contrast and extra emphasis. Thin lines were also useful in separating text with similar font sizes and creating some separation between ideas.
Crash Course
My solution to my partner’s problem was to create a microphone so he could start a podcast about the sports he is so passionate about. As you can see my hastily put together microphone fell apart before it could be properly documented.
In this project we were paired up with a random classmate and tasked to have in depth conversation with them. While getting to know them we were to identify a problem they were struggling with and design a solution over a series of “brainstorming sessions”.
Engaging with an actual person changed my prototype because I feel like I was more aware of my partner’s thoughts and feedback. Maybe if I was alone I would have had a different, less effective idea due to the lack of collaboration.
Showing unfinished work to someone is uncomfortable and almost embarrassing, if it was an important project for a career I’d probably have been nervous.
The pace was also quicker than I normally would work. I felt uneasy about starting to craft a solution for a problem I had not yet identified.
If I were to tweak my project or do it over again, I would take more time reflecting and figuring out what exactly my goal was. I felt like I didn’t have any idea what I was working towards until I was already gathering the physical materials.
Who Designs? Massimo Vignelli
In the world of design; whether that be graphic design, product design, or architecture, Massimo Vignelli was one of the most influential minds of the 20th century. He is best known for his beliefs in simplicity and practicality, approaching everything with a structured minimalist mindset. One of his most famous works is the 1972 NYC Subway map and overall branding. This system simplified the city’s chaos into a clean, colorful, and logical system. While some people criticized it for not reflecting geographical accuracy, it became an icon of design clarity as well as an iconic part of New York City.
His work for American Airlines featuring the Helvetica typeface and a sleek, pure logo also set the tone for corporate identity design for decades. On top of work he did for many large companies like Bloomingdale’s, Lancia, Pirelli, and the US National Parks Service, some of his most notable projects come from his time with Knoll Manufacturing.
At Knoll, Vignelli brought his signature style not only to the branding, but to his furniture design. He designed functional pieces like the Handkerchief Chair, known for its lightweight elegance and ergonomic form. Beyond furniture, he created iconic promotional materials applying his clean, grid based aesthetic to highlight Knoll’s commitment to modern design. He didn’t just make things that were aesthetically pleasing, but shaped the way that designers think to this day. For him, design played the specific role of communication and problem solving while still being a beautiful addition to the world around him. This philosophy is summed up by one of his most famous quotes,
“The life of a designer is a life of fight: fight against ugliness.”
Vocational Question
something you’ve made in the last two years that proudyou’re of?
I had originally planned to take Intro to Design in place of Computer Graphics but Prof. Ries was on sabbatical. Shoutout to Brian Pirman for waiving the prerequisites and allowing me to take the class anyway. It was truly a pleasure.
Computer Graphics Illustration Project
Spring semester of 2023, I had taken Computer Graphics. The class consisted of mainly Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, at the time I wasn’t a huge fan of photoshop so when I found out we were doing a project completely in Illustrator, I was thrilled. The task was to create an illustration of any sort utilizing the pen and pencil tools as well as various blending techniques among other things. The illustration was to be 15” square. As seen above, I had chosen a Formula One driver named Carlos Sainz who was, at the time, racing for Ferrari. The typeface is custom made using the pencil tool, and shaded/highlighted to emulate the graffiti style. I am also a big fan of playing around with gradients, so the background is a gradient using Ferrari’s colors. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I do.
This book was made as part of Intro to Design at St. Norbert College in the fall of 2024. The fonts used include Neue Haas Grotesk in 75 Bold , Adobe Caslon in Bold Italic, and Helvetica. It was digitally printed and saddle stapled at St. Norbert College’s Print Center.