Victoria Azize Fall 2021
A Look Into the World of Design Projects, Processes, and Reflections
Intro to Visual Arts Computing
Project One Snippets
For project 1, the snippets I chose were “Wear Your Heart On Your
Sleeve”, “You Get What You Give”, and
“Be Savage”. At one point during class, we talked about seeing things from a different perspective, so that’s what
I tried to do with all of these quotes. For example, instead of considering
“You Get What You Give” in a strictly
positive way in the sense of showing kindness to receive kindness, I tried
to express the alternate side to what
that could bring in life. You could give as much kindness as possible, yet still only get things such as cruelty and/
or pain in return. That’s likely not the
first thing that comes to mind with the quote, but it’s an unfortunate truth
in our world and proves that even if
you do get something back when you give, it may not be what you expect.
Attached are pictures of my sketching
process for all three snippets. I started with a rough idea of what I wanted
everything to look like, then moved to recreating/lining the final pieces and adding any extras/changes to make
everything come together a bit better. While I went back and forth on if they were turning out like they should, I
was happy with them in the end and
wound up enjoying the project more than I expected to.
Reading Response
Michael Bierut
I genuinely enjoyed this reading and was able to connect to it fairly well, especially when it came to Bierut finding a love
for design while in school. I’ve always been the type to enjoy the cover work for a project more so than the project itself, and the feeling he expressed when he got to see his work
around the school he went to brought back memories of my own school’s paintings, posters, and the like that I was lucky
enough to get to work on. It was also wonderful to hear how
quickly he was able to get a job in the field he loved outside
of college and how since then he’s only changed jobs once. I
“...finding a love for design while in school...”
feel like a lot of people steadily warn you that certain degrees won’t land you a job, or that if it does it would take years
of searching first. It’s nice to see that go a different way for
someone in an art field, even if it doesn’t work that way for
everyone. I’m still not sure myself if design is the specific track I want to be on but getting to read into someone’s positive experiences was refreshing nonetheless.
Project Two
Great Ideas Poster
For project 2, the quote I chose to
create a poster for was “The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read a page.” (Saint Augustine) and I began with a rough idea of
what I was going for, which was to
create the idea of different places and cultures coming from the pages of a book. The sketch involved chunks of
land and various vehicles coming off
of the pages, but I wound up changing the idea to the pages themselves
being made from the world (maps,
postcards, et cetera), to express how
one’s travelling and experiences would be what would fill the pages of their life’s book. Another couple changes towards the end was to adjust the
background to give it a more natural feeling, so it was changed from a
plain color to a wooden desk-like
background, along with removing
some black silhouettes and instead adding additional pages stuffed
into the book in a less precise way.
Attached are pictures of each step to
show the changes along the way and how the final poster came out!
Reading Response
Stefan Sagmeister
For the Stefan Sagmeister reading, my first thought was how great of an
“...he’s either brilliant or completely insane, although most likely a little of both...”
idea it is to take scheduled sabbaticals after long periods of work. Honestly,
not many people would have the opportunity to take such breaks, even
if they wanted to, but if you’re able to do so, I completely understand why
you would, and I for sure would too. Aside from the expected upside of
enjoying the probably much-needed time off, it’s also insanely impressive
that Sagmeister managed to make his
sabbaticals a financial success by using the time to come up with some of his
next ideas. I also don’t know many
people who would be bold enough to use a nude photo of themselves in
a studio opening card, so he’s either brilliant or completely insane, although
most likely a little of both. Either way, he definitely sounds someone to take advice from considering how well he’s doing with his out-there ideas.
Video Response Aaron Draplin
It was incredible to watch Draplin work and to see how quickly he can make a logo design idea come together for a client. To be able to jump so rapidly from
loose paper sketches to an Illustrator
design and have numerous workable ideas put together in just a few minutes
is amazing to witness. Coming up with
a singular idea seems to take me days as it is, so I’d relish even the smallest
chance to be that comfortable with a program in the future. In addition to that, Draplin was able to come up
with an appropriate color palette in
practically no time at all, and in a way that was so simple, yet so clever. I also
love how he pulls inspiration from older designs to show how well something
simple can age and how easily an old
logo can continue to look relevant after decades have passed.
“...he can make a logo design idea come together...”
Project Three Character Logos
For project 3, the characters I chose to create logos for were Beetlejuice and
Juno, both from the movie Beetlejuice. I started with rough paper sketches, trying to come up with a simplistic
design that could easily be read as the character it was for. Both logos went through quite a few changes, some during the paper stage and many
more in Illustrator until deciding on a final design. For the Beetlejuice logo, I started with blocks of alternating heights with the type of his name
floating above, but changed to have
the blocks intersecting each other with the type bouncing within those blocks
to create a much more chaotic feeling. From there I altered colors, fonts, and overall sizing and placement until the
design felt balanced, while also feeling just disjointed enough to match
the character’s personality. For the
Juno logo, the final design changed drastically from the initial sketch,
which was the idea of cigarette smoke forming the first letter of her name.
That was adjusted to incorporate her neck gash to pair with the smoke to create the letter, then finally a more complete version of her head, neck
gash, and smoke, all paired with a very sharp font to create a hard, impatient feeling. Attached are images of the
initial sketches, final sketches, and final Illustrator designs for each logo.
Reading Response
Mark Fox
I appreciate how the reading
expressed the difference between
“...an inspiration to those who want to get into design...”
logos and branding, as I feel like
those two terms are sometimes used interchangeably even when they
mean different things, so getting
that clarification up front is helpful. It was also extremely interesting to
read into where the swastika’s design originally came from, as I had no
idea that it symbolized good fortune
before being widely known as the Nazi party symbol. You don’t always think about where a symbol came from or how it could have been used in the past once it holds such a negative
connotation. Also, in response to the Mark Fox portion of the reading, it is impressive that someone so young
took it upon themselves to create their own design portfolio that was strong enough to get them hired when the
designs themselves weren’t even for real businesses. That’s definitely an
inspiration to those who want to get
into design but may not have a degree in that specific field.
Project Four
Syntax & Semantics
For project 4, I chose to use men’s
However, once I found a way that
a large pool of options with lots of
a good bit easier for the others. I
pants as my subject so that I had
variety to select from. Once I narrowed down my four selections (to khakis,
jeans, sweatpants, and dress pants), I
found it difficult starting out with their syntax descriptions. For something
that sounded so simple, I got caught up a few times when being sure to
describe them as a form, as opposed to exactly what they are – pants.
worked well for the first pair, it became didn’t have as much trouble with
the semantics portions, but still took a little while to get the hang of the
connotation and expression portions. Even though it was a quick project, I
did enjoy it and feel at the end I was left with a better understanding of
syntax and semantics. Attached is an image of the completed project.
Reading Response Paul Buckley
Firstly, just the mere idea of overseeing a “gazillion” people sounds like a
chaotic nightmare, so I have no clue how Buckley handles that, but good on him for doing so. Additionally,
I’ve always considered myself to be a worrier – The type to panic if things
don’t seem like they are going right – so reading about his process and
how even he sometimes panics and just slaps something decent down
when he can’t think of another idea
is reassuring to someone like myself
who always thought of it as a negative thing. It’s also really nice to know that Buckley values genuine enjoyment in the job, and that he looks for others
who love their work just as much as he does, as opposed to picking whoever has the most experience or largest
portfolio. Just knowing that there are people like him out there who would give you a shot for being yourself is amazing.
“Buckley values genuine enjoyment in the job...”
Project Five Process Book
For project 5, we put together a book displaying our previous projects and
blog posts. I really enjoyed the entire
process of this project and was glad to get another crack at InDesign before
the semester was over. My initial page layout for the book was definitely a
“fixer upper”, with text that was too large, unnecessary text box breaks,
and strangely arranged pictures, but it didn’t take long to find something that worked and build off of that.
Before I knew it, I had something that didn’t look like complete trash, even though it still needed a lot of work.
From there it was what seemed like a million smaller (yet still somehow
very significant) changes that made
it all come together. This is probably the project I’m most proud of from
the semester, and It’s great to end on something that I feel shows how far
we’ve all come in just a short amount of time. Attached are images of the
process on the first couple pages that
show the initial layout, the layout after a few major changes, and the more finalized layout.