571 Studio - Project 1 Process Book by Whitley Kemble

PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK Graduate Studio 571: SIGNS & Symbology Spring 2013 | Whitley R. Kemble

NOTES ON THIS PROCESS BOOK This process book is designed to help the reader understand the sequence of events leading up to my final symbols. It features several interactive elements, including bookmarks for the different sections, hyperlinks for inspiration/research, and several scrollable images for many of the icon refinements. Enjoy!

SELECTION OF TOPICS & RESEARCH

I chose to develop symbols for an astronomer and a chemist. These are subjects Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always found interesting, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to explore. My research began with a word map that included related topics, tools and themes.

571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION: ASTRONOMER (All sources are linked to their images.)

571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION (CHEMIST) (All sources are linked to their images.)

SOURCE:

571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION (CHEMIST)

SOURCE:

571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

ASTRONOMER SKETCHES Over the next few weeks, I developed nearly 80 sketches for each of my two topics. My astronomer sketches, as you will see, tend to be more organic and sometimes oversimplified. One of the greatest struggles was communicating stars clearly, especially as we moved into refinements on the computer. The following pages organize my symbols by principle, but you may tab through them individually at left here.

<< USE THE ARROWS TO REVIEW THE SYMBOLS

571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

CHEMIST SKETCHES My chemist symbols were much more geometric than my astronomer symbols. Many of the symbols utilized line and mass, as well as more angular shapes. Going through these made me more aware of some of my design tendencies. Implied shape, for example, is something I like to play with. I also tend to create more contrast between line and mass. The plethora of existing symbols of chemists and chemistry really helped in developing these. Beakers, atoms, and lab safety gear were used in most of my sketches.

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571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

FINAL SYMBOLS & PROGRESSION The symbols at left were chosen as the finalists for my symbols. There were a lot of really good ones I had to rule out because of the constraints of the project, but these were among my favorites. The pages that follow show the progression of each, as well as details on different attempts and how the symbols were modified through the course of the project.

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contrast of organic/geometric

571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

CONTRAST OF ORGANIC/GEOMETRIC FORM

RADIATION

One of the things I loved about this symbol was how wistful it was. My goal was to capture the more ethereal qualities of space as they would be experienced by an astronomer. I tried to incorporate a feeling of grace, too. The hair was meant to allude to the different galaxies and space for the celestial bodies. The initial sketches were very detailed. I tried three with varying amounts of humanity.

Movement and direction were strong themes in my astronomer symbols, but this one was an excellent example of radiation. It is also unique among my other symbols, as it is the only badge design. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very proud of this fact because I have a natural tendency toward badges.

As I progressed through the symbol, however, it was becoming clear that some of the human elements (especially the hair and the hands) were disruptive and created clutter. Later developments reduced the number and placement of the stars and moon. My figure became an elegant silhouette cradled by the moon.

In the earlier sketches I had a lot of lines, varying the line weight and spacing as I went around the central figure. As I moved through the iterations, lines became thicker and fewer in number. I tried several different telescopes, too, finally choosing one that embraced the ambiguity between the radiating lines and the line of sight for the astronomer. 571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

SIMILARITY

REPETITION

Beakers and bubbles were a consistent theme across my chemist sketches. This guy was actually one of my favorites. I really liked the playfulness of this symbol. Although there were a lot of choices for similarity, I decided on this one because almost all of the elements contained within have a corresponding counterpart.

Repetition was another symbol with a lot of options. I ultimately chose to use this symbol because the repetition of elements within was very obvious, and the meaning was very very clear. The final result is a merger of several earlier sketches. I kept the hair (made of atomic bonds), the tubes, and the safety gear.

The left arm of the final is similar to the hand, and the bubbles on the final symbol are actually a smaller arrangement of the compound. All of the elements are curvilinear, too, which make this a really unified symbol. My only concern with this one came when a classmate mentioned it resembling the Kool-Aid man. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a hard decision to eliminate the extra spout and unnecessary lines.

These images all had strong previous associations with chemistry and chemists. This was one of many symbols I created that featured hands. I was very reluctant to reduce the form, but reducing the number of fingers helped the symbol retain clarity on a smaller scale. The opening of the tubes, though not drastically different, is slightly clearer than previous examples. 571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

FOCAL POINT

CONTRAST OF +/- FORM

For some reason I was loving hands during this process. I had several symbols for astronomer, as well as chemist, featuring a set of hands. For my astronomers, I believe this had some roots in creation stories of a master designer arranging and controlling the cosmos. For a person whose career demands a mastery of cosmic knowledge, this wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much of a stretch.

This was my very first symbol, and it remains one of my favorites. I love this little molecular man! Contrast between the positive and negative form and contrast between line and mass are both used here, but I felt he best fit contrast between positive and negative forms because of his eye (positive bubble becomes eye in negative space of glasses), his beaker (the negative space of his shoulder becomes part of the beaker), and the mass contained within the beaker.

I had similar issues here with the level of detail and complexity. There were several variations of this symbol, including the one with the hands forming a heart containing the star. I made my final choice because the hands created a nice frame for the stars. It indicated movement and interaction with the stars, which I felt was important. After much reduction and many iterations, I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very successful example of focal point.

While the final symbol is very close to the original, there were several experiments. Positioning of the bubbles and beaker, design of the arm, and the presence or absence of certain body parts (i.e., the hand, neck and ears) were all things I experimented with before refining the final design. 571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

CONTRAST OF CURV./RECTILINEAR FORM

CONTRAST OF BIG/SMALL

This was another symbol I really enjoyed, though the iterations leading up to him varied much more than some of the others. Most of my early sketches were either very angular with compounds or very curvilinear with beakers. You can see this in the relationship between the eyewear and the object the figure holds in its hands. The degree of abstraction is something I experimented with a lot, too.

This was another symbol that fit well into several categories. The original sketch played a lot with thick strokes and mass, but through class discussion we decided that the moon was too ambiguous and had to be developed more. The telescope was also too complicated and dissimilar.

After combining several of the ideas, I had to simplify a lot. The particles in the test tube were exchanged for solid mass, and the outpouring compound was reduced dramatically. I decided to add a lab coat, arm and chin line to help define the body, and after much deliberation in class decided to eliminate the second hand afterall. The resulting shape works well for this principle.

contrast of big/small

The next iteration featured a thicker moon with a similar rounded chair. I tried adding more stars to help reiterate the astronomical theme, but the extra information didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t add enough definition to justify the addition. My first sketch on the computer featured an oversimplified line-only telescope. While it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t entirely bad, it became obvious that a more solid one was needed to unify the design. 571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

CONTRAST OF LINE/MASS

GRADATION

This shape seemed very natural to me. As with several of my other sketches, it plays with gesture. From the earliest iteration, it exemplified a contrast of line and mass, so it seemed to be a logical final choice for that principle.

Gradation was a difficult principle for me. I tried to develop a few gradation symbols for my astronomer, but those attempts were not as successful. The sketches of chemists seemed to be a more natural fit, as the volume of material in the beakers were already an easily understood measurement.

There werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t many drastic changes to this one, but I did do several experiments with the number of lines from the star to the figure. I was hesitant to reduce the number of lines because I thought the implied lines of the star would suffer, but I think the final result is still very successful.

Initially I tried to depict a chemist hugging his beaker. In the second thumbnail thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost a close friendship between these two elements, but it seemd too forced. The gradation was nice in that example, but the gradation from body to beaker in the final symbol seemed more natural. After refining the line weights in this one, it was ready to go. 571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

DIRECTION/MOVEMENT

ANOMaLY

Direction and movement were both very strong themes in my sketches, especially for my astronomers. I tried to tie in some of the star mapping implements in a few of my early sketches, as well as the telescope. As you can see, they range from representative and geometric to more abstract and gestural.

As predicted, anomaly was the most difficult principle to typify. I had a few symbols that started to hint at anomoly, but none that really jumped out. The earliest sketches were more demonstrative of repetition and similarity.

After much deliberation I chose to focus on the symbols with a clear human element. In the refinement stages, it was difficult to choose between the more solid astronomer and the one leaning into the telescope, but the sense of direction and movement seemed much stronger in the second, so it won out. I tried several different telescopes for him and, with help from the class, decided on the more disjointed one.

I chose to focus on the more molecular symbols, opting to alter my figures to create the anomaly. Throughout the sketching process, I made the figures more and more geometric. The first iterations on the computer were very simple, but off balance. To address this problem, I experimented with positioning and line/ mass. The second to last thumbnail, for example, had a filled figure base firmly supporting the atomic structure. The final is unified by a repeated filled symbol and several additional lines to make the sequence more molecular.571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

FINAL PRESENTATION OF SYMBOLS

ASTRONOMER

CHEMIST

571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

QUESTIONS? EMAIL WRKEMBLE@IASTATE.EDU